I ♥ Promarkers #105 - Time

Good morning - yet again the week is flying by and it's time for another I ♥ Promarkers Challenge. Thanks for all your stunning nature cards last week, and don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won.

This week our challenge theme is

Time

and we are sponsored by Crafty Emma's Store, with a fabby £10 online store voucher - woo hoo!

Don't forget, to be eligible for this yummy prize you need to follow the challenge theme with a new piece of work where you have coloured your image using any of Letraset Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Tria pens.

The other DT members have come up with some fabulous examples which I'm sure will inspire you. Here's my card for this week.

As you can see I've gone a bit lateral with this one as I didn't have any clocks or anything like that ... it is all focussed on the stamp with the wording "springtime" :-)  Once again this week I have used quite a few of the new Spring 2012 limited edition colour Promarkers for the bunny, daffodils and grass; though I have also added a few other pens into the mix this time!

Stamps: LotV bunny from Cut and Colour stack free with this month's Papercraft Inspirations magazine; Penny Black "spring magic" (????);

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; tag distressed with TH "shabby shutters" distress ink;

Papers: Forever Friends "Spring Time";

Supplies: flowers and pearls from Wild Orchid Crafts; sparkly ribbon and lace from my stash;

Tools: classic large oval and large scalloped oval nestabilities; Martha Stewart "woodland  branch" edge punch; magnolia "vintage tag" die; Crafts Too "Sweet Flowers" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Sunday Sketch & Stamp #94 - sketch

Paper Pretties Monday - Spring

The Cuttlebug Spot - Spring Is In The Air

Crafts & Me #72 - Shades Of Spring

Paperplay #7 - Critters

Truly Scrumptious #74 - All Creatures Great & Small

PCJ #3 - Make It Cute!

Totally Gorjuss #119 - Lace

Sweet Stampin' - Choose 3 In A Row 

(Lace / Ribbon / Pearls)

Forever Friends - Ribbons & Lace

DYSU #59 - Layers

Southern Girls #38 - So Distressed

Simply Create Too #7 - Add Sunshine To Your Day

Crafty Catz #120 - Favourite Things

(flowers, lace, ribbon ....)

Thanks for visiting today and hope you will be able to join in this week.

 

And now for something completely different with Papertake Weekly

Hello everyone ... I've been missing in action the past few days as I somehow got myself very tired and bit behind with everything ... but here I am now with my third GDT card for the lovely Papertake Weekly. Thanks so much to everyone who entered last week's challenge - fab interpretations as always.

This week we are sponsored by The Ribbon Girl, 

and have another fab theme for you ...

Get Krafty!

Yes ... we would like to see some kraft card or paper somewhere on your project. 

Initially I didn't have a clue where to start with this, as I have never used kraft card before and wouldn't even know where to buy any (at least, not a small amount to start me off lol!!). However after quite a bit of mulling over how I could tackle this I had a bit of a brainwave, and bought me a plain kraft gift bag from Paperchase to decorate :-).

So here it is decorated ... something totally new for me!

I soon discovered that decorating a gift bag poses its own challenges ... the surface is quite BIG (19cm * 22.5cm) ... so a lot of images and embellishments can look teeny and get rather lost! I deliberately chose this LotV image (not a stamp I own, but part of the fab giveaway image stack in this month's Papercraft Inspirations magazine) because the little girl's face is rather large and so doesn't completely disappear in this environment! 

I was also able go use some felt butterflies which had lain dormant as they seemed too big for normal cards; and some large flowers which had been hiding in my stash waiting for this very occasion lol! Last but not least I was able to really go to town with the largest size bow on my Bow-Easy !!

Here's the back of the bag ....

Another challenge was how to decorate the back when it has a sharp crease for folding the bag flat. I got round this by just having a central panel so that there would only be one layer of paper slightly overlapping the crease ... no bulk to stop it from folding properly. I've had this Penny Black sentiment for several years and never used it before but i did think it was perfect for this project!

Stamps: LotV (from Papercraft Inspirations colouring stack); Penny Black "A Hug is..." (2969K);

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: Me To You "Spring Chic";

Supplies: Papermania "Henbury Lane" felt butterflies; pearls and large pearl brad from The Hobby house; flowers and ribbon from my stash;

Tools: small, large and lacy circle nestabilities; Martha Stewart "floral vine" deep edge punch; Cheery Lynn "Fanciful Flourish" die.

Challenges:

Fun With Shapes & More #103 - Package

Whimsy #26 - Anything But A Square Card

Anything Goes #61 - Altered Projects
Totally Papercrafts #104 - Ribbons &/or Bows

Divas By Design #22 - Wings & Things

Sparkles #29 - Things With Wings

Fabulous Friday - Brads &/or Eyelets

Secret Crafter #173 - Bingo! 

(swirls / flowers / pearls)

Cute Card Thursday #204 - Flower Power

Craft Us Crazy #21 - Favourite Colour / Favourite Embellishment

(pink / pearls)

CES #73 - Spots & Dots (dotty paper)

Sentimental Sundays #90 - Let's Get Sentimental 

(back of bag)

Allsorts #142 - Anything Goes

Penny's Paper Crafty #73 - Anything Goes

That's all for today - have a great week and happy krafting lol!

 

I ♥ Promarkers #104 - with new Spring 2012 limited edition colours!

Good morning everyone, and welcome to the latest I ♥ Promarkers challenge. Thanks for all your fabulous  entries for last week's Love & Kisses Challenge .. you were all obviously loved up, so don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner or top 3!

This week's challenge is

Nature

and we are sponsored by Stampeezee

who are offering a £10 online store voucher :-) for one lucky randomly drawn winner.

The challenge theme has given me the perfect opportunity to showcase for all you Promarker lovers my brand new Letraset Spring 2012 Limited Edition Promarker set ... it is filled with fabulous spring colours of nature - Daffodil Bloom, March Hare, Morning Mist, Fresh Meadow, Budding Rose and April Shower.  I bought my set  as soon as they went online and set myself the challenge of colouring my image for this week's card just using the new colours. Here's the result ...

Now I must say that the bear is not exactly the colour I would usually pick, but overall I think this image illustrates that the new set is very pretty and versatile ... the colours all have a really soft vintagey look. The only colours I used apart from the new Limited Edition set were a little Antique White flexmarker on the bear's face and tummy, a tiny bit of cool grey 1 Promarker on his specs, and the blender. I also distressed the edges of my image by smudging with a little blue ink to soften, and matting onto deckle-cut card.

Stamps: LotV "butterfly bear"; Whimsy Friendship Ticket stamps;

Media: Promarkers, Flexmarker,
Papers: Prima "Botanicals";
Supplies: yellow roses from Sweet Lilac; other flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; ribbon, lace and pearls from my stash;
Tools: Martha Stewart "garden trellis" edge punch; X-Cut small butterfly punch.

Challenges:

Charisma #5 - Things With Wings
Flutterby Wednesdays #190 - Anything With Wings
Crafty Creations #157 - Warm & Cuddly Teddy Bears
Oldie But A Goodie - Lace
Stamptacular #151 - Pearls + Lace
Paper Sundaes #107 - Cream + Blue + Distressing + Pearls
Passion For Promarkers #136 - Distressing
Crafty Purple Frog - Flower Power
Paper Pretties Monday #26 - Use Flowers
Simon Says Stamp & Show - Anything Goes

That's all for today... hope you find time to join us. Don't forget to check out all my teamies' beautiful cards over on the main I ♥ Promarkers blog.

Hugs

Papertake Weekly GD card #2

Good afternoon everyone .... and welcome to another challenge at Papertake Weekly. Thanks so much for the fantastic response to last week's Anything Goes challenge - we were overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of the entries!

