Little Star

I have a simple little Christmas card to share today...using 'Little Star' by Lili of the Valley. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then coloured his star using a gold gel pen. For the background, I added some strips of gold washi tape (from WHSmith, Ikea & Hobbycraft)...the sentiment stamp is from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous.

Challenges for this card:

• CAS on Friday - Washi Tape
• Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Stars
• Cutie Pie - Bear Hugs
• Jingle Belles - Baby It's Gold Outside

ABC Christmas Challenge - Y & Z are for...

We have another fun ABC Christmas Challenge starting today...Samantha is the host and the themes are:

'Y is for Yikes!' & 'Z is for Zoom!'

Yes...that's right, we have two themes for this challenge!

After seven trips through the alphabet, we're changing things up in 2017, and are breaking you all in gently with a practice run for the last challenge this year. We will still be using the alphabet as the inspiration for our challenges, but will be switching to a monthly challenge, so each month will have more than one theme. You can use either or all of the themes..make a project for both or combine them in one...the choice is yours! Remember that we do not have a limit on the number of times you can enter each of our challenges, or the number of challenges you can combine with ours! Our challenges will start on the first Wednesday of each month, and will end on the last day of the month, so you'll have plenty of time to play along! We will also continue to have lots of fabulous prizes on offer...with multiple winners each month!

Our sponsor for this challenge is East Wind:

Prize - 3 Digital Images!

I went with the 'Z is for Zoom' theme and as my stash of Christmas cards is looking quite healthy, I made a set of decorative fridge magnets using images of Penny Black critters zooming around! The magnets are from Ikea...they're meant for putting photos in, but I simply cut some white card to the correct size. I stamped the critters (Ice Dance Dog, Snowboard Ride & Deer in Skates) on to the card, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then added a simple doodled border before sliding them into the plastic magents.

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

• Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
• Crafty Boots - Christmas
• Crafty Cardmakers - Anything but a Card
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Dream Valley - Christmas
• Holly Jolly Christmas - Anything but a Card
• My Time to Craft - Christmas Animals
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Christmas Gifts
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Anything but a Card
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

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

PBSC November - Anything but a Card...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 but a Card'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

This time, I've made a set of dog themed fridge magnets using 'Contented' and a couple of puppies from the 'Man's Best Friend' set. The fridge magnets came in a set of three from Ikea...and measure 3 inches square...perfect for lots of Penny Black's cute animals! I simply stamped the dogs onto plain white card, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then added a doodled border. Here they are on my fridge:

I'm also entering these fridge magnets into the following challenges:

• Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes
• Creative Corner - Anything Goes
• Simply Papercrafts - Anything Goes

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

Bicycles, bicycles, bicycles!

I have a couple of stamped pieces of wall art to share today...along the same theme as this piece I shared a few months back...but on a much larger scale.

I sketched outlines first, then filled them using a variety of Hero Arts, Elle Avery and Hobbycraft bicycle stamps and Distress Inks. The frames are from Ikea and measure 60x80cm.

They were supposed to go in the office/craft room that I share with my flatmate who runs his business (The Bicycle Society) from there...but have ended up in our living room instead...so it looks like I'm going to have to make some more! Apologies for the dodgy photos...they weren't the easiest things to photograph!

Challenges for these pictures:

• Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
• Inky Impressions - Anything Goes
• My Craft Creations - Anything Goes

ABC Christmas Challenge - H is for...

We have a new ABC Christmas Challenge starting today...Chris is the host, and the theme is:

'H is for Home'

Make a card featuring a home image or sentiment...or maybe a Christmas decoration for your home.

We are sponsored for this challenge by our very own Lacey:

 With an awesome prize!

$20 gift certificate to spend at Stamp & Create!

I made a set of Christmassy fridge magnets...using some clear plastic magnetic photo frames from Ikea, and some Penny Black stamps:

I coloured the images using watercolour pencils...then doodled a simple border using a black gel pen, and added some Glamour Dust to the 'snowy' ground for a touch of sparkle.

I'm also entering these fridge magnets into the following challenges:

• Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - Glitter
• Completely Christmas - Anything Christmas
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Extra - Anything Christmas

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

2013 Calendar

I'm going to show you my 'birthday' calendar today...well, some of it, as it's not yet finished! I saw the photo frame/holder in Ikea ages ago, and thought that it might make a good calendar...and when I looked closely at the display one, and saw that it had pockets for 12 photos...I just had to get one! The base is perspex, and the little pockets for the photos/months are flexible plastic...the 'windows' are 6x4, so it's a good size too. I'm going to use this to keep track of all of the birthdays I need to send a card - I've circled the dates, and keep a list in my diary with the names on...I made a little one last year, and it worked really well! I'm using all Penny Black images, a whole mixture of papers, and a calendar tab by Anita's. Here's the first installment:

January:

 Image - 'Bubbly' 

Papers - 'Hippity Hoppity' (We R Memory Keepers), 'Madison' (Penny Black) & Unkown (Heidi Grace)

Dies - Nesties Circles & Stars

February:

Image - 'Every Which Way'

Papers - '72 & Sunny' (We R Memory Keepers) & Unkown (Heidi Grace)

Die - 'Puffy Clouds' (Memory Box)

March:

Image - 'Bunny Friends'

Papers - 'Hippty Hoppity' & '72 & Sunny' (We R Memory Keepers)

Challenges for this calendar:

• Creative Craft - New Beginnings
• Gem of a Challenge - New Beginnings
• Joanna Sheen - New Beginnings
• One Stop Craft - New Beginnings

All Wrapped Up?

Well...these gifts are, but I still have lots to do! Most of it I won't be showing on here...don't want people to get a sneak peek...but I do have a couple of posts planned for later this week. Today, I'm sharing some gift wrapping...well a couple of little tags...they're really very simple...I covered the tags (bought from a little stationers) with some white card embossed with my Cuttlebug 'Snowflakes' folder, then added a tree cut from silver card, using a die from my Sizzix/Hero Arts 'Reindeer' combo set, then embossed with my 'Swiss Dots' folder. The 'tinsel-ly' twine is from Ikea.

See, I told you they were simple...here's a photo of them attached to their gifts:

I always like to wrap everything in kraft parcel paper...and just use different ribbons (the ribbon on these was from Tescos last Christmas) to 'pretty' them up.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Make a Tag

Today's challenge is the last one for the year over at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge...and our theme is:

'Make a Tag'

The prize for the lucky winner...from the PSBC DT is this lovely bundle of stash:

I used the stamp 'Holly & Globe' on my tag...stamping it with Distress Inks using the watercolour technique...stamping some of the sprays of holly over the edges of the tag too. I blended 'Tumbled Glass'  ink around the images, theen inked around the edges of the tag with 'Brushed Corduroy'. The string is from Ikea, and the sentiment stamp is from a set that came free with a Docrafts magazine.

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

• Anything Goes - Anything but a card (with optional tags for Christmas)
• Charisma Cardz - Last Minute Xmas
• Crafts & Me - Christmas
• Creative Stamp Friends - Christmas
• PaperPlay - Christmas
• Paper Sundaes - Anything Christmas
• Sisterhood of Crafters - Christmas
• Stamp with Fun - Gift Wrapping

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

Patriotic CAS

Here's my attempt at this week's Less Is More challenge, where the theme is 'Colours of your Country'...I'm from the UK, so my colours are Red, White & Blue. My card is very simple...a couple of 'snippets' of '360 Degrees' paper by Pink Paislee (it's 2 smaller pieces mounted together on a strip of card...the join is hidden behind the flower), a flower cut from wrapping paper (it's a 'handmade' type of paper that I got from Ikea years ago...) using my 'Blossom' Nesties held in place with a Papermania brad, and a Wild Rose Studio stamped sentiment.

Challenges for this card:

• Ellephantastic - Layers (the flower has 5 layers)
• Less is More - Colours of your country (I'm in the UK, so Red, White & Blue)
• Jules' Crafty Snippet Challenge - although using just these tiny snippets is not going to help reduce my snippet mountain!