PBSC June - Anything Goes (Optional 'Partial Stamping')...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
'Partial Stamping'
(Either by only inking and stamping part of your image, or by stamping off the edge of your project)

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

This time, I stamped my image off the edge of my card blank...it's one of the images from the 'Hello Friend' set. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then added a sentiment (from the 'Laugh Out Loud Again' set by Clearly Besotted) along the top of the card.

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

• AAA Cards - One Layer
• Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes + a Sentiment
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Male/Father's Day')
• Cute Card Thursday - CAS

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

Warm Winter Wishes

Today's card was inspired by the 'Olive & Tangerine' colour combination of the current Less is More challenge. I used them to make a Christmas card using dies and a punch. I cut the trees from green card using my Clearly Besotted 'Tree Landscape' die, then cut it again from white card...removing the trees from that one, then layered it over the green one. I used a Woodware punch to cut a house, then added it behind the snowy hill. I layered another couple of pieces of white card behind it...distressing the edges, and added a sentiment stamp from a set by Lili of the Valley.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Cards - Christmas in July
• As You Like It - Fvourite Celebration (Christmas - I love having a stash of one-of-a-kind Christmas cards to send to friends & family, so love making them all year round)
• Crafty Cardmakers - At Least Two Dies/Punches
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Less is More - Olive & Tangerine

PBSC December - Winter or Christmas...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:

'Winter or Christmas'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used 'What a Snow!' to make a Christmas card for my Mum to give to her Mum. It's quite a large stamp, so I made an A5 sized card. The papers are from the 'Wonderful Winter' and 'Countdown to Christmas' pads by My Mind's Eye...I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then added some sparkle using some Stickles. I cut a couple of snowflakes using dies from  set by Tim Holtz for Sizzix...then added some glitter to those too before layering them up. The Christmas sentiment is from a set by Pollycraft for C C Designs, and the 'Mum' stamp is by Clearly Besotted.

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

• Addicted to Stamps - Season's Greetings
• Animal Friends - Anything Goes
• Artistic Stamper - Christmas
• Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
• Crafty Animals - Anything Goes
• Creative Inspirations - Winter/Christmas
• Cutie Pie - Stars and/or Snowflakes
• Daring Cardmakers - Cards: The Special Ones
• Heartful Stamping - Anything Goes
• One Crazy Stamper - Christmas/Winter
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Christmas/Winter Holidays
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Stitch It
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Snowmen

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

Gone Fishing!

I've already blogged the card I've made for my Dad's for birthday tomorrow...and this one is for my Mum to give to him. He's a keen fisherman, so when I saw this cute stamp set by Crafter's Companion in a charity shop a little while ago I just had to pick it up...50p well spent I think! I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, and paired it with some papers from the 'Awesome Boy' pad by Recollections/Michaels. I inked around all of the edges using 'Old Paper' and 'Brushed Corduroy' Distress Inks, then distressed them a little, before adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment is a combination of stamps from sets by Paula Pascual & Clearly Besotted...I matted it, and the image, onto pieces of recycled corrugated cardboard...turning the sentiment into a little 'wooden' sign.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Calendar - Boys Will Be Boys
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Boys/Men
• Give a Crafter a Cookie - Photo Inspiration
• Great Impressions - Masculine
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Boyz Rule
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Masculine
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Make it Masculine
• Sweet Stampin' - Dads/Special Men

ABC Christmas Challenge - April 2017...H & I are for?

We have a fun new ABC Christmas Challenge starting today, and this month we have two themes for you to choose from....or combine!

'H is for Home'

AND

'I is for Informal'

We have two awesome sponsors for this challenge:

Crafty Ribbons

Prize - £10 gift voucher!

AND

Wild Rose Studio

Prize - this fab stamp & paper pack!

I made a card for each theme...the first features two little 'homes' punched with a Woodware punch from some watercolour paper that I'd painted in a rainbow effect using Distress Inks (Fired Brick, Festive Berries, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Lucky Clover, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire & Wilted Violet). I used a larger piece of the same paper for a wintry sky background, placing some die cut 'snow drifts' (cut using some Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Borders' and a Clearly Besotted 'Tree Landscape' dies). The sentiment stamp is from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

I interpreted the 'I is for Informal' theme by doing some watery /loose stamping using Distress Inks. I stamped on to dampened watercolour paper, with a Christmas tree stamp called 'Before the Snow' by Penny Black...first in 'Peeled Paint', then in 'Forest Moss' over the top. I filled in the sky using a mixture of 'Stormy Sky' and 'Faded Jeans' Distress Inks. I distressed the edges a little, then added a sentiment from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

Challenges for these cards:

• Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Extra - Anything Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Watercolour) - Anything Goes (Just the second card)
• Heartful Stamping - Anything Goes (Just the second card)
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes (Just the second card)
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

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

Sparkling Snowflakes

I have another Christmas card to share today...this one features lots of Cuttlebug products and is all white...even the stamped sentiment! I embossed a piece of card using my Cuttlebug 'Snowflakes' folder, then cut the bottom using one of my Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside' border dies. I cut the snowflakes from glittery funky foam using Cuttlebug dies, and added some sequins (from Clearly Besotted) to the centres of some of the embossed snowflakes. The sentiment is from the 'Merriest Wishes' set from Hero Arts and is heat embossed in 'Sparkling Snow' powder from WOW...you can barely make it out in the photo, but I'm happy to tell you that it's much more visable in real life!

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - A Touch of Sparkle
• Less is More - Something Tactile
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Add Some Texture
• Sisterhood of Crafters - White on White
• Winter Wonderland - Embossed Background

Pile It On! Challenge - Shaker Element

It's time for a fun new Pile It On! Challenge...this fortnight the theme is:

'Include a Shaker Element'

Our sponsor this month is Paper Sweeties:

Prize - a $25 Gift Certificate to the Paper Sweeties store!

I picked a cute Penny Black stamp called 'Wishes for Kisses' to use on my card...colouring the image using watercolour pencils. To create my shaker element, I cut an aperture in a piece of white card using the largest of my circle Nesties, then taped a piece of acetate behind it. I attached some 3D foam tape all around the edges, making sure that there weren't any gaps, then placed a mixture of sequins and beads (from Clearly Besotted...the mix I used is called 'Crystal') in the centre. I glued a few sequins to my coloured image...so that there would still be some 'falling snow' when the card in stood up...then attached the image panel behind the aperture sealing all of the sequin mix in place. I then mounted this all on to my card blank.

Here's what it looks like once shaken up:

Here are the challenges I've piled on:

• Pile It On! - Shaker Element
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - In the Round
• Gem of a Challenge - Animals
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Christmas in July
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Things with Wings
• Simply Create Too - Lots of Sparkle
• Sweet Stampin' - Outdoors

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the Pile It On! Challenge.

Snowboard Ride!

I'm sorry...I have another Christmas card to share today...I think I must be trying to cool myself down! I made another 'smooshed' background made using Distress Inks (Broken China, Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon & Chipped Sapphire) on watercolour paper...then stamped my SImon Says Stamp 'Falling Snow' background stamp in Versamark, and heat embossed it using WOW 'Sparkling Snow' embossing powder. I used various dies (Clearly Besotted 'Tree Landscape' and Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Borders') to create a snowy mountain scene, then added a sentiment from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous. The chicken is of course a Penny Black stamp...he's called 'Snowboard Ride'...I coloured him using watercolour pencils, then fussy cut him out and popped him up on some 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:

• Animal Friends - Dies and/or Punches
• Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Cardz for Guyz - Make Us Smile
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas in July
• Crafty Calendar - Punches and/or Dies
• Crafty Friends - Use Your Dies
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Cute or Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Fussy & Fancy - Christmas in July
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Christmas in July
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Things with Wings
• That's Crafty - Birds of a Feather
• Winter Wonderland - Use Your Dies/Punches

O' Christmas Tree

I have a trio of Christmas cards to share today, inspired by the 'Repetition' theme of this week's Less is More challenge. I started by 'smooshing' Distress Inks in shades of green (Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough, Mowed Lawn & Lucky Clover) on to a piece of watercolour paper...adding a couple of layers, allowing to dry between each one. I then used a simple tree die from Clearly Besotted (called 'Modern Christmas') to cut the tree shapes, doodled some decorations using a black gel pen, and added some gold using a Cosmic Shimmer pigment mixed with water. I mounted the trees on to my card blanks using 3D foam pads, then added  sentiment (from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous).

It was such a quick card to make, that I made three:

Challenges for these cards:

• Cardz for Guyz - Christmas in July
• Cut it Up - Anything Goes
• Less is More - Repetition
• My Time to Craft - Christmas in July
• Sparkles Forum - Christmas in July

Dog-gone It! Dad!

I have a simple little Father's Day gift tag to share today...it's doggy themed to match the card I made to go with it. This cute little chappie is from the 'Man's Best Friend' set by Penny Black...I coloured him using watercolour pencils, then fussy cut him out. I covered a plain kraft gift tag using some sky blue card, then used one of my Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Border' dies and a Memory Box 'Puffy Clouds' die to create a little scene to place him in. The sentiment stamps are from the 'You & I' set by Clearly Besotted and a little set by Wild Rose Studio.

I attached it to a ktaft paper gift bag that I'd decorated by stamping a Hobbycraft paw print background stamp in Versamark Ink all over.

Challenges for this tag:

• Catch the Bug - Masculine
• Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Animal Magic
• Crafty Cardmakers - For a Special Man
• Crafty Creations - Tic-Tac-Toe (Sentiment-Image-Tag)
• Crazy 4 Challenges - Make It Masculine
• Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with Dies
• Little Red Wagon - Tag, You're It!
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Father's Day/For a Guy
• The Male Room - Father's Day

Cluck, Cluck, Cluck!

It's my Dad's birthday today, and this is the card that I made for my Mum to give to him. He has a bit of a thing for chickens, so I used my Penny Black 'Cluck, Cluck, Cluck!' stamp (I masked off the chicken carrying flowers before stamping). I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then added a sentiment made up from stamps from the Paula Pascual 'Big Messages' set and the 'You & I' set by Clearly Besotted. The papers are from the 'Recollections - Charming' pad by Michaels...I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Alphabet Challenge - H is for Hand Coloured Image
• Corrosive - Lots of Layers
• Creative Moments - Stitching
• Inky Chicks - Father's Day/Male
• Let's Colour Linky Party - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp - Father's Day/For a Guy
• Stamping Sensations - Feature a Creature

PBSC June - Birthdays & Blog Hop!

It's the first Saturday of the month, so that means it's time for a new Penny Black Saturday Challenge...not only that, but this month we're celebrating our 8th birthday, so as well as our usual challenge, we're having a fun blog hop too!

The theme of this month's challenge is...of course:

'Birthdays!'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

In addition, there are some fabby little prizes on offer on some of the stops on the 'hop'...I have a cute kitty cling stamp as a blog prize for one lucky commenter on my blog:

To be in with a chance of winning, please leave a link to your entry for this month's PBSC 'Birthdays' challenge with the linky at the bottom of this post, and a comment on this post to let me know that you 'hopped by'!

My card is for my Dad's birthday later this month. I used one of the cute pups from the 'Man's Best Friend' set, which I coloured using watercolour pencils. I combined him with papers from the 'Recollections - Awesome Boy' pad by Michaels. I doodled some simple borders using a black gel pen, the added a couple of sentiments (from the 'Big Messages' set by Paula Pascual, and the 'You & I' set by Clearly Besotted).

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

• 4 Crafty Chicks - Masculine
• Cards Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday

The next stop on our birthday blog hop is the lovely Lorraine...but before you hop off, don't forget to leave me a comment & a link to your PBSC 'Birthdays' challenge entry for a chance to win my blog hop prize.

An InLinkz Link-up

Winter Wonderland

I seem to be going through a bit of a clean and simple phase at the moment...and have an super simple (and quick!) card o share today. I embossed a kraft card blank with my Simon Says Stamp 'Falling Snow' background stamp using WOW 'Sparkling Snow' embossing powder (I really wish that I could capture how pretty & sparkly this is in a photograph!). I used a Clearly Besotted die ('Tree Landscape') to cut the curved section from a snippet of white card, then added a sentiment (from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous).

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas Cards - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Use a Sentiment
• Hiding in my Craft Room - Any Holiday (Christmas)
• Holly Jolly Christmas - Use a Die Cut
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets

Happy Birthday Mum!

It was my Mum's birthday on Wednesday, so it's now safe to blog her card...and gift wrap etc...
I made a matching set using some cute little puppy stamps from the Penny Black 'Man's Best Friend' set. I coloured them all using watercolour pencils, then fussy cut them all out. I decided to use kraft card for the card base, and stamped panels of card with the little paw print stamp that comes in the set in various colours of Distress Inks (Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, Lucky Clover). I edged the card and tag bases with some stripey washi tape (from Freckled Fawn), then stamped sentiments from various sets (Paula Pascual 'Big Messages', Simon Says Stamp 'Sending Sunshine' and Clearly Besotted 'You & I'). I cut circular apertures in the paw print panels, so that the sentiments would peek through, then mounted them on 3D foam. Then I added the little pups leaping around all of the apertures.

Here's her card:

This is a little matching giftcard holder:

And her present...I wrap all my gifts in brown paper...then added some of the washi tape, and tied the tag on using some multicolour twine:

Challenges for these items:

• Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Penny Black & More - Birthdays
• Stamps + Fun = Creativity - Birthdays
• Sweet Stampin' - Tags (Just the tag...obviously!)
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Rainbow Celebrations

I have another rainbow coloured card to share today. I used the same stamping technique as yesterday's card (colouring my Prima oil pastels directly on to the stamp, then spritzing with water before stamping), but this time used my Hero Arts 'Magical Backgound' stamp. I got several impressions out of just one 'inking' (I just spritzed the stamp with a little more water each time)...this is the second one, and there was a patch in the centre that didn't stamp as cleanly as the rest, so I used one of my circle Nesties to cut it out. I added a panel embossed using my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' folder behind the aperture, a die cut sentiment (by Clearly Besotted), some adhesive pearls, then popped my stamped panel up on 3D foam tape.

Challenges for this card:

• A Blog Named Hero - Rainbow
• Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
• Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Pearls & Swirls
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

O' Christmas Tree

I have a couple of CAS Christmas cards to share today...using a Clearly Besotted die (Modern Christmas) to cut simple triangle tree shapes from snippets of white card. I spritzed the 'trees' with some Cosmic Shimmer in 'Baby's Breath', then added some sequins. I mounted the trees on to the card blanks using 3D foam pads, and added a sentiment from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set (by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous).

It's so tricky to get the shimmer to show in a photo...below is the best I could manage!:

Challenges for these cards:

• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets