Penny Black Fave Challenge

This week's challenge on the Penny Black Blog is to create a card using your favourite Penny Black stamp. Ha ha, asking me to choose my favourite Penny Black stamp is probably like asking a mother of 10 kids to choose her favourite child (only in mycase it's more like 100 "kids", LOL)... I just can't do it, I love all my Penny Black stamps! However, as I already had 3989K joyeux noel out for last week's Sketch challenge, I thought I'd use it to create this card.

As you can sprobably tell, I still haven't quite had my fill of creating Distress ink sunset backgrounds, LOL J
I started by die-cutting a piece of white cardstock with Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 17, then holding the die in place around the card to create a frame, I masked off the top part of the image with scrap card, and sponged on Brushed Corduroy & Crushed Olive distress ink to create the ground. I then masked off the bottom part of the image, and starting in the centre, sponged Spiced Marmalade, followed by Mustard Seed, Dried Marigold & Barn Door distress inks. When the background was dry, I stamped 3989K joyeux noel with Versafine Onyx Black. I didn't quite like how the image just ended rather abruptly on the right side, so I added a little bit more "branch & berries" with a black Sharpie marker to extend the image to the edge of the frame. I also darkened portions of the image with the black marker to give it more definition. A little bit of Opalite Golden Mist ink was sponged over the top to give a slight shimmer (not really apparent in the photo), and gold & red Stickles added to the berries on the image.

I was still playing with my distress inks when I created this card. Creation details are similar to the above card, except I used Penny Black 3623K quite dandy for the image (which I stamped twice) and 3424D thinking... for the sentiment.

I had a few tags leftover after creating last week's Sketch Challenge which I didn't want to waste, so decided to create a Tag card (to make the tags, check out this post). To create the background, I first covered a piece of white cardstock with Tea Dye distress ink - I did this by just rubbing the inkpad directly onto the cardstock. However, I wasn't quite happy with the colour - it did not seem quite dark enough, so I went over it with Walnut Stain distress ink. I then inked Penny Black 1999L letter background with Walnut Stain distress ink, and stamped randomly over the background. I think the background was still fairly wet, so the letters merged into the background slightly, and are not very obvious in the photo. I then stamped the music background from Penny Black 30-009 clearly in love randomly over the background with Brilliance Galaxy Gold ink. I also edged the sides with gold ink. The finished background was  attached to a black card blank, and the tags mounted on with foam tape. "JOY" from Penny Black 30-087 winter wonders was stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink.

Penny Black October Sketch Challenge

I have been busy all week working & teaching classes at the recent Melbourne Craft & Sewing Show, that I've only just managed to get my entry for the Penny Black October Sketch Challenge made today, with just a few hours to spare!



3989K joyeux noel

Having just gotten a set of Spellbinders Shapeabilities Holiday Tags dies, I really wanted to have a play with them and decided to use them on my Sketch card (see the challenge sketch here). To make this card, I stamped Penny Black 3989K joyeux noel on yellow, red, mauve & lime green cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Using the Holiday Tags, I diecut portions of the image, and holding the die still in place, sponged distress inks in co-ordinating colours onto each tag. The ornament tags were then layered onto various cardstock with foam tape, and a gold twine bow added to each tag. Seasons greetings from Penny Black 30-018 crystalline was stamped on yellow card with tuxedo black ink, punched out using McGill Vintage Label punch, and lightly distressed around the edges.