The Same but Different

I have a set of simple Christmas cards to share today...made using another of the stamped background pieces I made when I made this card.

I stamped my new Simon Says Stamp 'Outline Snowflakes' stamp on to a piece of watercolour effect paper from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations using a white pigment ink, then heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I trimmed the panel down into three pieces, distressed the edges a little, added some faux stitching, then added them to three card blanks, along with a stamped sentiment (from the 'Letter It Christmas' set by Ranger.

Challenges for these cards:

• Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes (Add a Sentiment)
• Everybody Art - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - CAS
• Through the Craftroom Door - Anything Goes

Pile It On! Challenge - Land and/or Water Animals

It's time for some more inspiration for this month's Pile It On! Challenge where the themes are:

'Land Animals'
and/or
'Water Animals'

We are sponsored for this challenge by A Day for Daisies

Prize - $8 Gift Certificate!

I found a cute Crafter's Companion stamp in my collection of a bear and his puppy fishing that combined the two themes...it's called 'Gone Fishing' from the Mulberry Wood collection. I coloured it using watercolour pencils to match some snippets of patterned papers that are from the 'Awesome Boy' pad by Recollections/Michaels (found at TKMaxx). I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Big Messages' set by Paula Pascual.

Here are the challenges I've piled on:

• Pile It On! - Land and/or Water Animals
• Allsorts - Make it Masculine
• Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional Blue Green & One Other Colour)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simply Create Too - Anything Goes

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the Pile It On! Challenge.

PBSC January - Anything Goes (Optional 'Something New')...More Inspiration!

It's the third Saturday of the month, so that means it's time for some more inspiration for this month's Penny Black Saturday Challenge...where the theme is:

'Anything Goes'
or
'Something New'
(New Year, New Baby, New Home, New Job, New Stash...)

As usual, we are sponsored by the awesome 1-2-3 Stitch:

Prize - a $20 voucher!

My 'New' is some new paper that I received for Christmas. It's from a pad by Craft Sensations (found at The Range) called 'Mystery Marbles'...the papers are a mixture of marble patterns, and watercolour effects in gorgeous purples, pinks, blues & greens. I used a small piece of one of watercolour-y papers that had what looked like a falling snow effect on it as a background for one of the snowmen stamps from the 'Snow Much Fun!' set. I extended the snowy ground around him, coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut it out. I added it to the snowy sky background, then carefully positioned his snowballs. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

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

• Addicted to Stamps - Snowmen
• Card Mania - Baby It's Cold Outside
• Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - Anything Christmas Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Crafty Cardmakers - Winter
• Crafty Sentiments - Winter
• Crimbo Crackers - Anything Christmas Goes
• Cutie Pie - Cute, Clean & Simple
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Christmas Goes
• Jingle Belles - Look What Santa Brought Me (The paper was a Christmas gift)
• Moo Mania - Cold & Frosty Colours
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - CAS
• Sweet Stampers - Winter or Snow
• Winter Wonderland - Snowmen or Snowflakes

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

Layered Tree Thank You Cards

I have a couple of simple 'Thank You' cards to share today...made using a set of layering stamps that were a magazine freebie. I used Distress Inks for the stamping (Gathered Twigs, Mowed Lawn, Picked Raspberry & Festive Berries), starting with the trunk, then adding the leaves and flowers or hearts at the end. The sentiment stamp is from another magazine freebie set. I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, then layered the stamped panels on to some coordinating pink or red card.

Challenges for these cards:

• Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes
• City Crafter - CAS
• Creative Knockouts - In Stitches
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - CAS

Time Out

Today's card features another of my recent charity shop bargain stamps...it's from the 'Moonbeam Meadows' collection by Crafter's Companion and is called 'Time Out'. I coloured it using watercolour pencils, then cut it into a circle shape using one of my Nesties. I found a spotty piece of paper to (almost) match the toadstool in a pad by Stampin' Up (also found in a charity shop), distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
• Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
• Use Your Stuff - Furry Friends

Krafty Christmas

I have a simple Christmas card to share today...featuring some new goodies from Simon Says Stamp. I picked up a couple of their large background stamps 'Mod Trees' and 'Outline Snowflakes', and a set of calligraphy style sentiments by Ranger... the 'Letter It Christmas' set. I played around with the background stamps, stamping them a few different ways, with different inks on plain card, watercolour paper, patterned papers...and heat embossed...like the snippets I used on this card. I stamped on to kraft card using a white pigment ink pad, then heat embossed them using white embossing powder. I used small pieces of each of the two background stamps, along with one of the sentiments, fitting them on to a square of white card, and then adding that to a kraft card blank. I have lots of left over pieces...and all of the other stamped pieces...so no doubt you'll be seeing these stamps again soon!

