Stamp with fun - my favourite things

I just had to enter this week's Stamp with fun challenge #14, as it is a fabulous sketch, plus they are offering an absolutely adorable stamp set as the prize (fingers crossed!!)


I was eager to use my new supplies from my Quixotic Paperie blog candy win (see previous post) and this sketch allowed me to incorporate my gorgeous new crocheted ribbon :-). I kinda squashed the sketch to make it into a square, but hopefully you can still see the basic elements.

I would also like to enter this card into this week's Papertake Weekly Challenge as the theme is my favourite things ... and this card contains a whole host of those!! My fave stamps are undoubtedly Penny Blacks, BasicGrey papers are generally my favourites, and I also can't get enough of charms and pearls.

Recipe:

Main image; Penny Black "Frequent Flier", coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with glamour dust (doesn't show up too well in the pics!)

Sentiment: Penny Black;

Papers: BasicGrey "Wisteria" - edges on image and paper cut using mega deckle rectangle nestabilities;

Supplies: crocheted ribbon and charm from Quixotic Paperie; flowers and jewel brad by Papermania; spacer from The Hobby House; pearls from my stash; leaves punched using Leone Em "Ash Family" punch.

Quixotic Delights

Woo hoo! I was lucky enough to win blog candy last weekend, and it was a £15 voucher to spend in the online shop run by Elaine called Quixotic Paperie.

I quickly went online (as you do) and was thrilled to discover that she has some really yummy goodies in the shop - quite a few ranges of rubber stamps and also fabulous embellishments including some really unusual charms and ribbons. I got completely engrossed in browsing and must have filled and then emptied my basket several times as it was so hard to choose!

Eventually I decided ... Elaine delivered fantastically quickly and here's what I received - how gorgeous is all this??

You may not be able to see on this pic, but the little charms at the bottom have the word "friends" on them as well as a flower or butterfly .. I haven't seen any like this elsewhere, nor indeed the cute trees or gorgeous and very substantial keys. And as for that crocheted ribbon - fab!!

So if you haven't visited Elaine's shop yet I suggest you go there .. I certainly wasn't in any way disappointed and will definitely be popping back in future :-) Thanks very much Elaine for my win ... first creation using this stuff is soon on it's way!

PBSC Mini Candy Winner

Thanks so much to everyone who visited my blog and left such kind comments about last week's card, and entered my belated PBSC birthday mini-candy. There were lots of stunning cards and I was really torn - I would have liked to send a little prize to every one of them!

However after much deliberation I have picked a winner, and it is

Sue from Sue's Rubber Stamping Adventures

I really love the vibrant colours on Sue's card and the fab vintage stamp she has used - in fact Sue makes lots of lovely cards using vintage PB's - do check them out :-)

And here's the mini package of goodies you have won!

So Sue ... please email me your details and I will pop this little package in the post for you :-). If I don't hear from you by next Saturday I will pick another winner as there were so many fabulous cards to choose from.

Hope to see you all back in the challenge this week!

Hugs

Penny Black Challenge #56 - Red, White & Blue

Happy Saturday, and welcome once again to week 56 of the Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Hope you have all been enjoying the hot weather, but was glad to see that so many of you wisely stayed out of the sun for long enough to get to grips with Nat's sketch last week - there were some fab entries.

Many thanks also to those of you who visited my blog last week to enter for my belated PBSC birthday mini candy - I really enjoyed looking at all your creations and I'll be back later with the winner.

Onto this week's challenge, which honours the fact that today is Independence Day in the USA ... yes, you've guessed it, we would like you to use the colours

red, white and blue

As usual, you can interpret this however you want, so long as we can see a Penny Black image or sticker somewhere on your creation. The DT have been busy as usual, so please do go check out their blogs to see their inspiring creations.

Here is my card ... now I have to hold my hand up and say I struggled a bit with this as I don't really "do" red (unless it is teamed with green for Christmas lol!), so I had to raid my stash to find some suitable materials. I think I used my one and only piece of red, white and blue paper in the house ... so everything else really fell out from that.


Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black transparent set "Every which Way", coloured with Twinkling H2O's;

Sentiment: Penny Black;
Papers: DCWV "Pocket Full of Posies" stack;
Supplies: image and matting cut with "peony" nestabilities; white glitter card punched with MS Doily lace punch; Papermania red gems; Doodlebug sugar coated brads; charm from The Hobby House; various flowers and fibre from my stash.

This week we have a gorgeous prize kindly donated by our new sponsors - Clair and Sharni who are Stampin' Up demonstrators at Valentine's

One lucky winner can win this gorgeous stamp.

Have a great weekend, and look forward to seeing all your creations !

Summer fruits

Here is a "Congratulations" card I made for a lady at work who has got a fantastic new job - I think hedgie looks so joyful he is clearly celebrating!

I made this card for this week's Simon Says Stamp Challenge, which is to use any two or more of the colours lemon, orange, apple green and pink: well my paper is lemon, apple green and pink so I kind of took it from there and tried to co-ordinate the rest of my embellishments etc.

The summery papers also made me think of entering this card for a few other challenges - Cupcake Crafts #46 and A Spoon Full of Sugar #58 both have summer as their theme this week, and One Stop Craft Challenge #35 is fruity colours (I have used lemon, apple green and raspberry pink!!).

Here's the inside .... I've been getting a bit lazy and short on time to keep up with this tradition, but I do like it when I get round to it!

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Hedgehog Joy" coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with little pearl gems;
Sentiment: diecut using Cuttlebug cut'n'emboss folder;
Papers: K&Co "Wild raspberry", cut with MS doily punch;
Supplies: flowers, ribbon and pearls from my stash; Doodlebug "sugar coated" brads in the centre of my flowers; charm from The Hobby House; leaves punched with Leone Em "Ash Branch" punch.

Friday Sketchers #58 - cool when it's hot!

Yesterday must have been the hottest day of the year so far, so when I saw the fabulous sketch over at this week's Friday Sketchers #58, what did I do ?? That's right ... I made a Christmas card! Not sure why ... the sketch just kinda struck me that way!

I used one or two new items from my stash ... I have had the cute hedgie for some time but not inked him up until now; and last week I bought a new MS embossed snowflake punch, as I figured if I got in early I could get one before the Christmas rush lol!

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Fur collared", watercoloured and decorated with diamond Stickles;
Sentiment: Stamps Away;
Papers: BasicGrey "Wassail";
Supplies: flowers and star from Prima Christmas bubble; charm from Dolls Made Up; fancy edging punched with Martha Stewart "embossed snowflake" edge punch.

Hope you're enjoying the fab weather - take care in the heat!

PBSC #55 - Sketch! .... and some candy!!

Hello everyone, and welcome to week 55 of the Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Some of you may just about have noticed that I've not been around for the past couple of weeks ..... I had to take a little bloggy break due to the fact that my department at work was having a re-org and I have had to apply for my job. After a lot of sweat and heartache, preparation, interview & presentation, the result is finally known ... and I'm very relieved to say I still have a job. However some of my colleagues are less fortunate right now and have got to go through the whole rigmarole again to try to secure a different job ... so right now I'm rooting for them.

Anyhow, I'm now trying to put all the stress behind me and get back in the bloggy saddle .. so here we are with a new card..... and what better way to start than with this week's PBSC, which is a fab sketch by Nat??

I'm sure you will love this sketch as much as the DT did .... and to be sure they have produced some wonderful cards to inspire you, so do pop over to their blogs for a look. Don't forget, to enter the challenge all you have to do is produce any project using the sketch, so long as we can see at least one Penny Black stamp or sticker somewhere on it!

As always we have got a great prize this week ... Dick at PB Stamps is giving a 15% off voucher to one lucky winner.

Before I get down to my card, I should say that I was gutted to miss the challenge's first birthday party two weeks ago ... so I have decided to have a belated celebration of my own!! I am offering a

mini candy

to one lucky winner which will consist of this week's card along with a small package of goodies .. now the contents are a secret but I can tell you that they include similar colours to the card -

pink and green

yay!

All you have to do to enter my candy is the following:

1. Enter this week's PBSC in the normal way, leaving a comment on the challenge blog with a link to your work.

2. ADDITIONALLY, leave a comment on this post with a link to your work, to let me know you would like to enter my candy :-)

I will choose my favourite entry next Saturday and post the results on my blog.

So without further ado, here's this week's effort!

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Bundle of Wishes", coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with Papermania gemstones, cut out using labels nesties and matted onto pink cardstock;

Sentiment: Whiff of Joy "Everyday Greetings";

Papers: BasicGrey "Sultry";

Supplies: Papermania patterned ribbons; Prima hydrangeas; sparkly brads by Doodlebug & Making Memories; green leaves cut from pearlised cardstock using Leone Em "Ash Family" punch

Here's another view of the card, in a lame attempt to show the sparkly gems and brads a bit more clearly.

Hope you all have a great weekend; and I look forward to seeing all your creations this week and entries for my candy!

For my dad

It's now almost two weeks since I have made a card, and I'm sorry to say I have hardly done any blog-hopping at all, so I am sure to be missing out on a lot of fabulous creations! I'm still up to my eyeballs with my job application, presentation and interview preparation; but at least the deadline is now looming and by next Tuesday it will all be over (unless of course I am unsuccessful, in which case I will have to go through it all again for however many jobs in the organisation I choose to apply for until I get one.... but let's not dwell on that!!)

Anyhow, last night I just NEEDED a break, and in any case how I could possibly fail to make my dear dad a Father's Day card?? I decided from the start to ensure I incorporated this week's theme over at Stamp With Fun #11 which is dots - cos boy, have they got a fab prize on offer! (Penny Black - my favourites!) but I have also managed to tie the card in with the following challenges:

Cupcake Craft Challenge #44 - Father's Day

Cuttlebug Be Inspired #36 - Father's Day

Paper Blooms #12 - Men of Influence.

I used:

Main image: Penny Black "message from above" coloured with watercolour pencils, matted using nesties labels, with the edges inked with Brilliance "pearlescent ivy" ink.

Sentiments: Woodware "Tiny Greetings" (front); Whiff of Joy - from "Swirls" collection (inside);

Papers: BasicGrey "Boxer";

Supplies: punched edges made with MS "Scallop dot" punch; adhesive ribbon by DCWV.

Here's the inside.....

Now this card is safely in the post I guess I'd better get my nose back to the grindstone! hope to be back next week lol!

Taking a little step back .....

I'm not going to be around in blogland for the next couple of weeks, as my departmental re-organisation at work is coming to a head and I need to reapply for my job ... 6 candidates, 2 jobs (slightly better odds than the Apprentice, but there isn't £100K at the end of it lol!!) Due to the level of competition I'm going to be VERY BIZZZZY the next couple of weeks what with application form ... presentation preparation ... interview preparation .... background research etc .... all of course on top of being out of the house from 8.30am to 6.45pm anyway due to working full time! . My head's spinning already !



Anyhow ... sorry I probably won't be visiting any of my bloggy buds, nor commenting on the fabby entries into the PBSC for the next couple of weeks ... alas I will also be missing the PBSC first birthday ... but keep your eyes peeled cos I may have a li'l surprise when I get back into my blogging stride :-)

PBSC Week 52 - Blooming Gorgeous!!

Woo hoo it's Saturday again, so it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. We are now up to week 52 ... can you believe that this week completes our first year of challenges, and next week it is our birthday!! ..... but more of that later ...

Thanks as always to everyone who took the time to enter last week's challenge using Domi's fab sketch - there were some wonderful interpretations, and one lucky person should check the challenge blog later to find out that they have won last week's prize.

So .. onto this week's challege which is

Blooming Gorgeous!

Yep .. we would like to see lots of lovely flowers! Of course you can interpret this however you want, so long as we can see a Penny Black stamp or sticker somewhere on your creation! As ever the DT have all beena s busy as bees around a flower (sorry!) ... do check out their blogs because there is an absolute garden going on out there!!

As an incentive to get your creative juices flowing, we have got a fantastic prize this week by our new sponsor Fantastic Ribbons - a selection of 6 reels of ribbon, each containing 5 metres. Now I picked out these ribbons myself when I went to Port Sunlight, and I can tell you they are so gorgeous it's lucky they ever made it into the prize pot LOL!! Fantastic Ribbons has just launched a new online shop and I strongly recommend you visit ... they have LOTS of high quality ribbons and fantastic value prices .. what's not to like??

So here is my card, which I have to confess was a bit of rush job at the last possible minute - so please be kind!!


I embossed the beautiful floral panel onto iridescent pale pink cardstock using the Cuttlebug "Friends Forever" cut'n'emboss folder, and matted it onto pearlescent fuschia and lime green cardstock. The sentiment is Penny Black "... dreams ..." stamped in Brilliance pearlescent orchid ink and cut out using my deckle edge rectangle nesties. Paper is Bo Bunny with the bottom edge punched with my MS doily punch; flowers are from various sources including a birthday RAK from Helen; leaves were punched with my Leone Em Ash Branch punch; sparkly brads are by Doodlebug; spacers from The Hobby House, ribbon from my stash.

As I mentioned above...

next week is the PBSC birthday .... yes.. we will be ONE!! (awww!)

So save the date, because we are going to be having a big party!! There are going to be lots of lovely prizes plus some surprises - you won't want to miss it! Unfortunately I will be missing it due to personal commitments, but I will be really hoping the party week will go with a swing... given the fantastic efforts of the rest of the DT I'm sure it will!!

Have a great weekend!

Dandelion does the combo .. for my dad!

Here's my card for my dad's birthday, which is next Monday. In the usual way I thought I'd try to get some inspiration from a few challenges ... like so many of us, I do find men's cards the most difficult to do and don't have very many images to suit ...luckily this darling image of Dandelion that was an RAK from the lovely Marcea came to the rescue. I'd like to enter this for the following challenges ...

1. Sketch Saturday #53 ... which is a fabulous sketch. I've had to change it slightly as most of my images don't fit on the teeny tiny shape that is a nestie oval ... so I used a kinda wavy rectangle nestie linstead and hope that is ok lol! (by the way ... Happy birthday to SS!!)
2. Creative Inspirations # 10 - card for a male
3. Simon Says ... Animals
4. One Stop Craft Challenge #31 - Let's Hear it For the Boys
5. Charisma Cardz #21 - Going Dotty

Here's the inside ....


... and here's what I used...

Main image: Dandelion - coloured with watercolour pencils.
Sentiments: Penny Black (front), Hero Arts (inside); letters for "Dad" free with Creative Cardmaking issue 3
Papers: Penny Black "Black & Gold" and cream/black dotted paper free with Creative Cardmaking issue 3.
Supplies: ribbon - Anita's; brads from my stash.

Hope dear dad is going to like it!

Penny Black Challenge #51 - Sketch by Domi

Hello everyone .. the weekend's here again (yippee!!), so it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks for all your gorgeous creations with buttons last week ... don't forget to check out the challenge blog to see who won Tracie's cute baaa lamb stamp!

This week we have a real treat for you, with a fab sketch by Domi. This was brilliant to work with, and the rest of the DT have come up with some amazing samples to inspire you .. hope you will check out their blogs. And to give you a little further incentive, we have another great prize this week ... Dick at PB Stamps is offering a 15% discount voucher to one lucky winner. Here is my card .... whilst out shopping one lunchtime I called into my local craft shop Edwin Allen (like you do) and spotted they had got some BasicGrey "Wisteria" paper pads into stock .. now I had really fancied one but not picked one up yet. Having let it fall into my shopping basket I just had to have a play, so everything else on the card stemmed from that lol!


Here's another view to show (not very successfully!) the sparkle on the flowers.


Recipe:
Main image: PB "Fanfare", heat embossed with detail white powder and then decorated with glamour dust and cut out using oval nesties - I edged the oval with brilliance white pearlescent ink.
Sentiment: Hero Arts.
Paper: BasicGrey "Wisteria".
Supplies: raffia lace from Hobbycraft; flowers by Prima, Papermania and from my stash; brads by Papermania (pearl) and Doodlebug (frosted); spacers from The Hobby House.

Hope you all have a great weekend (let's hope that summer is really here at last!)

Snowflake in the Sugar Bowl

This fortnight over at the Sugar Bowl, Challenge #11 is a fabulous sketch by Kathy. As soon as I saw it, the unusually drawn flowers made me think of poinsettas, and from there it was only a short leap of the imagination to pull out my current favourite SN stamp "Snowflake" and start making a Christmas card. As I am currently VERY behind on the "one Christmas card a week" vow this was an ideal opportunity!

I coloured "Snowflake" with watercolour pencils and sprinkled (liberally!) with glamour dust, and then matted her using my deckle rectangle nesties, which I edged with pearlescent ivy Brilliance ink. The sentiment is from a Woodware clear set, stamped onto card cut using my labels nesties. The green paper is by Daisy Bucket, but I have no clue what the red striped paper is as it was a scrap. White snowflake felt ribbon and silver gems are by Papermania, poinsettas and leaves are from the Prima Christmas Bubble. Finally the white swirl was cut from white glitter card using my swirls shapeabilities.

Here is a closer view which shows up the sparkle a bit better :-)

Now I must finish with a plea for mercy ... I copied down the sketch and realise I copied it down slightly incorrectly .. but I spent ages on the card and did it in good faith so I hope you'll be kind!

Hope you're all coping with being back at work after the bank holiday ... only 3 months to August bank hol, and then we'll all be thinking about Christmas cards lol!!

Zeddy teddy does the combo

Here is a baby card I have made for the birth of my dear friend Sharon's grandson, who was born after a very traumatic time for her family last week ... sending all my love and best wishes...hopefully the card has arrived so I am safe to post!



I'd like to enter this card into a few challenges:

1. My start point was to use my favourite stamped image, which is the theme for this week's Creative Inspirations Challenge #9. I have lots of stamped images I really love but i think this one is without doubt my favourite .. he is even slumbering in my blog header lol! He also a very versatile teddy ... I have never used him for a baby card before but have seen him on other baby cards .. and he is so cute!
2. A Spoon Full of Sugar #52 - celebration! (Happy first birthday to SFoS too!)
3. Secret Crafter Challenge #33 - new beginnings
4. The Pink Elephant #15 - monograms and letters
5. Colour Create #16 - sky blue, tan & ecru -now I must hold my hand up and say it's mostly a happy accident that my card fits this challenge. Obviously we have blue for a boy + tan for a teddy; and as luck would have it I didn't think it neded much more colour ... I just did the flowers in pale blue and a kind of creamy colour. OK I hear you say, there is green in the leaves ... but nature is what it is, right?

Recipe:

Image: Penny Black "Sweet Slumber" coloured with watercolour pencils and flowers decorated with Stickles.

Paper: Forever Friends Christmas stack (!)

Supplies: Raffia lace from Hobbycraft threaded wtih two shades of blue ribbon from my stash; letters cut using Cuttlebug "Hippy Chick" alphavelt from ecru pearlescent card; flowers by Floradoodles; charm from Dolls Made Up.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend!