Pile It On! Challenge - Stay Cool!

This week's Pile It On! Challenge is to:

'Stay Cool!'

We are sponsored for this challenge by the Stamp Fairy.

This wee mouse (very imaginitively called 'Mouse Holding Ice Cream' from Stampavie)  has obviously been enjoying hotter weather than we have here in the UK, and is cooling down with a gigantic ice cream sundae. I coloured him using watercolour pencils, then added Glossy Accents to the cherry and his sundae glass. The papers are a mixture of BasicGrey 'Cupcake' and 'Kioshi', and Pink Paislee '360 Degrees' pads - I distressed the egdes, then added faux stitching with my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen. I used my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' folder for the embossing, sanding over the raised areas to reveal the white core, then added a sentiment from the 'Cupcakes' set by Hero Arts.

Here are the challenges I've Piled On!:

• Pile It On! - Stay Cool
• Allsorts - Free & Easy
• Card Makin' Mamas - Food & Drink
• Craft Your Days Away - Summertime
• Crafty Ann's - Summertime, and the living is easy
• Creative Inspirations (Sundays) - Summertime
• Delightful - Summer
• Digi Doodles - Anything Goes
• Hooked On Craft - Cute & Cuddly
• If the Shoe Fits ...Scrap It - Summer
• Papertake Weekly - Sketch
• Pink Elephant - Fun in the Sun
• Sew Many - Anything Goes
• Stamp Something - Summer Fun
• Stampavie & More - Summer
• Totally Stampalicious - Anything Goes

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please stop by the Pile It On! Challenge.

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Monochrome

Please scroll down for my Penny Black Saturday Challenge DT post.

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This week, it's Kate's turn to choose the theme of the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge, and she has chosen:

'Monochrome'

As it's the last challenge of the month, it's your last chance to be included for the draw for the prize from our fabulous sponsor The Stamping Boutique.

I decided to use my favourite colour...blue...and got my Distress Inks out to play. I layered 'Tumbled Glass', 'Faded Jeans' and 'Chipped Saphire' to make the backgrounds, then used my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' and D'Vine Swirls' folders for the embossing. For the image I used more of m DI background...spritzing the surface whilst the inks were still wet to get a speckled effect, before stamping my Hero Arts 'Music Background' stamp in 'Chipped Saphire'. I then stamped and embossed 'Constellations' by Penny Black in white over the top. I lightly distressed all of the edges, and then sanded over the embossing to reveal the white core, added a sentiment stamped using a stamp from the 'Fabulous Birthday' set by Hero Arts and a few adhesive pearls.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

• Anything Goes - Flowers
• CES - Feeling the Blues
• Crafty Sentiments - Polka Dots
• Creative Stamp Friends - Monochrome
• One Stitch at a Time - Pearls & Swirls
• Simon Says Stamp & Show - Anything Goes

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please visit the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Penny Blackground

This week at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge, we're challenging you to make a:

'Penny Blackground'

Basically, we'd like you to also use your Penny Black stamps to make the background of your projects too.

The lucky winner of this challenge will get to join us as a guest designer for the month of September!

I decided to make use of some of those teeny tiny stamps you get in the Transparent sets...and took inspiration from the card on the back of the 'Bubbly' set:

I used strips of contrasting coloured papers (from the 'Hello Luscious' pad by BasicGrey), gluing them to a piece of scrap paper to create my own stripey paper, then stamped butterflies (from the 'Party Critters' and 'Hugs' sets) over the top. The image is 'Butterfly Wishes', which I coloured using watercolour pencils, and the sentiment stamp is from the 'Hello Friend' set.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

• Crafty Cardmakers - Butterflies
• Fab 'n' Funky - Clashing Colours
• Flutterby Wednesdays - Stripes
• Stamp with Fun - Friends

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please stop by the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Birthday Mouse

I've used another of my lovely new stamps (from the 'Hello Friend' set by Penny Black) on this card. I coloured this adorable wee mouse with watercolour pencils, to match the papers from the 'Hippity Hoppity' pad by We R Memory Keepers. I distressed the edges a little, then added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts, the flowers and pearls are from Wild Orchid Crafts, and the sparkly brad is by American Crafts.

Challenges for this card:

• Ribbon Girls - Aqua
• Wild Orchid Crafts - Sketch & Birthday Theme (The flowers & pearls are from WOC)

Balloon Kitty

I've used another of the stamps from my new 'Hello Friend' set by Penny Black on today's card...I coloured it using watercolour pencils, then added Glossy Accents to the balloons. The papers are all from the 'Hippity Hoppity' pad by We R Memory Keepers - I distressed the edges and added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts, and I used my EK Success 'Scalloped Diamonds' punch for the borders.

Challenges for this card:

• Charisma Cardz - Four-legged Friends
• Corrosive - Kids
• Dutch Dare - Birthdays
• Fuzzy Wuzzy - Punches
• Scrapbook Sisters - Birthdays
• Sweet Sunday Sketch - Sketch

ABC Christmas Challenge - O is for...

Today, I have another card for our current ABC Christmas Challenge, where the theme is:

'O is for Old'

The image stamp/digi must be at least a year old.

We are sponsored for this challenge by Wild Rose Studio

One lucky winner will win two stamps of their choice from the Wild Rose Studio store!

This time, I used one of my oldest (and most favourite!) Christmas stamps...it is of course 'Snowy' by Penny Black. I coloured him using watercolour pencils, then added some Glossy Accents to his red nose, and some 'Crystal' Stickles to the snow. The papers are all from the 'Eskimo Kisses' pad by BasicGrey - I distressed the edges using ink and my scissors, then added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen. I cut the snowflakes using Marriane Designs Creatables and Cuttlebug dies, then coated them with more Stickles. The lace is from Hobbycraft.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

• BasicGrey - Sketch (I used 'Eskimo Kisses' papers)
• Cupcake Crafts - Shabby Sparkle
• Crafty Creations - Christmas in July
• Penny Black Inc/Flickr Group - Christmas in July
• Sparkles Christmas - Glitter
• Totally Gorjuss - Punch or Die

For more inspiration from some of my lovely DT buddies, please stop by the ABC Christmas Challenge.

Snow Robin

I'm back in Christmas card mode today...this time I've used a cute little digi stamp by Pollycraft called 'Robin Hello'. I coloured it using watercolour pencils, then added some 'Crystal' Stickles to the snowy ground. The paper is from the 'Countdown to Christmas' pad by My Mind's Eye, and I used my EK Success 'Scalloped Diamonds' punch for the border.

Challenges for this card:

• Card Patterns - Sketch
• Christmas Cards - Plaid
• Christmas Inspirations - Anything Christmas
• Pollycraft - Christmas in July

Hello Friend

I've used another of the stamps from the 'Hello Friend' set (by Penny Black) that I won on this card. It's coloured, as always, using watercolourpencils to match the sunny colours of these papers from the '72 & Sunny' pad by We R Memory Keepers. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, the brads are by Papermania, and the sentiment stamp is from the 'Anytime Messages' set by HeroArts.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Free & Easy
• Charisma Cardz - Sunshine Colours
• Crafts & Me - Add a Flower
• Everybody Art - Dots
• Penny Black @ Allsorts - Flowers
• Stamp Something - Embellishments
• Sweet Sketch Wednesday - Sketch
• Your Next Stamp - 3 Embellishments (ribbon, flowers & brads), 2 Papers, 1 Image

Musical Clusters

I had a little play with some Distress Inks yesterday afternoon. I made a background by blending 'Faded Jeans', 'Chipped Saphire' and 'Tumbled Glass' together on plain white card, before spritzing with water to create a mottled effect. I stamped a music background stamp (a cling stamp by Hero Arts) in 'Faded Jeans', then stamped 'Agapanthus Clusters' (a cling stamp by Stampendous) in 'Chipped Saphire' a couple of times over the top. Before mounting it on my card, I tied a simple bow using light blue satin ribbon. The sentiment is from the CCSR set by Papermania.

Challenges for this card:

• Digi Doodles - Clean & Simple
• Less is More - Button or Ribbon
• Little Red Wagon - Music Notes
• The Stamp Man - Anything by T!m (I used 'Faded Jeans', 'Chipped Saphire' and Tumbled Glass' Distress Inks)

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Numbers

This week, it's Jane's turn to set the theme of the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge, and she has chosen:

'Numbers'

There must be at least one number on your project

I decided to make a Christmas card...and used an image from the Penny Black 'Jolly Critters' set. I coloured it using watercolour pencils to match the 'Festive' My Mind's Eye papers. I distressed all of the edges using ink and my scissors, then added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen. The sentiment is from a little Studio G set, and the snowflakes were cut using a Cuttlebug die.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

• Craft Us Crazy - Anything Goes
• Crazy Challenge – Christmas in July
• Delightful – Christmas in July
• Rubber Cafe - Christmas in July
• Sketch & Stash – Sketch (I bought this stamp set in the January sales, but this is the first time I've used this image)
• Winter Wonderland – Holly & Ivy

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please visit the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Starburst

This week at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge, our theme is:

'Starburst'

We'd like to see stars on your projects

We are sponsored for this challenge by

And the prize is 4 rolls or ribbon of the winner's choice!

I had originally planned to use an image with stars on, but got distracted by the lovely new 'Hello Friend' stamp set I won on the Penny Black Inc & Flickr group, that arrived earlier this week. So, I used paper covered in stars (from the 'Boo to You!' collection by My Mind's Eye), and lots of stars cut using my Nesties instead. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then added Glossy Accents to his car. The sentiment is a stamp from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

• Crafty Catz – No Pink or Blue
• Cupcake Crafts – Wish upon a Star
• Cute Card Thursday – For His Eyes Only
• Fab 'n' Funky – Animal Magic
• Stampin' for the Weekend – Paws for thought
• Totally Papercrafts – One for the Boys

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please visit the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

ABC Christmas Challenge - O is for...

It's time for another ABC Christmas Challenge...and this time Jayne is our host (this is actually Jayne's last challenge with us, as she's decided to leave our little team, but we hope she'll still visit us now and then), and the theme is:

'O is for Old'

Use a stamp or digi that is at least a year old...you don't need to have owned it for a year...but it must be an old design...I'm sure we all have neglected (or even worse...uninked!) stamps in our stash.

We are sponsored for this challenge by Wild Rose Studio

One lucky winner will win two stamps of their choice from the Wild Rose Studio store!

Some of the DT are working with Wild Rose Studio stamps (from last year's Christmas collection)...I picked 'Sam with Present' - I bet he can't guess what's in that package! lol I coloured him with watercolour pencils to match the 'Countdown to Christmas' papers (by My Mind's Eye)...went a bit crazy with all the different patterns - think it must be a reaction to our last 'No Nonsense' challenge! The snowflake was cut using my Cuttlebug 'Ice Crystal' die, and the glittery brad is by American Crafts.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

• CES - Christmas
• Creative Inspirations (Sundays) - Xmas in July
• Papertake Weekly - Cute
• Sweet Stop - Sketch with a Spin (Christmas in July)

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please stop by the ABC Christmas Challenge.

Birthday Cupcake

As an antidote to yesterday's ultra simple card, I have a much fussier one to share today. The image is 'Birthday Cupcake' by House Mouse, which I coloured using watercolour pencils, adding some 'Crystal' Stickles to the icing. The papers are from the 'Hopscotch' pad by BasicGrey - I distressed the edges with inks and my scissors, before adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen. The flowers are a mixture of Poppicrafts, and Prima, the seam binding ribbon and button twine are from the Ribbon Girl, the sentiment is from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts, and the button and Card Candi are from my stash.

Challenges for this card:

• Birthday Sundaes - Anything Birthday
• Crafty Sentiments - Stitching
• Creative Card Crew - Animal Antics
• Critter - Happy Birthday to Me (Lots of my favourite things on this card - Cupcake, BG papers, distressing, stitching, flowers, seam binding...)
• Die Cut Dreams - Animal Antics
• House Mouse & Friends - Buttons, Bows & Bling
• Pink Elephant - Inspirational Photo
• Sew Many - Glitter
• Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
• Stampavie & More - Birthday
• Stamptacular Sunday - Animal Antics
• Totally Stampalicious - Buttons & Bows

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Wow - my prize from Penny Black Inc has just arrived...thank you so much!!! It took less tha a week to get here from the US...I think that may be a record...the Postie must have known I was hoping it would arrive before I go away! lol I'm buried in receipts at the moment, trying to get all the stuff my accountant needs for my annual accounts to him before the end of the month, and I'd love to have a play with the stamps...but I'm going to try to be good...not sure how long that will last! I do have a couple of DT projects I need to do for the weekend (the only crafting I was going to allow myself, until after I've done my accounts)...so maybe I could use them for those... ;0)

This is what I chose:

Circles at Christmas

Today's card is so simple, I'm almost embarrassed to tell you how I made it! lol
My starting point was a scrap of paper embossed with the Cuttlebug 'Snow Dots' folder...I chose a couple of other scraps (from the '29th Street Market' collection by My Mind's Eye), and embossed them with my Cuttlebug 'Ice Crystals' and 'Snowflakes' folders. I cut the circles using one of my Nesties, then sanded the edges, and over the raised areas to reveal the white core. I mounted them using foam pads on to my DL sized card, then added a stamped sentiment (from the 'Bubble Tree' set by Woodware).

Challenges for this card:

• Cute Card Thursday - Circles
• Less is More - Circles
• Paper Sundaes - Christmas in July
• Winter Wonderland - Embossing

Pile It On! Challenge - Life is a Picnic

This week at the Pile It On! Challenge our theme is:

'Life is a Picnic'

We are sponsored for this challenge by the fabulous Simon Says Stamp

 

The prize is $15 to spend in their store!

I had a bit of a panic when I couldn't find any suitable images in my image box, but then found this adorable little chicken stamp in my Penny Black '12 Days of Christmas' set...well, he'd be welcome at my picnic with his red wine and baguette! As the image is so small, I decided to make a tag rather than a card, and used a blank tag from WHSmith. I inked lightly around the edge of it, then added some blue colour core, and red white core card embossed with my Cuttlebug 'Spots & Dots' and 'Diamond Plate' folders - sanding over the raised areas to reveal the core. I tore the red strip, and distressed all of the edges with my scissors. Finally, I replaced the string on the tag with a piece of red, white & blue twine. Here it is being modelled by what else, but a bottle of French red wine!

Here are the challenges I've Piled On!:

• Pile It On! - Life is a Picnic
• Allsorts - Free & Easy
• Crafty Catz - Tags
• Crafty Creations - Boyz to Men (this is probably not suitable for boys now I've put it on a bottle of wine! lol)
• Fab 'n' Funky - Food
• My Time to Craft - Bird Watcher
• PaperPlay - Things with Wings
• Penny Black Inc/Flickr Group - Distressing
• Stampin' for the Weekend - Wings & Things
• Sweet Stampin' - One for the Boys (although, again because of the wine...this is one for the 'older' boys!)
• Totally Gorjuss - Men

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please stop by the Pile It On! Challenge.

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Holidays!

Please scroll down for my Penny Black Saturday Challenge DT post

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It's my turn this week to set the theme of the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge, and I have chosen:

'Holidays'

We'd like to see things that remind you of holidays gone by...or show us how you like to spend your holidays on your projects.

I've used 'Deckchair Dreaming' by Lili of the Valley on my card...I'm hoping that our 'summer' weather will make a return, and I'll be able to spend at least a little bit of the summer this way! I created a summery garden scene on the card using papers from the 'Hippity Hoppity' and '72 & Sunny' pads by We R Memory Keepers.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

• Card Makin' Mamas - Summertime
• Crafts & Me - Summertime
• Crazy - Summertime
• Creative Stamp Friends - Summer
• Fussy & Fancy - Summer
• Pollycraft - The Great Outdoors
• Prairie Fairy - On Holiday

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please visit the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Bunting

This week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge is all about:

'Bunting'

We have a fabulous prize up for grabs too...

From ex-PBSC DT member Carole.

I couldn't decide which stamp to use this week, so I've made two cards...the images are from the 'Wonderful' and 'Critter Party' sets...and I stamped them directly on to my card blanks (they're A6, but with the fold at the top), and coloured them using watercolour pencils. I made my bunting from scraps of paper from the 'Hippity Hoppity' pad by We R Memory Keepers, attaching the little triangles to some button twine.

I'm also entering these cards into the following challenges:

• Cupcake Craft - Pick your favourite challenge (Mine's 66 - Keep it Simple)
• Moving Along with the Times - Favourite Things (Penny Black stamps, watercolour pencils, We R Memory Keepers papers)
• Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

For more inspriation from my lovely DT buddies, please visit the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Let them eat cake...

Well, I didn't have time yesterday to show you the cakes...so I've just popped on to share this:

Well, not literally 'share'...as there's nothing left! Anyway, the one on the left is a 'Giggle' cake (it's a lovely moist fruit cake with pineapple) and on the right is a lemon & poppy seed cake (if you're wondering about the holes in the top...I pierced it before pouring lemon juice over the hot cake).

That's it from me for now...lots of commenting to do, but I'll be back in the morning with my DT posts for the Penny Black Saturday & Secret Crafter Saturday challenges.

Blowing my own...

Lol...I couldn't resist adding that photo ;0)

Some of you may have already seen...but I won last week's Penny Black Inc challenge on their Flickr Group with the little circle card I uploaded to my blog on Monday...I coloudn't believe it when I saw my card on their blog! 

How cool is that banner???

And...I got to choose a Penny Black transparent stamp set, and some paper packs!

Yippee!!!

Thank you so much Penny Black Inc! :0)

I'll be blowing my trumpet again tonight...well, actually it's a clarinet...and a swannee whistle! The evening class I teach is having it's end of term concert tonight...so that means there's a party too...and  you can't have a party without cakes, so I shall be spending today baking...I may be back later to show you the results...

ABC Christmas Challenge - N is for...

Today, I have another card for our current ABC Christmas Challenge, where the theme is:

'N is for No Nonsense'

(No Frills, No Designer Papers)

This time, I've made a one layer card...and stamped my image (from the 'Christmas Critters' set) directly on to a kraft card blank. I added a sentiment, border, and stars using stamps from the 'Bubble Tree' set by Woodware. I used watercolour pencils to colour the image.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

• Bah! Humbug! - Mice
• Crafty Cardmakers - One Layer Cards
• Less is More - One Layer Card - Things with legs!
• Sir Stampalot - Anything Goes

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, and all the info on the prizes from our fabulous sponsors...Simon Says Stamp and Karen's Doodles...please visit the ABC Christmas Challenge.