Penny Black Saturday Challenge 25 meets Sketch Saturday #27

Eeeeek - the theme for this week's Penny Black Challenge is 'No Patterned Paper'!!! Now, I'm addicted to pretty papers, so this was tough! I've gone down the embossing route, and used my Cuttlebug 'Snowflakes' folder, and some cute little snowflake stamps (from Lakeland), heat-embossed in white to make my background. I've used 'Snowy' (again!), a sentiment stamp (also by Penny Black), and the fab sketch for this week's Sketch Saturday Challenge for my card.

Double 'Whiff of Joy' Candy!

Fran has two gorgeous Whiff of Joy stamps up for grabs here for two lucky bloggers:

So, if you fancy being in with a chance of winning either of these fab stamps, get yourself over to Fran's blog before she picks the winners on Tuesday 2nd December.

Sketch Saturday meets Papertake Weekly & Cute Card Thursday!

I've combined three challenges on this card - I've used sketch #26 from Sketch Saturday, and the themes of 'Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow' & 'Snow & Snowflakes' of the Papertake Weekly & Cute Card Thursday Challenges.

The main image is a Penny Black stamp called 'Xmouse Ornament!', the papers are by DCWV ('Rose Tinted Christmas'), the sentiment stamp is also by Penny Black, and the confetti snowflakes are from the £shop.

A Lovely Award...

My blogging buddy Cathy has given me this fabulously elegant award...

...Thank you Cathy!

The award has a lovely sentiment behind it, which is:

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight blogger’s who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

The eight bloggers I'm passing this award on to are:
Pauline
Natalie
Julie
Kerry
Debs
Fran
Tara
Sarah

Thanks girls for all of the wonderful inspirational cards on your blogs!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge 24

The theme this week over on the Penny Black Saturday Challenge is 'Funky Christmas'. I've had fun making cards this Christmas with non-traditional colours, and have gone for pink and green on this one, inspired by the gorgeous DCWV papers from the 'Christmas Wishes' & 'Rose Tinted Christmas' stacks. My main image is a stamp called 'Wishes for Kisses', the letters were cut using the 'Olivia' alphabet, and I've added a few Prima flowers in the corner to finish it off.

Doggie Birthday!

It's not her birthday 'til Saturday, but I think I'm safe in putting the card on here now, seeing as Cassie is a golden retriever, and is not likely to read my blog!...lol...now come on...surely I'm not the only one who makes cards for the family pets??? Anyway, she will have reached the grand old age of 12 in a few days time, and this is the card I've made for her...

I've used one of my favourite Penny Black stamps ('Birthday Dog'), papers by Dovecraft ('Birthdays' pack) & Papermania ('Sweet Nothings'), and the lettering was cut using the Cuttlebug 'Olivia' alphabet.
I know she won't really appreciate it, but she'll like chewing up the empty envelope! lol

Wow - amazing blog candy on offer...

The fabulously creative Debbie is celebrating her first 12000 hits by offering some fantastic candy... feast your eyes on this...

She's very generously put together a collection of Copic markers, a gorgeous 12x12 paper pad by K&Co, a pack of the matching Grand Adhesions, and a couple of cute new Christmas Sugar Nellie stamps. The draw will be at 5pm on Wednesday November 26th...so what are you waiting for...go and check out her wonderful blog now...

On the fifth day of Christmas...

Here is the second installment of cards I made up with my Penny Black 'Twelve Days of Christmas' stamps last night. They're very similar to the ones I uploaded last week, but as the sentiments for these are straight, I've used my square Nesties instead of the circles this time.

The papers are from a mixture of various DCWV Christmas stacks, and one of last year's Dovecraft packs.

More fab blog candy!

Sharon is celebrating reaching 5000 hits on her wonderful blog, by giving away some lovely blog candy. The candy runs until mid-night on November 30th, when one lucky person will win this fab package of crafting 'essentials'!
Congratulations Sharon!

4 Challenges in 1!

I've managed to combine 4 challenges in this card - a new record for me! I've used Murmur's fab sketch for Friday Sketchers for the layout, Secret Crafter's 'Cute as a button' and Cupcake Craft 'Spots & Dots' themes, and it also fits the bill of 'A card for a Child' for the Spoon Full of Sugar challenge this week, as I've made this to send to Cathy's little girl, Ellie, who is having her tonsils out later this month. I've used a Rachelle Ann Miller image, spotty paper by Papermania ('Sweet Nothings'), cute brads by Around the Block ('Simply Said', that I won on a Cupcake Craft Challenge), Prima flowers, A sentiment stamp by Personal Impressions, a couple of buttons from my stash, and a selection of pastel cardstock, all embossed with my 'Swiss Dots' folder.

Sketch Saturday Challenge #25 meets One Stop Craft Challenge #3

Even though there are some fantastic Christmas goodies up for grabs this week I decided to use this week's Sketch Saturday sketch for a non-Christmas card...I seem to be having Christmas overload at the moment, what with all the cards I've been making, and the music I've been rehearsing with the kids for various Christmas concerts! lol
Using the One Stop Craft Challenge theme of 'Pretty Petals' for my card, I chose 'Rainin' Daisies' by Penny Black as my main image, with floral paper by Basic Grey (from the 'Sugared' collection) and a couple of Prima flowers. The other background panels were embossed using my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' and 'D'Vine Swirls' folders. The sentiment is from a set by Studio G.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge 23 meets Papertake Weekly

The sketch this week over at Papertake weekly is another fab one by Dawny. I've combined it with the 'Monochromatic' theme of this week's Penny Black Challenge. I decided to use my 'Snowy' stamp, and various shades of blue - although I did have to use red to colour his nose! As I couldn't find any suitable papers, I've used the Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' and 'Snowflakes' embossing folders for the background. The sentiment stamp is from a set by Three Bugs in a Rug.

On the first day of Christmas...

I didn't have to work this morning (woo-hoo!), and the atrocious weather put me off going out and about, so I put my free time to good use, and made up these cards with some images I coloured last night. I was given this stamp set (Penny Black ' Twelve Days of Christmas') for my birthday a few months ago, and haven't really used them much yet. They're not your traditional Christmas images, so I've combined them with funky 'non-Christmassy' colours.

I think all the papers I've used are by DCWV - from various Christmas stacks. Ive used both the 'Swiss Dots' and 'Snowflakes' embossing folders, and all the circles were cut using my trusty Nesties.

Scrummy Blog Candy!

Wow - feast your eyes on this scrummy blog candy! Fran is celebrating 55,000 hits and her first blogoversary and has put together this candy to give away to one lucky blogger. It closes at midnight on Sunday 16th November, so go check it out...

Cuttlebug Challenge #6 meets Cupcake Craft Challenge #12

I decided to combine the sketch for this week's Cuttlebug challenge, with the inspirational photo on the Cupcake Craft challenge blog.

I've used the Cuttlebug 'Birds & Swirls' embossing folder on cream card, then used 'shimmer' chalks to highlight the detail. I've taken the colours I used from the 'inspiration' photo, as well as the idea of bands of each colour, and also the pearlescent finish. The embossed pattern is supposed to echo the floral detail running across the bed linen. The sentiment is part of an image on a stamp from a set ('Garden Wisdom') by Hero Arts, and the flowers are Flora Doodles.

Apologies for the 'smudge' on the photo - I've tried cleaning my camera lens, but it just won't shift! I'm going to send this card to my partner in this month's Friendship card swap over on the Docrafts forum.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge 22

Sentiments only - what a tough challenge this week! I immediately panicked, thinking I didn't really have any Penny Black sentiment stamps, other than the tiny ones that came in the transparent sets...but then I found this cute bauble one amongst my Christmas stamps, called '"wishes" ornament'...I bought it before last Christmas, but never got round to using it. I masked off the top of the bauble before stamping, as it looked kind of odd when I cut it out with my Nesties, then embossed it in silver. I've hung it inside an aperture (also cut with a Nestie), and then just covered the front of the card with a piece of Anita's paper (from the 'Black Classic Christmas' pack).

Another Award!

I've just been given another award, this time the 'I Love Your Blog' Award, by the lovely Erin - thank you!


The rule is, that I must pass this award on to 7 people...not easy to choose, as there are so many blogs I love to visit...although lots of you obviously love them too, as most of my favourites already have this award! My nominees are: Sharon, Lyndsey, Tracie, Katy, Kim, Kerry and Shary.

I've been tagged!

I got tagged earlier this week by Lyndsey, but everything has been a bit manic this week, so I haven't had time to think about my answers 'til now. Here goes:

Things I love:
1. Crafting!
2. Blog-hopping and gaining inspiration from all of your wonderful blogs
3. Cooking (especially baking...)
4. Eating (when once you've gone to all the trouble of baking...it would be rude not to!)
5. Reading

Things I hate:
1. Wet and windy weather (that's why I'm indoors now!)
2. Lateness (why can't people be on time???)
3. Selfishness (it doesn't cost anyone to be considerate of others...)
4. Ice cream (I know, I know...)
5. Not having enough time to craft!

Music on my ipod (there's over 1500 songs, but these have had the most playings):
1. Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
2. James Morrison - Under the Influence
3. Foo Fighters - Home
4. The Killers - Somebody Told Me
5. Greenday - When September Ends

Favourite Food & Drink (now this was tough to choose!):
1. Chocolate Brownies (yum!)
2. Veggie Curry (Indian or Thai)
3. Red Wine
4. Fruit (of any kind...just can't get enough!)
5. Freshly baked bread

Right, now I have to tag 5 people...I'm choosing: Cathy, Tracie, Natalie, Pauline and Jo - sorry girls!

Yummy Blog Candy...

My lovely crafty friend Cathy is celebrating getting over 10,000 hits on her wonderful blog - congratulations Cathy! She has two lots of blog candy on offer...including a fab Magnolia stamp, Papermania & Dovecraft papers, Prima flowers and gorgeous ribbons. The candy closes at 10am on Sunday 16th November...so why not go and take a look!