Penny Black Saturday Challenge #24 - Funky Christmas

What with Christmas being just around the corner I don't seem to have found much crafting time this week, but still managed to produce my DT card for this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Thanks to everyone who joined in last week .. it was inspiring to see such a rainbow of monochromatic cards LOL! Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog to see who won last week's prize.

So ... on to this week's challenge, which has a theme of

Funky Christmas

If you haven't got your Christmas cardmaking hat on yet, now is the perfect time, and we look forward to seeing your creations. To encourage you we have got a totally fab prize this week from our sponsor Crafty Krafts - two rubber stamps:

Rachelle Anne Miller - Gift Tree

Sarah Kay - Christmas Magic

Here is the card I have made: I took my inspiration from some scrumptious Bo Bunny papers I found in my local craft shop - I started from the funky picture of a gift, and that made me think of trying a wardrobe card that was wrapped like a gift. Having done that I then couldn't help but decorate the inside with my new teddy rubber stamp who is carrying gifts ... aww how cute!! I had great fun creating this card and hope you like it !

Image (outside): PB "a wish.."

Image (inside:) PB "aiming to please" coloured with watercolour pencils

Papers: all by Bo Bunny

Snowflakes: Cuttlebug diecuts

Gems: Papermania

Ribbon: Hobbycraft

A Spoon Full of Sugar makes the medicine go down!

My blogging friend Cathy's daughter Ellie is due to go into hospital to have her tonsils removed ... she's not quite 4, bless her, so Cathy has asked if her friends can make her some cards to help keep her entertained while she is recuperating.

Now I have never made any small children's cards to speak of as there are no young kids in my family, so I was a bit unsure what a 4 year old might like ... so I settled on a FF teddy image with flowers which was a gift from my friend Kaz; and I spotted some bright cheeful paper whilst I was out & about at the weekend. I kept the layout fairly simple with sticky ribbon, a flower in one corner, and the word "hi" which I hope is nice and cheerful .. dunno if Ellie can read yet - if so then this is easy for her to understand; if not then it is easy for her mum to explain!

This is a last minute entry into this week's Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge #25 which is a card for a child ... didn't anticipate entering when it was set LOL! I would also like to enter it for this week's One Stop Craft Challenge which is Pretty Petals ... I hope I have covered this one off with both the image and the embellishment!

Main image: Forever Friends - coloured with watercolour pencil and Sakura sparkly pens, matted onto lemon glitter card cut with nestie.
Sentiment: diecut using Cuttlebug cut'n'emboss folder
Paper: BasicGrey "Oh! Baby Girl"
Flowers: WH Smith (yellow), Cardology (white), Prima (orange)
Sparkly brad: Doodlebug
Sticky ribbon: Papermania

Penny Black Saturday Challenge #23 - Monochromatic

Well here we are at Saturday again - this week has really flown by - which of course means it's time for this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks once again to everyone who joined in last week - it was brilliant to see so many "different" cards to fulfil the sentiment only challenge. Don't foget to pop over to the blog later to see who has won that fabulous Christmas sentiment stamp.

This week, the theme is Monochromatic - ie shades of one colour. So pick your favourite - any colour you like ... but just the one, mind! (LOL!) We really look forward to seeing your creations.

There is another fantastic prize up for grabs this week - the following Penny Black Stamp from our sponsor Sir Stampalot.

All the DT have worked really hard this week to create a fabulous rainbow of ideas .. hope you will pop over to the challenge blog to have a peek. Here is mine....

Image: Penny Black "Let It Snow", stamped and embossed with snowflake glitter embossing powder.
Background papers: The Paper Company Studio
Die cut and embossed snowflakes all using Cuttlebug folders and dies
Ribbon, gems and sparkly brad from my stash.

Sketch Saturday #24 - friend's birthday card

I was struggling a little bit with loss of mojo tonight, but I needed to make a card for my good friend Clare's birthday. After a lot of faffing around and cutting up and discarding bits of paper, I finally settled on using my yummy new Imaginisce double sided papers in such a way as to fulfil this week's Sketch Saturday Challenge, which was a great one to work with - I rotated it 90 degrees to the right.

Main image: Penny Black "Crossing Bridges!"
Sentiment: Penny Black "To You" (partially masked)Papers: Imaginisce
Flowers: making Memories & Prima
Sparkly gems: Papermania
Sparkly brads; Doodlebug sugar coated (blue) and Making Memories (pink).

Sketch & Sparkle for my 100th post

Wow! Here I am already at 100 posts ... that has really crept up on me! I was so busy watching my hit counter so I could give a way my 5,000 hits candy, I almost overlooked this milestone. I'm already looking forward to the next 100 posts as I'm well addicted to blogging by now LOL!

Anyway .. onto this evening's card (which I made yesterday evening, but of course had no light to photograph it by). My starting point as so often was a sketch, which immediately put me in mind of making a Christmas card (though of course most things make me think about Christmas cards right now !!) I also started thinking about multi-challenge possibilities, and believe I have managed to tie this one in to 5, as follows:

1. Friday Sketchers #27 - I really had fun with this fab sketch.



2. BasicGrey #10 is glitter: well, my Christmas cards do have a natural tendency to be glittery, and this card certainly delivers on that score. My large diecut snowflake and small centre snowflake are both cut from glitter card; I have decorated the snowflake with a Doodlebug sugar coated brad and glitter yarn fibres; I have used white sparkly lace from Hobbycraft, and put a few Stickle highlights on the snowballs. The BasicGrey element is the base paper which is from the "Dasher" collection.


3. This week's High Hopes Challenge#7 is Sparklemania - which I hope I've already explained above!!

4. Whilst visiting my new fellow DT member Domi's blog I discovered a new challenge called Everybody-Art, where this week's theme is brown and blue. I have done my best to reflect this in the 2 papers and the way I have watercoloured the image.

5. Last but not least, I found that this week's Cuttlebug Challenge #7 is to emboss a diecut. I think this card technically fulfils that challenge rather than the real spirit of it, as I have cut and embossed the large snowflake using the new Cuttlebug cut'n'emboss combo. I must admit I'm a little disappointed with the embossing aspect of this duo, as the embossing lines don't match up terribly well with the diecut outline, but nonetheless it does give the snowflake a bit of dimension.

Image: Sugar Nellie snowman gifted by Cathy, watercoloured with Marvey brushstroke pens
Papers: Basic Grey "Dasher" (base layer) and other paper unnamed from split stack at local craft shop
Brads: sparkly Doodlebug "sugar coated, and Dovecraft snowflake
Lace: Hobbycraft
Sparkly fibres : Cardology
Pearl gems: Create & Craft

... We have a winner!

I would just like to give big hugs and thanks to everyone who has joined in my 5,000 hits blog candy party ... both existing blogging friends and new. I have been thrilled to visit all your blogs to peek at your cards, and now the time has come to make the draw.

So without further ado, I have drawn a number at random using random.org/, and it came out as follows:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

11

Timestamp: 2008-11-10 18:27:28 UTC

Number 11 is Domi - congratulations!! Please email me your name & address details and I will get the candy into the post for you.

Hugs

I've been tagged - twice!

Well ... I've been tagged by both Helen & Angel4031 ... I did this a little while ago but I think this tagging is different info so I'll have another go.

Things I love
1. My nestabilities .. what did I ever do before they were invented?
2. Reading ... currently reading "Dark Fire" by C.J. Sansom ... it's brilliant!
3. Watching "Strictly Come Dancing" - I would soooo love to go on that programme!
4. Keeping in touch with friends
5. My husband and family - couldn't do without 'em!

Things I hate
1. Freezing cold weather like we've recently been having
2. Getting soaking wet on the journey to work (another common occurrence all summer long!!)
3. Telephone queueing systems that keep you hanging on indefinitely with appalling muzak
4. Telephone cold callers who invariably call just as you're eating a meal
5. Published documents (eg. newspapers) with spelling and grammatical errors (eats, shoots and leaves anyone?? LOL!)

Music on my ipod
I don't own an ipod and rarely listen to music, but when I do it tends to be
1. Duffy
2. Coldplay
3. Oasis

...er, that's about it

Favourite Food/drink
1. A nice cup of tea ....
2. My husband's chicken curry
3. Most pasta dishes
4. Raspberry pavlova (yes I have a very sweet tooth!)
5. Icecream ... esp. chocolate!

Looking around I see that most people have been tagged recently .. so instead of nominating 5 I will jsut say that if you are reading this and haven't been tagged within the past 6 weeks, consider yourself tagged!

You're invited to my blog candy party!

Update 10/11/08 - this blog candy draw is now closed - thanks very much to everyone who has entered. I have picked a winner Monday evening 10/11 - see my post "We have a winner ..."

Hugs

Pauline x

I'm really excited as I have reached my first 5,000 hits on my blog - so I thought I would throw a li'l blog candy party to celebrate and thank everyone for visiting. I wanted my candy to reflect the whole idea of a party and celebration, so here's what I've got to offer:

• One Penny Black Transparent stamp set - "Party Critters"
• One Forever Friends 6" x 6" paper pack - "Party Time"
• Three tiny pots of Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder - Pink Blush Lustre, Arctic Lake and Emerald Green Lustre
• One pack of Papermania adhesive gemstones in transparent
• One Stickle in "Stardust".

I hope you will like the idea of getting your hands on this little lot .... if you do, I need you to show me some party spirit to join in! I will leave this candy open until midnight GMT on Sunday 9th November, and will make a random draw the following day. In order to take part, here's what I need you to do:

1. Make a card with the theme celebrate! You can interpret this any way you want, and for any celebratory occasion eg. birthday, Christmas, anniversary, wedding .... I really look forward to seeing your creations.
2. Post the card on your blog, with a link to this post. If you like my blog and would also like to add it to your blog roll, then that would also make me incredibly happy.
3. Leave a comment on this post, with a direct link back to the post on your blog so that I can visit.
4. If you don't have a blog, please just leave me a comment as above (so I can include you in my random number generated draw) and email me a pic of your card - I will put them into a slideshow.

Hope you will be able to join in and I look forward to seeing you :-)

Fab "celebrate" cards sent to me by non-blogging friends:

Samantha

Bunny

Penny Black Saturday Challenge #22 - Sentiment Only

I would like to start by saying how overwhelmed and excited I am to be asked to join the Penny Black Saturday Challenge DT - it is a group of fantastic ladies with brilliant cardmaking talents, so it's a lot to live up to ... so many thanks to Tracie for inviting me. Hope you will pop over to the challenge blog and look at all the other fab card made by the DT for this week.

I would also love to thank everyone who joined in last week's challenge - it was great fun and very inspiring going round looking at everyone's fab creations; and also lovely to see your welcoming messages.

So ... down to business with this week's challenge, which is ....

Sentiment Only

We would like you to use a Penny Black sentiment stamp on your project, with no images allowed - either Penny Black or any other make. The good news is that this gives you opportunity to really go to town with any other form of decoration such as papers, ribbons, embellishments, stitching, die cuts etc.... we really look forward to seeing your creations.

We have a really great prize on offer this week .... Tracie is donating this gorgeous PB sentiment stamp which is perfect for all those Christmas cards!

So here is my card ....

I used: PB stamp ".. Be My Friend" embossed with silver detail powder; papers from my stash (most didn't have a make printed on them); lilac pearlescent card embossed with Cuttlebug "Perfectly Paisley" embossing folder; cream lace from Hobbycraft; Prima & WH Smith flowers; Papermania green pearl brad; buttons, narrow ribbon and metallic dragonfly brads from my stash. I also tried a bit of faux stitching on the papers to add a bit of interest.

One card fits 6 challenges

Rightee... I have got rather behind this week with challenges, not least because I spent an evening dithering over my first proper DT card for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge (all will be revealed tomorrow LOL!) However, last night I sat down to make a birthday card for my friend Mand (I hope I'm safe posting it as she hasn't had opportunity to blog for a while) .... and I looked around the challenges on the go for some inspiration. Well, I suppose you could say I found plenty, as I think I managed to fulfil SIX challenges with this one .....

1. Whiff of Joy Challenge #7 is a fantastic sketch - I don't own any WOJ stamps (yet!), but I had some fantastic images of Melinda gifted to me by Cathy, so that formed my starting point

2. This week's ABC Challenge is P is for pink .... well to be honest that's not a hard one for me, as pink tends to feature rather a lot (too much??) in my card making ... I've even started making pink Christmas cards now, but that's another story .....

3. Cute Card Thursday #35 is Fairies and Angels .... so the WOJ Melinda stamp fulfils that one nicely :-)

4. Similarly, the One Stop Craft Challenge #2 is Things with Wings ....

5. You may spot (though the photo doesn't make it very clear) that I have made the wings and hearts sparkly with glamour dust ... which is a requirement for today's Daring Cardmakers Challenge which is sparkle and bling

6. Last but not least, Arty Girlz Challenge #59 is to include a hand drawn element ... so at the last minute Igot brave and doodled a little around the edge of my image ... it ain't very artistic .. but it's done now!

I used: main image WOJ "Melinda Blowing Kisses", watercolorued and decorated on wings and hearts with glamour dust; sentiment by Papermania; papers by Melissa Frances; buttons from local market.

A lovely award

My lovely crafting friend Helen has just given me this award - I'm really thrilled that she thought of me, especially as her blog is so fab!


Here are the rules:
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to their blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees

Now this is a toughie ... my blog roll of blogs I love to visit is growing longer by the week, and I really do try to get round them all. However, as I have just become a DT member for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this very week and there are 5 other new DT members, I thought I would like to pass it on to each of them so that we can all be newly kreativ together. So I would like to nominate Carole, Debbie, Domi, Marcea and Nat.
Enjoy, ladies!

High Hopes of a Secret Crafter

I recently received some adorable and unusual cute images of Inca "snow ladies" from Margaret (Arum Lily) at Docrafts; and have been waiting eagerly for an opportunity to use them. When I saw the Secret Crafter Challenge #5 this week was to use a fabby sketch and the colours pink, brown and white, I thought the time had come ... all I needed was some pink Christmas paper! Luckily I spotted some gorgeous Bo Bunny papers in my local craft shop at the weekend, so I was all set! You will notice that I have rather distorted the proportions of the sketch but hope you can still see the basic shape ... I was just sooo determined to use this image LOL!

I would also like to enter this card for this week's High Hopes Challenge #6, which is to make a holiday card in non-traditional colours ... well I hope you'll agree pink is non-traditional.

I also realised pretty last minute that this card is also suitable (I hope) for this week's Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge #23, which is sparkle and bling .. so I would draw your attention to the glitter card and gems LOL !

Last but not least, almost at exactly the same time I'm posting this I notice that this week's PTW Challenge is Simply Sparkling .... how could I resist?

I used: main image is Inca "Snow Lady", coloured with watercolour pencils; sentiment by Stamp Away; white gltter card embossed using Cuttlebug Snowflake folder; white felt ribbon by Papermania; pink and brown gems by Paper Studio.

BasicGrey Challenge #9 - Christmas

I was so happy when I saw that this week's challenge #9 over at BasicGrey is Christmas, as I have recently been stocking up on BG Christmas papers ... my only dilemma was which ones to choose?

In order to showcase several I decided to make a trifold envelope card, as I really loved the idea when I made one previously based on the tutorial by my good friend Sharon. Here's the result (please excuse the appalling electric light photography, but I couldn't wait to post LOL!)

I used: BG papers "Figgy Pudding" (front left and wrapper) and "Dasher" (front right); main image from Penny Black "Christmas Critters" transparent set; sentiment from Stampendous perfectly Clear "Holly Days" set; holly and present stickers by Forever Friends (free with Creativity magazine); flowers from Prima gold Christmas bubble.

1st DT card for the Penny Black Challenge

Well, I'm still bouncing around with excitement from being picked for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge DT, but managed to steady my hands for long enough to make my first "semi-official" DT card in advance of joining properly next week. The theme for this week's challenge #21 is sparkly/fireworks .... now I only found this out at the same time as non-DT members so needed to make the best of what came to hand, which unfortunately ruled out a firework theme. But when I spotted the term "sparkly" I thought .. now we're talking LOL!! So here is a (very) sparkly Christmas card made using only items I'd got around the house... hope you like it !

I used:

Main image is Penny Black "Xmouse ornament", watercoloured and the snowflake glittered with a Stickle.

Sentiment is PB "A wish.." inked with Brilliance pearlescent ink.

2 co-ordinating pearlescent background papers are by Reminisce - the main patterned one has white and turquoise sparkly accents.

Image and sentinent are matted onto turquoise shimmery iridescent card and white glitter card cut with nesties.

Sparkly fluffy yarn is by Cardology.

Gems are by Papermania (silver), Paper Studio (green) and free with craft mag (blue).

So excited - Penny Black Challenge DT member

Yesterday I had an email from Tracie telling me the most wonderful news ... she has picked me along with several other ladies to be new DT members for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge. I'm completely overwhelmed and just feel like dancing around ..... the reason I set my blog up in the first place (back in June) was so that I could keep up with this challenge properly, and I have to say it is my favourite!

I'm actually one of 6 new DT members: myself, Carole, Debbie, Domi, Marcea and Nat are joining from next week with existing DT members Beth, Becky, Jackie, Jacqui, Kath, Tracy and Tracie .... I can't wait!! All these ladies have got brilliant blogs and some fantastic ideas ... if you haven't visited their blogs already then I suggest you take a peek as soon as you can. I'll do my best to keep up with this talented bunch LOL ... watch this space!