Penny Black Challenge

Wooo Hoo, I won at the Penny Black's Challenge blog hop. Never entered one before so you can imagine how surprised and excited I was to see I was one of the winners. I get to choose $25 Simon Says products, so a shopping spree awaits.

And this week they have a great sketch to follow. It's not unlike one I quite often use so feel really at home with this one. I have used Daisy Bucket DP's on the base card and inked a mat using my very watery swish and swoosh inky technique with Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap, Peeled Pain and Broken China. The main image is Penny Black 3822K which I stamped with versafie sepia and embossed with detail clear and highlighted with stickles. The sentiment is Stamp by Judith SK-LG-207 and the border and corner punched with Fiskars Threading Water.

Rosie D's challenge 59

It's time for another challenge at Rosie D's and we have a super prize on offer of a mystery bag of craft goodies for one lucky winner. There is a lovely traditional feel to this challenge - Red, Green and a bit of bling, now how simple is that and the perfect chance to make that extra Christmas card you forgot you needed. I am also entering this card for this weeks Cupcake challenge who have the theme of Red and Green.

I have used one of my favourite images this Christmas from Sarah Kay, stamped and embossed with versafine black and clear embossing powder and coloured with Copics. The DP is from Magnolia Tilda range.......I absolutely adore these DP's, they have a wonderful texture and the colours and designs across the whole range are super........I know I don't do Tilda, but one has to make an exception here.

The little girls coat has been liberally glittered and JudiKins snow glitter added for the ground. The oval is cut with Nesties through the Bug as have the leaves and flowers using Sizzzix dies. I added tiny gold gems to the centre of the flowers, some ribbon and a sentiment from Creative Expression Victorian Christmas sheet.

And just a little taster of the Big Demo Day Saturday at Sir Stampalot......more to come tomorrow.

Allsorts challenge 29

It was super to see so many of you joining in the fun at Allsorts again this week and so many varied creations for Emma's song title theme. Lots of old favourites, but some new ones as well. Lisa has selected the theme for this weeks challenge and would like to see "Buttons" on your creations. As always it can be a card or any other crafty make, just remember the buttons to be in with a chance of winning the wonderful prize on offer from our sponsors Digisparkle.

I know I said I was done with Christmas cards but I did make this one a couple of weeks ago ready for today. The snowman is Mr Cool, Penny Black 4003H coloured with Copics. The Christmas trees are cut out from JudiKins 2996H which I stamped onto black gloss cardstock and embossed with detail white embossing powder, then decorated the trees with gems, cord and buttons.

The DP is My Minds Eye and the vellum torn across the bottom is Word Prints Scrapbook Sally which is ready embossed with snowflakes. The big snowflake is from the Cuttlebug cut and emboss folder.

Challenges

After vowing only this morning that I really had done with Christmas cards and was making no more, here I am back with another.......mind you it's a bit unconventional, but my daughter will adore it and that's just where it will be going.

The theme for this weeks ABC challenge is "I for Indigo" and as I don't work with blue a great deal it's made me step outside my comfort zone a bit which is never a bad thing. I have coupled it with Everybody Art Challenges theme of "Christmas" and Creative Card Crews "Favourite Things"........everyone who know me knows I adore butterflies. Not sure if the finished card is a bit overkill, but my hubby's (who is my main critic) comment was "not in the current run of pile it on crafting". Hmmmmm !

I created a background with Brilliance inks, sky, silver and Mediterranean blue, dabbing them onto a silicone sheet, spritzing with water then whooshing a piece of card around to get a good covering which when dry gives a lovely glistening background to work on. I stamped my image, Penny Black 3896K with versafine blue and embossed with detail clear, then painted the poinsettias with the same brilliance inks. The lovely sentiment is Hero Arts C2604.

The card itself which is pearlescent silver is randomly stamped with Penny Black 3999H using the same blue versafine and embossing with iridescent powder. A piece of pale blue vellum has been laid diagonally across the card because I felt the snowflakes were a bit overpowering. The gorgeous ribbon which has tiny butterflies all over was a present from a great blogging friend......I know you don't like your name in lights, but you know who you are, so thank you mate.

