Oldie But A Goodie #26 - Lots of Sparkle!

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another Oldie But A Goodie challenge. Thanks to  everyone who entered our last challenge - don't forget to check whether you have won Lisa Jane's fab prize.

This fortnight it is Tracy's turn to choose the theme, and she has picked

Lots Of Sparkle

Well I don't need to be asked twice when it comes to that one, and I'm sure you won't either!

This time we are sponsored by Robyn's Fetish - full prize details on the main challenge blog.

I think it would be fair to say that I have gone for a complete sparkle-fest on this card, with gliiter card, glamour dust, stickles and sparkly ribbon - and here it is ...

Recipe:

Main image: LotV "Rosie With Cake", coloured wtih Promarkers and Copics, and decorated wtih glamour dust;

Sentiments: both from Penny Black transparent set "Salutations";

Papers: Pink Petticoat (dotty) and unknown (checked);

Supplies: all flowers from Crafts4U2Do decorated wtih Stickles; sparkly ribbon from local craft shop; clear gems from my stash;

Tools: "Labels ?" nestabilities; martha Stewart "eyelet lace" edge punch and small "monarch butterfly" punch; Magnolia "vintage tag" die.

Challenges:

Sunday Sketch & Stamp #69 - Sketch

Simon Says - Food & Drink

Pile It On #34 - Sweet Treats

Pretty Little Ribbon #1 - Use a Pretty Ribbon

Kaboodle #81 - Ribbons

Corrosive #130 - Girlie

My TIme To Craft #154 - Here Come The Girls

Birthday Sundaes #23 - Pink, Green and White

Crazy4Challenges #101 - Bingo!

 (square card / die cuts / 2 or more DP's)

Sentimental Sundays #69 - Birthday

Looking forward to seeing all your sparkling creations!

Getting inky!

What with one thing and another I haven't had a lot of time for crafting outside of my DT cards over the past few weeks, but I was determined that I would join in with this week's Less Is More Challenge to use ink in a new or favourite way on a one-layer card..

Over the past few months I have been starting to get into distress inks .. I'd never much bothered with them in the past, but now I really love making a mess on my non-stick craft mat!!  I decided that rather than using themn to sponge or brush a masked square, I would have a go at splodging inks onto an acrylic block and spritzing them with water before "stamping" onto my base card.

Approx ten attempts later this is what I ended up with ...

This is a card that I love in concept, but I have to admit that the execution leaves a bit to be desired ... I got rather impatient and as a result my text stamp is a little smudged, but my story is that that is all part of the grungy look ... and I'm sticking to it lol!

Recipe:

Main image: Unity set "Insighful Meadows" flowers stamped with TH "Chipped Sapphire" distress ink;

Background: text stamp by Crafty Individuals; background rectangle stamped using Faded Jeans, Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint distress inks;

Sentiment: Unity set as above.

Challenges:

Less Is More #28 - OLC - Use Ink

Crafts & Me #48 - Blues/Greens

Pile It On #33 - Three Shades of Blue

(Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, Tumbled Glass)

Off to catch up with my DT work now ...

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.

LIM – OMG!

Last week I bottled out of the Less is More challenge, ‘cos none of my sentiment stamps seemed to fit and I’m no good at generating fancy ones on the computer … so this week I just had to face my demons. But acetate ?? ACETATE??

Initially I thought I needn’t concern myself with this challenge, as I was under the impression I didn’t have any of the pesky material … but then it occurred to me that actually I once bought a pack to make a shaker card with (and what a disaster that was … the quicker we draw a veil over that little episode the better!!)

Anyhow there was nothing else for it but to get stuck in! Now I don’t go much on apertures and I don’t have many inks that can stamp onto acetate, so to my mind there was only one way to  go …  I made the most of the space on the inside of the card, and produced an acetate front cover with only a sentiment stamped on it … voila! I also used this as an opportunity to have a go with a Tim Holtz distressing technique as per his video tutorial here ... so that I could also enter this card for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.

Recipe:
Main image: various stamps from Unity set “Insightful Meadows” stamped onto a wet distressed background using Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans distress inks;
Sentiment: same set as above;
Tools: Martha Stewart “scalloped dots” edge punch.

And here’s a pic of the card open – just to prove I did actually use acetate on the front lol!!  I have to admit I had several goes before I was (vaguely) satisfied … so please Chrissie and Mandi don’t ask us to use acetate again, as I’ve not got much left now lol!!

Challenges:
Less Is More #11 – Acetate
Simon Says Stamp and Show – A Lord Tim of Holtz Technique
Pile It on #16 – Smells Like Rubber
Incy Wincy #90 – Bright and Bold
Top Tip Tuesday #30 – Open Challenge

Phew … mission accomplished! Think I need to lie down now!! 

Keeping It Simple

There hasn't been much going on in my craft space for the past few days, as I have been off work since the middle of the week with a stinking head cold. I've spent the past couple of days ambling listlessly around the house - yesterday I never even got dressed til mid afternoon, so I'm feeling pretty dopey and sorry for myself. I thought today I would try making a card to cheer myself up a bit, but my energy has got up and run for the door, so I stuck with a couple of simple themes which didn't require too much mental attention lol!


I made a card which is rather more simple than my usual style, and would like to enter it for the following challenges:

Challenge Up Your Life #35 - Clean and Simple
Creative Craft - Monochromatic Madness
Crafts & Me #22 - Monochrome
Wee Memories #39 - For the Love of Ribbon
Papertake Weekly - Ribbons and Pearls
Creative Belli #109 - The letter P (petals, pearls)
Pile It on #3 - Anything Goes
Paper Sundaes #52 - Favourite Challenge of the Past Year (2nd entry)
(this time I have chosen #46 - Adorn Those Corners)

I have to confess I also made this card with a view to entering it into the Passion for Promarkers Challenge ... but ... errr ... I didn't use Promarkers - oops!! (told you my head was full of cold lol!!)

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Blush" (2666K) inked with Marvey brushstroke pens;
Sentiment: LotV sentiment circles;
Paper: Papermania "Forever Friends - Spring Time";
Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; patterned ribbon from my stash;
Tools: small circle and lacy circle nestabilities; Martha Stewart PATP corner punch "Wild Flowers".

Off now to cheer myself up with a coffee and a cupcake ... see if that will get my mojo back on track!! :-)

Brand Spankin' New!

Here's another card I made during my recent mega craft session.

Before Christmas I bought a few of the new LotV stamps, but rather naughtily I then proceeded to neglect them completely due to the Christmas rush! I thought now would be a good time to start inking them up, as the next lot are due out next week!!


I didn't go mad on new stash at Christmas, but I did get a couple of presents, so I decided to use them too - my new MS "wildflowers" punch-around-the-page which was a present from my darling husband (thanks hun!), and the two-tone lilac gardenia was part of a yummy "not-so-secret Santa" present pack (many thanks to Lynda :-) )


Recipe:
Main image: LotV "Hello Cupcake", coloured with Promarkers;
Sentiments: Penny Black transparent set "Salutations";
Paper: Paper Pzazz;
Supplies: all flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, decorated with Stardust Stickles;
Tools: border punched using Martha Stewart "Wildflowers" PATP; swirls from Marianne D Creatables "Ribbon Flower" set; Leone Em "Ash Branch" leaf punch.

I would like to enter this for the following challenges:

LotV #78 - New Beginnings

(includes use of new stash)
Creative Inspirations #50 - Use Something New on Your Project

Paper Sundaes #50 - Something New
Pile It On - Brand Spankin' New!
Stamp Something - Glitter
By the Cute & Girly (January) - Bling It On!
Simon Says - Time to Party / Celebrate

(the little girl looks to me like she is on the brink of celebrating her birthday big time lol!!)
Shabby Tea Room #43 - 11 elements

(base cardstock; bazzill; patterned paper; stamping card; stamped image; Promarker pens; paper flowers; die cut swirls; edge punch; punched leaves; glitter).
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #99 - Flowers
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

By the time this post goes live I daresay I will have struggled through my first day back in work after an 11 day break. Christmas already seems like a distant memory .....

Papertake Weekly - and 2 for the price of 1!

Happy Tuesday everyone, and welcome to another Papertake Weekly Challenge - my last as a Guest Designer. The past four weeks have fairly flown by, and I've had a brilliant time having a go at the fab challenges this blog has to offer and visiting some of your fabulous creations.

For my last challenge on the team we have this fab sketch by Dawny for you to follow.

I really enjoyed working with this, and I'm sure you will too. Don't forget to visit the main challenge blog to check out the other DT members' gorgeous samples, details of this week's prize, and to see if you are last week's lucky winner.

Here's my card for this week. Sadly I've been suffering from a bout of "winter-itis" in the photography department, as there was no real daylight to speak of yesterday ... but I did my best!

Recipe:
Main image: LotV "James Bear - Wrapped in Tinsel", coloured with Copics and Promarkers, and decorated with green Stickles glitter;
Sentiment: Elzybells;
Papers: Bo Bunny;
Supplies: large pearl brad and spacer from The Hobby House; lace from my stash;
Tools: Cuttlebug "Ice Crystal" die cut.

Challenges:
Pile It On #44 - Furry Holiday Cards (animal images)
Paper Sundaes #43 - Let It Snow!
Crafty Ann's #27 - Christmas in non-traditional colours
Top Tip Tuesday #9 - Use an Image / Sentiment

Now my post title refers to 2 for the price of 1 - that's because whilst I had the teddy stamp, pens and paper out, I made a second card which is very similar to the one above but a different layout.

The details are very similar to the one above, except that I used gold Stickles on teddy's tinsel, and also used some yummy Wild Orchid Craft lace, and pearls from the Hobby House.

I would like to enter the second one for the following challenges:

Fussy & Fancy #23 - Sketch
Spoon Full of Sugar #129 - Snow/Snowflakes
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #92 - Glitter

That's all for now - hope you can join in with the PTW challenge this week, and can't wait to see what you create.

Creative Card Crew #56 - Cute & Girly

It's Tuesday again, and time for another Creative Card Crew challenge. Thanks as always to all of you who entered last fortnight's challenge - we really appreciate your support. Don't forget to check out whether you have won last week's prize!

You will see on the main challenge blog that we have a few new DT members following from our recent DT call. Their first official challenge is in 2 weeks time, but some have plunged straight in :-) Either way, it's a warm welcome to

Caroline, Cherie, Chrissie, Denise, Julie , Melly & Peggy

On then to the challenge for the coming fortnight ... we would like to see your

Cute & Girly

creations

We are sponsored this time by Melissa of Meljen's Designs.


... who makes a fab range of digi images, many of which are perfect for this challenge theme :-) . They are currently sold exclusively through Whimsy Stamps online store. Melissa kindly provided the DT with a few images to play with, but as luck would have it I won 4 Meljen's Designs digis a couple of weeks ago, so I used a different one to widen the range of what we are showcasing this week. The other DT members have created some totally cute samples so I hope you'll go and check them out.

I have used a sweet Meljen's image called "Lazy Susan Buggies" - I was a bit nervous to start with as I have to tell you this is my first ever digi image card! I did find it a bit fiddly trying to estimate how to resize the image etc. but I soon started to get into the swing of it. In the past I have tended to steer away from digi images, not least because until recently I only watercoloured which I think probably doesn't work very well with printer ink. However now I'm using Promarkers and Copics I feel much better placed to give digis a go!

Recipe:
Main image: Meljen's Designs digital image "Lazy Susan Buggies", coloured with Promarkers, edged with Colorbox Q sponged ink and decorated with glamour dust;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards;
Paper: Papermania "Summer Blooms";
Supplies: lace from Bunny Zoe's Crafts; pearl brad, pearls and large spacer from The Hobby House; flower and charm from my stash;

I followed this week's Sweet Stampin' Challenge #37 sketch (which I rotated by 90 degrees),

and would like to enter this card for
Pile it On #30 - Butterflies, bugs & bees
Alphabet Challenge - N is for Nature
Simon Says - Going Dotty (2nd entry)

That's all for today - happy crafting :-)

Creative Card Crew #54 - Die Cuts

Hello and welcome to another Creative Card Crew Challenge. The past fortnight has whizzed by - hope you have all been enjoying the summery weather. It was fabulous seeing all your easel cards last fortnight - what an artistic lot you are :-) Don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you won the prize.

So on to this fortnight's challenge, which is

Die Cuts

Yep - we would like to see you use one or more die cuts on your creation. And to get you in the mood, we have a fab prize from our sponsor


which as a $20 voucher to spend in the online store - lovely!! :-)

Just in case any of you aren't familiar with Simon Says Stamp yet (where have you been?? lol!!) here's a little about the company ...

In business since 2002, Simon Says Stamp is striving to offer you the best selection of Rubber Stamps, Altered Art, Scrapbooking, Artist Trading Cards, and Paper Crafting Supplies in the world. We stock over 100,000 items in our warehouses so that we can offer you quick service and one stop shopping at a great price! Happy customers are the heart of our business. We work hard to find and deliver to you the latest in stamping and paper crafting supplies! Attending classes, workshops, and sales meetings around the world, our goal is to keep our product offerings fresh and current. Make us your one stop easy shop - and we'll deliver right to your door! Simon Says Stamp has over 100,000 items in stock. They have all of the latest releases from Magnolia, Whiff of Joy, Tim Holtz, Spellbinders, Copic and so much more! With free shipping for all International orders over $200 and USA Orders over $70, it’s a great time to shop with Simon Says Stamp.

The other ladies on the DT have made some fabulous samples - do go check them out! Here's my die cut card.



Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "day-dreams" (3947K), coloured with Promarkers and edged with Colorbox Queue inks;
Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set "Flowers and Wishes";
Papers: Papermania "Summer Bloom";
Supplies: flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts and Petaloo; Doodlebug sparkly brads; flower spacers from the Hobby House; Papermania sparkly gems; pink velvet ribbon from my stash;
Tools: "Labels four" nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables "Swirl leaf" die-cut; martha Stewart "monarch butterfly" punch.



