Guest Designer - We Love Stamping

Today I'm sharing another Guest Designer card, this time for the We Love Stamping Challenge, where the theme for this month's challenge is:

'Anything Stamped'

(Optional 'Add a Stencil')

I have a few stencils...but hardly ever think to use them, so this was the 'kick up the bum' I needed! The stencil I picked is called 'Bones' by Funky Fossil. I laid the stencil over a kraft card blank, then used masking tape to create a strip across the middle, then sponged white pigment ink through the stencil. Once dry, I used it as a background for a cute Whipper Snapper pup called 'Birthday Beagle'. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out...adding him over the top of the stencilled background using 3D foam pads. The sentiment is from the 'Birthday Buddies' set by Paper Smooches.  

For more inspiration from the fabulous Design Team, and all of the details of this month's wonderful prize, please pop over to the We Love Stamping Challenge.

PBSC February - Anything Goes (Optional 'Hearts and/or Flowers')

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

'Hearts and/or Flowers'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I picked a cute little pup image from the 'Critter Party' set (an oldie, but a goodie!), and stamped him on to a kraft card blank. I coloured him using watercolour pencils, then added a snippet of heart print paper (from the 'Hello Today' pad by Heidi Swapp) along the bottom egde of the card for him to stand on. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Smooches' set by Paper Smooches...as is the little heart stamp, which I stamped in Versamark Ink, then heat embossed it using 'Turkish Nights' embossing glitter from WOW...I outlined the heart shape using a black gel pen to help it stand out better against the kraft.

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

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes (Optional 'Love/Hearts')
• Inkspirational - Moodboard Inspiration
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Love is in the Air

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

February Desk Calendar

Today I'm sharing the page for February in my little Penny Black desk calendar. The blank calendar is from Paper Mill Direct, and as I mentioned when I posted the page for January, I've decided to keep it really minimal, and stamp directly on to the page this year. The image I chose for February is called 'The Park Bench Affair', and I coloured it using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this calendar:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Love is in the Air
• Krafty Chicks - Stamp Act
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Love is in the Air

Guest Designer - Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge

A couple of month's ago, I was the lucky winner of a Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge, and asked to guest design for a future challenge, and today I'm sharing that card. 

This challenge is sponsored by Sheepski Designs, and the image I chose to work with is called 'Vixen'. I printed it on to smooth white card, then used watercolour pencils to colour it...I didn't use any water to blend the pencils, as I often have issues with that smudging digi stamps (I don't have the right kind of printer...which is why you don't see me using a lot of digi stamps), but I quite like the texture it's given the fur. I used some of my Nesties to cut the circles, and paired the image with a snippet of bauble paper from the 'Ho, Ho, Ho!' pad by Polkadoodles...doodling simple borders using a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts.

For more inspiration from the fabulous design team, please pop over to the Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge - thanks for having me!

Watch This!

I was the lucky winner of a Simon Says Stamp Challenge a few weeks ago, and one of the things I chose to get with my prize was a Colorado Craft Company stamp set by Anita Jerum, called 'Watch This'. My prize arrived on Friday, so of course, I had to ink up the stamps this weekend and I used the three pup images, and three of the sentiments, in the set to make a simple set of birthday cards. I stamped the images on to watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then distressed the edges a little, before adding the panels to kraft card blanks.

Challenges for these cards:

• Allsorts - For Boys or Men
• Cardz for Guys - Pets
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Everybody Art - New (The stamps are new)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Just Us Girls - CAS Birthday
• Little Red Wagon - Happy, Happy Birthday
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Baubles Flourish

I have another one layer Christmas card to share today...this time I tried out a version of a technique I spotted on this fabulous card by Loll. She used gilding flakes, and I don't have any of those, but I do have lots of lovely metallic embossing glitters from WOW, so thought I'd see it I could do something similar with those. What a liked most about Loll's card was the mixture of different metals...not something I ever think to do, but on this card I managed to combine five different colours of the metallic sparkle embossing glitters (Gold, Fool's Gold, Silver, Platinum & Brass). The stamp I chose is called 'Baubles Flourish' by Indigo Blu. I stamped it on to a black card blank using Versamark Ink, then sprinkled a little of each of the embossing glitters over the image until it was all covered. I then did the same with the sentiment (from the 'Festive Phrases' set by Funky Fossil).

Rather disappointingly, all of the different colours of embossing glitter aren't showing up terribly well in the photographs...but I promise you, that in real life it does look really rather pretty - will definitely give it another go.

Challenges for this card:

• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Celebrations
• Krafty Chicks - All Occasions
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Add Some Sparkle

Oh, Christmas Tree

I have a simple one layer Christmas card to share today...made using the tree from the 'Oh, Christmas Tree' stamp set by Julie Hickey. I stamped it directly on to a kraft card blank, then added some colour using watercolour pencils. For a touch of festive sparkle, I coloured the star at the top of the tree with a gold glitter gel pen. 

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas Cards All Year Round - One of Something or a Tree
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Stamps + Fun = Creativity - Anything Goes
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

Party Animals

Today's card fetaures a Penny Black stamp called 'Party Animals'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, along with a sentiment from the 'Let's Party' set from the 'Everyday with Barkley' collection by Crafter's Companion, then coloured the image using watercolour pencils. The papers are a mixture...the striped one is from the 'Pure Frozen' pad from Poundland and the spotty one is from the 'Festival of Prints' pad by Stampin' Up...I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. 

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Birthday - Anything Birthday
• Allsorts - Spots and/or Stripes
• Dream Valley - Hip to be Square
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Cards for Kids

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'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I made a 'New Baby' card using a cute hedgie stamp called 'Baby Hammock'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils, before cutting the circle shape using one of my Nesties. I paried it with papers from the 'Vintage Dreams' pad by Craft Sensations...using my 'Swiss Dots' folder to emboss the plain one. 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 'Handwritten Borders' set by Simon Says Stamp.

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

• Crafty Calendar - Add a Sentiment
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Add a Die Cut')
• Crafty Friends - New Beginnings
• Cut It Up - Anything Goes
• Dream Valley - New Beginnings
• Inkspirational - New and/or Welcome
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Four-legged Animals

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

Owl & Butterfly

Today's card features some charity shop finds...a Personal Impressions stamp set called 'Owl & Butterfly' and a Stamps by Chloe paper pad called (I think) 'Swirls & Foil', that I thought matched fairly well. I stamped the butterlies on to a snippet of pink-ish paper from a Craft Sensations pad using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed them using WOW 'Metallic Silver' embossing powder. I then stamped the swirl from the set around the edges, again embossing in silver. I ditressed the edges a little, then matted the layers on to silver mirror card.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Incy Wincy - Cute and/or Pastel Colours
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes

Snowy Snippets

Today's card was totally inspired by the current Pixie's Snippets Playground challenge, where they are celebrating Di's 11th Blogoversary (congratulations Di!), by asking us to 'Show Us Your Snippets!'. So, I searched through my paper pads to find the one that was mostly snippets to use...this is the 'Winter Wonderland' pad by My Mind's Eye that I've had for about 10 years! There is one complete sheet, but the rest is just snippets of varying sizes:

I chose to use 'Snowy' by Penny Black, stamping him on to a kraft card blank, then colouring him using watercolour pencils. I then paper pieced his hat and scarf using some of the snippets. I added another snippet of the paper along the top border of the card...cutting the curve with one of my 'Stitched Hillside Border' dies by Lawn Fawn. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts.

Challenges for this card:

• As You Like It - Favourite Reason to Send a Card (Christmas, because it's what got me into crafting!)
• Christmas Craft Creations - Snippets
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - Christmas
• Little Red Wagon - Baby It's Cold Outside
• My Time to Craft - Snowmen
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Too Cute
• Stamps + Fun = Creativity - Snowmen and/or Stars
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

Bentley Bear

Today's card features a cute little bear stamp from an 'ex-demo' set that I picked up recently in a craft shop closing down sale. A quick Google search tells me that the set is called 'Bentley Bear - Thank You Collection'. I stamped this little bear on to some watercolour paper, then I coloured him using watercolour pencils...matching the flowers on his 'Thank You' sign to the ones on the snippet of paper (from the 'Watercolour Flowers' pad from The Works) that I added to the card blank. I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Cards - All the Bears
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Add an Animal')
• Daring Cardmakers - New Year, New Crafty Things (The stamp is new)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Too Cute!
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Something New (The stamp is new)

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 fourteenth trip through the alphabet! I'm the host, and the themes are:

'A is for Anything Christmas Goes

&

'B is for Bear'

Here's the prize on offer for the lucky winner:

On my first card, I used a couple of new (to me) Woodware 'Twiggy Tree' stamps that I picked up in a post Christmas/closing down sale. I stamped them on to a kraft card blank using a couple of colours of Distress Ink (Forest Moss & Rustic Wilderness). I then stamped a little star (from the 'Many Blessings' set by Hero Arts) at the top of each tree, then coloured it in using a gold glitter gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts).

For my 'Bear' card, I used a Penny Black stamp called 'A Present' that I received for Christmas. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured the bear using watercolour pencils. I paper pieced the gift,  bow and tag using snippets of papers from the 'Christmas' pad by Craft Sensations. I used larger snippets of paper for the background of the card, distressing all of the edges and adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts.

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

• Creative Inspirations - Something New (The stamps are new)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (The stamps are new)

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

Festive Flurry Baubles & Bows

I was one of the lucky winners of last month's Stamping Sensations challenge...my prize was a fabulous Creative Expressions stamp set called 'Festive Flurry Baubles & Bows'. It arrived in time for me to have a play at the weekend, and this is one of the cards I made. I stamped some of the baubles on to kraft card using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed them in white. I then added a 'string' for each of the baubles using a Versamark pen, and heat embossed that too, along with the sentiment from the set. I distressed the edges a little before adding the panel to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Something New (The stamps are new)
• C.R.A.F.T.  - Something New (The stamps are new)
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Moving Along with the Times - Kraft
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (The stamps are new)
• Sweet Stampin' - New (The stamps are new)

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'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

My 'Something New' is the New Year. Each Christmas, I decorate a couple of the blank calendars from Paper Mill to give as gifts, and this is the one I did for my Mum. I used Penny Black images (of course) for each month, and combined papers from lots of different pads...managed to use up a fair few snippets too! I distressed all of the edges, and added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, then matted everything on to kraft card before adding to the calendar.

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

• Lil Red Wagon - New Beginnings
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (New Year)
• Use Your Stuff - Stitching (Faux or Real)

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