Penny Black Saturday #205 - Red, White & Blue

Well, it's been a short working week here in the UK what with the long Diamond Jubilee bank holiday ... but it has somehow seemed VERY long due to the appalling weather we have had the past few days. So thank goodness it's the weekend at last, an opportunity to say warm and dry indoors and get down to some serious crafting :-) And what better than to get stuck in to this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge?

Thanks to everyone who joined in last week's CASE it challenge ... fabulous interpretations as always.

This week we are in celebratory and patriotic mood with the jubilee, and would like to see your

red, white & blue

creations.

As always you can interpret this however you choose, so long as  you submit a new project which features a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

This week we are sponsored by

who are offering one lucky randomly drawn winner a $20 online store voucher.

Don't forget to check out the stunning creations by the rest of the DT - here is my effort for this week.

I have to 'fess up that I always find red, white and blue a real struggle - mainly because I really don't like the colour red at all. For quite a long time though I have admired the way some of my teamies have used this particular stamp; and at the weekend I finally got round to ordering it with a view to doing a bit of paper-piecing. My original concept was for red flowers with a soft pale blue background, but when I started shuffling the papers in my stash I ended up going in a slightly different direction!!

Stamps: Penny Black "Whispers" (3377K); sentiment from Penny Black transparent set "Party Critters";

Media: edges of image distressed with "chipped sapphire" distress ink;

Papers: Papermania "Portobello Road" and My Mind's Eye;

Supplies: ribbon from Hobbycraft; pearls and doily from my stash.

Challenges:

DYSU #75 - Paper Piecing

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Texture

(paper-piecing, doily, pearls and ribbon)

Crafty Pad #173 - Ribbon

Really Reasonable Ribbon #49 - Flowers and Ribbon

Crafting For All Seasons #28 - Many Layers

Sentimental Sundays #105 - Spots

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Try It On Tuesday - Anything Goes

Crafty Boots - Bowtastic / Anything Goes

Enjoy  your weekend!

Prim Poppy

Hello everyone, today I have got a card to show you that is rather different from my usual style. It was inspired by the beautiful new Memory Box die " Prim Poppy" - I thought it was so elegant when I saw it I just had to have it, although I hadn't really thought how I would use it!  Having got the die I was also inspired by the current jubilee colour theme of red, white and blue ... this is a colour combo I would never normally use but it's rather difficult to avoid at the moment lol!!

I decided to keep the card very simple but to give the die cut some impact by draping it around an aperture - something else I never normally do. This also enabled me to showcase the flower die while making a sentiment stamp the central focus.  lastly I got the idea of using the die twice from a card I saw in my local craft shop Edwin Allen - that one was a white on white card which also looked very effective, but I'll leave that experiment for another day! Here's the result ...

Technically I don't know if this card qualifies for a red, white and blue challenge as the flower stems are green .. but hey flower stems just ARE green aren't they ... and my story is they're a natural element like skin or hair!! 

Stamps: Penny Black "friends" ..

Supplies: Memory Box "Prim Poppy" die; Martha Stewart "small monarch butterfly" punch.

Challenges:

Less Is More #70 - Red, White and Blue

Creative Craft - Red, White and Blue

Craft your Days Away #46 - Red, White and Blue

Die-ing For A Challenge - Anything Goes With A Die Cut.

That's all for today ... thanks for looking.

 

Don't Panic Mr. Mainwaring!

I always like to have a desk calendar at work and have made myself one in the past, but last year I bought one and intended to do the same this year. Unfortunately I never saw one I liked, so a couple of days ago I (somewhat belatedly) decided to make myself one.

I suddenly had a brainwave for a calendar theme (based on recently bought stash) that I thought would not only be funky, fashionable and very suitable for office life, but would also be particularly apt for this year of celebrating various British events such as the London Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee. I even imagined making calendars as li'l belated new year gifts for my team mates in the office ... I was really enthusiastic about the whole thing!

There was a problem though ... all my local stockists seemed to have run out of small calendar tabs, and all the online suppliers were also either out of stock or charging thrice for postage what the actual calendars cost (Anita's - £1 for a pack of ten!).  In desperation I sent out an online call to some bloggy buds to see if anyone had any leftovers (just for me, not all my workmates, I hasten to add!) , and the lovely Helen stepped straight up to the mark and offered to post me one ... thanks so much hun!!

If Helen is reading this now she is probably quite confused as there is no way her li'l calendar could have arrived with me yet ... well it's like this. I went for a little jaunt yesterday afternoon (Saturday) to a craft shop a few miles away ... and lo and behold they had a few individual calendar tabs hiding near the till! They're not actually as nice as the Anita's ones so I am waiting patiently for my promised one to arrive to use on my own calendar, but I was able to buy enough to make up six calendars for my work teamies ... they all look something like these!!

Although I say so myself  I'm quite chuffed with these. The idea came from seeing a card of Squirrel's earlier in the week which alerted me to the existence of the "Keep Calm And ..." set of sentiments from Personal Impressions (I just HAD to have them immediately!) ; and I soon made the mental connection with the "Portobello Road" paper pad I had bought last week in case of Olympic / Jubilee challenges. I had been wondering what to do with the funky Union Jack papers though ... well suddenly it was obvious to me! I really like this kinda retro look and Second World War sayings (with a bit of artistic licence lol!)  :-)

Most of my workmates are big tea drinkers, so 4 out of the 6 calendars follow that theme. The other 2 non-tea drinkers are getting "Drink Wine" calendars ... I really hope they a e going to like them!

Stamps: Personal Impressions "Keep Calm And" set;

Papers: Papermania "Portobello Road";

Tools: Martha Stewart "Iron Gate" punch.

Challenges:

Allsorts #137 - Celebration of Nations

Stamp With Fun #143 - Calendar 

Pollycraft Monday #122 - Anything But A Card

Hotshot Crafts #2 - Easel Card

Divas By Design #18 - New Beginnings

Ooh-La-La #96 - New Beginnings

Sparkles #28 - New Crafty Goodies
The Stamp Man - Use Red

CES #68 - Vintage

Incy Wincy #128 - Vintage

Crafty Cardmakers #59 - No Floral Embellishments

So with that I guess I'll just Keep Calm and Carry on ... enjoy the rest of your weekend!