Happy Birthday To Someone Special

It is my dear dad's birthday in 2 weeks time, and as there are so many male-themed challenges around in the run up to Father's Day I thought I'd get a head start and make his birthday card early (I'll then have chance to make him a Father's Day card to enter a few more challenges later on :-)  )!!

I'm sure this cute Fizzy Moon bear is another one I got with a store voucher I won .. he just looks so relaxed snoozing in his chair! This is another 8" * 8" card, and these Fizzy Moon images work very well as they are quite big (see my recent Fizzy Moon 8" * 8" wedding card here)

Stamps: Fizzy Moon "All About Him"; Fizzy Moon "dad" sentiment; LotV birthday sentiment;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: Pink Petticoat (gingham) and sei (large check);

Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon and button from my stash;

Tools: Martha Stewart "iron gate" edge punch.

After I had taken the photo I realised I've forgotten to colour his darling little nose lol!! I'll be sure to do that before I post it! (the card that is, not the nose!!)

Challenges:

Allsorts #156 - Happy Birthday to Someone Special

Passion For Promarkers #150 - Birthdays

Crafty Catz #134 - Card For A  Man

OSCC #184 - For The Boys

Really Reasonable Ribbon #48 - Father's Day / Masculine + ribbon

Try It On Tuesday - Father's Day / Male (sponsored by The Craft Barn)

Simon Says - Father's Day / For A Special Male

Totally Papercrafts #118 - Animals

Crafting For All Seasons #27 - Celebration With Buttons

Ooh La La #105 - Ribbon Or Twine

Craft Your Passion #111 - Sketch

That's all for today ... it's so hot here I think I'll soon be snoozing in my chair like that bear!!

Penny Black Saturday # 203 - Monochrome Magic

Good afternoon everyone! yet again I'm running late and have been missing in action for the past week and a half .. and yes I really have been "in action" due to crazy work pressures. But it's the weekend at last and time to sit down and catch my breath - so here's my card for this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Before I get onto the challenge we have some sad news - our lovely teamie Liz has decided to step down from the team, so we wish her all the best.

This week's theme is

Monochrome magic

which you can interpret however you like so long as you submit a new project featuring a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

This week's yummy prize for a randomly chosen winner is from our regular sponsor Fantastic Ribbons

and is a yummy selection of four rolls of baker's twine.

The rest of the DT have worked their usual (monochrome) magic ... mine is somewhat late and hasty but here it is.

Stamps: Penny Black "before the snow" (3993K) randomly stamped with distress ink; Stampendous sentiment;

Media: background distressed with Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans and Tumbled Glass distress inks; tree stamped with Chipped Sapphire DI and dusted with glamour dust;

Supplies: small star gems from my stash.

I lightly brushed the ends of each branch with my glue pen and dusted with glamour dust, but the sparkle is quite difficult to see - here's a pic of the card standing which tries to catch the twinkle :-)

Challenges:

Sparkles Christmas #16 - Christmas Tree

Sweet Stampin' - Moon and Stars

Charisma #20 - No Flowers Allowed

Totally Gorjuss #133 - Something New ( my tree stamp)

Creative Inspirations #164 - Anything Goes

That's all for this afternoon ... off now to do a bit more crafting. Have a great weekend.

Wishing you A Lifetime of Joy and Happiness

My colleague Julie is getting married this coming Saturday, so there has been a lot of excitement around the office. Dresses, flowers and accessories have all been discussed, and we all had a great time at the hen night three weeks ago. Julie's a fab colleague and friend, so we're all wishing her and her fiance Dean all the best for a wonderful life together. 

Of course I had to make a card to mark this momentous occasion, and to make it special I decided to make another 8" * 8" card. Here it is ...

I actually had a bit of foresight here, as about three months ago I won a store voucher in a challenge for Crafty Emma's store (sadly now closing down); and one of the items I chose was this adorable Fizzy Moon wedding couple stamp - it is quite a big image so perfect for a large card.  I also found some very wide lace in my stash which I hadn't used as I found it too wide for normal 6" * 6" cards, but it was in much better proportion for this size.

My paper is covered with glittery embossed butterflies - sadly they don't show up too well on the pic but in real life are really pretty and twinkly. As you can see, I've taken the concept of the wedding bouquet quite literally with an absolute mass of flowers!! (I think I can count 15 on there!)

I also had a go at a different technique with a bow: firstly I made a double bow out of  vintage seam binding with my Bow-Easy from Bunny Zoe's Crafts, then I threaded a diamante heart buckle onto a separate piece of seam binding and tied it around the original bow, securing it at the back with a knot and then cutting and arranging the ends into a third set of "tails" for the original bow. The aqua colour was chosen deliberately as that is the colour of Julie's bridesmaids' dresses.

Stamps: Fizzy Moon "Wedding Bells"; Whiff of joy sentiment;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on bride teddy's veil and headdress;

Papers: Best Creation Inc;

Supplies: flowers, seam binding (and lace, I think!) from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls and diamante buckle from my stash;

Tools: Martha Stewart "Valentine lace" edge punch.

I  also made a box to match the card ... here's a pic of the lid.

Challenges:

Wild Orchid #50 - Anything Goes

Bunny Zoe's #24 - Anything Goes

J&C Creations #1 - All That Glitters

That's all for today - thanks for visiting.

Oh No!!

Now I know that my li'l blog doesn't get the most hits in the world, but after nearly four years of blogging I was feeling quite excited that I was approaching 100,000 hits. Indeed I was approaching very closely having reached 99,950 ... and then suddenly  ...

ZERO! ZILCH! NADA!

OMG my blog counter had chosen the crucial moment to reset itself !! :-(

So now I have merely got a miserable 300+ hits!  Sob!!

If anyone can offer any advice on how I can get my counter back, or alternatively how to start a new counter from a number other than zero, it would be much appreciated.

Huggies

 

Penny Black Saturday #201 - In The Garden

Hi everyone, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks so much to everyone who entered last week's CASE it challenge - it was wonderful to see all the fab interpretations of Jenny's card.

This week our thoughts are turning to spring and summery weather with a challenge theme of

In The Garden

.. though you might say this is a bit ambitious in view of the awful weather we've been having!! 

As always you can interpret the them however you like so long as you link to a newly posted piece of work,  and we can see a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

This week we are sponsored by the lovely 1-2-3 Stitch

with a prize of a $20 online store voucher - lovely!

The rest of the DT have worked their usual magic .. here is my effort for this week.

I really love this vintage little girl stamp - one of the very few vintage PB's I own, and picked up as a pre-loved bargain from my local craft shop's second hand table. I decided to stick with an overall country vintage theme, by going with gingham and patchwork flowered paper, gingham ribbons, an old-fashioned garden trellis and a vintage ticket sentiment.

Stamps: Penny Black "A Gift of Flowers" (586K); Whimsy friendship ticket sentiment;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: Me To You "Spring Chic";

Supplies: ribbon, pearls and charm from my stash;

Tools: martha Stewart "garden trellis" edge punch; X-Cut flower and butterfly punches; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:

Crafty Pad #169 - Girly Girls
Deep Ocean #25 - What A Wonderful Woman!

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Your Favourite Stamp

(this is definitely my fave vintage-style stamp :-) )

Crafter's Companion #24 - Here Comes Summer

Creatalicious #33 - Butterflies & Flowers

Pretty Little Ribbon #10  - Blossoms & Butterflies (2nd entry)

DYSU #71 - Use A Flower
Fussy & Fancy Friday #62 - Butterflies, Ribbon & Punches

Paper Pretties Monday - Use Ribbon

Sketch 'n' Stash #87 - Sketch

That's all for today ... I'm off out today to the twice-yearly Port Sunlight craft fair, so hopefully i'll ahve some new stash to play with for next time.

Have a great weekend!

 

Baublicious!

Good morning everyone ... as I mentioned I'm on holiday from work this week, and yesterday I was going to go shopping, but the weather here was so awful I decided to stay in and craft instead :-)

I was inspired by this picture over at Winter Wonderland

... to create this masculine purple and silver Christmas card (I hope the inspiration is quite clear, but just in case it is the baubles and colours).