To finish I made up a stick pin with blue and pearl beads and some butterflies punched from vellum. Overkill possibly, but I actually quite like the finished project.

One for Mel (and Stampalot)

A few weeks ago at one of the crafty sessions at Sir Stampalot..........don't let anyone try to convince you that these are really an excuse for idle craft chatter and gossip.......perish the thought........Mel -who is a whiz with all things sizzix, so do check her out, convinced me that I 'needed' this Martha Stewart bunny punch.

Now Mel loves her bunnies so this one is really for her and I thought this new Rachelle Anne Miller stamp which I have named Raggy Annie and which Janice asked me to create some samples with, really does lends itself to the whole rural theme. So bunnies, scarecrows, birds and garden raffia.

The image has been stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear and coloured with Copics........all going well on that front I am pleased to say, a real joy to work with. The metal panel was run through the Bug using the Bird Call folder and then sanded to show the base colour. The bunny border is the so needed Martha Stewart punch.......have to confess I do rather like it and I also cut off a few more of the bunnies and placed around the image. I added chopped raffia to the scarecrows arms and legs some flowers and leaves to embellish. The DP is Basic Grey.

Don't forget Sir Stampalot's Bid Demo Day is not far away now - 5th December, so mark it in your diaries. Here is a little taster of what I have been preparing and will be sharing lots more with you very shortly.

Penny Black challenge

I said I needed an excuse to use some of my new goodies from Sir Stampalot and the team over at the Penny Black challenge have given me the perfect opportunity with their theme of 'Winter Wonderland'. And that's not the end of it this week as they have a 'Christmas Countdown Blog Hope', a competition and lots of prizes on offer.

This is one of the card samples created ready for Stamplot's Big Demo Day on 5th December using the gorgeous Penny Black 3770K Christmas in Paris. I shall be making a few more with this one and a very special one for one of our sons and his fiancee who is French and I think she will really appreciate this image.

I stamped with versafine majestic blue and embossed with detail clear. I distressed the edges with Tim Holtz Broken China and stamped a second image of the sentiment section and raised this with silicone and silver brads and added some silver foil and crystal stickles to the Tour Eiffel and holly sections of the main image. I then masked the edge of the card and stamped sections of the stamp down the side using versafine and embossing with detail silver and again adding some stickles to highlight. The border is punched with Martha Stewart Embossed Scallop. To finish, some silver ric rac tied across the card, punched holly, leaves and snowflakes (using my new MS snowflake punch) finished with a silver gem.

A real mixture

Well, how is everyone this Sunday morning ? I have just one card to share having been very, very good, done as I was told and yesterday made just one card and no blog hopping.......sorry peeps, I will be round to see you all soon. I found that if I lowered my daylight light so I was sort of working above the gaze that seems to work OK and I promised myself if my eye started to hurt I would stop and leave my card !!!!

I am being a bit naughty and combining three challenges here as realistically I can't spend any longer crafting just yet.......but I have managed to use some of my new goodies from Sir Stampalot so you can all see what super new stuff they had delivered this week.

The challenges are Friday Sketchers who have a nice sketch by Jeanette, Tuesday Taggers who want to see 'Red, Gold and Green' and Creative Card Crew who would like to see 'String, Hemp, Twine, Rope etc' on projects.

The image is one of the new Rachelle Anne Miller images - Scarecrow RM064, stamped in versafine black and embossed with detail clear and coloured in with my brand new Copics which I absolutely love and am getting on with really well. The little board round her neck - yes she is a lady scarecrow - is blank, so I wrote in the name I have given her - Raggy Annie and diamond glazed over.

I stamped her hat and the patches again onto some scraps of Junkitz DP and decoupaged them and also cut out some squares from the same paper to create the background. I added a band of hessian and some raffia which I thought went well with the rustic feel of the card. The layered flowers are from a new Woodware punch from Stampalot called Sakura which does a multi stamp of five flowers in various sizes for layering up. The sentiment it Stamps by Judith SK-LG-207 available from Stamp Addicts.

The red panel has been run through the Bug and lightly sanded and a stamped and coloured a second image onto Shrink Plastic which is placed just above the sentiment.

Allsorts challenge 28

Here we are Saturday again which means another new challenge at Allsorts. And am I pleased I got my DT work done last weekend, otherwise I would have been in sheer panic not being able to craft all this week. Still having to take things slowly, shorts burst on the computer and to avoid the glare I am wearing my sunnies.......guess I can dream I'm on some sun soaked beach - as if........ and hopefully a bit of crafting over the weekend.

So back to this weeks challenge where it's Kirsten's turn to choose the theme and she has selected a really great one "Christmas Carol or Song title", so what better excuse for another Christmas card. Again you amazed us with all your varied creations last week so do make sure you check out the challenge blog to see who has won and if you are one of Emma's Top 5.

My card is a real traditional - We Three Kings. I love this stamp from Stampendous......which I only just realised has no code or name on the side ! I have stamped it with versamark onto heat resist acetate and embossed with detail clear, before running it through the Zyron so I could cover the back with gold leaf and pieces of coloured foil, before cutting our the main image. I Brayered a piece of gloss cardstock with Big and Juicy Soothing Sunset, masking a moon onto which I then stamped a star with Hobby Art QT801A.

Next I stamped down the side of the card with Hero Arts Script H2365 using Versamark and embossing with detail gold, then placed a narrow border punched with Fiskars Threading Water. The background was matted onto a piece of My Minds Eye DP, then gold mirri card and the wise men mounted on top with silicone to give dimension. Finally I tied a simple bow with black cord round the card.

Glittery nails

Well folks, here I am back again but on a strict time allocation as far as the computer is concerned.........ten minutes wearing sunnies in a darkened room, so you know it's gonna be short. So how much gabble can I cram into that time I wonder ?

Thank you all for your wonderful messages both on my blog and by e.mail, you are all so kind and thoughtful. My op went well and fingers crossed my sight in that eye will get back to normal, or at least to where it was before Monday happened. And providing I avoid bright lights and the computer screen I can do some crafting in another day or so.

Grief I do hope so as I now have so many pent up ideas going round with this crafting drought I need to put them into action......plus I have new goodies from Sir Stampalot which need to see some action........they have new Martha Stewart punches just arrived and some devine new Rachelle Anne Miller stamps which could turn even me into a cutie addict.

I have been longing to share this little gem with you all about my hospital activity........imagine me all cleaned up and laying on the table, in comes the consultant and his merry band of followers all donned in their sterile garb and masks. Don't ask my why, but I glanced down at my hands and I must have made some sort of face because the consultant asked me if I was OK........so what had I seem.......I ought to give a prize for guessing this one really.......nails caked in glitter. Then followed a discussion about crafting which really lightened the mood whilst they carried out the procedure (I opted to have my eye frozen to avoid a general anesthetic).

So having shared that, here is a card that was another of those I made for Stamp Addicts new programme yesterday........and it's one that Leonie lovingly pored and admired several times which really thrilled me especially as I have always admired her work. She is such a super addition to the C&C team and a joy to watch.

This card uses the JukiKins damask cube, Tim Holtz frayed burlap, Art Impression sentiment and the roses I made from the My Minds Eye DP.......the tutorial is under way, jut a bit delayed due to this weeks unplanned activities.

Few cards and eye problems

Good morning everyone, just a few more cards which I prepared last week for Stamp Addicts new show on C&C at 10am tomorrow.

Afraid I can't go into detail as not meant to be looking at the old puter......giving my eyes a rest.........I have to check into hospital at 9am for emergency treatment/surgery for a detached retina which happened suddenly yesterday and led to spending the whole afternoon in A&E when I had important crafting to do.......yet another 'perk' of MS.

A couple more JudiKins cards

A very quick post......6.30am Monday morning and all that and probably the normal Monday morning mayhem at work when I hit the office.......to share a couple more of my cards for the new Stamp Addicts show that will be be going out live at 10am this Wednesday 18th November, with repeats to follow.

The first card uses JudiKins Pressed Leaves cube, stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear onto a masked Glimmer Mist background. The leaves have been highlighted with Inkssentals opaque white and all matted on to Daisy Bucket DP with borders punched with Martha Stewart Arched Lattice.

My second card used the Damask Cube which I have repeat stamped round the edges of my main piece using versamark and detail clear embossing powder, then distressing with Tim Holtz Peeled Paint. I then overstamped with Hero Arts H2365 using the same TH ink, followed by JudiKins swirl 3347F which I stamped once, reversed the stamp and stamped a second time to create the impression of a vine, using versafine majestic blue and embossing with detail clear. The flowers were all created with punches as was the butterfly. The DP and brads are all from my stash.

Copics to play with, Promarkers for Sale

Copics have arrived at Sir Stampalot

Good Morning everyone, well not so sure about the 'good' the weather is atrocious, windy, wet and decidedly wintry although it has stopped raining and there is a glimmer of sun, so fingers crossed. But as it's been too miserable to go out I have had the perfect opportunity to craft........and play with these........Sir Stampalot recently started stocking the entire range of both the Ciao and Sketch pens and I have have been poring over them since they arrived.

I did not intend buying them, well not just yet anyhow, but on Thursday when I arrived home from Stampalot, there sitting on my desk was a big brown bag.......yes the full set which my lovely hubby had bought unbeknown to me.......should I be worried about his little arrangements with Janice I wonder ? They were apparently intended for Christmas but he figured I could be making good use of them now. Isn't he lovely !

Yes I know, I only got Promarkers in September, but if I am honest I have hardly used them and most have yet to be opened. It's very much me and not the pens - my dexterity is not brilliant due to my MS and I often have difficulty writing in general and found the hard tips of Promarkers difficult to guide, whereas Copics have a soft tip and after a couple of days of play I do find them much much easier to work with.

So if anyone wants to invest in the full set of 144 nearly now Promarkers, most unused, mail me as I am sure we can sort something out - edited lunchtime Sunday - sold I am afraid.

A little sneak peek of what you will see on 5th December

Oh, I nearly forgot to tell you that as lots of you have suggested I do a tutorial on the roses I make, I can confirm it's in the making and should hit a blog near you later this week. And if you want to see them made in the 'flesh' I will be showing you how at the big demo day at Stampalot on 5th December - mark it in your diaries, if last year is anything to go by it will be a fantastic day - more details and sneak peeks later in the month.

Allsorts challenge 27

Good Morning everyone, are you ready for another Allsorts challenge ?

We were blown away by all your entries last week for Jules 'Bring out your Bling' theme and if the record number of entries is anything to go by, you certainly loved this one. This weeks challenge has been set by our teamie Emma who has chosen the theme "For a Child", so many possibilities here that we are sure you will come up with some fantastic projects.

My card is a Christmas card and as the sentiment says, it's for a very special granddaughter - she loves all things sweet and girly, so this one should be right up her street. The image Noel Joy from Sarah Kay is yet another from my NEC stash and I absolutely love her. Stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear, I have coloured her with Promarkers and given her coat liberal sprinklings of glitter. I also added snow using JudiKins snow glitter. My DP's are My Minds Eye and Prima and the scalloped edge Martha Stewart Embossed Scallop. Sorry if the roses are becoming monotonous, but I so enjoy making them and they seem to lend themselves to these cute cards .........I know, I don't do cute, but it's growing on me. I embossed the edges of the roses and holly with iridescent glitter and punched the leaves from glitter cardstock. The greeting was computer generated.

Rosie D's challenge

I 'think' our Internet issues are resolved and normality has returned to my world. I cannot believe just how much of a nightmare it has been and it's only when you don't have the Internet that you full appreciate and realise just how reliant we have become on it.

Tomorrow there will be a brand new challenge at Rosie D's. Our sponsor is Fresh Brewed Designs who have very kindly provided the DT with images to work with and of course they will be providing dowloads for one lucky winner.

There might be just the slightest clue in the name as to what the DT have come up with, but as usual there is a twist ! Here is a little peek at my DT card, but you can see the whole project over on the challenge blog tomorrow along with full details of the challenge.

Internet nightmares

New Stamp Addicts TV Show

If I ever had any doubt how much I rely on the Internet the last week confirms I am most definitely joined to my computer at the hip. A whole week with only the odd hour or so's connection here and there is a total nightmare. This new server was going to take just a few hours to install, yet here we are a week later and they are still faffing about with it. It's meant to be mega efficient and fast and have bells and whistles.......if you ask me the bells and whistles are well and truly rusty.

So the result, very little blog hopping and only the odd visit to all my friends out there........I am so so sorry, I do still love you all really. I am preparing this post on Wednesday afternoon, but when it will actually go live on my blog is any ones guess.......but I must have faith in the teccies, they assure us all will be well shortly........I seem to recall them saying something similar this time last week.

Anyhow, I told you that there was a new Stamp Addicts show in the offing.......well it's going out live on Wednesday 18th November at 10am on Create and Craft TV........and now I can share some of my sample cards for the programme.

I really enjoyed playing with all the goodies that you will be able to buy from the programme, some really yummy embossing powders from JudiKins along with some if their great cube stamps. This card uses the Pressed Leaf Cube using one of my favourite messy techniques. The images were randomly stamped with Black Stayzon onto Acetate, then Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks added to the revers along with some splashes of Gold Krylon. I then took a piece of ripped text from an old book, covered it with Tombow glue and laid it over the inks. Next I crumpled a piece of kitchen foil, added the same glue and laid this over the back of the whole piece. Once dry - this only takes a few moments, I did some simple matting and layering and tied some raffia round before adhering it to my card. Finally, I highlighted the stamped images with an Inkssentials opaque white pen.

More new goodies

Am I having fun with all these new goodies from the NEC and needless to say I have used one of the new stamps for this weeks Passion for Promarkers which has an open colour theme but with a sketch. I have also combined it with Everybody Art Challenges which would like to see "Distressing" this week.......yippee you hear me say, I so love getting a bit messy and Tuesday Taggers which has the theme "No Patterned Papers".

So my stamp...... code VA-1M-14 is from the Unmounted Stamp Company........ I have to confess the company is new to me but I am so glad I found them at the NEC as they have some absolutely wonderful images which stamp beautifully. I will certainly be visiting their on line store as I have my eye on some more which they had run out of on Sunday, no surprise really.

I have stamped my image with versafine sepia, embossed with detail clear, coloured with Promarkers then cut the mats with Nesties through the Bug. The background has been created by stamping JudiKins 6762I repeatedly with vesamark and embossing, again with detail clear. I then coloured and distressed with Tim Holtz Dried Marigold and Spiced Marmalade. The sentiment is a section of Penny Black 2695J. The swirls were cut with Cricut Home Accents and stippled with Adirondack Acrylic Dabbers Gold and Copper. I made the roses with some copy paper, glittering the edges with iridescent embossing powder.

And a good time was had by all.......

I hope all of you are well and had a good weekend. Mine was wonderful as apart from going to the NEC for the very first time........yes, I am a craft exhibition virgin.......I went with my blogging buddy Jules and did we have fun. Apart from the aching feet, I am almost hoarse from all the talking and have taken the day off work to recover.......truth is I just want to play with my new goodies.

On the Sir Stamplaot stand we met up with lots of old friends and some new ones as well........it is so nice to put faces to blog names. And of course a bit.......perhaps that should be quite a lot........ of serious retail therapy along the way. We also went along to see the girls at Stamp Addicts and delivered a box if sample cards I have made ready for their new show on Create and Craft next week.

So of course my card for this weeks Cupcake challenge whose theme this week is 'Snow Much Fun' gives me the perfect opportunity to use one of my new stamps which is Winter Scene 102K from Simple Stamps. I created a brayered background, masking the rising sun using Big and Juicy Spice. The image is stamped with versafine back and embossed with detail clear and the fence and large tree were stamped out twice more and decoupaged. Lots of snow added using JudiKins snow glitter plus a liberal sprinkle of ultrafine crystal glitter as well. The greeting is Penny Black and the DP Magnolia. The little birds are another new stamp from Lavinia........and yes, there are more fairies in the pipeline, along with some other bits and pieces from their stand.

Rosie D's challenge 57

Hello all and time for the reveal of my card for the current Rosie D's Challenge which has the theme of Pink, White and a Wafer plus a sketch for you to follow designed by our very own Rosie. As we are now a fortnightly challenge there is still another week for you to enter so what are you waiting for ?

Now before I tell you about my card, a confession and you will realise what a lovely gang we have here at Rosie D's. A couple of weeks back when I did my card for this challenge I posted a very cute blue Christmas card following Rosie's sketch. It suddenly dawned on me just before our DT work was posted to the challenge blog what there was actually a colour theme and it most certainly was not blue.......panic set in and I quickly prepared another one following the right colourways......but my teamies are so polite that nobody had said a work to me other than to compliment me on the blue card. You can imagine what a dozy mare I felt !!

So my card, main image is Penny Black 3996K stamped with Brilliance Orchid and shaded round the edge with Hero Shadow Blossom and the edge of the card distressed with Tim Holtz Antique Linen. DP is from stash and the border punched with Fiskars Threading Water and some lace. I made the flowers from the same DP, embossing the edges with iridescent powder and the leaves are my 'wafer' punched from corrugated card coloured with the same orchid ink and embossing powder.

Allsorts challenge 26

It's very much in the lap of the Gods when this post will appear on my blog........we have been having a new server installed which seems to taking far longer then they said we have had no Internet communication since lunchtime Thursday, so please do not think I am ignoring you all, I just can't get there.

This weeks challenge at Allsorts has been set my my teamie Jules who wants to see you "bring out the bling" and says "I would like to see lots of sparkle on whatever you create".........well how easy is that, we all like a bit of bling and glitz.

And this week our sponsors are Digistamp Boutique who have also provided the Design Team with images to create their projects. I chose this cute little robin image which I coloured with Promarkers, glittered his breast liberally with red glitter and added snowflakes cut on Cricut Accent Essentials using glittery cardstock. The large letters were cut on Cricut Plantin Schoolbook and the smaller letters computer generated. DP is My Minds Eye, border Martha Stewart Embossed Snowflakes, decoupaged the holly to give a bit of dimension and added gems for a bit more bling factor.

A few Christmas Cards

A quick share in my lunch break of some really quick and easy Christmas cards I made the other evening. Not had a lot of time to make very much for sharing this week as I am working flat out on samples for a new Stamp Addicts programme on Create and Craft later this month.......all top secret at the moment but I will share with you as soon as I can.......really exciting stuff this time and some really yummy products and techniques........but that's as much as I can say right now.


All of the cards are made using my K & Co Winter Wonderland 12x12 pad - these ones really are so 'strokeable' with lots of glitter and foiling which unfortunately do not show up too well on my pictures.

The layout is very similar to the white on white card I did for this week Penny Black challenge and thought I would try it out with some colour and really quite like to finished article.

The square and circle panels have all been run through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots folder and cut with Nesties and the flowers which I hope look a bit like Christmas roses have been made with various punches. The swirly branch has been cut on Cricut Joys of the Season and the sentiments are a variety of different stamps.

Passion for Promarkes

Morning Peeps, wet and windy - again, so hope lots of you are using the excuse for some serious crafting activity.......or are you all counting your pennies out ready for the NEC ?

Over at Sir Stampalot central (stand H05) it's a hive of activity packing and loading ready for the big event, as it is at Stamp Addicts (stand H30) and I'm sure lots of other locations around the UK. And come next week those of us lucky enough to go to the NEC will be bursting with inspiration all rushing to show off our new goodies on our makes........but with empty purses what else will we be able to do ?

Three challenges here, a great sketch from Tina at Everybody Art Challenges, and Passion for Pormarkers who have the colour theme of 'Grass and Canary' and wow do these two colours look great together and Creative Card Crew who want to see 'Ribbons and Gems'.

On to my card, a bit of a busy one for me, but it's sort of growing on me. My image is Sarah Kay Rose Garden, stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear and coloured with the two required Promarkers. The DP is Doodlebug and Basic Grey and the border punch Fiskars Threading Water. I made the three roses from the same DP and for a change I added some pearl stamens which I think works quite well. Leaves are punched from my new L-Em Ashe Tree Family 2 punch which I told you about yesterday. The little birdie and butterfly are from Penny Black 30- 034 and the flowers next to the image are from the Tilda range but afraid I have no idea of the code.

