January challenge

Happy New Year from us all here at Penny Black at Allsorts. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and holiday period and had lots of new crafty goodies that you are going to share with us this month.

I have so much news to share with you I am not sure where to start, so I guess prizes would be a good place as there are a few more than usual. As well as our regular four stamps, we have a new sponsor offering a fabulous prize every month, plus a special one off prize for a winner selected from all the new followers who link up this month....................and as you will know from my post a few days ago, on 15th January we are hosting a Blog Hop, lots of fun and excitement and more fabulous prizes to be won. So keep an eye on your dashboard so you don't miss a thing.........please lift our special logo from our sidebar to help spread the word

To kick off the New Year we have a fresh new challenge for you and would like to see your interpretation's based on the Beatles 1967 song hit:

All you need is Love

I have a feeling lots of you will be making a start of those Valentine cards and we are really looking forward to visiting you and seeing your fabulous creations.

There are six prizes in total up for grabs this month, four from the wonderful Penny Black

Penny Black 4027K Heart Garland

Penny Black 40-024 Rain or Shine

Penny Black 4051K Cupcake Glory

Penny Black 40-014 Lofty

Don't forget the new Amour 2011 stamps are now available....check them out here and just to tease you a little reminder that the Spring 2011 stamps will be available very soon so sign up here to be one of the first to get a peek at them.

Also an extra prize as well which I will tell you about shortly, plus we are thrilled to have a new sponsor PB Stamps

.........who are offering a lifetime 15% discount for products purchased from their store, it you have never visited them you don't know what you are missing.................new stamps, old stamps and even discontinued stamps..............I was ubber thrilled to find a really old one there a couple of weeks ago that has been a 'need' item for ages.

Now for an extra special bit, we will select a extra winner from those who link up as a follower this month. So many people keep telling us they are so surprised but excited to find us, so if you link up to follow us you will be the first to know about all that's going on.

And finally, some inspiration and firstly I would like to welcome our January Guest Designer, here is her lovely creation.......

January Guest Designer Amanda

And if you saw my post a few days ago you will know we have two lovely new DT members this month, Louise and Tracy. We are so pleased to have them on board and you can check out their work and blogs along with all the DT's creations by clicking on their names.

Brenda

Ellie

Jules

Louise

Maarit


Mervi


Shirley

Tracy

December winners

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying a relaxing holiday time.

Thank you for all your wonderful entries in our last challenge, Mr Random Org has strutted his stuff and these are the lucky winners he has chosen for us:

Links removed to comply with GDPR

Pam

Helen

Pitsihame

Sparklygirl Tina

Well done all of you, please mail me brenda@ibas.co.uk with your full postal addy so I can send your prize and don't forget to lift out Top 3 logo and wear with pride.

I will be back tomorrow with a new challenge, so look forward to seeing you all then.

A Blog Hop

Good Morning everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Santa brought you lots of crafting goodies.

I know this is a family time so I won't keep you long, I just wanted to share a couple of bits of news with you.

The first is that we have two new DT members and would like to give a big welcome to Louise and Tracy. Like the rest of us they are PB groupies and I am sure they will be sharing some wonderful inspiration with you along with the rest of the DT.

My second piece of news is to give you advance notice that we are having a Blog Hop on 15th January. My temie over at Allsorts Emma, created a fabulous logo for us and I hope you will pop it on your sidebar to help us spread the word.

December Challenge

Hello folks, welcome back for a brand new challenge here at Penny Black at Allsorts.

Last month was a really fabulous bumper month and I want to say thank you to everyone who joined in and welcome our new followers. If you forgot to check yesterdays post, make sure you do so in case you were one of our lucky winners.

A little heads up.........next month is going to be a bit special with some extra fun and of course prizes, so don't forget to keep an eye open for future posts when I will tell more of what's in store.

It you are anything like me you are just about carded out on the Christmas front, so I thought it was time for something completely different and this months theme is:

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

So a wide open theme where you can create absolutely anything you like showing what the theme means to you, be it Nature, fairies, love, your favourite colour, animals and so on, the choice really is yours. The only requirement is that you use a Penny Black product as the central focus of your work........that can be a stamp or Stickeroo.

Lots more prizes from our sponsors Penny Black and a reminder that there is always new and inspiring work on display on the Penny Black Blog. Here are the four prizes up for grabs this month:

Penny Black 4030K The park bench affair

Penny Black 3844K Vanilla

Penny Black 40-011 Paisley swirls

Penny Black 3838F Roar and 3807 All around (2 stamps)

We are thrilled to have two Guest Designers joining us this month, first up is Kirsten my team mate from our sister challenge Allsorts who has created this stunning card for us. I love this Penny Black slapstick stamp and I am sure you will all agree that the colours Kirsten has used work beautifully with the image.

I am also pleased to introduce you to Elizabeth Allan from Penny Black, here is a little bit about here:

Elizabeth had been with Penny Black for five years and as a member of their design team her artwork is incorporated into catalogue design, website posting and she also travels for the company demonstrating and teaching in their booths at conventions. As an independent artist, Elizabeth who lives with her husband Scott in Michigan, began teaching class in 2003 while working full time in the accounting industry. In 2005 her love of art inspired her to pursue her passion full time and soon after she joined Penny Black. She is a published artist and her work can frequently be found in well known and respected publications worldwide. Elizabeth is also a regular contributor to the Penny Black blog.

Here is Elizabeth lovely creation

These are the products Elizabeth used: Stamps - To Follow the Star (4112K), Miracles and Wonders, (4002F), Sending Love (40-033). Other Materials: Copic Markers, Tuxedo Black, Memento and Versafine black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink, Metallic Gold StazOn Ink, Clear Embossing Powder, UTEE, Angel Dust Glitter, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Red Ribbon

The Design Team have again done us proud with some fabulous work, remember you can check out all their work on their own blogs by clicking their names where there are direct links.

Brenda

Ellie

Helene

Jules

Maarit

Mervi

Shirley

Zoe

November winners

Hello everyone, hope you are all OK and nearly ready for Christmas.

The weather is decidedly wintery here in the UK with hard frosts and snow in many parts and suddenly all I can think of is Spring, but at least traveling round blogland helps when I read about the nice warm weather some peeps have and I can dream away.

We had a real bumper month and saw so many fabulous entries as myself and the DT did our rounds and want to say thank you to everyone. You really are a talented bunch out there and show us that you love your Penny Black as much as we all do.

So on to our winners which Mr Random org has selected, which is just as well because I would have hated the task of selecting favourites:

Links removed to comply with GDPR

Rainmac

Julye

Anne-Marije

Janice

Well done all of you, please all help yourself to our Top 3 logo and mail me brenda@ibas.co.uk with your full postal addys so I can send your prizes.

I will be back tomorrow with a new challenge.

November Challenge

The first of a new month and a Monday as well, so what better start to the week than a new challenge.

But more importantly we all know what this means.....Christmas is next month.......scary or what, especially if you are like me and have not given it more than a passing thought when it comes to preparation and shopping.

So as I am sure lots of you are now beavering away at your Christmas crafting this months theme should fit in a treat............

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

What you make and how you interpret the theme is totally up to you, Christmas trees, Santa, presents, turkey, a lovely snowy scene, the options are limitless. As always your project can be anything, a card, gift box, l/o or something completely different, the only requirement is that the main feature on your card is a Penny Black image. Please note if that Penny Black element is not clearly visible, your entry will be marked as not eligible.

If you are looking for inspiration do pop over to the Penny Black Blog where there are daily updates, a gallery jam packed with ideas to inspire, the chance to share your own work and you might even get a mention on their blog as they spotlight entries from time to time.

As usual Penny Black have been very generous with prizes and here's what's on offer for this months lucky winners:

3914K Joy filled stocking

3915H Dear Santa & 3901E To all

40-016 Hedghog Birthday

3745K Token of love

Now on to some inspiration and we we are thrilled to have Emma as our Guest Designer this month, just look at the lovely card she has created for us, I love the colours Emma has used:

And of course this is the first month our new Design Team members are sharing their work with us all, so please join me in welcoming Ellie, Maarit, Mervi, Shirley and Zoe who along with the existing DT members, Helene, Jules and yours truly, have come up with some awesome work to inspire you.

Brenda

Ellie


Helene

Jules

Maarit

Mervi

Shirley

Zoe