Tuesday 31 December 2019

Favourite Five Cards 2019

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.

This card was made for the 'Thank You Di' blog hop that Darnell organised...and I tried to use as many snippets as possible.

Despite my love for patterned papers, I made quite a lot of CAS cards without any, inclusing this one featuring some Penny Black critters.

Another CAS card featuring another favourite of the year...colouring on kraft card.

I've also loved metallic embossing and watercolouring this year...

This card features probably my favourite stamp of the year...and another 'new to me' technique...colouring on coloured card.

Before I go, I'd like to wish all of my lovely blog visitors a very Happy and Crafty New Year! See you in 2020!

Sunday 29 December 2019

Cheerful Critters

I have a birthday card to share today...featuring some critters from the 'Cheerful Critters' set by Penny Black, and lots of snippets of paper from the 'Prince Charming' pad by Recollections/Michaels. I stamped the image on to watercolour paper, thn coloured it using watercolour pencils. I distressed all of the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment is from a set by Lili of the Valley.


Challenges for this card:

Tuesday 24 December 2019

My Favourite Five Christmas Cards



As has become traditional, I'm sharing my favourite five Christmas cards of the year this evening...I made 96 this year, so I had quite a few to choose from! For additional information on any of the cards, click on the image to go to the original post.

The first one is from January, and features a cute Penny Black snowman...I love the soft pastel colours on this one.


My second card was an experiment in heat embossing using a couple of different powders using a beautiful Indigo Blu image that I picked up in the bargain bin.


My next card features a similar layout to the first, but this time a cute Lili of the Valley image and stamped snow.


I made rather a lot of CAS cards this year (cheap to post!), and these were among the simplest to make...a technique I will definitely be revisiting next year!


My final card is also my most recent one...and features lots of my favourite things...a Penny Black image, pretty papers, faux stitching...


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


Have a lovely Christmas everyone!

Monday 23 December 2019

Cheering Critters

I have a birthday card to share today...featuring one of the stamps from the 'Cheering Critters' set by Penny Black. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. For the background I used papers from the K & Company 'Addison' pad...a recent charity shop find, completely unused! 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 a set by Lili of the Valley.


Challenges for this card:

Saturday 21 December 2019

PBSC December - Anything Goes (Optional 'Sparkle & Shine')...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
'Sparkle & Shine'

As usual, we are sponsored by the awesome 1-2-3 Stitch:
Prize - a $20 voucher!

I'd been rifling through my Penny Black stamps for images for another couple of projects, and came across this swet Christmas image called 'Welcome Party' that I couldn't remember using this year (in fact a quick search on my blog shows that I last used it in May 2017!), so thought I'd ink t up for this challenge. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'Silent Night' pad by First Edition...distressing all of the edges, and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I matted a couple of layers on to some silver glitter card for some sparkle & shine, and added a sentiment from the 'Tattered Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.


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

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

Wednesday 18 December 2019

Xmas Crafts

I have a super simple one layer card to share today, featuring an older Penny Black stamp called 'Xmas Crafts'. I stamped it directly on to my card blank, then coloured it using watercolour pencils...I added some sparkle to the snowflake using a Wink of Stella pen, but I couldn't get it to show in a photo. The sentiment is from the 'Merriest Christmas' set by Hero Arts.


Challenges for this card:

Sunday 15 December 2019

Little Glitter Boxes

I have a set of little Christmas gift boxes to share today...made using my We R Memory Keepers box board. They're the largest size the board can make (4 inch cubes), and each one is made from a sheet of 12x12 glitter paper, although it's so thick it's more like a card (from the 'Glitter' pad by Craft Sensations). Not Christmas patterned, but the sparkle makes them feel a bit festive.


I made some co-ordinating tags, cutting the tag shapes from silver glitter card using an old Sizzix die, adding a simple tree shape (cut from snippets of the Craft Sensations 'Glitter' pad, using a die from the Hero Arts/Sizzix 'Reindeer' set). I tied them up using really sparkly silver ribbon.


Challenges for these boxes:

Friday 13 December 2019

Xmouse Ornament

I have another Christmas card to share today...this one features an old Penny Black mage called 'Xmouse Ornament'...which I stamped on to watercolour paper, coloured using watercolour pencils, before carefully it cutting out. I embossed a snippet of blue glitter card using a Cuttlebug 'Snowflakes embossing folder, matted it on to some navy card, then added the mouse on top using 3D foam pads. I gave his little snowflake a coating of Stickles, and added a Lili of the Valley stamped sentiment.


It's so tricky to get the embossing to show on a photo as it's s sparkly, but here's another view:


Challenges for this card:

Wednesday 11 December 2019

Hedgie Harmony

Today's card features three of the little hedgies from the 'Hedgie Harmony' set by Penny Black...stamped on to a snippet of watercolour paper, along with a few extra notes and a sentiment, and coloured using wtercolour pencils. I added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, and layered it over a snippet of red card embossed with with my Crafts Too 'Music Notes' embossing folder.


Challenges for this card:

Monday 9 December 2019

Tattered Christmas

I have another Christmas card to share today...this time featuring a few stamps from the 'Tattered Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous. I stamped them on to watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, before matting the panel on to some red glitter card.


Challenges for this card:

Saturday 7 December 2019

PBSC December - Anything Goes (Optional 'Sparkle & Shine')

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
'Sparkle & Shine'

As usual, we are sponsored by the awesome 1-2-3 Stitch:
Prize - a $20 voucher!

I inked up one of my older wood mounted Penny Blacks...'Cat on the Moon', and coloured it using watercolour pencils...adding some sparkle to the stars & moon using a Wink of Stella pen. I made a super sparkly background by repeat stamping a panel of stars (from the 'Starry Backdrops' set by Lawn Fawn) in Versamark Ink on navy card, then heat embossing it using 'Metallic Gold Sparkle' embossing glitter from WOW. I matted everything on to gold glitter card for even more sparkle. 


I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:
For more inspirtion from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Thursday 5 December 2019

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:

Wednesday 4 December 2019

ABC Christmas Challenge - Y & Z are for?

We have reached the final ABC Christmas Challenge of the year...Samantha is the host, and the themes for this month are:

'Y is for Yuletide'
&
'Z is for Zig Zags'

There's a little prize from Samantha on offer for the winner of this challenge:

I couldn't find a specific 'Yule' sentiment among my stash of stamps, so used a combination of stamps frm the Happy Little Stampers 'Everyday Messages' set ('Have a') and Paper Smooches 'Graffiti Alphabet' stamps to make my own. I stamped it directly on to my DL card blank, then added an image from the Lili of the Valley 'Penguins' set below. I coloured the penguins using watercolour pencils.


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


    On my 'Zig Zags' card, I used an old faithful...'Snowy' by Penny Black'...stamping him directly on to my card blank and coloured him using watercolour pencils, then I used snippets of 'zig zag' patterned paper, from the My Mind's Eye 'Chevrons' paper pad, to paper piece his hat and scarf. The sentiment stamp is from the  Sweet Dixie 'Merry Little Robin' stamp set.


    I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:
    For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the ABC Christmas Challenge.

    Monday 2 December 2019

    'O' Christmas Tree

    I have a couple of simple watercolour cards to share today...made using an idea shared here by Kristina Werner. I used masking tape to make a 'tree' shape on watercolour paper, then painted stipes of green watercolours, drying in between each different colour, overlapping the colours until I had covered the whole of each tree. Once dry, I removed the tape, then added sentiments (from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Satmpers Anonymous), and doodled frames before adding my watercoloured panels on to kraft card blanks.


    Challenges for these cards:

    Saturday 30 November 2019

    Scribbly Tree Tags

    I have a set of Christmas gift tags to share today...using stamps from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous. I stamped the trees, and a sentiment from the same set, on to kraft luggage tags using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed them using 'Rich Metallic Gold' embossing powder from WOW. I replaced the plain string on the tags with some gold twine, and that's it...really simple.





    Challenges for these tags:

    Thursday 28 November 2019

    More Monochrome Sketched Flowers

    Today's card is very similar to one I made a month or so ago (here), and is what I had originally set out to do...but my plans were foiled by some rubbish-y gold embossing powder! It was a really old one (from way before I started blogging...and I've been doing that for over 11 years) that came with my first heat gun, and when I embossed the stamp ('Sketched Flowers' by Simon Says Stamp) it came out a dull brown colour...not attractive! On the previous card, I embossed the flowers and sentiment using white when the gold didn't work, but I went on a hunt to replace it, and picked up a 'Rich Metallic Gold' powder by WOW, and tried again.It's so much better and is everything that I wanted it to be...a lovely shiny gold...and not too yellow. I added a sentiment from the same stamp set, then coloured the flowers using watercolour pencils (but without water), then distressed the edges a little before adding the panel to my card blank. 


    Challenges for this card: