August Desk Calendar

Today, I'm sharing my desk calendar page for August. As it's my birthday month, I picked a cute image from the Penny Black 'Good Times' set of two celebrating pups. I stamped it onto a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then cut it out using one of my oval Nesties. For the background, I used snippets of papers from the 'My Girl' pad by American Crafts...I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Stripes or Chevrons

July - Desk Calendar

Today, I'm sharing my Penny Black desk calendar for July. I'm a music teacher, and July for me means holidays (albeit not for another couple of weeks!), so I picked a cute pup driving off on a road trip from the 'Hello Friend' set. I stamped him onto a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then used one of my oval Nesties to cut him out. For the background, I used snippets of papers from the 'Fresh Florals' pad by Craft Sensations...I distressed the edges a little, then added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• As You Like It - Favourite Non-Card Project (My desk calendar...I decorate a couple of the Papermill's A4 sized calendars for Christmas gifts each year, and I'm always sad to give them away, so when they started making the little desk sized ones, I started making one for myself each year, decorating it month by month, to keep on my craft desk)
• Inkspirational - Leftovers
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

June Desk Calendar

Today, I'm sharing my deskn calendar page for June. I used a cute daisy-chain making mice stamp from the 'Micey Day' set, by Penny Black, and stamped it onto a snippet of watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. For the background, I used a couple of little snippets of paper from the 'Pretty Please' Spring papers by My Mind's Eye. I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this calendar:

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

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

April Desk Calendar

As it's the first day of the month, I'm sharing my desk calendar page for April. I went with an Easter theme, and used one of the stamps from the 'Twelve Days of Christmas' set by Penny Black...this cutie represents 'Six Geese a-laying'. I stamped it onto a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then cut out the circle shape using one of my Nesties. For the background, I used a couple of snippets of paper from the 'Hippity Hoppity' pad by We R Memory Keepers...I've had this pad since 2011, and it's still going strong! I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Spring
• Fab 'N' Funky - Easter/Spring
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Sparkles Forum - Springtime

March Desk Calendar

Today, I'm sharing my desk calendar page for March. I picked a Penny Black stamp called 'Totally Excited', and stamped it onto a snippet of watercolour paper. I coloured it using watercolour pencils, then used one of my Nesties to cut the circle shape. For the background, I used snippets of papers from the 'Bright Freshness' pad by Craft Sensations. There are no full sheets left in this pad anymore, I'm down to mostly tiny snippets, but will I ever finish it???

I distressed all of the edges, added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, then matted it onto a snippet of kraft card, before adding it to the calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Leftovers
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

February Desk Calendar

As it's the first of the month, I'm sharing my desk calendar for February today. I picked one of the cute images from the 'Every Which Way' set by Penny Black, stamped it onto a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then cut it out using one of my circle Nesties. For the background, I used snippets of heart covered papers from the 'Happy Colours' pad from The Works...distressing the edges and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen. The little hearts were cut from a snippet of pink card using my Cuttlebug 'Concentric Hearts' die.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Love & Romance
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Have a Heart
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - All You Need is Love
• We Love Stamping - Hearts

Penny Black 2026 Calendar

I have another Penny Black calendar to share today...this is the one I made for my Aunt for Christmas. The blank calendar is one of the A4 ones from Paper Mill Direct...and I decorated it using lots of Penny Black critter stamps, and snippets of patterned papers. I stamped all of the images onto watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then cut some into circles using my Nesties. I distressed all of the edges of the papers, and matted them all onto pieces of kraft card before adding them to the calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Happy New??? (New Year)
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wedensdays) - Something New (New Year)

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.

January Desk Calendar

Happy New Year!

As it's the first day of a brand new year, I'm sharing the first page of my 2026 desk calendar. Each year, I buy one of the little blank desk calendars from Paper Mill Direct, and decorate it month by month using Penny Black critter stamps. For January, I picked a pom-pom shaking hedgie from the 'Cheerful Critters' set...stamped him onto watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then used one of my circle Nesties to cut him out. I used a couple of snippets of starry background papers from the 'Shine Like the Stars' pad from The Works for the background. I distressed the edges a little, before adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen, then I matted it onto a snippet of kraft card before adding it to the calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Crafty Animals - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes

December Desk Calendar

As it's the first day of the month, I'm sharing the December page of my desk calendar. I picked one of the stamps from the 'Christmas Critters' set by Penny Black, stamping it onto a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut it out. For the background, I used a snippet of patterned paper from the 'Peppermint Forest' pad by Craftwork Cards, and layered a snippet of white card, with a torn edge, over the top. I matted it all onto a snippet of kraft card, then added it to my calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

November Desk Calendar

Today I'm sharing the page for November in my desk calendar. I picked a pup in cosy footwear called 'Fetching Slippers' by Penny Black, stamped him onto a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out. I used snippets of paper from the 'Fresh Florals' pad by Craft Sensations and 'Tea House' pad by Dovecraft for the background...it was supposed to look like wallpaper and carpet, but now I'm looking at it on a screen, it looks like he could be out in the garden!

Challenges for this calendar:

• As You Like It - Your Favourite Critter (Dogs, specifically Golden Retrievers - my family had several of them when I was growing up)
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

October Desk Calendar

I'm sneaking on a day early with my October desk calendar page, as I have another post scheduled for tomorrow. I used stamps from the Penny Black 'Be Very Scared!' set...stamping the kitty onto a snippet of watercolour paper, colouring him using watercolour pencils, before carefully cutting him out. I stamped the spider onto a snippet of starry sky paper (not sure what brand it is, as I've had it for years and only have tiny snippets left), then coloured the white of his eyes using a white gel pen, and gave him some snazzy sparkly glasses using a gold glitter gel pen. I added a snippet of green patterned paper (I think this is by My Mind's Eye, but again, it's old and I only have tiny snippets left!) along the bottom, before adding the kitty on top. I distressed the edges, then matted it onto a snippet of kraft card before adding it to my calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Inkspirational - Moodboard
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes