Penny Black Saturday #123 - Sketch!

Welcome to this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge - the past week has just flown by! Thanks to everyone who entered last week's 2 or more images challenge - there were some fab imaginative ways of putting different images together :-)

We know that you love your sketches, so this week we have a fab one for you by Debby - it's her first ever sketch, so we're all really excited. In fact I got so excited that I have now started drawing one or two myself, but I really need a bit of advice on or two elements of putting them together lol!. So watch this space .....

Of course as usual we also have a fab prize to whet your appetite - this week it is a yummy stamp donated by our generous teamie Carole.
... and it is this gorgeous cutie "Christmas Dreams"

And another treat for all you PB lovers (nothing to do with this challenge) .... don't miss the fab

Penny Black BLOG CANDY

that is being given away by the very talented PB designer Kathy Racoosin - pop over to her fab blog before November 8th to enter for this fab selection of stamps. I can't wait to enter - I would really love these :-)

Anyhoo ... back to the challenge. . The other members of the DT have certainly rocked this week's sketch - here's my effort.


Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Holly Jolly!" (1869J), coloured with Promarkers;
Sentiment; Craftwork Cards;
Papers: Papermania "Silent Night" - I distressed all the edges (fairly cautiously!) with my brand new Tim Holtz distressing tool, and then inked with TH "antique linen" distress ink;
Supplies: raffia lace from Hobbycraft; pearls from The Hobby House (coloured with my Promarkers!); holly leaves from Prima Christmas bubble; ribbons from my stash;

Here is a close up to show my ever-so-slightly fluffy and inked edges, and my faux holly.


Of course my card fits a few challenges ...

A Spoon Full of Sugar #125 - Winter Wonderland
Papertake Weekly - Three of a Kind (3 papers and 3 holly berries)
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday # 88 - Ink & Edge

Have a great weekend and look forward to seeing your entries

Hugs,

Creative Card Crew #45 - Get Well Soon

Happy Tuesday everyone and welcome to another Creative Card Crew challenge. It was fabulous to see everyone's Valentine projects this past fortnight ... what a romantic lot you are!! Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog to see if you have won last week's prize.

On then to this week's challenge, which is

Get Well Soon

So you can make a card to cheer someone up who's under the weather, or just to have ready in your card box just in case :-).

This week's prize is a scrummy selection of ribbons, buttons and charms form our sponsor

Truly Scrumptious Crafts

So without further ado, here's my card.... hope you'll also check out the fabulous creations from the rest of the DT :-)

I followed this week's fab sketch over at Sketch Saturday #90 for inspiration ....

...and I would also like to enter this card for this week's Stamp Something - Something Cute.. I just couldn't resist inking up my new LotV teddy ... I really do think this range of stamps is the cutest!! I'm just waiting patiently now for my EZ Mount to arrive and then I'll be able to ink up the rest of the stamps I ordered loL!

I think teddy is looking quite spring-like what with the profusion of flowers and happy colours - so I hope this one also qualifies for this week's Spoon Full of Sugar #91 - Spring is in the Air.

Last but not least, I would like to enter this card for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #54, which is All About Me - ie to use the things you love :-) Well I'm really loving these LotV teddies, and I always love my flowers, spacers and large pearl brads.

Recipe:
Main image: LotV "Teddy with Flower", coloured with watercolour pencils;
Sentiment: die cut using Cuttlebug Cut & emboss set "Everyday Greetings";
Papers: My Mind's Eye "Pretty Please";
Supplies: pearl brads and spacers from "The Hobby House"; flowers and wrought iron brads from my stash;
Tools: large classic circle and large classic scalloped circle nestabilities; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Looking forward to seeing all your creations.

Roses Grow on You - & sweet 17

I've had a few things going on this week, which means I'm moving towards the end of the week feeling a tad sleep-deprived and my mojo has been all over the place!! Not managed to do too much crafting, but luckily I managed to make one card which fits quite a lot of challenges :-) In fact I reckon I've managed 17 ... so I've beaten my personal record - yay!


First of all, I followed the fab sketch over at Papertake Weekly #33

I really love this adorable LotV teddy with bouquet (waiting right now for the postie to come with my new LotV stamps ... can't wait!!) and meanwhile this stamp just had to have an outing. I'm also currently loving my Papermania "Blueberry Hill" paper pad ... even though it's not newly released, I bought it for the first time this week. I've also suddenly discovered paper roses - now I know I've not exactly been quick out of the blocks on this one ... but I'm suddenly seeing and buying them in all sorts of places lol!!

I think I also managed to complete the following challenges:

BasicGrey #12 - Animals ... now I bet you're wondering where there's any BasicGrey items on this card .... hmmm? Well actually there are two ... the butterfly is cut from BG "Two Scoops" pink paper, and all the pearls on the card are BG "Opaline" demi-perles.
Die Cut Dreams #32 - Bears
Just Cute Bears Challenge #1 - One for the Girls
Creative Inspirations #45 - Feminine!
Pile It On #3 - Warm Wishes
Crafty Creations #52 - Celebrate!
Raise the Bar #2 - The Gift that Keeps On Giving. I chose my image both for the bear challenges, and also because it was part of my "Secret Santa" Christmas gift from a crafty friend :-)
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #51 - Inspired by the letter P. That would be Papermania paper, pink, pearls and petals.
A Spoon Full of Sugar #88 - Freestyle (anything goes)
Cute Card Thursday #97 - Blooming Gorgeous!
Dutch Dare #70 - Summer in Winter
My Time to Craft #76 - Elegant Rose
Quixotic #11 - Flutter By
Flutterby Wednesdays #94 - butterfly, fairy or angel
Your Next Stamp #8 - Anything That Sparkles
Cooking It Up With Katie #9 - "non human" image + texture + a product you've never used before. My texture is from the Stickles, and my new products are the roses and white pearly flower.


Recipe:
Main image: LotV "Teddy with bouquet", coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with Stickles;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words";
Papers: Papermania "Blueberry Hill"; BasicGrey "Two Scoops" (pink butterfly);
Supplies: Pink/cream roses from John Lewis, decorated with Stickles; white satin/pearl flower from Edwin Allen; BasicGrey "Opaline" demi-perles;
Tools: Martha Stewart large monarch butterfly punch; large circles, small circles and large classic scalloped circles nestabilities.

I think I may be taking a couple of days' break from crafting and blogging to recover from the stresses of the past few days ... but I hope I may get chance to play over the weekend :-)

CAS Snowflakes

Three weeks ago I designed a card for the PBSC #75 which was a fairly clean and simple card, centred on a sentiment and making use of my snowflake diecuts. For once I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, so I decided to make a few more similar but in different colours.

Here's one where I used two different Cuttlebug "snowflakes" folders, and where I went for a blue/green tartan theme.

I would like to enter this for the following challenges:
Kaboodle #19 - Snowflakes
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #44 - CAS (clean and simple) card

Recipe:
Sentiment: Penny Black "Joy-Hope" (3898F);
Supplies: pearlescent "ice gold" white card from Edwin Allen; green and blue pearlescent card from stash; pearl brads and large spacer from The Hobby House; tartan ribbon from my stash;
Tools: Shapeabilities "Make A Flake 2"; Martha Stewart "Arctic Snowflake" punch and "embossed snowflakes edge punch; Cuttlebug two different "Snowflakes" embossing folders.

I'm hoping to get most of my Chrimbo cards written thsi week .. then we'll see how many last minute panic makes I need (does this sound familiar to anyone ?? lol!!)

Thanks for looking!

Teddy and robin (2)

Just a very quick post from me this evening ... here's another card I made on Saturday but haven't really had chance to post until now. it's another outing for my new darling Gillian Roberts stamp.

For this one I followed the sketch at this week's Lili of the Valley Challenge #41 - I thought I may have missed the moment with it, but thankfully I've discovered it is on for 2 weeks - phew!

I would also like to enter it for the following challenges:

Pollycraft Monday Challenge #29 - Wonderful Christmas Time
Everybody-Art-Challenge #67 - Christmas
Papertake Weekly - Christmas Crackers
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #43 - Christmas
Simon Says - Winter Love. Maybe I'm imagining it, but I think the teddy is looking very lovingly at the robin bearing the dinky gift!!
Cuttlebug "be inspired" #59 - Glitter
Fun with Shapes & More #30 - Gifts as an imprint ... I think this means a pic of a gift somewhere on the card ...and can you see what the little robin is holding??
Incy Wincy #19 - Anything Goes

Here's a closeup to try to prove there is actually some glitter on there .. not very successfully I fear lol!

Recipe:
Main image: Gillian Roberts "Bear & Robin" coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with polar white Flowersoft & glamour dust;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words";
Papers: Kaisercraft;
Supplies: pearls and red ribbon from my stash;
Tools: Cuttlebug "snowflakes" folder embossed onto white glitter card; Martha Stewart "Arctic Snowflake" punch used on white glitter card.

Melinda does the combo

This is the first time I've been able to post any of the cards I made on Sunday afternoon, as there was no decent light yesterday to photograph anything! It really was one of those afternoons ... first I found that the piece of paper I NEEDED for one of the challenges had mysteriously disappeared (or been used up), and then I spent an hour watercolouring and decorating an image, only to smudge the flowersoft (furry edging) and glue before it was dry ... back to the drawing board!! Eventually though I did manage to make three cards ... so here is the first one.



Here is "Confirmand Melinda" - not really a Christmas image, but I think she works on Christmas cards if teamed with the right papers and embellies. I would like to enter this card for the following 9 challenges:

Whiff of Joy #53 - red, cream and one other colour (in my case ... brown)
Daring Cardmakers - getting punchy with it ... the challenge asks you to use your latest craft punch purchase. Well that's easy for me - my latest is the gorgeous Martha Stewart "Arctic Snowflake" punch. In fact, I've also used my last-but-one craft punch purchase, which was the Martha Stewart "embossed snowflakes" edge punch.
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #39 - border punches
One Stop Craft Challenge #53 - newspaper/text - I have used a piece of red paper covered with Christmas words.
Saturday Spotlight with Hidden Potential (SSHP05) - In So Many Words - again I have used the text-covered paper.
Our Creative Corner - Vintage Style
Crafty Cardmakers #7 - Stamp Something . The "optional" extra is to use a stamping technique you haven't used before or for a while - I coloured in my image using Twinkling H2O's which have been sitting in my stash unloved for a while!
Flutter By Wednesday #81 - open week ... fairy/butterfly/angel
BasicGrey #7 - photo inspiration. As you can see below - the colours are a deep red, winter white and brown.

Recipe:
Main image: Whiff of Joy "Confirmand Melinda" coloured with watercolour pencils and Twinkling H20's, distressed on the edges using distress ink, and decorated with glamour dust;
Papers: BasicGrey "Wassail" (background), BasicGrey"Figgy Pudding" (across middle), and text paper from my stash;
Supplies: BasicGrey "opaline" pearls; sentiment rub on, brads and lace from my stash;
Tools: Martha Stewart "Arctic Snowflake" punch and "embossed snowflakes" edge punch - from The Hobby House.

Here's an angled shot to show up the iridescent gold twinklies on melinda's dress ...


Back tomorrow with a couple more of my weekend efforts :-)

Update Tuesday: Simon Says Challenge has just posted that they are ENCOURAGING multiple entries for their all that sparkles challenge in an attempt to reach 300 entries. I had already entered this challenge, but as this is a pretty sparkly card I have made whilst the challenge has been open, I'm entering it as a THIRD entry :-)