World Cardmaking Day Penny Black Guest Designer Card Challenge

Would you believe it?? I didn't even realise that World Cardmaking Day was on Saturday the 1st of October 2011. Unfortunately it fell on the same day as the AFL (Australian Football League) Footy Grand Final here in Melbourne. Although I am by no means a mad keen footy supporter, but you can't live in Melbourne and be married to an Aussie bloke and ignore the Footy Grand Final!! Cardmaking didn't even enter my mind all weekend.

So it was only when Monday came around, and I was busy uploading my Penny Black Winter challenge entries that I realised that there was a Penny Black Guest Designer spot up for grabs for World Cardmaking Day! The dateline was midnight Sunday PST, which actually was Monday 6pm here in Melbourne (we are ahead by 18 hours). Either way, I had less than 3 hours to create, photograph & upload my *best* card! No small ask indeed!

It really was bit of a mad scramble for me to create a a few decent entries. I knew that in the given time limit they weren't going to be my best, but as they say "something's better than nothing".

As I already had my Distress inks and my Big Shot/Spellbinders dies out to make my Winter Card Challenge entries, I decided to quickly ink up a few backgrounds using the Spellbinders Labels 17 die. I rummaged through my stamp collection and grabbed a couple of stamps that I hadn't used in a while.

For this first card, I used Penny Black 4201K adorned tree  and stamped it with Versafine black. I debated between placing brads, rhinestones or buttons on the ornaments on the tree, but in the end decided to punch some sakura flowers from red cardstock and embellish them with small rhinestones. This was then stuck onto a red card blank, with a couple of yellow corners & faux stitching added. The leaves were decorated with 3 different clear stickles - Star Dust, Crystal & Diamond. I love using all 3 clear stickles together because they each have a different iridescence, as you might be able to see in the photo. The greeting is from PB30-013 critter party.

For this next card, I diecut white cardstock with Spellbinders Nestabilities Curved Rectangles then sponged on Distress ink (Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Shabby Shutters & Scattered Straw) to create the background. I then stamped Penny Black 4102K snow dust with Versafine black. I usually stamp this stamp in a horizontal/landscape fashion, but decided to try it vertically for a change. The greeting is from Penny Black 30-087 winter wonders clear set. The trees were then dotted with stickles and liquid pearls. I must say, I am quite happy with the result, considering I made this card in under 30minutes!

For this card, I tried to create a frame by using a smaller diecut of Spellbinders Labels 17 as a mask before sponging on the distress ink - Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade & Barn Door. I then stamped the two little mice from Penny Black 30-020 hugs! in the middle using Memento black and coloured with TRIA markers. I chose the image because it was fairly quick & easy to colour. I stamped the flower portion of the image again, coloured it, cut it out  and attached it on with dimensional foam. The greeting is from Penny Black 30-028 micey day. I'm not sure if it is obvious in the photo, but I tried to add a bit of interest to the distressed portion of the frame by stamping the flower bouquet from Penny Black 30-066 eat cake randomly around the frame with Distress Spiced Marmalade ink. I then outlined the frame with a black marker to define the frame, and added stickles to the flower portion of the image. To be quite honest, I wasn't entirely happy with this card, and wished I had had a bit more time to work on it, but time was fast running out. Less than an hour to go before the dateline and I had to get my 3 cards photographed and uploaded!

After uploading the preceding cards, and with half an hour to go, I decided to quickly do one last card. I have to admit, this last card was a bit of a cheat... I already had an extra image (from Penny Black 30-066 eat cake) stamped, coloured & diecut for the the Penny Black Critter Challenge a couple of weeks ago and a few precut diecuts in my craft stash, so I quickly assembled this card from bits & pieces in under 15 minutes.