Penny Black Challenge #58 - Soft & Sweet

Hello everyone, and welcome to this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge. I'd like to start by apologising for the fact that I haven't commented on many people's entries for last week's challenge - I have been having serious 'pooter problems that seem to boil down to having installed Windows IE8 - and I have been unable to access a lot of my blogging sites. I think it is now almost (though not completely) resolved, but alas I got so behind that no way could I catch up on all the comments I had missed!

That means though that I am looking forward all the more to seeing all your creations for this week's challenge, which is

Soft & Sweet

As always you can interpret this any which way, so long as you include a Penny Black stamp or sticker somewhere on your project. To get your creative juices flowing, the DT has produced some fabulous samples - please do visit their blogs to check them out; and don't forget to visit the challenge blog to see if you are last week's prize winner.

Talking of prizes ... this week we have a fantastic prize for you kindly donated by Julia at Simply Stamps Friends. Simply Stamps is both a shop in Rye, Sussex, and also an ebay shop which sells a fabulous variety of stamps including lots of Penny Blacks. Julia also exhibits at various craft shows; and I'm sure that many of you in the UK will, like me, be familiar with the fantastic "bargain bucket"! This week's prize is this gorgeous transparent set.

Here is my card ... I interpreted the theme to mean soft and sweet colours, fluttery dragonflies, a gentle sparkle effect, pearls and soft organza ribbon. I made this card for my friend Gail's birthday - she just doesn't do "cute" ... but it just goes to show that you can achieve a variety of other looks using PB stamps.


I also felt that the interior paper carried on the soft & sweet theme quite nicely.

Here's a different angle to try to show the sparkle on the card - very difficult to show up on photographs!


Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Fanfare"(3946K) coloured with Marvey brushstroke pens and decorated with glamour dust;
Sentiment: Penny Black "Happy Birthday" (2912D);
Papers: BasicGrey "Wisteria";
Supplies: mulberry paper flowers & pearl brads by Papermania; punched borders using Martha Stewart "doily lace" edge punch; ribbon from my stash.

Hope you all have a great weekend, and hope I will be able to access blogs to catch up with all your creations this week :-)

Penny Black Challenge #57 - Swirls

Hello there, and welcome once again to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Many thanks to everyone who waved the flag last week (whether US union, Union Jack or whatever) by making a red, white and blue card - as usual they were all fabulous. Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog later to see who won last week's great prize.

Onto this week's challenge .. now for some of you this won't be too much of a surprise, as naughty Mr Blogger crashed yesterday breakfast time whilst I was in the middle of writing my post and bloomin' well posted it on here (a fact of which I was blissfully unaware until later!! )0oops! But for those of you who don't know yet, this week's challenge is

Swirls

As always you can interpret this however you want so long as we can see a Penny Black stamp or sticker somewhere on your project. the DT have produced some gorgeous examples, so please do pop over to their blogs for a look see.

This week's prize has been kindly donated by the craft shop Simply Create, which I understand is local to Kath (I'm sure she can provide pointers for anyone who is interested)
... and it is this totally cute PB kitty stamp.

So get your thinking caps on and give it a swirl (sorry - couldn't resist that!)

Here is my card - I decided to go at it from a slightly unusual angle, inspired by this fabby swirly felt ribbon I had left over from last Christmas. I'm currently well behind with making my Christmas cards, so this seemed like an ideal opportunity!

I used:

Main image: Penny Black "Xmouse Ornament!", coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with diamond Stickles, matted onto holographic silver card using oval nesties;

Sentiment: Woodware clear set;

Paper: Paper Adventures;

Supplies: white felt ribbon, ricrac & silver gems by Papermania; swirls around sentiment cut from white glitter card using Spellbinders Shapeabilities "doodles"; white glitter card & silver holographic card snowflakes cut with Cuttlebug die "Snowflakes #2";

And here's a different angle photo that tries to show the glitter on the snowflake. The paper is also a bit sparkly but the photos don't really show that.

Looking forward to seeing all your creations - happy crafting and have a good weekend.

PBSC #55 - Sketch! .... and some candy!!

Hello everyone, and welcome to week 55 of the Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Some of you may just about have noticed that I've not been around for the past couple of weeks ..... I had to take a little bloggy break due to the fact that my department at work was having a re-org and I have had to apply for my job. After a lot of sweat and heartache, preparation, interview & presentation, the result is finally known ... and I'm very relieved to say I still have a job. However some of my colleagues are less fortunate right now and have got to go through the whole rigmarole again to try to secure a different job ... so right now I'm rooting for them.

Anyhow, I'm now trying to put all the stress behind me and get back in the bloggy saddle .. so here we are with a new card..... and what better way to start than with this week's PBSC, which is a fab sketch by Nat??

