Allsorts Challenge #675

Hi everyone,

I'm here again with another weekly Allsorts Challenge. This week Lorraine has chosen the theme and it is

*** Favourite Stamps and/or Dies ***

This week we have 2 great prizes on offer: Oakwood Archer has kindly donated a surprise craft bundle for one lucky winner, and a stencil for a second winner.

Here's my card for this week.

This theme gave me a dilemma in the nicest possible way, as I have lots of favourite stamps, which have changed over time and even day to day. My first loves were Penny Black, then I graduated onto Lili of the Valley ... and more recently I have gravitated towards Lavinia stamps and also love some of the AALl & Create and Visible Image ones too (oh for a bank balance to accommodate them all!!). However I decided to use this old wooden Stampendous stamp "Agapanthus Cluster" - as it is a perennial favourite I return to again and again and suits so many occasions and styles of card (I even have this stamp decorating my bookmark!!).

I decided this time that instead of inking the stamp in the usual way, I would use it as a "brushstroke" stamp. I coloured it with Marvey watercolour markers and spritzed with water before stamping, then repeated to make two overlapping images. I then die cut it out using my stitched fancy rectangle dies, spattered the panel with 2 colours of DO and also sponged round the edges. I don't really have favourite dies and don't even use them all that much any more; but I bought these recently from Amazon and I really love the look they create. I softly stencilled a square background panel using a Lavinia stencil and Distress Oxide ink, attached lace and mesh ribbon, then matted onto a large snippet of pearlescent linen cardstock I found in my box. I also cut a matching stitched rectangle from a second snippet and matted my flower panel onto it,  then attached to the card with foam tape. lastly I stamped and attached my sentiment, and attached a small bow with the edges frayed and 3 lilac heart gems.

Stamps: Stampendous "Agapanthus Cluster"; sentiment - Uniko - Simply Said Blocks II";

Media: Marvey watercolour markers; Tim Holtz Distress oxide ink (Tumbled Glass, Wilted Violet); Versafine Clair (Nocturne);

Tools: Lavinia "Leaf Trail" stencil; stitched rectangle dies from Amazon;

Ribbon, lace and gems from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Classic Design Challenge #5 2022 - Anything Goes

Crafts Galore Encore #99 - Anything Goes

Dragonfly Dreams (May) - Butterflies and/or Flowers

Happy Little Stampers : Watercolour (May) - Anything Goes with Watercolouring

Pearly Sparkles #73 - Let’s Layer It Up - WINNER

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Feminine

Snippets Playground #427 -  Use Snippets

(Pearlescent lilac linen card stock)

Stamping Sensations (May) - Anything Stamped with option of Floral and Fauna

We Love Stamping (May) - For a Lady

Worldwide Open Design Team Challenge #4 2022 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Hope you can join us again this week, and I look forward to seeing your entries. Don't forget to visit the challenge blog to see more fab inspiration from the rest of the team. Thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Watercolour flower bookmarks

Hi peeps, hope you are keeping warm, safe and well with all this wintry weather we're having.

I felt the urge today to make another set of bookmarks to give as a stocking filler Christmas present to a lovely elderly lady who lives nearby - this time I thought I would make a set of 3 using more of my old Penny Black brushstroke flower stamps, and it also gave me chance to use a few of my card snippets (both white card and coloured - all the pieces here are snippets!!)

The photo is quite poor as I took it in electric light so I could  catch a couple of challenges before month end ... I will try to update with a better daylight photo tomorrow! **Edit** I have now replaced the photo with a daylight one!

For each of these I created a background using Distress and Distress Oxide inks, then stamped my brushstroke flowers using Marvey watercolour markers and spritzing the inked stamp with water. I then stamped my sentiment and alphabet before mounting the finished piece onto backing card and completing the hole and ribbons.

