PBSC January - Anything Goes (Optional 'Something New')

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

'Something New'

(New Year, New House, New Job, New Baby, New Stash...)

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

My 'Something New' is the 'New Year', and I'm sharing the 2026 calendar that I made for my Mum for Christmas. Every year, I decorate a couple of the blank A4 calendars from Paper Mill Direct to give as gifts, and use only Penny Black stamped images. If there's a special event in a particular month, I try to find an appropriate image...it's a great project for using stamps that don't often get inked, and also for using up lots of snippets of papers! 

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

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Everybody Art - Christmas and/or New Year
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes

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

Blossom Branch Golden Wedding

Today's card is a golden wedding anniversary card made for a friend of mine to give to her parents next month. I stamped my Penny Black 'Blossom Branch' stamp across one corner of a panel of white card, then heat embossed it using 'Metallic Gold Sparkle' embossing powder by WOW. I added a sentiment (from the 'Everyday Messages' set by Happy Little Stampers), also heat embossed in the sparkly gold, and some die cut numbers (cut from gold glitter card using my Cuttlebug 'Olivia' alphabet dies. I lightly distressed the edges, matted the panel on to a piece of gold glitter card...and distressed the edges of that too before adding it to my card blank.

In an effort to show the sparkle...here's another photo:

Challenges for this card:

• A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• CCEE Stampers - Use a Die
• Cute Card Thursday - Square
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Inkspirational - Gold Dipped
• Little Red Wagon - Flower Frenzy
• Moving Along with the Times - Monochrome
• Sisterhood of Crafters - Wedding or Anniversary
• Stamping Sensations - In an English Country Garden

Christmas Gift Boxes

I have some Christmas gift boxes to share today...made using my We R Memory Keepers punch board. I used sheets of 12x12 My Mind's Eye papers (from the 'Wonderful Winter', 'Countdown to Christmas' and 'I Believe' pads), I made the largest size, and the boxes measure 4x4x4 once assembled. I love this board...it's so easy to use...once you cut your paper to the correct size, there's no other measuring or cutting to do...and you don't even need to use any adhesive (although you could do, but I quite like that the boxes will store completely flat should you (or the recipient) want to recycle them!). I simply tied some festive ribbons around the boxes to finish. I will probably add a tag to each one...but they're still on my list of 'things to do'!

Challenges for these boxes:

• As You Like It - Favourite Box or Bag (I like both...but these simple boxes look like you've made an effort, but they're so quick & easy!)
• Crafty Cardmakers - Christmas
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes (Optional Christmas)
• Crimbo Crackers - Gift Boxes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Christmas
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Christmas/Winter Holidays
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes