All Things Bright And Beautiful

I always try to enter the monthly By The Cute and Girly challenge if I can, as they have both brilliant challenge themes and also fab prizes :-), but this month has just flown by what with holidays and one thing and another. However I have been confined to barracks for the past couple of days due to this stinking cold, so I thought I would make a bright and beautiful card to cheer myself up!!  I found this cute stamped Forever Friends image lying around so decided to colour the flowers using some of my new funky bright tones of Flexmarkers (I always colour fur using Copics, but I'm looking out for what new Flexmarker shades appear later to see if I can get some fur colours from Letraset too!!).

Here's the result of my efforts, which is attempting to address the theme of "bright and beautiful" in 2 ways - "each little flower that opens" (from the hymn lyrics) and bright colours (which I always find a bit scary, but I made myself do it lol!).

I also decided to use one or two neglected bits & bobs from my stash ... the flowers that teddy is holding are daisies, so I dug out some flat flowers from my stash plus some metal spacers .... not been near them for quite a while!

Recipe:

Main image: Forever Friends, coloured with Copics and Flexmarkers;

Sentiment: Craftwork Cards;

Papers: Papermania "Forever Friends - Springtime";

Supplies: pearls and spacers from The Hobby House; ribbon and daisies from my stash;

Tools: large circle, large scalloped circle nestabilities; Martha Stewart "doily lace"edge punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:

Sketch Saturday #174 - Sketch

Cute Card Thursday #184 - Animal Crackers!

Crafty Purple Frog - Lots of Layers

Deep Ocean #9 - Happy Birthday

Cupcake #161 - If You Go Down to the Woods Today ...

Sentimental Sundays #74 - Step Out of Your Comfort Zone (bright colours!)

Corrosive #133 - Punches &/or Dies

Ooh-La-La #89 - Punches / Dies

Wee Memories #69 - Patterned Paper

By The Cute & Girly (September) - All Things Bright & Beautiful

Simon Says - Anything Goes

Southern Girls #28 - Anything Goes

Sweet Stampin' - Anything Goes

Lollipop #50 - Anything Goes

Anything Goes #50 - Anything Goes

Creatalicious #26 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

That's all for now ... back tomorrow with a new Penny Black Saturday Challenge ;-)

A quick post ... and at last, a quick card

Hi everyone ... I've not been around much for the past couple of weeks, as I got back at the weekend from a late summer holiday in Rhodes :-). I managed to schedule a couple of DT posts while I was away but in my usual chaotic style I didn't manage to get ahead with everything.  We had a really wonderful holiday but now it's back to reality and with a bang ... I started sniffling yesterday and have woken up this morning with a raging earache and sore throat - not good!

..so it's a good job I got a quick card made last night before the lurgy set in!! I hadn't made any cards for a couple of weeks and to be honest I'm rather struggling with my mojo at the moment. I have bought a few new supplies such as Flexmarkers and one or two new punches and dies, but somehow I'm not feeling very inspired.

I decided to start "simple" as I had an idea for a card to fit this week's Less Is More sketch .. and here it is.

I used my new Cuttlebug cut 'n' emboss butterflies which I bought with a gift voucher I won for Joanna Sheen's store :-), and simply distressed them to try to highlight the embossing, decorated with a few pearls and mounted them on a square of vintage style paper (BasicGrey "Cappella"). Penny Black "Salutations" sentiment stamped in the corner and job done!  I think the sentiment is actually a bit too small to balance the image; but it was the right kind of sentiment in terms of content and also an appropriate vintage style font ... so I used it anyway lol!

Challenges:

Less is More #34 - Sketch

Allsorts #122 - Keep It Simple

BasicGrey #53 - Pink & Brown

Die Cut Dreams #99 - Pink, Brown & Cream

Flutterby Wednesday's #173 - Open Theme

That's all for now ... off to put my feet up and max out on Lemsips and Strepsils! When I start feeling a bit better I'll be round to visit and catch up on my commenting, and will also announce on my next Oldie But A Goodie post (next Tuesday) the winner of my OBAG blog hop candy.

Hugs,

Penny Black Saturday #169 - Friendship

Good morning all, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. the DT had a totally delicious time last week looking at all your yummy creations .. don't forget to check the main blog to see if you are a winner!!

This week we have a theme that I'm sure you'll all enjoy ...

Friendship

What's not to like about making a card for a special friend? .. and Penny Black stamps have a whole variety of images and sentiments that suit this theme so well :-) The other teamies have made some fabulous creations - do go take a peek!

Taking of sentiments ... I decided to ring the changes this week and make a sentiment stamp the focus of my card. I really like a lot of the PB sentiments, and so it was good to be able to give one prominence on my project.

I would love to be able to say this card was quick and easy to make seeing as it didn't involve any colouring of an image - but alas that wouldn't really be true lol!! I actually spent ages faffing around choosing flowers and ribbon ... I'm sure you know how it is!

Recipe:

Main image; Penny Black setiment stamp "friends matter" (4073F);

Papers: Pink Petticoat "Vintage Rose";

Supplies: All pink flowers by Sweet Lilac; white cherry blossoms and green roses from Wild Orchid Crafts; floral ribbon, pearls and pearl spray from my stash;

Tools: martha Stewart "eyelet lace" PATP and large monarch butterfly punches.

Challenges:

Simon Says - Sing It! (I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends)

Die Cut Dreams #98 - Flower Power

Everybody-Art #159 - Flowers

Papertake Weekly - Things With Wings

Paperplay 37 - Punches & Dies
Flutterby Wednesday's 171 - Open Theme
Cute Card Thursday 182 - Anything Goes
Creative Inspirations 129 - Anything Goes

Creatalicious #26 - Anything Goes

Hope you can join us this week - have a great weekend!

Happy Anniversary Darling!

This week it is my wedding anniversary .... 27 years - blimey where did the time go to?? We will be out and about on the day, so I think I'm safe in posting this card I made for my darling husband a couple of days in advance as he never looks on here!!

I struggled a bit with this as I couldn't think at first what image to use ... all the ones I have with cute couples on he has seen already, and there's only so many new stamps you can buy for one use only (maybe I'm starting to get a bit sensible at last !!??!!) Anyhow, I did have this gorgeous romantic elephant image by LotV which I bought back in May and have never inked up yet (blush!!) , so I thought that would be suitable so long as the layout and colours aren't too girly. Here's the result.

Recipe:

Main image: LotV "Blowing Bubbles" coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Sentiments: LotV sentiment circles  on front (I masked "your" to make "our"); Penny Black transparent set "Every Which Way" (inside);

Papers: Craft Creations (gingham) and Papermania "Henbury Lane" (glittered dots);

Supplies: heart buttons from my stash;

Tools: large, small, scalloped and lacy circle nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables heart dies; Martha Stewart "valentine lace heart" edge punch.

I also decorated the inside of this card to make it a teeny bit more special ...

Challenges:

Ooh-La-La #88 - Anniversary

Totally Papercrafts #83 - Cute With Buttons

Paper Sundaes #86 - Finishing Touches

Charisma #36 - Inspired By A Song

("I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles")

That's all for today .. hope everyone is having a good week :-)

Penny Black Saturday #168 - Delicious!

Good morning all - it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge! Thanks so much to everyone who joined in with scenic creations last week ... a bit lower number of entries than usual so I guess some of you struggled ... but those who managed it made a wonderful job!

This week we have a theme that we hope you'll find sweet in all senses of the word - we would like to see something

Delicious

on your projects :-) As always you  an interpret this however you choose so long as you submit a new project and we can see a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

This week's fab prize is a $20 store voucher from 1-2-3 Stitch - lovely!

Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT's deliciousness - here is mine for this week.

I actually have three or four Penny Black images that involve food (plus a couple more that involve champagne and that's also pretty delicious in my book!!) ... but I can never resist this cute mouse falling asleep in the chocolate box after over-induging!  I decided to make an easel card specifically so that I could enter a couple of additional challenges; and I added a charm so I could enter a couple more :-).  How cute is this charm??

Easels are very difficult to photograph as I'm sure we all know, and also on this one I couldn't seem to get a true colour in the dull light ... but here is closer view of the front anyway. It also seemed particularly appropriate for the image to use a big "chocolate box" bow!

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Sweet Slumber" (1916J), coloured with  mixture of Promarkers (Cinammon, Tan, Cocoa, Sandstone, Blush, Dusky Pink, Baby Pink, Cerise) and Copics (RV02, RV10, E31, E50, E51, E53)

Sentiments: Penny Black transparent sets "Salutations" (on card) and "Bubbly" (on tag);

Papers: Papermania "Forever Friends - Springtime";

Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; Papermania pink heart gems; ribbon, lace and choc bar charm from my stash;

Tools: labels ?? nestabilities; Martha Stewart "doily lace" edge punch;  Marianne D Creatables doily die; Magnolia doohickey "vintage tag".

Challenges:

CLP #40 - sketch

Top Tip Tuesday - Easel Card

Simon Says - Multi-fold Card

Birthday Sundaes #25 - Birthday Card

Crafty Purple Frog - Birthdays

Fussy & Fancy 1000 Followers - Celebrate! (2nd entry)

I ♥ Promarkers #82 - Metal Embellishment or Charm

Creative Craft - Just Charming

My Mum's - Layer It Up

Deep Ocean #7 - Hearts

Stampavie & More #151 - Pearls & Lace

Crafty Catz #99 - Ribbons

Paper Variety - Use Stamps On Your Project
Fuzzy Wuzzy (September) - Pink!

Copic Creations #57 - Pretty in Pink

Stampin' for the Weekend #16 - Tickled Pink

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Stamp Something - Anything Goes

I hope it is ok to enter for both Promarker and Copic challenges seeing as I have used both ... unusually I have listed them just to avoid confusion. I must confess I do major on Promarkers, but I have a few Copics for specific purposes such as colouring fur, and I have a couple of pink ones!! :-) 

Hope you can join us this week with your delicious creations - have a great weekend!

.... and talking of something delicious, whilst writing this post I have just had a knock ont he door, and a neighbour has handed over a package that the postie left with them this morning, containing my 24 all new Letraset flexmarker pens - YAY! Woo hoo!! (Pity the postie didn't see fit to leave a card through the door but I guess you can't have everything!)

It is Friday night now as I write this for scheduling, and I really don't know how I'm going to contain myself until tomorrow to have a play with my new toys ;-)

Oldie But A Goodie First Birthday Challenge & Blog Hop

Hi all

It's time for a new challenge over at  Oldie But A Goodie

Thanks very much to everyone who joined in our previous challenge - don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won the prize :-)

Our challenge this fortnight is

Christmas in September

And this one is quite special as it is our 1st Birthday - woo hoo!!

I can't believe we have been going for a year !!

... so to celebrate we are having a blog hop !!

All you have to do to enter is to enter a card in this fortnight's challenge at the main challenge blog, and then hop around all the lovely blogs of the DT - as well as the main blog prize everyone has a yummy candy to be won! Just leave a comment and collect a letter from each DT member.

Don't forget - in order to be eligible for any of the prizes you must use a stamp (not a digi) that is at least 6 months old - that's why we're called An Oldie But A Goodie ;-) 

You should have arrived here from  Lisa's  blog ...

... but if not and you think you are lost, please go back to the main Oldie But A Goodie blog which will point you in the right direction :-)

The letter you need from me is E

I am the last stop on the blog hop ... so you now need go back to the Oldie But a Goodie blog, and follow the instructions to email the word you have collected to Francesca - then keep your fingers crossed !! ;-)

All the DT members have a little candy to be won from amongst their commenters - this is my candy.

- Wild Rose Studio "Pickle With Sledge" (to see a card using my versions of this adorable stamp, see here)

- Back To Basics Christmas 6 * 6" paper pack

- 2 packs of Christmas poinsettas from Sweet Lilac (Crafts4U2Do)

I will pick a winner using random.org

Don't forget to take a peek at the rest of the DT's stunning Christmas creations - here's mine.

Recipe:

Main image; Sugar Nellie "Snowflake" coloured with Promarkers and dusted wtih glamour dust;

Sentiment: LotV Christmas Sentiment Circles;

Papers: Kaisercraft;

Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon and gems from my stash;

Tools: small and large circle nestabilities; Martha Stewart "Arctic Snowflake" punch and "eyelet lace" edge punch; Cuttlebug "Christmas Stars" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Sugar Bowl #66 - sketch

Stamptacular #127 - The Sky's The Limit!

A Gem of a Challenge #29 - Colour / Photo inspiration

Alphabet Challenge - P is for Pretty Pastels
Cute Card Thursday #180 - A Pinch & A Punch

I ♥ ProMarkers #81 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Hope you can join in our celebrations - time to get hopping!! :-)

Penny Black Saturday #167 - Make A Scene

Hi everyone, and welcome to the latest Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Loved all your interpretations of Nat's sketch last week - don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you've won the yummy prize from Fantastic Ribbons.

Onto this week's challenge, and this time we would like you to

Make A Scene

No ... we don't want you to fall on the floor and throw a diva-ish fit as per Kerry on Celebrity Big Brother lol! What we have in mind is more a charming scene that incorporates your PB's in a delightful manner !! :-)  Take a peek at the wonderful creations by my fellow teamies and you will soon get the idea.

This week we have fantastic prizes (you can always rely on us for that!) for 2 randomly drawn winners:

First - from Penny Black

This delightful stamp - 3905K Christmas Fairy

and second ... from The Ribbon Girl

this yummy Green Mini Ribbon Kit.

Don't forget to check the main blog for the rules if you want to be eligible for either of these delish prizes!

This was a bit of an adventure for me as it isn't something I normally do,  but here's the result of my efforts.

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Christmas Critters" transparent set, coloured with Promarkers and dusted with glamour dust;

Sentiment; Pink Gem Designs;

Paper: Craft Creations (blue snowy sky);

Tools: white pearlised card embossed with Cuttlebug "Snowflakes" folder (then ripped and edged with glamour dust); Marianne D Creatables trees (in 2 slightly different card shades to give a bit of dimension); Cuttlebug "snowflakes 2" die.

Here's a quick closeup to show some of the glamour dust  on the cute hats!

Challenges:

Penny Black at Allsorts (September) - Get Ahead for Christmas

Crafter's Companion #16 - Christmas Wishes

Rainbow Lady #168 - Emboss It

Fab 'n' Funky #88 - Go Mad With Embossing

Charisma #35 - Anything Goes

Simon Says STAMP-tember Blog Hop - Anything Goes

Passion for Promarkers #115 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

I ♥ ProMarkers #81 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Hope you can join us this week!