Cupcake challenge

My second share today is for this weeks Cupcake challenge who have a sketch from DT Caryn. As it's such a great sketch I decided to keep my card fairly simple using this very pretty DP from K & Co's Peppermint Twist Christmas pad as my base colour. Plus an outing for a new Martha Stewart punch from Sir Stampalot.......they have a huge selection of these punches so if you are in 'need' of one as I was when I got this, you know where to go. And of course they will be at the NEC - Stand H05 with lots of goodies, inspiration and live demos, so do go say hello to the gang.

The image is Penny Black 3997K Majestic stamped with versafine blue and embossed with detail clear and shaded round the edges with Hero shadow ink soft pool. The sentiment which I absolutely love is Hero Arts C2604. The snowflakes are punched with Martha Stewart single snowflake and the butterfly is an X cut punch......I know it's a bit unconventional having a butterfly on a Christmas card, but with that sentiment I somehow feel it's right. The gems are Swarovski, so this card will be for someone rather special.

Penny Black challenge

Morning everyone, hope you all had a good weekend. Ours was hectic but very enjoyable and a lovely lunch yesterday with some of our brood.

I have a couple of shared today and in this post it is my entry for this weeks Penny Black challenge which has the theme of 'White on White' but with the option of colouring your image. Tough I thought and threw the idea around for a day or so, then decided to try out a design I have used with colour, but just in the single colour and I think it works OK.

For starters, I probably need to point the direction of the Penny Black stamp 2636 Scroll Pattern which has been stamped on the main card using versamark and detail clear embossing powder, it's not overly obvious in my picture but it is there. I ran the square mat though the Cuttlebug using Swiss Dots folder and the flowers (they are Christmas Roses in my fantasy world) are punched from glitter cardstock as were the centres with brads in the centre - these are a creamy colour, not white but I figured this would take place of the image where colouring was allowed. The leafy scroll was cut from Cricut Joys of the Season and lace and some pins and beads added to embellish.

By the Cute and Girly challenge 2

Did you all have a good Halloween night ? My goodness, my night was busy to say the least, it was 3am when I got home and by the time I had dusted off my broomstick and put it away ready for the next full moon it was almost time for breakfast.........if you are still with me, then yes of course I am talking drivel........but such a sad lot we are here in the fens that we take our witchery very seriously and the myths hold strong especially at this time of year.On to serious stuff, first I must tell everyone that I won Sally's fabulous blog candy, I was so thrilled to get her message, so thank you so much. Please do pop over to Sally's blog, she does some wonderful inspirational work.

And as it's the first of a new month, there is another challenge starting at By the Cute and Girly. We had a fantastic start to our new challenge with so many of you joining in with some wonderful projects. It has been really fun visiting you all and seeing your creations.

Our second challenge theme has been set by Debbie and is Winter Wonderland. The DT have all come up with some really inspirational work to set those creative juices flowing and we are so looking forward to see what this great theme means to you. For me Winter Wonderland evokes images of frosty blues and silvers and these are the colours I have chosen for these first projects.

I have been having so much fun making roses lately and tried out lots of different styles here, inking the edges with versafine blue and frosting with irridescent embossing powder and stamping on the larger ones with Hero H2365. The penguins on the card were stamped from Hero Arts K5260, masking the other two so I got just the one either side of the gatefold card which then cut round to achieve the shaped top. The borders on the inside have been punched with Martha Stewart embossed snowflake and the cut outs have been used as stars of the front of the card.

The candle is decorated with the same penguins stamped onto tissue, as have the snowflakes which are punched with Martha Stewart single snowflake from tissue paper which I inked with brilliance ink and embossed with iridescent powder before punching and then heating onto the candle along with the penguins. The DP is all from stash.

Rosie D's challenge

Sunday afternoon and and a brand new challenge over at Rosie D's.

Our wonderful sponsors this week are PPD - Photo Paper Direct. As well as providing a prize for the winner of this challenge they also provided the DT with some of their card to create our samples and wow is it fantastic card to work with and a fabulous weight.

The full reveal of my project can be seen over at the challenge blog. I do hope you will pop along and join in with this fab challenge and look forwarding to coming to visit you all.