ABC Christmas Challenge - H & I are for?

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

'H is for Hats'

&

'I is for Image Only'

(No Sentiment)

This is the prize for the lucky winner:

A $30 Gift card to your favourite craft store!

For my 'H is for Hats' card, I used some of the critters from the 'Christmas Hats' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company. I stamped them, along with one of the sentiments from the set, onto a white DL card blank, then coloured them using watercolour pencils.

For my 'I is for Image Only' card, I used the stamps from a Penny Black set called 'Sledding Sweetness'. I stamped them onto a piece of watercolour paper, then coloured them using watercolour pencils. I distressed the edges a little before adding it to a kraft card blank.

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

• Christmas Cards All Year Round - G & H are for? (H is for Hats)
• Christmas Kickstart - Brimming with Style (First card only)
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes (Second card only)
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes (Second card only)

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

Good Day Birthday

Today's card features another of the cats from the 'Good Day!' set by Penny Black. I stamped it onto watercolour paper, along with one of the sentiments from the set, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from a magazine freebie pad called 'Let's Fly Away!'. I distressed all of the edges, added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, then matted the layers onto some yellow card before adding them to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - Birthday
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Happy Birthday!

PBSC April - Anything Goes (Optional 'Pastel Colours)

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

'Pastel Colours'

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

I made a set of tags to put on some Easter treat boxes. The stamps used were: 'Totally Excited! (the chicken); 'Butterflies & Ewe' (the sheep); 'Hello World' (the two chicks); and the goose is from the 'Twelve Days of Christmas' set. I stamped them all onto snippets of watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then cut out the circle shapes using one of my Nestie dies.  I distressed the edges a little, then added them to mats cut from snippets of pastel coloured card using one of my scalloped circle Nestie dies, sandwiching some Baker's twine in between.

For the boxes, I used sheets of 12x12 papers from a pad by Premium Stacks called 'Baby Boy', and my We R Memory Keepers punchboard. Once assembled, I tied up the boxes with more Baker's twine, then added the tags:

I'm also entering these tags & boxes into the following challenges:

• Creative Inspirations - Easter/Spring
• Just Us Girls - Dies + Spring/Easter
• Moving Along with the Times - Anything Spring
• Sweet Stampin' - Spring or Easter

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

April Desk Calendar

As it's the first day of the month, I'm sharing my desk calendar page for April. I went with an Easter theme, and used one of the stamps from the 'Twelve Days of Christmas' set by Penny Black...this cutie represents 'Six Geese a-laying'. I stamped it onto a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then cut out the circle shape using one of my Nesties. For the background, I used a couple of snippets of paper from the 'Hippity Hoppity' pad by We R Memory Keepers...I've had this pad since 2011, and it's still going strong! I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Spring
• Fab 'N' Funky - Easter/Spring
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Sparkles Forum - Springtime

Thank You Cat

Today's card features another Penny Black cat stamp, this time from the 'Good Day!' set. I stamped him onto watercolour paper, along with one of the sentiments from the set, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I paired him with some floral paper, from the 'Watercolour Feelings' pad from The Works...I distressed the edges a little, then added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• I Spy with My Little Eye - Spring Flowers or Spring Showers (I went with flowers)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Guest Designer - Allsorts Challenge!

Today, I'm excited to be sharing a Guest Designer card for the Allsorts Challenge, where the theme this fortnight is:

'Spring'

(Or 'Anything Goes')

The prize is some Penny Black stamps from Buddly Crafts.

I picked a cute Penny Black cat stamp to use called 'The Bestest!', and stamped it onto watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. For the background, I used snippets of papers from the 'Bright Freshness' pad by Craft Sensations. Only the two edge snippets are long strips, the others are teeny tiny, but the image covers the gap in the middle. I distressed all of the edges, then added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen before mounting them, and the image, onto some yellow card.

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

Candy Cane Bartles

I have a clean and simple Christmas card to share today, featuring a cute pup stamp from Purple Onion called 'Bartles'. I stamped him onto a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out. I added a snippet of striped paper from the 'Home for Christmas' pad by Violet studio along the bottom edge of a kraft card blank, and a sentiment, using a stamp from the 'Santa's Sweets' set by Penny Black, then popped Bartles on top using 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:

• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Candy Canes
• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes

You're Retro!

Today's card features one of the stamps from the 'You're Retro!' set by Penny Black. I stamped it onto watercolour paper, along with one of the sentiments from the set, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I added a snippet of stripey paper from the 'Charming' pad by Recollections/Michaels (found at TKMaxx) for a simple background. It was only a couple of centimetres wide, so I cut it in half, distressed the edges, added it to a kraft card blank, then placed the image over the top.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Cards - Anything CAS Goes
• Addicted to CAS - Stripes
• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - CAS
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - CAS

PBSC March - Anything Goes (Optional 'Four-legged Friends')...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

'Four-legged Friends'

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

For my card, I picked a cute mouse stamp called 'Surprise!'. I stamped it onto watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. For the background, I used papers from a couple of different pads...the green one is from the 'Bright Freshness' pad by Craft Sensations, and the yellow and lilac papers are from the 'Bumblebee Dance' pad from The Paper Boutique. I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company.

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Fab 'N' Funky - Four-legged Friends
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Gingham/Tartan/Plaid
• We Love Stamping - Wildlife

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

Guest Designer - CAS on Friday Challenge!

Today, I'm excited to be sharing a guest designer card for the CAS on Friday Challenge, where the theme this fortnight is:

'Spring'

(Don't forget to keep it CAS)

I picked stamps from the 'Happy Day' set for my card, and stamped the bunnies and sentiment onto a piece of smooth white card. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then matted it onto yellow and lilac card, distressing all of the edges, before adding it to a white card blank.

For more inspiration from the fabulous design team, please pop over to the CAS on Friday Challenge - thanks for having me!

Sledging Buddies

Today's card features a cute Penny Black stamp from the 'Holly-Jolly' set. I stamped it onto a piece of watercolour paper, along with a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. For the background, I used a 'Holly' embossing folder from Sizzix to emboss a piece of plain white card. I distressed all of the edges, then matted the image and embossed background onto some red card before adding it to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - CAS
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Snowman
• We Love Stamping - Wildlife

Birthday Monkeys

Today's card features an old Rachelle Anne Miller/Stampavie stamp called 'Birthday Monkeys', which, according to a search on my blog, I last used in 2014! I stamped it onto watercolour paper, along with a sentiment, using a stamp from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I paired it with green and blue papers from three different pads: the light green one is from the 'Here + There' pad by Studio Calico; the light blue one is from the 'Shoreline' pad by American Crafts; and the darker green one is from the 'Party Day' pad by Crate Paper. I lightly distressed all of the edges before adding it to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes (Optional 'Make It Green')
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday - Mainly Green
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - A Bit O'Green

Happy Mother's Day

Today, I'm sharing the Mother's Day card I made for my Mum. I picked an old Lili of the Valley stamp called 'Teddy Bouquet', which, according to a search on my blog, I have not used in over ten years! I stamped it onto watercolour paper, added 'Mum' to the tag using a black gel pen, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'Happy Watercolours' pad from The Works, distressing the edges and adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, matting the layers onto some bright pink card, before adding it to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• As You Like It - Favourite Person to Craft For (My Mum - she always appreciates my handmade items, and keeps everything!)
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Love Those Pretty Papers - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Neglected Stuff - Anything Goes (The bear stamp was very neglected!)
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes

Bringing Gifts

Today's card features stamps from a Woodware set called 'Bringing Gifts' that I won a little while ago over at the Snippets Playground. I stamped them onto a piece of marble effect paper from a pad from The Range using Versamark ink, then heat embossed them all using metallic gold embossing powder from WOW. I inked around the edges of the paper using 'Dusty Concord' and 'Chipped Sapphire' Distress Inks, then matted it onto some gold mirror card, distressing all of the edges, before adding it to an A5 white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Jingle Belles - We Three Kings (I know that my three of a kind didn't need to actually be 'Kings' , but I couldn't resist!)
• Just Us Girls - Emboss
• Krafty Chicks - Christmas
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes

ABC Christmas Challenge - E, F & G are for?

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

'E is for Elves'

'F is for Foliage'

&

'G is for Gems'

The prize for the lucky winner is these two stamp sets:

For my 'E is for Elves' card, I used a sweet Penny Black stamp called 'Bauble Balance'. I stamped it, along with the matching sentiment from the set, onto watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I distressed the edges a little, then added it to a kraft card blank.

For my 'F is for Foliage' card, I started by stamping a lovely background stamp by Julie Hickey called 'Holly Jolly Christmas' onto a snippet of black card using Versamark ink, then heat embossed it using metallic gold embossing powder from WOW. I stamped and heat embossed a sentiment, from the 'Festive Phrases' set by Funky Fossil, in gold, on another snippet of black card to match, then coloured all of the leaves and berries using Cosmic Shimmers mica pigments mixed with a little water. I distressed the edges, then layered the sentiment on top, before adding it to a white card blank.

For my 'G is for Gems' card, I went all out with the bling! I used a Woodware stamp called 'Trio of Trees', stamping it onto some smooth white card, then coloured it using watercolour pencils (although I didn't use any water). I added a sentiment, using a stamp from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts, then carefully placed adhesive gems onto the trees - there were little 'circles' representing trim or lights strung around each tree. I matted it onto some green card, then added it to a white card blank.

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Second card only)
• Aud Sentiments - Glitter/Bling and/or St. Patrick's Green + Sentiment (Third card only)
• Christmas Cards All Year Round - E & F are for (Elf & Foliage - First & Second cards only)
• Fab 'N' Funky - Shades of Green (Third card only)
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes (Second card only)
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes (First card only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - A Bit O'Green (Third card only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Make It Cute (First card only)

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

Bunny Friends

Today's card features an adorable Penny Black stamp called 'Bunny Friends'. I stamped it onto some smooth white card, along with a sentiment using one of the stamps from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I distressed the edges a little, then added it to a card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Addicted to CAS - Garden
• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Spring/Easter/Anything Goes
• Crafty Animals - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Make It Cute
• Stamping Sensations - Spring
• We Love Stamping - Wildlife

PBSC March - Anything Goes (Optional 'Four-legged Friends')

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

'Four-legged Friends'

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

I picked a cute puppy image from the 'Good Times!' set, and stamped it onto a piece of watercolour paper. I added a sentiment, using a stamp from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then used one of my circle Nesties to cut it out. For the background, I used papers from the 'Happy Colours' pad from The Works...I distressed the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I matted it all onto some orange card, cutting a matching scalloped mat for the image using another Nestie die, then added it to a white card blank.

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Cheerful Sketches - Sketch
• Creative Inspirations - Cute Critters
• Creative Knockouts - Birthday Wishes
• Krafty Chicks - Birthday
• Little Red Wagon - Include an Animal
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Make it Cute

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

Nutcrackers

Today's card features a 'Nutcracker' stamp and die set from Crafter's Companion, that I won a little while ago over at the Snippets Playground. I stamped the Nutcracker three times onto snippets of plain white card, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then used the matching die to cut them out. I stamped a sentiment onto a white card blank using one of the stamps from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, then added the Nutcrackers using 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

March Desk Calendar

Today, I'm sharing my desk calendar page for March. I picked a Penny Black stamp called 'Totally Excited', and stamped it onto a snippet of watercolour paper. I coloured it using watercolour pencils, then used one of my Nesties to cut the circle shape. For the background, I used snippets of papers from the 'Bright Freshness' pad by Craft Sensations. There are no full sheets left in this pad anymore, I'm down to mostly tiny snippets, but will I ever finish it???

I distressed all of the edges, added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, then matted it onto a snippet of kraft card, before adding it to the calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Leftovers
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes