Best Friends

Today's card features a cute Penny Black stamp called 'Best Friends' that I got for my birthday earlier this week. I stamped it onto a piece of watercolour paper, along with a sentiment using a stamp from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'Happy Watercolours' pad from The Works. I distressed the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I matted the image and bottom layer onto some bright blue card before adding it to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• As You Like It - Favourite Colouring Medium (Watercolour pencils - so quick and easy to use)
• Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes (Optional 'Summer Vibes')
• Daisy Chain - Animals
• Time Out - Pick (at least) Two (Birthday, Stitching & Floral)
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes

Frosty the Snowman

Today's card features a cute Snowman stamp from Funstamps. I stamped him onto a snippet of watercolour paper, added a sentiment using one of the stamps from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. For the background, I used snowflake papers from an unnamed Christmas pad from The Works (the aqua one) and the 'Snowscape' pad from Woodware (the pink one). I distressed the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

Present Pile

I have a Christmas card to share today, featuring an old Lili of the Valley penguin stamp called 'Present Pile'. I stamped him onto a snippet of smooth white card, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut around the top of the image. I added a sentiment, using one of the stamps from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, then layered it over a snippet of paper from the 'Pastel Watercolours' pad from The Works. I matted it onto a piece of bright pink card, distressing all of the edges, then added it to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas Kickstart - Presents
• Crafter's Cafe - Christmas in July
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• I Spy With My Little Eye - Something with Wings
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Christmas in July

Roll with it!

Today's card features one of the cats from the 'You're Retro' stamp set by Penny Black. I stamped it, along with one of the sentiments from the set, onto a piece of watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. For the background, I used snippets of flowery papers from the 'Watercolour Feelings' pad from The Works. I distressed the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I matted the image and papers onto snippets of bright pink card, then added it all to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Feather, Fur or Fin
• Love Those Pretty Papers - Anything Goes
• Moving Along with the Times - Favourite Stamp/Die/Tool (My CutterBee Bug - I love how this makes the faux stitching look more realistic)
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• We Love Stamping - Sports and Hobbies

PBSC May - Anything Goes (Optional 'Your Favourite PB Stamp')...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 Goes'

or

'Your Favourite Penny Black Stamp'

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

I cheated slightly this time, and picked my favourite Penny Black Christmas stamp...'Snowy'! I stamped him onto a piece of watercolour paper, used a black gel pen to extend the snowy ground on either side of him, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment, using a stamp from the 'Snow Bunnies' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company, then carefully cut around the top of the image. I layered it over a piece of snowy sky paper, from an unnamed pad from The Works, then matted it onto a piece of teal card before adding it to a white card blank.

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Jingle Belles - Snow
• Krafty Chicks - Christmas
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

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

Snowboard Ride!

I have a Christmas card to share today...featuring an old favourite Penny Black chicken stamp called 'Snowboard Ride'. I stamped it onto watercolour paper, doodled a snowy slope using a black gel pen, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Snow Bunnies' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company, then carefully cut around the top of the image. I layered it over a piece of paper from an unnamed pad from The Works, then matted it onto some navy card before adding it to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Christmas Kickstart - Seasons Tweetings
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Gone but not Forgotten (I love Margaret Sherry's designs for Penny Black - her chickens always make me smile!)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Make It Colourful
• Sweet Stampin' - Things with Wings
• We Love Stamping - All Creatures Great & Small

PBSC May - Anything Goes (Optional 'Your Favourite PB Stamp')

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

'Your Favourite Penny Black Stamp'

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

My all time favourite Penny Black stamp, is also one of the first ones I bought, 'Birthday Dog'. I stamped him onto watercolour paper, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment using stamps from the 'Birthday Buddies' set by Paper Smooches, then used one of my Nesties to cut the circle shape. I paired it with snippets of papers from the 'Prince Charming' pad by Recollections/Michaels (found at TKMaxx), and 

'Refreshing Basics' pad from The Works...distressing the edges and adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I used another Nestie die to cut the scalloped mat from a snippet of kraft card, then layered everything up on a kraft card blank.

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

• Everybody Art - Happy Birthday
• Krafty Chicks - Colour an Image
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Four-legged Friends
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

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

Thank You Cat

Today's card features another Penny Black cat stamp, this time from the 'Good Day!' set. I stamped him onto watercolour paper, along with one of the sentiments from the set, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I paired him with some floral paper, from the 'Watercolour Feelings' pad from The Works...I distressed the edges a little, then added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• I Spy with My Little Eye - Spring Flowers or Spring Showers (I went with flowers)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Happy Mother's Day

Today, I'm sharing the Mother's Day card I made for my Mum. I picked an old Lili of the Valley stamp called 'Teddy Bouquet', which, according to a search on my blog, I have not used in over ten years! I stamped it onto watercolour paper, added 'Mum' to the tag using a black gel pen, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'Happy Watercolours' pad from The Works, distressing the edges and adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, matting the layers onto some bright pink card, before adding it to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• As You Like It - Favourite Person to Craft For (My Mum - she always appreciates my handmade items, and keeps everything!)
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Love Those Pretty Papers - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Neglected Stuff - Anything Goes (The bear stamp was very neglected!)
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes

PBSC March - Anything Goes (Optional 'Four-legged Friends')

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

'Four-legged Friends'

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

I picked a cute puppy image from the 'Good Times!' set, and stamped it onto a piece of watercolour paper. I added a sentiment, using a stamp from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then used one of my circle Nesties to cut it out. For the background, I used papers from the 'Happy Colours' pad from The Works...I distressed the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I matted it all onto some orange card, cutting a matching scalloped mat for the image using another Nestie die, then added it to a white card blank.

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Cheerful Sketches - Sketch
• Creative Inspirations - Cute Critters
• Creative Knockouts - Birthday Wishes
• Krafty Chicks - Birthday
• Little Red Wagon - Include an Animal
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Make it Cute

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

Guest Designer - Seize the Birthday Challenge (CAS + Dies)

I'm back with another Surprise Party Guest card for the Seize the Birthday Challenge.

The theme this fortnight is:

Any regular visitors to my blog will know that I'm a stamper at heart, but I do have a little collection of dies, and this theme was the perfect excuse to dust off a set of cupcake dies (by Marianne Designs) that I have had for a very long time! I cut the 'cupcake case' from a snippet of spotty paper from the 'Happy Colours' pad from The Works, and the 'frosting' and 'cherry' from snippets of papers from the 'North Country' pad by Prima Marketing. I assembled the cupcake on a piece of kraft card using 3D foam pads of varying thickness to add dimension, then added some adhesive pearl 'sprinkles'. I added a sentiment using a stamp from the Hero Arts 'Cupcakes' stamp set, then distressed the edges of the kraft panel before adding it to a matching kraft card blank.

For more inspiration from the fabulous Design Team, please pop over to the Seize the Birthday Challenge!

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.