Joy to the World

I have a Christmas card to share today, made using one of the stamps from the 'Joy to the World' set by Penny Black. I stamped it onto watercolour paper, added a sentiment using one of the stamps from the 'Gift Exchange' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'Ho Ho Ho' pad by Polkadoodles, distressing the edges and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, before adding them to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Animals
• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Cute Critters
• Stamping Sensations - Cute Creatures

Suspenseful Music

I have a birthday card to share today, featuring a Penny Black stamp called 'Suspenseful Music'. I stamped it onto a piece of watercolour paper, added some musical notes and a sentiment using stamps from the 'Critter Concert' set by Lawn Fawn, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'Party Day' pad from Crate Paper...I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• As You Like It - Favourite Sketch/Layout (This is my go-to on rectangular and square cards...it works well for combining a few different papers)
• Crafty Animals - Anything Goes
• Time Out - Playing Music
• We Love Stamping - All Creatures Great & Small

PBSC May - Anything Goes (Optional 'Your Favourite PB Stamp')...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

'Your Favourite Penny Black Stamp'

We're currently without a sponsor, so this challenge is just for fun.

I cheated slightly this time, and picked my favourite Penny Black Christmas stamp...'Snowy'! I stamped him onto a piece of watercolour paper, used a black gel pen to extend the snowy ground on either side of him, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment, using a stamp from the 'Snow Bunnies' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company, then carefully cut around the top of the image. I layered it over a piece of snowy sky paper, from an unnamed pad from The Works, then matted it onto a piece of teal card before adding it to a white card blank.

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Jingle Belles - Snow
• Krafty Chicks - Christmas
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

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

Monster Birthday Cake

Today's card features an old Bugaboo Stamps image, called 'Monster Birthday Cake' that has been lingering in my stamped images box for years. I coloured it using watercolour pencils, then added a sentiment, using one of the stamps from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company. I matted it onto a snippet of purple card, distressing the edges a little, before adding it to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Cards - Cake & CAS
• C.R.A.F.T. - Birthday
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• The Male Room - Food and/or Drink

ABC Christmas Challenge - J & K are for?

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

'J is for Just Enough' (CAS)

&

'K is for Knitwear'

The prize for the lucky winner is this 'Doe A Deer' A6 stamp set from Creative Expressions:

For my 'J is for Just Enough' card, I made a really simple one-layer card. I stamped an unbranded bauble stamp directly onto a kraft card blank using Versamark ink, then heat embossed it in white. I added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Bubble Mini Baubles' set by Wooware, heat embossing it in white to match.

For my 'K is for Knitwear' card, I used three of the cute bears from the 'Beary Merry Christmas' set by Funky Fossil. I stamped them onto snippets of watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut them out. I stamped a sentiment using one of the stamps from the same set onto a kraft card blank, then added the bears popped up on 3D foam pads.

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

• Allsorts - Monochrome (First card only)
• Aud Sentiments - Embossing (Wet or Dry) and/or Flowers + Sentiment (First card only)
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Second card only)
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes (Second card only)
• Stamping Sensations - Cute Creatures (Second card only)

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

Snowboard Ride!

I have a Christmas card to share today...featuring an old favourite Penny Black chicken stamp called 'Snowboard Ride'. I stamped it onto watercolour paper, doodled a snowy slope using a black gel pen, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Snow Bunnies' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company, then carefully cut around the top of the image. I layered it over a piece of paper from an unnamed pad from The Works, then matted it onto some navy card before adding it to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Christmas Kickstart - Seasons Tweetings
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Gone but not Forgotten (I love Margaret Sherry's designs for Penny Black - her chickens always make me smile!)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Make It Colourful
• Sweet Stampin' - Things with Wings
• We Love Stamping - All Creatures Great & Small

Great Catch!

Today's card features a cute Happy Hopper stamp from Stampendous called 'Great Catch!'. I stamped him onto kraft card, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment using one of the stamps from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company, then distressed the edges a little before adding it to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Birthday - Anything Birthday Goes
• Addicted to CAS - Birthday
• CAS on Friday - Animals
• Cardz for Guys - CAS
• Krafty Chicks - Birthday
• House Mouse & Friends - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Cute Creatures

May Desk Calendar

Today, I'm sharing my Penny Black desk calendar page for May. I picked one of the frogs from my long neglected 'Toadily Happy' set, stamped it onto watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then used one of my Nesties to cut out the circle shape. For the background, I used snippets of papers from the 'Here + There' pad by Studio Calico...distressing the edges, and adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I matted it onto a snippet of kraft card before adding it to the calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Neglected Stuff - Anything Goes (The frog stamp was last used in 2020!)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Make it Colourful
• We Love Stamping - All Creatures Great & Small

Tulips in a Vase

I have a simple birthday card to share today, featuring a floral stamp from Woodware called 'Tulips in a Vase'. I stamped it onto a piece of smooth white card, adding a sentiment to the vase using one of the stamps from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft company. I coloured it using watercolour pencils, then matted it onto a snippet of pale pink card, distressing the edges, before adding it to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday - Primarily Pink
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Mother's Day/Feminine
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

PBSC May - Anything Goes (Optional 'Your Favourite PB Stamp')

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

'Your Favourite Penny Black Stamp'

We are currently without a sponsor, so this challenge is just for fun.

My all time favourite Penny Black stamp, is also one of the first ones I bought, 'Birthday Dog'. I stamped him onto watercolour paper, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment using stamps from the 'Birthday Buddies' set by Paper Smooches, then used one of my Nesties to cut the circle shape. I paired it with snippets of papers from the 'Prince Charming' pad by Recollections/Michaels (found at TKMaxx), and 

'Refreshing Basics' pad from The Works...distressing the edges and adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I used another Nestie die to cut the scalloped mat from a snippet of kraft card, then layered everything up on a kraft card blank.

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

• Everybody Art - Happy Birthday
• Krafty Chicks - Colour an Image
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Four-legged Friends
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

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