I specifically made this card to fit with a number of other challenges:

Penny Black at Allsorts #1 - A Burst of Summer Colour

(I deliberately chose these fab new Papermania papers to add the required zing, and then chose a summery floral Penny Black stamp to fulfil the challenge requirements).
Dutch Dare #81 - photo inspiration

(this also inspired the choice of floral image and brightly coloured papers).

By the Cute & Girly (July) - Warm Summer Days
I ♥ ProMarkers #21 - Stripes
Pile it On #26 - My Favourite Things
(that would be Penny Black stamps, flowers, butterflies and the colour pink!)

Last but not least I followed this week's Sketch Saturday #110 sketch.

Looking forward to seeing all your creations !

Creative Card Crew #50 - Emma's sketch

Wow another fortnight has whizzed past, and it's time for another Creative Card Crew Challenge. Thanks so much to eveyone who joined in the April Showers Bring Forth May Flowers challenge last time - don't forget to check the main blog to see if you have won the fabby prize!

Onto this fortnight's challenge which is a superb sketch by Emma - I really enjoyed working with this and hope you will too.


The DT members have been working their magic - do pop by their blogs and leave a nice comment :-)

To help get your creative juices flowing we've got another great prize this time ... it's a fabulous $20 gift certificate from

Here's my card for this week ...

I'm still happily working my way through recent purchases, and playing with yummy gifty things I received for my birthday - I've brought a few of them into play on this card.

Recipe:

Main image: Lili of the Valley, coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with glamour dust on the bubbly bubbles !
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards;
Papers: Papermania "Blueberry Hill";
Supplies: large two-tone roses were a birthday gift from Sue; small pink roses from Hobbycraft; miniature white roses from Paula; pink gems from Angie;
Tools: large standard circles and large standard scalloped circles nestabilities; Bazzill Jewel template "fantasy flourishes" from The Hobby House.

As usual I'd like to enter this card for a few challenges:

Paperplay #18 - Stamp/digi and bling
Pile It On #18 - Cute & cuddly

Stamp Something - Birthday Somethings (2nd entry)

Simon Says - Birthdays / Celebrations (3rd entry)

Looking forward to seeing all your interpretations of the sketch!

Penny Black Challenge #98 - Recipe!

Wow - don't know where this week has gone to ... no crafting and not a single post since last Saturday ... but at last the weekend is here again and it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Thanks very much to everyone who entered last week's "monochromatic brown" challenge - not an easy one but you definitely rose to the challenge with some fab creations.

This week we have a really great challenge for you - a recipe. What we would like to see is projects that incorporate

3 flowers
2 buttons
1 bow

How easy is that??

And we also have a brilliant prize as usual for one randomly drawn winner - this week it's a Lifetime 15% discount voucher for the online craft store of our regular sponsor


Don't forget to check out this week's gorgeous samples from the rest of the DT - here's mine.


I must admit that the whole thing revolved this week around the fact that I had finally managed to get my hands on a Marianne D Creatables "ribbon flower" die set ... and was just soooo excited!! I have to say though - after I had cut it the paper was an absolute pig to get out of the die - even my pokey tool wouldn't shift it - so if anyone has any handy hints and tips as to how to do this without ripping three fiogernails I'd be very grateful ;-) Also I feel that it would be easier to thread wtih soft organza ribbon as thicker ribbon fills the central hole too much ... but I guess it's a case of experimenting. I don't think I've quite got the finished flower perfect yet, but I'm still pretty pleased with the result (when I eventually got there ! :-) )

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "A Tender Hug", coloured with watercolour pencils;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards;
Paper: My Mind's Eye "Pretty Please";
Supplies: pink roses from Hobbycraft decorated with Stardust Stickles; large spacer from The Hobby House; large jewel brad, buttons and ribbons from my stash;
Tools: large classic circles and large classic scalloped circles Nestsbilities; "Fancy Tags" Shapeabililties; Martha Stewart "garden trellis" edge punch.

As usual I would like to enter this card into a few challenges .....

Paper Sundaes #14 - No people
Stamp With Fun #55 - Animals
Pile It On #15 - Spring
A Spoon Full of Sugar #100 - Happy Birthday
Daring Cardmakers - Die Cut Crazy

One Stop Craft Challenge #77 - Metallic (chunky spacer on my flower)

S2G Challenges - Spring has Sprung with a Twist (flowers)

Our Creative Corner - Blooming Blossoms

I should be out at the Aintree craft show today - will try to restrain myself and not buy too much stash ;-). Have a great weekend whatever you're doing.