Favourite Five Cards of 2024

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

The first card is one I made for my Dad after his hip replacement surgery earlier this year...I do love this Lili of the Valley image, but thankfully, I don't have many occasions to use him!

The second card features a floral stamp that has been a regular in my favourite cards of the year posts...doesn't matter what colours I use, I always love it!

The third card was made for the same occasion as the previous one, but I had to include this for the Penny Black critters.

The fourth card features another favourite floral stamp, and a favourite technique of mine...watercolour stamping.

I chose the final card just because it makes me smile...and I had to include a CAS card in my favourites.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Sledding Sweetness

Today's card features a Penny Black stamp set that I received for Christmas called 'Sledding Sweetness'. I stamped the critters on to watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut them out. I made a snowy background for them using a piece of snowy sky paper from the 'Fresh Florals' pad by Craft Sensations, and snippets of white card. I cut some trees using a set of Happy Little Stampers dies from the white card, glued them on to the background paper, then added a strip of white card, with a torn top edge, along the bottom for the ground. I added the critters on top using 3D foam pads, then matted the scene on to some red card before adding it to a white card blank.

Challenges for these cards:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Optional 'Use Your Dies')
• Christmas with the Cuties - Cute & Christmassy
• C.R.A.F.T. - New (The stamps are new)
• Creative Knockouts - Snow Much Fun
• Cut It Up - Anything Goes 
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Cold & Frosty
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Use Dies

Dotty Tree

I have a simple Christmas card to share today, made using a stamp that I received for Christmas called 'Dotty Tree' by Woodware stamps. I stamped it on to a snippet of black card using Versamark ink, then heat embossed it metallic gold embossing powder from WOW. I used Cosmic Shimmers mica pigments mixed with a little water to watercolour the tree in a mixture of green, gold and red. I matted it on to a snippet of gold mirror card, before adding it to a white card blank.

It's super shiny...so a real pain to photograph!

Challenges for this card:

• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Pick a Previous Stash Challenge ('Embossing' - August 2024)
• Krafty Chicks - All Occasions
• My Time to Craft - New (The stamp is new)
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes

Favourite Five Christmas Cards 2024

Today, as has become traditional, I'm shyaring my favourite five Christmas cards of the year. I made fewer cards this year (81, compared to 101 last year), but still had more than enough for my Mum and I to send. Each photo is linked to the original blog post, so if you would like any more details, please click through.

The first card is from January, and is one of the few that has no stamping on it. I love this snowflake embossing folder...even if it is an awkward size!

The second card features a relatively new favourite of mine...Anita Jeram stamps - I just all the critters in their Christmas hats!

The third cards are from August...I love the combination of fun coloured papers on these ones.

The fourth card is from October, and is representative of a style and layout I used for several cards this year...a cute critter against a snowy background stamped directly on a kraft card blank.

The final card is from November...I love the watercolour effect on this one, and I had to include at least one card with some mica pigment sparkle!

Before I go, here's this year's Christmas cake...the robins from 2016 have returned, but this year they've formed a choir!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Coming Your Way

Today's card features a cute Penny Black stamp called 'Coming Your Way!'. I stamped it directly on to a white card blank, along with a sentiment from the 'Snow Much Fun' set by Crafter's Companion, then coloured the image using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafting Happiness - Christmas
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - CAS
• Sparkles Forum - Christmas Transport

PBSC December - Anything Goes (Optional 'Winter Wonderland')...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

'Winter Wonderland'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

The stamp I used on my card is called 'Warm Reception'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper using 'Smoky Grey' Versafine ink, along with a sentiment from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stamnpers Anonymous. I added some sparkle to the snow on the trees, roof and ground using a Wink of Stella pen, then distressed the edges a little before adding it to a kraft card blank.

The touch of sparkle is really pretty in real life...but virtually impossible to capture in a photo:

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

• Aud Sentiments - Non-traditional Christmas Colours and/or Winter & a Sentiment
• Little Red Wagon - Merry Christmas
• Peace on Earth - Anything Christmas
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes (Optional 'Winter')
• Sweet Stampin' - Christmas Creations
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Optional 'Winter')

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

Reindeer Wrap

I was fairly sure that I had enough wrapping paper left over from previous Christmases, and that I didn't need to buy any more, but on closer inspection, there wasn't as much as I thought, so I picked up some rolls of kraft paper decorated with gold reindeer from Tesco. I chose that particular pattern because I thought that I had a reindeer die in a Tim Holtz/Sizzix set that would match really well for making some gift tags. I cut the tag shapes using a die from an unbranded set, then cut the reindeer out of pearlised gold card using the largest die from the 'Winter Wonderland' set. I added the deer using 3D foam pads, then used some gold twine to attache the tags to the wraped presents.

Here's a photo of one of the tags in situ:

Challenges for the tags:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Cut It Up - Use One or More Die Cut
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - It's a Wrap
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesdays) - Use Dies

Quality Street Wreath

Todays, I'm sharing my 'Quality Street' wreath. I make one of these every year...a much nicer way to give the chocolates! I made the first one in 2012, and the polystyrene wreath shape I used then is still going strong! I use a hot glue gun to attach the sweets to the wreath shape...I'm still not a fan of the paper wrappers - the old foil and cellophame ones were so much prettier...and each year there's more and more yellow!

Challenges for this wreath:

• Creatalicious - Anything Goes (Optional 'Christmas/New Year')
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Everybody Art - Beginning with W (Wreath)
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Gifts

Penguin Pals

Today's card features an old Lili of the Valley stamp called 'Penguin Pals'. I stamped it on to kraft card blank, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Snow Much Fun' set by Crafter's Companion.

Challenges for this card:

• Addicted to CAS - Brrrr!
• As You Like It - Anything Christmassy
• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Time to Be Merry
• My Time to Craft - Something Snow-related
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

Holly Jolly Christmas

Today's card features a cute Penny Black image called 'Holly Jolly Christmas'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, then distressed the edges a little before placing it on a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Jingle Belles - Christmas Wrap Up
• Krafty Chicks - Christmas
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Christmas

ABC Christmas Challenge - Y & Z are for?

We have a fun new ABC Christmas Challenge starting today, our last of the year...Marie is the host, and the themes are:

'Y is for Your Favourite Colours'

&

'Z is for Zoo Animals'

The prize for the lucky winner is this three piece gingerbread ornament die set!

My favourite colour is blue...I love pretty much any shade of blue from duck egg to navy and everything in between, so I picked a piece of snowflake covered paper from the 'Pure Frozen' pad from Poundland, with many different blues on as my starting point. I stamped my favourite snowman ('Snowy' by Penny Black) on to a snippet of watercolour paper, used a black gel pen to extend the snowy ground, coloured him using watercolour pencils then carefully cut around the top of the image. I added a sentiment using one of the stamps from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, then placed 'Snowy' on to the background. I matted it on to a snippet of teal card, then added it to a white card blank.

For my 'Zoo Animals' card, I had pretty limited options, but one thing I have a fair collection of penguin stamps, so I picked the one with the most penguins...'Penguin Parade' stamp by Woodware. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then added a sentiment using a stamp from a set by Crafter's Companion called 'It's Penguinning'. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then distressed the edges a little before adding it to a kraft DL card blank.

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Optional 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas') (Second card only)
• Crafter's Cafe - Anything Goes (Optional 'Monochrome') (First card only)
• Cutie Pie - Cute Christmas (Second card only)
• Fab 'N' Funky - Christmas Animals (Second card only)
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets (First card only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Winter Blues (First card only)
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes (Optional 'Winter') (First card only)
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Optional 'Winter') (First card only)

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

Little Christmas Boxes

I have some little Christmas gift boxes to share today. Every year I make some of these using a We R Memory Keepers punchboard that I picked up in TKMaxx...it's proved to be a really useful little gadget, and can make a variety of sized/shaped boxes. The papers I used, were, I think from Lidl orignally, although I got them from a charity shop. They're an odd size, so I trimmed them to a 9 inch square, then used the board to make the boxes in a 3.5 x 3.5 x 2.75 size. The boxes don't require any adhesive, but once folded and filled, I tied some gold and silver metallic ribbon around each one purely for decoration.

Challenges for these boxes:

• C.R.A.F.T. - Gift Box/Bag
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Love Those Pretty Papers - Anything Goes (Optional 'Christmas')
• My Time to Craft - Anything but a Card
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes

PBSC December - Anything Goes (Optional 'Winter Wonderland')

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

'Winter Wonderland'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

For my card, I started by stamping one of the cute snowmen from the 'Snow Much Fun' set on to a snippet of watercolour paper. I used a black gel pen to draw a line for the snowy ground, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, then carefullyn cut around the top of the image. For the background, I stamped my Simon Says Stamp 'Falling Snow' background stamp on to a kraft card blank using Versamark ink, then heat embossed in white, before adding the snowman over the top.

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

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Inspirations - Let it Snow
• Krafty Chicks - Stamps
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Feature a Christmas Song/Carol ('Winter Wonderland')
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes (Optional 'Winter')
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Optional 'Winter')

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

St. Nick & Rudolph

Today's card features a couple of the stamps from the 'St. Nick' set by Jane's Doodles. I stamped them on to watercolour paper, along with a sentiment made using stamps from the same set, then coloured them using watercolour pencils. I doodled a simple border using a black gel pen, then matted it on to some red card before adding it to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Cards - Anything CAS (Optional 'Christmas/Winter')
• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Christmas Kickstart - Anything Christmas
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Moving Along with the Times - Christmas Characters
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes

December Desk Calendar

The start of a new month means a new page in my Penny Black desk calendar. For December, I used a couple of cute bird stamps from the 'Snow Much Fun' & 'Wintertime Cheer' set, stamping them on to a snippet of watercolour paper, before colouring them using watercolour pencils, and cutting the circle shape using one of my Nesties. I paired it with snippets of papers from the 'Season's Greetings' pad from Poundland...distressing all of the edges, and adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen. 

Challenges for this calendar:

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Alphabet Challenge - R is for Round
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes