Penny Black and More September Challenge

Good morning,

It's time for our September challenge at Penny Black and More. Our theme this month is:-

"EARLY CHRISTMAS MAKES"

Usually, but this time of year, I have made a real inroad into my Christmas card making, but this year I am way behind, so this challenge is great for me.

I've used the clear Penny Black stamp set called "Jolly Friends" (30-058) for both the main image and the snowflake background.

I had better get on with making some more Christmas cards as the big day will be here before we know it!

Hugs and best wishes, Clare x

Sir Stampalot September Challenge

Good morning,

It's the first Sunday in September which means it's time for our new monthly challenge at Sir Stampalot.

This month we have a picture inspiration theme:-

I've used the colour scheme, roses, lace and lady as inspiration for my DT card.

The background has been created using Wild Rose Background stamp (3258R) by Rubber Stampede, coloured with Letraset alcohol markers.

I hope you can join us this month.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare x

Penny Black and More at Allsorts August Challenge

Hello,

We have a new challenge at Penny Black and More at Allsorts with the theme:-

"Whiskers and/or Wings"

I've used a Penny Black stamp called "Team Teddy" (3981K). The foliage and grass are stamped using Maple Leaves and Grass Borders 1 from Flonzcraft.

I hope you can join our challenge this month.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Sir Stampalot August Challenge "Things with Wings"

Good morning,

It's time for our another challenge at Sir Stampalot, and our theme this month is:-

"Things with Wings"

As always, we have a fantastic prize sponsored by Sir Stampalot

I hope you can join us!

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Ready Teddy Go - August Challenge and Birthday Blog Hop

Good morning!

It's the first of August which means we have a new challenge for you at Ready-Teddy-Go. It's also the the first birthday of our challenge so, in addition to our normal challenge, we are having a Birthday Blog Hop (details further down this post).

The theme of our challenge is:-

"ANYTHING GOES"

My teddy is a Penny Black image called "Joie de Vivre" (4052K). This image never fails to make me smile. I've added some hand stitching using variegated embroidery floss.


Now onto The RTG Birthday Blog Hop


It's our 1st Birthday at Ready-Teddy-Go Challenge and we are feeling in the mood for a celebration so . . .

. . . we have a

Birthday Blog Hop 
running from the 1st to the 19th of August.












We have a fantastic Birthday Goody Bag from Meiflower up for grabs as the main prize but there are lots of hidden prizes along the way too so make sure you visit and comment on each of the blogs.  Believe me it will be well worth the effort of taking part . . . I can't say any more than that!!!


You will see a Blue Frog linky on each site but you only have to enter your details in once as we are all using the same collection for the hop.

We are also asking that if you want to take part, you:


1) Are or become a Follower of the Ready-Teddy-Go challenge blog


2) Display our Blog Hop button [below] somewhere in your sidebar; and finally


3) You leave a comment on each of the DT sites.




You should follow the hop in this order of visits:

Ready-Teddy-Go Challenge
Julie Ann

Sally

Anne-Marie

Claire

Clare "Littlebear" (me)

Daniele

Debbie

Helen

Kelly

Vicky 

Wendy 

Sonia

So from here you are 'hopping over' to Daniele's blog.

Each DT member should clearly guide you and hopefully you won't get lost!!

Happy Birthday Hopping and thank you for taking part . . . have fun and it will be worth your while I promise!!!

Penny Black and More at Allsorts "Summer Blooms"

July's theme at Penny Black and More at Allsorts is:-

SUMMER BLOOMS

I couldn't have all those blooms without a few butterflies too!

I've used Penny Black "Tender Shower" 2875K. I don't think I will ever tire of these cute hedgies.

I can't wait to see all the floral entries this month.

Hugs, Clare xx

Ready-Teddy-Go "Up, Up and Away"

Good morning and a happy July to you.

The challenge at Ready-Teddy-Go this month is "Up, Up and Away!".

As always, a teddy or teddies have to be the main feature and my teddies are from Elzybells, who sadly no longer exist, although Elizabeth, the artist, is now working for Penny Black and you can now buy her teddies again - hooray!

I've coloured these three with pencils and blended over them. The stars are also by Elzybells and the sentiment is from Papertray Ink "Mega Mixed Messages". I've used Spellbinders borders on the side in the hope that it might look a bit cloud like!

I hope you can join us this month and look forward to meeting your teddies.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Penny Black at Allsorts June Challenge

Our theme at Penny Black at Allsorts this month is:-

"All My Favourite Things"

Where do I start??

I decided that Christmas cards were my favourite type of card to make and Snowy has to be one of my favourite Penny Black Christmas characters and then of course there is glitter - something I have loved on a card since I was a very little girl.

Have fun choosing your favourite things!

Hugs, Clare xx

Sir Stampalot June Challenge

Good morning!

We have another challenge for you at Sir Stampalot and this month we have a BINGO theme.

I've chosen "lace, polkadots and green" for my card.

I  hope you can join us this month.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Ready Teddy Go June Challenge

Hello Teddy Lovers! We have a new challenge at Ready-Teddy-Go for June. Our theme this month is:-

"One for the Boys"

I've made an early Christmas card for my son.

I think he will like the sparkle and this teddy is just like his teddy bear "Kevin".

Clare xx

Sir Stampalot Birthday Blog Hop!

Happy April Fools' Day to you and "Happy Birthday" to the Sir Stampalot Challenge!

It is our second birthday and we are celebrating with a Birthday Blog hop and a challenge theme of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY".

You can make absolutely anything you want as long as it's to celebrate a Birthday and this is the prize from the lovely guys at Sir Stampalot for this months luck challenge winner:

I made this card for my niece's birthday and used a cute Molly Blooms image which looks just like her!

In addition to the usual challenge, we are also having a blog hop (go to the challenge blog to start). You will need to:-

• Visit each of the DT's blog listed below
• Leave each one a comment to be sure you are in the draw for the prizes on each of the DT's blogs
• Pick up a letter from each DT blog you visit
• Assemble those letters into two words - both have four letters and send your answers to brenda@ibas.co.uk by noon GMT on 30th April
• All correct answers will go into the draw for this super prize...................

Here's the list of blogs you need to visit, you should have come to me from Pinky's blog and next you need to visit Brenda's blog.

Sally
Pinky

Clare (me)

Brenda
Ruth

Tracy
Lynne

Francesca

I hope you have managed to guess my letter! This is the prize on offer for my comment draw:-

I hope you can join our Birthday celebrations!

Hugs, Clare xx

Penny Black and More "Oh So Cute!"

Good morning!

Our challenge this month at Penny Black and More is:-

"Oh So Cute!"

This Penny Black image (Lazy Days 3782J) has long been a favourite of mine because I think it is so cute! I hope you can join us this month and can't wait to see which cute images you use on your creation.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Ready-Teddy-Go April Challenge

Happy April Fools' Day!

It's time for another challenge at Ready-Teddy-Go and this month our theme is:-

"It's a Little Bit Sketchy"

Here's my take on the sketch:-

I do hope you and your teddy or teddies can join us.

Hugs, Clare xx

Sir Stampalot - A Krafty Affair

Good morning and a very Happy Mothering Sunday to all the Mums.

This month, at the Sir Stampalot challenge, our lovely leader Brenda set the Design Team two challenges. The first was shown at the start of the challenge and today it is time for us to reveal our second creations.

Brenda sent each team member this kit:-

"A Krafty Affair"
The papers varied for each DT but were from the same pack

Here's what I made from the kit:-

You can see what the other team members made with their kit at the Sir Stampalot Challenge blog.

Thank you Brenda for setting us these fun challenges this month.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Polka Doodles Giveaway

All this week, my lovely Polka Doodles teamie, Enfys, has been hosting a Polka Doodles Giveaway.

For details of how to enter, please pop over to her blog Going Buggy.

Good luck!

Clare xx

Dress a Girl Around the World

Good afternoon,

I've had a productive morning:-

I've made a dress to send for the "Dress a Girl Around the World" scheme. I shall be sending this to Louise at Sew Scrumptious who arranges for them to be sent around the world. I've got enough fabric to make another two dresses as well.

This is from Louise's blog:-  We are making pillowcase dresses for charity. Come and join us!! 982 dresses received so far. 400 sent to Malawi. 120 to Kenya, 50 to India and 50 to Ghana 

My thanks to Annie and Jo for the inspiration.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Sir Stampalot March Challenge "Take Inspiration"

Good morning,

Our challenge at Sir Stampalot this month is:-

"Take Inspiration"

Our team leader Brenda, kindly sent the DT almost identical kits for us to make our DT projects this month. In fact, we were sent two kits to make two projects, but you will have to wait until the 18th to see our second project.

The challenge is to take inspiration from this month's DT projects.  Brenda has explained in more detail on the challenge blog.

Here's my first card 

using this "Swirls and Pearls" kit

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with this month.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Penny Black and More at Allsorts "Springtime"

Good morning,

It's time for our March challenge at Penny Black and More at Allsorts and this month our theme is:-

"Springtime".

For me, Springtime is confirmed when the daffodils start flowering, so I have chosen a stamp with daffodils, it's Penny Black 3822K called "Trumpet Vase".

As usual, we have some fabulous prizes on offer, and I hope you are able to join us.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Ready-Teddy-Go April Challenge

Good morning!

My apologies for being a day late with my April DT card for Ready-Teddy-Go.

Our challenge this month is "IT'S A WRAP"

sounds like something you might hear on a Hollywood film set doesn't it but not this time ... this is a challenge which is inspired by packaging!!!!!

Marketing companies worldwide are paid a small fortune to come up with striking and alluring packaging to make us part with our hard earned cash.  

Colour schemes and eye catching logos aren't just thrown together so . . . I would like to challenge folk to take their favourite product colour scheme and use it to make a card, a scrapbook page, a bag or box or indeed anything which also features a bear of course!

My inspiration was from Coca Cola packaging.

I hope you are inspired to join us this month.

Congratulations to our February winner Pauline.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Sir Stampalot February challenge

Good morning,

It's time for another challenge at Sir Stampalot and the theme for this month is "In the Garden". I liked this theme so much I decided to make two items.

For this card I used an image from Magenta called " Lovely Meadow". I stamped it with black Versafine ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I used alcohol markers and chalks to colour it. The paper is from Echo Park's "Country Drive' paper pack, the colour wasn't quite right so I swiped yellow distress ink over it and then stamped around the edges using one of my all time favourite stamps "Leaf Flourish" by Hero Arts (F5042). 

Z

 My second project is a bookmark. I stamped Hero Arts "Wildflower Garden" CG170 in "Frayed Burlap" distress ink onto Claudine Hellmuth sticky back canvas and then painted over using Claudine Hellmuth Studio Line acrylic paints.I love this bookmark because of the texture of the canvas and the paints.

I hope you can join us this month.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare x

Penny Black and More at Allsorts - February Challenge

Good morning,

It's a white morning here in Warwickshire and I can see the sledge that Santa accidentally left behind at Christmas when he delivered the presents is going to be put to good use today.

It's also the first Sunday of the month which means it is time for another challenge from Penny Black and More at Allsorts. 

We have a colour bingo theme for you this month:-

I chose yellow/white/black for my card.

I have used two Penny Black stamps, one for flower and background called "Sundial" 4159K and the sentiment called "Special Time" 4174H. The butterfly is cut and embossed using a Cuttlebug set. I've sprayed "Pearl" Glimmer Mist over the flower and butterfly and finally I added pearls from my stamps and some SU ribbon.

We had an amazing number of entries last month, thank you to everyone for your support. I hope you can join us this month.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Ready-Teddy-Go February Challenge

Good morning!

It's time for another challenge at Ready-Teddy-Go. This month our theme is "I'm in Stitches".

I've made a little birthday book, with a page for each month. The stitches alongside the image are from a Hero Arts clear stamp set called "Stitched Frame" CL527. The image is from Cuddly Buddly and I've coloured it will pencils and added some holographic heat embossing powder to the rose.

Thank you for all the fabulous entries to our challenge last month and I hope you can join us this month.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

p.s. RUNNING UPDATE. Yes, I'm still getting out there and am on target with my "easy" training plan (I'm on week 5 already!). I can't believe how much I am enjoying it, I thought the cold would put me off but once I get going I am nice and warm.

I would like to say a big THANK YOU to Steph and Enfys for sponsoring me to run three miles in support of Sports Relief on 25th March. Your support means a lot and has really helped me on those days when I haven't wanted to put my on running shoes.

http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/clarepinks

Flutter By Wednesday

There is an open theme at Flutter By Wednesday this week.

Here's my entry:-

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Simon Says "Spots and/or Stripes"

Good morning,

Here's my entry for the Simons Says Challenge this week. Their theme is "Spots and/or Stripes". I guess you can tell which element I chose!

The papers are My Mind's Eye Lime Twist "Out of the Blue" and the image is by Penny Black called "Birthday Balloons" 3968K. The sentiment is by Lily of the Valley from a set called "Calendars" ST133.

I've coloured the image with a mix of alcohol markers and pencils.

Thank you for visiting.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Sir Stampalot January Challenge "Monochromatic"

Good morning,

It's the first Sunday of the month and time for a new challenge from Sir Stampalot. Our theme this month is

"MONOCHROMATIC"

I've made a matching tag and card.

Both panels started out white and I inked them with three different blue Distress Inks - "Stormy Sky", "Chipped Sapphire" and "Broken Glass". Next I sprayed them with "Dazzling Diamonds" glimmer mist so in real life they have a lovely shimmer. Once they were dry I stamped the Hero Arts images on top using "Chipped Sapphire" distress ink. Both stamps are from the Hero Arts "Delicate Blossoms" clear stamp set CL449.

Have you made any New Year's resolutions? I don't usually make them, but this year I have.

1. Buy less crafting goodies and use what I already have (although I did put a small order in at Sir Stampalot - I couldn't ignore their sale!).

2. Start running!!!!!!! My lovely hubby has already bought me some running gear as an early birthday present so I will have to get out there and use it or I will feel too guilty.

3. Learn how to take better photographs of my cards when it's winter.

I wonder if I will stick to any of these resolutions? I hope you stick to yours if you have made any.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Penny Black and More - Love and Hearts

Good morning,

It's time for our January challenge at Penny Black and More @ Allsorts and our theme this month is:_

"Love and Hearts"

Here's the ingredients I used for this card:-

Main Image:- Penny Black "Imagine" 3694K

"love" sentiment:- Penny Black clear stamp set "Hugs" 30-020

Heart Spellbinder Nestabilities dies

"Lady Bug" memento ink

Pearlecent card

Embroidery thread

Coloured pencils

I hope Hubby doesn't come looking at my blog as I'm hoping to give him this card for Valentine's day. 

Happy New Year!

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx

Ready-Teddy-Go January Challenge "In the Pink"

Good morning and a Very Happy New Year to you!

I hope you have all enjoyed the festive season and that many of you have new crafting goodies to play with!

I had a lovely break and a rest from crafting but now I'm raring to go again!

I will be posting three DT challenge pieces today and not one of them is Christmas themed. I have a sneaky feeling that I am going to miss making Christmas cards.

My first card is for the new Ready-Teddy-Go challenge. Our theme for January is

"In the Pink"

I've made a "New Baby" card. I don't make cards to sell but occasionally someone will ask me for a card and more often than not it is for a new baby, so I thought I had better stock up.

I've used a Forever Friends stamp and the sentiments are from a Stampin' Up! set called "Congrats".
The paper, flowers and card candy are all from Craftwork Cards from one of their Goody Bags. I've coloured the image with alcohol markers and inked "Spun Sugar" distress inks around the white card to tone down the brightness.

Thank you to everyone who joined our challenge last month, and look forward to visiting this month's entries.

Hugs and best wishes, Clare xx