Penny Black Saturday #179 - Christmas with Red & Embossing

Good morning all and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week's challenge - those of you who are keeping up with our month of Christmas themed challenges should be getting to grips with your Chrimbo makes by now lol!

Before we get on to this week's challenge I need to offer a mahoosive congratulations to my teamies Helen and Nat, who have both won prizes in Cardmaking and Papercraft's Cardmaker of the Year 2011 .... full details here. In Helen's case her prize was in the Penny Black category - woo hoo!!

This week we are continuing with week 4 of our  Christmas themed challenges, and would like to see

Christmas + Red + Embossing

This week's gorgeous prize for a randomly drawn winner is from Fantastic Ribbons,

and is 4 ribbon reels of the winner's choice - lovely!

There are loads of fab sample cards from the rest of the DT on the main challenge blog - here is my effort.

Stamps: Penny Black "Royal Mail" (3766J); sentiment unknown (I've lost the packet!!);

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; polar white flowersoft with glamour dust on the snowy areas;

Papers: Dovecraft

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Crafts Too embossing folder "snowflakes".

Challenges:

Crafty Pad #148 - Festive Cheer (Red + green + gold or silver)

Kaboodle #94 - Baby It's Cold Outside

Fun With Shapes and More #97 - Cold As Ice

Deep Ocean #13 - C is for ...
(Christmas, cute, circles)
Pile It On #47 - Anything with a "P"
(Postbox, papers, pearls)
Charisma #46 - Snowflakes

Crazy 4 Challenges #115 - Snow
Totally Gorjuss #108 - Sparkle
Papertake Weekly - Christmas Crackers

The Ribbon Girl - Jingle All The Way To Christmas

Scrapbook Sisters #61 - Christmas Time

Totally Papercrafts #94 - Christmas

Forever Friends (fortnight) - Christmas Is Coming

Penny Black & More at Allsorts - All Creatures Great & Small (3rd and final entry)

Creative Craft - Free For All

Hope you can join in with us this week - have a great weekend whether you're crafting or braving the Christmas shopping crowds :-)

A Cutesy Day At The Zoo

Good morning everyone - here's another card I made during my Saturday craftathon. I really do think this Wild Rose Studio stamp is totally adorable :-) Unfortunately the light wasn't great when I was taking the pic so it is a little dark ... but I guess that's winter for you!

I have been entering the Penny Black At Allsorts monthly challenges since they started, and have spotted that they have now opened up the challenges to other makes of stamps ... so I am entering this card for the November challenge. Feels really weird entering a card that doesn't have a Penny Black stamp on it ... but as they allow three entries per challenge I'm sure I'll be back with a PB card before the month is over !! ;-)

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Pickle With Sledge";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: Dovecraft "Jolly Happy Christmas";

Supplies: gems from The Hobby house; sentiment by Craftwork Cards; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Cuttlebug "ice crystal" cut 'n' emboss set; Crafts Too "Snowflakes" embossing folder.

Challenges:
Penny Black & More at Allsorts (November) - All Creatures Great & Small

Passion For Promarkers #124 - A Day At The Zoo

Fun With Shapes & More #95 - Animalistic Christmas
CES #60 - Song Or Film
("March of the Penguins")
Charisma #44 - Cutesy!

Card Makin' Mamas #32 - Cut It Out (die cuts)
Cuttlebug Spot - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes + bling (3rd entry)

Thanks for looking!

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 #166 - Sketch!

Yippee! not only is it a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, but it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. So plenty of time to get down to some crafting and submit your entries this week :-)  Yikes my scheduled post failed again this week so it's a good job I logged on again this morning!!

Thanks very much to everyone who entered last week's Shabby Chic challenge - fabulous entries everyone!

This week we have a brilliant sketch for you by our wonderful teamie Nat.

We are also offering a brilliant prize as always - this week it is 4 rolls of ribbon of the winner's choice from our regular sponsor Fantastic Ribbons

Yummy!

All the ladies on the DT have really rocked the sketch, and I really enjoyed working with it. Here is what I produced.

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black transparent set "Christmas Critters" coloured with Promarkers and Copics;

Sentiment: LotV Christmas sentiment circles;

Papers: Dovecraft "Jolly Holiday" collection;

Supplies: poinsettas and gold leaf from Prima Christmas Bubble; pearls from The Hobby House; sparkly ribbon from my stash;

Tools: large and small circle nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables flourish die.

As I am entering this for a "glitter" challenge, here is a (not very good) closeup of the glitter on the poinsetta and glittery ribbon ...

Challenges:

Papertake Weekly - Dies To Die For

Stampavie and More #150 - Christmas In Summer

Christmas Card Challenge #38 - Glitter

Penny Black At Allsorts (August) - Free & Easy (3rd & final entry)

Totally Gorjuss #95 - As You Like It

Have a great weekend whatever you've got planned, and I look forward to seeing your creations.

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.

Oldie But A Goodie - Ribbon and Lace

Good morning everyone - hope it is sunny where you are ... we had a lovely day here yesterday :-)  It's time for another Oldie But A Goodie Challenge - thanks so much to everyone who entered our Anything Goes challenge last time - fab projects as always !

This fortnight we have a theme I'm sure you'll love - I definitely didn't need any encouragement to get going with this one! It is

Ribbon and lace

Ooh! my favourites (along with flowers, pearls etc... etc... lol!!)

This fortnight we are sponsored by Poppy's Cabin - do be sure to check the main blog for further details and all the other ladies' gorgeous ribbony and lacy samples :-) And just a reminder ... in order to be eligible for the prize you should link to a new piece of work that features a stamped image (NO digis please) that is at least 6 months old ... that's why we're called An Oldie But A Goodie ;-)

When I got to thinking about my DT card for this challenge I decided to ink up a stamp which is both old in terms of initial release (1996!!) and also old in terms of the physical stamp in my hand ... but it is new to me. My local craft shop sells a few second hand stamps, and I spotted this pre-loved (but very well cared for as there was hardly a mark on it) vintage Penny Black stamp .... and they were asking £2 for it - that's got to be one of the best crafty bargains I've ever had!! I also got some new summery papers by Prima so I couldn't wait to get started ... the final element of inspiration was this week's Sketch Saturday sketch, which had perfect elements to incorporate as ribbon and lace.  I felt this created a really fresh summery feel, especially when I piled on the flowers :-) Here's the result .... I'm actually rather pelased wtih this one for once :-)

I also noticed that there are a number of stitchy challenges around right now ... and as the image itself has a bit of stitching on it I thought I'd get down to a bit of faux stitching as well (I don't do real stitching lol!!) Unfortunately it doesn't show up too well (my pink marker was running out!!) so here's a closeup just to prove it is there (along with the distressed paper edges)  ...

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "A Gift of Flowers" (586K) coloured with Promarkers and Copics;

Sentiment: LotV sentiment circles;

Papers: Prima "Sparkling Spring";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Crafts4U2Do; lace from Crafts4u2Do; ribbons and pearls from my stash;

Tools: pokey tool used to make faux stitching; Tim Holtz distressing tool used to rough up the paper edges.

Challenges:

Sketch Saturday #163 - sketch

Simon Says - A Stitch in Time

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Stitching

One Stop Craft Challenge #139 - Summertime

Totally Gorjuss #88 - Summertime

Crazy 4 Challenges #95 - Summer

Pile It On #28 - Favourite Technique

(colouring with Promarkers)

Penny Black Challenge - Favourite Distressing Technique

(distressing paper edges with TH distressing tool)

CES #44 - Recipe: 1 image, 2 ribbons, lace or twine + 3 DP's

Cute Card Thursday #172 - Lace

Penny Black at Allsorts (July) - Flower Power (2nd entry)

Charisma #27 - All About Flowers

Creative Craft - Pretty Blossoms

Crafty Pad #129 - Lots of Texture

Kaboodle #75 - Use Those Scissors

(my vintage image wasn't a perfect rectangle so I cut it out by hand rather than with a  paper cutter)

Craft your Passion #66 - Just For You

ABC - Y is for Yesterday

Cupcake #150 - Your Favourite Challenge

(wow I could choose so many ... but howzabout 1. Flowers, 11. Vintage, 36. Summer, 61. Going Girly, 69. Flower Power, 103. Lace, 138. Lots of Layers ... all great themes in my opinion :-)  )

Hope you can join in the challenge this fortnight - look forward to seeing your creations.

Penny Black Saturday #156 - Third Birthday Challenge and Blog Hop!

Happy Saturday everyone - welcome to the weekend and another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week's One For The Guys challenge - fabulous entries as always, and don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see whether you are a winner.

This week we are all very excited because we are having a birthday .. yes the Penny Black Saturday Challenge is three!

Wow - where did the time go to?? It has just flown by!! I remember very well entering the first ever PBSC by email using my first PB stamp - the wonky looking photo of cute Chrimbo hedgies under an umbrella is still there as an email entry :-) It was also the main reason I set up my blog about 3 weeks later, and the first week I entered the PBSC using my blog (Challenge #3) I won !! :-)  How funny looking back!! I was absolutely dancing around when I got picked for the DT from Challenge 21... and 135 challenges later here we are ..wow!  PB stamps were definitely my first love, and although I have developed other crafting obsessions in the meantime,  PB's still have a very special place in my crafting heart!!

So in honour of this momentous occasion we are having both a challenge and a blog hop.

So first .... the challenge!!

This week we would like to see your Penny Black creations that feature

Pesky Critters

Yes .. it's time for all those darling little cute creatures that Penny Black does so well to come out to play ... can't wait to see what you create!!

This week we have an absolutely fabulous stash of prizes from a range of our regular sponsors including Penny Black Inc, PB Stamps, 1-2-3 Stitch, The Ribbon Girl and Fantastic Ribbons ....

... But here's the twist ... the challenge prizes are HIDDEN amongst the DT members' blogs!!

So how do you find out where they are hidden??

When you have completed your challenge entry, you will need to hop around all the DT members blogs and leave a comment on each one ... we will keep it secret all week which blog is hiding which prize, and when it gets to next weekend we will reveal the prize locations and winners!

It doesn't matter what order you complete the blog hop, but here is a list of all the DT members who are taking part to help you ...

Ali

Beth

Debby

Domi

Helen

Jenny

 Kath

 Liz

Pauline (me)

So without further ado, here's my pesky critter card ....

This challenge theme immediately put me in mind of cute creatures being silly and/or having fun ... and let's face it, when it comes to Penny Black stamps there are plenty to choose from! I very soon alighted on this darling image which I think is perfect for a friendship card ... I don't use this stamp very often as it is so big but it has got to be another of my favourites ... and as luck would have it I also have a PB sentiment that I think fits it perfectly!  This whole thing made me feel pretty cheerful so I also pulled out some bright and cheerful papers and summery daisies and blossoms to match!

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Daisy Chain" (1690K), coloured with Copics (mice) and Promarkers (flowers); edges doodled with a Marvey marker pen;

Sentiment: Penny Black "Everything's..." (2733E);

Papers: DCWV "Pocket full of Posies" stack;

Supplies: large daisy from Wild Orchid Crafts; 2-tone cherry blossoms from Crafts4UDo; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: mega scalloped rectangle nestabillities; martha Stewart "Floral Vine" deep edge punch; Magnolia doohickey "Vintage tag" die.

Challenges:

Penny Black At Allsorts (June) - You're My Favourite (2nd entry)

Copic Creations #52 - Doodles

Simon Says - Let's Play Bingo! (shape/ribbon/sentiment)

Totally Papercrafts #71 - Die Cuts & Punches

MAWTT #103 - Inspired By A Song

(I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends)

Southern Girls #21 - Anything Goes

Top Tip Tuesday #38 - Open Challenge

Look forward to seeing all your critter creations this week, and hope you'll find time to hop around the DT and leave us some comments - keep your fingers crossed that we will be hiding a prize with your name on it lol!

Penny Black Saturday #143 - Spring is Sprung!

Hi everyone ... welcome to the weekend and another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks to everyone who entered last week's "green" challenge - fabby entries as always ... don't forget to check the main blog to see if you are a winner ! This week is the spring solstice in the northern hemisphere, so we thought we would celebrate with a theme of Spring Is Sprung As always we have a fabulous prize .. this week it is from our lovely former team mate Carole - and is this adorable and highly appropriate stamp. 2304F Seeing Your Face Please remember that in order to be eligible for the prize you should submit a new piece of work which has a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus. The rest of the DT have made some totally gorgeous spring creations, so I hope you will go and check them out. Here is my springtime card. I should start by saying that this card was very much influenced by Brenda, as I saw an absolutely stunning card using this stamp on her blog. I love brushstroke stamps, but had never realised there was a brushstroke daffodil before (maybe because it is called "Jonquil" - I had never studied the picture closely!!) Anyhow I just had to order it when I saw Brenda's card, and also bought three new Marvey markers so that I would have just the right selection of yellows, golds and greens to colour it with. I'm still liking CAS cards so decided not to over-complicate this image by adding background paper; but at the same time I wanted to get a spring garden effect, so decided to add a garden trellis with butterflies. Recipe: Main image: Penny Black "Jonquil" (3587K) coloured with Marvey brushstroke markers; Sentiment : Penny Black Supplies: Papermania gold gems; Tools: Martha Stewart "garden trellis" deep edge punch and "monarch butterfly" punch. Challenges: Penny Black at Allsorts (March) - Spring (3rd & final entry!) Creative Cottage #35 - Spring has Sprung! Wags 'n' Whiskers #50 - Spring Scrapbook Sisters #27 - Spring Flowers Papertake Weekly - Trio-tastic (I used 3 daffodils) Wild Orchid Challenge #19 - Dieing To Punch it Out Fun With Shapes and More #79 - No Designer Paper

Hope You can join us this week - have a great weekend!