Penguin Fun

I absolutely adore this cute Pickle stamp from Wild Rose Studio - he looks like he is having so much fun delivering his sleigh full of presents. This image is one of several I coloured in a few weeks ago and I have been gradually working my way though them since. A few days ago while having a bit of a crafty clear out I found several squares of embossed pearlised white card sitting ready to make up into cards ... so I quickly put the two together to make another Chrimbo card. I tried to add a bit of interest with these yummy poinsettas from my local craft shop Crafts4U2Do, who are now stocking their own fabulous brand of flowers called "Sweet Lilac", and finished off with my new Cheery Lynn die which is just sooo gorgeous and I'm really pleased with it :-)

Not the best light for photos again ... for some reason I have a real problem getting a true colour when photographing red, as  it always comes out far too bright. I have photo-edited it to calm it down although it is still too light, but that has made my green go a bit off-kilter lol!

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Pickle with Sleigh";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust all around!

Supplies: poinsettas by Sweet Lilac dusted wtih Stickles; gems from The Hobby House; ribbon and peel off my stash;

Tools: Cheery Lynn die "holly flourish"; Cuttlebug Snowflake folders.

Challenges:
Joanna Sheen Challenge #1 - It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Pollycraft Monday #120 - Christmas Fun

Stamptacular #140 - Anything Christmas

Craft Your Passion #86 - 'Tis The Season

Ooh-La-La #94 - Lots of Sparkle

Dream Valley #21 - Sparkle
Colour Create #85 - Red, White and Green
Cooking it Up With Katie #86 - Anything Goes

Simon Says - Anything Goes

The Ribbon Reel #16 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)
Scrapbook Sisters #62 - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations #146 - Picture inspiration

(I was inspired by the red for the flowers, the green holly wreath, and the wood for the sleigh)

Thanks for looking - have a great day.

Penny Black Saturday #149 – Milestones

Good morning everyone – welcome to yet another long Bank holiday weekend, and it’s time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week’s Happily Ever After Challenge – there were some truly adorable and romantic entries. Don’t forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won last week’s prize.

This week the DT have very kindly allowed me to pick the theme in honour of the fact that I have a milestone birthday coming up this next week .. I am going to be 50 (yikes, when did that happen ???). So in honour of this momentous (!) occasion, this week’s theme is

Milestones

Now you could interpret this in many ways to celebrate any of life’s milestones, eg. special birthday, wedding, engagement, birth, retirement, graduation … the list of possibilities is almost endless!

Please just remember that in order to be eligible for this week’s prize you need to submit a new piece of work, with a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

And talking of prizes … this week’s prize is a 15% off lifetime discount voucher form our regular sponsor, Dick at PB Stamps

Lovely!!

The other ladies on the DT have produced a fabulous selection of cards so please do check them out – here is mine for this week.

 

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black “Unwrapped” (3693H), coloured with Promarkers;
Sentiment: computer generated;
Papers: Craft Creations (gingham) and Deja Views (alphabet);
Supplies: ribbon, lace and buttons from stash (inc. white button recycled from an old shirt);
Tools: large scalloped square nestabilities; number 1 die cut using Cuttlebug “Hippie Chick” alphabet set.

Challenges:

Papertake Weekly – Sketch #55

 

The Ribbon Girl #7 – Red, White and Blue
Crafty Cardmakers #44 – A Royal Wedding (Red, White and Blue)
Fab ‘n’ Funky #70 – Red, White and Blue
Penny Black Challenge – Bold and Bright
Top Tip Tuesday #31 – Squares
Stamptacular #108 – Pile It On (at least 5 layers)
Craft Your Passion #55 - Layers
Creative Craft – Recycling ( white button from shirt)
Simon Says Stamp and Show – Some Buttons
Simon Says – Anything Goes
Sparkles #10 – Anything Goes 
Make it Monday #34 – Anything Goes
Moving Along With The Times #96 – Anything Goes

That’s it for today … I’m off out tonight for a birthday meal with my husband so I’d better start getting ready in good time :-)

Have a great weekend.

Magical pearls and swirls

Well I had a brilliant day out yesterday. For quite a while I have been getting friendly online with the lovely Katina, and we had been meaning to meet up since last autumn at Port Sunlight craft fair. However Katina wasn't well that day, and since then time has flown by and we have never managed to meet up ... until now :-) We both live in different parts of Liverpool, and I had the idea of us going on a little jaunt to a large craft shop with coffee shop I know in St Helens called Crafts4u2do, so we could chat over coffee and cake and get to know each other.

Woke up yesterday morning with the sun cracking the flags, so it was a perfect day for a litle drive. We met late morning and before we knew it we were chatting for England over tea and chocolate cake (which Katina INSISTED on buying despite my protests .. thanks hun :-) We have both had a few trials and tribulations recently but it didn't feel at all awkward talking about what's happening in our lives, and time flew by.

Eventually we thought we ought to have a look around the craft shop and we certainly weren't disappointed. I hadn't been over there for about six months and was very impressed with their new stock - especially their own new range of flowers which could give well known online flower retailers a run for their money!! Katina was very good as she is trying to save at the moment and only had a very moderate spend ... I didn't get too carried away, but quite a few of the flower packs did fall into my basket along with some lace, card, a couple of distress inks and just the one rubber stamp.

By the time I got home mid-afternoon I was in cheerful mood, having made not only a few new craft purchases but also hopefully a new friend :-) The whole thing put me right in the mood for crafting, so I made a couple of cards in the late afternoon and evening - here's one of them which I made for a few challenges.

Recipe:

Main image: LotV "Freedom" coloured with Promarkers and decorated with Glamour Dust;

Sentiment: free with craft magazine;

Papers: BasicGrey "two scoops";

Supplies: yellow roses by Sweet Lilac (from Crafts4U2Do); other flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; lace and ribbon from my stash;

Tools: small, large and lacy circles nestabilties; Marianne D Creatable swirly leaf die; Magnolia doohickey "vintage tag" die; Cuttlebug "swirls" embossing folder.

Challenges:

BasicGrey #41 - More Than One Fold

Magical Mondays #19 - Magical Pearls and Swirls

Anything Goes #38 - Pearls

Passion for Promarkers #94 - Yellow and Pink

Simon Says - Spring Colours (2nd entry)

Crafty Pad #116 - Spring Is in the Air

Flutterby Wednesday's #149 - Open Theme with Butterfly, Fairy or Angel

Dream Valley #4 - Things With Wings (2nd entry)

Freshly Brewed (April) - Flowers

Stamptacular #106 - Girls and Swirls

Back tomorrow with another very different card I made with a couple more of my new purchases :-)

Pretty in Pink (+ silver + white)

Here's another card from my latest Christmas batch .... quite a few challenges were winking at me from my blog roll when I logged on this morning so I decided to make this one into a quick post. I would like to enter this card for: Wild Orchid #13 - Pink, Silver and White

Cupcake#121 - Non-Traditional Christmas

Incy Wincy #72 - Non-Tradional Christmas Colours

Stamp With Fun #89 - Christmas

Pollycraft #74 - White Christmas

The Pink Elephant #90 - Winter Wonderland

Catch the Bug - Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Stamptacular #89 - Winter Wishes

Keep It Simple - Season's Greetings

Sentimental Sundays #33 - Let It Snow

Totally Gorjuss #60 - Snow!

Daring Cardmakers - Snow Much Fun

Alphabet Challenge - G is for Glitter

Bunny Zoe's #7 - Sparkle & Shine

Stampalicious - Stampaliciously Simple

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Snowy Park", covered in crystal Fine Art glitter;

Sentiment: Penny Black;

Paper: pearlescent white card embossed with Cuttlebug;

Supplies: small roses from Wild Orchid Crafts; silver gems and ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Cuttlebug "snowflakes" embossing folder.

That's all for today :-)

Cute kitty and multi-congratulations

One of my closest friends has just recently finished some important post-graduate exams for which she had been working hard all year, and she told me yesterday that she had passed them all - yippee! So I decided to make her a card to congratulate her , and this cute LotV kitty came straight to mind. I also decided to attempt a multiple challenge card with it ... so here we go :-) I followed the sketch for this week's Papertake Weekly, as it seemed perfect for the image and colour scheme I had in mind. I also made this card for Creative Craft - What a Glamour Puss BasicGrey #30 - Sparkle! (kitty and mousey are drinking sparkling champagne, and I have glamour dusted the bubbles, stickled the flowers, and added pink gems) Creative Cottage #24 - Bling it On!

One Stop Craft Challenge #100 - Congratulations Stamp Something - Something to Celebrate (entry #2) Wild Orchid Challenge #6 - Ribbons & Bows Craft Garden (October) - Pink Ribbon, Lace or Yarn

I love Promarkers #34 - Pearls & Swirls (my paper is swirly, and I have added swirl die cuts to the sides of the flowers instead of leaves) Paper Sundaes #38 - Something From Your Stash (that would be the ribbon) Stamptacular Sunday #79 - Layer it on (at least 5 layers ) ... I reckon at its thickest point mine has got ten ... base card/pink card/paper/raffia lace/ribbon/pink card/paper/pink card mat /pink paper/image card. Sew Many Challenges - Anything Goes

Incy Wincy #61 - Anything Goes

... and here's a closeup of my WOC flowers stickled to within an inch of their lives lol!

Recipe: Main image: LotV "Thomas - Champagne", coloured with Promarkers & decorated with glamour dust; Sentiment: die cut using Cuttlebug cut'n'emboss set "Everyday greetings"; Paper: BasicGrey "Two Scoops"; Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; raffia lace from Hobbycraft; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbons & gems from my stash; Tools: Cuttlebug cut'n'emboss set "Everyday greetings"; Marianne D Creatables "Ribbon flower" set used for leaf swirls.

Just off now for another little crafty sesh .. hope everyone is having a good weekend. >

Penny Black Challenge #96 - buttons galore!

Hello there and welcome to week 96 of the Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks to everyone who entered last week's challenge - sorry I wasn't about as I had a week off to concentrate on some jobs around the house over Easter, but hopefully I'm now back in the saddle.

This week we have another great challenge theme for you .... we would like to see

buttons galore!

Yes ... we would like to see buttons on your project - don't forget that the only other rule is that you must use a Penny Black image or sentiment prominently on your project.

As always we have a grat prize for you - our regular sponsor

is offering one lucky randomly drawn winner a $20 voucher to spend in their online shop - lovely!!

Talking of lovely, the DT has been busy as always creating some gorgeous samples - hope you'll check them out. Here's my effort ....

I really do adore this cute hedgie from the "Tiny Wishes" set, and think she goes perfectly with the yummy new Papermania "Rose Garden" papers. I decided to challenge myself so that I could enter a few other challenges with this card, so I made my own paper flower following this tutorial on YouTube .... now I have to say I found the whole thing pretty tricky as the papers are quite stiff and therefore didn't want to crumple daintily, but I think I got there in the end!!

As a result of all this endeavour I'd like to enter this card for the following challenges:

Cupcake #85 - make your own flowers
Crafty Cardmakers #18 - A Challenging Challenge
(mine was the flower lol!!)
Allsorts #47 - Petals and Pearls
Cute Card Thursday #107 - Mono Mania!
... my card is almost exclusively pink, apart from the "natural" elements such as skin, fur and leaves :-)
Meljen's Designs #2 - Let's See Some Girly Colours
Stamptacular Sunday #53 - Sugar & Spice & everything nice
Daring Cardmakers - If the Shoe Fits (don't you just love those cute oversize trainers?? lol!)
Inky Impressions #33 - charm it!
C.R.A.F.T.#45 - buttons
Totally Gorjuss #25 - Texture
Magical Crafts #12 - Animal antics
Simple Doodles #15 - Inspire others

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Tiny Wishes" transparent set, coloured with watercolour eoncils and decorated on rose with Stickles;
Sentiment & papers: Papermania "Rose Garden" pad;
Supplies: large pearl brad, large spacer and pearl gems all from The Hobby House; "Made with love" heart charm from Bunny Zoe's Crafts; lace was an RAK from Ruby :-); pink ribbon and buttons from my stash;
Tools: "labels 3" nestabilities; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Hope you can join us this week - look forward to seeing your creations.

Cute hedgie does the Christmas combo!

I have been on holiday from work this past week, but due to the schedule of jobs I'd set for myself, yesterday afternoon was the first time I managed to sit down for a good crafty session. I stamped out a few of this adorable PB image "fur collared" and made a few cards for various challenges, so you will be seeing more of this cute little fella over the next couple of days ....

Here's my first card:

I have followed the sketch for this week's Corrosive Challenges #41


This card also fits a number of other Christmas challenges, namely

My Time to Craft #69 - Christmas Foliage
Everybody-Art-Challenge #69 - green & red
Stamp with Stampavie #73 - red & green
Charisma #49 - green & red plus white or silver
The Pink Elephant #44 - Your favourite Christmas colour combo. Well mine is generally whatever I happen to be doing right now ... and at the moment green & red seems to be right up there lol!


Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "fur collared" (3763H) coloured with watercolour pencils, and decorated with polar white flowersoft and glamour dust;
Sentiment; Stampendous;
Paper: Reminisce "Snowflake Spots";
Supplies: Flowers by Floradoodles; gems from my stash;
Tools: scalloped rectangle nestabilities; Cuttelbug "Snowflakes" embossing folder.

Here's my second card. I have deliberately made this card for just the one challenge as they don't allow us to combine - it is for this week's Stamptacular Challenge #36 which is Let it shine. I have got sparkle on the fluffy fur, holographic silver card on my matting, shiny silver snowflakes on the ribbon, and sparkkly gems in the flowers.

Recipe:
Main image - as before;
Sentiment: Stamps Away;
Paper: from stash;
Supplies: Snowflake ribbon from Warrington market; flowers by Floradoodle;
Tools: scalloped rectangle nestabilities.

Back tomorrow with a couple more of these cuties :-)

Stamptacular - Charmed I'm Sure!

Been off work sick today, so tried to do a bit of cardmaking even though my mojo was having a nap somewhere lol! Not great when your head is like cottonwool!!

I hadn't got round yet to entering the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge, but this week's Challenge #4 is to use a charm on your card ... and as I have really gotten into charms over the past couple of months I thought I'd have a go.

I inked up my new Sugar Nellie stamp "Basket Full of Happiness" - isn't she gorgeous? Actually I inked her up several times because for some reason I couldn't seem to get a good impression .. but I got there in the end. I coloured my image with the usual watercolour pencils and put some li'l gems in the flowers in her hair ... aww! I cut out the shape using my large deckle rectangle nesties, and inked the edges. My papers are Melissa Frances (floral) and free with a magazine (striped); flowers are by Prima and Papermania; paper roses are from Hobbycraft; swirls were cut using my Spellbinders Shapeabilities "Doodles" and leaves punched using my Leone Em Ash Branch punch; lace was an RAK from Cathy; charm was from ebay shop Dolls Made Up; pearl gems from my stash. Sentiment stamps were free with this month's Creativity magazine (front) and WOJ (inside).

And here is the inside .....

Hope I feel a bit more like cardmaking tomorrow lol!