ABC Christmas Challenge - L & M are for?

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

'L is for Lights'

&

'M is for Music'

Please visit the ABC Christmas Challenge for details of this month's prize.

For my 'L is for Lights' card, I used an old Penny Black stamp called 'Brightest Xmas'...stamping it directly onto a kraft card blank. I added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, then coloured the image using watercolour pencils. Finally, I added some Glossy Accents to the light bulbs.

For my 'M is for Music' card, I used stamps from an old set by Lili of the Valley called 'Carol Singers'. With a bit of masking, I managed to squeeze in all of the critters, then filled in the gaps in the snowy ground, and any missing details using a black gel pen. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Caroling Chicks' set by Stamping Bella. I lightly distressed the edges, then added it to a kraft DL card blank.

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

• Christmas Kickstart - Christmas Critters (Second card only)
• Crafty Calendar - Add a Sentiment (Second card only)
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes (First card only)
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Add the Word Merry (First card only)
• Stamping Sensations - Our Furry Friends (Second card only)
• Stamps + Fun = Creativity (Second card only)
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes (First card only)

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

ABC Christmas Challenge - L & M are for?

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

'L is for Lanterns'

&

'M is for Music'

The prize for the lucky winner is this cute 'Santa  Activities' die set from Sizzix & Olivia Rose:

For my 'L is for Lanterns' card, I used a Crafter's Companion stamp from the 'Moonbeam Meadow' collection called 'Christmas Delivery'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, along with one of the matching sentiments, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The papers are from a pad from The Works...I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

On my 'M is for Music' card, I used a Penny Black image from the 'Christmas Hugs' set, stamping it on to watercolour paper along with a sentiment from the 'Carolling Chicks' set by Stamping Bella, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The papers are a mixture of Folia Paper 'Geomentrics' (the pink & stripey ones), and Poundland 'Pure Frozen' (the aqua snowflake one). I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

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

• Christmas Cards All Year Round - Cats and/or Dogs (Second card only)
• Creative Knockouts - Two or More Patterned Papers
• Everybody Art - Three Patterned Papers (Second card only)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Jingle Belles - At Least Three Different Papers (Second card only)
• Just Us Girls - Pink & Aqua (Second card only)
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Let the Music Play (Second card only)

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

ABC Christmas Challenge - P, Q & R are for?

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

'P is for Presents'

'Q is for Quick'

&

'R is for Robins

This is the prize on offer for one lucky winner:

On my 'P is for Presents' card, I used a die set by Poppy Stamps called 'Abundant Gifts' and snippets of red and white card to make a CAS card. I followed the sketch from this week's AAA Cards Challenge, flipping it so that my presents were lined up along the bottom edge of the card. I added a sentiment using one of the stamps from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, heat embossing it in white.

For my 'Q is for Quick' card, I stamped my 'Bethlehem Nights' stamp (by Stampendous) on to a snippet of smooth white card using Versafine 'Twilight Ink', then simply trimmed it, then added it to a navy card blank using 3D foam.

Finally, on for my 'R is for Robins' card, despite the fact that I have quite a few robin stamps, I used a stamp that isn't supposed to be robins at all, it's 'Caroling Chicks' by Stamping Bella. I stamped it directly on to a kraft card blank, along with the sentiment from the set, then coloured the 'chicks' to look like 'robins' using watercolour pencils.

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

• AAA Cards - Sketch (First card only)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes (Third card only)
• My Time to Craft - Shades of Blue (Second card only)
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets (First card only)
• Sweet Stampin' - Inspired by a Book/Song/Film (Second card only - 'O Little Town of Bethlehem')
• Time Out - Monochromatic (Second card only)

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

Sanford the Birthday Boy Stuffie

Today's card features a Stamping Bella stamp called 'Sanford the Birthday Boy Stuffie'. I stamped him on to a snippet of watercolour paper, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I paired him with papers from the 'Let it Snow' pad from Poundland...distressing the edges, then adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I matted the image on to a snippet of kraft card, then layered everything up on a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Lots of Layers

Dawn Loves Her Doggie

Today's card features a Stamping Bella image called 'Dawn Loves her Doggie'. I stamped it directly on to a kraft card blank, along with a sentiment from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts, then coloured it using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes (Optional 'For a Friend')
• Less is More - Friendship
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - 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.

Carol Singing Critters

I have a Christmas card to share today that features all of the critters from the 'Carol Singing' set by Lili of the Valley. I stamped them all, with a little bit of masking, on to some watercolour paper, then coloured them using watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment from the 'Carolling Chicks' set by Stamping Bella, then distressed the edges a little before matting on to some red card. I added a few strips of musical washi tape across the centre of a kraft A5 card blank, then added the image on top using some 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:

• C.R.A.F.T. - Winter
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Christmas Delight
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Music

Guest Designer - Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge

I was picked as the winner over at the Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge of a recent challenge, and asked to guest design for one of their future challenges. 

Today, I'm excited to be sharing my card their new challenge the theme is:

'Anything Goes Using Paper'

The sponsor for this challenge is Dr Digi's House of Stamps:

(See challenge blog for prize details)

I have used one of Dr Digi's images on my card...this one is called 'Patient Pets'. I coloured it using watercolour pencils, then simply matted it on to some green card, then on to a kraft card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Dawn loves her doggie' set by Stamping Bella

For more inspiration from the wonderful Design Team, please pop over to Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge.

ABC Christmas Challenge - P, Q & R are for?

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

'P is for Plump'

'Q is for Quality Street'

&

'R is for Ribbon'

There's a wonderful prize on offer for the lucky winner:

For my 'P is for Plump' card, I picked a cute Stamping Bella image called 'Caroling Chicks'...just look at those round little bellies! I stamped it directly on to a kraft card blank, along with the matching sentiment, then coloured it using watercolour pencils.

