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 #168 - Delicious!

Good morning all - it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge! Thanks so much to everyone who joined in with scenic creations last week ... a bit lower number of entries than usual so I guess some of you struggled ... but those who managed it made a wonderful job!

This week we have a theme that we hope you'll find sweet in all senses of the word - we would like to see something

Delicious

on your projects :-) As always you  an interpret this however you choose so long as you submit a new project and we can see a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

This week's fab prize is a $20 store voucher from 1-2-3 Stitch - lovely!

Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT's deliciousness - here is mine for this week.

I actually have three or four Penny Black images that involve food (plus a couple more that involve champagne and that's also pretty delicious in my book!!) ... but I can never resist this cute mouse falling asleep in the chocolate box after over-induging!  I decided to make an easel card specifically so that I could enter a couple of additional challenges; and I added a charm so I could enter a couple more :-).  How cute is this charm??

Easels are very difficult to photograph as I'm sure we all know, and also on this one I couldn't seem to get a true colour in the dull light ... but here is closer view of the front anyway. It also seemed particularly appropriate for the image to use a big "chocolate box" bow!

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Sweet Slumber" (1916J), coloured with  mixture of Promarkers (Cinammon, Tan, Cocoa, Sandstone, Blush, Dusky Pink, Baby Pink, Cerise) and Copics (RV02, RV10, E31, E50, E51, E53)

Sentiments: Penny Black transparent sets "Salutations" (on card) and "Bubbly" (on tag);

Papers: Papermania "Forever Friends - Springtime";

Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; Papermania pink heart gems; ribbon, lace and choc bar charm from my stash;

Tools: labels ?? nestabilities; Martha Stewart "doily lace" edge punch;  Marianne D Creatables doily die; Magnolia doohickey "vintage tag".

Challenges:

CLP #40 - sketch

Top Tip Tuesday - Easel Card

Simon Says - Multi-fold Card

Birthday Sundaes #25 - Birthday Card

Crafty Purple Frog - Birthdays

Fussy & Fancy 1000 Followers - Celebrate! (2nd entry)

I ♥ Promarkers #82 - Metal Embellishment or Charm

Creative Craft - Just Charming

My Mum's - Layer It Up

Deep Ocean #7 - Hearts

Stampavie & More #151 - Pearls & Lace

Crafty Catz #99 - Ribbons

Paper Variety - Use Stamps On Your Project
Fuzzy Wuzzy (September) - Pink!

Copic Creations #57 - Pretty in Pink

Stampin' for the Weekend #16 - Tickled Pink

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Stamp Something - Anything Goes

I hope it is ok to enter for both Promarker and Copic challenges seeing as I have used both ... unusually I have listed them just to avoid confusion. I must confess I do major on Promarkers, but I have a few Copics for specific purposes such as colouring fur, and I have a couple of pink ones!! :-) 

Hope you can join us this week with your delicious creations - have a great weekend!

.... and talking of something delicious, whilst writing this post I have just had a knock ont he door, and a neighbour has handed over a package that the postie left with them this morning, containing my 24 all new Letraset flexmarker pens - YAY! Woo hoo!! (Pity the postie didn't see fit to leave a card through the door but I guess you can't have everything!)

It is Friday night now as I write this for scheduling, and I really don't know how I'm going to contain myself until tomorrow to have a play with my new toys ;-)

Penny Black Saturday #156 - Third Birthday Challenge and Blog Hop!

Happy Saturday everyone - welcome to the weekend and another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week's One For The Guys challenge - fabulous entries as always, and don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see whether you are a winner.

This week we are all very excited because we are having a birthday .. yes the Penny Black Saturday Challenge is three!

Wow - where did the time go to?? It has just flown by!! I remember very well entering the first ever PBSC by email using my first PB stamp - the wonky looking photo of cute Chrimbo hedgies under an umbrella is still there as an email entry :-) It was also the main reason I set up my blog about 3 weeks later, and the first week I entered the PBSC using my blog (Challenge #3) I won !! :-)  How funny looking back!! I was absolutely dancing around when I got picked for the DT from Challenge 21... and 135 challenges later here we are ..wow!  PB stamps were definitely my first love, and although I have developed other crafting obsessions in the meantime,  PB's still have a very special place in my crafting heart!!

So in honour of this momentous occasion we are having both a challenge and a blog hop.

So first .... the challenge!!

This week we would like to see your Penny Black creations that feature

Pesky Critters

Yes .. it's time for all those darling little cute creatures that Penny Black does so well to come out to play ... can't wait to see what you create!!

This week we have an absolutely fabulous stash of prizes from a range of our regular sponsors including Penny Black Inc, PB Stamps, 1-2-3 Stitch, The Ribbon Girl and Fantastic Ribbons ....

... But here's the twist ... the challenge prizes are HIDDEN amongst the DT members' blogs!!

So how do you find out where they are hidden??

When you have completed your challenge entry, you will need to hop around all the DT members blogs and leave a comment on each one ... we will keep it secret all week which blog is hiding which prize, and when it gets to next weekend we will reveal the prize locations and winners!

It doesn't matter what order you complete the blog hop, but here is a list of all the DT members who are taking part to help you ...

Ali

Beth

Debby

Domi

Helen

Jenny

 Kath

 Liz

Pauline (me)

So without further ado, here's my pesky critter card ....

This challenge theme immediately put me in mind of cute creatures being silly and/or having fun ... and let's face it, when it comes to Penny Black stamps there are plenty to choose from! I very soon alighted on this darling image which I think is perfect for a friendship card ... I don't use this stamp very often as it is so big but it has got to be another of my favourites ... and as luck would have it I also have a PB sentiment that I think fits it perfectly!  This whole thing made me feel pretty cheerful so I also pulled out some bright and cheerful papers and summery daisies and blossoms to match!

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Daisy Chain" (1690K), coloured with Copics (mice) and Promarkers (flowers); edges doodled with a Marvey marker pen;

Sentiment: Penny Black "Everything's..." (2733E);

Papers: DCWV "Pocket full of Posies" stack;

Supplies: large daisy from Wild Orchid Crafts; 2-tone cherry blossoms from Crafts4UDo; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: mega scalloped rectangle nestabillities; martha Stewart "Floral Vine" deep edge punch; Magnolia doohickey "Vintage tag" die.

Challenges:

Penny Black At Allsorts (June) - You're My Favourite (2nd entry)

Copic Creations #52 - Doodles

Simon Says - Let's Play Bingo! (shape/ribbon/sentiment)

Totally Papercrafts #71 - Die Cuts & Punches

MAWTT #103 - Inspired By A Song

(I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends)

Southern Girls #21 - Anything Goes

Top Tip Tuesday #38 - Open Challenge

Look forward to seeing all your critter creations this week, and hope you'll find time to hop around the DT and leave us some comments - keep your fingers crossed that we will be hiding a prize with your name on it lol!

Penny Black Saturday #151 – Clean and Simple

Good morning everyone and welcome to this week’s Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks very much to everyone who entered last week’s Distressing Challenge – hope you all managed to post your entries being as Mr Blogger was being so naughty yesterday!  As always, don’t forget to check back on the main challenge blog to see if you have won either of last week’s fabulous prizes.

Well I’m off to Port Sunlight craft fair today, so i hope that by the time you read this i will already be well in the swing and my credit card will be all a-quiver … hope I find a few good bargains ;-)

Don’t forget that you still have until midnight tonight (Saturday May 14th) to enter my blog candy here – hope you’ll give it a look!

Anyhow on to this week’s challenge, and we are plugging into a theme which is very much the latest trend and all the rage in blogland at the moment – yes, we would like to see your cards that are

Clean and Simple

As always you can interpret this to your heart’s desire, so long as you submit a new project that features a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

This week we have another fab prize for you … a $20 online store voucher from our regular sponsor 1-2-3 Stitch :-)

My fellow teamies have produced some stunning cards to inspire you – here is my effort for this week.

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black “Radiant” (2950K) coloured with Marvey brushstroke markers and spritzed with water;
Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set “Salutations”;
Paper: Docrafts “Pampered Pets” collection;
Supplies: Papermania shimmer dots; dragonfly brad from my stash;
Tools: Martha Stewart “woodland bough” edge punch.

Challenges:
Penny Black Inc. Challenge – Tall Cards
Crafts and Me #34 - Punches
Top Tip Tuesday #33 – Flower Frenzy
Creative Card Crew – May Flowers
MAWTT #98 – 2 B’s (brushstroke stamping, brad)
Crafty Creations #118 – Anything Goes
Stamp Something – Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp and Show – Anything Goes

Hope you can join in this week.

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.

Penny Black Saturday #148 – Happily Ever After

Good morning everyone … welcome to Easter weekend and another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Hope you have been enjoying the fabulous weather we’ve been having … let’s hope it will last over the Easter weekend!!

Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week’s challenge – wonderful Easter cards, so hopefully you will now all be completely geared up to give your Easter greetings :-) Don’t forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won last week’s adorable prize.

This week we have all been overtaken (along with much of blogland, it seems) with Royal Wedding fever, so our challenge theme isn’t really such a big surprise ….

Happily Ever After

Now this phrase is usually taken to refer to weddings, but we realise that not all of you will necessarily have got PB wedding stamps, as they have only ever made a few (I know I don’t have any!). So we have decided to be kind, and this theme can encompass any other event to do with living happily ever after, such as engagements  and anniversaries.

This week’s prize is four rolls of yummy ribbon on the winner’s choice from Fantastic Ribbons.

Please remember that in order to be eligible for this week’s prize you should submit a new project which features a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

The other ladies on the DT have produced some fabulous romantic cards – here’s mine for this week.

As i  mentioned I don’t have any PB wedding stamps although I do have several romantic hedgies, mice and cats; so I decided to make an anniversary card.

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black “You’re a Treasure” (1589F) coloured with Promarkers and roses dusted with glamour dust;
Sentiments: LotV circle sentiments and Woodware sentiments;
Papers: Pink Petticoat “Vintage Rose”;
Supplies: large and small roses and lace from Sweet Lilac (Crafts4U2Do); middle size rose from Wild orchid Crafts; Papermania pink crystal heart; velvet and organza ribbon from my stash;
Tools: Magnolia doohickey “vintage tag”; Martha Stewart “Valentine lace” edge punch; Leone Em “Ash branch” leaf punch; Spellbinders “decorative photo corners” die.

Challenges:
Spoon Full of Sugar #148 – Let’s Celebrate!
Crafts and Me #31 – Pink and Sweet
Creative Inspirations #108 – Animals / Pets
Cupcake #138 – Lots of Layers
I ♥ Promarkers #62 – Anything Goes
Top Tip Tuesday #30 – Open Theme
Create4Fun (April) – Sketch

Hope you have a great weekend and 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!! 

Penny Black Saturday #147 – Easter Extravaganza

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  Thanks once again to everyone who entered last week’s Say It With Flowers challenge –what a frenzy of fabulous florals you came up with!! Don’t forget to check out the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner.

Anyhow, this week our challenge theme is seasonal .. yes it is

Easter Extravaganza

So it’s time to seek out those cute bunnies and chicks, spring flowers or any other suitable PB images you may have to hand. You can interpret the theme however you like, but remember that to be eligible for the prize you must submit a new piece of work that uses a Penny black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

This week’s fab prize is from our former teamie Carole, and is this gorgeous PB slapstick stamp, “Hedgehog Birthday”

 

The other ladies have made some fabulous and adorable Easter creations – here’s mine.

Recipe:
Main image: Penny  Black “Jonquils” inked with Marvey brushstroke pens;
Sentiment: See-D “Easter”;
Paper: Craft Creations;
Supplies: daffodils and pearls from Wild Orchid Crafts;  raffia lace from Hobbycraft; ribbon from my stash;
Tools: classic large ovals and large scalloped ovals nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables swirly leaf die.

Challenges:
Penny Black Blog Challenge -  flowers (use a floral PB stamp)
Creative Inspirations #107 – Easter
Die Cut Dreams #87 – Easter
Stampin’ For The Weekend #7 - Easter
Pollycraft Monday #88 – Easter
CRAFT #98 – Easter 
Daring Cardmakers – Spring Fling (Spring or Easter)
Top Tip Tuesday #29 – Spring Has Sprung
Rainbow Lady #148 – Springtime
Totally Papercrafts #62 - Springtime
Papertake Weekly – Truly Dimensional

Hope you can join us this week – looking forward to seeing your creations :-)

Crafty Calendar #19

Hello everyone - back with my second post of the day, and this time it is to welcome you to the April challenge for Crafty Calendar. First of all apologies that I haven't managed to get all my commenting done for the past month as I have had quite a lot going on one way and another ... but i'll definitely try harder for April!!

This month it is Liz's turn to choose the challenge theme, and she has chosen

April Showers Bring Forth May Flowers

You can interpret this however you like so long as you submit a new piece of work and have a link from your blog to the Crafty Calendar Challenge.

We have a great prize on offer this month, which is from our sponsor Sentiments 4 You

... and it's a $10 voucher to spend in their online store - nice!

They very kindly provided some digi sentiments for the DT to play with - you can see them on my card and on several of the other DT ladies' gorgeous efforts.

Anyway, here is my card for this month's challenge - I focussed on the "flowers" rather than the "showers", and this image suggested itself to me straight away - not only is it very spring-like but also this particular flower got its shower from a watering can :-).

Recipe:

Main image: Sugar Nellie "Flowers" coloured with Promarkers;

Sentiment: Digi by Sentiments 4 You;

Paper: Papermania "Forever Friends - Springtime";

Supplies: cherry blossoms and pearls from Wild Orchid Crafts;

Tools: Martha Stewart "garden trellis" deep edge punch and "small monarch butterfly" punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:

Sugar Bowl #56 - Sketch

Top Tip Tuesday #27 - Nature Inspired

Crafts and Me #28 - Use Yellow

Kaboodle #60 - Spring Has Sprung

Stamp Something - April Digi Day (digi sentiment)

Double Dutch #65 - Old, New, Borrowed & Blue

(stamp / paper pad / digi stamp supplied by Sentiments 4 You) / flowers)

Crafty Ann's #37 - Inspired by an Elvis Song

(It's a Wonderful World)

Hope you can join in this month's Crafty Calendar Challenge - have a great weekend!