Fish are Jumpin'!

Today's card features a Penny Black stamp called 'Fish are Jumpin''...which I stamped on to watercolour paper, then coloured using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'Vintage Dreams' pad by Craft Sensations...distressing the edges a little, before adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Birthday Buddies' set by Paper Smooches.

Challenges for this card:

• Cardz for Guys- On the Water
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Birthday Cupcake

Today's card features a House Mouse stamp called 'Birthday Cupcake, which I stamped on to watercolour paper, and coloured using watercolour pencils. I paired it with spotty papers from the 'Fresh Florals' pad by Craft Sensations and the 'Happy Colours' pad from The Works...lightly distressing the edges before adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from a Stampendous 'House Mouse' set called 'Birthday Splash'.

Challenges for this card:

• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• House Mouse & Friends - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - All Occasions
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampers - Birthday

Fa la la la la!

I have a simple one layer Christmas card to share today...featuring one of the stamps from the 'Christmas Hugs' set by Penny Black. I stamped it on to a kraft card blank, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Festive Phrases' set by Funky Fossil.

Challenges for this card:

• Cards Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes 
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Chicky Nights!

I have a simple one layer card to share today, featuring an old wood mounted Penny Black stamp called 'Chicky Nights!'. I stamped it on to a white card blank, along with a couple of sentiments from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts. On the image on the back of the stamp, the chicks are coloured in an array of pastel shades for their big night out, so I went with a complete rainbow, colouring them using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Birthday - Let's Party
• Allsorts - Birthday
• CCEE Stampers - Chickens
• Krafty Chicks - CAS
• Less is More - Rainbow

PBSC May - Anything Goes (Optional 'Nature')...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

'Nature'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used my Penny 'Blossom Branch' stamp, inking it with Distress Inks (Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, Rustic Wilderness and Peeled Paint), spritzing with water, then stamping on to watercolour paper a couple of times. I added a sentiment from the 'Signature Greetings' set by Memory Box, then distressed the edges a little before adding to a DL kraft card blank.

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

• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday
• Sparkles Forum - Floral Frenzy 
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped (Optional 'Flora or Fauna')
• We Love Stamping - For a Lady or Girl

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

Holly Jolly Christmas Tree

I have a Christmas card to share today, made using a Crafter's Companion stamp called 'Holly Jolly Christmas Tree'. I stamped the tree on to teal card using a white pigment ink, then heat embossed it in white. I inked around the edge of the panel with more of the white ink, then heat embossed those in white too before adding it to a matching teal card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas Craft Creations - Two Colours
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Christmas Sentiments
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

Burst into Bloom

I have a simple one layer card to share today...featuring an old Woodware stamp called 'Burst into Bloom'. I stamped it directly onto a kraft card blank, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Signature Greetings' set by Memory Box.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Cards - No Layers + Plant, Grow or Farm
• Addicted to CAS - Flower
• CASology - Botanical
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Make it Bloom
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped (Optional 'Flora or Fauna')
• Sweet Stampers - Birthday
• We Love Stamping - For a Lady or Girl

More Beaded Bracelets

I have a few beaded bracelets to share today, made using the same technique as this wrap one I blogged last month. This time I made these so that they would go around the wrist just once, using a selection of glass crackle beads.

Challenges for these bracelets:

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Anything Goes
• Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

ABC Christmas Challenge - J & K are for?

It's the second Wednesday of a new month, so that means it's time for a new ABC Christmas Challenge! Wei is the host, and the themes are:

'J is for Joke'

(Funny/Punny Sentiment or Humorous Image)

&

'K is for Kraft'

The prize on offer for this challenge is a $10 My Favorite Things gift card from Wei:

For my 'J is for Joke' card, I combined a few of the critters from a Lili of the Valley set of 'Carol Singers' stamps...masking the central mouse image...to create a little scene. I coloured them using watercolour pencils, then added a sentiment from the 'Caroling Chicks' set by Stamping Bella. I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen before adding the panel to a kraft card blank.

On my 'K is for Kraft' card, I used my 'Connor's Crown Jewels' stamp by IndigoBlu...stamping it on to kraft card using a white pigment ink pad, then heat embossed it in white. I made a simple background, using my 'Collage Music Background' stamp by Hero Arts...again stamping and embossing in white on more kraft, then distressed the edges a little before layering them on to a kraft card blank.

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

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Hand Coloured Image')
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Christmas Goes
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

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

Doggy Driver

Today's card features a dog from the 'Hello Friend' set by Penny Black...I stamped him on to watercolour paper, along with a sentiment from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'Fresh Florals' pad by Craft Sensations...although obviously none of these ones actually feature any flowers! I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. 

Challenges for this card:

• Alphabet Challenge - C is for Cars
• As You Like It - Favourite Layout (This is one I've used many times...it allows me to combine lots of pretty papers and also looks good with a circular image)
• Cardz for Guys - D is for ? (Doggy Driver)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

PBSC May - Anything Goes (Optional 'Nature')

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
'Nature'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used the floral stamp 'Together', inking it with Distress Inks (Broken China, Chipped Sapphire & Dusty Concord for the flowers, and Peeled Paint & Rustic Wilderness for the leaves and stems), then spritzing with a little water before stamping on to watercolour paper. I added some splatters of the same inks, and a sentiment from the 'Signature Greetings' set by Memory Box, then distressed the edges a little before adding it to a kraft card blank.

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

• C.R.A.F.T. - Birthday
• Happy Little Stampers (Watercolour) - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - Stamp Act
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped (Optional 'Flora/Fauna')

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

Mice Birthday

Today's card features one of the cute stamps from the set that I won recently on the House Mouse & Friends Challenge. The set is called 'Birthday Splash' by Stampendous, and I stamped the image and one of the matching sentiments on to some watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils, before cutting it out using one of my circle Nesties. I lightly distressed the edges of the image, and those of a strip of paper from the 'Let's Celebrate' pad from Poundland, then added them both to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Dream Valley - Four-legged Friends
• House Mouse & Friends - Anything Goes (Optional 'Birthdays')
• Krafty Chicks - All Occasions
• Moving Along with the Times - Birthday
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Desk Calendar - May

Today I'm sharing my little desk calendar page for May. The calendar itself is from Paper Mill, and I've been using Penny Black images each month...the smaller stamps in the clear sets are perfect for this. On this month's page, I've combined a couple of stamps from the 'Wonderful Day' set...stamping them on to watercolour paper and colouring them using watercolour pencils. I paired it with snippets of paper from the 'Bright Freshness' pad by Craft Sensations...adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this calendar:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Crafty Friends - Animals or Birds
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes