Coffee and cream (cakes)!

The challenge this week over at Simon Says is coffee and cream ... and I was determined to enter for two very good reasons - not only have they got a fantabadozie prize as always, but this week they're also having a DT call - woo hoo! However I felt less sure when I started thinking about the theme ... coffee and cream are not two colours I normally craft with, so not only are they WAY out of my comfort zone, but what to do about supplies?? So this is hardly my best week to put my best foot forward for the DT ... but hey, you've got to give it a go, haven't you?? So, I started riffling madly through my stash in search of something suitable. Here's what I came up with ... I already had this darling image stamped up, so I decided to give her a "coffee and cream cakes" makeover!. I agonized for some time over papers, and this was really the best combo I could come up with, but I hope the soft script-printed paper adds to the overall vintage feel. I was also a little concerned initially about what I would do for embellies as I have never purchased flowers in brown shades and only a few cream ones .... but that's where I really got lucky!! I recently won a yummy little candy from Dawny P ... and not only had she included a yummy selection of WOC flowers in shades of cream and terracotta, but also some really vintage looking deep cream lace - yippee!! I also found a few coffee coloured roses knocking around in my stash which were a present some time ago from my bloggy friend Sue, and remembered that I had a teapot charm lurking in the depths of my charm box ... things were finally starting to come together! (Some of you may think that you can detect a peach coloured rose on the card ... but given that it really gave the overall scheme such a "lift" I would argue that it is in fact cinammon ...y'know ... the stuff you get sprinkled on your coffee. That's my story and I'm sticking to it ;-) ) Recipe: Main image: LotV "Hello Cupcake", coloured with Promarkers and Copics; Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set "Salutations"; Papers: various from stash; Supplies: pearls from the Hobby House; all flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts (with thanks to Dawny P and Sue); lace from Dawny P; ribbon and charm from stash. Challenges: Simon Says - Coffee and Cream (+ DT Call) Secret Crafter #123 _ Sweet Treats Crafty Pad #110 - Something Yummy For Your Tummy Raise the Bar #55 - Mug Shots Paper Sundaes #58 - How Charming Rainbow Lady #141 - Shabby Chic Sweet Stampin' - Oh So Girly Craft Your Passion #47 - Girly Girl My Time To Craft #129 - Hats Creative Inspirations #100 - Stripes Stampin' For The Weekend #4 - Monochrome Wild Orchid Challenge #18 - Anything Goes Sentimental Sundays #44 - Anything Goes Friday Sketchers #143 - sketch

Think I'll go and have a cup of tea and a cupcake now lol (only kidding)!!

Penny Black Saturday #140 - Pearls and lace

Eek!! I'm running a little late this morning and am a little late with today's offering .... Saturday again already, which has to mean it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks so much to everyone who got to grips with making the dreaded male cards last week - stunning entries as always! Don't forget to check out the main challenge blog to see if you are lucky winner.

This week we have a rather more girly theme for you ... we would like to see

Pearls and lace

on your creation. You can interpret this any way you like so long as you submit a new piece of work and use a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as the main focus of your project.

This week we have two more yummy prizes for two randomly selected winners -

Firstly. Dick at PB Stamps


is offering a 15% off lifetime discount voucher, and

Fantastic Ribbons


is offering one winner 4 reels of ribbon of the winner's choice.

Yummy!

Do go and check out the fabulous creations by the rest of the DT - here's my card for this week.


Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Cheesecake Wish" , coloured with Promarkers and Copics and decorated with Stickles;
Sentiments: "It's Your Birthday" from PB transparent set "Salutations"; "make a wish" from PB transparent set "Critter Party";
Papers: BasicGrey "Wisteria";
Supplies: large and small flat gardenias, pearls all from Wild Orchid Crafts; lace from my stash;
Tools: leafy swirls - Marianne D Creatables ribbon flower die set; Martha Stewart doily lace edge punch.



Challenges:
I used Papertake Weekly Sketch #53 (I flipped the sketch left to right);



Fuzzy Wuzzy #6 - Birthday Wishes (must feature an animal)
Little Red Wagon - Animals
Top Tip Tuesday #23 - Bling It On
Truly Scrumptious #51 - Swirls and Pearls
Scrapbook Sisters #24 - Lace and Pearls
Crafty Creations #107 - At The Bottom of My Garden Lives .... (a mouse!)
PaperPlay #8 - Let's Get Sentimental
Crazy4Challenges #76 - Use Flowers

Hope you can join in the fun over at PBSC this week - have a great weekend!

Let Them Eat Cake!

Happy Friday everyone! I've been working such long hours recently that I have more than made up enough time for a flexi day from work ... so today I am having a rare day of r&r and playtime!! I decided to make a card using the adorable LotV "Rosie with Cake" - another stamp I'm ashamed to say I've had since last autumn and not inked up before ... all the stamps I bought back then had to wait until after the Christmas rush!! Anyhow, I decided to go ultra girly today, and here is the result. Recipe: Main image: LotV "Rosie with Cake" coloured wtih Promarkers and Copics; Sentiment: LotV Sentiment Circles; Papers: Pink Petticoat "Vintage Rose"; Supplies: all flowers from Wild orchid Crafts; pearls from Wild orchid Crafts & The Hobby House; pink raffia lace from my stash; Tools: nestabilities small circles, lacy circles and "Labels One"; martha Stewart "Valentine lace" edge punch. Challenges: I followed the sketch for this week's Wild Orchid Challenge #17 Cupcake Challenge #130 - Cake 'n' Ice Cream One Stop Craft Challenge #119 - Birthday Card - With Cake LotV #85 - Circles Ooh-La-La #74 - Pink, Pink and More Pink Stamp Something - Something With Flowers Spoon Full of Sugar #140 - Birthday Wishes Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #106 - Birthday Card Crafty Ann's #35 - Birthday Card Incy Wincy # 81 - Use Punches or Dies Crazy4Challenges #75 - Use Dies Just off now for the afternoon cardmaking session :-) Oh I wish every Friday could be like this!!

Oldie But A Goodie #13 - Spring Is In the Air

Happy Tuesday everyone, and welcome to another Oldie But A Goodie Challenge. Thanks so much to everyone who joined in last time with the "Have A Heart" challenge - hope you will check out the main challenge blog to see if you have won the prize :-)

This time it is Fleur's turn to pick the challenge theme, and she has decided to banish those winter blues with a theme of

Spring is In the Air

Fleur has also donated the following fab prize for this challenge ... an adorable SWALK stamp set plus some flowers and charms ... soooo pretty!!

Also Fleur will be picking a "Top 3", and will be asking the first of her top three to join us as a Guest Designer for April - woo hoo!

Don't forget that in order to be eligible for the prize you should submit a new piece of work and use a stamped image (not a digi) that is at least 6 months old ... so have a little riffle through your stamp box to find an old but loved stamp ... and of course have fun!! :-)

The other ladies on the DT have truly sprung into spring , so please do go and check out their gorgeous cards - here's my card for this fortnight.


This gorgeous Penny Black stamp has been around as a wooden stamp for a long time, but was released last summer as a slapstick stamp ... and I couldn't resist. Having said that I'm ashamed to say that I have never inked it up until now ... but with its fabulous profusion of daffodils and other spring flowers, it was the first stamp that came into my mind for this challenge.


Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "You're the Bestest", coloured with Promarkers;
Sentiment: Penny Black
Papers: Papermania "Forever Friends - Spring Time";
Supplies: daffodils from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House & Wild Orchid Crafts; ribbon from Hobbycraft;
Tools: Martha Stewart "Doily Lace" edge punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:
Bunny Zoe's #9 - Spring - Flowers Everywhere!
Forgotten Scraps #3 - Spring or Flowers

Charisma #7 - Spring Has Sprung
Penny Black At Allsorts (February) -Say It With FlowersCreative Cottage #33 - Fabulous Florals

Hope you can join us at OBAG this fortnight and look forward to seeing your cheerful springtime creations :-)

Penny Black Saturday #138 - Cards For Men

Hi there, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. This week's been a bit of a slog for me as I've been working late a few evenings, but now the weekend's here - yippee!! - so it's time to fit in a little crafting :-)

Thanks so much to everyone who joined in last week's "Pretty In Pink challenge" - so may adorable and pretty entries! As always, don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner.

This week we have gone to the opposite end of the spectrum with our theme, which is

Cards For Men

As always you can interpret this however you like so long as you submit a new piece of work with a penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its focus.

This week we have two fab prizes for randomly chosen winners .. firstly I have donated a prize this week, which is this adorable teddy stamp "Gentlest Kiss"


... and our lovely former teamie Carole has asked us to continue to give away the prize stash she donated when she was on the DT - how kind is that?? .. and this week we have this cutie slapstick stamp "A Scholar".


Here is my card for this week.


I only have a fairly limited selection of PB cute stamps suitable for men; and as the only men I need to make cards for are my husband, dad and one male friend, they have already seen them all!! So I decided to make a contemporary non-cute card using masculine colours ... this stylish tree stamp seemed to me to fit the bill.


Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Fantasy" (3880K), inked with black Brilliance ink and embossed wtih clear embossing powder; edges of image sponged with two colours of Versamagic chalk ink;
Sentiment: See-D "Celebrations";
Paper: BasicGrey "Oliver";

Supplies: black ribbon with white stitching by DCWV; Papermania "Sparkly trims" metallic ric rac; pearls from The Hobby House.

Challenges:
Allsorts #91 - Inspired By Nature
Creative Inspirations #53 - Distress
Creative Inspirations #99 - Plain & Simple
One Stop Craft Challenge #119 - Birthday Card

Please do go and check out the other DT members' gorgeous samples. Looking forward to seeing your entries this week!

Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall ...

I have decided to try to keep up with the new Less Is More Challenge each week - I find it really interesting as when working with white space the main challenge is to keep finding something "different" as the main focus. This week the theme is a one layer card (eek!!) with flowers or trees ... so I decided to try a "four seasons" friendship card, to convey the idea that friendship lasts forever.

Now although I say so myself I was pretty pleased with the concept, though I'm not so sure about the execution. It doesn't help that for some reason this card was very difficult to photograph, and the light here is really dull today. But never mind - today's the last day of this week's Less is More challenge so I thought I'd better bung it up here and hope for the best :-) I'm really hoping that my "white space" cards will improve as the weeks go on!

Recipe:
Main image: Art Impressions bare branch tree, stamped four times. First three trees coloured by stippling with watercolour ink from Marvey brushstroke pens, last tree decorated with Art Institute Pee Wee Fine Art glitter;
Sentiment: Penny Black "Salutations" transparent set;
Supplies: coloured gems from my stash.

Challenges:
Less Is More #2 - One Layer Card with Flower or Tree
Creative Card Crew - Friendship
Dutch Dare #100 - Sparkle, Glitter and/or Bling
Cute Card Thursday #152 - Shiny Happy Cards
PaperPlay #7 - Add Shine

That's it for today :-)

Happiness is ...

I've really been bitten by the CAS bug, and made a couple more yesterday.

For this one I decided to make the sentiment the focus of the card to fall in with theme of Allsorts #90. I then balanced it with a sponged moon/sun/whatever inked through a circle mask using blue and lilac pigment inks, and a stamped slightly-oriental-looking flower in the opposite corner. Quite difficulat to get a good picture of this one for some reason ... couldn't get the colours quite true and the flower looks a bit faded ... but never mind!

Recipe:

Sentiment: Penny Black "the journey" (3177F);
Image: transparent Butterfly Kisses set, inked with Brilliance pearlescent ink;
Supplies: lilac sparkly gems by Papermania.
Challenges:

Allsorts #90 - It's All About the Sentiment
Wee Memories #43 - Live ... Laugh ... Love
Secret Crafter #121 - Stamped Flower
Incy Wincy #81 - Colour Me Wonderful
(2 colouring media - mine were Colorbox Queue pigment inks for the moon, Brilliance ink for the flower).

Back tomorrow with another "less is more" card for the Less Is More challenge :-)

Love To You

Well I made my husband a Valentine card nearly two weeks ago; but there are just so many lovely dovey challenges out there right now that I couldn't resist making him another one :-) The first one was cute ... this one is in a more classical style, making use of my newly delivered Marianne D heart die cuts which I think are absolutely gorgeous.

This card is very simple - two Marianne D die cut hearts in deep red pearlised card that has a black core, a ripped piece of Penny Black script paper, a Hero arts sentiment embossed in gold, and four corner peel offs to finish!

Challenges:
Crazy4Challenges #74 - Hearts
Crafty Pad #108 - Hearts
The Stamp Man #16 - Hearts
Totally Gorjuss #67 - Love
One Stop Craft Challenge #118 - Love Is In The Air
Crafty Catz #69 - Valentine / Love
Winter Wonderland - To the One I Love
Creative Card Crew - For A Loved One

Cupcake Crafts #129 - I Love You
Crafts & Me #23 - Red
By the Cute & Girly (February) - Red Is All Around Us

Hope you're all enjoying St Valentine's Day :-)

Penny Black Saturday #138 - Pretty In Pink

Yippee it's Saturday again, so it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks as always to those of you who entered last week's challenge with a loved up card - there were many adorable entires! Don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won either of last week's yummy prizes.

This week our challenge theme is

Pretty In Pink

As always you can interpret this however you like, so long as you submit a new piece of work, and use a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as the focus on your project. And for this week's lucky randomly drawn winner we have a fab prize of a $20 online store voucher from our regular sponsor


Hope you will check out the adorable pinkness of the other DT ladies' cards - here's mine.


Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black transparent set "Flowers and Wishes", flower coloured with Cosmic Shimmer paints, and background sponged with chalk ink;
Sentiment: same PB set as above;
Paper: Bo Bunny;
Supplies: cherry blossoms from Wild Orchid Crafts; pink heart gems from Docrafts "Country Companions" set; lace from my stash.


Look forward to seeing your pretty pink creations .. hope you have a great Valentine's weekend, whatever you're doing :-)

The World is Full of Beauty When the Heart is Full of Love

Having attempted a CAS card the other day I think I felt really inspired by some of the other entries I saw, and i also noticed that the Penny Black blog has been showcasing "crafting with white space". So I think I got a bit over-excited as I have made another CAS card. This time it really is CAS because I actually (sharp intake of breath) stamped or coloured everything directly onto the base cardstock - eek!

My flower is from the Penny Black "Flowers and Wishes" set, and the gorgeous sentiment is by Lavinia Stamps. I made my sun by die cutting a circle from card to make a stencil, and then sponging through it using Versamagic chalk inks. The only embellishment is a row of teeny weeny gold heart shaped gems by Papermania. Job done!

Challenges:

Penny Black - Crafting With White Space
Totally Papercrafts #53 - Clean & Simple
Penny Black At Allsorts (February) - Say It With Flowers
Paperplay #6 - Hearts and Flowers (but not Valentine)
Cute Card Thursday #151 - Hearts and Flowers
My Time To Craft #127 - Hearts and Flowers
Papertake Weekly - Have A Heart
Rainbow Lady #139 - It's All About Love
My Partner in Crafting Crime #19 - Love - No Red or Pink

Back tomorrow with a new Penny Black Saturday Challenge :-)

Oldie But A Goodie #12 - Have A Heart

Well I would love to say the past two weeks have flown by, but I had a rotten head cold inbetween times so the past two weeks have seemed long, miserable and wintery! But never mind ... I'm feeling much perkier now so I really felt in the mood to make my second DT card for this fortnight's Oldie But A Goodie Challenge.

This fortnight it is Debs' turn to choose the challenge, and she has picked the theme

Have A Heart

So if you haven't started on your Valentine's card yet, now's the time!! But if (like me) you've got that sorted already, there are all sort of ways you can incorporate hearts into your creation - the other ladies on the DT have made some fabulous examples to inspire you.

Debs has also provided the gorgeous prize for this challenge - a yummy set of "Messy Rabbits" goodies - aww!


Don't forget that in order to be eligible for the prize you should submit a new piece of work and use a stamped image (not a digi) that is at least 6 months old ... so put your newest releases aside and have a little riffle through your stamp box to find an old but loved stamp ... and of course have fun!! :-)

Here's my card.


I decided to go with this adorable WOJ image of Belinda blowing kisses ... those little hearts are just flying through the air ... aww!! Since I last used this image I have also bought the LotV circle sentiments, and I thought this "With Much Love" one seemed perfect!!

Recipe:
Main image: Whiff of Joy "Melinda blowing kisses", coloured with Promarkers and Copics and decorated with glamour dust;
Sentiments: Woodware "happy birthday" and LotV sentiment circle; Papers: Pink Petticoat "Vintage Rose" (free with Quick Cards Made Easy magazine);
Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts covered in Stickles; pearls from The Hobby house;
Tools: small circles and lacy circles nestabilties; Marianne D Creatables doily die embossed with Cuttlebug "birds and swirls" folder; Leone Em "ash Family" leaf punch; Martha Stewart small monarch butterfly punch.


Challenges:

I followed the fantastic sketch from this week's Creative Inspirations #97:

Whiff of Joy #97 - Love Is in the Air
Crafty Pad #107 - Love Is In the Air
Incy Wincy #80 - Love
Magical Monday #15 - LoveStamp With Fun #97 - Love
Spoon Full of Sugar #138 - Let's See Some Love
Simon Says - Love Is in The Air (3rd entry)
FTTC Bring Back Beautiful - With LoveStamptacular #97 - Hearts Gone Wild
Crafty Cardmakers #39 - Hearts
Shabby Tea Room #48 - Sweet Hearts

(use hearts + photo inspiration .. I was inspired by doilies + flowers)

Hope you can join in the challenge this time - look forward to seeing your creations.

Less is More

Over the weekend I stumbled across a brand new challenge blog called Less is More, whose aim is to promote clean and simple cards. I don't generally do CAS, in fact it's probably fair to say that my thinking is along the lines of "more is more ... and even more is even better" lol! However despite this mental blind spot I thought I would give it a go!!

The theme for the first challenge is black, white and pink. I decided to fill a large white space with a focal point sentiment in black, surrounded by some randomly stamped pink flowers. I actually found this really tough and had quite a few goes before I was satisfied, but I hope I got there in the end. I had a lookee at the creations already linked to this cahllenge and there were some really brilliant and original ones, which made me unsure whether this is really and truly a CAS card ... but it's my best attempt for week one lol!

Recipe:
Main image: Stampendous "Agapanthus" stamped a couple of times using Brilliance pearlescent pink ink;
Sentiment: Penny Black "...dreams..."(2711F);
Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House;
Tools: Martha Stewart small monarch butterfly punch.

I would also like to enter this card for

Penny Black at Allsorts (February) - Say it With Flowers

Hope you're having a great weekend, whatever you're doing.