I ♥ Promarkers #99 - Cute & Cuddly

Wow the week is flying  by ... Wednesday already, which means it is time for another  I ♥ Promarkers Challenge. Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week's Buttons & Lace challenge - there were some really pretty creations, and the winner is on the main challenge blog.

This week we have a theme of

Cute & Cuddly

which ties in very well with the type of images produced by our sponsor, Stamp Fairy, who are offering a $10 gift certificate for their online store where you can find a wide selection of whimsical and cute digi images.

Don't forget to be eligible for our prize you should submit a new piece of work that follows the theme, and where your image is coloured using Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Tria pens by Letraset.

Stamp Fairy very kindly provided some digi images for the DT to play with, and I chose the adorable Molly Fairy ... here's my card.

This is really rather a departure for me, as I have always deliberately steered away from stamps where the faces have no mouths - I find eg. Tilda really creepy for some reason (I can still admire other people's Tilda cards for their composition and details, but I don't like the images per se). However this stamp seemed to me to have a more appealing face than many stamps of that type, and in the end I really enjoyed colouring her :-)  Here's a closeup to try to show the sparkle on her wand and wings!

I decided to go for a spring-like colour scheme ... partly to distract myself from the dark miserable days of January, but also so that I could use my brand new Me To You "Spring Chic" papers - just bought a 12" * 12" pad and they are absolutely scrumptious! I think they will be appearing on here a lot over the next few weeks lol!

Stamp: Stamp Fairy "Molly Fairy";

Media: Promarkers (Dusky Pink, Blush, Ivory, Sandstone, Vanilla, Duck Egg, Cool Aqua, Buttercup, Primrose) and Flexmarkers ( Soft Aqua, Pale Citrus, Lemon Chiffon, Tea Rose, Nutmeg); glamour dust on wings and wand;

Papers: Docrafts "Me To You - Spring Chic";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts & Sweet Lilac; lace from The Ribbon Box; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: X-Cut nested star die; Marianne D "Branch Forest" (LR0150); Martha Stewart small monarch butterfly punch; Cuttlebug "daisies" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Craft Your Passion #92 - Mythical Creatures

Cute Card Thursday #198 - What's New?

( papers and star shaped die)

Crazy 4 Challenge #118 - New Toys / New Techniques

Crafty Creations #152 - Something New
Papertake Weekly - Die Cute Special
Really Reasonable Ribbon #39 - Sparkle & Ribbon
Passion For Promarkers #131 - Inspired By A Song
("Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star")
Sweet Stampin' - Spots & Dots 
(2 of my 3 papers have dots on)
Simon Says - Spots &/or Stripes
(as above, plus one of my papers has both spots & stripes! :-)  )

One Stop Craft Challenge #164 - Bingo! 

(flowers, diecuts/punches, embossing) 

Dream Valley #23 - Anything Goes

CES #67 - Anything Goes

Magical Mondays - Anything Goes

Anything Goes #58 - Anything Goes
Sketch Saturday #189 - sketch 

Looking forward to seeing all your cute and cuddly creations ... have a great week! 

I ♥ ProMarkers ... and Promarkers ♥ Me - Woo Hoo!

I was really thrilled and not a little surprised this last week, to receive an email from the lovely Karen at I ♥ ProMarkers, asking me whether I would like to join the  I ♥ ProMarkers DT. Woo hoo!! Well I love my Promarkers (and Flexmarkers!!) so I had to think about it for all of about 3 seconds lol!!

So here I am with my first I ♥ ProMarkers DT card for challenge #94. The rest of the team create wonderful creations every week so there was no pressure lol!! ... but I have done my best :-)

This week's theme is

Snowmen & Snowflakes

... and we are sponsored by Robyn's Fetish, who gave the DT some snowmen images to play with. This gave me my first challenge of the new DT as I don't normally work with digis, but it was easier than I thought, and this little guy "Carl the Snowman" was easy to colour and also quite adorable!

Stamps: Robyn's Fetish digi "Carl The Snowman"; Whimsy ticket stamp;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on scarf and mittens;

Paper: unknown offcut from my stash;

Supplies: sparkly gems from The Hobby House; peel off greeting and sparkly ribbon from my stash;

Tools: large circle and lacy circle nestabilities; Cuttlebug "Ice Crystal" die; Martha Stewart "Aspen Snowflake" punch; Crafts Too "Snowflakes" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Crafty Catz #110 - Snowmen

Sundays With Crissy #23 - Christmas Card Using Non-Traditional Colours

Sweet Stampin' - Punches & Dies

Craft your Days Away #34 - Buttons or Bows

Dutch Dare #140 - Recipe

(I used ribbon, image, patttterned papers, layers and rhinestones!)

The Ribbon Reel #16 - Anything Goes

The Pink Elephant #127 - Photo Inspiration

Sketch Saturday #183 - Sketch

Looking forward to being on the I ♥ ProMarkers DT and to seeing your creations this week :-)

Vintage Angel

After I had finished some DT work last night I just had time to make a card with this sweet LotV angel which I had already coloured.  I decided to go for a vintage look using some yummy papers by My Mind's Eye and a sketch I found over at Stamp With Fun. Here's the result.

Stamp: LotV "Little Trumpet";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: My Mind's Eye "Jolly Holly ";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; gems from The Hobby House; sentiment from Craftwork Cards; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Labels ? nestabilities; Memory Box "Frosty Winter border" die; punched panel was a freebie so don't know what it is!

Challenges:

Lili of the Valley #122 - Anything Goes

I ♥ ProMarkers #93 - Anything Goes

My Mum's Craft Shop #33 - Things With Wings

Sparkles Christmas #10 - Angels (2nd entry)

Wags 'n' Whiskers #68 - Snow Angels

Flutterby Wednesday's #181 - Open (with butterfly, fairy or angel)

Everybody-Art #169 - Christmas Card

Little Red Wagon #108 - Christmas

Crafts & Me #62 - Shabby Chic / Vintage

Moving Along With The Times - Ribbons & Bows

Paper Sundaes #96 - Beautiful Bows

Stamp With Fun #138 - sketch

That's all for today - back tomorrow with another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

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 ;-)

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!

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 #153 - One For The Girlies

Yippee! It's a Bank Holiday weekend again here in the UK, and time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. So sorry I haven't been able to get round and comment on your wonderful creations for last week's Fussy and Fancy challenge due to the problems we've been having with Mr. Blogger - but they were all wonderful! The stamp I donated last week will be winging its way to one lucky winner - do go and check out the main challegne blog to see if it's you!

This week our challenge theme is

One For The Girlies

Brilliant theme for me this week, as I love all things girly - dresses ... pink ... flowers ... gems ... ribbons ...lace - ooh fab! And if you think it's a great theme too you could be in with a chance of winning this week's lovely goodies, to be awarded to 2 randomly drawn winners!

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

and secondly, a 15% lifetime discount voucher from PB Stamps

Here is my girly creation - the other DT ladies have gone girly too so don't forget to check them out.

I decided to go for a freindship card, as I so love this cute vintage PB image. Normally I tend to use this image with vintage colours and papers, but I was feeling girly so decided to go for a fresh summery pink and green colour scheme - i think it is my favourite colour combo.. A different look for this image, but I'm quite pleased with it :-)

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Rain or Shine Friends" (312K), coloured with Promarkers;

Sentiment: Penny Black "Second Self" (3386D);

Papers: Pink Petticoat "Vintage Rose" and Papermania "Forever Friends - Springtime";

Supplies: cherry blossoms and lace from Wild Orchid Crafts; roses from Sweet Lilac (Crafts4U2Do); papermania pink heart gems; ribbon and pearls from my stash;

Tools: Marianne D Creatables doily die; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:

Papertake Weekly - Pale, Pretty Pastels

Stamp With Stampavie #143 - Pink

Totally Papercrafts #68 - Pink and Girlie

My Mum's Challenge #7 - Favourite Colours

(pink and green as a combo)

Crafty Catz #84 - Pink and Green

PaperPlay #21 -  Blossoms and Blooms

(I have actually managed to incorporate both cherry blossoms and rose blooms on this card :-) )
All Ways Something Creative #6 - Flowers

I ♥ ProMarkers #67 - Pearls

Crafts and Me #36 - Gems and Pearls

Passion For Promarkers #101 - All The Twos

(2 girls, 2 roses, 2 cherry blossoms, 2 trims, 2 heart gems)

Stamp Something - Something Sentimental

My Time To Craft #142 - Use A Die Cut

Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes!

Hope you have a great Bank Holiday weekend!

Love Is In The Air

Quite a few weeks ago I was given a commission to create a card quite a for a May wedding, but I have been putting it off until now. However, inspired both by the Royal wedding and also by being on holiday from work, I finally sat down yesterday to get down to it. My main problem was that I couldn’t quite decide what to make … so I made two! My only brief was that the sender loves pink and flowers :-)

Here’s my first card.
 

Recipe:
Main image; LotV “Wedding Couple”, coloured with Promarkers and dusted with glamour dust;
Sentiment; Whiff of Joy;
Papers: none – pearlescent white card scored and decorated with pearls;
Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; ribbon and pearls from my stash;
Tools: large circle and lacy circle nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables heart die.

Challenges:
Wild Orchid Challenge #22 – White + 2 with a twist – use roses
(my colours are white + pink + a hint of ivory)
I ♥ ProMarkers #63 – No Designer Papers
LotV #94 – Love Is In The Air

When the lady who asked me to make the card decides which one she prefers, I will make a box to go with the one she has chosen. Meanwhile I’ll be back tomorrow with wedding card number 2 ….

Enjoy the Bank Holiday!