ABC Christmas Challenge - A & B are for?

It's the second Wednesday of a new month, so that means it's time for a new ABC Christmas Challenge...and today, we are starting our SEVENTEENTH(!!!) trip through the alphabet! I'm the host, and the themes are:

'A is for Anything Christmas Goes

&

'B is for Buildings'

The prize for the lucky winner is this stamp set & paper pad:

For my ' A is for Anything Christmas Goes' card, I used a lovely Personal Impressions stamp of a wintry village scene that I got for Christmas. I stamped it, and a sentiment using one of the stamps from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, onto a snippet of kraft card using Versamark ink, then heat embossed them using white embossing powder. I distressed the edges a little, then added it to a kraft card blank.

For my 'B is for Bright' card, I picked a cute Penny Black image called 'Bedecked Antlers' and stamped it onto a snippet of watercolour paper. I coloured it using watercolour pencils, then added a sentimentusing a stamp from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous. I paired it with papers from a Craft Sensations pad called (rather appropriately) 'Merry & Bright'...distressing the edges and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I matted all of the layers onto bright green card, then added it to a white card blank.

I'm also entering these cards into the following challenges:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Second card only)
• Cardz for Guys - Christmas Critters (Second card only)
• Christmas Cards All Year Round - A & B (Second card only - A for Antlers & B is for Bright Colours)
• Creative Knockouts - Celebrations (Second card only)
• Fab 'N' Funky - Winter Wonderland (First card only)
• Peace On Earth - Anything Christmas Goes (Second card only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays)  - Something New (First card only - new stamp)
• Sweet Stampin' - New (First card only - new stamp)
• We Love Stamping - Something New (First card only - new stamp)

For more inspiration, please pop over to the ABC Christmas Challenge.

Penny Black 2026 Calendar

I have another Penny Black calendar to share today...this is the one I made for my Aunt for Christmas. The blank calendar is one of the A4 ones from Paper Mill Direct...and I decorated it using lots of Penny Black critter stamps, and snippets of patterned papers. I stamped all of the images onto watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then cut some into circles using my Nesties. I distressed all of the edges of the papers, and matted them all onto pieces of kraft card before adding them to the calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Happy New??? (New Year)
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wedensdays) - Something New (New Year)

Butterfly Thank You

Today's card features a lovely Stamps by Chloe butterfly stamp called 'Butterfly Cascade' that I got for Christmas. I stamped it onto smooth white card using Versamark ink, along with a sentiment using a  stamp from the 'Big Messages' set by Paula Pascual, then heat embossed them using 'Metallic Silver' embossing powder form WOW. I coloured the butterflies using a mixture of Cosmic Shimmers watercolour paints, and Cosmic Shimmers pigments mixed with a little water, then matted it onto some silver mirror card before adding it to a white card blank.

Here's another angle that shows the shimmer a little better:

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes + a Sentiment
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Something New (The butterfly stamp is new)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (The butterfly stamp is new)
• Stamping Sensations - Something Beginning with 'B' (Butterflies)
• We Love Stamping - Something New (The butterfly stamp is new)

Guest Designer - Seize the Birthday Challenge (Make Your Own Snowflake Background)!

Today, I'm excited to share the first of my Surprise Party Guest cards for the Seize the Birthday Challenge, where the theme for the next two weeks is:

This theme is optional, so there's always the option for 'Anything Goes' as long as it's a Birthday card!

For my card, I used a sweet polar bear stamp from a Kanban set that I picked up in a charity shop just before Christmas. I stamped him onto watercolour paper, doodled a line for the snowy ground using a black gel pen, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then cut around the top of the image. For my snowflake background, I embossed a piece of watercolour effect paper, from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad using a Craft Tonic embossing folder, then gently sanded over the raised areas to reveal some of the white core. I added a stamped sentiment, using one of the stamps from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company, then layered the bear over the snowflake background. I matted it onto some navy card, then added it to a white card blank.

For more inspiration from the fabulous Design Team, please pop over to the Seize the Birthday Challenge.

Flowering Christmas Tree

Today's card features a lovely Memory Box die that I picked up in a charity shop just before Christmas, called 'Flowering Christmas Tree'. I cut the tree twice, once from a snippet of dark green card, and once from a snippet of red card. I carefully trimmed all of the flowers from the red version, then placed them onto the green die cut. I added the 'tree' to a card blank, then stamped a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Just Us Girls - Use Dies
• Little Red Wagon - Use The Force (I used die cuts)
• Moving Along with the Times - Use Stencils and/or Dies
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Something New (The die is new (to me))
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Add a Sentiment 

PBSC January - Anything Goes (Optional 'Something New')

It's the first Saturday of the month, so that means it's time for a new Penny Black Saturday Challenge...where the theme is:

'Anything Goes'

or

'Something New'

(New Year, New House, New Job, New Baby, New Stash...)

We are currently without a sponsor, so this challenge is just for fun.

My 'Something New' is the 'New Year', and I'm sharing the 2026 calendar that I made for my Mum for Christmas. Every year, I decorate a couple of the blank A4 calendars from Paper Mill Direct to give as gifts, and use only Penny Black stamped images. If there's a special event in a particular month, I try to find an appropriate image...it's a great project for using stamps that don't often get inked, and also for using up lots of snippets of papers! 

I'm also entering this calendar into the following challenges:

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Everybody Art - Christmas and/or New Year
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

January Desk Calendar

Happy New Year!

As it's the first day of a brand new year, I'm sharing the first page of my 2026 desk calendar. Each year, I buy one of the little blank desk calendars from Paper Mill Direct, and decorate it month by month using Penny Black critter stamps. For January, I picked a pom-pom shaking hedgie from the 'Cheerful Critters' set...stamped him onto watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then used one of my circle Nesties to cut him out. I used a couple of snippets of starry background papers from the 'Shine Like the Stars' pad from The Works for the background. I distressed the edges a little, before adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen, then I matted it onto a snippet of kraft card before adding it to the calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Crafty Animals - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes

Favourite Five Cards 2025

As has become traditional on New Year's Eve, I'm sharing my favourite five cards of this year. As I look back through my blog posts, I always find it interesting to see if any themes have emerged in my cardmaking over the course of the year. Whilst there are still plenty of cute critter cards, I used more die cuts this year, and my cards have become increasingly clean and simple.

All of the photos are linked to the original blog post, so please click through for more information.

My first card is from February, and features (unusually for me) die cuts as the main focus. I love the modern shape of these floral dies...and they're great for using up little snippets of card & paper!

My second card is from May, and features several things that I love (and usually make it onto at least one of my favourite cards each year) - Distress inks, gold embossing and the big butterfly stamp!

My next card is actually a bookmark...I'm an avid reader, and always like to have plenty of bookmarks handy...and they're a great way to use up offcuts of card! This one features a favourite floral stamp, and Cosmic Shimmers that I've used many times this year.

Of course, there's a Penny Black image amongst my favourites, and the next card, from August, features a 'new to me' stamp called 'Surprise!' I also love the colour in these floral papers.

My final card is from November, and although I've made a lot of one layer cards this year, I love the effect the added layer gives on this CAS card.

I'm going to link up this post over at Ellie's I Spy With My Little Eye - Favourite Creations of the Year.

I posted my Favourite Five Christmas Cards here last week, if you'd like to take a look.

Finally, thanks to everyone who has visited and taken the time to comment on my blog this year - I wish you all the very best for the New Year!

Bauble Branch

Today's card features stamps from a new Penny Black set called 'Candlelight' that I received for Christmas. I stamped the image and sentiment onto some black card, using Versamark ink, then heat embossed them with 'Metallic Gold' embossing powder from WOW. I coloured the image using a mixture of Cosmic Shimmers watercolour paints and mica pigments (mixed with a little water). I matted the panel onto some gold mirror card, then added it to a DL card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Sparkle & Shine
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Add a Sentiment
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes

Woodland Winter Wonderland

Today's card features a lovely woodland die called 'Birch Tree Forest' by Creative Expressions that I got from a charity shop earlier this week. I used it along with a few other dies (one of the 'Hillside Borders' dies from Lawn Fawn, and a couple of the deer from the 'Winter Wonderland' set by Tim Holtz/Sizzix), to create a wintry woodland scene. I cut all the die cuts from snippets of plain white card, then layered them over another snippet of white card embossed using my Tim Holtz/Sizzix 'Snowfall' embossing folder, before adding it all to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Pick a Previous Technique (May - Use Die Cuts/Punches)
• Allsorts - Create a Scene
• Can You Handle the Pressure - Anything Goes
• Creatalicious - Winter Animals
• Cut It Up - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes