Polka Doodles Week 49 "Quick Christmas Card"

Good morning,

Quick Christmas Cards.  You've suddenly realised that there is only two weeks to the big day and you still need to make a load of Xmas cards, so this week we want to see simple cards, not too many layers or embellishments, easy enough to make lots in a couple of hours.

That's the challenge Collette has set at Polka Doodles this week.

This challenge was ideal for me as I needed lots of quick cards for school. I selected a pre-coloured topper from the Magical Winter 1 CD and added a customised greeting for each child, I printed these four to a page and added glitter to all the snow once they were printed (these are only some of them and, all told, I think I spent less than one hour making them all).


The winner of this challenge will win a £10 gift voucher for the Polka Doodles shop. I hope you can join us!


Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx


p.s. Granddad's funeral took place yesterday. He was buried in his village churchyard in the same plot as my Grandmother was buried almost 15 years ago. The lovely thing about it was that the day of his funeral was the same date as my Grandmother's birthday. 

Penny Black and More at Allsorts "Happy Birthday" challenge

Good morning!

It's the first Sunday of the month and time for another challenge at Penny Black and More. Thank you to everyone who joined us during November, we were overwhelmed by all the fabulous entries.

This month our theme is "Happy Birthday". I've been so buy making Christmas cards that I found making this card a nice change.

The Penny Black image I have used is called "Crossing Bridges!" 3206J and the sentiment is also by Penny Black from the clear set called "Critter Party" 30-013.

I hope you can join us this month.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

p.s. Thank you for all the kind comments regarding my Grandfather. I truly appreciate them all.

Sir Stampalot Challenge "Let's Play Bingo!"

Good morning,

We're having a game of Bingo at the Sir Stampalot challenge this month.

I wasn't satisfied with playing once, I had to have two games:-

Brads, Flowers, Ribbon

Pearls, Flowers, Punch

As always, we have a brilliant prize from Sir Stampalot:-

2 glimmer mists

2 sets of glitter pee wees

Glimmer glass by tattered angels

Kaisercraft tags

Iridescent ribbons

Stickers

Kaisercraft wooden designs

Kaisercraft brads

Hero Arts self-adhesive gems

Metal tacks

Embossing powder

Junkitz Flat Pinz

Junkitz metal frames

Eyelets

Lasting Impressions Buttons

Little baggies

Heart Crystal

Making Memories big box of buttons and matching flowers

Keepsake Kit of co-ordinating papers, felt pieces, ribbons and other goodies

I hope you can play too!

Hugs and best wishes, Clare x

Ready-Teddy-Go December Challenge

Good morning,

It's the first of December and time for a new challenge at Ready-Teddy-Go.

Our theme this month is:-

"Anything Goes"

I decided to make another Christmas card. I'm still worried that I haven't got enough. I really ought to sit down and make a list so I know EXACTLY how many cards I need!

The image I have used is an old one from Stampin' Up! I love these cute Polar Bears and they are very quick and easy to colour (I've used Letraset markers for the colouring). The scalloped mat has been cut from white card and the edges are coloured with the same purple Promarker that I used on one of the scarves. I've blinged up the card with Glamour Dust and gems. The sentiment is by Hero Arts.

Very many thanks to everyone who joined our Easel challenge last month, please check the challenge blog to see if you are a winner.

I hope you can join us this month.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Milton Christmas Cards

Good morning,

I recently bought a card making magazine (Papercraft Essentials 73) and with it came a free paper pack from Wild Rose Studios called "Milton & Co Christmas Paper Pack".

Here are some cards I made using the pack:-

 I've teamed the papers and images up with Penny Black sentiments stamps, base cards from Craftwork Cards and Marianne Poinsettia dies and snowflake dies. As, with most of my Christmas cards, I've added lots of Glamour Dust too.

Have a great week!

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Polka Doodles Challenge - Week 46

Good morning,

It's time for another Polka Doodles Challenge. This week's theme has been chosen by Ruth and she would like to see:-

Something Christmassy and HAS to be a shaped card - NO squares or rectangles!

I've made an easel card and cut out images from the Polka Doodles Magical Winter CD to give it a different shape. The sentiment is also from the Magical Winter CD and the paper is from the Pretty Sweet mini CD.

I've coloured the images with Letraset markers and added lots of glamour dust. The sentiment was pre-coloured on the CD.

I hope you can join us this week.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Penny Black & More "The Christmas DT Challenge"

Good morning and welcome to the second DT challenge at Penny Black and More. Our lovely leader Brenda sent each of the Design Team two almost identical kits (just the papers differed, although they were from the same packs) to make up into cards.

We showed your our first cards on 16th October (you can see mine here). Today we are showing you the cards we made with the Christmas Kits. You can see the kit we were sent on the main challenge blog.

I have used a Penny Black image called "Gathering" 3882K. I stamped it directly onto coloured paper so that it matches in with the colour theme of the card.

We have added a special prize to the challenge blog:-

A winner will be selected from all new followers joining up between 17th and the next challenge on 4th December.

Don't forget, you have until 30th November to enter our current challenge where the theme is "All Creatures Great and Small". You no longer have to use a Penny Black image (although there is an extra prize draw for those of you who do), just make sure you use a rubber stamp. We have a brilliant selection of prizes this month which you can see here.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Polka Doodles Challenge - Week 45

Good morning to you,

It's time for another Polka Doodles challenge. Our host this week is Daniele and she has chosen the theme:-

"Swirls and Pearls and Pretty Pastels"

I couldn't resist cute "Amelia" from the Polka Doodles Pretty Sweet mini CD and I've teamed her up with papers and a sentiment from the same collection. She's coloured with Letraset marker pens.

I'm not really a pearly, swirly person but I really enjoyed this challenge.

I hope you can join us.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Penny Black and More at Allsorts November challenge

Good morning,

Welcome to the November Penny Black and More at Allsorts challenge. Not only do we have a new name, we also have a new start date for the challenge which will be the first Sunday of each month.

The "AND MORE" which has been added to the challenge name means that you can now use other images as well as, or instead of, Penny Black images, although there will be an extra, special prize for entries which use Penny Black images. The DT will continue to use Penny Black images on their inspiration projects.

Ooh, I nearly forgot, don't forget to watch out for our "Who's in the Spotlight" feature each month - it could be you!

Now, onto our theme for November which is:-

"All Creatures Great and Small".

I have used a cute hedgehog from the Penny Black clear set called "Tiny Wishes" 30-036 and the sentiment is from the Penny Black clear set called "Enjoy" 30-024.

We have an awesome array of prizes this month:-

I hope you like the changes we have made to the challenge and that you are inspired to join us this month.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Sir Stampalot November challenge - Blue and Green

Good morning,

It's time for a new Sir Stampalot challenge. We are now starting our monthly challenge on the first Sunday of each month, instead of the first day.

Our theme for November is "Blue and Green".

I have used a cute Teddy Bo fishing bear and coloured him with Prismacolor pencils. I've added glossy accents to the fish to make it look all slimy!!

The little fish embellishment is made from Fimo and is covered with irridescent heat embossing powder, this looks lovely and sparkly in real life, but on the photo it doesn't look too good at all!

This month we have a fabulous secret prize from our generous sponsors Sir Stampalot.

I do hope you can join us.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Polka Doodles Challenge - Week 44

Good morning!

It's time for the Polka Doodles weekly challenge. This week's theme, which has been set by FLISS, is:-

"A shaped card/project for any occasion

(not square, rectangle, etc, etc!)"

I used pre-coloured images from the brand new Pretty Tuff CD which is available as a pre-order from Polka Doodles. If you are going to the NEC this weekend it will be available from the Polka Doodles stand.

I did a bit of computer manipulation with the images to get the sizes I wanted before printing the elements out. The only extra I have added is Sakura Stardust pen to the white bits of the football strip and around the edge of the sentiment.

I think I will be making quite a few more cards like this for the boys in my family. I will  have to make sure I get the strip colours right!!

I hope you are inspired to join us this week.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

p.s. If you would like the chance to win a copy of My Memories Suite digital software which is ideal to use with your digital images and papers, please see my blog candy HERE.

Ready-Teddy-Go November Challenge

Good morning to you.

It's the first of November which means it's time for another monthly challenge at Ready-Teddy-Go. Thank you to everyone who took part in last month's challenge and congratulations to the winner.

Our theme this month is:-

"Take it Easel"

We want to see your teddy bear easel cards this month.

Here's mine:-

I have used "Butterfly Bear" by Penny Black (3696H). The beautiful papers are from the Echo Park "Country Drive" 6" x 6" pad. The large butterfly is from a Cuttlebug diecut and emboss set and the smaller butterfly is from a Martha Stewart punch.

I do hope you can join us this month. I love to see all the gorgeous teddy bear creations.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Polkadoodles Challenge 43

Good morning,

It's time for the Polka Doodles week 43 challenge. This week's challenge has been set by Claire and she has chosen the theme of:-

A magical world - an element of magic.... fairies/wizard/dragon/unicorn

I chose this beautiful backing paper from the Polka Doodles Pretty Sweet Mini Collection. I wouldn't normally choose a colour like this, especially for fairies, but it called out to me and I love it! I coloured the Lili of theValley fairy with Letraset Alcohol Markers using yellows, browns and greens. I've added some sparkle with Gold Glamour Dust and added some machine stitching around the edge. The sweet sentiment is also from the Pretty Sweet Mini Collection. 

I do hope you can join us!

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

My exciting news!

Good morning,

I mentioned some exciting news I had to tell you and now I can reveal all.

Nikky at Polka doodles has chosen 12 new people to join her Design Team and I am delighted to be one of them!

Yipee!!

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Penny Black at Allsorts "THE DT CHALLENGE"

Good morning,

Brenda, our lovely leader at Penny Black at Allsorts, set the DT a challenge this month.

Brenda sent us all a matching kit to create our project (some of us got different papers but they were from the same pack).

Here's what I made:-

I used the Penny Black stamp "Mixed Media" 4037K.

This is the first time I have used seam binding and I loved it! I inked mine up with Tim Holtz Distress Ink and slip-stitched along one side and then pulled the stitching to make the first frilled layer of my flower. I also inked the white flower to make the centre.

The butterfly is cut from the backing paper and coated with glossy accents. I backed the gap the butterfly left in the paper with a leftover piece of the main stamped image.

Thank you Brenda for setting the DT this challenge, it was great fun!

I hope you are all having a great weekend.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Fudge - "A Card for You"

Good afternoon,

There are some new Czes Pachela images available at Cuddly Buddly. I couldn't resist this cute little bear called Fudge.

The image I have used is called "Fudge - A Card for Me".

I shall keep this short and sweet as I need to be at school in ten minutes.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Penny Black at Allsorts - news of some exciting changes

Hello everybody, I have some exciting news to share with you.

• There are going to be a few changes to the Penny Black at Allsorts challenge, but Penny Black and the Design Team think they are going to make it even better than before and allow lots more of you to join in.


• We are opening up the challenge entry criteria and starting with our November challenge you will be able to use any stamp on your work, although strictly no digi images.

• There will still be lots of prizes on offer and all eligible entries will go into the draw, plus there will be an additional prize each month for entries using a Penny Black stamp or stickeroo.

• And if that's not enough, we are having a “Who’s in the Spotlight” feature every month. The DT will be keeping an eye open as they go on their rounds and about the 20th of each month we will feature two entries which stand out to us. Those entries will be able to display our special logo and will be invited to write a short bio about their crafting journey which will be published on our blog.

• There will be a slight change to our name to take account of these changes and in future we will be know as ‘Penny Black and more at Allsorts’.

Over the next couple of weeks the information on the challenge sidebar will be updated to list dates of the next few challenges so you can easily check what is happening when, but I can tell you that the next challenge will start on 6th November and the current one will run until midnight GMT on 31st October. 

Now you may wonder why we are making these changes and think we have fallen out of love with our precious Penny Black stamps, but nothing could be further from the truth and the DT will all continue to use them on their DT work.

But we do realise that not everybody is lucky enough to own Penny Black stamps and has been prevented from joining in previously.So we hope the changes will make it easier for more of you to join in the fun and also have the opportunity to win the stamps on offer from Penny Black and our other sponsors so you can start your very own Penny Black collection.

I will be back in a few days with another post showing you a special project I have made. All the DT were set a special challenge to see what we would come up with.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Sir Stampalot October challenge "Food Glorious Food"

Good morning,

It's time for a new challenge at Sir Stampalot. Our theme for the month of October is "Food Glorious Food". 

The image is Nellie's Choice "Dawn with Cake #3". I've coloured the image with Alcohol markers and added dollops of Glossy Accents to the flowers and various parts of the cake. For the sentiment, I coloured pearlescent white card candy with alcohol markers and stamped the letters on top.

Sir Stampalot are offering this yummy food themed prize to one lucky winner:-

Wow! I wish I could enter!

I hope you can join us this month and, as usual, I can't wait to see all the fabulous entries.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Penny Black at Allsorts October Challenge "Photo Inspiration"

Good morning, It's first October and time for another challenge at Penny Black at Allsorts.

This month we have a photo inspiration challenge for you.

Just looking at this photo makes me feel good!

Here's my interpretation of the theme.

I have used Tim Holtz Distress Inks to colour the background and also for the stamping.

The tree is Penny Black "Fantasy" 3880K, the blue leaves on the background are Penny Black "Foliage" 30-024. The sentiment and the green leaves at the bottom are both from the Penny Black clear set "Enjoy".

I hope you are inspired to join us and I look forward to seeing your creation if you do.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Ready-Teddy-Go October Challenge "Punch it Out"

A very early (scheduled) good morning to you.

Thank you for all the fabulous entries into our Ready-Teddy-Go challenge last month. I hope you are inspired to join us again this month for our

 "Punch it Out" challenge.

I've used a Martha Stewart Border Punch and an X-cut flower punch on my card. The image is "Grown with Love" from Cuddly Buddly. I've coloured the image and flowers with colouring pencils. I think the majority of pencils I used were Prismacolor. I use these on their own without any blending spirits.

I used a rubber stamp for the image but you can get the digi image FREE OF CHARGE from Cuddly Buddly HERE.

I'm looking foward to meeting all the teddies who are entered into this month's challenge!

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Totally Gorjuss - "Birds of a Feather"

Good afternoon,

The challenge theme at Totally Gorjuss this week is "Birds of a Feather".

I've used an image by Karen Middleton called "Winter Feed" and coloured it with alcohol markers and coloured pencils. I have edged around the image with Glamour Dust - this has to be one of my all-time favourite crafting products.

I've used a Sakura "Stardust Clear" pen for the faux stitching.

I hope you have had a good weekend. Thank you for dropping by my blog.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Snow Kiss

Good morning,

Here's a card I made using my goodies from Handy Hippo (details in last post).

I stamped Penny Black Circles and Lines (40-084) onto turquoise card using "Whipped Cream" ink from Elzybells (sadly no longer in existence) and heat embossed with clear embossing powder, then I inked over with "Faded Jeans" and "Pine Needles" distress inks, and blended the inks using a baby wipe. Next I coloured between some of the lines with "Powder Blue" and "Soft Green" Promarkers.

I stamped the sentiment from Hero Arts "Sending Holiday Cheer" (CL464) with versamark and heat embossed with Stampendous fine white embossing powder.

The image is "Snow Kiss" by Penny Black (4099K). I coloured the image with Promarkers and cut out Mimi and the Polar bear, then I stamped the image again in black and glued on the coloured pieces. The borders and "snow" are made from Twinklets Diamond Dust adhered with tacky glue. I love the effect of the Twinklets but the bits of glass get everywhere!

The snowflake is made using a Marianne Createables snowflake (LR0124) for the base with a smaller, Martha Stewart punched snowflake, for the middle.

It makes me feel a bit cold looking at this card! Hubby said last night that snow was forecast within the next three weeks. I do hope the forecast is wrong.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Simon Says to use a SONG or FILM title as inspiration

Good afternoon,

I've made a card for the Simon Says challenge where you have to use a song or film title for inspiration.

The inspiration for the my card is the song "Hazy Shade of Winter" by Simon and Garfunkel.

The sentiment, which is hard to see in the photograph reads "May a peaceful spirit fill your heart and bless your life this season and all year long".

The only downside to this card challenge is that I can't get the song out of my head and I keep singing and whistling it as I go about my day!

Thank you for visiting.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Practicing

Good morning,

I always shy away from the dark markers when I colour, so I decided it was about time I made myself use them.

I need a lot more practice!

The image I have used is by Whiff of Joy called "Henry Mouse with Christmas Bauble". A big thank you to Vicky for this fab image. I've used a Sakura clear glitter pen to add sparkle to the pattern on the bauble (sorry it doesn't show!).

The background stamp is by Hero Arts called "Large Canvas Stripes" (S5433). I stamped it onto white card using Versamark ink and heat embossed with fine white embossing powder (I could easily have used clear embossing powder as the cardstock was white). Then I sponged over "Peeled Paint" distress ink and ran a red marker pen around the edges.

The sentiment is also by Hero Arts from a clear stamp set called "Magic of Christmas" (CL462).

Thank you for visiting!

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Lily Pad Cards "Resist" challenge

Good evening,

Here is another Christmas card and this is my favourite one so far. I have made this for the Lily Pad Cards "Simon Says Presents a Resist Challenge".

I stamped Hero Arts Cling Snowflake Circle (CG100) in versamark onto white cardstock and heat embossed using Stampendous Fine White ebmossing powder. Next I inked over with Tim Holtz Distress Ink "Chipped Sapphire".

The snowman is by Penny Black from the "Jolly Friends" transparent stamp set (30-058). I've coloured him with alcohol markers and added Glossy Accents to his nose and the berries and Glamour Dust to his bobble. The snow at the bottom is made using Diamond dust Twinklets.

I made a frame using classic circle and lace circle nestabilities and sandwiched the image between the frame and a base card made using two lace circle nestabilities.

I can't wait to make this card again! It's not often that I want to make the same card twice.

I hope you have had a good start to your week.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Some Christmas cards

Good evening,

I've been busy making Christmas cards recently. Here are a few of them.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Some boy cards

Good morning,

Here are some cards I have made for male relatives who have birthdays this month.

I've just realised that I have used Penny Black stamps for all of them.

Enjoy your day.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx