Hearts and Hedgehogs.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge is a card for the boys. Here is mine. It isn't Father's Day here for a while so I'll put it somewhere safe.

it's all going cheep

Saturday Challenge issued a 'Feathered Friends Challenge' and I had the perfect stamp. I don't often use it , which is probably a pity but it always takes me a while to work out the colouring. Is it green head or is it blue head....or is it purple....and so I sit and think for a while before I begin painting...and even then I end up changing things as I go. I guess I need to spend more time around peacocks....

Anyway, this is my card and for all I wasn't too sure about green and blue I think it turned out well. I loved looking at the DT cards. So many different styles there's always something that makes me think I want to try that.

Thank you Saturday Challenge for a fun challenge.

Flowers and sketches :)

The people at Penny Black Saturday Challenge are determined to remind me that it's Spring elsewhere in the world. Possibly Summer.....with their Say it with Flowers challenge. It's heading into Autumn here in Queensland but apart from less flowers and darker later and earlier it's still hard for me to tell the season's are changing. I love spring so any challenge that reminds me of spring is going to make me happy.

I would like to thank the clever people over at Sketch Saturday for the sketch I followed for this card. I was a little apprehensive about it initially , I must be honest, but after staring at the DT's fab cards I was inspired and I really like how this card turned out.

The DT at PennyBlack created some beautiful cards as well and I loved looking at both sites cards. Always so inspirational, thank you.

Penny Black week 145

The challenge over at Penny Black this week was to use this sketch. I wanted to make a mini card so needed to be careful with the ribbon and embellishments. I really enjoyed using this sketch and my husband really likes his card.

Once again I am in awe of the DT's cards. Thank you for this challenge PBSC.

something new?

The challenge over at  Paper Take Weekly challenge was anything goes as long as you use something new. ( Sorry ladies,paraphrasing.) I don't think my husband would have been all that happy if I'd gone to the NEC....it's a long and expensive plane flight and I'd have had no money for goodies if I had gone soooooo I tried out a technique I'd seen recently and thought looked interesting.

I made an easel card. I've always had issues with seeing straight lines, I see an edge as straight but in reality it's not so this card made me check and double check before putting scissors or guillotine to paper. So definitely a challenge and very, very new to me.

Thank you for the challenge. I loved all the DT cards , they are all really beautiful.

It's all a little yellow.

I owe thanks to four blogs for the challenges and inspiration for this card. I'm still trying to reactivate my mojo and it helps to have a challenge or two to get the little grey cells working. Plus the - try something new thing is good for me too.

This card has something old too. It's been such a long time since I used glitter. In fact it's been so long that the glue didn't dry flat as it is supposed too. Hmmmm, that might be a subtle hint that like mascara, you shouldn't have your glue hanging around as long as I have done. Thanks Charisma cards for the challenge of glitter and sparkle. I love my glitter but have been saying 'too much hassle' for so long . (http://charismacardz.blogspot.com/)

The sketch I used came from The Sweet Stop (http://sweetstopsketches.blogspot.com) . It's a lovely sketch and I love how the card came out because of it. In retrospect I ought to have put the ribbon behind the top card so it didn't hide the mice feet but I still like the card and if you don't learn something, what's the point? (sss101)

2 blogs inspired the choice of image, Daring Cardmakers and Cute Card Thursday. (http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/) and (http://www.cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/). Daring Cardmakers challenge was to use daisies and or sweet peas, CCT's was to have a couple. I would love to have done a card with sweet peas- shall have to keep my eyes open for one of those. I love this Penny Black stamp but don't often use it. It usually ends up looking naff (not Penny Black's fault- mine.) However the enticement of couples and daisies made it irresistable and for once , it came out well.

Thank you to all of you for your challenges, I'm learning so much through your design teams cards and the challenges you put out.

next challenge- work out to how to link in posts.....I'm not the most net savvy person around.

Bloomin Blossoms

I'm trying to rekindle my artistic side as it seems to have been stagnating for a while. I'm going through blogs and following their links to card challenges in the hopes that something will kick my bottom into gear.

Well, I found the Allsorts Challenge Blog (http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/) and their challenge was to use 'blossoms.' I sat and thought and then thought AHA, I delved into my boxes of stamps and found this stamp. I haven't used it much recently and thought it fitted the topic .

As well as trying to motivate myself I'm trying to move from my usual method of making cards. Using sketches is a great way of gently nudging you to try something different. Whilst looking through blogs I found Papertake's weekly challenge (http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/) and thought I'd use their sketch. I love how the card turned out. I tend to shy away from patterned paper even though I love it, so I was glad to get this sketch as a starting point.

I loved the DT cards from both blogs. Very thought provoking.

Thank you to both Allsorts and Papertake. I enjoyed making this card.

This week's challenge over at Penny Black Saturday Challenge was 'Recycling'.

We've had a lot of birthday parties recently which has led to quite a number of wrapping paper scraps. The paper with stars on it is an off cut of wrapping paper. The paper at the bottom is cut from the carboardy inner bit, stamped with chalk inks and then I punched a border in it.

The browny paper in the middle and the yarn at the bottom of the image are both from my scraps bag.

I wasn't overly happy with this card when I first made it but it has grown on me. Due to naughty lighting the card isn't as it appears in real life.

Thanks PBSC for the challenge, I would never have used the inside of the wrapping paper roll otherwise.

I loved all the cards made by the DT.

Spring has Sprung...well according to Penny Black Saturday Challenge it has. http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/

It hasn't if you're on the underside of the world, we're heading off for Autumn here downunder. Still Easter soon though so I thought I'd do an easter bonnet spring type card.

I love this PB bunny stamp, don't always do a good job colouring it in though. I like this attempt.

I used PB stamp, coloured in with water colour pencils and the papers are all K and Co.I have no idea where the flower came from. I enjoyed making this card, I've been stagnating for a while, thank you PBSC.

The card layout comes from a sketch challenge from Friday Sketchers. http://fridaysketchersblog.blogspot.com/

I find it challenging working with sketches but I really like the way this card turned out, I did things I've been too nervous to do before - ie the different layered papers in the background. Thank you for helping me to be a little braver.