April Desk Calendar

Today I'm sharing my desk calendar page for April...a little early, as I have a DT post for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge going up on April 1st. I used my Penny Black 'Bun Buns' stamp...stamping it directly on to the calendar...albeit a little closer to the bottom than I had intended...oops! I used watercolour pencils to colour the bunnies in a variety of pastel colours.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Totally Excited Treat Bag

I have another Easter treat bag to share today. This one features a Penny Black chicken stamp called 'Totally Excited!'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, along with a sentiment from the 'Egg-cellent Easter Sentiments' set by C C Designs, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then cut the circle shape using one of my Nesties. The papers are really old...and are from the 'Hippity Hoppity' pad by We R Memory Keepers...they first appeared on my blog back in February 2011! I distressed the edges a little, added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen then matted the layers on to some orange card.

Challenges for this treat bag:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Spring Colours)
• My Time to Craft - Spring Time
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Easter/Spring
• Stamps + Fun = Creativity - Poultry or Bunny
• We Love Stamping - Spring is in the Air

Winter Wonderland

I have a simple one layer Christmas card to share today...made using a couple of the stamps from the 'Tattered Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous. I stamped them directly on to a kraft card blank, then used watercolour pencils to colour the snowman.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Cards - Movie/Song/Book Inspiration (My card is inspired by the song 'Winter Wonderland')
• C.R.A.F.T. - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Add a Sentiment
• Krafty Chicks - All Occasions
• Just Us Girls - CAS
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes
• Sparkles Forum - CAS
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

Bunny Friends Treat Bag

I have another Easter treat bag to share today...featuring the other two bunnies from the 'Bunny Friends' stamp (by Penny Black) that I didn't use on the last bag. I stamped them on to a snippet of watercolour paper, along with a sentiment from the 'Egg-cellent Easter Sentiments' set (by C C Designs), then coloured them using watercolour pencils. I used snippets of papers from a set of papers that were a magazine freebie years ago for the background...distressing the edges and adding faux stitching using my Cutterbee Bug and a black gel pen. I used my old faithful Nesties to cut the circles, matting all the layers on some plain yellow card.

Challenges for this treat bag:

• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Easter/Spring
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Easter/Spring
• Simply Create Too - Apring Colours
• Sweet Stampin' - Spring
• We Love Stamping - Spring is in the Air

Time to Paw-ty!

Today's card features three of the fun dog stamps from a Katzelkraft set called 'Les Chiens'. I stamped them off the edges of a white card blank, then coloured then using watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment from the 'Watch This' set by Anita Jerum for Colorado Crafts.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Cardz for Guys - Any Colouring Medium
• Everybody Art - Pets
• Incy Wincy - Pets/Happiness
• Less is More - One Layer Cards

Happy Mother's Day

Today I'm sharing the card I made my Mum for Mother's Day. I used my Penny Black 'Together' stamp and the watercolour stamping technique...inking it with Distress Inks (Salty Ocean, Uncharted Mariner & Chipped Sapphire for the flowers, and Rustic Wilderness & Forest Moss for the stems and leaves), and spritzing with a little water before stamping on to watercolour paper. I heat embossed the sentiment in metallic gold using letters from the Paper Smooches 'Graffiti Alphabet', then splattered some watered down Distress Inks, and some gold Cosmic Shimmer mica pigment mixed with water. I distressed the edges a little, then added the panel to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Female
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - For a Special Lady
• Happy Little Stampers (Watercolour) - Anything Goes

PBSC March - Anything Goes (Optional 'Easter')...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

'Easter'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I decorated another Easter treat bag...this time using the 'Bunny Friends' stamp. I inked just three of the bunnies, then stamped them on to watercolour paper, along with a sentiment from the 'Egg-cellent Easter Sentiments' set by C C Designs, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. For the background, I used papers from the 'Bright Freshness' pad by Craft Sensations...distressing the edges and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bag and a black gel pen.

I'm also entering this treat bag into the following challenges:

• As You Like It - Favourite Easter Critters (Bunnies...because they're the ones with the chocolate!)
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Cutie Pie - Beginning with B (Bunnies)
• I Spy with My Little Eye - Easter or Spring Critters
• We Love Stamping - Spring is in the Air

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

Brightest Xmas

I have a simple one layer Christmas card to share today...featuring the 'Brightest Christmas' stamp by Penny Black. I stamped it directly on to a kraft card blank, along with a sentiment from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then added Glossy Accents to the lights.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Optional 'Trio of Something')
• Christmas Cards All Year Round - Three of Something
• Christmas Craft Creations - One Layer
• Dream Valley - Things with Wings
• Krafty Chicks - CAS
• Sparkles Forum - CAS
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped (Optional 'Wings & Tails')

Micey Nice Birthday

Today's card is a simple one layer card featuring a couple of the stamps from the 'Birthday Wishing' set by Anita Jerum for Colorado Crafts. I stamped them on to a smooth white card blank, along with a sentiment by Penny Black, then coloured them using watercolour pencils. I then added a couple of co-odinating snippets of spotty papers from the 'Happy Colours' pad by Craft Sensations along one edge.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Birthday - Stripes and/or Dots
• My Time to Craft - Birthday Occasions
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped (Optional 'Wings or Tails')
• Use Your Stuff - Paper Strips

 

Sweet Snowman

I have a Christmas card to share today, that features a cute Penny Black snowman stamp called 'Sweet Snowman'. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, extrended the line of the snowy ground a little each side using a black gel pen, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment (from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous), then carefully cut around the top of the image. I made a simple background for the snowman by embossing a piece of watercolour effect paper (from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations) using an old Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder...sanding over the raised areas to reveal some of the white core.

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas Kickstart - Wrapped Up for Christmas
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Krafty Chicks - Christmas
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Emboss It
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Warm Winter Clothes

Lovely Bubbly

Today's card features a Penny Black stamp called 'Lovely Bubbly', that I picked up in a charity shop a couple of weeks ago. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I paired it with a couple of snippets of papers from the 'Fresh Florals' pad from Craft Sensations...distressing the edges a little, before adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment is also by Penny Black, from the 'Good Times' set.

Challenges for this card:

• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped (Optional 'Tails/Wings')

ABC Christmas Challenge - E, F & G are for?

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

'E is for Elves'

'F is for Food'

&

'G is for Gold'

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

For my 'Elf' card, I used a Penny Black stamp called 'Bauble Balance', which I stamped on to watercolour paper, along with the sentiment that came in the set, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I added some sparkle to the baubles using a Wink of Stella pen, then distressed the edges and added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, before adding the panel to a kraft card blank.

For my 'Food' card, I picked a Christmas pudding stamp from Personal Impressions, stamping it directly on to a kraft card blank, and colouring it using watercolour pencils. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

On my 'Gold' card, I used an old Papermania stamp called 'Bauble Decoration', stamping it on to cream card using Versamark Ink, then heat embossing it using metallic gold embossing powder from WOW. The sentiment is part of the stamp, so nothing else needed - perfect for quick cards. I matted the panel on to some gold mirror card, then added it to a cream DL card blank.

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Christmas with the Cuties - Something with a Sentiment (First card only)
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Christmas Goes
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Emboss It (Third card only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Slimline Cards (Third card only)
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

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

Birthday Wishing

Today's card features one of the cute critters from the 'Birthday Wishing' set by Anita Jerum for Colorado Crafts. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, along with a sentiment from another Anita Jerum set called 'Watch This', then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I added some Glossy Accents to the balloon, and doodled a simple boder using a black gel pen, before adding the panel to a matching aqua card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Balloons')
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Birthday) - Anything Birthday Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday Goes

PBSC March - Anything Goes (Optional 'Easter')

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

'Easter'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used 'Spring Chick' to decorate an Easter treat bag. I stamped the image on to watercolour paper, along with a sentiment from the 'Egg-cellent Easter Sentiments' set by C C Designs, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I used a piece of floral paper from the 'Watercolour Feelings' pad from The Works for the background...distressing all of the edges, then adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black pen, before placing it on the front of a little kraft gift bag.

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

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Not a Card
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes

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

March Desk Calendar

I have more daffodils on today's project...this is my desk calendar page for March. The calendar blank is from Paper Mill Direct, and I'm continuing to stamp directly on to the page each month, and this time used a Penny Black image called 'You're the Bestest!'. I used watercolour pencils to colour the image.

Challenges for this calendar:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Just Us Girls - CAS & Colouring
• Creative Inspirations - Spring Blooms
• Krafty Chicks - Stamp Act
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes