Penny Black Saturday #149 – Milestones

Good morning everyone – welcome to yet another long Bank holiday weekend, and it’s time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week’s Happily Ever After Challenge – there were some truly adorable and romantic entries. Don’t forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won last week’s prize.

This week the DT have very kindly allowed me to pick the theme in honour of the fact that I have a milestone birthday coming up this next week .. I am going to be 50 (yikes, when did that happen ???). So in honour of this momentous (!) occasion, this week’s theme is

Milestones

Now you could interpret this in many ways to celebrate any of life’s milestones, eg. special birthday, wedding, engagement, birth, retirement, graduation … the list of possibilities is almost endless!

Please just remember that in order to be eligible for this week’s prize you need to submit a new piece of work, with a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

And talking of prizes … this week’s prize is a 15% off lifetime discount voucher form our regular sponsor, Dick at PB Stamps

Lovely!!

The other ladies on the DT have produced a fabulous selection of cards so please do check them out – here is mine for this week.

 

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black “Unwrapped” (3693H), coloured with Promarkers;
Sentiment: computer generated;
Papers: Craft Creations (gingham) and Deja Views (alphabet);
Supplies: ribbon, lace and buttons from stash (inc. white button recycled from an old shirt);
Tools: large scalloped square nestabilities; number 1 die cut using Cuttlebug “Hippie Chick” alphabet set.

Challenges:

Papertake Weekly – Sketch #55

 

The Ribbon Girl #7 – Red, White and Blue
Crafty Cardmakers #44 – A Royal Wedding (Red, White and Blue)
Fab ‘n’ Funky #70 – Red, White and Blue
Penny Black Challenge – Bold and Bright
Top Tip Tuesday #31 – Squares
Stamptacular #108 – Pile It On (at least 5 layers)
Craft Your Passion #55 - Layers
Creative Craft – Recycling ( white button from shirt)
Simon Says Stamp and Show – Some Buttons
Simon Says – Anything Goes
Sparkles #10 – Anything Goes 
Make it Monday #34 – Anything Goes
Moving Along With The Times #96 – Anything Goes

That’s it for today … I’m off out tonight for a birthday meal with my husband so I’d better start getting ready in good time :-)

Have a great weekend.

Me To You

Good morning everyone – hope you’re enjoying the bank holiday.

Here is another card I made on Saturday using my new Tatty Teddy stamps.

It struck me straight away that these stamps are very good for “white space” crafting as that is the style of the Tatty Teddyc ards you would buy in shops; and as luck would have it this week’s Passion for Promarkers Challenge is “white on white” – how opportune! I also decided to emboss my white cardstock (which is actually VERY pearlescent, though the pic doesn’t show it very well) with spots and stripes – I used my Cuttlebug “Swiss Dots” folder for the top half of the card, and used my Martha Stewart score board to score the strips on the bottom half. So that was another two challenges done – PTW “spots and stripes” and Simon Says - “emboss it”.

Recipe:
Main image: Papermania “Me To You”, coloured with Promarkers; edges of image distressed with Tim Holtz distressing tool and blue pigment ink;
Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set “Bubbly”;
Papers: none – white pearlescent cardstock embossed and scored, and edges distressed as above;
Supplies: pearls and ribbon from my stash;
Tools: large classic oval nestabilities; Tim Holtz distressing tool.

Challenges:
Passion For Promarkers #96 – White On White
Simon Says – Emboss it!
Creative Craft - Embossing
Papertake Weekly – Spots N Stripes
Craft your Passion #54 – Use Dots
Paper Sundaes #66 – Sundae Bar (I used pearls and die cuts)
Totally Stampalicious - Food
Stamp With Stampavie #138 – Birthday
By The Cute and Girly (April) – Cute and Girly

Thanks for looking :-)

Birthday Bear With Wings

Back again with my second post for today (unusual for me!) … if you’re looking by any chance for my LIM card for this week, it’s here :-)

I sat down to make a card for this fortnight’s Wild Orchid Challenge – just in the nick of time – and decided to use this adorable LotV bear with butterflies .. there is something about this image that really melts my heart!

Recipe:
Main image: LotV “Bear and Butterflies” coloured with Copics and Promarkers and decorated with glamour dust;
Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set “Salutations”;
Papers: “From Me To You” (new Tatty Teddy range);
Supplies: cherry blossoms from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from WOC and The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;
Tools: “Labels Four” nestabilities; Leone Em “Ash branch” leaf punch.

Challenges:
Wild Orchid ~21 – Wings
Colour Create #69 – Pink, Blue and Brown
Everybody-Art-Challenge #138 – Pearls

Hope you’re enjoying the weekend.

Off Centre

Well, I guess we can all come out from behind the sofa now, as the dreaded acetate challenge over at Less is More is over lol!  This week’s challenge theme is much more amenable .. in fact I found ideas were starting to whirr around in my head as soon as i saw the challenge post :-)

I absolutely love Tatty Teddy, so I was thrilled to discover that Papermania have brought out a new range of “From me To You” stamps and accessories. I actually went into my local craft shop for something different altogether, but two stamps and a paper pad somehow fell into my basket and I had paid before I know what had gone on lol! When I got home, I knew straight away that I wanted to use one of the stamps for this week’s Less Is More theme of Off Centre – he naturally sits to one corner of the card :-)

I decided to paper piece teddy’s umbrella – I’m not sure whether it was entirely successful as the stamp has dots on it as well as the dots on the paper … but I still think it looks ok. I felt that my Whiff of Joy sentiment was perfect for this image; but the part that has made me feel really pleased with myself is the idea I had after I had already completed my image and sentiment stamping … I drew some lines of fine dots and dashes with my glue pen and dusted them with glamour dust, to create a shower of sparkling rain from the sentiment to the umbrella. I so hope that you can see it in the pics! For some reason even though I have photographed this card in bright sunlight it still looks really grey!

Now I know that Chrissie and Mandi will probably say I should lose the gems in the corners … but there is actually a  reason for them being there this week. I stamped onto very smooth cardstock so i could get a good image and use Promarkers without experiencing “bleed through”, and then mounted it onto a fine border of coloured card.  However the card is so smooth that it shows every lump and bump of the tape beneath – a bit like putting a flimsy dress on if your figure isn’t fully toned lol! I found that the teeny gems just drew the eye away from any imperfections in the cardstock mounting.  I could tell you that there is an arty reason for having my single gem in a different colour from all the rest – but actually I was one gem short and determined to go ahead anyway … so i decided to use a clear one for my single!

Recipe:
Main image: Papermania “From Me To you”, coloured with Promarkers and paper pieced with paper from same range;
Sentiment: Whiff of Joy;
Supplies: Papermania pink and clear gems.

Challenges:
Less is More #12 – Off Centre
Allsorts #100 – April Showers
Totally Gorjuss #77 – Bling It On!
ABC – S is for Sparkle

Back later with a card covered in paper / flowers / ribbons / pearls ;-)

Penny Black Saturday #148 – Happily Ever After

Good morning everyone … welcome to Easter weekend and another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Hope you have been enjoying the fabulous weather we’ve been having … let’s hope it will last over the Easter weekend!!

Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week’s challenge – wonderful Easter cards, so hopefully you will now all be completely geared up to give your Easter greetings :-) Don’t forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won last week’s adorable prize.

This week we have all been overtaken (along with much of blogland, it seems) with Royal Wedding fever, so our challenge theme isn’t really such a big surprise ….

Happily Ever After

Now this phrase is usually taken to refer to weddings, but we realise that not all of you will necessarily have got PB wedding stamps, as they have only ever made a few (I know I don’t have any!). So we have decided to be kind, and this theme can encompass any other event to do with living happily ever after, such as engagements  and anniversaries.

This week’s prize is four rolls of yummy ribbon on the winner’s choice from Fantastic Ribbons.

Please remember that in order to be eligible for this week’s prize you should submit a new project which features a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

The other ladies on the DT have produced some fabulous romantic cards – here’s mine for this week.

As i  mentioned I don’t have any PB wedding stamps although I do have several romantic hedgies, mice and cats; so I decided to make an anniversary card.

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black “You’re a Treasure” (1589F) coloured with Promarkers and roses dusted with glamour dust;
Sentiments: LotV circle sentiments and Woodware sentiments;
Papers: Pink Petticoat “Vintage Rose”;
Supplies: large and small roses and lace from Sweet Lilac (Crafts4U2Do); middle size rose from Wild orchid Crafts; Papermania pink crystal heart; velvet and organza ribbon from my stash;
Tools: Magnolia doohickey “vintage tag”; Martha Stewart “Valentine lace” edge punch; Leone Em “Ash branch” leaf punch; Spellbinders “decorative photo corners” die.

Challenges:
Spoon Full of Sugar #148 – Let’s Celebrate!
Crafts and Me #31 – Pink and Sweet
Creative Inspirations #108 – Animals / Pets
Cupcake #138 – Lots of Layers
I ♥ Promarkers #62 – Anything Goes
Top Tip Tuesday #30 – Open Theme
Create4Fun (April) – Sketch

Hope you have a great weekend and look forward to seeing your creations!

LIM – OMG!

Last week I bottled out of the Less is More challenge, ‘cos none of my sentiment stamps seemed to fit and I’m no good at generating fancy ones on the computer … so this week I just had to face my demons. But acetate ?? ACETATE??

Initially I thought I needn’t concern myself with this challenge, as I was under the impression I didn’t have any of the pesky material … but then it occurred to me that actually I once bought a pack to make a shaker card with (and what a disaster that was … the quicker we draw a veil over that little episode the better!!)

Anyhow there was nothing else for it but to get stuck in! Now I don’t go much on apertures and I don’t have many inks that can stamp onto acetate, so to my mind there was only one way to  go …  I made the most of the space on the inside of the card, and produced an acetate front cover with only a sentiment stamped on it … voila! I also used this as an opportunity to have a go with a Tim Holtz distressing technique as per his video tutorial here ... so that I could also enter this card for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.

Recipe:
Main image: various stamps from Unity set “Insightful Meadows” stamped onto a wet distressed background using Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans distress inks;
Sentiment: same set as above;
Tools: Martha Stewart “scalloped dots” edge punch.

And here’s a pic of the card open – just to prove I did actually use acetate on the front lol!!  I have to admit I had several goes before I was (vaguely) satisfied … so please Chrissie and Mandi don’t ask us to use acetate again, as I’ve not got much left now lol!!

Challenges:
Less Is More #11 – Acetate
Simon Says Stamp and Show – A Lord Tim of Holtz Technique
Pile It on #16 – Smells Like Rubber
Incy Wincy #90 – Bright and Bold
Top Tip Tuesday #30 – Open Challenge

Phew … mission accomplished! Think I need to lie down now!! 

Oldie But A Goodie #17 – Fit For A Queen / Princess

Good morning everyone, and welcome to a new Oldie But A Goodie Challenge. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to join in the fun last fortnight, but I’ve now gotten myself back into gear ready for this challenge.

Thanks as always to everyone who entered last fortnight’s Wedding or Anniversary challenge – there were some really gorgeous creations!

Anyhow, on to this fortnight’s challenge, and Lisa has chosen the theme for you … mindful of the fact that we have both the Royal Wedding and the Queen’s birthday coming up in the next two weeks, it is

Fit For A Queen or Princess

And we have a fab prize from our sponsor Die Cut Dreams – don’t forget to check out the challenge blog for full details.

Also a quick reminder – 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 really rocked this challenge and there really are loads of interpretations, including a street party theme and “little princess” birthday cards … but I have to confess that initially i hadn’t a clue what to do!!  I didn’t have anything suitable in my stash and don’t have any small children in my life, so was rather struggling. My dear friend Helen did actually send me a couple of suitable images to play with, but meantime I was naughty and ordered a set of stamps which had a particular image that I really loved. (OK, so the stamp is new to me … but it was released several years ago so I’m defining that as being ok on this one occasion ;-)  )

So here’s the result … I kinda went off the wall with this one and produced a goth fairy princess !! :-)

Recipe:
Main image: Debbi Moore Designs “Kerry Jo set 1”, coloured with Promarkers and liberally dusted with glamour dust (much more so than the picture shows!!)
Sentiment: same set as above;
Papers: Doodlebug;
Supplies: roses and gardenias by Lovely Lilac (from Crafts4U2Do), rosebuds, lace and gems from Hobbycraft;
Tools: small, large and lacy circles nestabilities.

Challenges:

Allsorts #99 – Sketch (flipped)
PaperPlay #15 – Photo Inspiration
Colour Create #68 – Pink + Black + White
Paper Sundaes #65 – Texture Paper Romance #46 – Flower Power

That’s all for today – hope you can join in with this fortnight’s Oldie But A Goodie Challenge.

Penny Black Saturday #147 – Easter Extravaganza

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  Thanks once again to everyone who entered last week’s Say It With Flowers challenge –what a frenzy of fabulous florals you came up with!! Don’t forget to check out the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner.

Anyhow, this week our challenge theme is seasonal .. yes it is

Easter Extravaganza

So it’s time to seek out those cute bunnies and chicks, spring flowers or any other suitable PB images you may have to hand. You can interpret the theme however you like, but remember that to be eligible for the prize you must submit a new piece of work that uses a Penny black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

This week’s fab prize is from our former teamie Carole, and is this gorgeous PB slapstick stamp, “Hedgehog Birthday”

 

The other ladies have made some fabulous and adorable Easter creations – here’s mine.

Recipe:
Main image: Penny  Black “Jonquils” inked with Marvey brushstroke pens;
Sentiment: See-D “Easter”;
Paper: Craft Creations;
Supplies: daffodils and pearls from Wild Orchid Crafts;  raffia lace from Hobbycraft; ribbon from my stash;
Tools: classic large ovals and large scalloped ovals nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables swirly leaf die.

Challenges:
Penny Black Blog Challenge -  flowers (use a floral PB stamp)
Creative Inspirations #107 – Easter
Die Cut Dreams #87 – Easter
Stampin’ For The Weekend #7 - Easter
Pollycraft Monday #88 – Easter
CRAFT #98 – Easter 
Daring Cardmakers – Spring Fling (Spring or Easter)
Top Tip Tuesday #29 – Spring Has Sprung
Rainbow Lady #148 – Springtime
Totally Papercrafts #62 - Springtime
Papertake Weekly – Truly Dimensional

Hope you can join us this week – looking forward to seeing your creations :-)

I Followed a tutorial …

Whilst posting a distressed card to the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog for the first time the other day, I happened to notice a thumbnail of a gorgeous card by Nona. I visited her blog and really admired the card .. . the stamp she used had caught my eye as I bought the same set a couple of weeks ago, and also I loved the techniques she used. I saw she had followed a tutorial by Shari … so I went and had a look-see.

Having seen the tutorial I just had to have a go myself … I have recently bought a small number of distress inks, and am also loving the soft wildflower style of stamping right now.

The following card is my interpretation of the tutorial – I have followed the basics but have used a different script stamp (ie the one I have in my stash  lol!) and also changed the flower stamp for a Penny Black brushstroke stamp so that I could enter it for the Penny Black blog challenge :-) Instead of a linen background stamp as used in the tutorial I used a set of distress aged marks, and stamped them both onto the image and the base card to give an aged look. This is a bit of a new direction for me but I’m liking the change.

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black “Quite Dandy” inked and misted with distress inks in Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint and Walnut Stain; matting distressed with Tim Holtz distressing tool;
Background stamping: Crafty Creations script stamp embossed with white detail powder: “Butterfly kisses” random markings stamped with antique Linen distress ink;
Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set “Salutations”;
Supplies: ribbon and pearls from my stash.

Challenges:
Simon Says Stamp and Show – Distressing (2nd entry)
Truly Scrumptious #55 - Vintage
Penny Black Blog Challenge – Flowers (use a floral stamp)
Crafters Companion #11 – Aqua and Brown
Crafts & Me #30 – Ribbon
Totally Stampalicious – Anything Goes

Hope you like it :-). I’m not sure about the card blank, and have already thought of some very subtle brown and aqua paper I have which I would use next time, but I’m quite pleased with this stamping technique for my first attempt.

Right … now this is my first ever Windows Live Writer post … looks perfect in the preview window … so here goes, fingers crossed!!

Now for something a little bit different ...

Just a very quick post today to showcase a couple of the latest crafty bits and bobs I have bought recently.

During my little crafty jaunt on Saturday to Crafts4U2Do, I just couldn't resist some fabulous glitter paper by a company called Robin's Nest. In a 12*12" sheet it really looks like a sunset sky, and is much more sparkly than the picture does justice to. I also knew straight away that I would love to do a resist technique with my recently purchased Unity "insightful meadows" stamps; so I popped a couple of suitable colour distress inks into my basket. Lastly, I could immediately visualise my image framed by my fab new nestabilities squares which I bought earlier in the week but hadn't got round to cutting out yet.

All in all this was a pretty easy card to make although very different from my ususal style - the paper and frame are so stunning that I thought they pretty much spoke for themselves and the card didn't need much else. (I never thought I would hear myself say things like that ... I think LIM-itis must be really getting hold of me - think I'll go and have a lie down lol!!)

I have also taken the opportunity to enter the Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge for the first time - it hasn't really been my kind of style up until now, but I'm liking using he distress ink sand would like to get more into it :-)

Recipe:

Main image: Unity "Insighful meadows", embossed with detail clear powder and then resist inked with "Scattered Straw" and "Marigold" distress inks;

Sentiment: Penny Black;

Paper: Robin's Nest;

Supplies: ribbon and pearls from my stash;

Tools: Fleur-de-Lys square nestabilities.

Challenges:

CES #31 - Monochromatic

One Stop Craft Challenge #126 - Monochrome

The Stamp Man - Embossing

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Distressing

Thanks for looking :-)

Magical pearls and swirls

Well I had a brilliant day out yesterday. For quite a while I have been getting friendly online with the lovely Katina, and we had been meaning to meet up since last autumn at Port Sunlight craft fair. However Katina wasn't well that day, and since then time has flown by and we have never managed to meet up ... until now :-) We both live in different parts of Liverpool, and I had the idea of us going on a little jaunt to a large craft shop with coffee shop I know in St Helens called Crafts4u2do, so we could chat over coffee and cake and get to know each other.

Woke up yesterday morning with the sun cracking the flags, so it was a perfect day for a litle drive. We met late morning and before we knew it we were chatting for England over tea and chocolate cake (which Katina INSISTED on buying despite my protests .. thanks hun :-) We have both had a few trials and tribulations recently but it didn't feel at all awkward talking about what's happening in our lives, and time flew by.

Eventually we thought we ought to have a look around the craft shop and we certainly weren't disappointed. I hadn't been over there for about six months and was very impressed with their new stock - especially their own new range of flowers which could give well known online flower retailers a run for their money!! Katina was very good as she is trying to save at the moment and only had a very moderate spend ... I didn't get too carried away, but quite a few of the flower packs did fall into my basket along with some lace, card, a couple of distress inks and just the one rubber stamp.

By the time I got home mid-afternoon I was in cheerful mood, having made not only a few new craft purchases but also hopefully a new friend :-) The whole thing put me right in the mood for crafting, so I made a couple of cards in the late afternoon and evening - here's one of them which I made for a few challenges.

Recipe:

Main image: LotV "Freedom" coloured with Promarkers and decorated with Glamour Dust;

Sentiment: free with craft magazine;

Papers: BasicGrey "two scoops";

Supplies: yellow roses by Sweet Lilac (from Crafts4U2Do); other flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; lace and ribbon from my stash;

Tools: small, large and lacy circles nestabilties; Marianne D Creatable swirly leaf die; Magnolia doohickey "vintage tag" die; Cuttlebug "swirls" embossing folder.

Challenges:

BasicGrey #41 - More Than One Fold

Magical Mondays #19 - Magical Pearls and Swirls

Anything Goes #38 - Pearls

Passion for Promarkers #94 - Yellow and Pink

Simon Says - Spring Colours (2nd entry)

Crafty Pad #116 - Spring Is in the Air

Flutterby Wednesday's #149 - Open Theme with Butterfly, Fairy or Angel

Dream Valley #4 - Things With Wings (2nd entry)

Freshly Brewed (April) - Flowers

Stamptacular #106 - Girls and Swirls

Back tomorrow with another very different card I made with a couple more of my new purchases :-)

Penny Black Saturday #146 - Say It With Flowers

Good morning all, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks very much to everyone who rocked Domi's sketch last week - don't forget to check the main prize blog to see if you are a winner. I'm still struggling mightily with blogger and my recent attempt to install Windows Live Writer crashed and burned ... so I'll get straight to business ...

This week's theme is

Say It With Flowers

Easy peasy!!

And we also have a fantastic prize as always - this week it is a $20 online store voucher from our sponsor 1-2-3 Stitch.

Do check out the other ladies' lovely floral arrangements - here is my card for this week.

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Hedgehog Bouquet" (1444K) coloured with Promarkers;

Sentiment: Craftwork Cards;

Papers: Papermania "Forever Friends - Springtime";

Supplies: flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: large circles and lacy circles nestabilities; Martha Stewart "wild flowers" PATP edge punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:

Wild Orchid Challenge #20 - Sketch (flipped horizontally)

Crafty Pad #115 - Flowers

Paper Sundaes #63 - Spring Blossoms

PaperPlay #14 - Critters Galore

Creative Inspirations #106 - Punches & Dies

Pollycraft #87 - Old / Neglected stamp

Corrosive #110 - Pastel Colours

Craft your Passion #52 - Anything Goes

Hope you can join us this week - look forward to seeing what you create :-)

Duckling and daffs

I decided I needed to get a wriggle on if I were to get a reasonable amount of Easter cards ready in time now that the season is looming up on us, and I felt inspired by the couple of sunny days we've had plus the lighter nights since the clocks went forward last weekend.

I absolutely love this Penny Black duck - I've had him a long time but he still always makes me smile, and of course think of spring.

Recipe: Main image: Penny Black "Duckling" (3347H), coloured with Promarkers; Sentiment: Penny Black; Papers: Papermania "Forever Friends - Springtime" (I've actually bought two packs of this paper, I love it so much!!) Supplies: pearls from the Hobby House; ribbon and small silk daffs from my stash; Tools: Martha Stewart "woodland bough" edge punch (just seen); "Decorative corners" Shapeabilities.

Challenges:

I followed this week's sketch for Sketch Saturday #149

Dutch Dare #107 - Spring Has Sprung

Simon Says - Spring Colours / Easter

I ♥ ProMarkers #60 - Easter

Everybody-Art-Challenge #136 - Easter

Stamp With Fun #105 - Easter

Ooh-La-La #77 - Happy Easter

The Pink Elephant #97 - Easter

Dream Valley #4 - Things With Wings

Crafts and Me #29 - Glitter

Spoon Full of Sugar #146 - At Least Two Different Textures

(glitter card and silk flowers)

My Partner in Crafting Crime #24 - Layer it Up

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

The Crazy Challenge #61 - Just Add Flowers

Still keeping the posts short as blogger is still runing all my text together unless I put all my div separators in manually. I'm looking to maybe install Windows Live Writer soon, in which case I will be able to get back to my chatty self :-)