Guest Designer - I Spy with My Little Eye...

Today, I'm delighted to be sharing a Guest Designer card for Ellie's 'I Spy with My Little Eye' challenge, where this month the theme is:

'Christmas'

Any regular visitors to my blog will know I love making Christmas cards (I make them all year round), so this theme is right up my street! I picked a cute Penny Black image to use (from the 'Wintertime Cheer' set)...stamped it on to watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut it out. For the background, I heat embossed my Simon Says Stamp 'Falling Snow' background stamp on a kraft card blank using white embossing powder. I trimmed a snippet of white card to the width of the card blank, tore the top edge to give a soft 'snow' effect, then added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Christmas Hats' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company. I placed that along the bottom edge of the card, then added the critters on top using 3D foam pads.

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

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - Christmas
• Peace on Earth - Anything Christmas
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Embossing
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Optional 'Christmas')

For more inspiration from Ellie & Pauline, please pop over to the 'I Spy with My Little Eye' Challenge - thanks for having me ladies!

Birthday Carolers

I have a birthday card to share, made using a Penny Black Christmas stamp called 'Carolers'. I stamped the chickens directly on to a card blank, added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Critter Concert' set by Lawn Fawn, then coloured the image using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• Alphabet Challenge - Quick & Easy
• Crafty Animals - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Fan 'N' Funky - Music to my Ears
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes

PBSC November - Anything Goes (Optional 'Make a Scene')...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

'Cute or Spooky'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used a cute Penny Black hedgie stamp called 'Ballooning!!' that I picked up in a charity shop recently...stamping him on to watercolour paper and colouring him using watercolour pencils before carefully cutting him out. I used snippets of card and some dies to create a background scene for him. The hills were cut using some of my 'Stitched Hillside Borrders' die by Lawn Fawn, and the sun and cloud dies are from the 'Rainbow' set by Sweet Dixie...another charity shop find. I layered all the pieces up, matted it on to a piece of kraft card, before popping the hedgie on top using 3D foam pads, and adding it to a white card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company.

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

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Landscapes

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

ABC Christmas Challenge - W & X are for?

We have a fun new ABC Christmas Challenge starting today...Fabiola is the host, and the themes are:

'W is for Watercolour'

&

'X is for Xylophone'

(Photo Inspiration!)

The prize for the lucky winner is this gift certificate:

For my 'W is for Watercolour' card, I used stamps from a Woodware set called 'Sketchy Pure Branch'. I inked the two branch stamps using three shades of green Distress Inks (Evergreen Bough, Pine Needles & Forest Moss), spritzed then with a little water, then stamped each several times on to watercolour paper, inking again each time before stamping. I then spritzed it all with some more water, and allowed the inks to bleed into each other to create a watercolour effect. Once dry, I mixed gold and red Cosmic Shimmers mica pigments with water, then splattered those over the branches, and added a die cut sentiment...cut from a snippet of gold mirror card using a Creative Expressions die. I matted the watercolour panel on to some more gold mirror card...distresssing the edges a little before adding it to a card blank.

For my 'X is for Xylophone card, I took inspiration from the bear shape, and picked a Little of the Valley stamp called 'James the Bear - Little Star'. I stamped him on to a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out. For the background, I took inspiration from the multicoloured bars on the glockenspiel, and picked a piece of watercolour effect paper from the 'Pastel Watercolours' pad from The Works. I embossed it using the 'Jolly Christmas' embossing folder by Couture Creations, then matted it on to a snippet of black card before adding it to a card blank. I stamped a sentiment (from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous) on to a teeny snippet of black card using white pigment ink, then added that and James the Bear on to the background using 3D foam pads.

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Optional 'Christmas' - First card only)
• Aud Sentiments - Glitter and/or Christmas & a Sentiment (First card only)
• Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes (Second card only)
• Elliebelle's Crafty Wednesday - Anything Goes (First card only)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes (Second card only)
• Incy Wincy - Anything Goes (Optional 'Christmas Card with Handmade Background' - Second card only)
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets (Second card only)
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Optional 'Christmas' - First card only)

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

Birthday Dog

Today's card features one of my oldest (and still most favourite) Penny Black stamps...'Birthday Dog'. I stamped him on to a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out. I added a 'shadow' to a white card blank using watercolour pencils, and a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Signature Greetings' set by Memory Box, then popped Birthday Dog on top using 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:#

• AAA Birthday - Favourite Image
• Alphabet Challenge - P is for Party
• As You Like It - Favourite Critter (Dogs - my family had golden retrievers as I was growing up...and I have a fairly substantial collection of dog stamps...Birthday Dog was one of my first - I blame him for my Penny Black addiction!)
• CAS on Friday - Birthday
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

Tree Huggers

I have another Christmas card to share today...featuring a stamp that my Mum found recently in a charity shop. It's a large woodmounted stamp by Northwoods Rubber Stamps...I did some searching, and although I found similar snowmen designs by the same artist on their website, I coudn't find the name of this design. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. For the background I used snippets of very old BasicGrey paper (from the 'Figgy Pudding' collection. I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - Stamps
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Love Those Pretty Papers - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes

It's Penguinning

Today's card features a Crafter's Companion stamp set that I picked up in a charity shop last week. If I'm honest, it was the 'punny' sentiment that attracted me (I have a good selection of penguin stamps I could use it with), but the Penguin image in the set is cute too! I stamped them on to a kraft card blank, then coloured the image using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Cards - Anything CAS
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Inspirations - Christmas Animals
• My Time to Craft Christmas - Winter Animals
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Optional 'Christmas')

Fishing Ted

Today's card featuresa cute Funstamps stamp called 'Fishing Ted' that I picked up last week in a charity shop. 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 the edges, and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a blac gel pen. The sentiment stammps are from the 'Birthday Buddies' set by Paper Smooches.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Inspirational - Layer It (Layers of papers)
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

PBSC November - Anything Goes (Optional 'Make a Scene ')

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

'Make a Scene'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used a stamps from a couple of different clear stamp sets to create a snowy Christmas scene. The snowman and hedgie stamp is from the 'Snow Much Fun!' set and the robin is from the 'Wintertime Cheer' set. I stamped them on to watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut them out. For the background, I started with a piece of snowy sky paper from the 'Christmas' pad by Craft Sensations, then added a couple of die cut trees (cut from snippets of white card using Happy Little Stampers dies), a snippet of white card (with a torn edge) for the snowy ground, and a gold star (left over from making these tags). I matted it all on to some kraft card, added the critters on top using 3D foam pads, then added it to a white card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

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

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

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