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!

An award!

I've just been given this lovely award by Lyndsey - thank you...it was so nice of you to think of me!

Here are the rules:
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to their blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees

There are so many fab blogs that I love to visit, it's really difficult to pick just 5, but the people I've chosen to nominate are: Cathy, Katy, Emma, Tara and Pauline. I love to visit all of your blogs girls - thanks for the inspiration!

Lyndsey, also tagged me, but I need to have a think about my answers...so I'll come back and post about that another time...

Friday Sketchers #26

No you're not seeing double...it is another 'Snowy' card. I coloured a couple of images at the same time at the weekend, as I wasn't sure which shape I was going to use on my Penny Black Challenge 'Sparkly' card. Then I saw this week's Friday Sketchers sketch, and thought I'd use him for that...as although I didn't have much time to craft this weekend, I thought the sketch looked really interesting, so wanted to give it a go. This time, I've combined him with the 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder, and paper by Anita's ('Classic Christmas Black'). The sentiment stamp is by Three Bugs in a Rug, and the ric-rac was free with the latest Docrafts mag.

Secret Crafter #5 vs One Stop Craft Challenge #2

Well, after I'd spent most of yesterday working hard, I thought I'd treat myself to a little crafting time, and join in a couple more challenges, as I needed to make a card for a crafty friend. I think that all of the hours I'd spent staring at my computer screen had addled my brain...all was going well until, I embossed my backing card the wrong way up, which meant I had to flip this week's Secret Crafter sketch over, and make a 'mirror image'...either that or have the birds upside down! lol Then when I went back to the blog to have another look at the sketch, I noticed the 'twist' of only using the colours 'Brown, Pink & White'...hmmmm...how did I miss that the first time I looked???

As you can see, this card is definitely NOT 'Brown, Pink & White'!!! Luckily, I'd combined the sketch with the theme of 'Things with Wings' over on the 'One Stop Craft Challenge', so it wasn't a complete dead loss! The winged things are: the butterflies on the stamp ('Butterfly Wishes' by Penny Black), and the birds (Cuttlebug 'Birds & Swirls' embossing folder) on the background card. The patterned paper is by Dovecraft ('Aquamarine Floral' stack), and the sentiment stamp is form the 'Critter Party' set by Penny Black.

As I really liked the sketch, I thought I'd give it another go...and pay attention this time! So here is my 'Brown, Pink & White' card (with the sketch the right way round too!):

I've used a 'Forever Friends' image this time, with paper from the 'Glitter' stack by DCWV, a pink and brown spotty 'Flora Doodle', ribbon from a set from the £shop, my 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder and the same sentiment stamp as my first card.

I promise I'll pay more attention next week!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge 21

Now, I really should be working, and not crafting...I have loads to do today, but I just couldn't resist joining in with my favourite challenge. The theme for this week's Penny Black challenge is 'Get Sparkly/Bonfire Night', and as I couldn't find a suitable stamp for 'Bonfire Night' (and don't have time this weekend to try and adapt one) I've gone down the 'sparkly' route. As you can see, I'm still making Christmas cards, and have used one of my favourite stamps again, 'Snowy'. I've coloured him with pearly paints - the photo doesn't show it very well, but he is very sparkly. I've used the Cuttlebug 'Snowflakes' embossing folder on some silver paper for the background, and some really glittery ribbon, for some more sparkles.
I'd also like to say a BIG congratulations to all the new Design Team members - I'm really looking forward to seeing your fabulous creations in the weeks to come!

Now, I really must get back to work...