Hello 2018 - long time no blog!!

Hello again Blogland!!

No resolutions are being set at Parkhurst Towers this year as I never ever stick to any of them but I thought tonight was as good a time as any to revive ye olde blogge and get back to sharing some of my crafty makes.

I have no idea how prolific or not I might be, but I am looking forward to taking part in some of the crafty challenges that I use to take participate in. 

To kick things off I am taking part in one of my favourite blog challenges and that is the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  December's challenge was Winter or Christmas and I made this card for Mr P for Christmas.

The stamps both sentiment and image are from T for transparent set 'Christmas Hugs' which were new for Christmas 2017.  The image was stamped twice and coloured with Promarkers and then one image was fussy cut out and mounted with pinflair gel over the base image for some dimension.

The heart dies are by Cheery Lynn and the background paper is by Craft Creations.

Well that was pretty painless - it seems that blogging is like riding a bike and you don't forget how to do it!!  Fingers crossed I can now regularly remember to photograph crafty makes and come here to upload them

Valentines cards

I had a new stamp to get inky for my Valentines card for Mr P.  It is from new Penny Black T for transparent set 'Hearts Aplenty'

The papers used are Basic Grey 'Two Scoops' and the sentiment is from Stampin' Up.  The image was coloured with Promarkers.

The second card used a digi-stamp from the Flirty Flamingo set (The Lovely Studio formerly Pink Petticoat).  Again the image was coloured with Promarkers, die cut with a Stampin' Up labels framelit and mounted onto pink glitter cardstock

And as always I had to make a jokey cash cow card using Penny Black 'From the Folks'

The sentiment was made with Stampin' Up alphabet stamps and the crystal heart is from Majorcrafts.

Uplifting Occasion

One of my all time favourite Penny Black stamps is Uplifting Occasion and it was one of my earliest Penny Black purchases and helped put me on my slippery slope of Penny Black addiction!!

I made this card for a cat-mad friend's birthday.  The image was coloured with Promarkers and glittered with Black Stickles.

The sentiment is by Stampin' Up and the sentiment mats are SU punches.

I am entering this card into the Penny Black and More and the Penny Black Saturday Challenge - both challenges for January are 'Anything Goes'

Blogtober Day 28 - using up kit leftovers

I had lots of bits and bobs of a magazine freebie paper pack leftover, so I started out by covering a load of card blanks with the papers.  Then I matched stamped images (all of them Penny Black) that I had coloured a while ago with the card blanks.

The sentiments are a mixture of Stampin' Up, Hero Arts and Personal Impressions

Punches used are EK Success butterfly, Stampin' Up scalloped border and small flower.

That's a few more cards to restock my for sale box.

Blogtober Day 26 - Beat the Christmas Rush - the October Edition

I need to up my production rate of cards the closer we get to December as I still have one more fundraiser to do plus I have my own cards to send.  So I made 10 cards for this month's edition.

I used a lovely doily die from Penny Black and mounted a snowman from Stampin' Up set 'Snow Place' on top of it, the little santa hat is also from that stamp and die set.

The little white peel off sentiments are from Woodware and the sequins are from my stash.

If you would like to join in with Beat the Christmas Rush please leave a link to your blog post below -

Blogtober Day 6 - Happy 50th Birthday

This is the birthday card that I made for my sister's 50th birthday.  A big thank you to my friend Wendy who cut out all the shaped elements for me on her die-cutting machine.  I embossed some of the shaped numbers and then decorated with various stamped Penny Black images.

The patterned paper behind the 0 is from Craft Creations.  I coloured all the images in with Promarkers and highlighted parts with Stickles glitter.  The balloon was coated in glossy accents to make it lovely and shiny.

I further embellished it with organza ribbon and small stars punched with an EKSuccess border punch.

If you want to join in with Blogtober then check out how to on Sy's blog

Happy Birthday Mum xxx

Today it is my lovely Mum's birthday and even though I had an imaged stamped and coloured, I had been procrastinating over what to do with it.  Anyway finally last night whilst watching the Olympic opening ceremony some inspiration struck.

I haven't made a shaped easel card in ages so using my large Go Kreate circle and scalloped circle dies I made a circle easel card.  The image was coloured with Promarkers and the roses are painted with a Wink of Stella brush marker - sadly the camera doesn't pick up just how sparkly they are.

The flowers are punched with two different Stampin' Up punches and shaped with a ball tool and foam mat.  The flourish is a Cheery Lynn die and the gems are from Majorcrafts.

I am entering the card into this month's Penny Black Saturday Challenge which is to use your favourite technique - I don't really have one fave technique but this card incorporates a lot of the techniques that I use all the time - punched flowers, colouring with promarkers and diecutting .

I'm off to see Mum later armed with a bottle of something fizzy, birthday cake and nibbles to help her celebrate!!

Beat the Christmas Rush - July Edition

Apologies for being a day late but I am finally here with this month's offering for Beat the Christmas Rush.

BTCR is all about getting ahead for Christmas by making a few cards each month so that you won't have to make them in a mad rush come November.

I have gone for a simple one layer card this month so that I can enter it into the one layer challenge over at Penny Black Saturday Challenge, I am also entering it into the challenge at Penny Black and More - Anything Goes with a Stamp.

Once more I delved into the bag of shame and pulled out a T for transparent set 'Holly Scroll' - a bargain I got in a sale but hadn't got inky yet.

Though a simple design, they were not quick cards to make as the stamp was pretty detailed and needed careful colouring with Promarkers.

The sentiment was from the same stamp set and I went round the edge of the design with a pastel blue promarker to help the image pop from the page.  The gemstones are from Majorcrafts.

If you would like to join in and share the Christmas cards that you have made then please add your blog link to the linky below.

Happy 21st wedding anniversary

It is our 21st wedding anniversary today and as always I have made a card for Mr P.  I will be entering it into this month's challenge over at Penny Black and More which is Anything goes with a stamp

I used Penny Black 'Love and Roses'.

 The papers are magazine freebies and I used a Stampin' Up framelit to cut the image out.  The image was coloured with promarkers and I used wink of stella on the roses to add subtle sparkle.

The sentiment stamps are Stampin' Up (Love You) and Stamps Away (Happy Anniversary).  The flowers were punched with SU punches and the foliage is a die which I think might be by Cheery Lyn.

Ten days before our wedding anniversary we celebrated our 24th anniversary of being a couple.  The cash cow joke is still running (see my Valentines post!!) so I dug out another one of my Penny Black cow stamps - 'From the Folks', the sentiment was printed on the computer.

The square die is MFT and the ovals are both SU punches, the glitter hearts were also made with a SU punch.

I'm currently drowning under a pile of papers and photos as the A Trip Down Memory Lane cybercrop has started this evening.  I will take a break when Mr P gets in from work to enjoy something pink and fizzy and we also have cream cakes in the fridge!!

One Layer Cards - Penny Black Saturday Challenge

The challenge this month over at Penny Black Saturday Challenge is One Layer cards.  I needed to make some quick thank you cards for Mr P after his birthday so came up with these, I made quite a few as you can never have too many thank you cards.

I stamped directly onto the card using a stamp from T for transparent set 'Sunny Days' and the sentiment is from a set called 'Critter Time'.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and used Stickles on the butterflies and the grass for a little sparkle.

Happy Father's Day

This is the card that I have made for my Dad this year - I thought the image was very appropriate for him as he is always whizzing around on his bike, even at the age of 77.

The stamp is from Penny Black T for transparent set 'You're Retro' and the little sentiment is also from that set.  The Father's Day sentiment is by Stamps Away.

Happy Birthday Mr P!!!

It's Mr P's birthday today so as usual I have rustled him up a card.  I used Penny Black stamp 'Double Decker'.

The papers are from Wild Rose Studio and the sentiments are by Woodware and Paper Smooches.  I coloured the image with Promarkers.

I hope Mr P has a lovely day, we have a nice meal out to look forward to later.

Beat the Christmas Rush - May Edition

Sorry for the delay but here finally is the May Edition of Beat The Christmas Rush.  BTCR is all about getting a little bit organised and making a few Christmas cards each month so that by December you should have a nice little pile of cards ready for writing and posting.

This month I have pulled out a stamp from the bag of shame (where I keep new crafting stuff until it has been used for the first time) - it is a Penny Black cling stamp called Spruced Up - it's a little bit different from the usual cute critter cards that I make.  The scalloped cards were made using American Crafts cardstock and a Sizzix XL die.

All the bows are ones that I have recycled from shop bought cards and the gemstones are from Majorcrafts.  I lightly glittered the green parts of the skirt with eucalyptus Stickles.

I highlighted the berries on the wreath with red liquid pearls and the image was coloured with Promarkers.

If you would like to join in with Beat the Christmas Rush just link to your cards in the linky below.

Jazzy Cats

Apologies if you are looking for May's Beat the Christmas Rush - I haven't quite finished my cards yet so the post will arrive either on Sunday or Monday.

Here's a card I made earlier for the masculine challenge over at Penny Black Saturday Challenge, I'm also entering it into the Anything Goes challenge at Penny Black and More

I made it with a fairly new set of T for transparent stamps by Penny Black called Jazzy Cats, for a friend's son.

The music score die is by Amy Design NL and the sentiment is an All Occasions Die.  The pawprint paper is from Craft Creations.

My friend shares her birthday with her son so I made her a card from the same set.

The music note dies are Spellbinder D-lites.

Beat the Christmas Rush - the April edition

Apologies for being a day late with Beat the Christmas Rush - I was hoping for better light today for photographing my cards.

Anyway these mini snowy cards are very fitting for today - it has tried to snow a few times.

The background is made with a Stampin' Up embossing folder and the image is from Penny Black T for transparent set 'Winter Play'.

The sentiment is by Personal Impressions and the image was coloured with Promarkers.

The sentiment mats are punched with Stampin' Up punches and the scalloped circle is a Spellbinders die.  The snow is Nuvo Glitter drops in Blue Lagoon and the glitter on the hat is Stardust Stickles.

If you fancy getting ahead for Christmas then please do join in and share any cards you have made nice and early in the linky below.  Don't forget to link back to this blog post in your post and thank you to those who took part last month, I enjoyed coming and taking a peek at your blogs.