Just for You

I have a Christmas card to share today...featuring an adorable puppy stamp called 'Just for You' from the 'Strawberry Kisses' collection by Crafter's Companion. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolor pencils, then carefully cut around the edge of the image. I used lots of snippets of papers from the 'Christmas Cheer' pad by Lily Bee Design...sticking the little strips on to a snippet of kraft card, then trimming the edges to a neat rectangle. I then simply added the background panel to an A6 kraft card blank, then added the puppy image on top using 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:

• As You Like It - Favourite Colouring Medium (Watercolour pencils - they're so easy to use, and portable for colouring on the go!)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes (Optional 'No Sentiment')
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Everybody Art - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Four Legged Friends
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Owls

Today's card features another new stamp that I recieved for Chirstmas...'Owls' by Woodware Stamps. Well, actually it's only part of the stamp, as the whole stamp features five owls. I stamped the two end owls on to watercolour paper, then coloured them using watercolour pencils to match the bright Spring-y colours of the papers, which are from an unbranded pad that came from a charity shop. I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Doodled Flowers' set by Happy Little Stameprs.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Add a Heart
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Plaid or Check')
• Fab 'N' Funky - Two or More Papers
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Insects and/or Birds
• We Love Stamping - Anything Stamped (Optional 'Wings')

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'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I went with 'New Year' again, and have another calendar to share...this one is one of Papermill Direct's desk calendars....currently in the sale. 

This one is for my craft desk, and I'm going to decorate each month as the year goes on, so I'm just sharing January's page today. I picked an image from the 'Bubbly' set of a cat and mouse enjoying a glass of bubbly in a bubble bath for this month, stamping it on to watcolour paper, and colouring it using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'Refreshing Basics' pad from The Works...distressing the edges and then adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

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

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Patterned Paper
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

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! I'm the host, and the themes are:

'A is for Anything Christmas Goes

&

'B is for Baubles'

Here's the prize on offer for the lucky winner:

A selection of Christmas ribbons & a couple of 'Me to You' clear stamp sets.

I used some lovely new crafty goodies that I received for Christmas on my cards...on my 'A is for Anything Chirstmas Goes' card, I used a John Next Door/Crafts Too 'Majestic Mandela' die and snippets of silver mirror card and blue glitter card to make a layered snowflake. As the de cuts are so intricate (read difficult to cut & extract all of the little cut pieces!), I kept the rest of the card really simple, adding to an A6 card blank using some 3D foam pads, and a sentiment from the 'Winter Blessing' set from the 'Winter White' collection by Crafter's Companion.

On my 'B is for Baubles' card, I heat embossed my new 'Merry Christmas Sentiment' stamp by Just Rite Stamps, using 'Metallic Silver - Rich' embossing powder by WOW on black card, then watercoloured the holly leaves and bauble using some Cosmic Shimmers mica pigments mixed with a little water. I matted the panel on to some green glitter card, then on to a card blank.

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

• Allsorts - Something New (The die on the first card & the stamp on the second card are new)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Dream Valley - Anything New (The die on the first card & the stamp on the second card are new)
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes (First card only)
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets (First card only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (The die on the first card & the stamp on the second card are new)

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

Collage Christmas Tree

I have another Chirstmas card to share today...featuring some more new stamps that I received for Christmas. The image stamp is 'Collage Christmas Tree' by The Artful Stamper, and I stamped it on to black card using Versamark Ink, along with one of the sentiments from the 'Silver Bells' set by Kaiserkraft, then heat embossed them using 'Metallic Gold Rich' embossing powder from WOW. I then watercoloured the Christmas trees and their stars using Cosmic Shimmers mica pigments mixed with a little water. I matted the panel on to some gold glitter card, then added it to a DL card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Alphabet Challenge - T is for Trees
• C.R.A.F.T. - New (The stamps are new)
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes Optional 'Something New' (The stamps are new)
• Fab 'N' Funky - Keep It Simple
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Goes
• Jingle Belles - Thank You Santa (The stamps were a Christmas gift)
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Something New (The stamps are new)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (The stamps are new)
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes with Stamping
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes with Stamping

Snowmen

I have another Christmas card to share today featuring some cute snowmen stamps that were a Christmas present. They're from the 'Many Blessings' set by Hero Arts. All of the stamps in the set a pretty small, so I combined three to make a little winter scene. I stamped the snowmen first, then masked them so that I could stamp the row of trees in the distance. I added one of the sentiments from the set below, then coloured the image using watercolour pencils. I used a piece of paper from the 'Glittering Snowflakes' pad by Crafter's Companion...I distressed all of the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and white and black gel pens.

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas Cards All Year Round - Photo Inspiration (Snow People)
• Christmas Craft Creations - Make a Scene
• Christmas with the Cuties - Pick a Previous Challenge (No. 50 - Christmas Cuties)
• Krafty Chicks - Use a Stamp
• Shopping Our Stash - Something Beginning with S (Snowmen & Snowflakes)
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Something New (The stamps are new)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (The stamps are new)
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - A Winter's Scene

Father Xmas

I have a Christmas card to share today, featuring a cute 'Father Xmas' stamp (no clues as to the brand, but it's wood mounted) that I received as a gift. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, then coloured him using watercolour pencils before cutting out the image using one of my circle Nesties. The papers are from the 'Home for Christmas' pad by Violet Studio...I lightly distressed the edges before layering them up on an A6 card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Big & Bold - Holiday Ornament' set by the Colorado Craft Company.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - Anything Goes
• Merry Little Christmas - ANything Christmas Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Something New (The Father Xmas stamp is new)
• Stampin Sensations - Anything Stamped Goes (Optional 'Use a Die')
• Sweet Stampin' - New (The Father Xmas stamp is new)

PBSC January - Anything Goes (Optional 'Something New')!

Happy New Year!

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

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I went with 'New Year' and I'm sharing the calendar that I made for my Mum for Christmas. I've been doing several of these for gifts each gifts for years...the calendar balnks are from Paper Mill Direct...currently in the sale if you fancy getting some for yourself.

I used all Penny Black images, and papers from a variety of brands...lots of snippets used up! I added some faux stitching to the edges, and that's about it...no embellishments, otherwise it becomes rather bulky (and heavy!).

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

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Crafter's Cafe - Favourites (Penny Black stamps & patterned papers)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

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

Stocking Surprise

Today's card features another Christmas gift...a cute Hunky Dory stamp set called 'Stocking Surprise'. I stamped the images on to watercolour paper, then coloure them using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'Home for Christmas' pad by Violet Studio...distressing all of the edges, and then adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Silver Bells' set by Kaiserkraft...it's actually in the centre of a bauble outline, so I masked off the outline before inking with Versamark Ink, then stamped it on to a snippet of kraft card, and heat embossed in white before cutting it out using one of my circle Nesties.

Challenges for this card:

• A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Time Out - New (New stamps)

Sketchy Sprigs

I have a Christmas card to share today, featuring a stamp set by Woodware stamps called 'Sketchy Sprigs' that I received as a Christmas gift. I used Versamark Ink to stamp the images and sentiment from the set on to black card, then heat embossed them using 'Metallic Gold Rich' embossing powder from WOW. I watercoloured the holly leaves and berries using Cosmic Shimmers pigements mixed with a little water, then matted the panel on to some gold glitter card, before adding it to a DL card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Stamps + Fun = Creativity - Colours of Christmas (Red, Green & Gold)
• Sweet Stampers - Anything Goes

Favourite Christmas Cards 2021

It's become a bit of a tradition to share our favourite five Christmas cards each Christmas Eve...this year I had 105 cards to choose from, so it took me some time! Anyway, here are my favourites of 2021 (for more details of any projects, the photos are linked to the original posts):

Reindog

I made several cards with a similar snowy background, but chose this one because of the cute Penny Black dog.

Brightest Xmas

Many of my cards were one layer cards (cheap to post!) and this one has such a fun Penny Black chicken image...I like the shine on their baubles too.

Baubles

I don't often make a card without stamping, but I love the way the die cuts look against the embossed background on this one.

Holly Jolly Christmas

I know that black isn't a particularly festive colour, but I love the way that the metallic watercolours look against the dark background on this card.

What a Snow!

Finally, there had to be some pretty papers in there somewhere, as well as some faux stitching...and another Penny Black image...lots of my favourite things on this card!

Before I go...I also usually share my Christmas cake on Christmas Eve too...quite minimal again  this year, but here it is all the same:

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Boxes

I have a set of Christmas gift boxes to share today...made using my We R Memory Keepers punch board. These boxes are 4x4x4...the largest size the board can make, and are each made one a single sheet of 12x12 paper...these ones are from the 'I Believe' pad by My Mind's Eye.

I made some simple little tags from snippets of gold glitter card, using an old Sizzix die to cut the tag shapes., then added little Christmas trees cut from snippets of the My Mind's Eye papers using a die from a Sizzix/Hero Arts set called 'Reindeer', popped up on 3D foam pads, attaching them to the gold sparkly ribbon with some bakers twine.

Challenges for these boxes:

• Cut It Up - Holiday Gift Giving
• Daring Cardmakers - Baubles, Boxes & Bows
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets (Christmas themed)

Quality Street Wreath

I have something a little bit different to share today...it's a wreath made from Quality Street chocolates. It's become a tradition to make one of these each Christmas, and I'm still using the same polystyrene ring that I first covered with chocolates in 2012! They're really simple to make, all it takes is a tub of Quality Street chocolates (you could use any wrapped sweet really, but these have the least obvious branding on the wrappers, and there's a variety of colours and shapes) and a glue gun.

Challenges for this wreath:

• Christmas Kickstart - Anything Christmas Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Creative Inspirations - Christmas Time
• Creative Knockouts - 'Tis the Season
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes