Mice Treats

I have another Halloween treat bag to share today...featuring one of the critters from the 'Be Very Scared' set by Penny Black. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, before carefully cutting him out. I used snippets of papers from the 'Hocus Pocus' pad by Taylored Expressions for the background, using my Nesties to cut the circles, and adding a couple of cobwebs cut from snippets of white card using my Memory Box 'Creepy Web' die.

Challenges for this bag:

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Trick or Treat')
• Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• My Time to Craft - Halloween/Fall Colours
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Spooky/Halloween
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Not a Card

PBSC October - Anything Goes (Optional 'Colour Inspiration')...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

'Colour Inspiration'

(Pick at least two colours from: Black, Orange, Purple, Green, Red, White & Teal)

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I picked Black, White, Orange & Purple and decorated another Halloween treat bag. I started by blending 'Black Soot' Distress Ink through my Polkadoodles 'Going Batty' stencil on to a piece of purple patterned paper from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations. I added a die cut 'moon'...stencilling the bats over the top...and some grass cut from a snippet of black card using one of my Die-namics 'Grassy Edge' dies. The cat is from the 'Be Very Scared' set...I stamped him on to watercolour paper,coloured him with watercolour pencils before carefully cutting him out and adding him to background using 3D foam pads.

I'ma also entering this bag into the following challenges:

• C.R.A.F.T. - Halloween/Autumn/Thanksgiving
• Crafter's Cafe - Use a Stencil
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes (Optional 'Black & Purple')
• Happy Little Stampers (Stencils) - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything but a Card
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything but a Card
• Simply Create Too - Spooky/Scary

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

Pink Christmas

I have a Christmas card to share today. This one features a stamp from a set I found in the bargain bin of a lovely little craft shop on my last visit to Norfolk to see my family...it's from the 'Santa's Delivery' set from the 'Nordic Christmas' collection by Crafter's Companion. I stamped it on to a snippet of watercolour paper, along with one of the sentiments from the set, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then cut around the top of the image. I used a snippet of paper from the 'Pastel Pinks' pad from the works as a snowy sky background.

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas Cards All Year Round - Something Beginning with S and/or T (Snow covered Town)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Goes
• Jingle Belles - Pink Christmas
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Balloon Dog

Today's card features a very old All Night Media stamp of a sausage dog with party balloons...they didn't give it a name, so we'll call him 'Balloon Dog'. I stamped him directly on to a card blank, along with a sentiment (from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts), then coloured him using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• CCEE Stampers - Balloons
• C.R.A.F.T. - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes

Crazy Dog Witch

I have another Halloween treat bag to share today...this one features one of the Tim Holtz 'Crazy Dogs' dressed up for trick or treating in a witches hat cut using a Polkadoodles die. The background is a sheet of paper from the 'Apothecary Emporium' pad by Echo Park, with a die cut fence (cut using my Die-namics 'Picket Fence' die).

Challenges for this bag:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• As You Like It - Favourite Non Card Project (Gift & Treat bags...like a card, but better because there are goodies inside!)
• Crafty Calendar - Halloween
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Incy Wincy - Halloween and/or Thankful
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Not a Card
• Sweet Stampers - Autumn or Halloween

Balloon Trio

Today's card features a cute House Mouse stamp called 'Balloon Trio'. I stamped it on to a white card blank, then added some colour to the balloons using watercolour pencils. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Cards - Celebrate
• Alphabet Challenge - N is for No Layers
• Happy Little Stampers (CAS) - One Layer Card
• House Mouse & Friends - Anything Goes
• Less is More -Purple & Yellow

ABC Christmas Challenge - U & V are for?

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

'S is for Stencil'

&

'T is for Two'

There's a fab little prize from Julie for the lucky winner:

For my 'Under the Tree' cadr, I used a cute House Mouse image (from the 'Sleepy Stocking' set), stamping it on to watercolour paper, and colouring it using watercolour pencils. I matted it on to a snippet of green glitter card, and added a sentiment from the 'Bauble Owl' set by Woodware stamps.

On my 'V is for Vocabulary' card, I used my Memory Box 'Grand Merry Christmas Script' die to, cutting it from a snippet of white card, layering it over some navy snowflake paper that was a magazine freebie. I added a snowflake (cut from another snippet of white card using my Cuttlebug 'Ice Crystal' die), with a adhesive pearl in its centre.

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

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets (Second card only)
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Christmas (First card only)
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

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

Collector's Edition Butterfly

I have a set of simple notecards to share today, featuring an Indigo Blu stamp I received for my birthday called 'Collector's Edition Butterfly', and some WOW embossing glitters 'Blue Moon' and 'Space Dust'.

I stamped the image on to squares of card to match the card blanks using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed the image with the embossing glitter...'Blue Moon' on these first three:

...and 'Space Dust' on the other two. I inked around the edges of the square, and heat embossed that too, adding matching heat embossed sentiments (stamps from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image) to the card blanks before adhering the butterfly squares.

Challenges for these cards:

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Animals, Birds & Bugs

PBSC October - Anything Goes (Optional 'Colour Inspiration')

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

'Colour Inspiration'

(Pick at least two colours from: Black, Orange, Purple, Green, Red, White & Teal)

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I picked a combination of 'Black, Orange, Purple & White' to make a Halloween treat bag. The little witchy mouse is from the 'Be Very Scared' set, of course by Penny Black...stamping it on to watercolour paper, colouring it with watercolour pencils, then carefully cutting it out. I used papers from the 'Spooky Spectacular' pad by from the Paper Mill for the background, using Nesties to cut the circle shapes. The sentiment is from the 'Sentiments' set by Hero Arts...I stamped the words individually, heat embossing them in white on some snippets of black card.

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

• Crafter's Cafe - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Creative Inspirations - Fall or Halloween
• Dream Valley - Two or More Patterned Papers
• Everybody Art - Not a Card
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

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

Together

Today's card features a favourite floral stamp...'Together' by Penny Black. I inked it up with Distress Inks (Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Peeled Paint & Rustic Wilderness), spritzed it with a little water, then stamped it directly on to a kraft DL card blank...repeating the process a few more times for more flowers. I added a sentiment made up from stamps from the 'Doodled Flowers' set by Happy Little Stampers and the 'Everyday Sentiments' set by Happy Little Stampers, stamping them using Versamark Ink and then heat embossing them with metallic gold powder from WOW.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Optional 'Nature')
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Trimming the Tree

Today's card features a cute Hunky Dory stamp set I received for my birthday last month called 'Trimming the Tree'. I stamped the tree and the extra little group of gifts directly on to a kraft card blank along with the sentiment from the set, then coloured the image using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• Through the Craftroom Door - Anything Goes
• We Love Chocolate Baroque - Anything Goes (Optional 'Celebrations')

Kitty Litter

Today's card features another couple of charity shop finds...an Anita's cat & dog themed background stamp, and a Whipper Snapper stamp called 'Kitty Litter'. I stamped the cat image on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. For the background, I inked the stamp using 'Brushed Corduroy' Distress Ink, and stamped it a couple of times on to pinky beige coloured paper from the 'Pastel Pinks' pad from The Works. I added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Stitch It

Hide-n-Seek Snowman

I have another Christmas card to share today, featuring another vintsge Penny Black stamp found in a charity shop. This one is called 'Hide-n-Seek' Snowman. I stamped him on to a kraft card blank, along with a sentiment from the 'Bauble Owl' set by Woodware Stamps, then coloured the image using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Cards - No Layers
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Jingle Belles - Snow
• Stamps + Fun = Creativity - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Christmas Delivery

Todays card features another charity shop bargain stamp...this one is a vintage Penny Black called 'Christmas Delivery'. I stamped it on to some watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I lightly distressed the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Big & Bold - Winter Wishes Snowflake' set by Colorado Craft Company.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Stitch It
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• We Love Chocolate Baroque - Anything Goes (Optional 'Celebrations')

Diamond Wedding

I have a Diamond Wedding Anniversary card to share today...featuring lots of Cuttlebug embossing folders and dies. I embossed some cream pearlised card using my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots', 'Birds 'n' Swirls' and 'D'Vine Swirls' folders...using some of my Nesties to cut the oval shapes. I cut the heart shapes and numbers from snippets of champagne coloured glitter card using my Cuttlebug 'Concentric Hearts' and 'Olivia' alphabet dies...adding them to the oval shapes using 3D foam pads. I cut matching scalloped mats from more snippets of glitter card, and layered those behind the embossed panels. I created the sentiment using stamps from a couple of sets by Happy Little Stampers ('Doodled Flowers' & 'Everyday Messages')...stamping them on to a snippet of the cream card in black, them heat embossing them using clear embossing powder, adding a couple of adhesive 'diamonds' .

I couldn't get the colours to show up very true to life...it's not nearly as gold as it looks in the photo above! The photo below shows it a little better:

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything GoesSnippets
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Lots of Layers

PBSC September - Anything Goes (Optional 'Embossing')...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

'Embossing (Wet or Dry)'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used dry embossing on my first card for this month's challenge, so went with wet (heat) ebossing this time. The image I used is called 'Warm Reception', and I stamped it on to a piece of navy card, using white pigment ink, then heat embossed it using white embossing powder. I did the same with the sentiment (from the Hunky Dory 'Trimming the Tree' set), then trimmed the panel down a little before adding it to a white card blank.

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

• A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Cards Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes
• My Time to Craft - Embossing

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

Guest Designer - Christmas Card Throwdown

A few weeks ago, I was picked as the lucky winner of a Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge, and asked to be a guest designer for their challenge this week, where the thme is:

Now, I will admit that this theme had me totally stumped...despite my 'comprehensive' stamp collection, I had no suitable stamps, and the only patterned peper in my stash with 'things in jars' on was very obviously meant for Halloween crafting, not Christmas, so I drew myself a jar shape on some watercolor paper, and stamped a cute Lili of the Valley image (called 'Red Squirrels Christmas Tree') inside it. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut around the jar outline, before adding some Baker's twine aroun the neck of the jar. I used papers from the 'Chalkbord Christmas' pad by Craftwork Cards for the background, distressing the edges a little and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen.

For more inspiration from the wonderful Design Team members, please pop over to the Christmas Card Throwdown. Thanks for having me ladies! 

Teddy & Snowman

Today's card features another charity shop find...the cute stamp (from a clear stamp set that did not have any markings on it, but I think is by Kanban), and a new stencil ('Snowflake Flurry' by Creative Expressions) that I picked up recently in a lovely Aladdin's cave of a craft shop in Diss whilst visiting my parents. I stamped the image on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I used the stencil to make a simple background, inking the design with 'Stormy Sky' Distress Ink on some light blue card. I inked around the edges, then distressed them lightly, before adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I matted everything on to some navy card, then added a die cut snowflake (cut using my Cuttlebug 'Ice Crystal' die), with a little adhesive pearl in its centre.

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas Card Throwdown - Three Shades of Blue
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Stencils) - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Fun with Stencils
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Lots of Layers
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes