Friday 29 June 2012

Penny Black Saturday Challenge Week 207 - Fly the flags


This is my entry for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week where the challenge is "Fly the Flags!".  I've made this card for my Auntie Ann and to follow the challenge Quickutz alphabet and pennant dies were used to personlise the card for her.

The main image is from the Penny Black stamp You are the Bestest and is coloured with Promarkers.  Ann loves cats and flowers so hopefully she will appreciate this card.  I don't know what she used to feed her cats on but I was always amazed at how big they were.  The main image is framed using Nestabilities and Grand Nestabilities plain and scalloped circles.  Purple and gold thread were stitched over the frame and a gold line peel off lined the inside of the frame.


The coloured card used is from the Papeterie and the patterned papers were left over pieces from other projects.  The striped, floral and Happy Birthday papers are from Cuddly Buddly downloads, and the gingham card was also from the Papeterie.

The floral embellishments were made using Tim Holtz's Tattered Floral die, a Tonic small flower punch, an L-Em stamen punch and a Quickutz leaf die.  The tags were also cut using a Quickutz die.  A few peel off dots, brads, Garden Green ribbon from Stampin' up and purple Encore metallic ink sponged around the scalloped edges of the card blank were the final touches.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges
Thanks for reading
Liz xx

Thursday 21 June 2012

Penny Black Saturday Challenge Week 206 - 5 Circles

 
This is my entry to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week which is 5 Circles.  The inspiration for this project came from Erika at Snappycrafts who has been making and posting pictures of telescopic cards and this gave me the idea for a wall hanging for the 5 Circles challenge.  I mean to have a go at a telescopic card yet though.


The Penny Black image used in this project is Pansy Rabbit and it's coloured using Promarkers.  The image and the other four panels are framed and layered using Nestabilities and Grand Nestabilities plain and scalloped circles.  The purple pearlescent card used is from the Papeterie and the patterned papers and pansy elements are from the Nitwit download Time for Tea which were manipulated in the My Craft Studio Professional programme. The scallops on the base layers were pricked and then stitching and beads were added.



The pansy flower name meaning and the verse were both sourced from the internet.  I had to seek help from OH on how to type French accents.


The two small panels have beaded pansies in them.  I'd recently been looking through ideas books which I'd bought for inspiration and found Embroidery Creations with Beads by Jantina Lanting and this is where the pattern for the beaded pansy topper came from.

I don't have a recipient in mind for this project as it was just a piece of fun for me to make and meet the challenge.  Had my Mum-in-law still been around then this would have been one for her as it's in her favourite colours and she loved flowers.  I regret that I never found out what her favourite flower was.

I'd like to enter this project in the following challenges

Thanks for reading
Liz xx

Friday 15 June 2012

Penny Black Saturday Challenge Week 205 - Red, White and Blue


This is my entry to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week which is Red, White and Blue.  For this one I used the Penny Black rubber stamp Aspire and stamped it several times with Stampin' up Riding Hood Red and Versafine Majestic Blue ink.  The images were overlapped and stamped two or three times before re-inking.

The striped background was made using the Hero Arts Large Canvas Stripe stamp and Majestic Blue ink. To add some texture the red card underneath was embossed along the edge using a Stampin' up embossing folder.

Birthday wishes was stamped using a stamp from the Stampin' up set Sincere Salutations and die cut using a die from the Nestabilities Labels 4 set.  For embellishments Real Red grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' up was used along with a few peel of dots and red self adhesive gems.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges

Thanks for reading
Liz xx

Sunday 10 June 2012

Liebster Blog

Recently I have been lucky enough to have received this award from Eileen at Star's Cards. It's lovely to having followers who chose to keep track of your postings but it's a bit more special when they give you an award for something you take great enjoyment from so thank you Eileen. I treat my blog as a hobby for my own entertainment to enter challenges, and also to keep a record of projects I've made, so to be made aware that other fellow crafters enjoy reading it is an extra reward. 

May I also take this opportunity to thank everyone who has chosen to follow my blog recently and also those who leave encouraging comments on entries.  They are all appreciated.  At the start of the year I watched the numbers creep up to thirty and now I find it a bit scary that my postings are sent to almost eighty of you.

oOo

"The origins of the Liebster Blog Award are somewhat unclear but the general consensus is that it originated in Germany, Liebster meaning favourite or dearest, to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. Upon accepting the award the recipient must then pass it on to five more blogs of note."


Here's what to do on receiving your Award
1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3. Copy and paste their blog award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve    recognition.
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

oOo 
These are the five blogs I have chosen to pass this award on to




Thanks for reading
Liz xx

Friday 8 June 2012

Jubilee Day

My family here had the day off on Jubilee day and Alan suggested that perhaps we could all mark the day by going out for a picnic.  It may have been a ploy to avoid having to watch the royal happenings on the television all day.  However, the weather wasn't very encouraging so we decided against it and the pair of us set off on our own and visited Johnston Gardens and Duthie Park in Aberdeen instead.  

Whilst out and about I suggested that perhaps we could have a picnic tea on the sitting room floor instead as I had a few bits and pieces bought in just in case the weather had happened to be good.  And that's what we did and surprisingly Elaine (26) and Ian (19) appreciated the efforts.  I think the  highlight of the spread was the Billy Bear ham.  We visited Asda on our way home to add to the bits and pieces I already had and when I saw the Billy Bear ham, which I used to buy for them when they were little, I couldn't resist buying it.  Ian still dissected his by removing the eyes, nose and mouth.  A little bit of baking and a bottle of M&S Pink Fizz to toast the Queen finished off our small celebration of the day.  Here are a couple of pictures of our spread.

   

I'm glad we made a little effort to celebrate the day so that our family can have some memories of the occasion.  My Kanban Great British Crafting backing card kit arrived today so maybe I'll make a scrapbook page of the day too.

Thanks for reading
Liz xx

Penny Black Saturday Challenge Week 204 - Case It


This is my entry for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge which this week is casing the card below made by Kath.  I used Kath's layout, card base and floral main image and embellishments for inspiration and used products from Stampin' up in their Marina Mist, Old Olive and Pacific Point colourways.

 

The main image is Awakening by Penny Black which is my favourite stamp at the moment.  It was coloured using Marina Mist, Pacific Point and Old Olive markers and then spritzed with water before being stamped on to white card.  To create a decorated strip for the band behind the main image the stamp was spritzed with water again and restamped. This was repeated until the stamp needed to be coloured again.  The edges of the topper were distressed and Marina Mist ink was sponged over them.  Stitching with green metallic thread was added around the edge to create an extra frame.

The ring frame was cut using Grand Nestabilities and because it was having to sit on top of uneven layers an additional ring in white was cut, the edges sponged with Marina Mist and then the two were layered to make a stronger frame.  I wanted to add embossing to the blue ring but as I don't have any of Grand Calibur embossing stencils I felt a bit stuck until I discovered that the barrel of the Fiskars ribbler was wide enough.  The Birthday Wishes sentiment is from Stampin' up's Sincere Salutations set inked with Marina Mist ink, stamped on to a faded image from the Awakening stamp and die cut and layered using a Nestabilities Labels Four die. 


The plain card stock is Stampin' up's Marina Mist, Pacific Point and Old Olive and the patterned paper is from their Brights Collection in the Designer Series Papers.

The flower embellishments were made using a flower X-cut Embossing Silhouette Punch and an L-Em stamen punch.  For each one two flowers were punched from Marina Mist card and Marina Mist ink was sponged around the petals before they were scrunched and then the flowers layered.  The stamens were punched from Pacific Point card and a green pearl from Hobbycraft was added to the centre.  The vine leaves were cut from Old Olive card using a Vine die from Quickutz.  The ribbon used was also Old Olive.

I wanted to add green brads to the corners but didn't have any in a matching shade of green so I coloured round silver brads with a Pear Green Promarker and this gave the shade I wanted.  They take a little while to dry but I'm keeping this in mind for future projects where I want matching brads.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges
Thanks for reading
Liz xx

Friday 1 June 2012

Penny Black Saturday Challenge Week 203 - Monochrome Magic


This is my entry for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week which is Monochrome Magic.  The Penny Black rubber stamp used on this one is called Awakening and is one of my favourites at the moment and to follow the monochrome theme I've used shades of pink from Stampin' up's ink, markers, card, ribbon and patterned paper.

For the main image the stamp was coloured with regal rose, melon mambo and old olive markers before being spritzed with water and stamped.  To create the matching backing layers the stamp was spritzed with water and stamped two or three more times, overlapping the images, to give impressions with varying depths of colour before being coloured again and repeating this process.  The spot patterned backing paper is from Stampin' up's Brights Collection paper stack and their plain pink card stock in rose red and pink pirouette was also used.  The pale green card is parchment card from Southfield Stationers. Stitching was added to frame the main image and backing panel.


Pink Pirouette ink was used to sponge around the distressed edge of the main image and the scalloped edges of the base card.  The birthday wishes stamped sentiment is from Stampin' up's Sincere Salutations set and was stamped using their melon mambo ink.  The sentiment was cut and layered using a Spellbinders Labels 4 die.

For embellishments matching brads from Dovecraft, pearls from the Hobby House and rose red and pretty in pink  grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' up were added.

I'd like to enter this card in the following Challenges
Crafts and Me Challenge - Add a Ribbon
Truly Scrumptious Challenge 81 - Pretty in Pink
Card Caravan Challenge 20 - Pink
Make My Monday Challenge - Floral Theme (pink, green, white)
Allsorts Challenge 156 - Birthday
Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 69 - Distress It
Crop Stop Challenge 74 - Pretty Pearls

Thanks for reading
Liz xx