Guest Designer - Seize the Birthday Challenge (A Rainbow of Colours)

I'm back with another Surprise Party Guest card for the Seize the Birthday Challenge.

The theme this fortnight is:

I used my set of Die-namics 'Party Balloons' dies to cut balloons from snippets of card in rainbow colours. I doodled some 'strings' onto a white card blank, then added the balloons on top. I stamped a sentiment (using one of the stamps from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company), onto a snippet of white card, then added that over the balloon 'strings'.

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

Guest Designer - I Spy with My Little Eye Challenge

Today, I'm excited to be sharing a Guest Designer card for Ellie's I Spy with My Little Eye Challenge.

The theme this month is:

'I Spy with My Little Eye...New Beginnings'

I went with 'New Baby' for my card, and picked a cute Penny Black stamp called 'Baby Hammock'. I stamped it onto some watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then used one of my Nesties to cut the circle shape. I paired it with papers from the 'Bumblebee Dance' pad from The Paper Boutique. I distressed the edges a little, added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen, then matted all of the layers onto some lilac card. The sentiment stamp is from a set by Art Impressions.

For more inspiration from Ellie and Pauline, please pop over to the Eye Spy with My Little Eye Challenge.

Bubble Twiggy Tree

Today's card features stamps from a lovely Woodware Stamps set that I won over at Pixie's Snippets Playground last week called 'Bubble Twiggy Tree'. I stamped the tree and a sentiment onto kraft card using Versamark ink, heat embossed them using white embossing powder, then coloured the 'bubbles' using red, green and blue glitter gel pens. I distressed the edges of the panel a little, then added it to a kraft card blank. 

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• As You Like It - Favourite Occasion (Christmas - making Christmas cards was what got me into stamping)
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Emboss It
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Spots & Dots

This card was so quick and easy to make, so I made another while I had all the supplies out!

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

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

My 'Something New' is a stamp from the 'Frosty Feathers' set by Penny Black that I received as a Christmas gift. I stamped one of the snowmen and a sentiment from the set, directly onto a kraft card blank, then coloured the image using watercolour pencils. 

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

• CAS on Friday - Snowman
• Crafty Calendar - Anything New
• Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes (Optional 'Snowman')
• Creative Knockouts - Something to Say
• Krafty Chicks - CAS
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• We Love Stamping - Something New

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

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.