PBSC April - Anything Goes (Optional 'Easter')

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

'Easter'

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

I picked a cute little goose stamp from the 'Twelve Days of Christmas' set to decorate my little desk calendar with an 'Easter' theme'. I stamped him on to a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him (and the little eggs) out. I made a background using snippets of papers from the 'Hippity Hoppity' pad by Memory Keepers...adding some little clouds cut using a die from the 'Rainbow' set by Sweet Dixie. I distressed the edges a little, then matted it on to a snippet of kraft card before adding it to the calendar.

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

• As You Like It - Cute or Floral (Cute for me...especially Penny Black critters because they were what got me hooked on crafting!)
• C.R.A.F.T. - Spring/Easter/Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Sparkles Forum - Easter

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

ABC Christmas Challenge - C & D are for?

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

'C is for Clean & Simple'

&

'D is for Distressing'

There's a little prize on offer from Wilma for the lucky winner:

I was one of the (many!) lucky winners of one of Di's Pixie's Snippets Playground Christmas Grand Draw prizes...and my lovely prize was a couple of Sweet Dixie stamps, so I used both of them to make my cards for this challenge. I used Sweet Dixie - 'Carol Singing' to make a simple one layer Clean & Simple card. I stamped it directly on to a kraft card blank, along with a sentiment from the 'Festive Phrases' set by Funky Fossil, then used watercolour pencils to colour the image. 

I used 'Little Tweetheart' by Sweet Dixie, paired with papers from the 'Jolly Santa' pad and another unnamed pad by The Works. I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.The sentiment is from the 'Winter Blessings' set from the 'Winter White' collection by Crafter's Companion, and the snowflake twill tape was from Home Sense.

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

• A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Winter
• Crafter's Cafe - CAS (First card only)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes (Second card only)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Sparkles Forum - Raffia or Ribbon (Second card only)

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, including our wonderful new members, please pop over to the ABC Christmas Challenge.

Rockin' Robin

I have a simple little Christmas card to share today, made using stamps from the 'Merry Little Robin' set by Sweet Dixie. I stamped then on to watercolour paper, thencoloured the image using watercolour pencils. I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. 

Challenges for this card:

• CAS Christmas - Christmas Birds
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Hats')
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Stamping
• Lil Red Wagon - Things Beginning with B (Bird & Branch)
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Burgundy & Platinum Christmas

I have a couple of simple embossed Christmas cards to share today made using two of the lovely stamps I received from Di as one of the lucky prize winners of the Snippets Playground Grand Holiday Giveaway. I stamped them on to burgundy card using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed them using Metallic Platinum Sparkle embossing glitter from WOW. I trimmed the panels down, then added them to matching burgundy card blanks.

'Santa's Visit' (Sweet Dixie):

'Merry Christmas' (Sweet Dixie):

Challenges for these cards:

• A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Crafter's Cafe - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Embossing')
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
• Winter Wonderland - Anything Christmas Goes

ABC Christmas Challenge - Y & Z are for?

We have reached the final ABC Christmas Challenge of the year...Samantha is the host, and the themes for this month are:

'Y is for Yuletide'

&

'Z is for Zig Zags'

There's a little prize from Samantha on offer for the winner of this challenge:

I couldn't find a specific 'Yule' sentiment among my stash of stamps, so used a combination of stamps frm the Happy Little Stampers 'Everyday Messages' set ('Have a') and Paper Smooches 'Graffiti Alphabet' stamps to make my own. I stamped it directly on to my DL card blank, then added an image from the Lili of the Valley 'Penguins' set below. I coloured the penguins using watercolour pencils.

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

• Allsorts - Christmas Gifts
• Christmas with the Cuties - Santa Hats
• Creative Knockouts - Winter Holidays
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Shopping Our Stash - Happy Holidays

On my 'Zig Zags' card, I used an old faithful...'Snowy' by Penny Black'...stamping him directly on to my card blank and coloured him using watercolour pencils, then I used snippets of 'zig zag' patterned paper, from the My Mind's Eye 'Chevrons' paper pad, to paper piece his hat and scarf. The sentiment stamp is from the  Sweet Dixie 'Merry Little Robin' stamp set.

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

• Always Fun - Snowmen
• Dream Valley - Christmas
• Moo Mania - Use Your Scraps
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Use Your Stuff - Snow

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

ABC Christmas Challenge - A & B are for?

Happy New Year!

Over at the ABC Christmas Challenge, we're starting our tenth (!) trip through the alphabet...I'm the host, and the themes for this month are:

'A is for Anything Christmas Goes'

and

'B is for Berries'

This year, we're changing things up a little, and have gone sponsor free...so I've donated a couple of little prizes for this challenge:

I had some new Christmas crafting goodies to play with, so made a card for each of the two themes. On my first card, I used stamps from the 'Let it Snow' set by Happy Little Stampers (which I won recently on one of their challenges). I stamped the largest snowflake from the set using Versamark Ink on navy card, then heat embossed it with 'Sparkling Snow' embossing glitter by WOW. I stamped one of the sentiments from the set on to my card blank, and heat embossed it using the same powder, then used more of it to make a matching mat for my snowflake image. It's so sparkly in real life, but impossible to capture in a photograph!

I used a die I received for Christmas on my second card...'Candy Canes & Holly' by Sweet Dixie. I cut the image three times, from red, white and green card, then carefully pieced them together. I embossed a piece of kraft card fro the background using my 'Jolly Christmas' folder by Couture Creations, matted it on to a piece of red card, then added the candy canes on top. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Sentiments' set by Hero Arts.

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

• Always Fun - Something New (New stamps & dies)
• CAS on Friday - Christmas Cards
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Crimbo Crackers - Anything Christmas Goes
• My Time to Craft - Something New (New stamps & dies)
• Sweet Stampin' - New (New stamps & dies)
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

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

Merry Little Robin

I have another Christmas card to share today...in fact I have some more ready to blog, but I promise that the next post will be less festive! I've used another Christmas present...the 'Merry Little Robin' stamp set by Sweet Dixie...I've never seen these before, but he's really cute! The bunting, robin image & sentiment are all from the set, and I coloured everything using watercolour pencils, then doodled a simple border using a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• CCEE Stampers - Birds
• Cute Card Thursday - What's New (The stamps)
• Little Red Wagon - Something New (The stamps)
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Start Afresh (Something new - all of the stamps)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - New Something (The stamps)