Blue and Brown at Allsorts Challenge

Good morning and Happy November! 

It's time for a new challenge at Allsorts, and this week Wendy wants to see "Blue and Brown". I love these two colors together, I think they especially make great Christmas or Winter cards, so that is what I made.

I decided to use an image from our sponsor Digistamp Boutique for today's card. This cute image is from the set Winter Rosie.

  I printed the digi onto Neenah linen card stock and colored with my copic markers. I do not suggest this paper for copic marker use, the copics left a few streak marks because of the texture on the paper. I had originally planned on using colored pencils, not sure how I ended up using copics, but I didn't have time to re-color another image. It's not as bad IRL as it looks in the photo though, so the card is still fine to use.

I fussy cut the image before adhering to the card front. The snowy hill was made by simply tearing white card stock. Designer paper is from a 6x6 Winter paper pack. Sentiment and snowflake stamp are from the Penny Black sentiment set Season's Gifts. Not sure if you can tell, but I used a clear Wink of Stella glitter brush on the snowy hill and fur trims on the images. 

As mentioned above this week we are kindly sponsored by DigiStamp Boutique, I hope you can come join us for a chance to win! Lots of gorgeous images/sets available in their shop!

Thanks so much for visiting!!

Christmas Creatures for Allsorts 439

Hello everyone, time already for a new challenge at Allsorts. This week Tracy M. is hosting and she would like to see "Christmas Creatures". Simply include an animal or animals (or other creatures) in a Christmas surrounding to play along with us this week. We have a fantastic prize again this week, so hope you'll find some time to join in! This week our prize comes from Tattered Lace.

For my card today I dug deep into my stamp closet and found the almost ancient Stampin Up stamp set called "Over the River". Although this set is no longer available through a demonstrator, it can still be found on Ebay or maybe Etsy. The sentiment is part of the set. 

I heat embossed both the sentiment and image and Zig Clean Color brush markers were used for coloring. It's hard to tell, but I did use a Wink of Stella clear glitter brush on the snowy parts of the image. A pine bough stamp by Just for Fun Rubber Stamps was used behind the sentiment to add a little color on the top portion of the card. Designer paper is also by Stampin up and a few years old as well. 

Thanks so much for visiting!!

 I hope you have a fun-filled weekend! The colder part of fall has arrived here in my area, it's supposed to snow just north of us, and I hope it stays there!

Halloween at Allsorts Challenge

Happy Saturday! Today I am sharing a Halloween card made for the new Allsorts challenge where Susan picked this fun theme! I hope you come play along with us and share your Halloween makes for a chance to win! This week we are being sponsored by Little Claire Designs.
 

My husband recently found this  cute pumpkin stamp at a thrift store and he thought I might like it :-) Of course I do and I decided to use it for this card. It's been heat embossed, colored with Zig Clean Color markers and then fussy cut. The stamp is by Stampassions called Mama Papa and Baby Boo and dated 1994. Some swirls and stick arms are also part of this stamp but they were left off after I fussy cut.

I thought the bare tree stamp from the Penny Black set "On the Town" was perfect for a somewhat spooky background and I used distress inks for inking. The bats were done using a Whimsy Stamps die. Image panel edges were all distressed before adhering to the designer paper and card base. I've had this designer paper for a really long time, so I have no idea who the manufacturer is. But it was picked up either at Joann's or Hobby Lobby as a single sheet.

The sentiment is from an old Stampin Up stamp set (Halloween Hedgehogs) and has been heat embossed using detail white embossing powder.

This week I am playing along in some other challenges:
Alphabet Challenge - P is for Pumpkin
City Crafter Challenge  - Pumpkins
Deep Ocean Challenge  - Halloween
Fairy Tale  - Pumpkin (week 2)

Thanks so much for visiting!!
Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Penny Black and More - Midway Reminder

Hello everyone, it's time already for the October Midway reminder post at Penny Black and More. I can't believe we're already over halfway through the month!!! Not sure I am ready yet for the cold part of Fall.

Our theme this month is "Close to Nature", a really fun theme I think and lots of stamp choices here too. I decided to use the stamp set "Woodland  Friends" by Penny Black. As usual, when using watercolor methods I heat embossed the image and sentiment before coloring. 

A music note background (by Hero Arts) was used randomly on the image panel and I flicked some ink splatters onto the background as well using diluted ink from the Clean Color brush pens.  The sentiment is from an older set by Whimsy Stamps.

Check out these fabulous prizes we're giving away this month:

3 separate stamp prizes from Penny Black,

 

a ribbon prize package by Crafty Ribbons

 

 and a set of dies by Sizzix.

 

Our rules are simple - mainly the focal point has to be stamped (any stamp company) - this means it can't be a digi, stencil, die-cut etc. The only exception are Penny Black stickeroos, and don't forget 3 entries per person. Hope you can come join us if you haven't already or if you'd like to enter again!

Have a great day!!

Think Pink - Allsorts 437

Good morning, it's time already for the new challenge at Allsorts. This week Brenda is our hostess and she chose the theme of "Think Pink". As usual we have a fantastic prize to give away so come join us for a chance to win! This week we are being sponsored  by Swedish House Crafts.

I feel like it's been way too long since I used one of the cute Penny Black hedgehogs, so for today I inked up this cutie from one of Penny Black's clear sets.

I heat embossed the image and sentiment on bristol vellum cardstock before coloring with Zig clean color brush pens.

Designer paper is from my stash and I also used some striped vellum paper along with moss gingham ribbon.

A close up below...

Products used:

Wonderful, Sprinkles and Smiles (both stamp sets by Penny Black)

Versamark ink, Black embossing powder, Zig Clean Color brush pens

Designer papers from stash, gingham ribbon by Stampin Up

Bristol Vellum Card stock, Linen card stock by Neenah

Thank you for visiting and have a fabulous weekend! Stormy weather in today's forecast so I am looking forward to a lazy Saturday :)

Trees and Leaves

Happy Saturday! It's time for the new challenge over at the Allsorts challenge blog and Mervi would like to see "Trees and/or Leaves". Come play along, we have a great prize to give away by Marianne Design. 

I got this stamp when it was first released by Penny Black (a year or so ago) but this is my first time using it. Not sure what kept me away from it...I do love this scene! 

Well, I thought it was perfect for today's challenge so I inked it up and created an autumnal birthday card with it. The little red birds are from another set also by Penny Black.

 Products used:

Hidden Lane, Woodland Wonder, Sprinkles and Smiles (all by Penny Black)

Mix of Distress Inks and Markers

Versamark ink and black embossing powder

Stampin Up and Neenah card stocks

Hope you have a good weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

Close to Nature

It's a new month already - can't believe it's October!!! - and it's time for a new  challenge at Penny Black and More. This month our theme is "Close to Nature".

I knew I wanted to create another scene for this challenge, but I also wanted to use one of Penny Black's cute animal stamps, and I thought this cute fox would be perfect for the nature theme.

I started out by heat embossing the fox on bristol vellum cardstock. Then I stamped the fox again on a post-it note and fussy cut to use as a mask. I also used some torn paper to mask the hill. Distress ink was used to ink up the hill. Next I stamped the pine trees using an old SU ink pad (forest foliage). I didn't really plan on a watercolor look, but my stamp didn't leave a solid impression (I need a misti!!!) so in order to not waste the card I decided to go with a watercolor look on the trees by inking up the stamp then spritzing with water before stamping. I did this right on top of the partially stamped tree, and stamped it again without re-inking to add a few more trees.

After removing the fox mask I colored him with zig clean color brush pens and inked the sky with distress ink. The sentiment and fox are both part of the set "Smile All Day". The pine tree is from the set "Woodland Beauty", both by Penny Black.

This month we are being sponsored by Penny Black, Crafty Ribbons and Sizzix so we have some wonderful prizes to be won. I hope you'll come join us for this fun theme!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, hope it's a nice and sunny one!