Didn’t you just love seeing Alex Smith’s images yesterday? Well, we’re thrilled today because Alex stopped by for an interview!

Where do you like to create? (studio, home, outside, indoors, etc?) 

“I mainly work in my studio which is just across the hall from my bedroom. I have a big(ish) window in front of my painting desk which I spend a good deal of time looking out of (I am a big fan of people watching!). My two dogs spend the day in the studio with me. They enjoy finding new ways to get into my waste paper basket without me noticing so they can steal bits of card to rip up (their favourite game), or else they just sleep by the radiator. Quite often, however, one or both of them find their way onto my lap which is not very helpful when you are trying to work! Luckily my dogs are very tiny so I can usually work around them. Otherwise, I always have a sketchbook on me, and a pencil, and I enjoy drawing everywhere and anywhere when I find I have a few moments to spare. Cafes are usually good places to work in my sketchbook, also, waiting rooms.

What advice do you have for individuals looking to grow and expand their creativity?

“I think the most important thing is to infuse your work with your personality. I think when you try to do something that isn’t very ‘you’, it really shows. There isn’t a truth to it. I also think that a lot of people think that to be a ‘real’ artist, you have to be influenced only by the area of art – fine artist, designers etc. I would say look for inspiration everywhere. Although I am an illustrator, other illustrators work actually comes fairly low down on the list of things that inspire me. I’m much more interested in cinema and animation, costume and set design, novels, comedy and children’s artwork, as well as silly things like the characters in saucy seaside postcards.”

What flavor of ice cream best describes your style and why?

“Wowzers! That IS a tricky question! Um… I’d say maybe something Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food – it’s quite familiar, but there are lots of things in it to surprise you! “

Thanks Alex! We’re so glad to have you illustrating for Penny Black.  Our designers and contributors sure are having fun with your images.

Designer Elizabeth Allan pulled out all the stops and used Special Girl 40-223, Sweet & Cute 30-153 (sentiment), and Mix & Match Cardstock:  Summer Sun 17-002 to make this

Designer Jill Foster created this gorgeous card using 40-216 Granny’s Cake, 30-173 Charms, 30-101 Hedgie Friends:

Designer Cathy Andronicou created this amazing paper-pieced confection using Melle Papillon 4300K, Venetian Summer 40-217 and Madison 80-001

and she also made this totally phenomenal card using Lulu On the Moon, Storm 01-001

and finally, a card from designer Alexandra Siruge-Macleod using Melle Papillon

Don’t forget, Alex’s stamps are available in our online store today!

Today we’re proud to welcome another talent illustrating for Penny Black.   Welcome, Alex Smith!

As a writer and illustrator of children’s books, Alex brings happy whimsy to all his characters.  You’ll be charmed as “Lulu” makes her debut with her playful adventures.

30-167 Lulu’s Party

40-223 Special Girl

40-221 Lulu On the Moon, 30-161 Embellishments

Even Granny is joining in on the fun! – 40-216 Granny’s Cake

Alex also illustrated our cover girl, 4300K Melle Papillon!

Join us tomorrow with a fun interview with Alex and for a look at what our designers have created with his images! 

We’re so happy today because Becky Fleck is here, answering a few questions just for you!  (See our introduction and her stamp designs from our newest catalog, Take Flight here in yesterday’s blog post.)

What are your favorite mediums for illustrating and why? 

“Rapidiograph pens are my go-to staple when I sit down to sketch or draw. As an art student, I created a lot of stipple pieces using these amazing pens, and they’ve stayed with me ever since!”

When did you begin your artistic pursuits?
“In my grandma’s lap! She taught me to crochet when I was seven, followed by knitting and embroidery. I remember making clothes for my Barbie dolls.  I moved on to pastels, oil crayons and chalk in my early teens, but still love to knit and crochet to this day.”

What advice do you have for individuals looking to grow and expand their creativity?
“Remember how our teachers told us to stay inside the lines when we colored? I decided at a very young age that art has no rules (and probably drove my teachers crazy in the process!). If you can imagine it, you can create it. Here’s one of my favorite quotes that pretty much sums up my artistic mantra: ‘You are the author of your life’s adventure. Weave your tales of wonder, save a place to dream, and believe in your big, brave heart.’”

What flavor of ice cream best describes your style and why?

“Ben & Jerry’s Banana Split, because it has a little bit of everything!”

Thanks, Becky! It’s so nice to learn more about you.  As you can see, our designers and contributors are LOVING your clever stamps.

Designer Cathy Andronicou created this card with April Showers 30-172

Designer Jill Foster created this card using 30-172 April Showers and  40-208 Sweetness:

And all of the following lovely cards were created by special guest designer Julie Koerber:

We’ll be back again soon with another special introduction – see you tomorrow!

All of Penny Black’s stamp images are created by the finest of artists and illustrators.  Our newest catalog, Take Flight brings two special talents to the Penny Black family.  Give a warm welcome to Becky Fleck!  (Yes, *THE* PageMaps Becky Fleck!!)

Becky’s classic designs are infused with a modern and trendy twist.  Join in the excitement as she shares her “Clean and Simple” style that offers endless creative possibilities!

—- Becky’s stamps are available in our online store today! —-

30-171 Cupcakes

30-174 A Bunch

30-173 Charms

30-172 April Showers

30-169 Address Book

30-170 Sweet Home

We couldn’t leave you without a sample made with Becky’s beautiful stamps, so feast your eyes on this beauty!

Created with: 30-170 Sweet Home, 40-204 Fleur de Lys, 30-161 Embellishments

These sets sure get the creative wheels turning; don’t they?

For this week-end’s scrapbooking with Penny Black Inc, Alexandra has a fun tutorial – she’ll show you how to make background paper with stamps and gesso.

I used three stamps to make today’s page:  40-202 Indian Wheel; 30-160 Friendship and 30-161 embellishments

I hope you’ll join me! Thank you!

We saved a VERY special introduction for today….
Introducing Mindy, Mimi’s adorable sister! (4330J Mindy)

Of course, Mimi’s been busy, too! Meet 4325H Cheerleading Mimi

4329H First Aid Mimi

4327H Scooter Mimi

4331H Gymnast Mimi

Be sure to look through our Take Flight 2013 online catalog for even MORE great Mimi stamps, including a safari-tastic T for Transparent set!

So how about another GIVEAWAY??   Leave us a comment on today’s post to be entered to win ALL FIVE of the Mindy and Mimi stamps featured above.

All stamps from this new release will be available for purchase in our online store beginning January 28!

Our T for Transparent sets are so fun to play with! You’ll find lots of versatility and variety in our newest release, Take Flight.  Here’s a look at just a few:

30-156 Tweet Tweet

30-164 Edge to Edge

30-165 Tree-Mendous

30-161 Embellishments

30-157 A Day in Paris

You can see ALL of our NEW T for Transparent stamps in our online catalog. . .  and now you can even find Mo Manning’s adorable characters in T for Transparent!

So how about another GIVEAWAY??  Which T for Transparent stamp from Take Flight 2013  are you dying to ink up? Leave us a comment on today’s post to be entered to win ALL FIVE of the T for Transparent stamps featured above.

It’s almost time to shop! All stamps from this new release will be available for purchase in our online store beginning January 28!

Our Slapstick/Cling stamps stamp beautifully and are easy to store.  Here’s a look at a few from our newest collection, Take Flight: Introducing 40-198 Every Happiness Introducing 40-193 Wistful Introducing 40-217 Venetian Summer Introducing 40-191 Uptown Introducing 40-201 Roman Surround You can see ALL of our NEW versatile Slapstick/Cling stamps in our online catalog.  Take Flight 2013 is loaded with amazing backgrounds.  They lend themselves to so many fun techniques! 40-206 Glory of Modesty, 30-164 Edge to Edge

So how about another GIVEAWAY??  What is your favorite NEW Slapstick/Cling stamp from our new catalog, Take Flight 2013?  Leave us a comment on today’s post to be entered to win ALL FIVE of the Slapstick/Cling stamps featured above.

Is your wish list growing?… All stamps from this new release will be available for purchase in our online store beginning January 28!

Here’s a closer look at just a few Wood Mounted stamps from our newest release, Take Flight…

Introducing 4302K Mona Lisa

Introducing 4308K Field of Poppies

Introducing 4314K Bridal March

Introducing 4311K Flower Poetry

Introducing 4319J Snap Shot

You can see ALL of our beautiful Wood Mounted stamps in our online catalog.

Do you spy another new stamp on this sample?

If you answered “yes,” you’re right!  That lovely flower is 4304H Polka-Dot Sprig.

So . . .  how about a GIVEAWAY??  Which new woodblock stamp from Take Flight 2013 gets your creative juices flowing?  Leave us a comment on today’s post to be entered to win ALL FIVE of the Wood Mounted stamps featured above.

And don’t forget to start your wish list… All stamps from this new release will be available for purchase in our online store beginning January 28!

We have lots of introductions for you this week so without further ado… Introducing Take Flight 2013, Penny Black’s newest catalog!

Whether you love cute, elegant, clean and simple, characters, flowers, butterflies, card-making, scrapbooking, mixed media (or all of the above!) let your creativity TAKE FLIGHT with this new release.

Click HERE  to see the full catalog online.  And be sure to join us this week for lots more introductions and… GIVEAWAYS!!
All stamps will be available for purchase in our online store beginning January 28!

Hello, Friends!

You may have heard of the “Project Life”; so many scrapbookers have joined the adventure. It consists of documenting a whole year in photos and journaling and while there are many different ways to approach the subject, a common one is to use Becky Higgins’ 12″ x 12″ page protectors.    They are made of various sized pockets. Some can be filled with pictures, journaling, business cards, documents taken on a trip, drawings from a child… I’ve enjoyed including Penny Black’s stamps into this project and thought I would share how I did that for the first page of this year’s Project Life…

Here is a picture of the stamps (don’t know the name of “learn…” / #30-113 petal party / #3860J pointillé) and supplies I used to decorate the introductory page of my Project Life 2013:

I’ve used various shades of grey (no pun intended!) cardstock to make these flowers:

here is the end result… i hope you’ll join me at  http://www.artscrapandmore.com

Only three more days until the full reveal of our newest release! Yep, that’s right! You can see the *NEW* catalog on Monday! But of course, you just might spy some sneak peeks on our Facebook page… Be sure to follow so you don’t miss a thing!

http://www.facebook.com/pennyblackinc

Hi, friends! Don’t tell anyone, but I snuck in here to take over the Penny Black blog!  Who am I?  Well, let me introduce myself. I’m the cute kitty below!

I just got back from a fun trip to California!  You see, I’m a new Penny Black stamp and (lucky me!) I got to attend CHA.  What is CHA?  Well, it’s the bi-annual tradeshow for the crafting industry.  CHA is where you will find all the latest and greatest cat nip, ahem!, I mean crafting products. Hanging out in the Penny Black booth was more exciting than a new ball of string!  And, you know what?  I always have my camera close at hand, so I snuck some pictures just for you!

I made so many new, crafty friends.

Ssshh!!!  I’m one sneaky kitty- you might just spy a new stamp image on this next picture…

Aawwhh… California in January!   I sure loved the palm trees.

And here’s the Penny Black booth.  I was in good company with all of those beautiful, new stamps!

And the make and take projects with Penny Black designer Angela were PURRfect!

I hope you enjoyed my photos!  Be sure to visit the Penny Black Facebook page for more sneak peeks of the new Penny Black stamps and join us on Monday, January 21^st, for the full reveal of the new catalog.  Meow!

We have been sharing sneak peeks of our CHA releases over on our Facebook page, and haven’t shared any of our recent favorites from Penny Circle!  Here are a few pretties that caught our eyes recently:

Elizabeta Kushner created this gorgeous birthday card and shared it in Penny Circle and on her blog, too.

Kelly Booth’s card is cute, cute, cute . . . inside AND out!

And this adorable Mimi card from Janet Zeppa – love the layers of patterned paper and sweet details on the cupcake! (Have you met her sweet, sweet sister yet? Here’s a peek!)

Thanks SO much, everyone, for sharing your stampy creations in our Penny Circle gallery!

For the next several days, we are featuring projects created with the most recent Penny Black Valentine release – with just a little twist. Our designers will show you a “lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey all the time” project, and another project they’ve made for something else, like birthday or just because (not that those can’t be Lovey-Dovey, too!). Let’s see how versatile our new release can be. . .

Penny Black designer Cathy Andronicou has created a few more cards for your viewing pleasure. First, her Lovey-dovey card. The black, white, and red with just a touch of grey is so striking, and we love the scored lines and bit of twine, too.

This card uses: Storm Mix and Match 01-001, Loads of Love 30-146 and Jump for Love 4294H

This design was kept neutral with just a splash of red with the aim of drawing the eye across the card; from the twine bow to the red hearts as the dog jumps through.

Here’s the sweetest little puppy card we’ve seen, and Cathy created for a friend who teaches dog obedience. How perfect is it?!

Uses: Storm Mix and Match 01-001, Jump for Love 4294H and Salutations 30-014

Read all about it!  Next week we will be revealing our NEW spring catalog, but because we are soooo excited, you just might find some sneak peeks on Facebook!  Be sure to follow us there so you don’t miss out!

For the next several days, we’ll be featuring projects created with the most recent Penny Black Valentine release – with just a little twist. Our designers will show you a “lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey all the time” project, and another project they’ve made for something else, like birthday or just because (not that those can’t be Lovey-Dovey, too!). Let’s see how versatile our new release can be. . .

Karen Dunbook made two lovely cards using the new release Sweet Buds.  Now, I don’t know about YOU, but I’m a sucker for polka dots. Especially when paired with a pretty flower! Here’s her thank you card:

She says, “I stamped the Sweet Buds in black Memento ink then stamped again, punched out and coloured using Copics for my highlighted card.  Sentiment is Thanks.”

Here’s her pretty Valentine card – the crisp white and blue hues are so fresh and clean, aren’t they?

Karen said, “I stamped the Sweet buds, coloured with Copics then mounted a frame cut from a Spellbinders die on top. Sentiment is Love Your Love. “

Now I’d like to know. . . what’s YOUR favorite non-traditional Valentine combination?

Thanks for stopping by today - if you’re looking for more inspiration, please visit our gallery on Flickr and at Splitcoaststampers. You can also find us on Facebook, and on Twitter, too! See you again soon, Jenn

For the next couple of days, we’ll be featuring projects created with the most recent Penny Black Valentine release – with just a little twist. Our designers will show you a “lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey all the time” project, and another project they’ve made for something else, like birthday or just because (not that those can’t be Lovey-Dovey, too!). Let’s see how versatile our new release can be. . .

Penny Black designer Cathy Fongjoyo  made two cards using the same stamp from Valentine’s collection called Daisy Heart, first a Valentine card, with the full heart shape embossed with black ink and black embossing powder, colored with Copics and finishing touch with some liquid pearls. The sentiment is from Sweet As Honey stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by today - if you’re looking for more inspiration, please visit our gallery on Flickr and at Splitcoaststampers. You can also find us on Facebook, and on Twitter, too! See you again soon with another day of inspiration, Jenn

From Alexandra: “The celebration of the Epiphany is very important in France where i grew up. Come January, every bakery has an array of “galette des Rois” (=Kings’ Cakes) in which a little token called a “fève”, the size of a bean, is hidden inside the “frangipane”(=almond ganache). Whomever gets it is declared “King” or “Queen” for the day.  I’ve kept the tradition going and put a page together to illustrate the little celebration we had last Monday night with my husband and our 9 year old daughter. The picture I took turned out to be very dark so i had to find a way to brighten things up so to speak…”

“I thought about using one of my favorite Penny Black stamps ? #40-076 nature’s best. It’s such a cheerful image! I fussy cut it and colored it with watercolor pencils. I added papers from the Madison Collection and a beautiful embossed white paper also from PB. I hope you’ll visit my blog for more info.“

and since I have preciously kept each fève since the age of 5, I thought it’d be fun to share a picture of my collection…

For the next several days, we’ll be featuring projects created with the most recent Penny Black Valentine release – with just a little twist. Our designers will show you a “lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey all the time” project, and another project they’ve made for something else, like birthday or just because (not that those can’t be Lovey-Dovey, too!). Let’s see how versatile our new release can be. . .

Here is Penny Black Designer Therese Shaffer‘s take on lovey-dovey and another different-themed card using the same stamp.  The stamp that she used on both cards was the background stamp, Bed of Roses (40-190).

Image:  Lots of Love (4298J) which was colored with Prismacolor Pencils. Sentiment was from the clear set, Gratitude (30-105)

Rose images were from the Bed of Roses background stamp which I fussy cut.  Both roses were colored with Prismacolor Pencils.  Sentiment was from the clear set, Sweet Wishes (30-104)
Thanks!

Let’s dish. . . do you like critters and cutesy, or more elegant, feminine designs? We’d love to know!

Thanks for stopping by today - if you’re looking for more inspiration, please visit our gallery on Flickr and at Splitcoaststampers. You can also find us on Facebook, and on Twitter, too! See you again soon, Jenn

For the next several days, we’ll be featuring projects created with the most recent Penny Black Valentine release – with just a little twist. Our designers will show you a “lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey all the time” project, and another project they’ve made for something else, like birthday or just because (not that those can’t be Lovey-Dovey, too!). Let’s see how versatile our new release can be. . .

Penny Black designer Cathy Andronicou always adds thoughtful little details and touches to her cards and creations, and this card has a unique element – the bottom of the card slides up to reveal a secret message. Here’s the card while closed: The card open:

Used: Coral Reef 15-002 Mix and Match Card and Her Heart 40-184

For the birthday card, Cathy wanted the main stamping to be on the inside, so she created a window using Spellbinders Nesting Squares and a trellis with flowers and butterflies for the front.

Outside the card:

Inside the card:

Used:- Storm 01-001 Mix and Match Card  Round and Round 30-112 and Her Heart 40-184

Cathy said, “I am imagining that she has used the scissors to cut out her birthday banner!” . . . What a crafty little sweetheart!

Tell us – what kind of unique elements do YOU like to add to your cards? We’d love to hear about ‘em!

Thanks for stopping by today - if you’re looking for more inspiration, please visit our gallery on Flickr and at Splitcoaststampers. You can also find us on Facebook, and on Twitter, too! See you again soon, Jenn

For the next several days, we’ll be featuring projects created with the most recent Penny Black Valentine release – with just a little twist. Our designers will show you a “lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey all the time” project, and another project they’ve made for something else, like birthday or just because (not that those can’t be Lovey-Dovey, too!). Let’s see how versatile our new release can be. . .

Penny Black designer Heather Telford’s creations are always beautiful and quite striking, and this lovey-dovey card made with Butterfly Symphony (30-148) is no exception. We love the combination of technique and simply stamped images:

Here, Butterfly Symphony (30-148) was water stamped onto sponged background.

In this birthday card, a butterfly was stamped on each of three layers of vellum over the music background stamp

Butterfly Symphony (30-148), Music Background and Sweet Wishes.

We loved reading which of you liked Elizabeth’s pieces you liked and why, and are curious – do you prefer simple stamping (stamp, cut, add some ribbon), or are y0u more of a technique lover?

Thanks for stopping by today - if you’re looking for more inspiration, please visit our gallery on Flickr and at Splitcoaststampers. You can also find us on Facebook, and on Twitter, too! See you again soon, Jenn

For the next several days, we’ll be featuring projects created with the most recent Penny Black Valentine release – with just a little twist. Our designers will show you a “lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey all the time” project, and another project they’ve made for something else, like birthday or just because (not that those can’t be Lovey-Dovey, too!). Let’s see how versatile our new release can be. . .

Penny Black designer Elizabeth Allan has a flair for creating beautiful cards, like this one featuring Love Blossoms (4293F) and Butterfly Symphony (30-148) as the focal points.

. . . and phenomenally pretty (and whoa! tremendously detailed!) decor items, like this wood canvas measuring 3/4″ x 5 1/2″ x 7 1/2″:

This piece uses Love Blossom (4293F) as a background design and the sentiment from Butterfly Symphony (30-148) as a collage element, and also uses Love Flourish (40-186) from the new 2013 Penny Black Valentine collection.

Which one’s YOUR favorite?

Thanks for stopping by today - if you’re looking for more inspiration, please visit our gallery on Flickr and at Splitcoaststampers. You can also find us on Facebook, and on Twitter, too! See you again soon, Jenn

This Monday, designer Cathy Andronicou is here to share a fun video tutorial showing how to gild leaves (or any other stamped image, really). Doesn’t it add a pretty and lush touch to those sweetly simple cards?

Used: Fall Festival 16-002, Music Background 2025M,  Salutations 30-014  Foliage Fancy 30-138.

Thanks for stopping by today - if you’re looking for more inspiration, please visit our gallery on Flickr and at Splitcoaststampers. You can also find us on Facebook, and on Twitter, too! See you again tomorrow with more lovey-dovey cards, Jenn

…to bid the year 2012 goodbye!  Here’s Alexandra’s layout for this week, in her words:

“I love Penny Black Inc’s vellum papers. For this week-end page, why not use some left-over confetti with a piece of vellum to create an interesting yet real easy way to illustrate the pictures you took over the Holidays…

This concept and the design i used for today’s page would work well for a card as well! Join me on my blog to learn more about it…”

For the next couple of weeks, we’ll be featuring projects created with the most recent Penny Black Valentine release – with just a little twist. Our designers will show you a “lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey all the time” project, and another project they’ve made for something else, like birthday or just because (not that those can’t be Lovey-Dovey, too!). Let’s see how versatile our new release can be. . . first up is the lovely and talented Jill with her Lovey-Dovey card with lots of layers:

and her Just Because in a clean and simple style

See? Perfect for mass production!

Both used 40-190 Bed of Roses.

Which one’s YOUR favorite?

Thanks for stopping by today - if you’re looking for more inspiration, please visit our gallery on Flickr and at Splitcoaststampers. You can also find us on Facebook, and on Twitter, too! See you again soon, Jenn

Penny Black designer Cathy Andronicou used Gratitude 30-105, Bed of Roses 40-190 and Fern Green Mix and Match 05-002 to create this floral, feminine card. It’s very versatile, and we could see it used for birthday, anniversary, new job . . . all kinds of happy occasions!

Here’s a note from Cathy: “Flowers stamped with Memento, coloured with Copics, cut out and mounted onto Spellbinders Fancy Lattice. Sentiment stamped onto a double layer of torn vellum and embossed with black powder. Lattice was then mounted onto mix and match card with foam pads and a satin ribbon added to the top. Tip: when cutting out flowers cut off fine stalks and replace with wire.”

Thanks for stopping by today - if you’re looking for more inspiration, please visit our gallery on Flickr and at Splitcoaststampers. You can also find us on Facebook, and on Twitter, too! We’ll be back tomorrow with two takes on our new Valentine release from Jill. You won’t want to miss it! – Jenn

Penny Black designer Cathy Andronicou has shared a tutorial featuring ribbon embroidery on her blog today. She’s used Clusters 3633K and some very simple supplies to create a lovely and thoughtful handmade gift or accent for your own home. Think of the possibilities!