Allsorts 430 - Ribbons, More Than Just A Bow

Good Morning, happy Saturday!

It's time already for a new challenge at Allsorts. This week Wendy is our hostess and she would like us to use some ribbon, but it has to be more than just a simple bow. 

It had to be another simple card for me,  coloring is practically impossible right now, (I am still suffering from neck pain) but luckily I still have a few Penny Black stickeroos and they came in very handy. I simply placed it on the left side of the card and then placed an assortment on ribbon on the right side. Stamped the sentiment (from and old Stampin Up set) and mounted the card onto soft sky card stock. 

This time we have a wonderful ribbon prize to give away sponsored by Fantastic Ribbons. Hope you'll come join us!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Allsorts 429 - Forest Friends

It's Saturday again already, time for a new challenge at Allsorts. This week it's Tracy Mouse' turn to host and she'd like to see "Forest Friends". It had to be a simple card from me, because I currently suffer from some intense neck pain (probably caused by not being careful while painting my son's room which has some slanted walls - I need to remember I am over 40 now and need to be more careful...) The nights are the worst, but it's almost impossible for me to move my head any direction, especially up and down, so crafting (and most anything else) hurts at the moment.

Here is what I came up with.

I used a stamp from the Penny Black set Share a Hug. This set is currently still available in my Etsy shop (brand new) if you're interested.

Heat embossed on Bristol Vellum card stock and colored using Zig Clean Color pens. The pine needle stamp is from Just For Fun Rubberstamps. I randomly stamped it around the squirrels. Sentiment is from the Penny Black set So Very Much. I finished off the card by adding some jute twine and adhered to the soft sky card base. 

We have two fabulous prizes to give away again this week, hope you can join us for a chance to win!

Thanks so much for visiting! Have a great weekend!

Sending Love

We're over halfway through the month of August (already!) and that means it's time for our midmonth post at Penny Black and More. Still plenty of time to join us if you haven't already, or maybe you'd like to enter a second or third time? Plenty of prizes are up for grabs so hope you'll get a chance to join us!

We have  a pretty easy theme this month - Feature a Creature - so lots of possibilities there.

For my card today I inked up the beautiful stamp "Winter Song" by Penny Black. It's been heat embossed on watercolor marker paper and colored using Zig Clean Color pens. The image is large, and I ended up trimming part of the top and bottom for my card. I really didn't want to add too much more to the card to keep the focus on the image, so I just added a die cut sentiment (also from Penny Black). Not sure if you can tell, but I layered the white sentiment over a black sentiment to give it a shadow. Dazzling Diamonds glitter (by Stampin Up) was sprinkled over the sentiment to make it sparkle. The watercolor panel was then layered onto ballet blue card stock (retired Stampin Up color) and a Neenah Linen white card base.

The Penny Black blog is  having a Holiday Headstart challenge on their blog and I am going to enter my card there as well.



Thanks so much for stopping by,
I'll be back again tomorrow with the new Allsorts challenge card.

Name or Number for Allsorts 428

Good morning, happy Saturday! Time already for a new challenge at Allsorts, this week it's Susan's turn to host and she'd like to see a name or a number (or both) on our creations. I don't usually personalize cards with names or numbers (unless they are for a child and I don't have an upcoming children's birthday), so this was a little bit of a challenge for me. I finally decided to make a notepad cover for my daughter, she loves to doodle and write, so this is perfect for her. And she loves little critters as much as I do!

The cute image by Penny Black has been heat embossed on Bristol Velum cardstock and colored using my Zig clean color brush pens. On the background I used some sort of gauze stamp (Whimsy Stamps) and I flicked some watercolor paint onto the background. I used alphabet stickers (by Basic Grey) for the name and "notes". To finish off the cover I added a pretty ribbon and a scalloped border which I found in my box of paper scraps already punched out.

The sticky letter sheet was also just recently re-discovered. My brother put in a new floor in my craft area while he was here visiting, and I found them while moving things around, and they were perfect for this creation. I really do need to get de-cluttering done, I've talked about doing it for so long (and started several times) but I never seem to be able to get rid of things. Story of my life!!

We have a great prize to give away to one lucky winner, this week it's this fun set by Marianne Designs. Hope you come join us!

Hope you have a nice and sunny weekend!

 I'm taking my daughter to a pointe shoes fitting today, which she is super excited about. She took a short break from dance over spring but now has been dancing again for a couple of months and she's so excited to start pointe lessons in September. Something that every ballerina dreams about :)

 

Penny Black and More - August Challenge

Hello, I am back today with my card for this month's Penny Black and More challenge. This month we'd like to see "All Creatures Great and Small".

This card was quick to make, I wanted to work ahead last month so I wouldn't have to make cards while I had overseas visitor. Not so sure I like how it turned out, but even though my visit has now left, there wasn't enough time to make another card...But at least I enjoyed making this as it's been ages since I've done this technique - not sure if it's called "ghosting" or "emboss resist".

I first stamped the sentiment using black stazon ink on white glossy card stock. Then I stamped the butterflies using versamark ink. They were heat embossed using white embossing powder.

Next I used distress inks to ink up the background. Added the ribbon and twine and them mounted on turquoise and white card stock. 

The stamp set I used is called "Snippets" by Penny Black, both the butterflies and sentiment are from this set.

As always we  have fantastic prizes to give away from our amazing sponsors - this week it's Penny Black, Crafts U Love, Sizzix, Crafty Ribbons, so many chances to win! We'd love for you to come play  along!

Thanks so much for stopping by, hope to see you at the challenge blog, and if you'd like another chance to win, why not combine this challenge with our Sister challenge "Allsorts" where the theme is "the color of your flag"!

Allsorts Week 427 - Colors of Your Flag

Hello and thanks so much for visiting! I apologize for not being around your blogs much the last few weeks. I had a visit from overseas and we also got to spend some time on the beach (my birthday week) which was very much enjoyed.

This week Mervi is our host at Allsorts challenge and she wants to see the colors of our flags. 

I used a really old set by stampin up for my card (Toy Box). Stamped the little boat three times onto white card stock and colored using copic markers. The navy card stock was embossed using a stripes embossing folder also by SU. I added some red, white and blue twine and the little sentiment, which was cut out using one of Whimsy Stamps stiched tag dies. Matted onto red card then a white card front. I think this will make a cute little boy's birthday card.

As always we have a great prize to give away, and we'd love for you to come join us.

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And here some photos from vacation. We took a road trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I love going on road trips so I can see more of this beautiful country, but I might need a break after this year's. We ended up driving in horrendous storms through 3 states. It was so bad that many cars just completely stopped. My drivers felt pretty confident and kept going at a slower speed but I was scared to death!  It was soooo good when we finally left the storms behind us.

Although it was a beach vacation, I made sure we'd visit some other places too, because I am not one to enjoy a lazy vacation. I can't sit still LOL!

I love nature so of course we had to visit a garden and a state park. The photo above was taken at  Brookgreen Gardens.
I saw some spring pictures of this garden (thanks Amy!) and didn't think I was going to like it as much in summer, as not so much in in bloom, but it was absolutely gorgeous and I didn't want to leave!
The moss covered trees made everything look magical.

 The water lily pond was another favorite.

 
And I loved the Cypress Swamp area.

 We found plenty of these spiders underneath wooden structures and they made me want to run away :) But of course we couldn't resist looking at them. They are about as big as a hand and were just there in the wild under wooden beams. Nothing I've ever seen before! I looked them up at home - they are called Golden Silk Orb Weavers or Banana Spiders and luckily are not poisonous.

We also took a day trip to the city of Charleston, South Carolina. It was a super hot day but we were still able to enjoy the beautiful architecture. If I ever go back to Charleston, I need to stay at least two days so I can visit Magnolia Plantation and Gardens!

Most of our mornings and evenings were spent at the beach. We had an oceanfront room, so the walk to the beach was short.  We loved looking for seashells early in the mornings when most people where still asleep. I really wanted to take a boat trip to Shell Island, but I didn't realize you'd have to book in advance and we ended up not getting any tickets. I'm sure it would have been easier in the off season!


We visited a few other places in this area, but I don't want to bore you with too many photos.
A couple more though...this is not located in the Myrtle Beach area, it was a stop on our way home.

 Did you recognize this building?

 It's the resort that was used in the movie Dirty Dancing - the Kellermann's. It is located in Pembroke, Virginia. You have to drive up a pretty steep road to get to this resort. It is now a resort called the Mountain Lake Lodge. We spent a couple of hours just walking around. You can even book the cottage Baby and her family stayed in.

Above is a photo of the gazebo used in the movie ("find the man of your dreams" scene, where Baby ended up dancing with the old lady). The lake where the water scene took place used to be behind the gazebo but it is sadly dried up.

These apartments remind me of the staff quarters, but that part of the movie was actually filmed in North Carolina.
We have not actually spent the night here so I cannot say anything about the accommodations. We just went for a quick stop to see the movie site of my favorite movie :)

Hope I didn't bore you too much with the photos, and thank you again for visiting!
I'll be back again tomorrow with my Penny Black and More creation.