For my 'Q is for Quality Street' card, I took inspiration from the colours on some of the sweets...specifically, the blue (coconut), pink (fudge) and of course the purple one (hazelnut caramel).

I heat embossed my 'Mod Trees' background stamp (from Simon Says Stamp) on to blue, pink and purple card, using coordinating WOW embossing glitters (Coral Reef on pink, Pacific Wave on Blue and Magical Mauve on purple). I made a ptachwork from little squares of the embossed card, mounting them on to gold mirror card, and cutting a sentiment from more of the mirror card using a Creative Expressions die.

As always, being so sparkly and shiny, it's difficult to get a good photo, but here's another angle:

Finally, on my 'R is for Ribbon' card. I decided to try to make a bit of a feature of the ribbon, as it's not somehting I often use on my cards. I made a 'gift box' from red card...embossing part of it using my 'Outline Snowflakes' background stamp (from Simon Says Stamp) in white. The tied some spotty ribbon around it before adding it to a kraft card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts.

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

• Christmas with the Cuties - CAS (first card only)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Christmas in July
• Cut it Up - Make Your Own Background Paper (second card only)
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Perfectly CAS - Embossing (last card only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sparkles Christmas Forum - Christmas Music (first card only)
• Stamping Sensations - Any Celebration

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

Carolers

I have a Christmas card to share today, featuring one of my oldest (and most favourite) Penny Black stamp, called 'Carolers'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. For the background, I used lots of snippets of paper from the 'Jingle All the Way' pad by First Edition, distressing the edges a little and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Carolling Chicks' set by Stamping Bella.

Challenges for this card:

• Always Fun - Layers
• Christmas with the Cuties - Festive Furries or Feathers
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes
• Jingle Belles - At Least Three Layers
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• Winter Wonderland - Christmas Birds

Dawn Loves Her Doggie

I was the lucky winner of a recent Pixie's Snippets Playground challenges...it was one in the memory of Ruby, and the prize, rather appropriately, was this fabulous Stamping Bella 'Dawn Loves Her Doggie' stamp. It arrived yesterday, and I couldn't resist inking it up right away! I stamped it, along with the matching sentiment, on to a snippet of watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The papers are a mixture of snippets from a couple of different pads. The polkadot one is from the 'Refreshing Basics' pad from The Works, and the heart & fabric texture ones are from the 'Vintage Dreams' pad by Craft Sensations. I used my Cuttlebug 'Concentric Hearts' die to cut a little heart shape, then distressed all of the edges and added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'All Creatures Big & Small')
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Green
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Sending Hugs
• Sweet Stampers - Lots of Layers

In the Dog House?

Today's card features one of the pups from the 'Man's Best Friend' set by Penny Black. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, then coloured him using watercolourpencils. I paired him with papers from the 'Awesome Boy' pad by Recollections/Michaels...distressing the edges, and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Sanford the Birthday Boy Stuffie' set by Stamping Bella.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Gingham, Stripes, Dots
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Spots and/or Stripes')
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Penny Black & More - Men & Boys
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• The Male Room - In the Garden

Sanford the Birthday Boy Stuffie

Today's card features a Stamping Bella image called 'Sanford the Birthday Boy Stuffie', which I stamped on to watercolour paper, and coloured using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from a Christmas pad called 'Let it Snow' by Love to Craft at Poundland. I distressed all fo the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the Rachelle Anne Miller 'Soar' set by Crafter's Companion.

Challenges for this card:

• C.R.A.F.T. - Birthday
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Birthdays
• Penny Black & More - Men & Boys
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Animal Fun

Carolers

I have another Christmas card to share today...featuring one of the first Penny Black stamps I bought...called 'Carolers'. I coloured it using watercolour pencils, then added a sentiment from a set by Stamping Bella called 'Caroling Chicks'. I made a simple background by embossing a piece of kraft card using my 'Musical Notes' embossing folder by Crafts Too...matting everything on to snippets of red card.

Challenges for this card:

• Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes
• Animal Friends - Birds
• Cardz for Guyz - Christmas Critters
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Everybody Art - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

ABC Christmas Challenge - P, Q & R are for?

It's the first Wednesday of the month, so that means that we have a fun new ABC Christmas Challenge starting today! Sharon is the host, and we have a bumper crop of three themes:

'P is for Plain'

'Q is for Quote'

&

'R is for Rabbits or Robins'

Our sponsor for this challenge is Freckled Fawn:

Prize - $25 Gift Certificate!

There's also a prize on offer from Sharon:

A cute set of Penny Black stamps!

I made a card for each of the three themes...on my 'P is for Plain' card, I used a Stamping Bella stamp set called 'Caroling Chicks' to make a simple one layer card. I coloured the image using watercoloure penils.

For my 'Q is for Quote' card, I used stamps form the 'Tattered Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous...the sentiment stamp is a quote from the song 'Winter Wonderland'. I used a piece of paper from a pad by Stampin' Up that I found in a charity shop recently for the background...I distressed the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

For my 'R is for Rabbits or Robins' card, I found a stamp by Lili of the Valley that combined the two called 'Winter Bunnies' which I coloured using watercolour pencils. I added a strip of Stampin' Up paper (form the same pad as the last card) having cut the curve using one of the dies from the 'Stitched Hillside Borders' set by Lawn Fawn. The snowflakes were cut using dies by Tim Holtz for Sizzix, and the sentiment stamp is also by Lili of the Valley.

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

• City Crafter - CAS Christmas
• Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Cut It Up - Christmas in July (Just the last card)
• Holly & the Ivy - Anything Goes
• Inkspirational - 10 Minute Cards (Just the first card)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - CAS
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

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