Sending Love At Christmas

Yesterday evening I sat down to a bit of a colouring session, and completely outdid any previous attempts at batch colouring as I completed EIGHT images of this gorgeous FF Santa teddy. Or to put it another way ... over the next week or two you are likely to see this image featuring on my cards a LOT lol!

Stamps: Forever Friends Santa teddy; Pink Gem sentiment;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on coat and hat;

Papers: Dovecraft "Holly Jolly";

Supplies: flower by WIld Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House;

Tools: large oval and large scalloped oval nestabilities; Cheery Lynn "holly flourish" die.

Challenges:

Crimbo Crackers #3 - Santa

Kaboodle #96 - Colours of Christmas

Sparkles #26 - One You Love At Christmas

Daring Cardmakers - December Flowers (Holly)

Crafts & Me #63 - Pearls & Swirls

My Mum's #34 - Keeping Warm

Paper Sundaes #98 - Sundae Bar

(I used red + stripes + die cuts)

Craft Your Passion #87 - Anything Goes + Glitter

Simon Says - Anything Goes
Totally Gorjuss #109 - Sketch

The weather here has been absolutely freezing today, t hough we haven't had any snow (YET!!). Hope you are all keeping warm .. I'm just off for a cockle-warming cup of tea now :-)

Let It Snow ... Let It Snow ... Let It Snow ...

While I was making my first DT card for I ♥ Promarkers the other day, it occurred to me that I could really do with some colouring practice, esp. with my new Flexmarkers ... so I practiced on several images of the cute Robyn's Fetish snowman that I used for my DT card. I also pulled out a stunning brand new pad of paper which I bought from Hobbycraft a couple of weeks ago - Crafter's Companion "The Snowman" -  must be one of the most gorgeous Christmas pads I've ever seen!

The result was the following three similar but different cards:

Stamps: Robyn's Fetish "Carl The Snowman"; LotV sentiment circles;

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

Papers: Crafter's Companion "The Snowman";

Supplies: white sparkle-edge ribbon from Hobbycraft; gems from The Hobby House; peel offs from my stash;

Tools: Memory Box "Snowflake corner" die (card 1); Martha Stewart edge punch (card 3); Martha Stewart "Aspen Snowflake" punch.

Challenges:

Delightful Inspiration - Snowmen

Paper Sundaes #97 - Winter Wonderland

Anything Goes #55 - Decorative or Altered Corners

Creative Card Crew - Monochromatic

Crafty Catz #111 - The Colours of Christmas + Sparkle

DYSU #48 - Ribbon (cards 2 & 3)

Fab 'n' Funky #101 - Anything Goes

Divas By Design #16 - Anything Goes

Simon Says - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Creative Craft - Free For All (2nd entry)

The Ribbon Reel #16 - Anything Goes (3rd and final entry)

Back tomorrow with a new Penny  Black Saturday Challenge ... here's a sneaky peek.

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.

Sunlight and Snow

I had a happy afternoon on Saturday wandering around the stalls at the Happy Stampers North West craft fair at Port Sunlight.

By far my biggest splurge was with Jill on the Hobby House stall where I worked on a “needs and wants” basis – ie. I visited early to buy the things I “need” such as Neenah card and a whole variety of pearls, gems and charms ... and then I called back later for my “wants” in the form of some Whimsy ticket stamps, a couple of sweet Fizzy Moon stamps and two yummy paper pads!

I also managed to call by the Lili of the Valley stall where I had a nice little chat with the lovely Dawny P, and I was really good as I managed to come away from there with only two stamps in my basket (how did that happen lol??!!).

Finally I said hello to the lovely Jayne from Stamposaurus, who had given me very quick and personalised service when I NEEDED a new set of newly released Flexmarkers to arrive quickly before my holiday .. she had an excellent show offer on including a couple of free Ellie stamps, and when I mentioned  I must have been her first phone order on the day of release she very kiudly let me have one free Ellie stamp - fab!

However I couldn’t wait to start inking my LotV purchases (even though I realised when I got home that I was out of EZMount and had never thought to buy any at the fair – doh!).

Here’s the resulting card I made for this week’s LotV challenge – very pleased as this stamp is actually not too intricate and therefore reasonably quick to colour :-). I deliberately chose the papers to fit with the theme at Paper Sundaes of “favourite colour combo”. Mine is pink and green – admittedly I would normally use more pastel shades, but the concept is still there!

Stamps: LotV "Shine A Light" and "Christmas Sentiment Circles";

Media: Promarkers, Flexmarkers, glamour dust and a li’l bit of polar white Flowersoft forming snow on the ground;

Papers: Wild Rose Studio “Milton’s Christmas”;

Supplies: sparkly gems and large gem brad from The Hobby House; pearls and ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Martha Stewart “eyelet lace” punch; Marianne D “miniature poinsettas”.

Challenges:

Lili of the Valley #115 – Let It Snow

Wild Rose Studio – Festive Frolics (+ blog hop!)

Paper Sundaes #90 – Favourite Colour Combo (Pink & Green)

Jingle Belles – I’m Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

Marianne’s Design Divas #2 – Bloom & Grow (2nd entry)

Top Tip Tuesday #55 – Use DP’s & Make Your Own Flowers

Simon Says – Sparkle & Bling (3rd entry)

Pretty Little Ribbon (October) – Anything Goes

By The Cute & Girly (October) – Anything Goes (+ blog hop!)

Sketch & Stash #72

Well that's me done for today - off to catch up with some ironing now, but hope to colour some images later :-)

Penny Black Saturday #171 - Down On The Farm

Good morning everyone and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge! Sorry I'm a bit late - messed up my scheduled post again (blush!!). Alas I didn't join in last week as I was just on my way home from my holiday in Greece and hadn't managed to get that far ahead in my DT makes (though I managed to schedule a post for the week before :-)  ). Anyhoo I've had chance since I got back to look at the entries for last week's monochrome challenge, and they are fab as always! Don't forget to check out the main challenge blog to see if you have won!

Now I'm back to reality and have managed to get myself geared up to join in with this week's challenge which is

Down On The Farm

Yes, it's time to break out all those cute PB creatures you may find down on the farm ... don't you just adore the PB cows, pigs, geese, hens etc? I think they just make such fun cards!

And to help you get in the mood we have two fabulous prizes for two randomly drawn winners :

From Penny Black, this gorgeous stamp: 3888K "Winter Glitter"

and from The Ribbon Girl, this gorgeous mini-kit in lavender

The rest of the DT have been happily singing "Old MacDonald" this week and have come up with some adorable creations. Here is my attempt.

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "bundle of wishes" (2612H) coloured wtih Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Sentiment: LotV;

Papers: ??;

Supplies: flowers by Sweet Lilac; ribbon, lace and pearl brad from my stash;

Tools: Scalloped square and lacy circle nestabilities; Martha Stewart "garden trellis" edge punch.

Here's a closeup of the sweet image. I'm still getting to grips with my new Flexmarkers - I used the Blue Grey 1 and Glacier Blue for shadowing but they are incredibly faint ... can you see them??

Challenges:

Papertake Weekly - Sketch

Crafts & Me #54 - Flowers

Allsorts #123 - At Least 5 Flowers

(hope the ones on the image and paper count lol!)

Stampin' For The Weekend #17 - What A Cutie!

Charisma #39 - Love

Simon Says - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Paper Sundaes #88 - Anything Goes

Creatalicious #26 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

I am also entering this into the Penny Black Blog Guest DT post for World Cardmaking Day - they are asking for your best new PB card between Saturday morning and Sunday evening ... well this is actually my ONLY PB card that I have managed to produce over the weekend lol! I have uploaded it onto Flickr but am mentioning it here also :-)

Hope you can join in this week! Have a great weekend.

Hugs

Happy Anniversary Darling!

This week it is my wedding anniversary .... 27 years - blimey where did the time go to?? We will be out and about on the day, so I think I'm safe in posting this card I made for my darling husband a couple of days in advance as he never looks on here!!

I struggled a bit with this as I couldn't think at first what image to use ... all the ones I have with cute couples on he has seen already, and there's only so many new stamps you can buy for one use only (maybe I'm starting to get a bit sensible at last !!??!!) Anyhow, I did have this gorgeous romantic elephant image by LotV which I bought back in May and have never inked up yet (blush!!) , so I thought that would be suitable so long as the layout and colours aren't too girly. Here's the result.

Recipe:

Main image: LotV "Blowing Bubbles" coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Sentiments: LotV sentiment circles  on front (I masked "your" to make "our"); Penny Black transparent set "Every Which Way" (inside);

Papers: Craft Creations (gingham) and Papermania "Henbury Lane" (glittered dots);

Supplies: heart buttons from my stash;

Tools: large, small, scalloped and lacy circle nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables heart dies; Martha Stewart "valentine lace heart" edge punch.

I also decorated the inside of this card to make it a teeny bit more special ...

Challenges:

Ooh-La-La #88 - Anniversary

Totally Papercrafts #83 - Cute With Buttons

Paper Sundaes #86 - Finishing Touches

Charisma #36 - Inspired By A Song

("I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles")

That's all for today .. hope everyone is having a good week :-)

Me To You

Good morning everyone – hope you’re enjoying the bank holiday.

Here is another card I made on Saturday using my new Tatty Teddy stamps.

It struck me straight away that these stamps are very good for “white space” crafting as that is the style of the Tatty Teddyc ards you would buy in shops; and as luck would have it this week’s Passion for Promarkers Challenge is “white on white” – how opportune! I also decided to emboss my white cardstock (which is actually VERY pearlescent, though the pic doesn’t show it very well) with spots and stripes – I used my Cuttlebug “Swiss Dots” folder for the top half of the card, and used my Martha Stewart score board to score the strips on the bottom half. So that was another two challenges done – PTW “spots and stripes” and Simon Says - “emboss it”.

Recipe:
Main image: Papermania “Me To You”, coloured with Promarkers; edges of image distressed with Tim Holtz distressing tool and blue pigment ink;
Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set “Bubbly”;
Papers: none – white pearlescent cardstock embossed and scored, and edges distressed as above;
Supplies: pearls and ribbon from my stash;
Tools: large classic oval nestabilities; Tim Holtz distressing tool.

Challenges:
Passion For Promarkers #96 – White On White
Simon Says – Emboss it!
Creative Craft - Embossing
Papertake Weekly – Spots N Stripes
Craft your Passion #54 – Use Dots
Paper Sundaes #66 – Sundae Bar (I used pearls and die cuts)
Totally Stampalicious - Food
Stamp With Stampavie #138 – Birthday
By The Cute and Girly (April) – Cute and Girly

Thanks for looking :-)

Penny Black Saturday #146 - Say It With Flowers

Good morning all, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks very much to everyone who rocked Domi's sketch last week - don't forget to check the main prize blog to see if you are a winner. I'm still struggling mightily with blogger and my recent attempt to install Windows Live Writer crashed and burned ... so I'll get straight to business ...

This week's theme is

Say It With Flowers

Easy peasy!!

And we also have a fantastic prize as always - this week it is a $20 online store voucher from our sponsor 1-2-3 Stitch.

Do check out the other ladies' lovely floral arrangements - here is my card for this week.

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Hedgehog Bouquet" (1444K) coloured with Promarkers;

Sentiment: Craftwork Cards;

Papers: Papermania "Forever Friends - Springtime";

Supplies: flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: large circles and lacy circles nestabilities; Martha Stewart "wild flowers" PATP edge punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:

Wild Orchid Challenge #20 - Sketch (flipped horizontally)

Crafty Pad #115 - Flowers

Paper Sundaes #63 - Spring Blossoms

PaperPlay #14 - Critters Galore

Creative Inspirations #106 - Punches & Dies

Pollycraft #87 - Old / Neglected stamp

Corrosive #110 - Pastel Colours

Craft your Passion #52 - Anything Goes

Hope you can join us this week - look forward to seeing what you create :-)

