Guest Designing at Seize the Birthday

I have the pleasure of being Surprise Party Guest at the current Seize the Birthday challenge. Thank you so much for having me, ladies! The theme is Anything Goes (as long as it is a birthday card) but if you really want to get your creative juices flowing, you can follow the optional theme - or Topping - which is Off the Edge.

I thought it would be nice to have a larger word die to go 'off the edge' of the card so I used the Love Letters die by Penny Black and cut it out of glittery teal coloured cardstock. I then coloured the cute little kitten from the stamp set Cuteness with my Copics and placed it 'off the edge' of the letter V. For the background I used a stencil from the stencil set Background Basics and ink blended some yellow Distress Oxide inks on my panel which I then adhered on my card base. I also used a sentiment from the mini stamp set Pawsome Present as secondary sentiment. Lastly, I embellished the card with some gems.

Please do visit the Seize the Birthday challenge blog to see all the wonderful inspiration provided by the DT and don't forget to join in on the fun!

Penny Black products used:

* Love Letters (51-803)

* Cuteness (31-035)

* Background Basics stencil set (25-021)

* Pawsome Present (30-569)

Flower Family

I fell in love with these floral dies the minute I saw them! They are so pretty, dainty and quirky all at the same time. They are new dies from the latest Penny Black release 'Shining Wings' and they are called Flower Family.

I die cut the flowers (there are four dies in the set but I only used three here) and coloured them by ink blending some Distress Oxide inks on them (Saltwater Taffy and Abandoned Coral on the flowers, Bundled Sage on the stems). I then used Berry Basket die to die cut the pot and the leaves (the leaves are actually branches of a tree) and coloured them with Distress Oxide inks as well (Bundled Sage for the leaves and Brushed Corduroy on the edges of the pot die cut out of grey cardstock). I then used All-in-One Oval die to die cut the elements of the background and after adhering them on my cardbase, I adhered the flowers in their pot and stamped a sentiment from the new sentiment set Brighten the World on the panel. Lastly, I embellished the flowers with some half pearls.

I'm entering this to:

* Just Add Ink: Challenge #698 - Choose Two: Leaves - Flowers - Pots (I actually have all three but since there is only one pot, I'm going to go with Leaves and Flowers)

* The Paper Players: PP686 - Clean and Simple Challenge: Spring Flowers

Products by Penny Black, available in their online shop:

* Flower Family (51-819)

* Berry Basket (51-796)

* All-in-One Oval (51-815)

* Brighten the World (31-056)

Brushstroke florals

I made cards with a couple of Penny Black's brushstroke stamps. 

The first card features the gorgeous Sweetly Scented stamp. I coloured onto the stamp with Karin markers and stamped it onto watercolour paper before spritzing the stamp with some water and stamping again. I also did a bit of ink blending with Distress Oxide inks in Antique Linen and  Bundled Sage before splattering the panel with the same inks dilluted in water. I added a bit of twine, popped the panel on some foam adhesives and adhered onto a background die cut with All-in-One Oval die. 

The second stamp I used is called Idyllic. I used my Karin markers to colour onto the stamp this time, too, but instead of spritzing the stamp with water, I used a damp waterolour brush to blend the stamped colour. I then used a stencil from the stencil set Background Basics and ink blended some Distress Oxide ink on the panel before stamping the sentiment from Note Builder sentiment set.

Products by Penny Black, available in their online shop:

* Sweetly Scented (40-933)

* All-in-One Oval (51-815)

* Idyllic  (40-932)

* Note Builder (31-046)

Birdhouse Beauty

I made this card with a new stamp from Penny Black called Birdhouse Beauty. I coloured the image with my Copics and ink blended some Distress Oxide inks in Antique Linen and Brushed Cordyroy on the edges of the panel. The sentiment comes from the new sentiment set Note Builder. After having stamped the sentiment, I covered it with a piece of scrap paper and splattered some gold ink spray on the panel. For the background I used the new All-in-One Oval die.

I'm entering this to:

* Stamping Sensations: April - Anything Goes

Products by Penny Black, available in their online shop:

* Birdhouse Beauty (40-922)

* Note Builder (31-046)

* All-in-One Oval (51-815)

Fun Day

I had a bit of time to colour today so I made a simple card with simple Copic colouring on this cute stamp by Penny Black called Fun Day. After having coloured the image, I added some white gel pen accents on the image before ink blending some Distress Oxide ink in Broken China around the panel. I also stamped a sentiment from the sentiment set Not Older, Better on the panel. I then used the biggest frame in the Frame It die set to die cut the frame. I adhered everything in place and embellished the card with some enamel dots.

Products by Penny Black, available in their online shop:

* Fun Day (31-043)

* Not Older, Better (30-896)

* Frame It (51-814)

Guest Designing at Time Out Challenges

I am so happy to Guest Design for Time Out Challenges in the current challenge. Thank you so much for having me! The theme for challenge #261 is Inspired by Words: "I'm a romantic! I live for long, dreamy walks down the craft aisle." The lucky winner of this challenge gets $25 store credit to DoodlebugsWA.

I took my inspiration from the words "long, dreamy walks". Unfortunately, I don't have a craft shop in my area so I cannot take long, dreamy walks down the craft aisle so the next best thing would be long, dreamy walks in nature - preferably with green leaves on trees (no green leaves at the moment for me though, we still have snow in my area).

For my card, I used a stamp by Penny Black called Arbors and coloured the stamp with Karin markers, misted the stamp with water and stamped it onto watercolour paper. After I was happy with my result, I die cut the top of the panel with Penny Black's Note Edger die as well as a piece of dark green cardstock to get the word 'note'. The rest of the sentiment comes from Note Builder stamp set. I then used an embossing folder by Penny Black called Filigree to dry emboss a piece of cardstock that I had ink blended with Distress Oxide ink in Peeled Paint. After dry embossing it, I also lightly applied Distress Oxide ink in Rustic Wilderness to highlight the embossed parts. Lastly, I assembled the card adding a bit of craft foam behind the stamped panel so that it is raised from the embossed background.

Please do pop by Time Out Challenges to see all the wonderful inspiration provided by the talented Design Team and to take part in the challenge.

Penny Black products used:

* Arbors (40-747)

* Note Edger (51-812)

* Note Builder (31-046)

* Filigree (65-010)

All-in-One Oval

I made a couple of cards using one of Penny Black's newest dies called All-in-One Oval. This is such a fun die and makes cardmaking really quick.

This first card was probably the quickest card I've ever made. I had the cute little hedgie already coloured and fussy cut on  my desk. I stamped the hello onto the balloon using a part of a sentiment from the Note Builder sentiment set. Then I simply die cut the All-in-One Oval twice, once out of cream coloured cardstock and once out of light blue cardstock, assembled the pieces with the hedgie peeking out of the oval, stamped the rest of the sentiment on the panel using a sentiment from the Hello Builder sentiment set and matted the whole panel onto a piece of light blue cardstock. And the card was done!

For the second card, I used the same All-in-One Oval die but this time with a couple of flowers from the Country Charisma stamp set. I coloured the flowers with my Copics and used the matching die, Country Charisma Cut Out, to die cut them. The sentiment is from Love & Light sentiment set. After assembling the card, I embellished it with some white half pearls.

Products by Penny Black, available in their online shop:

* All-in-One Oval (51-815)

* Affectionate (31-034)

* Note Builder (31-046)

* Hello Builder (30-976)

* Country Charisma (30-690)

* Country Charisma Cut Out (51-634)

* Love & Light (31-037)