Penny Black Saturday Challenge 33

The challenge this week, over on the Penny Black Saturday Challenge Blog, is to 'Frame it'.
I've used my trusty Nesties to create the frame, which I've raised from the image using 3D foam pads and have added some gems that came with a set of Hero Arts stamps. The image is 'Cat on the Moon', the starry paper is by Papermania ('Inspirations' black & white pack), the sparkly paper is by DCWV ('Glitter' stack), and the two sentiment stamps are also by Penny Black (from the 'Critter Party' set).

A lovely award

I received this lovely award from Tracey...

...thank you Tracey! So now the difficult part...I have to choose 5 people to pass it on to.
I've chosen these people, firstly because they are all lovely, and secondly, because they all have fab blogs:

Cathy
Lyndsey
Pauline
Tara
Tracie

Blog Sherbet

To celebrate the release of a new stamp set by Pollycraft, called 'Sharing Sherbet', Paula is offering the chance for one lucky blogger to win the complete set of nine stamps, and a cute little box that she has decorated to store them in. The candy closes on Sunday 1st February (the day the new stamps are released), and the draw will take place the following day. Look here for details of how to enter, and a look at the fab new stamps.

Sweet Candy

Mina is celebrating her birthday and reaching 5000 hits by offering some gorgeous candy:

The draw will be on Tuesday 27th January, so why not take a moment to visit her fab blog, and leave a comment here to be in with a chance of winning.

The Sugar Bowl Challenge #2

The theme for the second Sugar Bowl Challenge is 'Three', and we've been challenged to use 3 different design papers, and 3 different types of embellishments...no more, no less.
The three papers I've used are all by BasicGrey (from the 'Archaic' and 'Boxer' pads), and my three types of embellishments are: a flower (from Poppicrafts); buttons (2 Papermania buttons layered up in the centre of the flower); and brads (again by Papermania, placed in the corners of the smaller sections of DP). The image is the fabulously cuddly-looking 'Pringle'.

Just Christmas & Birthday Cards Challenge - Sketch #14

So far I'm managing to stick to making a Christmas card every week...not sure how long that's going to last though! There's a lovely sketch to follow this week - perfect for quick cards. I've rotated it, and used it on the horizontal for both of my cards, to fit the shape of the stamps I wanted to use.
On the birthday card I've used 'Bunny Friends' by Penny Black, papers by Sandylion, flowers from Poppicrafts and the sentiment stamp (in the centre of the flowers) is from a clear set called 'Fabulous Birthday' by Hero Arts.

I've also used a Penny Black stamp on the Christmas card - 'Par Avion' a bargain in the New Year sales. The papers are by Pebbles Inc, and the sentiment stamp is by Three Bugs in a Rug.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge meets Sketch Saturday and Dutch Dare

First of all I like to say a BIG thank you to Tracie for the gorgeous card she sent to me with my prize I won last week - I haven't had a chance to use the lovely stamp yet...but hopefully I'll find some time to play with it soon!

On to this week's Penny Black Challenge...the theme is 'Lets get Dotty'...and I've gone completely dotty on my card! I've combined it with two other challenges - using the Sketch Saturday sketch, and the colour theme of the Dutch Dare, which is green, blue and brown. I've used three different Cuttlebug embossing folders to create my dotty background ('Swiss Dots', 'Spots & Dots' and 'Tiny Bubbles'), the dotty flower is by Flora Doodle, and the ribbon is from Hobbycraft - I placed some small brads in the centres of some of the spots. My main image is from the 'Critter Party' set...and if you look really closely a couple of the mice are wearing dotty bandannas!

Another lovely award

This award was given to me by my lovely friend Pauline:

The rules of this award are:
1) Post a link of the person who gave you this award
2) Nominate 5 other people and give a link to their sites
3) Let your nominators know that they got an award from you
4) Put a logo of the award on the blog

Now, most of the people I'd like to give this award to, have already received it, but as it's designed to thank those who have encouraged you in some way, I'm going to give it to them anyway.

Pauline - for her encouragement in setting up my blog (and all the helpful little tips too!)

Tracie - it was the Penny Black Challenge that got me into blogging in the first place!

Cathy, Samantha and Sharon - who are regular visitors to my blog, and always have kind words to say.

Candy, candy...and yet more candy!

There seems to be blog candy everywhere I look at the moment!

Bev is celebrating a massive 100,000 hits on her fab blog by giving away a mountain of candy:

The winner will be chosen on Saturday (17th January), so make sure you visit and leave a comment here before then.

Michelle has some gorgeous Valentines themed candy on offer for one lucky blogger:

The draw will be on 15th January, and all you need to do is leave a comment here and spread the word on your blog.

Lim has two separate candies on offer, each containing a massive 100 images, and a stamp plus a few other goodies (depending on where you live). Check out her post to see what you could win before Saturday 24th January.

A Spoon Full of Sugar #33

I've been busy this weekend trying to finish some music arrangements for classes next week, but what I really wanted to be doing was playing with all my lovely new stash! So I've been setting myself targets, with the incentive of allowing myself a little 'play time' when I reach them!
This card has been made using the fab sketch for the current Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge. The stamp is another of my new Sugar Nellies ('Blossom' by Leanne Ellis), the paper is by Papermania (Inspirations 'Warm Tones'), the sentiment stamp is from a set by Studio G, the flowers are a mixture of Prima and Poppicraft, the satin ribbon was wrapped around a stack of soaps, and the ric-rac was a Christmas gift from a crafty friend.

Sketch & Stash Challenge #1

As I've 'acquired' loads of new stash recently, I just had to have a go at the fab new Sketch & Stash Challenge! I resized the sketch to fit a square card, so that I could use my new 6x6 'Sweet Nothings' papers by Papermania, as I thought that these lovely birdies go so well with my new Sugar Nellie stamp ('Lola with Bird' by Rachelle Anne Miller). Other new items on the card are: Cuttlebug 'Spots & Dots' folder; flowery ribbon; and the sentiment stamp (by 'Whiff of Joy'). The flowers are from Poppicrafts, and the button is from my stash.

This card is going to my partner in a friendship swap over on the Docrafts forum.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge 31

Woo-hoo...I can't believe it...I won the stamp from last week's challenge! It looks so cute...can't wait to get my hands on it! Thank you!
On to this week's challenge, and it's a colour scheme - 'Pink & Brown'. Now, I'm not really a pink person, but I've just got these gorgeous 'Eva' papers by BasicGrey, which have pink elements to them, but are not too 'girly'. I've embossed the plain(ish) pink paper with the 'Perfect Paisley' embossing folder. My main image is called 'Gifts for You', and the sentiment is by Stampendous (a bargain in the New Year sales), and I thought it would be great for using with the Penny Black stamps featuring bumble bees! The flowers are Flora Doodles, the MOP button and ribbon is from my stash.

Blog Candy

Kim has some fabulous candy on offer to celebrate being named 'Papercraft Essentials Papercrafter of the Year 2008' - feast your eyes on this:

The candy is open until 5pm (GMT) on Saturday 31st January, and all you need to do to be in with a chance of winning these gorgeous goodies, is leave a comment here and spread the word on your blog.

Just Christmas & Birthday Cards Challenge

This is the first time I've made any cards for this challenge blog, but as one of my crafty New Year's resolutions was to try and get ahead for Christmas this year, I thought I'd try and join in regularly this year. It's also a great excuse to use some of my sales bargains...in this case a couple of gorgeous Stampavie stamps by Rachelle Anne Miller, and some sparkly Dovecraft brads.

I've made two cards with the sketch:

Ingredients: Rachelle Anne Miller stamp by Stampavie ('Moose'); paper by DCWV ('Christmas' stack); Dovecraft sparkly brads; and Gingham ribbon (from my stash).

Ingredients: Rachelle Anne Miller stamp by Stampavie ('For You'); papers by BasicGrey ('Two Scoops'); and buttons from my stash.

I'm also entering these cards for this week's Cute Card Thursday challenge, as the theme is 'Something New', and as well as my new stamps, and the brads I got in the sales, the 'Two Scoops' paper pack was a Christmas present...so I've definitely used lots of new goodies on these cards!

A 'Fabulous' Award!

My lovely friend Pauline has given me this terribly chic award:

Thank you Pauline!

The rules are: that I must pass it on to five people; and list five things that I am addicted to.

Ok, so here are my addictions:
1. Crafting...well, that kind of goes without saying!
2. Penny Black rubber stamps...though you probably knew that already!
3. Pretty papers, ribbons, flowers...well, everything, really!
4. Blog challenges...it's been fab having the time to do so many this week!
5. Blog-hopping...I love checking out what all my bloggy buddies have been up to!

Now for the tough bit...I always find it hard to choose just a few people to pass awards on to, but as I have to choose just five people, I'm nominating:

Emma
Tara
Shary
Jo
Caroline

Thanks girls, for the inspiration you provide!

Cupcake Craft Challenge meets Friday Sketchers

I've been meaning to try this sketch since I first saw it on the Friday Sketchers blog a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't know quite what to use it for! I've combined it with the theme of the current Cupcake Craft challenge, which is to use their blog background as inspiration for your card.
My image and sentiment are both from the 'Cupcakes' clear stamp set by Hero Arts, papers are from 'Sweet Nothings' by Papermania, and 'Sugared' by BasicGrey. I used the 'Perfect Paisley; embossing folder, and emphasised the raised pattern with a brown pencil, the flowers are from Poppicrafts, and the ribbon is from my stash.

BasicGrey Challenge 16

It's a sketch for the first BasicGrey challenge of 2009, and a great excuse to use lots of their lovely patterned papers! I've used a mixture of papers from the 'Boxer' and 'Sugared' pads on my card, together with a cute little butterfly stamp ('Bohemian' by Penny Black). The organza ribbon is from my stash, and I've tied a little paper rose (a Christmas gift from a friend) into the knot. I might add a sentiment to this, when I decide what occasion it's for.

I've also just seen that my lovely friend Pauline has given me an award...thankyou!...but I need to limit my list of addictions down to five before I post about that! lol

Three Challenges in One...

This card combines sketch #32 from Sketch Saturday, the theme of this week's Penny Black challenge of embossing, which I have sanded, so it also qualifies for this week's Cuttlebug challenge too.
The image is one of current favourites, 'Rainin' Daisies', the paper is from the 'Two Scoops' pad by Basic Grey, Core'dinations cardstock (freebie with the new Docrafts mag) embossed with Cuttlebug 'Textile Texture' folder, then sanded, all shapes cut with Nestabilities, and the flowers are from Poppicrafts.

The Sugar Bowl Challenge #1

The Sugar Bowl Challenge Blog launched yesterday with a fabulous sketch by Tiets. If you're a fan of Sugar Nellie stamps, and haven't yet visited, there are some wonderful cards from the very talented DT members on the blog for you to take inspiration from. I just couldn't resist joining in, but as I'm still away from home, I don't have all of my stash with me. I didn't bring any Sugar Nellie images, but I was lucky enough to receive this gorgeous 'Snowman with present' stamp from my 'Secret Santa' for Christmas...so I decided to use the sketch to get a head start with this year's Christmas cards! lol
I didn't bring any 'Christmas' papers, embellishments or sentiment stamps, but after a quick rummage through the stash I've got here, I managed to find some suitable paper and card. The striped paper is by Scrapbooking Australia ('Story Time - Arthur Stripe'), the plain cardstock was embossed using the 'Swiss Dots', 'Textile Texture', and 'Forest Branches' Cuttlebug embossing folders. The sentiment is from a little set by Studio G (not really Christmassy, but it's the best I can do at the moment!).

I loved working with this sketch, although I feel that my card could do with an embellishment in the top right-hand corner, to balance out the sentiment, but I'll have to sort that out when I'm reunited with the rest of my stash!