Stamps (left to right): 

1. Flower - Penny Black "Blush" (2666K); sentiment - Crafter's Companion Lee Holland set "You Are My Sunshine";

2. Flowers - Penny Black "quite dandy" (3623K); sentiment - Penny Black "the journey" 3177F);

3. Flowers - Penny Black "Aspire" (3381K); sentiment - Penny Black "...dreams..." (2711F);

All - alphabet stamp - Woodware "Additions";

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Antique Linen, Spun Sugar, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint; Distress Oxide Inks - Kitsch Flamingo, Shaded Lilac, Stormy Sky, Twisted Citron; Marvey watercolour markers - various colours;

Ribbon from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More #419 - Any Occasion

Ally's Angels #52 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Country View Challenges (November) - Christmas Gifting (2nd entry)

Happy Little Stampers (Watercolour): November - Anything Goes

Penny Black Saturday Challenge (November) - Anything Goes with option Not a Card (2nd entry)

Pixie's Snippets Playground #417 - Use Snippets 

River of Creativity #7 - The Gift (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

That's me done for today ... I think tomorrow i may well be back on the last minute Christmas card scramble!

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Penny Black Saturday Challenge #45 - Sketch .. and DC April friendship card

Welcome to the weekend, and to week 45 of the Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Hope you have all had a good Easter, and not got too grossed out on all those choccie eggs lol!

Thanks once again for everyone's inspired efforts for last week's challenge - there were some fabulous ideas, and there will be some very lucky recipients for all those gorgeous gifts! Don't forget to check the challenge blog to see who won last week's fabbie stickeroos.

Onto this week's challenge, which is a sketch by our very own Natalie. We hope you love this as much as we did - it's a fab one to work with. The DT members have been busy creating some gorgeous samples to inspire you - hope you will visit their blogs for a look.

As always we have got a fantastic prize on offer - this week it is this cute set of stamps donated by our very own Jacqui - thanks hun! Don't forget that the only rule to be entered for the prize is that you use at least one Penny Black image (picture or sentiment) or a PB sticker on your creation.

This week I have decided to have a little change from making a cute card - I really adore all the PB cuties as I think they have such loveable faces and real personalities ... but there are also so many more "looks" you can achieve with PB's. I really love the brushstroke flowers as it is so easy to achieve a really artistic watercoloured effect. I'm also having a bit of a "lilac moment" as I'm really loving these serene colours.

This card is also my Docrafts April friendship card for Kirsten - I hope she will have received it by the time this is posted!

Here is a bit more detailed view of the brushstroke flower image .... I have also broadly followed the sketch to decorate the inside ....

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Quite Dandy" coloured with Marvey brushstroke pens & cut out using nesties. Background sponged with "thistle" Colorbox Q ink, and edges inked with Versamagic Chalk Ink in Spring Pansy;
Sentiment: Whiff of Joy, mounted on slider cut out using Cuttlebug;
Papers: Karen Neuburger for Paper Adventures (florals); paper Pzazz (blue sponged) - all edges inked with Versamagic chalk ink as above;
Supplies: Butterfly charm from ebay shop Dolls Made Up; flowers from WH Smith; paper roses from Crafts4u2do; ribbon, pearl gems and dragonfly brad from my stash.

Happy weekend everyone, and looking forward to seeing your creations :-)

BasicGrey and shades of sepia

I needed to make an image wallet for friend, and was inspired by my new Penny Black "vintage" stamp called "Rain or Shine Friends". As luck would have it, when I rooted around in my stash, the paper that came to hand to best fit with this theme was a BasicGrey sheet from the "sugared" collection; so I'm entering it for this week's BasicGrey Challenge #8 which is shapes - I have used offset rectangles for my image and matting, plus squares on the inside covers. I am also entering this one for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge DT call - I know it will be up against a lot of awesome talent, but fingers and toes crossed!!

I decided to try something new so did my best to create a sepia coloured image, using a Marvey brushstroke pen watered down to form different shades, and I stamped the image with brown Stazon rather than black. The paper with hearts on is BasicGrey "sugared" and the other front cover paper is by DCWV - I have done some faux stitching to compliment the vintage feel, and slightly ditressed the edges of the DCWV paper. Inside I have used more of the BasicGrey paper and a beautiful "friendship" paper that was hiding in my stash. Lace is from Hobbycraft, flowers by Prima and tiny pearl gems on the umbrella from Create & Craft.

Docrafts August friendship card

Made this tri-fold card during the week to send to JanAng from the Docrafts forum .. I love doing monthly friendships swaps - it's great when the postie comes with a card!! I have posted further down the fab summer card she sent to me.

I used : PB stamp "Quite Dandy" which I coloured with Marvey brushstroke pens and spritzed with water to get the watercoloured effect; sentiment by Hero Arts stamped onto a nestie shape with the edges chalked with lilac and blue Colorbox Queue inks; background paper by Karen Neuberger for Paper Adventures, with the edges punched using the Multishaper Punch "Flower Garden"; flowers by WH Smith pinned with Making memories sparkly silver brads; gorgeous fluffy fibre given to me by a non-crafting friend Jean who picked it up at a car boot sale !! :-)

Two more challenges

I decided to play around to see what I could come up with to satisfy two challenges with the one card ... Penny Black Saturday Challenge #9 is a sketch, and Cute Card Thursday #22 this week is "The Two of Us".

I have made a romantic card, using a PB cute mouse image gifted to me along with a friendship card by Evelyn C on Docrafts, coloured with watercolour pencils. for the three embellishments on the sketch I have used die cut Cuttlebug swirly hearts, and the sentiment is by ge studio clear stamps. I adore the background paper which is a pearlescent silk screen paper by Papermania, and the lace is from my local craft shop Edwin Allen.

Chrissy Marie's Friday's Fable - Midsummer's Eve

Chrissy Marie's inspirational blog contains a beautiful picture and/or poem each Friday to inspire us to create something wonderful; and she has a challenge to win blog candy open til this Friday (August 1st) based on the picture Midsummer's Eve by Edward Robert Hughes (1908) and the following poem by an unknown author ...

If you see a fairy ring
In a field of grass,
Very lightly step around,
Tip-Toe as you pass,
Last night Fairies frolicked there
And they're sleeping somewhere near.
If you see a tiny fairy
Lying fast asleep
Shut your eyes
And run away,
Do not stay to peek!
Do not tell
Or you'll break a fairy spell.

The challenge is to make anything taking inspiration form the picture, poem, or a word in the poem. I have made my first ever "flower fairy" card with a sentiment about keeping dreams in the heart. I used: main image free with craft magazine, coloured with watercolour pencils and Twinkling H2O's, and wings decoratedwith Stickles, mounted onto silver holographic card; lilac pearlescent card embossed wtih Cuttlebug "stylised flowers"; sentiment stamp by Penny Black; flowers by Prima; small charm with butterfly image and "inspire" on reverse from my stash. Hope you like it!

More Challenges - CCT #20 and Whiff of Joy Designer Call

Got on a bit of a roll this afternoon, and thought I'd enter a couple more challenges. Cute Card Thursday Challenge #20 is "Things that grow", so I found a PB stamp with hedgy holding a flower growing out of a plantpot. I am also entering this for Katharina's "Whiff of Joy" Designer call which is running until Wednesday 30th July. She is about to launch her fabulous new stamps and has asked for cards submitted using her sketch: don't know if I have the right idea as i don't have any of the existing cute little girl stamps such as Sarah Kay or Sweet Ebony, but this is my take on the sketch.

I used: main image is PB "Greetings" coloured with watercolour pencils, and the flowers with Twinkling H2O's and Cosmic Shimmers (they are actually quite twinkly!). Sentiment stamp was free with a craft magazine; papers are by Making Memories (I think!), lace from Hobbycraft and flowers by Prima. Today is my first day using my new Nestabilities so they have to be incorporated everywhere! I should mention that the green matting for the striped paper does acutally match the paper - just hasn't photographed well for some reason (I didn't enter this one for the "clashing colours" challenge LOL!!)

Three challenges in one

I'm in luck! I saw this morning that this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge is "Down on the Farm" ... I don't own any stamps of pigs, cows or geese, but this week Evelyn C from Docrafts sent me a monthly friendship card which kindly included a lot of lovely stamped images .... including a PB cow!! So I was champing at the bit (or should that be chewing the cud??) and thought I would incorporate a couple of other challenges, namely Papertake Weekly - Katharina's Sketch #7, and a non-blog challenge I do over on Docrafts entitled "C for clashing colours!!" The flowers actually look the same deep pink as the ribbon and card in real life!

Anyway ... I used: Penny Black stamp "Bundle of Wishes", matted onto matte pink metallic card (first use of my new Nestabilities!!); sentiment stamped in Brilliance copper ink from PB transparent set "Salutations"; background papers from DCWV, with semi circle cut using X-Cut Multishaper punch; flowers by Prima; brads and small crystal gems by Papermania.

Penny Black Challenge #6 - Snow Much Fun

Well it's Saturday again already, and time for the Penny Black Challenge - this week it is to make a card featuring snow! This made me chuckle as I have already made a snowy card for the first PB challenge, plus another for the recent "Dazzle!" challenge - at this rate I'll be well ahead by December! So this week I have pulled out one that hasn't appeared on here before as I need to nip off and clean the house (groan!)

I have used the PB stamp "Royal Mail" coloured with watercolour pens and pencils and decorated with glitter glue. The background stamp is Hero Arts "Christmas script", and the very wide holly sparkly ribbon was an experiment from a cheap Chrimbo decs shop!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge #5 - Sketch

I've only tried one sketch challenge before and really enjoyed it, so I decided to get stuck in with this one for PB Saturday Challenge #5 as it sent my thoughts off in different directions whilst trying to use my PB's. Here's what I used:

PB image and sentiment from the transparent set "Bubbly" - I watercoloured the image, and embossed the sentiment using Brilliance "Lightning Black" ink and holographic powder. Background papers, the largest white blossom and the sparkly brad are by Making Memories, the other flowers are Prima and the brads on the image are Papermania.

I will no doubt also be entering this card in the non-blog Docrafts alphabet challenge this week ... B is for Bubbly, bathing, bowl, bubbles, brads, blossom, black ink, background papers! It is also a birthday card for my Docrafts friend Samantha!

Hope you like it!

Cute Card Thursday #18 - card for a child

This week's CCT Challenge is to make a card for a child. This is a hard one for me as I have no children in the family, so v few opportunities to make this kind of card....so I hope you don't mind me saying "here is one I prepared earlier" - this was an order for my boss's 1 year old grandson Charlie. it was a 7-piece waterfall so I was pretty chuffed with it!

I used: PB stamps "Imagine" and "Bear Blanks" 1-4 coloured with watercolour pencils; background paper from "Deja Views", and computer generated text. Thanks for looking!

Shaz's blog candy competition

Shaz has got some stunning blog candy on offer over on her blog; and in order to win it she has set a competition for peeps to make any paper project in her favourite colours - pink, blue and green.

As a new blogger I only just spotted this in the nick of time, so rushed off this evening to make my entry, and here it is! It is also a birthday card for my Docrafts friend Squirrel as I thought she would love this fun look :-). I used:

- Penny Black stamp "Partying", coloured with watercolour pencils, and the balloons decoupaged and coloured with Cosmic Shimmers and Sakura stardust pens.

- Greeting stamp from Penny Black transparent set "Salutations".

- Papers by Making Memories and Sandylion.

- Flowers by Prima

- Sparkly brads by Making Memories

- Sparkly gems and butterfly by Papermania.

Just to prove that I really do love these colours, here's a picture of another card I made earlier but haven't published on my blog before. Main stamp is PB "Dream a Dream", background stamp is PB "butterfly border", and greeting is by Hampton art ge studio. paper is by K&Co, and large daisy by WH Smith.

Stamp Something Challenge - Dazzle!

I found the Stamp Something Challenge for the first time this evening, asking crafters to "dazzle us with something that sparkles, shines, shimmers, or glitters!!" As they are celebrating official summer over there with the 4th July, I couldn't resist sharing my most recent sparkly shiny card that is ... wait for it .. an early CHRISTMAS card!! Hope you like it!

The main stamp is Penny Black "Xmouse ornament!" coloured with watercolour pencils then matted and layered onto pale blue sparkle card and then silver holographic card embossed with Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder. The snowflake is glittered using a Stickle; and the background paper, ribbon and rub-on greeting are from my stash. Snowflake buttons are by Doodlebug.