Bauble Balance

I have a Christmas card to share today...featuring a cute little elf stamp from Penny Black called 'Bauble Balance. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, along with the matching sentiment, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. As the image is fairly large, I used a single piece of patterned paper from the 'Silver Bells' pad by Kaisercraft...distressing the edges and adding faux stitching. Once assembled, I added a generous coating of  'Diamond' Stickles to the elf's baubles to match the ones on the paper behind.

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas with the Cuties - Elves/Gnomes/Fairies
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Jingle Belles - Ho Ha Ha!
• Krafty Chicks - Christmas
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Stamp It
• Stamps + Fun = Creativity - Anything Goes
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Optional 'Hand Coloured Images')

Guest Designer - Seize the Birthday Challenge

Today, I'm excited to share that I'm a Surprise Party Guest at the Seize the Birthday Challenge!

If you're new to their challenges, they have an optional 'Topping' theme, which this fortnight is:

But, if the 'Topping' isn't sparking those creative juices, there's always the option to enter an 'Anything Goes' Birthday card!

When I made my card, I was away from home with limited stash...and without anything suitably stripey! I put my thinking cap on, and decided to try making my own stripes using Distress Inks on watercolour paper. I used masking tape to mask a strip on the watercolour paper, then painted stripes of Distress Ink in varying thickness down the page. Once dry, I removed the masking tape, added a stamped sentiment, using a stamp from the 'Signature Greetings' set by Memory Box, then distressed the edges a little. I picked an image from the 'Cheerful Critters' set by Penny Black...stamping it on to watercolour paper, and colouring it using a mixture of watercolour pencils, and the same Distress Inks I used for the stripes. I carefully cut out the image, then added it on top of the striped panel using 3D foam pads before adding it to a kraft card blank.

For more inspiration, from the fabulous design team, please pop over to the Seize the Birthday Challenge. Thanks for inviting me to your party!

ABC Christmas Challenge - S & T are for?

We have a fun new ABC Christmas Challenge starting today...Lynda is the host, and the themes are:

'P is for Pink'

'Q is for Quartet'

&

'R is for Rudolph'

The prize for the lucky winner is these Avery Elle dies:

I don't often use stencils, so don't have that many, but I do have a lovely snowflake one (from Creative Expressions), that was the starting point for my card. I picked a piece of lilac watercolour effect paper (from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations), and blended a white pigment ink over the stencil. The stencil is DL sized, so I had to do it in two stages to cover the whole piece of paper...then, as it didn't show up as clearly as I'd hoped, I sprinkled some 'Diamond White' embossing powder (from WOW) over the top, then set it using my heat gun. I used a Creative Expression die to cut the sentiment...cutting a couple from white snippets, and layering them up with one cut from purple mirror card over the top. I matted the snowflake panel on to some more of the purple mirror card, then added it to a white card blank.

Another angle:

For my 'Traditional Christmas Colours' card, I picked a Woodware Christmas tree stamp, that I got for my birthday. I stamped it on to black card, along with one of the sentiments from the same Woodware set, then heat embossed it all in gold. I used Cosmic Shimmers mica pigments mixed with a little water to watercolour the tree in traditional red and green, then matted the gold panel on to some gold mirror card before adding it to a card blank.

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (First card only)
• Christmas Cards All Year Round - Trees and/or Barns (Second card only)
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Stamp It
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Stamp It

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

Have a Tweet Day

Today's card features one of the cute bird stamps from 'The Tweets' set by Funky Fossil. I stamped it directly on to a card blank, along with one of the sentiments from the set, then coloured the birds using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• Addicted to CAS - Pun
• As You Like It - Layers or Not (Despite by fairly substantial patterned paper collection, I find myself making more one layer cards at the moment...nice & cheap to post!)
• CAS on Friday - Feathered Friends
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Stamp It
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Stamp It
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes (Optional 'Animal Magic')

PBSC September - Anything Goes (Optional 'Anything but Square')

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

'Anything but Square'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I decided to make a little rocker card...so inked up one of the little snowmen from the 'Snow Much Fun' set by Penny Black, stamping him on to watercolour paper. I coloured him using watercolour pencils, then used one of my circle Nesties to cit it out, before fussy cutting around the top of the image. I matted it on to a circe of snowflake paper from the 'Glittering Snowflakes' pad by Crafter's Companion, then on to some silver mirror card..scalloped shape cut using another Nestie die. To make the rocker part, I used a saucer as a template for the larger circle...cutting it from white card, then used that to cut a slightly smaller semicircle from another piece of paper from the same pad, and added that on top. I folded it in half to make the card blank, then added the snowman on top using some 3D foam pads.

I did manage to capture a short video of him rocking...the idea was that he'd look almost like he's doing a cartwheel! Ha Ha!

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

• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Stamp It!
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Optional 'Hand Coloured Image')

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

Flowing Flowers N Leaves

I have a pair of cards to share today, made using a Hero Arts background stamp called 'Flowing Flowers N Leaves' that I picked up in a charity shop recently. For both cards, I stamped it on to smooth white card using Versamark Ink (inking and stamping a couple of times to make sure I got a really good impression), then heat embossed it using clear embossing powder. For the first card, I picked a trio of 'sunset' coloured Distress Inks...Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade & Mustard Seed, and blended them over the top of the embossed background. Once dry, I gently wiped it with a paper towel to remove any ink from the embossing. So as to leave as much of the background uncovered as possible, I stamped a sentiment (using a stamp from the 'Floral Garden' stamp set by Simon Says Stamp) on to a snippet of black card using a white pigment ink, heat embossed it in white, then added it using 3D foam pads. I matted the floral panel on to some more black card before adding it to a white card blank.

I had intended that the second card would 'match' the first, albeit with a different trio of Distress Inks, but I really liked the subtle peaceful effect of the clear embossing on the white card, so decided to leave it alone. I trimmed it down to a square, then added a simple sentiment...using a stamp from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image and 'Metallic Silver' embossing powder from WOW...over the centre. I gently distressed the edges of everything, then added it to a white card blank.

Challenges for these cards:

• AAA Cards - Anything CAS (Optional 'Sympathy or Get Well') (Second card)
• Dream Valley - Anything Goes (First card)
• Everybody Art - Anything Goes (Second card)
• Krafty Chicks - Stamps (First card)
• Little Red Wagon - Sympathy (Second card)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Stamp It (First card)

Dog-gone!

Today's card features one of the pups from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then cut him out. For the background, I picked a piece of watercolour effect paper from the 'Pastel Watercolours' pad from The Works...distressing the edges a little, and adding a sentiment (stsmp from the 'Man's Best Friend' set by Penny Black) before popping the pup on top using 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Optional 'Add a Sentiment')
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes (Optional 'Animal Magic')
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Optional 'Hand Coloured Image')

September Desk Calendar

As it's the first day of a brand new month, I'm sharing my desk calendar page for September. I used a stamp from the Penny Black 'Jazzy Cats' set...to represent the start of a new school year this month (my day job is as a music teacher, teaching flute/clarinet/saxophone/recorder)...stamping it on to a snippet of watercolour paper, and colouring it using watercolour pencils before cutting out the circle shape using one of my Nesties. For the background I used snippets of paper from the 'Fresh Florals' pad by Craft Sensations...distressing the edges, and adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this calendar:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Alphabet Challenge - K is for Kittens
• Crafty Animals - Anything Goes
• Moving Along with the Times - Not a Card
• Pixie's Snippet's Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes