Our first JM tutorial challenge - Distressing

Good morning and here we are on our very first Just Magnolia tutorial challenge . I hope you have all managed to find us!! There are links on all the new Just Magnolia blogs to each other and hopefully having the seperate blogs will make it much easier to enter the challenge that you want .... of course we hope you will enter ALL of them!!!

Following on from the wonderful distressing tutorial by out talented Kim did for us on the Just Magnolia blog we decided to base our first challenge around it. You will have 2 weeks to enter and you can make whatever you like as long as you have at least one Magnolia image on it! Our sponsors are 7 Kids College fund and they are offering a $20 gift certificate to one lucky winner.

I have another new fave colour combo .... orange and aqua .... I love all these summer colours! I was inspired by my new MME papers that I picked up at the weekend - love this pack, full of scrummy colours and designs. I have used this weeks sketch by Friday Sketchers , it was perfect for this image! I have coloured my image with prismacolor pencils and then blended with sansador and paper stumps. Good old glamour dust for Tilda's wings for a bit of sparkle, how did I manage without it? Now, I do not have any distressing inks (shock, horror!) and my local craft shops didn't have any .... eek!! But you know what us crafters are like, we always find a way! I used my trusty chalks to give a soft distressed look to the background of my image.

I hope you have fun with this challenge and remember to pop over to the Just Magnolia blog on Friday for a brand new weekly challenge.

Our new tutorial challenge blog

After much thought we have decided to split the challenges into three seperate blogs as it's going to get rather confusing trying to run the weekly and monthly challenges simuntaneously on one blog.

So, this morning we launch our second monthly challenge on the new blog which will be based around the challenges that our Featured Stampers do for us. Last month our Featured Stamper was our fellow DT member Kim, who did the most amazing distressing tutorial for us.We hope you will pop over to the new blog later today and take part in the new challenge. There's a fab prize up for grabs too!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge / Singalong Saturday ... RIP Michael Jackson

Woohoo, it is the weekend at last and time for another wonderful challenge on Penny Black Saturday Challenge . This week our talented Nat has created a fabulous sketch to follow so I hope lots of you play along with us.

I have seen quite a lot of cards with pink & orange combos recently so I thought have a go too - this is such a great combo for summer! I think a few of us will be sat out in the garden this weekend, it is going to be hot, hot, hot!!!!!

I just want to say good luck to my son Ryan and the rest of the band (Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band) today because they are competeing in the English National Championship in Preston ... play your hearts out!

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Well, what sad news this week about Michael Jackson's death. Such a loss, the man was a musical genius. It only seems right that I put his music on this week for us all to share - hope you enjoy my choice. RIP Michael.

Stamp Something / Just Magnolia

Good morning and Friday again which means time for some more fabulous challenges. I forgot to set my alarm this morning so a short sweet post from me today because I am dashing to work! This week on Stamp Something we have a great challenge for you .....

EMBELLISH SOMETHING

So let us see you using at least 3 embellishments on your card!

We have been sponsored by My Little Ribbon Shop and were sent some lovely goodies to play with. I have used this gorgeous ribbon from their store - please check out their store for some wonderful products.

A closer look at my card - the embellies I have used are ribbon, pearl ribbon sliders, flowers, spacer and brads ..... loved this challenge! Hope you can join in the fun and remember to have a look at the DT cards for some fabulous inspiration.

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We have a treat for you this week on Just Magnolia - a sketch by our lovely Bev. We all love sketches so I hope you can join in. We are sponsored by The Cutting Cafe this week so make sure you check out our blog for more details of the prize.

More new papers for me this week and I love these - so fresh and pretty. I have coloured Tilda with my prismas and used my fave glamour dust for her wings. I have chalked the background which I do like doing, seems to get rid of all that white space, lol. I also got chance to use my yummy new flowers from Crafty Feeling - amazing service, arrived the next day after ordering and they even threw in a bar of choccy, mmmmm.

And here is this little cutie again, I just love her - I cant wait for the new summer kit to be sent out .... I want some new rubber to play with, lol. Have a great day ... better run and get to work ..... see you all next week!

Have you heard - it is the 'in thing' to combine :o)

Hiya, woohoo I am getting to play for fun and I like it!!!!! I am so excited because there is a guest DT call at the moment on Roses on Paper . All you need to do is to have taken part in one of their challenges. I am entering this weeks challenge which is to combine challenges (woohoo) and incorporate flowers (even bigger woohoo!!)


I have used the beautiful 'Rain' from the new Miss Anya set by The Greeting Farm - she really is one of my favourite all time stamps, I just love her!! The sentiment is also a GF stamp from the Hope & Grace set . I have used my precious Making Memories papers which only come out for special occassions - I usually just take them out and stroke them and then pack them away again, lol. As you can see my flower is there complete with a scrummy flower charm as a finishing touch.

So here are the other challenges that I am combining - don't feel naughty this time :o)

Roses on Paper - Combine challenges & incorporate flowers

Sketch Saturday - Love this sketch - thanks girls!

ABC - Summer ... have used summer colours... also Miss Anya is certainly dressed for a British summer!!! She is certainly keeping her word though and will bring you sunshine ... just seen the weather forecast :o)

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your evening - Mr Blogger has been naughty and pinched my name from the bottom of my post ... slap his legs if you see him and tell him that I want it back!!

Byeeeeeeeee xxx

Penny Black / Fab Saturday Singalong

Good morning everyone and can I just saya huge THANKYOU to you all for taking part last week. We had such a fabulous response on PBSC !!!
Poor Tracie has been having major internet connection problems so the winners will not be announced until tomorrow on the blog so make sure you remember to check back to see if you are one of the lucky ones. I can announce the winner of my candy today though and it is ........

FRANCESCA

I absolutely loved your card - it was so much fun and that is what our blog is all about. Could you email me your address details (link to my email on my sidebar) and I will post your goodies out to you!!!



So, onto this week and our theme is EMBOSSING. I have gone for quite a simple card, not fussy at all and I am pleased with how it turned out. I have used various embossed papers by Bazzill from Dies To Die For and the are just scrumptious.




A closer look at the image - Penny Black really have some lovely flower images which are so quick to colour and are just stunning in design. Remember to pop over to the blog for details of this weeks prize and to drool over the gorgeous cards by the DT. Please don't forget to check the main blog tomorrow too for the list of winners .... good luck!!


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I am totally loving my choice this week and don't know why I didn't think of it before. I used to love Deacon Blue in my teens = so here you go..... Real Gone Kid ..... hope you all sing along nice and loudly (maybe even have a little dance)

Just Magnolia / Stamp Something

Morning - Friday at last and boy oh boy am I ready for the weekend to arrive!! We have a lovely theme for you this week on Just Magnolia and it would seem a few other challenges also have it too .......

SUMMER



For me I think of 2 things .... strawberries and aslo ice-cream. My favourite flavour is mint choc chip mmmmmm delicious! I have pinched Edwin's net and given him a whopping great ice cream cone (from the WOJ summer kit) instead for being such a good lad! I hope the usual doesn't happen when kids have an ice cream - we have all had a sobbing child when the ice cream falls slop - straight on the floor and all the are left with is an empty cone ... bless!






Here is a closer look at Edwin - my mint choc chap (how corny, lol). The papers were a freebie from a magazine and are packed with fruity papers perfect for summer. I hope you can all join us and remember - we do not mind if you combine your sketches. There is also lots of time to enter our monthly challenge

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Time for a new challenge on Stamp Something and it is a great, fun challenge. This week we would like to see you make your cards with Black, White and ONE other colour. You can choose any colour you wish so come on and join the fun!!

Our sponsor this week is Paper Makeup Stamps and we were very kindly given an image to play with. As you can see I have chosen pink as my other colour - just love this combo. The yummy papers are PP and I hardly use them but they are so gorgeous that I must really use them a lot more in future.The lovely little dew drops are from Tracy at Dies To Die For. Make sure you look at the other DTs cards for that extra inspiration.

Have a wonderful week!

Lili of the Valley Fortnightly Challenge

Good morning ladies, I hope you are all having a good week so far. I missed having my day off yesterday but not long til the weekend!! We have a great challenge for you this week on LOTV and it is one of my favourite techniques at the moment .......

PAPER PIECING




If you are not sure what paper piecing is then please then let me explain really quickly. Just stamp out your image as normal. Now, here is the fun bit - instead of colouring part of your image you fill it with some of your backing papers. On my card I decided to make my Anya's dress match the pink paper so I stamped the image out again on a piece of matching paper. All you have to do now is cut it out and then glue it in place..... easy!






Now if you look closely you can see I made a little mistake when I cut her dress out - will know for next time ... oops! I have used the pretty new papers from Papermania and some scrumptious flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts. Please make sure you visit the rest of the DT's cards for some fabulous examples of paper piecing. You have 2 weeks to enter and remember you can combine your card with other challenges. Hope to see you all joining in!!

Just Magnolia Monthly Challenge

Good morning, and here we are on our first monthly challenge on Just Magnolia. We are hoping to run 2 monthly challenges every month as well as our weekly challenge so there really should be something for everyone!! This challenge will run for 2 weeks and is totally seperate from our usual weekly challenge. Our sponsor is Simon Says Stamp and they have very generously offered $50 to spend in their store to one lucky winner. The challenge this week is to .....

ALTER A CONTAINER

You can alter absolutely any type of container you like. It can be something you have had stuck in a drawer for ages - you do not need to buy anything special. I decided to alter a photo album. It is just one of those little cheap ones you can pick up anywhere. I have followed the sketch over at Friday Sketchers (I do love sketches) and have turned and flipped it!

I have used some favourite papers of mine - had to dust them off a bit but they are still as gorgeous as every. Had a good time punching too with my flower punches and my MSDP - it has been neglected a little bit recently but is still my favourite border punch in the whole world! I have also finally used my new label dies on the spine of the album - these are fab and can't wait to use them again.

You might be wondering why I had called my album 'Magnolia' .... well it is because it is not for piccies of Tilda, lol, instead ..... a nice clean place to store all my yummy Magnolia images! The pockets are the perfect size to slot the images in - so you see ... it is a container for images (lateral thinking hahaha).

The only problem is that I am now going to have to make these little albums for all my other stamped images. I also think it is a nice alternative to a birthday card for a crafty friend. You can make the outside like a card and then fill it full of lovely images as a surprise ..... I had better get busy!

I hope you all join in - remember you have 2 weeks to take part. Make sure you check the incredible creations by the rest of the DT - they are just stunning!!!!! See you all again on Friday for a brand new weekly challenge!

Happy birthday Penny Black Saturday Challenge!!!!

Good morning and woohoo ..... it is our birthday today on PENNY BLACK SATURDAY CHALLENGE!!!! Wow, we are 1 today and just wait to see how we are going to celebrate! I would just like to say a huge thankyou to all of you who have joined in our challenges this year - we would not have a wonderful blog with you all, so thanks from the bottom of my heart. I would also like to say thanks to my wonderful DT buddies, they are such a special bunch of people and I am so honoured to be working with them each week. I would especially like to thank Kath and Tracie for all the hard work they put in every week keeping things running smoothly!

So onto this weeks challenge ...... we would love to see you use the theme of celebrations - this could be for anything at all as long as you use a PB product. Up for grabs are 10 prizes ....yes that's right .... 10. Thankyou so much to our wonderful sponsors - you are all brilliant!! For details of the prizes pop over to the blog for a peep.

You would think that 10 prizes would be enough but you would be wrong. Each DT member is also offering a surprise birthday candy. To be in with a chance of winning one just take part in this weeks challenge but leave a comment on the DT's PB post on their individual blog. You can enter as many different DT candies as you want but please only enter each candy once. The DT candies closes at 8am on Friday and the winners will all be announced on next Saturday on the PBSC blog. Each DT member will pick a winner for their candy and the winners for the sponsored prizes will be selected in the usual way. Remember - you have to take part in the challenge to enter the surprise candies. So, if you want to win my candy just comment on this post with a link to your card for this weeks challenge :o)

Phew, I think that is it! I hope to see lots of you joining in on our special week. There is so much fun to join in with and lots of lovely things to win so come on - what's stopping you! Have a great weekend and see you all soon!

Stamp Something / Just Magnolia

Good morning, wow, is it Friday alreaady?? I have been so busy I do not know if I am coming or going. Phew, at least it is almost the weekend!! I had a great evening yesterday - my son and his band (singing not brass) had their first proper gig at The Loft in Xscape. They were really fab and got a really good response from the people in the bar. I seemed to be twice the age of everyone else there but who cares!!!!

So, onto this weeks challenge on Stamp Something and we have a SKETCH!!!! Woohoo, my favourite type of challenge!




We were all sent a stamp to play with from our sponsors Dog Gone Stamps so I just had to make a christmas card with it, the sketch is such a lovely one to follow and great for an A5 card. I hope you can visit the blog to see the rest of the cards by the DT and I hope you can all join in - remember you can combine with other challenges too!

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Another week already for us all on Just Magnolia and we have a lovely challenge for you all. This week it is PAPER PIECING so lets see your favourite papers being used in a fun way rather than just as backing papers. Our sponsor this week is the lovely Jill from The Hobby House and she has offered a fab prize to this weeks winner.

Well, it is another christmas card from me - aren't I doing well, lol! I love all the non traditional colours and purple is one of my favourite colours for any time of the year. It is also the first time I have used my Diamond Dust - the effect it gives the snowflake is so pretty. You can win some Diamond Dust as part of this weeks prize - I love it and will be using it lots and lots on my cards from now on. I have followed the great sketch over on ICS , good to play along with all my old DT buddies :o)

Here is a closer look at Tilda and that snowflake - I adore Tilda, she is so sweet. Make sure you look at the rest of the DTs cards - you know that they are all just fabulous and will provide so much inspiration.

Remember to pop back tomorrow for a very special Penny Black Saturday Challenge - it is ouor birthday and there are going to be some fabulous give-aways!!

Yoohoo .... only me!

Hi everyone .... remember me??? I know it has been a while but I have been searching for my mojo - it had done a runner, naughty mojo!!! I think I have a firm grip of it again though so hopefully I am back in action again :o)

Lots of catching up to do so a bit of challenge combining is needed again (there are just so many to take part in these days).

So, here are the challenges I managed to fit with this little card ........

Stampin' for the weekend - Purple and Yellow (Welcome and good luck girls with your fab new blog!!!)

Sketch and Stash - new GF stamp from Tracy at Dies To Die For

ABC - Roses

Secret Crafter - Bling

I have to say I am just loving all the Greeting Farm stamps at the moment. This cutie is from the Hope & Grace set, gorgeous! You can have a look at the latest collection here that Tracy has for sale - how can you resist them .... too cute!

Will try to get a better piccie later - this was taken with my strong kitchen lights and is a bit harsh.

Catch you all tomorrow for Just Magnolia and Stamp Something - have a great day!