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Jul 27, 2019

Allsorts Challenge 530/531: Buttons and Bows

Hello and welcome! It's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge. And just so you know ...the next three challenges will actually each run for 2 weeks to cover the rest of summer, then in September we will be back weekly.

This week Kath is hosting and she picked the theme of Buttons and Bows. Hope you can join us for your chance to be entered into the prize drawing. We have a great prize package to give away by 
Tattered Lace.


I made a fairly simple looking card using a clear stamp set by Penny Black - Sunny Wishes as the focal point stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and heat embossed using Hero Arts ultra fine clear embossing powder on Bristol Vellum paper.

I started out by masking the edges of square piece of Bristol Vellum paper using Washi tape, then inked with Tumbled Glass and Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide inks. With the mask still in place I stamped the image and words border then removed the mask.




I watercolored using a distress marker (Worn Lipstick), then fussy cut each one of the flowers. Some of the flowers were adhered with pop up glue dots, the smaller ones we glued on with Tombow Multi Mono liquid glue. I wanted to highlight some of the words from the script border stamp, so I stamped it again on white card stock using black ink and cut out some of the words. Two buttons and a bow tied with Natural Jute twine finish off the card.



Here is a close up.
Penny Black Sunny Wishes // Whimsy Stamps Basic Backgrounds and Borders - retired // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Hero Arts Clear Embossing Powder Ultra Fine // Distress Oxide Tumbled Glass // Distress Oxide Blueprint Sketch  // Distress Marker Worn Lipstick // Tonic Stamp Platform // Washi Tape for Masking // May Arts Natural Jute Twine // Cutterbee Scissors for Fussy Cutting // Tombo Mono Multi Glue // Pop Up Glue Dots // Strathmore Bristol Vellum Paper

I'm also sharing with these challenges:
Cute Card Thursday - No Pattern papers // WaterCooler Wednesday - All Occasions (Encourangment) // Colour Crazy Challenge  - Coloring // Colourific Challenge Corner - Coloring //  
Anything Goes themes here:
Brown Sugar // Crafty Catz // Creative Fingers // Addicted to Stamps and More


Remember this challenge runs for 2 weeks, so you will have plenty of time to join us during the busy summer time. While summer vacation is just starting in parts of the world our kids have just about 2 weeks of summer break left before it's back to school.......

Related Products:
*Christmas In July Sale * at Scrapbook. com - 20% off all Christmas themed merchandise!


This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!


Jul 20, 2019

Allsorts Challenge 529: Add a Charm

Good morning! It's time for the new theme at Allsorts challenge, Wendy is our host this week and she would like to see Charms added to our creations. Hope you'll join in for your chance to win a prize by Sizzix - a set of fancy frame dies and embossing folders.



Now this was definitely somewhat challenging for me as I don't use charms often (I can never decide where to place them and how to attach them) but luckily still have several of them stashed away. I have always loved this cute double charm with mitten and snowflake and kept hoarding it. I know we're in the midst of Summer and it just happens to be the hottest week of the year so far, but I decided to make a "Christmas in July" card anyway. It also helps cool you off a bit knowing that the cold days will follow in not too long :-)

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I heat embossed the cute snowman by Penny Black - Snowy - on Bristol Vellum paper, then colored with Distress inks. I inked the edges using the same Blueprint Sketch and Tumbled Glass distress inks I used for coloring. The pattern papers are from my stash and all the little sentiments are from the Penny Black set Holiday Snippets. In addition to the same blue inks I also used Wilted Violet Distress ink for the sentiments to bring more color to the card. Edges were distressed and I tied the charm onto my card with some Jute Twine and sticky dots keep the mitten in place. 


Above is a better view of the charm and sentiments. I ended up having to stamp one of the sentiments onto a scrap of card stock to cover up a badly stamped sentiment, but I like how it turned out. As you can see the hat has lots of sparkles, I used Hero Arts' Irridescent Ink that came in one of their My Monthly Hero kits. But this specific kit (the October 2018 kit) has sold out.

Penny Black Snowy // Penny Black Holiday Snippets // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Hero Arts Ultra Fine Embossing Powder // Hero Arts Irridescent Ink - no longer available // Distress Inks/ Oxides: Tumbled Glass, Blueprint Sketch, Wilted Violet //  Spun Sugar (cheeks), Hickory Smoke (nose) // Pattern Papers from Stash // Charm from Stash // Natural Jute Twine // Bristol Vellum Paper



I'm sharing with these challenges - there are lots of Christmas in July themes:)
Crafty Gals Corner - Christmas in July // Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - Christmas // The Male Room - Christmas // Crafty Sentiment Designs - Christmas In July // Shopping Our Stash - Christmas in July // The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - Christmas // CuteNCrafty Challenge Blog - Christmas in July // International Art & Soul  - Christmas in July // Crafty Calendar - Christmas in July // Di's Digis Designs - Christmas in July // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - use PB stamps // Send a Smile for Kids  - Christmas for Kids 
Anything Goes:
Lemon Shortbread // Crafting from the Heart // Get Creative Challenges // A Place To Start // 


Thanks so much for visiting!!

I've included Amazon shopping links below for those of you interested. These (and some of the links above) are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something though the links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Jul 18, 2019

Yellow and Blue for Penny Black and More Midway Reminder

It's the 18th of the month already, that means it's time for the Penny Black and More challenge midmonth reminder and there is plenty of time left for you to join in if you haven't already. Some fantastic prizes up for grabs by Penny Black Stamp Addicts and Craft Stash so don't miss your chance to win!

Our theme is Summer Colors, a nice and easy one just be sure to feature stamping as your focal point of interest. This doesn't have to be a Penny Black stamp, any company will get you entered into the prize drawings as long as it is hand stamped, so no digis or die cuts.


For my summer colors I went with yellow, blue and bits of green with the  Penny Black stamp Awaken.

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I heat emossed the image on watercolor paper using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and Ultra Fine Clear embossing powder, then colored with Zig Clean Color markers. Splattered some inky dots onto the background with the same colors I used for coloring and heat embossed the sentiment from the clear Penny Black set Happy Wishes using the same black ink and embossing powder. I love the shade of blue card stock I used - it's an old Stampin Up color "ballet blue" (unfortunately retired) and I thought it was a perfect match for the blue watercoloring I did around the image with the blue Zig marker. Adhered to a white card base to finish off this card.




I'm sharing with these challenges:

Stamping Sensations - Earth Laughs in Flowers // Colour Crazy Challenge - Coloring //  Creative Craft Cottage Challenges  - Summer // Daisy Chain Challenges - Flowers // Crafty Sentiment Designs - Add a Sentiment // 
Anything Goes:


Thanks so much for taking the time of your day to visit my blog! Hope you have a fantastic day!!


This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!


Jul 13, 2019

Allsorts Challenge 528: Clean and Simple

Good morning and thank you for visiting! I am back from my blogging break and vacation. Had a good time spent with family. Besides hanging out here at home for a few days we also took a trip to the Carolinas  together to spend some time in Myrtle Beach and this time we also visited the Biltmore Estate. But vacation time ended too quickly!!


This is me with the "Biltmore House" in the background. I'm sure many of my European visitors see this type of architecture often, but it is very rare here in the States to see a French Rennaisaunce type building and we had so much fun visiting the castle, hiked the trails and enjoyed the beautiful gardens. They also offered free wine tasting but we skipped that part....maybe next time :)

The sunrises were "not to miss"! (Yes I love to get up early while on vacation!)


Of course I couldn't go to Myrtle Beach without visiting Brookgreen Gardens! It was as beautiful and magical as last time we visited!

On the way home we took a detour through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and walked up to Clingman's Dome observation tower to take in the views of the Smoky Mountains. Storm clouds were forming so we didn't get to see as far as you can on some days. But still some amazing views!


But now on to my card ..... a new theme started at Allsorts challenge, this week Tracy is hosting and she picked the theme of "Clean and Simple". Hope you can join us for a chance to win. This week we have a great prize by Sizzix!
I think Penny Black stamps are perfect for CAS cards - with the beautifully detailed stamps there really isn't much more a card needs.

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I simply stamped the image (Asking the Flowers by Penny Black - this stamp is really old and I couldn't find a link to it anywhere) on watercolor paper using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and colored  with my Zig Clean Color markers. I added a little bit of glitter to the flowers with a clear Wink of Stella. The sentiment was also stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and is from the Penny Black set Friendship. A cross stitch border stamp was used around the image, this stamp came from a retired stitched borders stamp set by Whimsy Stamps, and is no longer available. Adhered to a white card base by Hero Arts (Dove White 100lb). 

Btw. the little bee is not actually part of the main image stamp, it comes from one of Penny Black's clear cute critter sets.


Penny Black Asking the Flowers - retired, possibly available on ebay // Penny Black Friendship // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Zig Clean Color Markers // Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush // Canson Watercolor Paper // Whimsy Stamps Stitched Border - No Longer Available - Similar Option // Hero Arts Dove White 100lb Card Stock

Challenges entered:
Crafty Sentiment Designs - Add a Sentiment // Stamping Sensations - Earth Laughs in Flowers // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Use PB stamps // 2 Crafty Critter Crazies  - Critters // Crafty Animals - Animals // Creative Craft Cottage Challenges - Summer // 


Hope you have a wonderful weekend!




This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Jul 7, 2019

Penny Black and More - July Challenge

It's the first Sunday of the month and that means it's time for a new theme at Penny Black and More challenge - Summer Colors!





I used a circle die as a mask and inked the background with Victorian VelvetSeedless Preserves and Blueprint Sketch ink. I stamped the birds, butterflies and sentiment from the Penny Black set Enjoy Life directly onto the inked background using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink.  I added the diamond stencil design with blueprint sketch distress ink and stamped the small background words (Whimsy Stamps Basic Backgrounds and Borders set - retired) using Victorian Velvet ink. Distressed the edges and adhered onto a white card base. 




Hope you can join us this month! We have some fabulous prizes to give away again, and remember you can enter up to 3 times for more chances to win!


This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

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Jul 6, 2019

Allsorts Challenge 527: Summer Fun/ Sport

It's time for a new theme at Allsort challenge. Mervi's turn to host and perfect for this time of the year she picked the theme of Summertime/ Sport. Hope you can play along for a chance to win! We have a great prize by Buddly Crafts!



I used some Summer themed stamps from Hero Arts (Layering Sea and Sky- also available as a combo with matching dies;   and Layering Waves)  along with an old stamp (seashells and sand)  by Stampin Up. Distress Inks and Oxides  were used for stamping. The weaves and clouds are 3 way stamp sets.
Pattern paper is from my scraps, the sentiment is part of the Hero Arts Layering Sea stamp set.


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Thanks so much for visiting!!


This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!