Bank Holiday Offerings

Hope everyone is enjoying the Bank Holiday in the UK despite the miserable weather ... I'm just pottering about wondering whether to brave going out this afternoon, but in the meantime I thought I would post a couple of cards I made on Saturday.

My first card was primarily inspired by Dawny's wonderful sketch for this week's Simon Says Challenge. I actually couldn't wait to get started as I have several deep border punches which would be ideal for this sketch. Here's what I came up with.

In the event I was feeling very flowery, so I used my Martha Stewart "wildflowers" PATP and made a card in restful tones of lilac ... I also managed to play with my gorgeous new Magnolia swirly butterfly; and I took the opportunity to incorporate one of my Marianne D Creatable dies as they really are my favourites, and it meant I could also enter the new Marianne's Design Divas challenge :-). I decided to slightly cut down diecuts from my swirly leaf die to make them suitable as a leafy frame for my large flower - I rather like the result and think I will use it this way again.

Recipe:

Main image: LotV fairy coloured with Promarkers and liberally dusted with glamour dust;

Sentiments: Penny Black transparent set "Party Critters";

Papers: Papermania Forever Friends "Springtime";

Supplies: large gardenia from Wild Orchid Crafts; Papermania gems;

Tools: Martha Stewart "wildflowers" PATP; Marianne D Creatables leaf flourish die; Magnolia doohickey "swirly butterfly" die.

Challenges:

Simon Says - Sketch by Dawny P

(rotated by 90 degrees to the right)

Flutterby Wednesday's #168 - Open Theme

Sparkles #19 - Punch It

Papertake Weekly - Dies To Die For (2nd entry)

Fab 'n' Funky #87 - Mono Madness

Marianne's Design Divas #1 - Anything Marianne D Goes!

Spoon Full of Sugar #162 - Happy Birthday (2nd entry)

For my second card ...this week Chrissie and Mandi over at Less is More are challenging us to combine any three of the previous challenges. I had a little time left over after making my previous card so decided to make a quick one ... and here it is.

I simply embossed the flowers onto pearlised white card and mounted onto pink and black pearlised matting, then added a die cute sentiment with a single gem heart on the "i" in "friend" plus two punched butterflies. This to fulfil the following three previous challenges:

Week 1- Pink, White & Black

Week 2 - Flowers &/or Trees

Week 15 - Embossing

Week 16 - Butterflies

Recipe:

Supplies: pink and black gems + heart gem from stash;

Tools: Cuttlebug Cut 'n' emboss folder; Martha Stewart small monarch butterfly punch.

Challenges:

Less Is More #30 - Take Three Challenges

I think that will be all for today .. enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday.

Penny Black Saturday #165 - Shabby Chic

Good morning - it's Saturday and time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Oops - just realised at 1.30pm my scheduled post didn't work - sorry! Thanks to everyone who joined in last week - fab entries as always! Sorry if I haven't managed to get round all my commenting .... I have had a rotten cold for a full 2 weeks now which for some reason I seem unable to shake off - oh the misery of sniffling and vicious nose blowing all day long!!

Anyhow ... onward and upward! This week we have a brilliant theme for you which I really love -

Shabby Chic

The possibiilties for this are endless .. cute creatures used in conjunction with shabby chic techniques, or you could use any of the vintage style figure stamps, or even go for a traditional look with florals (esp the fabby brushstroke stamps)! However just a quick reminder of the rules ... in order to qualify for the weekly prize you should submit a new piece of work which features a Penny Black image stamp, large sentiment or stickeroo is its main focus .. that's why we're called the Penny Black Saturday Challenge ;-).

And talking of prizes .. this week we have an adorable stanp for you from our lovely ex-teamie Carole

"Love Nip"

Awww!

Do hope you'll check out the shabby (but in a very good way!) examples created by the rest of the team - here is my effort for this week.

My starting point for this card was my Martha Stewart PATP punch set. I have used the individual punches several times, but had never yet created a completed PATP square as the size is slightly bigger than a normal square card (15.4 cm to be exact). However I started trying to think creatively, and decided to make an easel card whereby I would cut away the part of the easel which supports the front of the card, so that you would be able to see through the cut outs in the punchwork when the card is standing up. It was a bit fiddly but I'm actually rather pleased with the result :-)

I selected my BasicGrey papers on the basis of a shabby chic colour scheme, and then realised that the space  left for an image isn't very big ... so I turned to a cute but vintage style hedgie from one of my transparent sets - I'd never inked him up until now, shame on me!! I also tried to add a few other elements which I interpret as shabby chic such as lace, seam binding, vintage gold coloured spacers and charm, pearls, deckle edging and a vintage tag. This card actually took forever to produce, but I am pleased with it and think I will give it to one of my best friends for her birthday.

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black transparent set "Tiny Wishes", coloured wtih Promarkers and edges distressed wtih TH distress ink;

Sentiment: See D "Celebration Messages":

Papers: BasicGrey "Capella" (thanks Laurie);

Supplies: Prima hydrangeas (thanks again Laurie!); seam binding from Wild Orchid Crafts (thanks Helen); pearls and spacers from The Hobby House; lace, brads and charm from my stash;

Tools: Martha Stewart "Wild Flowers" PATP; Magnlia doohickey "vintage tag" die; Leone Em "Ash Branch" leaf punch; X-Cut small butterfly punch.

As easel cards are so notoriously difficult to photograph, here's a closeup of the front.

Challenges:

I ♥ ProMarkers #79 - Easel Card

Bunny Zoe's Challenge #15 - Easel Card
Fuzzy Wuzzy #12 - Shaped Card

Flutterby Wednesdays #167 - Punches or Die Cuts + a Butterfly

Fussy & Fancy #43 - Use A Lot

Fussy & Fancy 1000 followers - Celebrate Something

Papertake Weekly - Eyes Down, Look In

(Blooms/Pearls/Lace)

Ribbon Girl - Use Ribbon

Dream Valley #13 - Distressing

Penny Black at Allsorts (August) - Free & Easy (2nd entry)
BasicGrey #51 - Anything Goes

Hope you can join us at Penny Black Saturday this week - have a great weekend.

Penny Black Saturday #144 - Recycling

Good morning everyone - yippee, it's Saturday so it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks to everyone who sprang into spring last week - there were some gorgeous entries which really cheered up the week. Don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won the adorable hedgie with daffodil stamp.

This week's theme is

Recycling

So it's time to dig out all the bits and bobs of ribboon, buttons, packaging or whatever that you kept rather than throwing away for "just in case" ... can't wait to see what you come up with. And to help get your creative juices flowing we have got TWO fab prizes this week for randomly drawn winners ...

4 rolls of ribbon of the winner's choice from Fantastic Ribbons.



A 15% lifetime discount voucher from PB Stamps


Please remember that to be eligible for the prize you must submit a new piece of work which has as its main focus a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo.

The other DT ladies have been very environmentally aware this week ... please do check out their recycled offerings. Here is my card for this week - the recycled element is the ribbon which was taken from my husband's birthday cake. Pink ribbon on a man's birthday cake??? I hear you cry ... well, it was actually a totally delish and adorable chocolate heart shaped cake, which had pastel icing rose petals scattered on the top and bright pink ribbon round it ... very romantic!! And no, I didn't make it .. I got it in Selfridges in the Traafford Centre lol!

Anyhoo, back to my card ...


Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Crossing Bridges!" (3206J) coloured with Copics and Promarkers;
Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set "Salutations";
Papers: My Mind's Eye "Quite Contrary";
Supplies: Prima hydrangeas; pearls and large metal spacers from the Hobby house; sparkly brads and recycled ribbon from my stash;
Tools: large and small circle nestabilities; Martha Stewart "doily lace" edge punch and small monarch butterfly punch.


Challenges:
Stamp Something - Spring Somethings
Flutterby Wednesday #147 - Open with Fairy, Butterfly or Angel
Crafty Creations #111 - In Stitches

Hope you can join us this week, and look forward to seeing your creations.

May All Your Wishes Come True

I have been desperate to play with my cute new LotV "dandelion clock" fairy ever since she arrived over a week ago, and finally I got round to it on Friday afternoon, in an attempt to perk myself up. Good job I did really, as my cold has gone absolutely streaming since then to the point that I have now given up on crafting altogether until I'm feeling better!

I absolutely love dandelion clocks, and everything about this darling stamp made me think about soft shades of lilac and lavender. I don't seem to be able to put down my FF "Spring Time" papers at the moment, and I think I went a bit crazy with the flowers lol!

Recipe:
Main image: LotV "Dandelion Clock" coloured with Promarkers and sprinkled with glamour dust;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards;
Papers: Papermania "Forever Friends - Spring Time"; glitter dot cardstock from local craft shop;
Supplies: all flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;
Tools: Fiskars "Victorian" cutting blade.

Challenges:

I followed the sketch for this week's Lili of the Valley #81


and would also like to enter for

Flutterby Wednesdays #138 - Open theme with butterfly, fairy or angel
CES #20 - Angels & fairies
Stamp Something - Cute Somethings
Crafty Pad #105 - Something Girly
Wee Memories #40 - Anything Goes

Hope you're having a great weekend ... I'm off now to dose myself up some more lol!

All White Now

I really love a challenge to make an "all white" card .... it makes me feel so Christmassy!! I love the challenge of adding interest through texture rather than a lot of colour, though it's not easy to come up with anything "different".

I have only ever made one "all white" card before and the slightly unusual elelment I used was a feather ... I was so pleased with my own (rare) inventiveness I decided to do it again this time lol!! A feather very quickly suggests to me using an angel image ... so for a Christmas card there was only one way for me to go, and here it is!

I used the sketch from this fortnight's Sunday Sketch & Stamp #40


and would also like to enter

Simon Says - Are You All White?
Craft Your Days Away #7 - All White
I ♥ ProMarkers #39 - Snowflakes (my background embossing folder)
Flutterby Wednesday's #129 - open theme (angel, fairy or butterfly)
LotV #72 - One for the Girls (2nd entry)
CRAFT #75 - Dry Embossing
Crafty Cardmakers' Spotlight - Embossing
One Stop Craft Challenge #105 - Embossing
Thoughtful Thursdays - J is for Jewels

Recipe:
Main image: LotV "Christmas Angels - Praying", coloured with Promarkers & Copics, wings and edging decorated with glamour dust; and headdress decorated with tiny pearls;
Sentiment: Elzybells;
Papers: none - pearlescent white card embossed with Cuttlebug folders "Snowflakes" and "Christmas Stars";
Supplies: hellebores flower from Wild Orchid Crafts; feather, gems and small roses from my stash;
Tools: large scallop circle nestabilities; Martha Stewart "eyelet lace" edge punch.

That's all for now .. back tomorrow with my last GDT card for Papertake Weekly :-)