This week we have a fab colour combo for you .... it is

Black & White & Red All Over

and we are sponsored by the lovely Whiff of Joy - please see the main blog for details of the fabby prize :-)

Now I have to say when I first saw this colour combo I was rather quaking in my boots, as it is soooo out of my comfort zone ... but I had a little think and I surprisingly soon got into it - here's the result.

I immediately thought of this adorable LotV teddy as I had used him once before in a totally monochrome card ... so I thought I could give him a red tie to bring him into line with the challenge. Also having discovered digi papers for the first time, I decided to invest in a set of gingham papers as they are so versatile ... and I was already picturing teddy sitting on some black gingham along with the red gingham "Portobello Road" paper I already had close to hand. This was quite a simple card really but hopefully suitable for a male friend's birthday.

Stamps: LotV "Cheers Bear" and birthday sentiment circle;

Media: Promarkers;

Papers: Pink Petticoat black gingham; Papermania "Portobello Road" red gingham;

Supplies: gingham ribbon from local market and card candi from my stash;

Tools: small, large and lacy circle nestabilities; Martha Stewart "iron gate" edge punch; Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Hotshot Crafts #4 - One For The Boys

Kaboodle #106 - Where The Boys Are
Creative Card Crew - Masculine
Secret Crafter #172 - Red + White + Black + Texture

Paper Pretties Wednesday #192 - Texture

The Stamp Man - Texture
Crafty Pad #157 - The Letter B (Bear, Beer, Birthday)

CES #72 - Three or More Layers

Allsorts #141 - Free & Easy February

Scrapbook Sisters #70 - Anything Goes

Craft Us Crazy #20 - Anything Goes

Have a great week and hope you can join us !
Hugs

 

Puppy Love

Hello everyone - freezing cold working week over at last, so it's time to snuggle down in your wooly jim jams and fluffy slippers, and get stuck in to this weekend's Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  Thanks to everyone who joined in last week's  CASE it challenge - it's always fascinating to see the fantastic takes on someone else's card :-)

Before we get onto this week's challenge we have some great news .. the lovely Ali is rejoining the DT - woo hoo  and welcome back hun!! So you're all in for a treat :-)

There could only really be one theme this week, couldn't there ?? and it's

Love & Kisses

mwah!

We are sponsored this week by 1-2-3 Stitch

who are offering a $20 voucher for their online store ... so love and kisses to them too :-). Don't forget to be eligible for this week's prize, you should submit a new piece of work which features a PB image stamp, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

Now I had already made my husband's Valentine's card, not to mention an anniversary card for my mum & dad, so I was running a bit short of romantic themed occasions ... so I just had to make my husband a cheeky little extra card - and here it is!

In comparison with his main  8" * 8" card (posted on Wednesday here) this one is absolutely TEENY as it is C6 - I've really gone from one extreme to the other lol!! I think I may hide this one for him in his paperwork or something.  I think this is also one of my simplest and quickest cards ever - to be honest I haven't had a lot of time this week!

Stamp: Penny Black puppy from transparent set "Critter Party";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Paper: Pink Petticoat "French Script - Crimson" from "Old Fashioned Girl" set;

Supplies:  Pink Petticoat digi sentiment printed straight onto card as above; lack rub on letters by Doodlebug; Papermania heart gems (coloured with Promarker to make them dark red);

Tools: classic heart nestability.

Challenges:

Forever Friends (February) - Valentine
Crafty Catz #119 - Valentine
Paper Shelter #50 - Be My Valentine
CRAFT #141 - Valentine's Day

My Craft Spot #43 - Valentine's Day
Divas By Design #21 - Love Is in The Air

Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge #72 - Love Is in The Air
Crafty Ann's #58 - Love Is in The Air
Crafting For All Seasons #20 - Love Is In The Air
Simon Says - Love Is In The Air (2nd entry)

My Mum's Craft Shop - It Must Be Love

Whimsy #25 - Love Theme
PaperPlay #6 - Love Letters
Deep Ocean #18 - Love You!
DYSU #58 - Love

Delightful Challenges - Love
Everybody Art #179 - Love
Stamp With Stampavie #162 - Love
Totally Gorjuss #118 - Lurve!
Rainbow Lady #191 - Have A Heart
Fussy & Fancy #56 - With All My Heart

Sweet Stampin' - Clean & Simple

MAWTT #135 - Cute Critters

Have a great weekend .. can't wait to see your loved-up creations :-)
 

I ♥ Promarkers #103 - Love Is In The Air

Good morning - hope you're all keeping warm and ready for this week's challenge at I ♥ Promarkers. Thanks so much to everyone who entered last week's picture inspiration challenge - fab interpretations!

This week we are getting all lovey dovey, with a theme of

Love Is In The Air

Ideal for Valentine's Day, but also for spring anniversaries, weddings or any other love-related occasion you may have in mind. 

This week's prize is a fabby £10 online store voucher for Joanna Sheen.

Don't forget to be eligible you need to submit a new project you have coloured using Letraset Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Tria pens.

The rest of the DT are clearly loved-up this week as they have made some fabulous samples - do check them out. Here's my Valentine card for my darling husband.

This is another 8" * 8" card - for the last few years all the cards I have given him have been a tad smaller than those I received from him; so I have of course been trying to convince him that my cards are small but perfectly formed lol!! I think he's going to be a bit surprised when he sees this!

Someone commented on yesterday's 8" square card that it must be huge and indeed that is true - originally I thought it would be about 1/3 bigger than the normal 5.5" square; but when I actually thought about it logically I realised that the surface area is 400cm2 as opposed to  just over 210cm2 on a normal sized card - so it's nearly twice as big!!

This card has a few new things on it for me (apart from the Memory Box die, that is!!) ... it is the first time I have  bought a digi kit and used both a digi image and printed papers. I had to google what type of paper to print my backing paper onto, but it seemed to work fine. I don't think I will be printing papers as a rule as I guess they would hammer the ink cartridges, but it's nice to  have the option :-)

I have also gone for a bit of a different "look" in terms of colouring - a stronger more graphic look rather than shading with multiple pens - I just thought it worked better with the very simple line image and simple colour scheme of the papers.

Here's a view of the inside of the card ... with the kit it was so easy to get it all co-ordinated!

Stamps, and sentiments: all from Pink Petticoat digi kit "Old Fashioned Girl";

Papers: cream papers from Pink Petticoat as above; black paper by  Bo Bunny;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Supplies: ribbon from stash;

Tools: Martha Stewart "Valentine lace" edge punch; Memory Box heart edge die; classic heart nestability.

Challenges:

Ooh-La-La #98 - Be My Valentine

Dream Valley #25 - Valentine

PTT #54 - Valentine's

Top Tip Tuesday #69 - Valentine's

Sweet Stampin' - The One I Love

OSCC #168 - For The One I Love

Simon Says - Love Is In The Air
Creative Inspirations #149 - Lots of  Love
Bling It On (February) - Love Is All Around

Allsorts #140 - Free & Easy February

That's all for today - hope you can join us for this week's challenge :-)

 

Papertake Guest DT spot - woo hoo!!

Good afternoon all - I'm really excited today, as I got an email from the lovely Dawny a couple of weeks ago asking me if  I would like to be a guest designer on Papertake Weekly for the month of February - errr... would I ?? PTW has long been one of my favourite challenges so I definitely didn't need asking twice !! :-)

So here I am with the first of four weekly cards .... as the challenge goes live at lunchtime I am scheduling this for while I'm at work with my nose to the grindstone!  This week the challenge theme is

Anything Goes

with the option of

 Love Theme or Add a Heart 

... and we are sponsored by the fabulous Lili of the Valley ... please do check out the challenge blog for full details :-)

I haven't had any sneaky peeks of the DT's efforts for this week  but I'm sure they will all be fabulous as they always are - here is what I did.

I'll have to beg your indulgence over the unusually large number of pics of this ... but I really did go to town, creating my first ever 8" * 8" card - and not only that, I took the opportunity to take full advantage of my extra large Martha Stewart PATP so I turned it into an 8" * 8" easel!

This is my mum and dad's wedding anniversary card - they will have been married for 59 years next month, so I thought they deserved for me to make a bit of an effort lol! Their anniversary being in March is also quite handy for me as there are always so many love themes around at this time of year ... and how many Valentine cards does a girl need ?? (!!)

Stamps: LotV "Love Grows"; swirly edge stamp by Whiff of Joy; LotV sentiment circles;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: DCWV "Linen Closet";
Supplies: flowers, lace and seam binding all by Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House;

Tools: small, large and lacy circles and classic hearts nestabilities; Martha Stewart "wildflowers" PATP punch; Crafts Too "Sweet Flowers" embossing folder.

Challenges:

By The Cute & Girly (February) - Love Is In The Air

Joanna Sheen (February) - Love Is In The Air

Crafty Purple Frog - Show Us Some Love
Crafty Calendar (February) - Love & Marriage (+ optional lace & pearls)

Truly Scrumptious #73 - Love & Hearts

MAWTT #134 - Have a Heart

PB & More At Allsorts (February) - Colour Bingo

(turquoise / cream / brown ... I have actually used multiple aqua-ish shades - hope it qualifies!!)

Crafter's Companion #21 - Anything Goes

Pretty Little Ribbon #7 - Anything Goes

Hope you can join us this week - thanks for visiting today.

 

Penny Black Saturday #187 - CASE it

Hello everyone, I'm running late again today with the latest Penny Black Saturday Challenge ... not because the card wasn't made this time, but because I forgot to take it to work yesterday to photograph in daylight, and it was dark by the time I got home ...doh!

Anyhoo, here I am at last with this week's challenge. It is the first week of the month so it's time for our new regular monthly feature, which is to CASE a card chosen by a member of the DT. This month it's the lovely Debby, to this week's challenge is to

CASE the following card by Debby

Now Debby always makes a fabby card and this one is no exception .... will you be influenced by the puddy cat, idea of flying through the air, colours, grass and sky?? Can't wait to see what you create.

This week we have two fabby prizes as well for randomly drawn winners ...

Firstly from Penny  Black

This adorable teddy stamp - 4079K Teddy's Party

Secondly from The Ribbon Girl

This yummy green mini ribbon kit.

So what are you waiting for? Don't forget to be eligible for either prize you need to submit a new piece of work featuring a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

As always the rest of the DT have made some stunning interpretations - here's mine.

I decided to go with the idea of grass and sky, but I wanted to play with the gingham papers in my new Me To You "Spring Chic" pad ... so I used the aqua and green, and also tied in the pink for the flowers  and butterfly :-). I also liked the idea of a cute creature in flight, and found this darling image which was sent to me forever ago by my dear bud Samantha. I also fancied a fence but alas I ain't got any dies like that (yet!!) so I  settled for a garden trellis ;-)

Last but not least I had to get a cloud in and so decided to sit one on top of my gingham sky ... I don't have any cloud dies (once again - yet!! ;-)) so I tried something new - I hand drew one and cut it out - eek!  I was going to use a pink bow too, but alas my narrow pink ribbon which I had already stuck across the card just wouldn't behave itself!!

Stamp: Penny Black "Frequent Flyer" (2070K);

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on dandelion clock;

Papers: Me To You "Spring Chic";

Supplies: sentiment by Craftwork Cards; ribbon and gems from my stash;

Tools: Martha Stewart "garden trellis" edge punch; X-Cut flower punch and butterfly punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch; Cuttlebug "D'vine Swirls" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Simon Says - Animal Antics

Fun With Shapes & More #102 - Birthday

Whimsy #24 - Make Your Own Flowers

ABC - I Is For In Pairs (2 flowers)

Creative Craft - Bingo

(ribbon / pink / gems)

Flutterby Wednesday #188 - Open

Divas By Design #20 - Anything Goes

DYSU #57 - Anything Goes

Have a great weekend - keep warm and carry on crafting :-) Look forward to seeing your creations.