I was also inspired by the bauble in this pic over at ABC Christmas - I guess it was just a bauble kind of day :-)

Stamps: LotV "James Bear - Wrapped in Tinsel"; sentiment by Stampendous;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; tinsel dusted with glamour dust;

Tools: Marianne D bauble and fir branch dies; Cuttlebug "Christmas Stars" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Totally Gorjuss #130 - Sketch

Winter Wonderland - Photo Inspiration

ABC Christmas - I is for Icy Inspiration
Divas By Design #34 - One For The Boys

Crafty Cardmakers #67 - For The Boys

Southern Girls #44 - All About The Boys

Ooh La La #104 - Make It Manly

Sparkles #31 - Men Only
Lili's Little Fairies - Favourite Craft Tool 

(Promarkers/Flexmarkers and Marianne D dies)

Papertake Weekly - Cute, Cute, Cute!

Jingle Belles - Embossing

Creative Craft - Anything Goes

That's all for now - I'm definitely out shopping today as my dear husband is decorating our spare bedroom and I need some new bedding etc., plus I'll be looking for an outfit for a wedding reception I'm attending next weekend (I also made the wedding card yesterday, but I'll be back with that over the next day or two :-) )

Enjoy your day.

 

Beautiful bunny

I'm on holiday from work this week (yippee!!) ... not going anywhere, just chilling, and I'm hoping to get a bit more crafting done than usual :-)

I have a couple of LotV stamps in my stash that I bought a few weeks ago and haven't had any opportunity to ink up yet, so I decided to bring one out to play. I'm a big fan of LotV stamps and goodness knows there are a lot of uber cute ones, but I genuinely think this bunny has got to be one of the cutest LotV stamps ever released!

Stamps: LotV "Patchwork Butterfly", LotV sentiment circle;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: First editions "Spring Drop";

Supplies: centre gardenia from Crafts4U2Do; all other flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; doily from Poppy's Cabin; ribbon from my stash.

Challenges:

Lili's Little Fairies - Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar (May) - Things With Wings

Anything Goes #64 - Things With Wings

Pretty Little Ribbon #10 - Blossoms & Butterflies
Sweet Stampin' - Four Legged Friends

Creative Inspirations #161 - Animal Antics

BTC&G (May) - Spring Is All Around

Simon Says - Anything Birthday

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Secret Crafter #184 - Sketch

That's all for today - thanks for visiting!

 

Penny Black Saturday on Sunday #200

Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to the new Penny Black Saturday Sunday Challenge lol!! Yes I'm rather behind this week ... had a bit of a crazy week at work and also it was my birthday on Friday, so I had a night out in the week courtesy of my darling husband to see Dancing on Ice live - fabby!  Thanks very much to everyone who sent me cards, good wishes and little gifts - I was really thrilled!

As I'm so behind I'd better get straight to business, and this week our challenge is a regular monthly feature 

CASE it

and we would like you to CASE this gorgeous card by Jenny

How adorable is that??

We have two fantastic prizes this week as usual for randomly drawn winners - as I'm running so late pelase check the main challenge blog for details.

The rest of the DT have worked their magic as usual .. this is what I (eventually!) did ...

This is a get well / cheer up card for my godparents' daughter. She sent me a folded piece of paper for my birthday rather than a card, as it turns out she is housebound due to having recently fallen and broken her hip. 

I went with Jenny's idea of an easel card although I always have terrible trouble taking a  decent photograph .. hope you can get the general idea!

Stamps: Penny Black "Hedgehog Bouquet" (1444K); Whiff of Joy sentiment;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: First Edition "Spring Drop";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; lace from John Lewis; ribbon from Hobbycraft; charm from Bunny Zoe's Crafts;

Tools: small, large and lacy circle nestabilities; Martha Stewart "wildflowers" PATP corner punch and "small monarch butterfly" punch.

Challenges:

Stampin' For The Weekend  - At Least 4 Layers

Joanna Sheen - Flower Power!

Hooked on Crafts #20 - Flowers

Enjoy the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend and hope you can join us this week.

Penny Black Saturday #199 - May Day

Wow - this week  has flown by, and it's time once again for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks to everyone who joined in last week's no patterned papers challenge - sadly I didn't get round to look as I've had a bit of an eye infection, which has meant I've tried not to do too much close work (on top of sitting at a computer all day in work :-) )

This week we have a seasonal challenge for you, with a theme of

May Day (Spring Time)

So we'd love to see your cheerful spring time cards ... goodness knows we could do with something cheerful what with the absolutely awful weather we've been having here in the UK!

Our prize this week for a randomly drawn winner is from our regular sponsor Fantastic Ribbons, and is this scrummy selection of Kendra crystallised lace in fabulous summery colours - hot pink, light pink, lime and opalised white - woo hoo!!

Don't forget, to be eligible for this delish prize you need to submit a new project which features a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

I'm sure you'll feel cheerful when you've looked at the rest of the team's fabulous spring-time cards - here is what I did.

This image is the first one that always comes to mind when I think of PB stamps for spring .. the kitty is so cute and I just love the big bunch of daffodils .. and it gives me opportunity to use up some of my left over paper daffodils from Easter :-)

Stamps: Penny Black slapstick "You are the bestest" (PB/40-015); sentiment from "Salutations" transparent set;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: Me To You "Spring Chic";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; gems from my stash;

Tools: Magnolia doohickey "lovely fence" die; Martha Stewart small monarch butterfly punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:

Papertake Weekly - Sketch

CRAFT #152 - Animals

Secret Crafter #183 - Cute & Fluffy

Penny Black & More at Allsorts (April) - Oh So Cute! (2nd entry)

Passion For Promarkers #146 - Cut It Out

Stamptacular #160 - Loaded With Layers

Simon Says - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations #160 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #130 - Anything Goes

Try It On Tuesday - Anything Goes With A Twist ...

(I used a Martha Stewart Monarch butterfly punch available from The Craft Barn)

Looking forward to seeing your creations this week.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge #198

Good morning all, the weekend is here so I hope you'll be able to join us for this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge. It was great to see all your fabulous spotty and stripy creations last week.

11:50 - Just came on here and found my correctly scheduled post for 8am hadn't published - naughty Mr Blogger!!

I'd like to give a special wave to Jennifer who entered her first ever challenge this week and it was the PBSC - woo hoo!! Jennifer is a new  blogger but an experienced cardmaker (whose cards are gorgeous, by the way) and she wrote me a couple of lovely emails asking a little advice about blogging, and said some really kind words about my blog and cards :-) So hope we'll be seeing more of your creations soon hun :-)

This week we have another fab challenge theme for you ...

No Patterned Papers

As usual the only rules are that you should submit a new piece of work that follows the theme, and that it should feature a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

This week's prize for a randomly drawn winner is from Craftwork Cards, and is the Sweet Pea Collection "Peas In A Pod Pad" which contains 24 sheets of paper, 2 sheets of die cut flowers, 2 sheets of nesting sentiments and 4 sheets of embossed squares - lovely!

Don't forget to check out the gorgeous cards from the rest of the DT - here's what I did.

When faced with a "no patterned papers" theme I always seem to resort to dry embossing; but this time I thought I would jazz it up a bit by introducing a large die cut ... in this case my brand new Marianne D die (I have wanted this one for ages but my local craft shop had got it into stock so i just couldn't (and didn't) resist!!)

Stamp: Penny  Black "Christmas Critters" transparent set;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Stickles on meece's gloves and lantern;

Supplies: sparkly silver ribbon and gems from my stash;

Tools: small, large and lacy circle nestabilities; Marianne D "lamp and sign" dies; Cuttlebug "snowflakes" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Die-ing For A Challenge#3 - Sketch

Stampin' For The Weekend #8 - Sparkle & Shine

Whimsy #35 - Punches or Die Cuts

Paper Sundaes #116 - Anything Goes

I'm due to go on a hen night tonight for one of my workmates - strangely the first one I have ever been to! So I guess I'll be spending most of this afternoon getting ready, and possibly some portion of tomorrow recovering. Otherwise (and if the weather holds) I'm hoping to go to see the cool Titanic-inspired street theatre that is on in Liverpool this weekend called Sea Odyssey which features the 30 foot high "little girl giant" searching to be reunited with her giant uncle who has trawled the sea for 100 years to return the letter she sent to her father who was lost .... soooo sad but an amazing spectacle!

(photo reproduced from Liverpool Echo, April 20 2012)

Have a great weekend whatever you've got planned, and hope you can join us for this week's challenge.