Oldie But A Goodie #15 - Colour Combo

Good evening all, and welcome to a new Oldie But A Goodie Challenge. I'm running a bit late today, and I have to confess that the reason is very simple ... I got my weeks wrong and didn't make my card in time - oh the shame!! had to rush my card out last night and then take a photo this morning before rushing out the door for work ... so hope you will all be kind!! Thanks so much to everyone who entered last fortnights's OBAG challenge - fab entries as always. Don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner. So onto this fortnight's challenge, which has been chosen by Liza, and is a colour combo Pink/Blue & Brown We also have a fabulous prize by our new regular sponsor Stämpelkällan which is these darling stamps ... Don't forget that in order to be eligible for the prize you should submit a new piece of work and use a stamped image (not a digi) that is at least 6 months old ... so have a little riffle through your stamp box to find an old but loved stamp ... and of course have fun!! :-) The other DT ladies have made some gorgeous samples - here's mine (at last!) Now I have to confess that I am not big on brown when it comes to crafting, so I immediately thought of incorporating the brown through an animal, with most of the decorative elements being pink and blue. So what better than this adorable LotV bear ... would you look at his little face?? I think this little guy was released in either spring or summer last year, so he's just nicely old enough for the rules of this challenge :-) Recipe: Main image: LotV "Bear and Butterflies" coloured with Promarkers and Copics, and butterfly wings dusted with glamour dust; Sentiment: Penny Black "Birthday Dreams" (3849E); Papers: Pink Petticoat "Vintage Rose"; Supplies: cherry blossoms and lace from Wild Orchid Crafts; Dovecraft dragonfly brad; ribbon from my stash; Tools: "Labels 3" nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables doily die; Cuttlebug "birds and swirls" embossing folder (on the doily). Challenges: I used this week's Sketch Saturday #147 sketch Simon Says - Happy Birthday (2nd entry)

Everybody-Art #134 - Happy Birthday

Stamp Something - Something Sweet (I think this is an adorably sweet image!)

Passion For Promarkers #92 - In The Garden

Paper Sundaes #61 - Embossing

Teddy Stampers #32 - Embossing PaperPlay #11 - Embossing

Wild Orchid Crafts #19 - Dieing to Punch It Out (2nd entry)

Shabby Tea Room #54 - Bingo! (2nd entry)

(This time I have used lace, flowers and embossing) Now I've finally caught up with myself i'm off to get my feet up with cup of tea lol! Have a great week!

Coffee and cream (cakes)!

The challenge this week over at Simon Says is coffee and cream ... and I was determined to enter for two very good reasons - not only have they got a fantabadozie prize as always, but this week they're also having a DT call - woo hoo! However I felt less sure when I started thinking about the theme ... coffee and cream are not two colours I normally craft with, so not only are they WAY out of my comfort zone, but what to do about supplies?? So this is hardly my best week to put my best foot forward for the DT ... but hey, you've got to give it a go, haven't you?? So, I started riffling madly through my stash in search of something suitable. Here's what I came up with ... I already had this darling image stamped up, so I decided to give her a "coffee and cream cakes" makeover!. I agonized for some time over papers, and this was really the best combo I could come up with, but I hope the soft script-printed paper adds to the overall vintage feel. I was also a little concerned initially about what I would do for embellies as I have never purchased flowers in brown shades and only a few cream ones .... but that's where I really got lucky!! I recently won a yummy little candy from Dawny P ... and not only had she included a yummy selection of WOC flowers in shades of cream and terracotta, but also some really vintage looking deep cream lace - yippee!! I also found a few coffee coloured roses knocking around in my stash which were a present some time ago from my bloggy friend Sue, and remembered that I had a teapot charm lurking in the depths of my charm box ... things were finally starting to come together! (Some of you may think that you can detect a peach coloured rose on the card ... but given that it really gave the overall scheme such a "lift" I would argue that it is in fact cinammon ...y'know ... the stuff you get sprinkled on your coffee. That's my story and I'm sticking to it ;-) ) Recipe: Main image: LotV "Hello Cupcake", coloured with Promarkers and Copics; Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set "Salutations"; Papers: various from stash; Supplies: pearls from the Hobby House; all flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts (with thanks to Dawny P and Sue); lace from Dawny P; ribbon and charm from stash. Challenges: Simon Says - Coffee and Cream (+ DT Call) Secret Crafter #123 _ Sweet Treats Crafty Pad #110 - Something Yummy For Your Tummy Raise the Bar #55 - Mug Shots Paper Sundaes #58 - How Charming Rainbow Lady #141 - Shabby Chic Sweet Stampin' - Oh So Girly Craft Your Passion #47 - Girly Girl My Time To Craft #129 - Hats Creative Inspirations #100 - Stripes Stampin' For The Weekend #4 - Monochrome Wild Orchid Challenge #18 - Anything Goes Sentimental Sundays #44 - Anything Goes Friday Sketchers #143 - sketch

Think I'll go and have a cup of tea and a cupcake now lol (only kidding)!!