Challenges for this card:

• Addicted to CAS - Snowflake
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes
• Crimbo Crackers - Anything Christmas Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - What's New (All of the stamps are new)
• Inkspirational - Use Kraft
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Something New (All of the stamps are new)
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

Floral Delight

I have another simple CAS card to share today...this time featuring a floral stamp that I got for Christmas called 'Floral Delight' by Hobby Art. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured in soft pastel shades using watercolour pencils. I added some sparkle to the flowers using my Versamark embossing pen, and some Stampendous holographic embossing powder. The sentiment stamp is from a set that came free with a craft magazine.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
• Crafty Calendar - Make it Flowery
• Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Something New (The flower stamp is new)
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

True Love

I have a very simple card to share today, featuring a Crafter's Companion stamp (called 'True Love' from the Moonbeam Meadows collection) that I picked up in a charity shop a week or so ago, in a packet with another from the same collection for the princely sum of 80p! I did originally think they were Lili of the Valley stamps (I also got a couple of those packaged together...including the one I blogged yesterday...also for 80p), but after googling all manner of combination of keywords to try to identify them, I discovered that they were in fact by Crafter's Companion. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then added some sparkle to the water, moon and butterflies using a Wink of Stella pen. I used my CutterBee Bug to pierce a simple border, then added it to my card blank. The sentiment stamp is from a magazine freebie set.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Hearts & Flowers
• Less is More - Water
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Something New (The image stamp is new)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (The image stamp is new)
• Time Out - Loving

Pile It On! Challenge - Land Animals

We have another fun Pile It On! Challenge starting today...the theme is:

'Land Animals'

We are sponsored for this challenge by A Day for Daisies

Prize - $8 Gift Certificate!

I went BIG for my land animal, and picked a cute Lili of the Valley elephant image called 'Blowing Bubbles' that I picked up in a charity shop a week ago to make a birthday card for a little girl. I coloured the image in pastel shades using watercolour pencils...adding some sparkle to the bubbles using a Wink of Stella pen. The papers are a mixture of American Crafts (pink & yellow from the 'Star Shine' pad) and First Edition (blue from the 'Silent Night' pad). I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Cupcakes' set by Hero Arts.

Here are the challenges I've piled on:

• Pile It On! - Land Animals
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• As You Like It - Anything Goes
• Cards Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Catch the Bug - Anything Goes
• Crafting with an Attitude - Anything Goes
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes (Optional Something New - the elephant stamp is new)
• Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Party Time!
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (The elephant stamp is new)
• Stamping Sensations - Fabulously Feminine
• Sweet Stampin' - Spots and Dots

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the Pile It On! Challenge.

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 Baby, New Home, New Job, New Stash...)

As usual, we are sponsored by the awesome 1-2-3 Stitch:

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I went with 'New Year', and my project for this challenge is a 2019 Penny Black calendar. I buy a few of the blank 'Create a Calendars' from Paper Mill Direct to decorate and give as Christmas presents each year, and this is the one I made for my Mum. They still have some available here if you fancy making yourself one. I used a variety of Penny Black stamps and papers from lots of different manufacturers...far too many to list, but I did manage to use up lots of snippets! Here's a look at each of the months:

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

• Alphabet Challenge - S is for Stitching (my stitching is faux)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - New (New Year)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (New Year)

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

ABC Christmas Challenge - A & B are for?

Happy New Year!

Over at the ABC Christmas Challenge, we're starting our tenth (!) trip through the alphabet...I'm the host, and the themes for this month are:

'A is for Anything Christmas Goes'

and

'B is for Berries'

This yer, we're changing things up a little, and have gone sponsor free...so I've donated a couple of little prizes for this challenge:

I had some new Christmas crafting goodies to play with, so made a card for each of the two themes. On my first card, I used stamps from the 'Let it Snow' set by Happy Little Stampers (which I won recently on one of their challenges). I stamped the largest snowflake from the set using Versamark Ink on navy card, then heat embossed it with 'Sparkling Snow' embossing glitter by WOW. I stamped one of the sentiments from the set on to my card blank, and heat embossed it using the same powder, then used more of it to make a matching mat for my snowflake image. It's so sparkly in real life, but impossible to capture in a photograph!

I used a die I received for Christmas on my second card...'Candy Canes & Holly' by Sweet Dixie. I cut the image three times, from red, white and green card, then carefully pieced them together. I embossed a piece of kraft card fro the background using my 'Jolly Christmas' folder by Couture Creations, matted it on to a piece of red card, then added the candy canes on top. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Sentiments' set by Hero Arts.

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

• Always Fun - Something New (New stamps & dies)
• CAS on Friday - Christmas Cards
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Crimbo Crackers - Anything Christmas Goes
• My Time to Craft - Something New (New stamps & dies)
• Sweet Stampin' - New (New stamps & dies)
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the ABC Christmas Challenge.

Favourite Five Cards 2018

Today, I'm sharing my favourite (non-Christmas) cards of the year...I've included links back to the original blog posts, so please click through for the full info on any of the projects.

Crazy Dogs
I love these little weirdos...and picked up the matching die set this year to make my life a little easier! I love to group them all together as I find it impossible to choose just one to use!

Sorry I Forgot
This card is a bit fussier than my usual style, but I love the combination of colours.

Blossom Branch
This Penny Black stamp is one of my favourites of the year, and I experimented with several different ways of using it, but this simple coloured pencils on kraft technique is my favourite.

Uplifting Occasion
Of course, there had to be a Penny Black critter in among my favourites...and although pink is not one of my favourite colours, I can't help but smile at the expression on this kitty's face!

Big Blue Butterfly
Finally, another of my most used stamps of the year...a huge butterfly by Stampendous, combined with another of my favourites...a sparkly embossing glitter by WOW, and in my favourite colour too!

Before I go, I'd like to wish all of my lovely blog visitors a very Happy and Crafty New Year! See you in 2019!