Favourite Five Cards 2018

Today, I'm sharing my favourite (non-Christmas) cards of the year...I've included links back to the original blog posts, so please click through for the full info on any of the projects.

Crazy Dogs
I love these little weirdos...and picked up the matching die set this year to make my life a little easier! I love to group them all together as I find it impossible to choose just one to use!

Sorry I Forgot
This card is a bit fussier than my usual style, but I love the combination of colours.

Blossom Branch
This Penny Black stamp is one of my favourites of the year, and I experimented with several different ways of using it, but this simple coloured pencils on kraft technique is my favourite.

Uplifting Occasion
Of course, there had to be a Penny Black critter in among my favourites...and although pink is not one of my favourite colours, I can't help but smile at the expression on this kitty's face!

Big Blue Butterfly
Finally, another of my most used stamps of the year...a huge butterfly by Stampendous, combined with another of my favourites...a sparkly embossing glitter by WOW, and in my favourite colour too!

Before I go, I'd like to wish all of my lovely blog visitors a very Happy and Crafty New Year! See you in 2019!

A Car Full of Critters

It's been just over a month since I blogged a birthday card, so I thought that is was about time I made one. This one is for a little boy who turns eight next month...and features one of the 'Cheerful Critters' set by Penny Black. The papers are from the 'Awesome Boy' pad by Recollections/Michaels (found at TKMaxx)...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 'Birthday Buddies' set by Paper Smooches.

Challenges for this card:

• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Party Time
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

New Year Fireworks

I have a 'Happy New Year' card to share today...it was a requested make, and as I'm not at home and have a very edited collection of my stash with me, this is what I came up with! I created a firework display using Hero Arts stamps (the sentiment and smallest 'firework' are from the 'Sentiments' set), and hand drawn fireworks (done using a Versamark Ink pen), which I heat embossed using WOW embossing glitters (I used Metallic Gold Sparkle, Fool's Gold, Emerald City, Magical Mauve and Coral Reef). I used Lawn Fawn and Die-namics dies to cut the hills and grass from snippets of green card, then added some little critters to watch the display (from the 'Wish Upon a Star' set by Lawn Fawn), which I coloured using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut out.

Challenges for this card:

• As You Like It - Anything Goes
• Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
• Cutie Pie - Add a Little Sparkle
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Party Time
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Party Time
• Stamping Sensations - Winter Sparkle
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Favourite Five Christmas Cards 2018

It seems to have become the Christmas Eve tradition in craft blogland to share our favourite five Christmas cards of the year, so that's what I'm going to do today. According to the Christmas card tracker in my sidebar, I made 99 Christmas cards this year...and I've just a had a look back through them all, and these are my favourites:

Polar Pals
This was the first Christmas card of 2018...blogged on New Year's Day! I made a few cards with a similar design...cute image, inky background, snowy sky...but picked this one for it's embossed falling snow.

Inky Snowflakes
This one is from February, along with my next pick, features a set of beautiful snowflake stamps by Stampenous and Distress Inks. This one has a 'smooshed' background with embossing over the top...and is in my favourite colour.

Watercolour Snowflakes

I'm skipping to October for my next choice...although these cards use similar supplies to the last one, I added the colour in a loose watercolour-y way over the top of the snowflakes for a more delicate effect.

Furry Christmas
My penultimate choice is from November, and although similar in layout to my first pick, uses a different technique...and features yet more snow!

Skating Critters
My final choice is from this month, and features my favourite Penny Black critters...well you knew I had to have a Penny Black in my favourites!

For full details of any of the cards, please click the photos.

One more thing before I go...I always share a picture of my Christmas cake on Christmas Eve too...so here it is:

Really simple, but with glittery sparkly snow.

Have a lovely Christmas everyone!

Chocolate Wreath

I have a Christmas wreath to share today...I make a couple of these every year...it's a whole tub of Quality Street chocolates attached to a simple polystyrene ring. This is the seventh year I've made them, and I'm still using the original rings! I haven't been at home during daylight hours this week, so apologies for the rubbish photo...I wasn't able to get a decent picture of it hanging on the door (it's inside...otherwise the chocolates wouldn't last long!).

Challenges for this wreath:

• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes (Optional Christmas)
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - All Things Christmas
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes

Pile It On! Challenge - Shaped Cards and/or Add a Charm

It's the third Sunday of the month, so that means it's time for some more inspiration, and an additional theme for this month's Pile It On! Challenge:

'Shaped Cards'
and/or
'Add a Charm'

Our sponsor this month is Crafty Sentiments

Prize - 3 Digis of the winner's choice!

I made a cute little circle card this time, cut using the largest of my scalloped circle Nestie dies...making sure to leave one of the edges outside of the die so it would hold together. I cut a smaller circle from a piece of green card, distressed the edge, added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, then embossed it using a folder by Couture Creations called 'Jolly Christmas'. The pup is from the 'Wintertime Cheer' set by Penny Black...I coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out, adding him to my card using 3D foam pads. The sentiment stamp is from a House Mouse set called 'Sleepy Stocking'.

Here are the challenges I've piled on:

• Pile It On! - Shaped Cards and/or Add a Charm
• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Pick a 2017 Challenge (I picked Embossed Impression from August 2017)
• Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes and a Sentiment
• Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - Anything Christmas Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Celebrate
• Fab 'N' Funky - Cute Christmas
• Fussy & Fancy - Christmas or New Year
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Little Miss Muffet - Anything Goes
• Penny Black & More - Traditional Christmas Colours
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Warm Winter Wishes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Christmas
• Sweet Stampers - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Anything Christmas

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the Pile It On! Challenge.

PBSC December - Anything Goes (Optional 'Winter or Christmas')...More Inspiration!

It's the third Saturday of the month, so I'm back with some more inspiration for this month's Penny Black Saturday Challenge...where the theme is:

'Anything Goes'
or
'Winter or Christmas'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used the optional WInter/Christmas theme to make a card for my Mum to give to her Mum. I combined three skating images 'Skating Snowy'. 'Ice Dance Dog' and a cute little hedgie from the 'Cristmas Critters' set'...I coloured them using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut them out. I made a scene using a piece of snowy paper from the 'Frost & Snow' pad by Craft Creations, some torn white card, and a few die cut trees (cut using Happy Little Stampers dies). The 'Merry Christmas' sentiment stamp is from the 'Merriest Wishes' set by Hero Arts, and I used my Paper Smooches 'Graffiti Alphabet' set for the personalisation.

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

• Creative Knockouts - Winter Wonderland
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes with Dies
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Warm Winter Wishes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Christmas
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Create a Winter Scene

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

Kraft & Gold Gift Wrap & Giftcard Holder

I've been busy wrapping presents today...and have a couple of simple ideas to share. I wrapped everything using kraft paper with gold polkadots (a bargain from the clearance section in Home Sense), and had previously made a set of personalised gift tags, so decorated a plain kraft gift bag to match. I stamped my Stampendous 'Delicate Snowflakes' stamps on to the bag using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed them with 'Metallic Gold Sparkle' embossing glitter by WOW.

Using some of the wrapping paper, I made a simple folded giftcard holder (I followed this tutorial by Kristina Werner)

I threaded some gold ribbon through a channel at the back, and tied it in a bow to hold it closed.

Challenges for these items:

• City Crafter - Snowflakes (Gift bag only)
• C.R.A.F.T. - Anything Goes
• Crafting with an Attitude - Anything Goes
• Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Embossing (Gift bag only)
• Everybody Art - Christmas
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Goes (Optional Snow) (Gift bag only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Christmas
• Stamping Sensations - Winter Sparkle (Gift bag only)

Christmas Gift Boxes

I have some little Christmas gift boxes to share today. They were made using my We R Memory Keepers punch board...and once assembled measure 4x4x4 inches. I make some of these every year, and this time I didn't have enough suitably thick 12x12 papers, so used sheets of American Crafts card, and then decorated them with snippets of papers from my 'Wonderful Winter' and 'Countdown to Christmas' pads by My Mind's Eye. I distressed the edges of the papers a little, then added some faux stitching using my Cutterbee Bug and a black gel pen. I made a small tag to match each one, decorating each with a matching piece of paper, then attached them to the boxes with some twine.

(Click the photos for a close-up view)

Challenges for these boxes:

• Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
• Crafty Cardmakers - Christmas
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
• Dream Valley - Christmas
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Wrap it Up
• That's Crafty - Anything Goes
• The Ribbon Girls - Anything Goes

Snow Family

I have a simple one layer Christmas card to share today, featuring a Wild Rose Studio stamp called 'Snowmen', which I coloured using watercolour pencils. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Tattered Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

Challenges for this card:

• Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes & a Sentiment
• Cardz for Guyz - Snowmen
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Creative Inspirations - Feeling Festive
• Creative Knockouts - Christmas Delight
• Crimbo Crackers - Anything Christmas Goes
• Moving Along with the Times - Anything Christmas
• Winter Wonderland - Anything Christmas Goes

ABC Christmas Challenge - Y & Z are for?

We have a fun new ABC Christmas Challenge starting today...Carol is the host, and it's th last challenge of the year! We have two themes this month:

'Y is for Your Favourite Thing'

&

'Z is for Zero Embellishments'

Our sponsor for this challenge is Crafty Ribbons

Prize - £10 Voucher for the Crafty Ribbons store!

There's also a little prize from Carol:

I used several of my favourite things on my first card...a Penny Black image (this cute pup is from the 'Wintertime Cheer' set), My Mind's Eye papers (these are from a really old pad called 'Wonderful Winter'), and a favourite techinque...faux stitching (using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen). I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, added some light distressing to all of the layers, a snowflake (cut using a Tim Holtz die) which I coated with some sparkle, and a piece of green Card Candi (by Craftwork Cards).

For my 'Zero Embellishments' card, I went completely flat...making a one layer card using a Uniko Stamp called 'Block Party Christmas'. I stamped it on to a kraft card blank using a white pigment inkpad, then heat embossed it using white embossing powder. I added a touch of colour to some of the elements of the stamp using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for these cards:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes (First card only)
• Animal Friends - Anything Goes (First card only)
• City Crafter - Santa Claus (Second card only)
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Too Cute' - first card only)
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Season's Greetings
• My Time to Craft - One Layer Card CAS (Second Card only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

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

Snowy Winter Nights

I have a simple Christmas card to share today...featuring a Hero Arts stamp called 'Snowy Winter Nights'. I heat embossed it using 'Midnight Dream' embossing glitter by WOW on plain white card..it's beautifully sparkly in real life...but a real pain to photograph! I trimmed down the embossed panel, distressed the edges, then added it to a navy blue card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, and was heat embossed in white.

Challenges for this card:

• CAS on Friday - Christmas Cards
• Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
• Crazy for Challenges - Trees
• Inkspirational - Anything Christmas
• Moo Mania - Trees
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Something Beginning with B (Blue)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Winter Sparkle

Pile It On! Challenge - Shaped Cards

We have another fun Pile It On! Challenge starting today...and the theme is:

'Shaped Cards'

Our sponsor this month is Crafty Sentiments

Prize - 3 Digis of the winner's choice!

I made a little 'cracker' shaped card...which is really known as a 'diamond fold' using a piece of double sided paper by Bo Bunny called 'Rejoice Adorned'. I simply added a Lili of the Valley pre-coloured die cut image from the 'Traditional Christmas' sheet. I used one of my circle Nesties to trim it down, and matted it on to some green card cut into a scalloped circle. I added some sparkle to the snowflakes and ornaments on the image using a glitter gel pen.

It folds flat into a neat little 4x4 square for posting:

Here are the challenges I've piled on:

• Pile It On! - Shaped Cards (Cracker shape/diamond fold)
• A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Card Mania - Christmas
• Cards Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Crafty Calendar - It's Christmas Time
• Crafty Friends - Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Fancy Folds

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the Pile It On! Challenge.

PBSC December - Anything Goes (Optional 'Winter or Christmas')!

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
'Winter or Christmas'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I went with the optional 'Winter or Christmas' theme...I'm not sure if I need to make any more Christmas cards, but I just can't help myself! I couldn't remember the last time that I inked up 'Snowy', so I thought that it was time that he came out to play...I coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out. I paper pieced his hat and scarf using a snippet of patchwork effect paper from the 'Special Delivery' pad by Helz Cuppleditch. I used another paper from the same pad for the pink snowy background. I doodled a simple border using a black gel pen, and added a sentiment (from a set by C C Designs).

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

• 4 Crafty Chicks - Anything Goes
• As You Like It - Rubber or Digi Stamps? (Definitely rubber...you get instant satisfaction from stamping with a rubber stamp...you can position the stamp wherever you want, and it's so easy to do a technique like paper piecing when you use rubber)
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Too Cute')
• Fussy & Fancy - Winter or Christmas
• Jingle Belles - Taking Back December
• Little Miss Muffet - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Snowmen

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