Two For The Price Of One

After a whole week of not crafting due to a combo of work, not feeling well and trying to make a start on the Chrimbo shopping (don't remind me lol!), I finally managed to sit down yesterday for a really good craft session .... and it made me feel really as if I'd got my mojo back :-)

It's now getting to that time of year when panic starts to set in as I haven't made anywhere near enough Christmas cards; so when I get out a stamp, particular colours of pen and papers, I try to make two cards while I'm there. The general idea is that it doesn't take anywhere near twice as long to make two similar cards ... though yesterday's effort must have been the exception that proves that rule as it took me the best part of 4 hours to make these two! It was great fun though :-). I also made two cards so that I could enter both this fortnight's Wild Orchid Crafts challenge of brown and blue, and also a number of other Christmassy challenges that are around right now.

Both of the following cards have pretty much the same materials - the main differences are the sentiment and the fact that I have followed two different sketches.

Here's my first card.

Stamps: LotV "Shine A Light" and Christmas Sentiment Circles;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on coat and snowy ground;

Papers: My Mind's Eye "Holly Jolly";

Supplies: seam binding ribbon and flower from Wild Orchid Crafts; lace from Crafts4U2Do; pearls from The Hobby House.

Challenges:

Lili of the Valley #121 - A Christmas Card for Someone Special

CES #62 - Snowflakes

Moving Along With The Times #125 - Let It Snow

Craft Your Passion #84 - Let It Snow

Fab 'n' Funky #99 - Baby It's Cold Outside

Charisma #45 - Lace and Pearls

Bunny Zoe's Challenge #18 - Anything Christmas With Pearls

Deep Ocean #12 - Vintage

Sparkles #25 - Vintage Christmas
Challenge Up your Life #57 - Music (on the backing paper ;-) )

Southern Girls #32 - Embellishment Bingo

(lace, 3 patterned papers, glitter)

A Gem of A Challenge #34 - Sketch

... and here's my second card.

All materials the same as above except my sentiment is a Whimsy ticket stamp, with a peel off greeting coloured with Promarkers.

Challenges:

Wild Orchid Crafts #36 - Brown and Blue

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Women Only

Sketch Saturday #182 - Sketch

That's all for today - I'm off out to brave the shopping crowds as I guess I can't keep putting it off forever!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend whatever you're doing. I'll be back tomorrow with a very different card - a very simple one for Less Is More :-)

 

Penny Black Saturday #178 - Christmas Green + Trees

Good morning crafters, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Sorry I'm running a bit late today ... I've been a bit under the weather during the early part of the week but was feeling a bit more perkalicious last night, so I finally got round to making a card after dark ... and I've  just photographed it ready to go!

So ... straight to business !! :-) Thanks very much to everyone who entered last week's challenge and don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner.

This week we are continuing with our month of Christmas themed challenges, and would like to see

Christmas + Green + Trees

As always you can interpret this any way you choose so long as you use a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as the main focus on your project if you wish to be eligible for a prize ... and this week we have the following two fabby prizes for randomly drawn winners.

First from our lovely former teamie Carole

and secondly from our regular sponsor Penny Black Inc., this adorable wee mousey stamp.

The other ladies on the team all managed to get their fabulous Christmas trees decorated before mine .... but at last here it is!

I'm ashamed to say I've had this stamp for a year (or is it 2??) and I've never inked it up until now ... why?? Beats me!  once I had the stamp in my hand I couldn't resist using a sheet of paper with strings of lights doodling across it ... so it kinda naturally followed that my hedgie's tree lights would end up the same colours lol!  Unfortunately this is anotehr card which is incredibly sparkly in real life, but no way can I get that to show up in a photograph due to the poor light this morning (and the way our house faces not catching the sun!)

Stamps: Penny Black "lighting up" (3762K);

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers, image and diecuts decorated with glamour dust;

Papers: Trimcraft "Christmas Joy";

Supplies: large pearl brad from The Hobby House; ribbon and sparkly gems from my stash;

Tools: Marianne D Creatables "Christmas Tree" (LR0136).

Challenges:

Sketch & Stash #74 - Sketch (rotated to the right)

I ♥ Promarkers #92 - Christmas Trees

My Time To Craft #166 - Take Two

(Christmas tree diecuts)

Penny  Black & More At Allsorts - All Creatures Great & Small

(2nd entry - 1st PB card)

Winter Wonderland - Awww What A Cutie!

Truly Scrumptious #70 - Christmas + Pearls

ABC - D is for Dazzle

Creatalicious #28 - Christmas With Sparkle

Marianne's Design Divas #3 - Sparkle & Shine

Ooh-La-La #93 - Bingo!

(ribbon / diecut / sparkle)

Looking forward to seeing all your fabulous creations this week :-)  Have a great weekend!

Penny Black Saturday #177 - Christmas Gold + Presents

Good morning to you all, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Last week we gave you the chance to start really cracking on with those Christmas cards with our silver + snowflakes theme, and as aways you didn't disappoint with some fabulous entries.

This week we are continuing with our November month of Christmas challenges, and this time the theme is

Gold + Christmas presents

We also have a fabulous prize on offer for a randomly drawn winner, in the shape of a $20 online store voucher from our sponsor 1-2-3 Stitch.

 Don't forget in order to be eligible for our prize you should submit a new piece of work with a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

The rest of the DT have provided some inspirational samples as always - this is what I did.

I have to admit I was struggling with this theme at first, as I didn't think I had any PB Christmas stamps available which included gifts ... nor any gold papers or ribbons! After a bit of a trawl I remembered I had this adorable little hedgie dozing by his Chrimbo stocking,a nd I also found the remnants of an old paper pad with gold foil patterns on it. I alsod ecided to go for a change from my usual method of glittering wtih glamour dust, and glittered the fur cuff ont eh stocking with Pee Wee Art Glitter in "crystal" - it gives a fine but slightly denser coverage than glamour dust which I think works very well with fur :-)

Stamps: Penny Black transparent set "Christmas Critters";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; stocking decorated with Pee Wee Art Glitter in "crystal";

Papers: Papermania "A Silent Night";

Supplies: flowers from Prima Christmas bubble; gems from The Hobby House; sentiment by Craftwork Cards; brads, spacers and ribbon from my stash.

Challenges:

CRAFT #128 - Cute

Christmas Inspirations #36 - Bows
Crimbo Crackers #2 - Make It Sparkle

Daring Cardmakers - Bejewelled
Penny  Black Blog Challenge - Enhance Your Image With Gem Accents
Totally Gorjuss #106 - Christmas Traditions (Santa's stocking!)

Have a great weekend and hope you can join in this week.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

(Laurence Binyon, "For The Fallen").

Today is Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day), a day originally set aside to commemorate the signing of the Armistice at the end of the First World War in 1918, but today an occasion to remember the sacrifice of the fallen in many conflicts around the world. This year is a once-in-a-lifetime Remembrance Day, as it falls at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in the 11th year - 11-11-11-11.

I have made a card today to enter into some challenges that are marking this occasion. I will be at work this morning, but am scheduling this post for 11:00am.  I will pause at that time to remember all those who gave their lives or were injured in conflicts over the years so that we can live today in a democracy.

Stamps: poppy from Penny Black transparent set "flowers and wishes"; sentiment from PB transparent set "hugs!";

Media: Promarkers;

Supplies: ribbon and tiny heart gems from my stash.

Challenges:

Simon Says - Photo inspiration (poppy field)

Cute Card Thursday # 190 - Red is for Remembrance

Less Is More #40 - Red & Orange

Creative Craft - Minimalist

My Partner In Crafting Crime #35 - Use A Freebie

(I won the transparent set of stamps including the poppy)

Thanks very much for visiting today. I'll be back tomorrow with another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Christmas Angel

Good morning - here we are again with (surprise ... surprise ...!!) another Christmas card! For today's card I have used this darling LotV angel stamp which I bought last month at Port Sunlight.

I managed to find some very girly Christmas papers with delicate stars in pastel colours, which I hope tie in quite nicely with the little stars on the image :-)  I really do think this particular image is just soooo pretty !!

Stamps: LotV "Little Trumpet";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Stickles on angel wings and flowers;

Papers: Kaisercraft;

Supplies: ribbon from Hobbycraft; lace from Wild Orchid Crafts; flowers by Sweet Lilac; sparkly gems from The Hobby House; small wooden star from John Lewis; peel off greeting from my stash;

Tools: Marianne D Creatables "Bauble/Star" (LR0183).

Challenges:

Sparkles Christmas #10 - Angels

Colour Create #83 - Turquoise, Deep Pink & Ivory

The RIbbon Reel #14 - Hot Pink, Turquoise and Cream
My Time To Craft #165 - Sun, Moon and Stars

Secret Crafter #159 - Flowers, Ribbon and Lace
Marianne's Design Divas - Dying To Die Cut (3rd entry)

Papertake Weekly - Christmas

Totally Gorjuss #105 - Sketch

This is the last of the cards I made in my mega crafting sesh. I haven't done any crafting this week as I've had a bit of an upset tummy, but touch wood I'm feeling quite a bit better now so hope to be back with some more cards by the weekend :-) Thanks for visiting.

All Things Bright and Sparkly

Hi there and hope you are all well. Today I would like to share another card I made at the weekend using one of my latest LotV Christmas stamps. The whole concept of this one was to tie in to the theme of bright and sparkly over at this week's LotV challenge.

I had so much fun with this, cutting out trees and snowflake flourishes from glitter card and dusting glamour dust around ... again the pic was taken in a fiarly poor winter light but I can tell you that irl this card is REALLY sparkly !!

Stamps: LotV "Shine A Light";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on coat and snow;

Papers: Bo Bunny;

Supplies: gems from The Hobby House; Craftwork Cards sentiment; button from my stash;

Tools: Marianne D Creatables "Christmas Tree" (LR0136); Memory Box "Frosty Border" die.

Challenges:

Lili of the Valley #119 - Bright & Sparkly

Marianne's Design Divas #2 - Dying To Die Cut (2nd entry)

Simon Says - Buttons

PaperPlay #44 - Button up!

Crafty Calendar (November) - Winter Wardrobe

Top Tip Tuesday #59 - Anything Christmas Goes

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Use Your Favourite Sketch Challenge (see  below)

Sketch Saturday #180 - sketch

At last I'm starting to make some real inroads into my Christmas card makes, though it's still a long way to go!! ...

A Cutesy Day At The Zoo

Good morning everyone - here's another card I made during my Saturday craftathon. I really do think this Wild Rose Studio stamp is totally adorable :-) Unfortunately the light wasn't great when I was taking the pic so it is a little dark ... but I guess that's winter for you!

I have been entering the Penny Black At Allsorts monthly challenges since they started, and have spotted that they have now opened up the challenges to other makes of stamps ... so I am entering this card for the November challenge. Feels really weird entering a card that doesn't have a Penny Black stamp on it ... but as they allow three entries per challenge I'm sure I'll be back with a PB card before the month is over !! ;-)

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Pickle With Sledge";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: Dovecraft "Jolly Happy Christmas";

Supplies: gems from The Hobby house; sentiment by Craftwork Cards; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Cuttlebug "ice crystal" cut 'n' emboss set; Crafts Too "Snowflakes" embossing folder.

Challenges:
Penny Black & More at Allsorts (November) - All Creatures Great & Small

Passion For Promarkers #124 - A Day At The Zoo

Fun With Shapes & More #95 - Animalistic Christmas
CES #60 - Song Or Film
("March of the Penguins")
Charisma #44 - Cutesy!

Card Makin' Mamas #32 - Cut It Out (die cuts)
Cuttlebug Spot - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes + bling (3rd entry)

Thanks for looking!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Just a quick post this morning as I'm going to be out and about all day. Yesterday I managed a fairly mega crafting session and made a grand total of 4 cards which is mahoosive for me (yep ... I'm a very slow worker lol!).

This is the first one, which I made to catch the end of two challenges - Wild Orchid Crafts and Sketch and Stash. I know there are those who may say that Santa isn't a teddy bear, but here's what I say ... I don't have much in the way of stamps with an old fashioned Santa on, and in any case when it comes to Santa it's a matter of what you believe lol!! .. and last but not least, if you look very closely you will see that one of the images on my background paper is actually Santa (he is just about disappearing off the edge of the paper, and his little helpers must be hiding behind the other papers  :-)  lol!)

Stamps: Forever Friends Santa bear; LotV Christmas Sentiment Circles;

Media: Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Copics, glamour dust on coat and ground;

Papers: Dovecraft "Jolly Happy Christmas";

Supplies: Flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts; Ribbon by Papermania; pearls from The Hobby House.

Challenges:

Wild Orchid Crafts #35 - Santa Claus is Coming To Town!

Really Reasonable Ribbon #35 - Christmas

Sketch & Stash #73 - Sketch

(old stash is the stamp and ribbon, new stash is the flowers)

Gotta dash - enjoy the rest of your weekend :-)

Penny Black Saturday #176 - A Christmas Theme

Hi there, and welcome to aother Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks to everyone who entered last week's challenge - brilliant interpretations of Nat's sketch :-)

This week we are starting the countdown to Christmas, with the first of a month of Christmas-themed challenges. So no excuse not to press ahead with your Chrimbo cards ... and this week we are kicking off with

Silver + Snowflakes

As always you can interpret this however you choose, so long as you use a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as the main focus of our project if you would like to be entered for this week's prize.

And we have not one but THREE prizes this week for lucky randomly drawn winners.

Firstly - from

One cute stamp each for two winners:

and

and from

this yummy Snowflake ribbon kit



So what are you waiting for? The other ladies on the team have made some beautiful samples this week .. here is my effort.

Stamps: Penny Black "joy hope" (3898F); Snowflake swirl edging by Inkadinkado;

Media: stamps embossed with silver embossing powder;

Papers: Craft Creations;

Supplies: gems, silver ribbon and large sparkly brad from my stash;

Tools: Spellbinders "Make a Flake 2" Shapeabilities; Martha Stewart "eyelet lace" PATP.

Challenges:

Winter Wonderland - Make Your Card Sparkle
Corrosive #136 - With A Flourish

Stamptacular #136 - Borders & Frames

Craft Your Passion #82 - Bingo!

(Punch / Sentiment / Bling)

Stamp With Stampavie #155 - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes + bling (2nd entry)

Pollycraft Monday #117 - Anything Goes

Dream Valley #19 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #107 - Anything Goes

Crimbo Crackers #1 - Anything Goes
Hope you can join us this week - have a great weekend.

Girly Christmas

After I finished my DT work last night, I managed to make an addtional card with one of the images I pre-coloured last week. I chose this particular image as the colours tied in with some old BasicGrey paper I sought out especially, so that I could enter this fortnight's BasicGrey Challenge!

Stamps: LotV "Shine A Light";

Media: image coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers, and decorated with glamour dust;

Papers: BasicGrey "Figgy Pudding" (background snowflake and poinsetta papers); Magnolia (songsheet):

Supplies: sentiment by Craftwork Cards;  flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts (decorated with Stickles); dark red gems from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash.

Challenges:

By The Cute & Girly (November) - Christmas Girls

I ♥ Promarkers #90 - Glitter & Glitz

Creative Inspirations #136 - Lashings of Sparkle

Crafter's Companion #18 - Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

A Gem of A Challenge #33 - Cold & Frosty

ABC Christmas - V is for Vintage

Crafts & Me #59 - Let The Music Move You!

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes + bling!

BasicGrey #56 - Anything Goes

Sweet Stampin' - Anything Goes

That's all for now - thanks for visiting.