Favourite Five Cards of 2022

As it's New Year's Eve, I'm sharing my favourite five cards of the year. Each of the photos is linked to the original blog post, so please click through for more details.

The first card was the one I made my Mum for Mother's Day back in March. I've done an awful lot of colouring on kraft card this year, and I love how it looks with the gold embossing on this one.

My second card was made for my Dad's birthday...the stamp was a charity shop find, and as well as the cute critters, it's the cool colours of the papers and faux stitching that I love on this one.

The next card features a favourite floral stamp...I love how effective the simple watercolour colour stamping looks on this one.

I had to choose a card with plenty of pretty papers, and this Penny Black cow one made me smile.

And for my final card, I'm back to colouring on kraft...though this one features some cute little critters.

Happy New Year everyone!

The Manger

I have a Christmas card to share today...this one was made using a Penny Black stamp that I received for Christmas called 'The Manger'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I'm away from home, and didn't really have any suitable Christmas papers with me, but found some that kind of matched in my 'Refreshing Basics' pad from The Works, and  'Vintage Dreams' pad by Craft Sensations. I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Creative Moments - Christmas/Winter Celebrations
• Daring Cardmakers - Believe
• Dream Valley - Christmas

A Present

Today's card features a stamp that I recieved for Christmas, called 'A Present' by Penny Black. I started by stamping the image on to a kraft card blank, along with a sentiment (from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts), then I paper pieced the present using snippets of papers from the 'Happy Colours' pad from The Works. I stamped the bear on to a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, carefully cut him out, then added him to the card blank too.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - CAS
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Birthday) - Anything Birthday
• Krafty Chicks - All Occasions
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Pink Gem - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets (Anything BUT Christmas)
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

Favourite Five Christmas Cards 2022

As has become traditional on Christmas Eve, I'm sharing my favourite five Christmas cards of the year. I made a total of 86 Christmas cards this year, so it took me a little while to look through them all! For more details on any of the cards, please click the photos to go to the original post.

My first card is a simple heat embossed one...I love the elegance of the white on kraft. 

I had to feature a card with some Penny Black images...and this one showcases three adorable little snowmen.

I made a few black Christmas cards this year...not a traditional festive colour, but it does allow metallic embossing and watercolouring to really 'pop'!

Any regular visitors to my blog will know of my love of patterned papers...so I had to choose one with plenty of those...love the fun combination of colours on this one.

My final card was a bit of an experiment, but I love the way it turned out!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Quality Street Wreath & Button Trees

I have a couple on non-papercraft Christmas makes to share today. The first is a Quality Street chocolate wreath. I make one of these every year...and am still using the same polystyrene wreath shape from 2012! It's on its last legs, so it I may have to retire it after we've eaten the chocolates! I simply attached the chocolates to the wreath using hot glue, and used some organza ribbon to make the bow and hang it.

My other items are some little Christmas tree ornaments...in the shape of Christmas trees...made out of buttons and beads. They're super easy...I just arranged the buttons from largest to smallest, threaded them on to some wire, starting with a couple of smaller brown buttons at the bottom for the trunk, and once I'd added all of the buttons, I added a little gold star bead, then twisted the wire together to secure the beads and make a hook to hang them with.

Tags & Giftwrap

Today I'm sharing the simple gift tags I made to go on my gifts this year. I had picked up a couple of rolls of kraft paper with white Chritmas trees on in TKMaxx to wrpa the gifts, so hunted out a solid Christmas tree shaped stamp to make co-ordinating tags. I found one in an old Hero Arts & Sizzix stamps and die set called 'Reindeer', and stamped it on to some kraft tags using a white pigment ink...adding a sentiment to each (from a Lili of the Valley set), also in white. I had used an assortmet of red and white ribbons to tie around the gifts, so added some red and white twine to the tops of the tags. Here they are...you can see the two different wrapping paper designs underneath:

I also decorated a couple of kraft gift bags (I usually get the blank ones from Hobbycraft) to match...here's one with it's tag attached:

Challenges for these tags/bag:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped
• Sweet Stampers - Anything Goes

Christmas boxes

Every Christmas I make a set of little gift boxes using my We R Memory Keepers punchboard...and today I'm sharing the set I made this year. I used papers from the 'Arctic Christmas' pad by Paper Addicts (Trimcraft)...a 12x12 sheet makes a 4x4x4 box...with no cutting or measuring! You don't even need any adhesive, you can if you want, but with a little scoring and folding, the boxes hold their shape without any glue.

Once filled, I tied them up with some white organza ribbon:

Challenges for these boxes:

• C.R.A.F.T. - Anything Goes
• Crafter's Cafe - Anything Goes
• Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Cut It Up - Christmas Projects

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!

I've used 'What a Snow' on my card, stamping it on to watercolour paper, then colouring it using watercolour pencils. I paired him with papers from the 'Christmas' pad by Craft Sensations...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 'Top Hat Robin' set by Woodware Stamps.

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

• Alphabet Challenge - S is for Snow
• Creative Knockouts - Tis the Season
• Fab 'N' Funky - Last Minute Christmas
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Ice Cold
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• We Love Stamping - I love ? (Penny Black critters, pretty papers & Christmas)
• Winter Wonderland - Anything Christmas Goes

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

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 our final challenge of the year! Wendy is the host, and the themes are:

'Y is for Youngsters'

(Featuring or for a child)

&

'Z is for Zoom'

(Modes of transport)

There's a wonderful prize from Wendy on offer for the lucky winner:

For my 'Youngsters' card, I used one of the images from a Lili of the Valley 'Tis the Season' pre-coloured die cut sheet of two youngsters enjoying their Christmas dinner. I paired it with papers from the 'Mistletoe' pad by Craftwork Cards...I distressed the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

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

• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Carfty Friends - Anything Goes
• Use Your Stuff - Christmas

For my 'Zoom' card, I used a cute Penny Black chicken image called 'Snowboard Ride'. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, added a line to represent the snowy slope using a black gel pen, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I carefully cut around the top of the image, then added a snippet of 'snowy' paper from the 'Pastel Pinks' pad by Make & Create' from The Works behind. The sentiment stamp from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Optional 'Let it Snow')
• As You Like It - Anything Goes for Christmas
• Creative Knockouts - Snow Much Fun
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Christmas Creations
• The Male Room - Transportation
• We Love Stamping - I Love ? (Christmas cards & Penny Black critters)

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

Reindog

I have a simple one layer Christmas card to share today, featuring one of the cute dogs from the 'Wintertime Cheer' set by Penny Black. I stamped him on to a kraft card blank, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I paper pieced his bandana using a snippet of paper from the 'Pastel Pinks' pad by Make & Create from The Works. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts.

Challenges for this card:

• Alphabet Challenge - R is for Reduce (CAS)
• Crafty Chicks - Christmas
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Christmas with Pets
• We Love Stamping - I Love ? (Penny Black Critters, Christmas & Colouring on Kraft)

Winter Village

A couple of month's ago, I picked up a '3D' stamp by Spellbiners in a charity shop, and whilst I liked my first attempt at using it, I wanted to try out some other techniques. Last weekend I was using my WOW 'Midnight Dream' embossing glitter (making this card) and wondered whether the 3D effect would work with that, so gave it a try. I can confirm that it does work...although the effect is much more obvious in real life! It's super sparkly, so difficult to photograph, but I think you can just about see the darker silhouette of the trees (more densely covered with embossing glitter) against the lighter sky. I distressed the edges of the panel, then matted it on to some navy card before adding to a white card blank. I couldn't decide where I wanted the sentimet to go, so in the end didn't bother!

Challenges for this card:

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Everybody Art - Winter
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Add Some Sparkle
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Scribbly Trees

I have another Christmas card to share today...this time featuring some of the little tree stamps from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous. I stamped them on to watercolour paper using Distress Inks (Picked Raspberry, Peacock Feathers & Wilted Violet), then added one of the sentiments from the set. I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen before placing it on to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas Kickstart - Anything Christmas
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas
• Incy Wincy - Christmas
• Moving Along with the Times - Christmas
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Non-traditional Christmas Colours
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

Snowy Winter Nights

Today's card features an old Hero Arts stamp called 'Snowy Winter Nights'. I stamped it on to smooth white card using Veramark Ink, then heat embossed it using 'Midnight Dream' embossing glitter from WOW...a lovely navy with multicoloured flecks...so pretty! I distressed the edges a little then matted it on to navy card before adding it to the card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
• Creative Knockouts - Winter Wonderland
• Creative Moments - Winter
• Little Red Wagon - Glitz, Glitter, Gleam & Glow
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped (Optional 'Winter Wonderland')

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 Penny Black snowman stamp that was a charity shop find...he's called 'Sweet Snowman', and I stamped him on to watercolour paper, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I paired him with papers from the 'Frost & Snow' pad by Craft Creations and 'Glittering Snowflakes' collection by Crafter's Companion. I distressed the edges a little, then matted the layers on to navy blue card.

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

• Creatalicious - Anything Goes (Optional 'Non-traditional Christmas Colours')
• Dream Valley - Lots of Layers
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Freezing Cold
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

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

December Desk Calendar

Today I'm sharing the last page from the desk calendar I decorated this year. I used an adorable Penny Black image from the 'Christmas Critters' set, stamping him on to watercolour paper, then colouring him using watercolour pencils. The papers are from the Kaisercraft 'Santa's List' pad...I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching.

Challenges for this calendar:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Let It Snow

I have another one layer Christmas card to share today. This one features snowflakes from a Happy Little Stampers set called 'Let it Snow'. I stamped them on to a navy card blank using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed them using 'Metallic Silver Sparkle' embossing glitter from WOW. I used one of the sentiments from the same set, but this time embossed it in plain 'Metallic Silver' WOW embossing powder.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Blue & Silver')
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Perfectly CAS - Snowflakes
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes

Birthday Cupcakes

Today's card features a stamp from a Stampendous' set called 'Birthday Cupcake' that I picked up in a charity shop. I stamped the image directly on to a card blank, along with a sentiment from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I added some 'Diamond' Stickles to the frosting for a touch of sparkle.

Challenge for this card:

• AAA Birthday - Monochrome
• AAA Cards - Small & Few + Baked Goods
• Creative Inspirations - Sparkle, Sparkle, Sparkle
• Little Red Wagon - Let's Eat!
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes