Ol' Blue Eyes

The theme this week over at Less Is More is the colour of your eyes .... and mine are blue (see profile pic!). So after I'd caught up with various DT work this afternoon I made time to make a quick monochrome card ... and here it is.

Recipe:

Main image: Inkadinkado "Tin Can Mail" stamped with fluid chalk ink, and distressed using TH "faded jeans" and "tumbled glass" distress inks;

Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set "Salutations".

Challenges:

Less Is More #35 - The Colour Of Your Eyes

Dream Valley #17 - Monochrome

Crafty Creations #137 - Clean & Simple
Truly Scrumptious #66 - Clean & Simple

Simon Says - Anything Goes

 (3rd entry .... trying to help SS get to 1000 entries this week!!)

That's all for now ... enjoy the rest of the weekend!

I Followed a tutorial …

Whilst posting a distressed card to the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog for the first time the other day, I happened to notice a thumbnail of a gorgeous card by Nona. I visited her blog and really admired the card .. . the stamp she used had caught my eye as I bought the same set a couple of weeks ago, and also I loved the techniques she used. I saw she had followed a tutorial by Shari … so I went and had a look-see.

Having seen the tutorial I just had to have a go myself … I have recently bought a small number of distress inks, and am also loving the soft wildflower style of stamping right now.

The following card is my interpretation of the tutorial – I have followed the basics but have used a different script stamp (ie the one I have in my stash  lol!) and also changed the flower stamp for a Penny Black brushstroke stamp so that I could enter it for the Penny Black blog challenge :-) Instead of a linen background stamp as used in the tutorial I used a set of distress aged marks, and stamped them both onto the image and the base card to give an aged look. This is a bit of a new direction for me but I’m liking the change.

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black “Quite Dandy” inked and misted with distress inks in Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint and Walnut Stain; matting distressed with Tim Holtz distressing tool;
Background stamping: Crafty Creations script stamp embossed with white detail powder: “Butterfly kisses” random markings stamped with antique Linen distress ink;
Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set “Salutations”;
Supplies: ribbon and pearls from my stash.

Challenges:
Simon Says Stamp and Show – Distressing (2nd entry)
Truly Scrumptious #55 - Vintage
Penny Black Blog Challenge – Flowers (use a floral stamp)
Crafters Companion #11 – Aqua and Brown
Crafts & Me #30 – Ribbon
Totally Stampalicious – Anything Goes

Hope you like it :-). I’m not sure about the card blank, and have already thought of some very subtle brown and aqua paper I have which I would use next time, but I’m quite pleased with this stamping technique for my first attempt.

Right … now this is my first ever Windows Live Writer post … looks perfect in the preview window … so here goes, fingers crossed!!

Less Is More #8

Like so many people I eagerly await Saturday morning to see what the challenge theme is going to be over at Less Is More .. and this week didn't disappoint with a fabby sketch to follow.

Last week I mentioned that I felt a little foolish as I fired off on all barrels and made a "masculine" card featuring flowers - it was gratifying though to receive kind comments that indicated it wasn't a totally idiotic thing to do lol!!

Anyhow I sat down on Saturday afternoon and had another go for this week ... this time I am actually quite pleased with how it turned out and it was rather quicker than some I have made :-). I decided to go with a statement flower - I considered making one but I had quite a few cards to make so was on a bit of a mission and didn't really have time to mess ... so I brought into play a fabulous Prima sparkly velvety rose that was part of a pack I won a while ago. These flowers really are scrummy and well deserving of being a focal point on a card. As luck would have it I very soon found a piece of perfectly co-ordinating paper that was also sparkly, and a piece of co-ordinating ribbon almost leapt out of my ribbon bag (not often that happens!!). I decided to pull the whole thing together by placing my sentiment on a tag, and I chose the sentiment as it seemed the best size and style to go with everything else I had assembled so far.

Last week Chrissie helpfully suggested that I didn't really need the pearls on a "masculine" card ... so I really tried not to use any this week. But here's the thing ... I really LOVE pearls ... and even if I tie my hands together they somehow free themselves and reach for the pearl pack. I guess I just can't help myself lol!! However I am quite pleased with the placement of the pearls this week and actually have a vast white space that they don't interfere with ... scary but I think I like it!!

Recipe:

Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set "Salutations";

Paper: Papermania "Henbury Lane";

Supplies: Prima velvet rose; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon and lace from my stash; Tools: Magnolia "vintage tag" die.

Challenges:

Less Is More #8 - Sketch

Creatalicious #20 - Two Tone

CES #29 - Die Cut Crazy

Truly Scrumptious #53 - Tag It!

I'm going to be a bit busy this week with work stuff, so don't forsee a lot of crafting going on before next weekend. So that's all for now - have a nice week !

PS - anyone else having trouble editing in blogger?? This is the second post where I have found that it keeps removing my html edits and either creating huge spaces or running all the text together!

Penny Black Saturday #140 - Pearls and lace

Eek!! I'm running a little late this morning and am a little late with today's offering .... Saturday again already, which has to mean it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks so much to everyone who got to grips with making the dreaded male cards last week - stunning entries as always! Don't forget to check out the main challenge blog to see if you are lucky winner.

This week we have a rather more girly theme for you ... we would like to see

Pearls and lace

on your creation. You can interpret this any way you like so long as you submit a new piece of work and use a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as the main focus of your project.

This week we have two more yummy prizes for two randomly selected winners -

Firstly. Dick at PB Stamps


is offering a 15% off lifetime discount voucher, and

Fantastic Ribbons


is offering one winner 4 reels of ribbon of the winner's choice.

Yummy!

Do go and check out the fabulous creations by the rest of the DT - here's my card for this week.


Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Cheesecake Wish" , coloured with Promarkers and Copics and decorated with Stickles;
Sentiments: "It's Your Birthday" from PB transparent set "Salutations"; "make a wish" from PB transparent set "Critter Party";
Papers: BasicGrey "Wisteria";
Supplies: large and small flat gardenias, pearls all from Wild Orchid Crafts; lace from my stash;
Tools: leafy swirls - Marianne D Creatables ribbon flower die set; Martha Stewart doily lace edge punch.



Challenges:
I used Papertake Weekly Sketch #53 (I flipped the sketch left to right);



Fuzzy Wuzzy #6 - Birthday Wishes (must feature an animal)
Little Red Wagon - Animals
Top Tip Tuesday #23 - Bling It On
Truly Scrumptious #51 - Swirls and Pearls
Scrapbook Sisters #24 - Lace and Pearls
Crafty Creations #107 - At The Bottom of My Garden Lives .... (a mouse!)
PaperPlay #8 - Let's Get Sentimental
Crazy4Challenges #76 - Use Flowers

Hope you can join in the fun over at PBSC this week - have a great weekend!