I'm sure you will love this sketch as much as the DT did .... and to be sure they have produced some wonderful cards to inspire you, so do pop over to their blogs for a look. Don't forget, to enter the challenge all you have to do is produce any project using the sketch, so long as we can see at least one Penny Black stamp or sticker somewhere on it!

As always we have got a great prize this week ... Dick at PB Stamps is giving a 15% off voucher to one lucky winner.

Before I get down to my card, I should say that I was gutted to miss the challenge's first birthday party two weeks ago ... so I have decided to have a belated celebration of my own!! I am offering a

mini candy

to one lucky winner which will consist of this week's card along with a small package of goodies .. now the contents are a secret but I can tell you that they include similar colours to the card -

pink and green

yay!

All you have to do to enter my candy is the following:

1. Enter this week's PBSC in the normal way, leaving a comment on the challenge blog with a link to your work.

2. ADDITIONALLY, leave a comment on this post with a link to your work, to let me know you would like to enter my candy :-)

I will choose my favourite entry next Saturday and post the results on my blog.

So without further ado, here's this week's effort!

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Bundle of Wishes", coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with Papermania gemstones, cut out using labels nesties and matted onto pink cardstock;

Sentiment: Whiff of Joy "Everyday Greetings";

Papers: BasicGrey "Sultry";

Supplies: Papermania patterned ribbons; Prima hydrangeas; sparkly brads by Doodlebug & Making Memories; green leaves cut from pearlised cardstock using Leone Em "Ash Family" punch

Here's another view of the card, in a lame attempt to show the sparkly gems and brads a bit more clearly.

Hope you all have a great weekend; and I look forward to seeing all your creations this week and entries for my candy!

Sugar Bowl #10 - Marlene's sketch

This fortnight's challenge over at the Sugar Bowl is a fabulous sketch by Marlene - I just knew I had to have a go.

I received this fab image of Annie as a birthday RAK from my friend Helen .... I decided to use it as she is holding flowers and I needed to make a "get well" card. However once I had found papers and embellies to suit I didn't think that the colour scheme really looked suitable for a get well card - so I have turned it into a birthday card and will be making another one for the original purpose! I must also admit that I overlooked the need for buttons until the last minute .. and the only space that was suitable for buttons on the card demanded TINY ones ... luckily I managed to find some that I received in a freebie card pack in my stash - phew!


I also made the effort with this one to decorate the inside ... it makes a card look so much more finished off somehow, and the other thing I like is that it gives me much more opportunity to use some of my sentiment stamps that only rarely make it onto the front of cards. :-)

Recipe:

Image: Sugar Nellie "Blossom" coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with Stickles glitter.

Sentiment (inside): Hero Arts;

Papers: Papermania Creative Tones "Venetian Skies";

Supplies: flowers by Papermania (large blue), Cuddly Buddly (grey), Floradoodles (small blue); pearl brads by Papermania; charm from Dolls Made Up; spacers from the Hobby House; buttons from my stash.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

Sketch Saturday #45 - Easter bunny

I really love this week's Sketch Saturday sketch which was produced by my friend PBSC DT friend Tracie; and Icouldn't wait to use it for one of my Easter cards .. in fact I like this sketch so much I'm planning another card with it as well.

This is my last Easter card - I haven't managed to make as many as I would have liked this year, but I have still enjoyed doing them.

For this one I used a gorgeous RAK image that I received in a Docrafts friendship swap with Margaret (Arum Lily) - it is PB "Bunny Bath" - I think I may need to buy it lol! I coloured the bunny using watercolour pencils and a little glitter on the butterfly, and sponged the edges with Colourbox Q pink ink. I matted the image onto lemon pearlescent card using my brand new large deckle rectangle nesties, which I found a couple of days ago in my local craft shop Edwin Allen, despite them being out of stock in all the major online stores - yay! I also embossed the lemon card using the Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls folder, and mounted the lot onto paper from the Papermania "Sweet Nothings" pack. I finished off with raffia lace from Hobbycraft threaded with narrow ribbon from my stash; a mixture of Papermania and WH Smith flowers pinned with a Doodlebug sugar coated brad; and charm, spacer and pearl brads from my stash. The sentiment is also by PB.

I'm on holiday from work today so I'm chillin' .. just need to decide whether to do some cardmaking or go shopping .. or then again maybe I could go craft shopping lol!! Actually I received a little package of yummy spacers from the Hobby House today, so maybe I'll just stay in and play!

Thanks for looking!

Triple challenge - and my first D and D

I bought two sets of the yummy new Papermania "Daisy & Dandelion" stamps when they came out about a month ago, but haven't had chance to play with them until now. Here is my first D&D card using the cute bunny "Candyfloss", who I think really is as sweet as candy! These stamps really are so cute that I think I will definitely be using them some more!

I made this card for 3 challenges, namely

Daisy & Dandelion #4 (of course!), where the theme is two by two - 2 papers, 2 brads/eyelets and 2 embellies. I have used two papers from the Papermania "Sweet Nothings" pack, and 2 brads holding the 2 flowers which are also from the new Papermania range.

Sketch & Stash #7 - which was a great unfussy sketch very suited to these bright busy papers. What's new?? Well - pretty much everything on this card as described above - the stamps, paper, flowers and Doodlebug "All Mixed Up" rub ons for the greeting, were all bought from the Papermill Shop.

Last but not least - Secret Crafter #26 has a theme of Stripes.

Thanks for looking!

Penny Black Challenge #40 - Sketch

Wow this week has flown by, and here we are at Saturday again already, which of course means it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. As always thanks to everyone who got cooking with last week's recipe challenge - sorry I've been a bit bizzzzy this week so didn't manage to comment on everyone's creations but I'm sure they were as fab as usual :-)

This week we are very excited as we have got a fab sketch by our very own Tracie - we know people generally like to work with sketches and I'm sure you'll agree this one really hits the spot.

Don't forget to visit the challenge blog to see details of last week's prizewinner and all the wonderful cards created by the DT.

This week we also have a wonderful prize which is a $25 gift voucher from our sponsor Simon Says Stamp - so what are you all waiting for ??

Here is my effort - next Monday it is my mum & dad's 56th wedding anniversary, and luckily as my craft time has been very limited this week this sketch lent itself extremely well to making their card (phew!).

Recipe:

Image: Penny Black transparent set "Every Which Way" - hedgies coloured with watercolour pencils, roses decorated wtih glamour dust, and image matted onto pink pearlescent and silver holographic card;

Sentiment: rub on

Papers: Papermania "Exquisite" paper pac (a gift from my Secreat Santa :-) ) and silver printed vellum (cut with trusty MS doily punch!)
Supplies: Prima flowers; Papermania pearl brads; charm from Dolls Made Up; pearl gems from my stash.

And the inside ...


Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and look forward to actually seeing your creations this week!

Penny Black Challenge #39 - Recipe!

Welcome to the weekend, and to the latest Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Last week there was a fantastic response as usual to the something you can eat challenge - I probably speak for the whole DT in saying we spent the week in a state of drooling hunger whilst viewing all your fab creations! Don't forget to check out who won the fabby PB stickeroos!

This week the challenge requires you to get your creative juices cooking in a different way, as this week we have a

Recipe - 3 brads, 2 ribbons, 1 flower

As usual you can interpret this in any way you choose so long as you include at least one PB image on your project.

This week's prize has been donated by our very own Kath, and is a couple of fab sentiment stamps by Debbi Moore Designs.

So here is my card .... I struggled with this a wee bit cos the thought of using only 1 flower sent me cold!! ... so I interpreted it loosely and used just the one flower head lol! Also I couldn't seem to get a matching combo of any given paper plus 2 co-ordinating ribbons (I clearly need to purchase some more ribbons!!) so eventually I used just a teeny bit of my second ribbon tied in the button.

Recipe:
Image: Penny Black "Jump for Joy" coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with Stickles;
Sentiment: Cuttlebug "Everyday Greetings" set;
Flowers: new Papermania packs (white & pink), Prima (green);
Brads: Doodlebug sugar coated brights.
Paper and ribbon from my stash.

I'm going to be a bit busy this next week so apologise in advance if i don't get round all your entries .. but I'll do my best :-)

Have a great weekend!

PTW meets Everybody-Art

Last night I started out to make a card for this week's PTW Challenge, which is a fab sketch by Dawny P. Before I knew it I was in full on Christmas card mode again, bringing out some yummy BasicGrey paper I had squirreled away last year, just so that I could put it with my new Prima Christmas flowers.

Whilst on the subject I thought it would be nice to enter this card into the Everybody Art Challenge #15, whose theme this week is winter ... I would interpret holly and poinsettas as being pretty wintery even though they aren't cold like snow!

I used my Penny Black pussy cat stamp "Holly Jolly", coloured with watercolour pencils and H2O's, decorated with Papermania red gems for the berries, and matted onto dark green glitter card. The background papers are both BasicGrey - "Two Scoops" (green) and "fruitcake" (holly); flowers are from the Prima red Christmas bubble, and ribbon and pearl brads are both by Papermania. The greeting and corner holly sprigs are both E-Z rubons.

Thanks for looking :-)

Penny Black Saturday Challenge #22 - Sentiment Only

I would like to start by saying how overwhelmed and excited I am to be asked to join the Penny Black Saturday Challenge DT - it is a group of fantastic ladies with brilliant cardmaking talents, so it's a lot to live up to ... so many thanks to Tracie for inviting me. Hope you will pop over to the challenge blog and look at all the other fab card made by the DT for this week.

I would also love to thank everyone who joined in last week's challenge - it was great fun and very inspiring going round looking at everyone's fab creations; and also lovely to see your welcoming messages.

So ... down to business with this week's challenge, which is ....

Sentiment Only

We would like you to use a Penny Black sentiment stamp on your project, with no images allowed - either Penny Black or any other make. The good news is that this gives you opportunity to really go to town with any other form of decoration such as papers, ribbons, embellishments, stitching, die cuts etc.... we really look forward to seeing your creations.

We have a really great prize on offer this week .... Tracie is donating this gorgeous PB sentiment stamp which is perfect for all those Christmas cards!

So here is my card ....

I used: PB stamp ".. Be My Friend" embossed with silver detail powder; papers from my stash (most didn't have a make printed on them); lilac pearlescent card embossed with Cuttlebug "Perfectly Paisley" embossing folder; cream lace from Hobbycraft; Prima & WH Smith flowers; Papermania green pearl brad; buttons, narrow ribbon and metallic dragonfly brads from my stash. I also tried a bit of faux stitching on the papers to add a bit of interest.

High Hopes of a Secret Crafter

I recently received some adorable and unusual cute images of Inca "snow ladies" from Margaret (Arum Lily) at Docrafts; and have been waiting eagerly for an opportunity to use them. When I saw the Secret Crafter Challenge #5 this week was to use a fabby sketch and the colours pink, brown and white, I thought the time had come ... all I needed was some pink Christmas paper! Luckily I spotted some gorgeous Bo Bunny papers in my local craft shop at the weekend, so I was all set! You will notice that I have rather distorted the proportions of the sketch but hope you can still see the basic shape ... I was just sooo determined to use this image LOL!

I would also like to enter this card for this week's High Hopes Challenge #6, which is to make a holiday card in non-traditional colours ... well I hope you'll agree pink is non-traditional.

I also realised pretty last minute that this card is also suitable (I hope) for this week's Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge #23, which is sparkle and bling .. so I would draw your attention to the glitter card and gems LOL !

Last but not least, almost at exactly the same time I'm posting this I notice that this week's PTW Challenge is Simply Sparkling .... how could I resist?

I used: main image is Inca "Snow Lady", coloured with watercolour pencils; sentiment by Stamp Away; white gltter card embossed using Cuttlebug Snowflake folder; white felt ribbon by Papermania; pink and brown gems by Paper Studio.

1st DT card for the Penny Black Challenge

Well, I'm still bouncing around with excitement from being picked for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge DT, but managed to steady my hands for long enough to make my first "semi-official" DT card in advance of joining properly next week. The theme for this week's challenge #21 is sparkly/fireworks .... now I only found this out at the same time as non-DT members so needed to make the best of what came to hand, which unfortunately ruled out a firework theme. But when I spotted the term "sparkly" I thought .. now we're talking LOL!! So here is a (very) sparkly Christmas card made using only items I'd got around the house... hope you like it !

I used:

Main image is Penny Black "Xmouse ornament", watercoloured and the snowflake glittered with a Stickle.

Sentiment is PB "A wish.." inked with Brilliance pearlescent ink.

2 co-ordinating pearlescent background papers are by Reminisce - the main patterned one has white and turquoise sparkly accents.

Image and sentinent are matted onto turquoise shimmery iridescent card and white glitter card cut with nesties.

Sparkly fluffy yarn is by Cardology.

Gems are by Papermania (silver), Paper Studio (green) and free with craft mag (blue).

Fab new challenge + CCT

My friend Sharon is part of the DT for a fab new challenge blog called One Stop Crafts Challenge which launches today .... so I was eager to support her and it by having a go. Sharon is hosting the first challenge which is a brilliant sketch (I wish I had enough imagination to come up wtih original sketches!!). Sketches are brilliant at this time of year, so those Christmas cards can keep on coming!!

This sketch particularly suited me, cos I had got some Papermania tinsel trims (both bought and free with the latest "Creativity" magazine) and I had been wondering what I could do with them ... well they seemed to wrap nicely around the card at an angle in line with the sketch, and co-ordinated with trees on the stamped image and papers.

I am also entering this card for this week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge #33, as the theme is The Stars At Night .... so with black and silver plus stars on the paper and the tree, I reckon that qualifies.

I used: main image is from Stampendous Simply Clear "Christmas Holly" set, inked with Brilliance "Starlight Black" and embossed with holographic powder; background papers, adhesive stones and sparkly trims all by Papermania; tiny peel off from my stash.