Snow Dust for Autumn

Today's card features a Christmas stamp, but Autumnal colours. I started by inking a large acrylic block with Distress Inks (Forest Moss, Crushed Olive, Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade & Fired Brick), spritzed it with a little water, and stamped it on to a piece of watercolour paper. Once dried, I stamped 'Snow Dust' by Penny Black over the top using Versamark Ink, along with a sentiment from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image, then heat embossed them using copper embossing powder. I matted the panel on to some metallic copper mirror card, then on to my card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Autumn Colours
• As You Like It - Favourite Bright or Pastel Colours (I love to use bold bright colours on my cards and like experimenting with different combinations)
• Catch the Bug - Photo Inspiration
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Autumn Colours')
• Crafty Friends - Autumn Colours
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Autumn

Cheers Chicken!

Today's card is ultra simple...and features one of the critters from the '12 Days of Christmas' set by Penny Black. I stamped the chicken (representing '3 French Hens') directly on to a kraft card blank, along with a sentiment (from the 'Cheering Critters' set, also by Penny Black), then coloured it using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Cards - One Layer Cards
• Incy Wincy - Funny and/or Let's Celebrate
• Less is More - One Layer Cards & Cheers
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Animal Antics
• We Love Chocolate Baroque - Wings

Snow Much Fun!

I have a Christmas card to share today...featuring one of the snowmen from the 'Snow Much Fun' set by Penny Black. I stamped him on to watercolout paper...doodled some snowy ground using a black gel pen, then coloured the image using watercolour pencils. I carefully cut around the top of the image, then layered it over a snippet of snowy sky paper (from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations), before cutting it into a circle using one of my Nesties. I stamped a sentiment (from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous) on to a card blank, then added the image above using 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:

• Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes + a Sentiment
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Daring Cardmakers - Something Beginning with S (Snowman)
• Fab 'N' Funky - Christmas
• Jingle Belles - Snow
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
• Winter Wonderland - Snowmen & Snow

Birthday Cake!

Today's card features the largest stamp from the 'Just for You' set by Penny Black...I love how protective this bear is of his massive cake! I stamped the image on to watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut it out. I made a simple embossed background, using an old Cuttelbug 'Happy Birthday' folder and a snippet of pink card...distressing the edges slightly, and mounted the image on top using 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:

• Always Fun - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Cutie Pie - Birthday Party
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Animal Antics
• Sweet Stampin' - Cake

Wonderful Day

Today's card features a trio of hedgehogs from the 'Wonderful Day' set by Penny Black. I stamped them on to watercolour paper, then coloured them using watercolour pencils. I added a couple of snippets of flower patterned paper (from the 'Spring Freshness' pad by Craft Sensations) to the top and bottom of my card blank, then layered the coloured panel across the middle. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Good Times' set, also by Penny Black.

Challenges for this card:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Allsorts - My Lovely Garden
• Animal Friends - Hedgehogs
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Nature, Flora or Fauna
• Moving Along with the Times - Create a Scene
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets

PBSC September - Anything Goes (Optional 'Your Favourite Colours')...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
'Your Favourite Colours'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used a combination of three Penny Black pups ('for you!', 'Birthday Dog' and one from the 'Good Times!' set) and a little bit of my favourite colour, teal. I stamped the dogs on to watercolour paper...with a little bit of masking, then coloured them using watercolour pencils. I doodled a simple border using a black gel pen, then added the panel to a teal card blank. The sentiments are a combination of stamps from the Penny Black 'Birthday Bears' set, and 'All of Us' by Avery Elle.

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

• AAA Birthday - Animals & Critters
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Daring Cardmakers - Masculine Makes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Frame It

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

Butterfly Cascade

Today's cards feature a new Woodware stamp called 'Butterfly Cascade'. I inked it using Distress Inks (Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Lucky Clover, Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire & Dusty Concord), then stamped it on to watercolour paper. Once dry, I inked the stamp again, but with Versamark Ink, stamped over the top, then heat embossed it using 'Kaleidoscope' embossing powder by Stampendous. I added sentiments from the 'Big Messages' set by Paula Pascual, then distressed the edges a little before adding them to kraft DL card blanks.

These are really pretty and sparkly in real life, but so difficut to photograph...I tried with some artifical lights, and this is the best I could get!

Challenges for these cards:

• A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampers - Things with Wings
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
• We Love Choclate Baroque - Wings

Golden Snowflake

I have a Christmas card to share today, featuring a large snowflake stamp from a set by the Colorado Craft Company. I stamped it using Versamark Ink on to a craft card blank, along with a sentiment from the same set. I heat embossed the snowflake using 'Metallic Gold Sparkle' embossing glitter, and the sentiment using 'Metallic Gold Rich' embossing powder both by WOW. I used a gold gel pen to doodle a simple border.

Challenges for this card:

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Cards Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Jingle Belles - Gold

Together

Today's card features a Penny Black floral stamp called 'Together'. I inked it using Distress Inks (Milled Lavender, Shaded Lilac, Dusty Concord, Bundled Sage, Forest Moss), then stamped it on to watercolour paper...stamping one of the flowers a second time above. I added a sentiment from the 'Sketched Flowers' set by Simon Says Stamp, then distressed the edges a little before adding the panel to a lilac card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• CCEE Stampers - Slimline Cards
• Cute Card Thursday - No Patterned Paper
• Less is More - Shades of Purple
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Guest Designer - Twofer Card Challenge

I was picked as a winner of a Twofer Card Challenge a little while ago, and asked to guest design for this month's challenge. Today, I'm excited to be sharing my cards for September's challenge, where the theme is:

As you may know, the idea of the Twofer Card Challenge is to use the same stamp, stencil or die to create two distictly different cards for two different occasions.

I picked a Penny Black tree die (called 'Xmas Tree Border') as my supply to use on both cards, and used it to a Christmas card and a birthday card.

On the Christmas card, I used the die to cut rows of trees in a couple of different shades of green. I layered them up over a wintry sky background (a snippet of paper from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations), adding some snowy hills in the foreground (cut from snippets of white card using Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside' border dies), and a couple of deer (cut using dies from the Tim Holtz/Sizzix 'Winter Wonderland' set) to complete the scene. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Very Merry Christmas' set by Hero Arts.

On the birthday card, I used just one of the trees from the die (the one on the far right) flipped up the other way, to make ice cream cones. I cut the 'cones' from snippets of kraft card, and then used a die from a set of cupcake dies by Marianne Designs to cut the scoops of ice cream. They were a little too wide for the cones, so I trimmed them down using one of my oval Nesties, then gave them a little texture using my Cuttlebug 'Divine Swirls' embossing folder, adding a few adhesive pearl 'sprinkles'. The sentiment stamp is from the Hero Arts 'Cupcakes' set.

Thanks so much Darnell for inviting me...it was so much fun trying to figure out how I could use the same supplies to get a totally different look! For more inspiration from the awesome design team, don't forget to check out Twofer Card Challenge.

Opulent Baubles

I have another couple of Christmas cards to share today...made using a new (to me) embossing folder by Crafter's Companion called 'Opulent Baubles' It's designed for use in the Gemini, but with some a lot of effort, I managed to figure out how to get it to work in my Cuttlebug. It required replacing the bottom B plate witha shim of four pieces of cardboard, but it worked, and despite some alarming creaking, my Cuttlebug didn't explode! Having figured it out, I used it on two different types of cardstock...firstly a piece of teal Core'dinations card, distressing the edges lightly, and sanding over the raised parts to reveal the design. I added a sentiment (using a stamp from the Woodware 'Festive Circle' set) embossed in metallic silver, then matted the embossed panel on to blue glitter card before adding it to my card blank.

On the second card, I embossed a piece of matte gold card...stamping and embossing the same sentiment in black (to stop it smudging)...and matting it on to red card.

Challenges for these cards:

• Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes + a Sentiment
• Crafter's Cafe - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Dream Valley - Embossing
• My Time to Craft - Embossing
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes

PBSC September - Anything Goes...Optional 'Your Favourite 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
'Your Favourite Colours'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

My favourite colour is blue, more specifically shades of teal and turquoise...and I used those colours to make a Christmas card. The image I picked is 'Angel Cat'...I stamped it on to watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, adding a pearlescent sheen to his wings with pearl watercolour paint, then carefully cut him out. I made a simple background by brushing some of the blue & green shades of pearl watercolour paint on to an acrylic block, then stamped the block on to watercolour paper. Once dry, I distressed the edges a little, then matted the panel on to blue glitter card before adding it to my teal card blank. I cut the sentiment using my Poppy Stamps 'Folk Merry Christmas' die from more of the blue glitter card.

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

• Christmas Kickstart - Festive Furbabies
• Crafty Cardmakers - Things with Wings
• Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Stamp
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Thinks withWings

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

Bauble Balance

I have another Christmas card to share today...this one features a new (to me) Penny Black stamp called 'Bauble Balance'. I stamped it, along with the matching sentiment, directly on to a kraft card blank, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I added a snippet of (sort of) matching bauble covered paper (from the 'Ho Ho Ho' pad by Polkadoodles) along the bottom edge of the card.

Challenges for this card:

• Alphabet Challenge - K is for Kraft
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Crafty Friends - Fairies & Fantasy
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Stamp

ABC Christmas Challenge - S & T are for?

We have another fun ABC Christmas Challenge starting today...Wei is the host, and the themes are:

'S is for Snowy'

&

'T is for Tinsel'

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

On my 'S is for Snowy' card, I started by stamping my new Woodware 'Huge Snowflake' stamp on to a piece of watercolour paper using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed it in white. I dampened the paper, then used Distress Inks (Peacock Feathers, Broken China & Cracked Pistacchio) to watercolour around the snowflake. Once it had dried, I added a few splatters of the same inks, and dotted some clear and blue sequins around for a touch of sparkle. 

For my 'T is for Tinsel' card, I used an old Lili of the Valley image called 'Box of Decorations'. I stamped the image on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils...adding Glossy Accents to the red baubles, and some sparkle with Stickles glitter to the tinsel and star. I used a Sizzix embossing folder on matte gold card to make  simple background. The card is wider than the folder, but I slid the embossing folder over to emboss the whole piece...adding a strip of green glitter card to cover where the pattern doesn't quite match up. I added a simple sentiment (from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous), matting everything on to red glitter card.

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

• Always Fun - Cute Critters (Second card only)
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

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