Wedding Congratulations

Today's card is a wedding congratulations card...made with a limited selection of supplies as I was away from home. The image is from the 'Cheering Critters' set by Penny Black...I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The heart print paper is from the 'Vintage Dreams' 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 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image.

Challenges for this card:

• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Weddings/Anniversaries

Frames & Baubles

Today's cards feature a set of dies that were part of a prize I won recently over at Pixie's Snippets Playground - thank you Di & Sarn! They're from an unnamed Memory Box set, and I used nearly all of the dies in the set, and some snippets of silver mirror and pearlised turquoise card to make a couple of cards. I mounted the die cuts on to navy card, alternating the colours, then added the panels to white card blanks.

Challenges for these cards:

• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• My Time to Craft - Use Die Cuts
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Sparkle & Shine

Stocking Garland

Today's card features another stamp I recieved for my birthday called 'Stocking Garland' by Creative Expressions. I stamped it on to black card using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed it using 'Metallic Gold Rich' embossing powder by WOW. I added a sentiment, also heat embossed in gold, then used Cosmic Shimmers watercolour paints and mica pigments to watercolour the image. I matted the panel on to some gold mirror card, then on to a card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - All Occasions
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes

Mugs of Joy

I have a set of Christmas cards to share today, made using a new Penny Black stamp set called 'Mugs of Joy' that I got for my birthday recently. I stamped each of the four mugs on to watercolour paper, then coloured them using watercolour pencils. For the background, I used a piece of watercolour effect paper from the 'Pastel Watercolours' pad from The Works...it's a 12x12 sheet, but had four separate squares on the sheet each with slightly different colours. I heat embossed snowflakes in white, using stamps from the 'Snowflakes' set by Personal Impressions, and 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts on to each square. I distressed all of the edges, then matted the images and backgrounds on to coordinating pastel card, before adding a sentiment to each using a stamp from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

Challenges for these cards:

• Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Goes

Christmas Mice

Today's card features some more of the stamps from the 'Christmas Presents' House Mouse set that I picked up recently in a charity shop. I stamped them directly on to a kraft card blank, along with the sentiment from the set, then coloured them using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• House Mouse & Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - CAS

PBSC August - Anything Goes (Optional 'One Layer Cards')...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

'One Layer Cards'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I've just realised that I have used the same stamp as last month's mid-month reminder card...which is 'Together', of course by Penny Black...I did at least use slightly different inks this time! I inked it up using Distress Inks (Broken China, Chipped Sapphire & Dusty Concord for the petals, and Mowed Lawn & Rsutic Wilderness for the stems & leaves), then stamped it directly on to my card blank. I added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Signature Greetings' set by Memory Box.

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

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - CAS
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - CAS
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped

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

Guest Designer - 52 Christmas Card Throwdown

Today I'm excited to be sharing a Guest Designer card for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. The theme of their challenge thi week is:

I don't all that mant suitable images in my (vast) collection of Christmas stamps, and as I'd just uploaded a candy cane card when I was invited to Guest Deisgn for this challenge, I picked a 'Christmas Pudding' stamp by Personal Impressions to use. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, along with a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, then coloured the pudding using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'Peppermint Forest' pad by Craftwork Cards...distressing the edges a little, then adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

For more inspiration from the fabulous design team, please pop over to the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - thanks for inviting me!

Rambling Ted

Today's card features a Penny Black stamp called 'Rambling Ted' that I got for my birthday last week...he matches this one (called 'Rambling Rose') that I found in a charity shop last month. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I paired him with papers from the 'Fresh Florals' pad by Craft Sensations...distressing all of the edges, then adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Big Sentiments' set by Paula Pascal.

Challenges for this card:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Watercolour) - Anything Goes (Optional 'Happy')
• I Spy With My Little Eye - Something for Boys or Men
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Your Favourite Technique (Faux stitching)
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped
• We Love Stamping - Masculine

Christmas Gang

I have another Christmas card to share today...this one features a Woodware stamp that I got for my birthday last week called 'Christmas Gang'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, along with one of the sentiments in the set, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I added a simple doodled border, then added it to a kraft DL card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Add Some Doodles
• We Love Stamping - Masculine

Candy Cane Christmas

I have another Christmas card to share today...this one features one of the stamps from a Joanna Sheen House Mouse set called 'Christmas Opening Presents' that I picked up in a charity shop a few weeks ago. I stamped it, along with the sentiment from the set, directly on to a kraft card blank, then coloured it using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Optional 'All Creatures Great & Small')
• Christmas Craft Creations - CAS
• House Mouse & Friends - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Craft with Kraft
• Simply Create Too - Food and/or Drink (Candy Cane)
• Sparkles Christmas Forum - Christmas Food (Candy cane)
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Keep it Simple

Holly Jolly Christmas

Today's card features a Julie Hickey background stamp called 'Holly Jolly Christmas', which I stampe don to black card using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed it using 'Metallic Gold Rich' embossing powder from WOW. I watercoloured it using Cosmic Shimmers mica pigments, then matted it on to some gold mirror card. I cut a sentiment using a Creative Expressions die from some more gold mirror card then added that over the top before attaching it all to a white card blank.

As it's all shimmery and shiny, it was a real pain to get a decent photo of, so here's another that shows the shimmer of the watercolouring a little better:

Challenges for this card:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - Christmas
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Moving Along with the Times - Embossing
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

ABC Christmas Challenge - P, Q & R are for?

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

'P is for Presents'

'Q is for Quick'

&

'R is for Robins

This is the prize on offer for one lucky winner:

On my 'P is for Presents' card, I used a die set by Poppy Stamps called 'Abundant Gifts' and snippets of red and white card to make a CAS card. I followed the sketch from this week's AAA Cards Challenge, flipping it so that my presents were lined up along the bottom edge of the card. I added a sentiment using one of the stamps from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, heat embossing it in white.

For my 'Q is for Quick' card, I stamped my 'Bethlehem Nights' stamp (by Stampendous) on to a snippet of smooth white card using Versafine 'Twilight Ink', then simply trimmed it, then added it to a navy card blank using 3D foam.

Finally, on for my 'R is for Robins' card, despite the fact that I have quite a few robin stamps, I used a stamp that isn't supposed to be robins at all, it's 'Caroling Chicks' by Stamping Bella. I stamped it directly on to a kraft card blank, along with the sentiment from the set, then coloured the 'chicks' to look like 'robins' using watercolour pencils.

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

• AAA Cards - Sketch (First card only)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes (Third card only)
• My Time to Craft - Shades of Blue (Second card only)
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets (First card only)
• Sweet Stampin' - Inspired by a Book/Song/Film (Second card only - 'O Little Town of Bethlehem')
• Time Out - Monochromatic (Second card only)

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

Birthday Ball

Today's card is a simple one layer card that features one of the puppies from the 'What This' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company. I stamped him directly on to a card blank, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then added one of the sentiments from the same set.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Birthday - Anything Birthday
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Happy Birthday
• We Love Stamping - Masculine

 

PBSC August - Anything Goes (Optional 'One Layer Cards')

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

'One Layer Cards'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I went festive with my one layer card...I like to make a lot of these as they're nice and cheap to post! I combined a couple of stamps from the 'Wintertime Cheer' set (the dog and bird), with a little mouse from the 'Holly Jolly Christmas' set, stamping them directly on to a kraft card blank. I coloured them using watercolour pencils, then added a sentiment (from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts).

Challenges for this card:

• CAS on Friday - Holidays
• Krafty Chicks - Stamp Act
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

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

Floral Sympathy

I have a couple of simple one layer sympathy cards to share today, inspired by the recent charity shop purchase of a sentiment stamp (by Inkadinkado). I used a couple of old Hero Arts floral stamps ('Blooming Meadow' and 'Garde Bouquet'), stamping them directly on to white card blanks using a deep navy ink (Versafine 'Twilight'). I stamped the sentiment (minus a little flower on the stamp) in the same ink, then added a little butterfly (from the 'Anytime Messages' set also by Hero Arts), stamped in Versamark Ink, then embossed with WOW 'Metallic Gold Rich' embossing powder.

Here's a closer look at each of the cards...this one features the 'Garden Bouquet' stamp:

And this one has 'Blooming Meadows' stamped a couple of times:

Challenges for these cards:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes

August Desk Calendar

As it's the first of the month, today I'm sharing my desk calendar page for August. The calendar is from Paper Mill Direct, and I stamped the image...'Dream a Dream' by Penny Black...directly on to the calendar, then coloured it using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this calendar:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes