Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Christmas In July

 

Good morning everyone ... it's the first Saturday of the month, so it's time to welcome you to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks so much to everyone who joined in last month's masculine challenge - don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner.

 

If you're anything like me, round about now is the time when you start thinking that over half the year's gone ... and what happened to the New Year resolution of making Christmas cards all through the year so as to avoid a last minute panic??

 

If that sounds familiar then this month's challenge theme is perfect for you ... yes, it's

 

Christmas In July

 

So time to get out those Chrimbo stamps and papers, and to start feeling festive!

 

This month we are sponsored by our regular sponsors

 

 

and

 

with a $20 store voucher.

 

In order to be eligible for either of these fab prizes all you need to do is to follow this month's theme and use a Penny Black image stamp, large sentiment or stickeroo as the focus of your project. Easy, right??

 

The rest of the DT have made some fabulous samples as always ... here is what I did.

 

 

 A fairly simple card from me this time ... I have to confess that following from having needed to reschedule one or two things earlier this week, I ended up edging it in between watching the tennis !!

 

Stamps: Penny Black "Lighting Up" (3762K); LotV "Christmas Sentiment Circles";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: First Edition "Christmas Joy";

Supplies: gems from Papermania &The Hobby House;

Tools: X-Cut die-cut stars.

 

 

Challenges:

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long #23 - Seeing Stars

Cute Card Thursday #276 - Stars &/or Stripes

Sparkles Christmas #30 - Christmas Trees

Christmas At Sweet Stampin' - Cute & Cuddly + Non-Traditional Colours

Divas By Design - Cute

Bearly Mine #93 - Anything Goes (2nd entry) 

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes (3rd entry) 

 

Thanks very much for visiting today ... enjoy your weekend and hope you can join in the challenge fun this month.

Hugs,

A Wee Girl For Summer

Good afternoon, I'm back again for a rare second post on the same day (my Penny Black Saturday Challenge DT post is here). I made this card yesterday, but  by the time I'd finished the light was going so I couldn't get a decent photograph. However I made this card especially for the Ribbon Girl  colour challenge which closes today ... so here I am :-)

I've been desperate to ink up this darling stamp ever since I got her - she was part of a really fabulous set of Wee stamps designed by Sylvia Zet for Whimsy stamps, exclusively for this month's Papercraft Essentials magazine. I first saw her used on a fabulous card by my bloggy bud Squirrel; and when shortly afterwards I spotted the magazine in WH Smith I just had to buy it, even though I don't really buy many craft magazines nowadays. Mind you, my papers were also free in this month's Quick Cards Made Easy lol! .... I deliberately chose them so that I could tie my card in to the fabulous colour theme over at the Ribbon Girl.

Stamps: Image and sentiment both Wee Stamps by Whimsy (free in papercraft Essentials magazine);

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: Wild Rose Studio  "Butterfly Garden";

Supplies: cherry blossom flowers by Hobbycraft; all other flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: large classic oval and large classic scalloped oval nestabilities; Magnolia Doohickey "Lovely fence" die; X-Cut small butterfly punch.

Challenges:

Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge #20

Joanna Sheen - Summer Daze

Bunny Zoe's Challenge #25 - Girls, Girls, Girls!

Sentimental Sundays #108 - Cute & Girly

Corrosive #152 - Summertime Girls

Dream Valley #35 - Things With Wings

Craft Your Passion #116 - Things With Wings

Stampin' For The Weekend #12 - Show Us Your Style 

(pink, girly and cute with lots of flowers)

Crafty Creations #176 - At Least 3 Different Types of Embellishment

(flowers, pearls, ribbon, diecuts, punched butterfly)

Dutch Dare #171 - Flutterby Butterfly

Allsorts #161 - In Bloom
Sweet Stampin' - Scallops
 I ♥ Promarkers #123 - Anything Goes

Sunday Sketch & Stamp #112 - sketch

That's all for today .. I'll be back tomorrow with a very special card for a new friend :-)

 

Time To Celebrate

Today is a special day for Tracey in my office, as it is her 50th birthday. I think she was rather overwhelmed when she came in to work on Friday and found her desk covered in balloons, cards and gifts not to mention daffy toddler photos plastered all over the doors and in the lifts!!  Little did she know though, when we waved her off in the afternoon staggering under the weight of her gift bags, that the biggest surprise was yet to come. Her daughter had arranged a surprise party for last night to which we were all invited :-) ... and bless her, she hadn't got a clue!!  Goodness only knows how we managed to keep it under wraps, but I think it's fair to say that EVERYONE knew apart from her lol!!

I'd never been to a surprise party before and it was really fun .... there was lots of nervous anticipation and muffled giggles as we waited for Tracey to arrive. There was also a brilliant turnout as she had lots of family and friends there as well as her workmates. Tracey's face was a picture when she walked in, and it all turned out brilliantly and we had a great night - I'm sure her family must be really chuffed that their great organisation turned out so well :-)

I didn't take my camera though I'm sure there will be plenty of photos plastered all over Facebook today -so by way of a change (I'm not a Facebook girl myself) here are pics of the card I made for her.

I was struggling a bit initially with my mojo on this one, until I decided to break out this adorable brand new LotV image which I think is just so party-ish ... and I managed to find a doily in the back of my stash to go with it - yummy!! A bit more rootling around soon unearthed a sparkly sugary confection of papers (which are actually baby papers but I thought they fitted this card!), and with some stickle-frosted flowers (the roses could almost be made of icing don't you think??) I was on my way! 

Just in case there was still any doubt about the theme I carried it on with the sentiment inside ....

Stamps: LotV "Lots of Cupcakes" and "Calendars"; Penny Black "Bubbly" transparent set sentiment inside;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Stickles on cakes and flowers;

Papers: Papermania "Forever Friends - New Arrival";

Supplies: ribbon from Hobbycraft; lace from John Lewis; flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts;

Tools: large and lacy circle nestabilities; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch; numbers die cut using Cuttlebug "Hippy Chick" dies.

Challenges:

My Mum's #52 - It's A Celebration!

Joanna Sheen - Someone Special

Shabby Tea Room #109 - Birthday Bash With A Cupcake + photo inspiration

OSCC #178 - Three Circles 

(image, doily and sentiment)

Pretty Little Ribbon #9 - To Die For

Totally Papercrafts #112 - Things With Wings

DYSU #67 - Glitter / Bling

Totally Gorjuss #127 - Bling

Paper Pretties Wednesday - 2 or More Designer Papers

Stamptacular #159 - Freebie Week!

I'm going out this afternoon to see the special exhibition at Liverpool Maritime museum to mark the 100th anniversary today of the sinking of the Titanic. hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend whatever you're doing.

 

I ♥ Promarkers #102 - Inspiration Photo

Morning all, and welcome to another weekly challenge at I ♥ Promarkers. Hope you are all bearing up ok in this freezing cold spell we're having .... I think my post on Monday of the wrapped up bear in the snow was spookily prescient lol!

This week we have another fab challenge for you and it is something a little bit different - we have an 

Inspiration Picture

You can also be inspired by this week's prize which is a fab £10 online store voucher to spend with Joanna Sheen.

Don't forget, to b eligible for our prize you should submit a new project where you have coloured your image using Letraset Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers, or Tria pens.

Now I have to confess, when I first saw this picture I had a bit of a panic, as it just looked so ... well... bright ... and so ... well ... buttony!! But as I looked at it some more I let thoughts float into my head, and before I knew it I was thinking about a rainbow. 

Don't forget you can be inspired any way you like by the picture - the colours or the buttons! 

So here's my card for this week ....

Stamp: Me To You;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Paper: Craft Creation;

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Sweet Lilac; lace from The Ribbon Box; sentiment by Craftwork Cards; rainbow ribbon, buttons and pearls from my stash;

Tools: large oval and scalloped oval nestabilities; Marianne D Flower swirl" die.

Challenges:

MTTC #172 - A is for Adorable
Secret Crafter #170 - Ribbons

Totally Papercrafts - Pearls & Lace

Paperplay #4 - Lovely Lace

Winter Wonderland - Swirls & Pearls

Incy Wincy #131 - Flower frenzy

Pollycraft Monday #125 - Favourite Things

(flowers, lace, ribbon, pearls and teddies!!)

Marianne's Design Divas - In With The New

(new "Me To You" stamp from the "Spring Chic" range).

Party Time Tuesdays #53 - Anything Goes

Hope  you can join in the challenge this week.

Hugs

   

Oldie But A Goodie #19 – Teddy Bears’ Picnic

Good morning everyone – hope you’re having a good week. It’s time for a new Oldie But A Goodie Challenge – thanks so much to everyone who entered last time, and don’t forget to check whether you’re a winner.

Before we get on to this week’s challenge – we have a couple of bits of news. Sadly due to family illnesses and other commitments we have lost a couple of members of the DT over the past few weeks, and they will be sadly missed. However the good news is that this means the blog is running a DT call – both for full time and and guest designers. be sure to check out the main blog for further details!

So on to this fortnight’s challenge – today it is my turn to pick the challenge theme :-) and I have chosen

Teddy Bears’ Picnic

We would like to see your creations featuring teddy bears …. and if you can optionally  incorporate a picnic theme as well, so much the better!!

We are sponsored this time by Stämpelkällan who are offering a randomly drawn winner their choice of 5 stamps :-) … they have also had a new release of stamps yesterday (16th May) so be sure to check them out!

Don’t forget .. to be eligible for this week’s prize you should submit a new project whose main focus is a hand stamped image (no digis please) which is at least six months old!! This explains why despite buying some adorable new release LotV teddy bear stamps at Port Sunlight on Saturday, I will NOT be showcasing them right here and now ;-)

The other ladies have produced some fab teddy creations .. here’s mine.

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black transparent set “Teddy and Company” coloured with Copics and Promarkers;
Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set “Salutations”;
Papers: Papermania “Forever Friends – Springtime”;
Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; lace from my stash;
Tools: small, large and lacy circles nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables leaf die.

 

Challenges:
Allsorts #103 – Teddy Bears’ Picnic
Cupcake #142 – In The Garden
Dutch Dare #112 – Winged Things
Daring Cardmakers – Darling Bugs of May
PaperPlay #19 – Celebrating Summer/Anything Goes 
Paper Sundaes #69 – Birthday
Corrosive #116 – Birthday
My Mum’s Craft Shop #5 – To Die For
Crafty Pad #121 - Holes Sketch Saturday #155 – sketch (rotated by 180 degrees)

That’s all from me for today – hope you can join us at An Oldie But A Goodie :-) !

PTW ... SFoS ... ABC ... zzzzz....

I spotted that this week over at ABC Challenge they have reached the end of the alphabet for the first time - congratulations ladies!! .. and their theme for this week is zzzz (sleeping). How cute is that?? I actually have got several stamps of cute PB sleeping characters as well as one or two House Mouse RAK's, but this stamp is definitely one of my favourites. As luck would have it I'd got a "left over" image ready coloured and glittered from Christmas, so I knew what I had to do!

At PTW this week the theme is hearts and flowers ... so Valentine's cards might spring immediately to mind, but I think I am all Valentine'd out right now, so I decided to make a hearts and flowers Christmas card. Hopefully you will notice that I have incorporated hearts both into the sentiment and the cute little gems. I'm not up to date with doing a Christmas card a week during 2009, but at least I now have a couple done already!

I have laid this card out line with the sketch for this week's Spoon Full of Sugar #37 , which I have rotated by 90 degrees.

Recipe:

Main image: PB "The Night Before Christmas", coloured with watercolour pencils & Twinkling H2)s, and decorated with pewwe glitter;

Sentiment: PB "A Wish from the heart";

papers: All BasicGrey "Figgy Pudding";

Flowers: Prima "Christmas Bubble";

other items from my stash.

Thanks for looking!