Holly Jolly Christmas

I have another Christmas card to share today, featuring another Julie Hickey stamp...this one is called 'Holly Jolly Christmas'. I stamped it on to green card using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed it using 'Metallic Gold Rich' embossing powder from WOW. I cut an oval from more of the green card using one of my Nesties, then heat embossed a sentiment (from the 'Festive Phrases' set by Funky Fosil) on to it using more gold. I layered the holly background on to some gold mirror card, then on to a matching green card blank, adding the oval sentiment panel on top using 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas Kickstart - Focal Sentiment
• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes (Optional 'Green')
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - All Occasions
• My Time to Craft - Embossing
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Use Some Gold

Oh, Christmas Tree

I have a Christmas card to share today. It features a fab Christmas 'tree' stamp from a set by Julie Hickey called 'Oh, Christmas Tree'. I stamped it on to black card using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed it using 'Metallic Gold Rich' embossing powder by WOW. I watercoloured the foliage and berries on the design using Cosmic Shimmers mica pigments mixed with a little water - so shiny in real life, but a pain to photograph! Once dry, I matted the panel on to some gold mirror card, then added it to a blank card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• As You Like It - Favourite Occasion (Christmas - making my own Christmas cards was what first got me into stamping...I love making them so much I do it all year round!)
• Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• We Love Stamping - Anything Stamped

Birthday Wishes

Today's card features a Crafter's Companion stamp set that I picked up last week in a charity shop (along with a couple more), brand new (and unmounted) for 50p! It's from the 'Mulberry Wood' collection and is called 'Birthday Wishes'. I stamped the main image directly on to a kraft card blank, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts.

Challenges for this card:

• Everybody Art - Birthday
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampers - Furry Freinds
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Favourite Pet (I don't currently have any pets, but growing up we always had a family dog (or dog) so that's my favourite)
• We Love Stamping - Anything Stamped

Butterfly Cascade

Today's cards led me to finally organise my collection of WOW embossing powders and glitters...it's something I've been meaning to do for ages, but would put off in favour of using my crafting time to actually craft! All of my ink pads and embossing powders are stored in  Really Useful Box...whilst they're relatively neat, it often takes a me little while to locate the one's I'm looking for as the embossing powders are stored in a couple of layers and the lids are solid. So, I spent an evening cutting little circles of card (using the smallest of my circle Nesties), embossing each one with a different embossing powder/glitter, then attaching them to the lids of the pots. My collection is fairly 'comprehensive', so the photo below just shows the ones I used on today's cards, but you get the idea:

The cards I made with those embossing glitters, feature a Woodware stamp called 'Butterfly Cascade' and I had the idea to emboss them in a rainbow effect. I stamped it on to white card using Versamark Ink, then added the different coloured embossing glitters, working down from the top. Colours used: Metallic Gold Sparkle, Fool's Gold, Ho Ho Ho, Majestic Mauve, Midnight Dream, Vintage Peacock & Emerald City. I added a sentiment (from the 'Doodled Flowers' set by Happy Little Stampers), then distressed the edges of the panel a little, before piercing a border using my CutterBee Bug and adding the panels to DL card blanks.

As always, it's so difficult to capture the sparkle in a photo...these glitters are so pretty in real life, but here's another angle:

Challenges for these cards:

• Allsorts - I Love... (Embossing Glitters - I've always found heat embossing magical, but these glitters take that to another level!)
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Slimline Cards
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped (Optional 'Wings')
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
• Use Your Stuff - Birthday

PBSC February - 'Anything Goes' (Optional 'Love is in the Air')...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

'Love is in the Air'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used a cute Hedgehog image from the 'Christmas Hugs' set to make a CAS Christmas card. I stamped them on to watercolour paper, doodled a simple line for the snowy ground, then coloured it using watercolour pencils, adding some sparkle to the snow using a Wink of Stell pen. The sentiment is from the 'Winter Blessings' set from the 'Winter White' collection by Crafter's Companion, but I stamped it in two sections to fit my layout better. I distressed the edges of the panel a little, then peirced some holes using my CutterBee Bug before adding to my card blank.

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

• Alphabet Challenge - W is for Winter
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Stamps + Fun = Creativity - H is for? (Hedghogs)
• Sweet Stampin' - Love
• Winter Wonderland - All I Want for Christmas is You

For more inspiration, please pop over to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Balloon Brithday

I have an 80th Birthday card to share today, made from slightly limited supplies as I'm currently away from home, but I found some masculine-ish snippets of papers in my'Refreshing Basics' pad from The Works, and used my Die-namics 'Party Balloons' dies to make a CAS-ish card. I stamped a sentiment from the 'Doodled Flowers' set by Happy Little Stampers on to a snippet of woodgrain paper from the same pad, then inked around the edges of everything using 'Pumice Stone' Distress Ink. I doodled some strings for the balloons using a blank gel pen on a kraft card blank, then layered up the balloons, adding some numbers cut using my Cuttlebug 'Olivia' alphabet dies. 

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - CAS
• Cards Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Fab 'N' Funky - Birthdays
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - CAS
• Less is More - Birthdays
• Little Red Wagon - Masculine
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets

Burst into Bloom

Today's card is a simple floral 'Thank You' card featuring my Woodware 'Burst into Bloom' stamp. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, before adding the panel to a matching purple card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Signature Greetings' set by Memory Box.

Challenges for this card:

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Anything Feminine (Include Flowers)
• We Love Stamping - Anything Stamped

Foxy Christmas

I have a Christmas card to share today, featuring an adorable fox image from a set by Woodware Stamps called 'Foxy Christmas', and some old embossing folders. I stamped the fox on to watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out. I embossed some snippets of pink and green card using folders by Sizzix (the hearts) and Cuttlebug (the snowflakes), then inked over the embossing with Versamark Ink, and heat embossed them using 'Diamond White' embossing glitter by WOW. I distressed the edges a little, then layered them up, adding a couple of hearts cut from silver glitter card using my Cuttlebug 'Concentric Hearts' die, with the fox on top. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Christmas Hugs' set by Penny Black.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes (Optional 'Cute')
• Everybody Art - Love/Hearts
• Krafty Chicks - Christmas
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Love is in the Air
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Emboss It
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped (Optional 'Tails')
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
• Use Your Stuff - Hearts/Love

ABC Christmas Challenge - C & D are for?

It's the second Wednesday of a new month, so that means it's time for a new ABC Christmas Challenge! Wilma is the host, and the themes are:

'C is for Clean & Simple'

&

'D is for Distressing'

There's a little prize on offer from Wilma for the lucky winner:

I was one of the (many!) lucky winners of one of Di's Pixie's Snippets Playground Christmas Grand Draw prizes...and my lovely prize was a couple of Sweet Dixie stamps, so I used both of them to make my cards for this challenge. I used Sweet Dixie - 'Carol Singing' to make a simple one layer Clean & Simple card. I stamped it directly on to a kraft card blank, along with a sentiment from the 'Festive Phrases' set by Funky Fossil, then used watercolour pencils to colour the image. 

I used 'Little Tweetheart' by Sweet Dixie, paired with papers from the 'Jolly Santa' pad and another unnamed pad by The Works. I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.The sentiment is from the 'Winter Blessings' set from the 'Winter White' collection by Crafter's Companion, and the snowflake twill tape was from Home Sense.

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

• A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Winter
• Crafter's Cafe - CAS (First card only)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes (Second card only)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Sparkles Forum - Raffia or Ribbon (Second card only)

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, including our wonderful new members, please pop over to the ABC Christmas Challenge.

Desk Calendar - February

Today I'm sharing this month's page in my desk calendar. The calendar blank is from Paper Mill Direct...there are still some left in the sale, but if you really want to get ahead, they already have 2023 calendars in stock! I used a cute little pup from the 'Critter Party' set, stamping him on to a snippet of watercolour paper, colouring him using watercolour pencils, then used one of my circle Nesties to cut him out. I used a couple of papers from the 'Hello Today' pad by Heidi Swapp/Pink Paislee for a simple background...distressing the edges a little, and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Dream Valley - Two or More Patterned Papers
• Incy Wincy - Red and/or Pink AND Valentines
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Love is in the Air
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - With Love
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes (Optional 'Tails')

PBSC February - Anything Goes (Optional 'Love is in the Air!')

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
'Love is in the Air!'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I picked a cute puppy image from the 'Every Which Way' set, stamping him on to a snippet of watercolour paper, colouring him using watercolour paper, then carefully cutting him out. I made a simple background for him with a snippet of sky coloured paper from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations, which I then embossed using my 'Heart Gradient' embossing folder from Hobbycraft. I lightly sanded over the embossing to reveal some of the white core, then distressed the edges a little. I matted it on to a snippet of pink card, then added the pup on top using 3D foam pads. The sentiment is from the 'Sending Sunshine' set by Simon Says Stamp.

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

• Aud Sentiments - Love Sentiment
• CASology - Affection
• Creative Inspirations - With Love
• Dream Valley - Love
• Krafty Chicks - Stamp Act
• Little Red Wagon - Slimline Cards
• Shopping Our Stash - Hearts and/or Vegetables
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Embossing Folders
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - With Love

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

Everest Next!

I have a simple one layer card to share today, featuring a cute Penny Black stamp called 'Everest Next'. I stamped it directly on to a kraft card blank, along with a sentiment from a set by Lili of the Valley, then coloured the image using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• AAA Cards - No Layers
• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Cutie Pie - Clean & Simple
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes