Thursday 30 December 2021

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:

Tuesday 28 December 2021

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:

Friday 24 December 2021

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!

Thursday 23 December 2021

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:

Wednesday 22 December 2021

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:

Tuesday 21 December 2021

Snow Much Fun!

I have a simple one layer Christmas card to share today, featuring one of the images from the 'Snow Much Fun!' set by Penny Black. I stamped it directly on to a kraft card blank, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The sentiment is from the 'Foxy Christmas' set by Woodware Stamps.


Challenges for this card:

Saturday 18 December 2021

PBSC December - Anything Goes (Optional 'Christmas')...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
'Christmas'

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

The stamp I've used on my card is called 'We Three Kings'...I stamped it on the black card, along with its matching sentiment stamp, using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed it all using 'Metallic Gold Rich' embossing powder by WOW. I watercoloured the image using mica pigments from a Cosmic Shimmers set called 'Festive Brights' (individual colours used: Soft Gold, Christmas Red, Bright Holly & Regal Purple). Once dry, I masked the image ans sentiment, then splattered some more of the Cosmic Shimmers around the edges. I matted the panel on to some gold mirror card, and then on to a black card blank.


The mica pigments are so shiny in real life, but as with anything sparkly or shiny, a real pain to photograph!


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 15 December 2021

Simple Snippets Notecards

I have a set of simple 'Thank You' cards to share today, that feature lots of snippets of patterned papers...some from pads that I must have had for over 10 years! I lightly distressed the edges of all of the papers, ans added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, before placing them o the card blanks. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Signature Greetings' set by Memory Box.

'Marjolaine' pad by BasicGrey:



'Hattie' pad by My Mind's Eye:



'K-Ology' pad by K & Co:



'So Sophie - Graceful' pad by My Mind's Eye:



'Bittersweet' pad by BasicGrey:



'Bumblebee's Dance' pad by The Paper Boutique:


Challenges for these cards:

Sunday 12 December 2021

Kraft & White Snowflakes

I have a super simple one layer Christmas card to share today, featuring the snowflakes from the 'Bold Snowflakes' set by Creative Expressions. I stamped them along the edge of a kraft DL card blank using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed them using white embossing powder. I added a sentiment from the  'Winter Blessings' set by Crafter's Companion, again heat embossing it in white.


Challenges for this card:

Friday 10 December 2021

Holly Jolly Christmas Tree

I have a trio of tree-themed Christmas cards to share today...featuring a Crafter's Companion stamp called 'Holly Jolly Christmas Tree'. I stamped it on to red, green and teal card using a white pigment ink, then heat embossed the images using white embossing powder. I did the same with my Simon Says Stamp 'Mod Trees' background stamp, then distressed all of the edges before layering up on co-ordinating card blanks.



Here are some close-ups of the individual cards:




Challenges for these cards:

Wednesday 8 December 2021

Wintertime Snowman

Today's card features a cute little snowman from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out (minus his arms!). I stamped him again on to a snippet of 'snowy' sky paper (from the 'Christmas' pad by Craft Sensations), then placed the coloured version over the top to give him back his arms, then matted it on to some pink card before adding it to my card blank.The sentiment stamp is from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous.


Challenges for this card:

Monday 6 December 2021

Little Presents

Today's card was inspired by the inspiration photo over at the Less More Challenge. I cut the little presents from snippets of red, white and gold card using a Poppy Stamps die called 'Abundant Gifts', then added them to a kraft card blank using 3D foam pads. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts.


Challenges for this card:

Saturday 4 December 2021

PBSC December - Anything Goes (Optional '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
'Christmas'

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

I used a stamp called 'What a Snow!' for my card, stamping it on to watercolour paper, along with a sentiment (also by Penny Black), then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from a Craft Sensations pad called simply 'Christmas', distressing all of the edges and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I added some adhesive pink perals as a finishing touch.


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.

Thursday 2 December 2021

Melting Snowmen

Today's card features a stamp from an old Woodware set called 'Melting Snowmen'. I stamped the 'melted' snowmen along the bootom edge of a kraft card blank, along with one of the sentiments from the set, then coloured them using watercolour pencils.


Challenges for this card:


Wednesday 1 December 2021

ABC Christmas Challenge - Y & Z are for?

It's the first 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:

'Y is for Yummy'
(show us some food)
&
'Z is for Zigzags'

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


For my 'Y is for Yummy' card, I went with lots of Christmas puddings! The main image is a Personal Impressions stamp, which I stamped on to watercolour paper, along with a sentiment from the Woodware 'Foxy Christmas' set, then coloured using watercolour pencils. I paired it with some paper from the 'Peppermint Forest' pad by Craftwork Cards, distressing the edges a little and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.


On my 'Z is for Zigzags' card, I used the fox from the 'Foxy Christmas' Woodware Stamps set...stamping him on to watercolour paper, and colouring him using watercolour pencils. I found a sparkly sheet of zigzag paper in a pad by Recollections/Michaels (found at TKMaxx) called 'Simply Stated'. I distressed the edges a little, then matted everything on to some red card.


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