Hearts and flowers

Although I am a huge fan of their cute hedgies, teddies and meeces, I also really love Penny Black brushstroke flowers. I hadn't used one for quite a while so decided to ink up the beautiful and very versatile "blush" stamp ... or rather watercolour up, as I used various shades of Marvey brushstroke marker (how long is it since I got them out of their packet??) to produce a soft impressionist effect.

I followed the sketch for this fortnight's BasicGrey Challenge #29 - I did employ rather a lot of "artistic licence" with the shapes for the different elements of the sketch as I was stuck on using the heart doily which has been sitting in my stash since I received it as a birthday RAK from Paula :-). So I hope it's ok for the challenge!! Still, it also gave me opportunity to break out my heart shaped nesties which have been sitting naughtily unused in my stash for quite a while!

I would also like to enter this card for the following:

A Pocket Full of Posies #7 - Lavender & Old Lace
Challenge Up Your Life #28 - Lace & pearls
CRAFT #70 - Fancy Floral
Creative Card Crew - Bloomin' Marvellous

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Blush" (2666K) stamped twice and coloured with Marvey brushstroke markers;
Sentiment: Penny Black "Happy Birthday" (2912D);
Papers: BasicGrey "Wisteria";
Supplies: Papermania lilac flowers; large pearl brads, pearls, lilac ribbon and lace from my stash; heart doily was an RAK from Paula;
Tools: classic hearts nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables "leaf swirl" die.

Just time before I go for a quick sneaky peek of this week's card for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge - don't forget to join us then :-)

Say it with flowers

I have had this adorable LotV kitty stamp for about two months now, but shame on me I haven't made a card with it until now. But this week there are a number of flowery challenges for which I thought this image was just perfect (or should I say purrfect!)

I followed the great sketch for this fortnight's Lili of the Valley Challenge #53 ...

... and would also like to enter this card for

Papertake Weekly - Say It With Flowers
Sir Stampalot May Challenge - Butterflies and blossoms
Cupcake #91 - Blooming Charming
C.R.A.F.T. #51 - Birthday / celebrations
Charisma #20 - 3D (2nd entry)

Here's a closeup of the charm I used .. it's one of my favourites. I'm also really loving the Papermania paper pads this season ... I can't decide which one to pick up first lol!!


... and here's a closeup of my flowers. Nope the rose isn't from Wild Orchid Crafts - it's actually from Hobbycraft!

Recipe:
Main image: LotV "Thomas - Big Bunch of Flowers", colorued with Promarkers;
Sentiment: See-D "Celebration messages";
Papers: Papermania "Rose Garden";
Supplies: rose and blossoms from Hobbycraft; pearls from The HobbyHouse; charm from Bunny Zoe's Crafts;
Tools: "Labels Four" nestabilities; Martha Stewart "Valentine Lace" edge punch and small "monarch butterfly" punch.

Penny Black Challenge #94 - Butterflies & bees

Hello and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks to everyone who played along last week with Carole's fab sketch, and don't forget to check the challenge blog to see if you have been randomly picked as our winner.

This week our thoughts are turning once more to spring themes, so our challenge is

butterflies & bees

Yes ... we would like to see at least one butterfly or bee (or both!!) on your creation. Don't worry if you don't have any PB images of these flying creatures - you can always use a punch, patterned paper or anything else you can think of that depicts a butterfly or bee - so long as you follow the one golden rule of having a Penny Black image on your creation too :-)

This week we have another fab prize for you from our regular sponsor, Dick at PB stamps - which is a lifetime 15% discount for his online store. With what is probably the largest stock of PB stamps in the world, that's a brilliant prize for all PB lovers!

The DT have all been as busy as bees ;-) making their gorgeous samples, so hope you will visit them and check them out. Here's mine .... this theme gave m a perfect opportunity to crack on with my Easter cards.

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Bees & Bunny" (2305H) which was an RAK from Cathy - coloured with watercolour pencils;
Sentiment: Penny Black "Happy Easter" (2855D);
Papers: Papermania (background), BasicGrey "Oh! Baby Girl" - Hannah (discontinued) (panels);
Supplies: flower - Woodware; large pearl brad and green sparkly gems by Paper Company Studio; large spacer from The Hobby House; floral ribbon and small pearls from my stash;
Tools: large circle, large classic scalloped circle, large oval and large classic scalloped oval nestabilities; Martha Stewart butterfly punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.


I followed the sketch over at this week's Creative Inspirations #53

and would also like to enter this card for the following other challenges ...

Simon Says - Easter with Glimmer (I have used glitter card for my butterflies, plus sparkly gems and a shiny pearl brad)
C.R.A.F.T. #43 - Easter
Paper Play #12 - Easter
Fussy & Fancy #7 - Easter
Charisma Cardz #12 - Spring has Sprung
Cute Card Thursday #105 - Dimensions (I have used fluttering butterflies and layered flower with a big spacer)

ABC Design - Spring is in full bloom

Colour Create #41 -Your choice of pastels + Spring or Easter
Flutterby Wednesday #102 - fairy, butterfly or angel
BasicGrey #16 - tutti frutti (I have used orange, lemon & lime colours, with an obscure discontinued BG paper).

Looking forward to all your creations :-)

Penny Black Challenge #92 - Spring Colours

Wow another week has flown by, and it's time already for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks to everyone who entered last week's easel card challenge - there were some amazing creations. Don't forget to check if you are the lucky winner of last week's prize.

This week our thoughts are turning to spring ...... I keep thinking that surely it must be round the corner now that Easter is nearly here?? So this week's challenge is to create a project using

Spring colours

Now I have interpreted that as yellow and green, but of course you can interpret it however you like so long as you use a Penny Black stamp or sticker somewhere on your creation.

This week we have a fab prize from our regular sponsor

which is a $20 spending spree in their online store - nice!

Here's my card .... I decided to go for an image and colours that would work for Easter .... and I felt that this wonderful "Spring" sentiment worked so well with the magical image of the butterfly on bunny's nose!

As I've had no crafting time this past week apart from producing DT cards I did my best to also tie this card in with a few other challenges:

Stamp With Fun #49 - Spring
Stampin' B's #49 - Spring
Tanda Teaser #137 - Simply Spring
Rosie D's #66 - Think Spring

By the Cute & Girly - Spring is in the air
Sassy Susie's #10 - Easter
CRAFT #41 - Citrus

There She Goes #45 - Yellow Spring Flowers
Charisma Cardz #10 - Beautiful butterflies
Flutterby #100 - butterfly, fairy or angel
Magical Crafts #10 - Things with Wings
Aimee's Challenge #3 - Things with Wings
Cupcake #81 - Flower Power
Creative Inspirations #51 - Charms
Papercutz #32 - Anything Goes!

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Bunny Bath" (3616J) coloured with watercolour pencils;
Sentiment: Penny Black "Spring Magic" (2852C);
Papers: Crafty Creations;
Supplies: pearl brad, pearl gems and spacer from The Hobby House; raffia ribbon from Hobbycraft; butterfly print ribbon, flowers and enamel charm from my stash;
Tools: large classic scalloped rectangle and large classic scalloped square nestabilities; Crafts Too "butterflies" embossing folder.

Hope you will call by the other DT members' blogs as spring has really sprung with all their fab efforts! Look forward to seeing all your crafty creations :-)

Penny Black Challenge #91 - easel card

Woo hoo its Saturday, so it's time again for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. It was fabulous to see last week's interpretations of Carole's fabulous sketch - don't forget to pop over the the challenge blog to check if you have won last week's prize.

This week we have another great challenge - we would like you to make an

easel card

The only other rule is that you need to use a Penny Black image or sticker somewhere on your creation.

This week we have another great prize from our regular sponsor Clair at

- an SU corner rounder punch.

The DT has been busy making some really gorgeous creations - hope you will pop over to their blogs and check them out. We also have a brilliant new guest designer for March - Nadine - so please do go and say hello!

I really love easel cards as they are so easy to make and give you a bit more "display" area than a standard card .... so I have taken the opportunity to make my mum's Mother's Day card.

I would also like to enter this card for the following challenges:

Simon Says - Mother's Day
C.R.A.F.T. #40 - Mother's Day / Flowers
Totally Papercrafts #6 - Mother's Day / Special Lady
Magical Crafts #9 - Something for Mum
My Time to Craft #81 - Just for Mum
Lili of the Valley #48 - Easel Card
Kaboodle Doodles #25 - Fancy Folds
Stamp Something - Something Girly
Crafty Calendar #6 - Flower Power

Spoon Full of Sugar #93 - beads (hope the little pearl beads on the flower stamens count ... they're all I've got lol!)

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Wind Caressed" (3818J) heat embossed wtih detail gold powder and coloured with Cosmic Shimmer paints;
Sentiments: peel offs and Cuttlebug "Hippie Chick" alphabet lettering;
Papers: BasicGrey "Wisteria";
Supplies: roses from Hobbycraft decorated with stickles; large pearl brads from The Hobby House; floral ribbon and flowers with pearl bead stamens from my stash;
Tools: Fiskars paper trimmer "deckle" blade; Martha Stewart "doily lace" edge punch.

Looking forward to seeing all your creations and have a great weekend :-)

Penny Black #90 - sketch by Carole

Welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge - it was wonderful to see everyone's entries last week using the scrummy colour theme - the spring-like colours were a welcome relief from the awful weather we've been having ..... is winter never going to end?? One lucky entrant will have won last week's randomly drawn prize, so why not hop on over to the challenge blog to see if it's you??

This week we're ringing the changes with a sketch designed by Carole ... and it was really fab to work with.

The other DT members have come up with some brilliant interpretations which I hope you will check out - here's mine.

Perhaps I should say that the little flowers are actually lilac/blue and a lilac/pink glitter card - not as bright blue as they look in the pic!!

Recipe:
Main image; "Raining Daisies" (?????) which was an RAK from my lovely friend Kaz, coloured with watercolour pencils and Marvey markers, and the edges distressed with lilac ink;
Sentiment: Whiff of Joy;
Papers: unknown - offcuts from my stash;
Supplies: Papermania shimmer dots in lilac and purple, and Papermania "sparkly trims" ribbon;
Tools: "peony" nestabilities; X-cut small flower punch; Dovecraft floral border punch.

I also made this card for the following challenges:

Just Cute Bears #5 - Lilac ... in fact I specifically chose the image and papers so i could enter this one :-)
Paper Sundaes #6 - distressing ... I have lightly distressed my image edges with lilac ink.
C.R.A.F.T #39 - ribbons & sparkle ... well I've got sparkly ribbon as well as shimmer dots so hope that qualifies!
Cute Card Thursday #101 - Ribbon-tastic
Raise the Bar #7 - 3's company (I have used 3 papers)

As always the PBSC has got a fantastic prize for one lucky randomly chosen winner ... this week it is a lifetime 15% discount voucher from the wonderful Dick at

So what's not to like?? Looking forward to seeing your creations, and have a great weekend!