Happy Hallowe'en!

I have one last Hallowe'en treat bag to share today, featuring another of the critters from the 'Be Very Scared' set by Penny Black. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then cut him out using one of my circle Nesties. I used papers from the 'Hocus Pocus' pad by Taylored Expresions...distressing the edges a little, and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this bag:

• Always Fun - Hallowe'en
• CCEE Stampers - Hallowe'en or Harvest
• Crafty Cardmakers - Hallowe'en
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Costumes')
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Shopping Our Stash - Hallowe'en
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Hallowe'en or Black & Orange
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

The Cat in the Hat

I have another Hallowe'en treat bag to share today...the image on this one is from the 'Spooky' set by Penny Black. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then cut it out using one of my oval Nesties. I used snippets of paper from the 'Hocus Pocus' pad by Tayored Expressions to make a patchwork effect background...distressing the edges a little, and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this bag:

• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
• Daring Cardmakers - Use Your Scraps
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets

Mice Treats

I have another Hallowe'en treat bag to share today...featuring another cute Penny Black image from the 'Be Very Scared' set. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then cut t out using one of my circle Nesties. I used snippets of paper from the 'Hocus Pocus' pad by Taylored Expressions for the background...distressing the edges a little before adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• As You Like It - Favourite Stitching Style (Faux...I can't sew very well, and it's so quick to draw on, and the little peirced holes make it look so realistic)
• Crafty Calendar - Autumn Colours/Hallowe'en
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Hallowe'en')
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Hallowe'en
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes (Optional 'Spooky')
• Cute Card Thursday - Hallowe'en
• Fab 'N' Funky - Hallowe'en
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simply Create Too - Anything Goes (Optional 'Spooky/Scary')

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 Baby, New Home, New Job, New Stash...)

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I went with 'New Year', and my project for this challenge is a 2019 Penny Black calendar. I buy a few of the blank 'Create a Calendars' from Paper Mill Direct to decorate and give as Christmas presents each year, and this is the one I made for my Mum. They still have some available here if you fancy making yourself one. I used a variety of Penny Black stamps and papers from lots of different manufacturers...far too many to list, but I did manage to use up lots of snippets! Here's a look at each of the months:

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

• Alphabet Challenge - S is for Stitching (my stitching is faux)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - New (New Year)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (New Year)

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

PBSC October - Anything Goes (Optional 'Spooky Colours')...More Inspiration!

It's the third Saturday of the month, so I'm back with some more inspiration for this month's Penny Black Saturday Challenge...where the theme is:

'Anything Goes'
or
'Spooky Colour Combination'
(Choose at least two from Black, Orange, Purple & Green)

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used the 'spooky' colours to make another Halloween treat bag. The image is from the 'Spooky' set, and is coloured using watercolour pencils. The papers are from the 'Hocus Pocus' pad by Taylored Expressions...I added some simple doodled borders using black and white gel pens. The googly eyes are from Hobbycraft.

I'm also entering this treat bag into the following challenges:

• City Crafter - Halloween
• Creative Knockouts - Black, Purple, Orange & Green
• Everybody Art - Bags & Boxes
• My Time to Craft - Halloween or Cats
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Animal Antics

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

Count Cat-ular Treat Bag

I have another Halloween treat bag to share today...using a Penny Black image from the 'Be Very Scared' set, which I coloured using watercolour pencils. The papers are from the Taylored Expressions 'Hocus Pocus' pad. I doodled some simple borders using a white gel pen. The sentiment stamp was  charity shop find, and I'm not sure of the brand as it has no markings on it.

Challenges for this bag:

• Always Fun - Lots of Layers
• Aud Sentiments - Halloween or Fall Sentiment
• Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Halloween
• Cute Card Thursday - Halloween
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Cute Spooks
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything but a Card
• Use Your Stuff - Halloween/Fall

Pile It On! Challenge - Use Mostly Black, Purple & Orange

We have a fun new Pile It On! Challenge starting today, with a spooky colour combination as our theme:

'Use Mostly Black, Purple & Orange'

(Your creation does not to be Halloween themed)

Our sponsor this month is Ike's Art:

Prize - $15 store voucher!

I used the colours to make a Halloween treat bag...and picked some fab papers from the 'Hocus Pocus' pad by Taylored Expressions, and a cute Penny Black cat image from the 'Spooky' set. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, added a sentiment (no idea of the brand of the stamp...I picked it up for 50p in a charity shop a little while ago), then cut it out using one of my Nesties. I added some simple doodled borders to all of the layers using black and white gel pens, and a couple of die cut cobwebs (cut using a Memory Box die).

Here are the challenges I've piled on:

• Pile It On! - Use Mostly Black, Purple & Orange
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Always Fun - Dies & Punches
• Aud Sentiments - Two Word Sentiment
• Crafty Friends - Use More than Die
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
• Little Miss Muffet - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Sparkles Forum - Dies and/or Punches

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

PBSC October - Anything Goes (Optional 'Spooky Colour Combo')

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
'Spooky Colour Combination'
(Choose at least two from Black, Orange, Purple & Green)

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used all of the colours on my Halloween treat bag...and picked one of the images from the 'Be Very Scared' set to go along with some fab Taylored Expressions papers (from the 'Hocus Pocus' pad). I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then distressed all of the edges of everything and added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and black and white gel pens.

I'm also entering this treat bag into the following challenges:

• Animal Friends - Fall or Halloween
• Cut It Up - Halloween
• Gem of a Challenge - Halloween
• Heartful Stamping - Anything Goes
• That's Crafty - Spookalicious

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

PBSC August - Anything Goes (Or 'On the Move')

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
'On the Move'

(Feature some form of transport)

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I went with a tractor as my mode of transport...and used a cute puppy stamp from the 'Wintertime Cheer' set. I coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out. I used dies from the Taylored Expressions 'Mountain Tops' and Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Borders' sets to make a wintry scene for him to ride through, adding a couple of trees using Happy Little Stampers dies. The snowy sky is a paper from the 'Frost & Snow' pad by Craft Creations', and the sentiment is from a set by Lili of the Valley.

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

• As You Like It - Fur or Feathers (definitely fur, especially of the cute Penny Black kind...I have a phobia of birds...well anything that flies really...although I don't mind them in stamp form)
• CCEE Stampers - Colouring
• Crimbo Crackers - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
• Merry Christmas - Anything Goes
• Rudolph Days - Anything Goes

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

Skating Snowy

I have a scenic Christmas card to share today, featuring a Penny Black image called 'Skating Snowy'. I made him a snowy background using a mixture of stamping and die cutting. For the sky, I smooshed 'Broken China, Salty Ocean, Stormy Sky & Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks on to some watercolour paper, then stamped and heat embossed my Simon Says Stamp 'Falling Snow' background stamp using 'Sparkling Snow' embossing powder from WOW. I used a mixture of Taylored Expressions 'Mountain Tops' and Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Border' dies on snippets of white card...distressing the top edges a little to add some definition. I used more smooshed Distress Inks for the trees (Mowed Lawn, Forest Moss & Peeled Paint), then cut them using a Marianne Designs die. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
• Fab 'N' Funky - Christmas
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Rudolph Days - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Aqua Trees

I just had to join in with the Totally Gorjuss 'Shades of Aqua' challenge...it's my favourite colour! I followed the sketch from Taylored Expressions...and combined it with the 'Tree-Mendous' theme of the Cute Card Thursday and Daring Cardmakers challenges. I decided not to use a stamped image...shock horror! I cut the little trees using a die from the Cuttlebug 'Winter' set, then matted them on to shapes cut using my Nesties. The papers are from the 'Wonderful Winter' collection by My Mind's Eye. I cut the scalloped border using an EK Success punch ('Diamond Scallop'), then tied a piece of grosgrain ribbon (from Popppicrafts) around it.