ABC Christmas Challenge - S & T are for?

We have a fun new ABC Christmas Challenge starting today...Lynda is the host, and the themes are:

'S is for Stencils'

&

'T is for Traditional Christmas Colours'

The prize for the lucky winner is these Avery Elle dies:

I don't often use stencils, so don't have that many, but I do have a lovely snowflake one (from Creative Expressions), that was the starting point for my card. I picked a piece of lilac watercolour effect paper (from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations), and blended a white pigment ink over the stencil. The stencil is DL sized, so I had to do it in two stages to cover the whole piece of paper...then, as it didn't show up as clearly as I'd hoped, I sprinkled some 'Diamond White' embossing powder (from WOW) over the top, then set it using my heat gun. I used a Creative Expression die to cut the sentiment...cutting a couple from white snippets, and layering them up with one cut from purple mirror card over the top. I matted the snowflake panel on to some more of the purple mirror card, then added it to a white card blank.

Another angle:

For my 'Traditional Christmas Colours' card, I picked a Woodware Christmas tree stamp, that I got for my birthday. I stamped it on to black card, along with one of the sentiments from the same Woodware set, then heat embossed it all in gold. I used Cosmic Shimmers mica pigments mixed with a little water to watercolour the tree in traditional red and green, then matted the gold panel on to some gold mirror card before adding it to a card blank.

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (First card only)
• Christmas Cards All Year Round - Trees and/or Barns (Second card only)
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Stamp It
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Stamp It

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

Have a Tweet Day

Today's card features one of the cute bird stamps from 'The Tweets' set by Funky Fossil. I stamped it directly on to a card blank, along with one of the sentiments from the set, then coloured the birds using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• Addicted to CAS - Pun
• As You Like It - Layers or Not (Despite by fairly substantial patterned paper collection, I find myself making more one layer cards at the moment...nice & cheap to post!)
• CAS on Friday - Feathered Friends
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Stamp It
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Stamp It
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes (Optional 'Animal Magic')

PBSC September - Anything Goes (Optional 'Anything but Square')

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

'Anything but Square'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I decided to make a little rocker card...so inked up one of the little snowmen from the 'Snow Much Fun' set by Penny Black, stamping him on to watercolour paper. I coloured him using watercolour pencils, then used one of my circle Nesties to cit it out, before fussy cutting around the top of the image. I matted it on to a circe of snowflake paper from the 'Glittering Snowflakes' pad by Crafter's Companion, then on to some silver mirror card..scalloped shape cut using another Nestie die. To make the rocker part, I used a saucer as a template for the larger circle...cutting it from white card, then used that to cut a slightly smaller semicircle from another piece of paper from the same pad, and added that on top. I folded it in half to make the card blank, then added the snowman on top using some 3D foam pads.

I did manage to capture a short video of him rocking...the idea was that he'd look almost like he's doing a cartwheel! Ha Ha!

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

• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Stamp It!
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Optional 'Hand Coloured Image')

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

Flowing Flowers N Leaves

I have a pair of cards to share today, made using a Hero Arts background stamp called 'Flowing Flowers N Leaves' that I picked up in a charity shop recently. For both cards, I stamped it on to smooth white card using Versamark Ink (inking and stamping a couple of times to make sure I got a really good impression), then heat embossed it using clear embossing powder. For the first card, I picked a trio of 'sunset' coloured Distress Inks...Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade & Mustard Seed, and blended them over the top of the embossed background. Once dry, I gently wiped it with a paper towel to remove any ink from the embossing. So as to leave as much of the background uncovered as possible, I stamped a sentiment (using a stamp from the 'Floral Garden' stamp set by Simon Says Stamp) on to a snippet of black card using a white pigment ink, heat embossed it in white, then added it using 3D foam pads. I matted the floral panel on to some more black card before adding it to a white card blank.

I had intended that the second card would 'match' the first, albeit with a different trio of Distress Inks, but I really liked the subtle peaceful effect of the clear embossing on the white card, so decided to leave it alone. I trimmed it down to a square, then added a simple sentiment...using a stamp from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image and 'Metallic Silver' embossing powder from WOW...over the centre. I gently distressed the edges of everything, then added it to a white card blank.

Challenges for these cards:

• AAA Cards - Anything CAS (Optional 'Sympathy or Get Well') (Second card)
• Dream Valley - Anything Goes (First card)
• Everybody Art - Anything Goes (Second card)
• Krafty Chicks - Stamps (First card)
• Little Red Wagon - Sympathy (Second card)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Stamp It (First card)

Dog-gone!

Today's card features one of the pups from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then cut him out. For the background, I picked a piece of watercolour effect paper from the 'Pastel Watercolours' pad from The Works...distressing the edges a little, and adding a sentiment (stsmp from the 'Man's Best Friend' set by Penny Black) before popping the pup on top using 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Optional 'Add a Sentiment')
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes (Optional 'Animal Magic')
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Optional 'Hand Coloured Image')

September Desk Calendar

As it's the first day of a brand new month, I'm sharing my desk calendar page for September. I used a stamp from the Penny Black 'Jazzy Cats' set...to represent the start of a new school year this month (my day job is as a music teacher, teaching flute/clarinet/saxophone/recorder)...stamping it on to a snippet of watercolour paper, and colouring it using watercolour pencils before cutting out the circle shape using one of my Nesties. For the background I used snippets of paper from the 'Fresh Florals' pad by Craft Sensations...distressing the edges, and adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this calendar:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Alphabet Challenge - K is for Kittens
• Crafty Animals - Anything Goes
• Moving Along with the Times - Not a Card
• Pixie's Snippet's Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Spring Tulips Sketch

Today's card features another charity shop find...it's an old wood block Hero Arts stamp called 'Spring Tulips Sketch'. I stamped it on to a snippet of watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I distressed the edges a little, then added it to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• As You Like It - Favourite Colouring Medium (Watercolour pencils with a waterbrush for me - so quick & easy to use, and great for crafting on the go!)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Nice Little Flower Border

Today's card features a stamp I picked up in a charity shop recently...it's by Hero Arts, and is called 'Nice Little Flower Border'. I stamped it across the centre of a white card blank, adding a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image, then coloured it using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• Inkspirational - Clean & Simple
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Winter Scene Bauble

Today's card features a stamp that I got for my birthday recently...it's an unbranded wood block stamp of a Christmas bauble with a wintry scene inside. I stamped it on to black card using Versamark ink, then heat embossed it using metallic gold embossing powder from WOW. I used Cosmic Shimmers mica pigments, mixed with a little water, to watercolour the image, then doodled a simple border around the edge using a gold gel pen and matted it on to some gold mirror card before adding it to a card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Winter Blessings' set by Crafter's Companion...again heat embossed in gold to match.

Challenges for this card:

• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Embossing
• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes
• My Time to Craft - Something Tree Related
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes

Birthday Hoopla

Today's card features a Penny Black sentiment stamp called 'Birthday Hoopla'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, before adding it to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• CAS on Friday - Sentiment Only
• Krafty Chicks - All Occasions
• Sparkles Forum - One or More Butterflies
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Optional 'Focal Sentiment')

St. Nick

I have a couple of Christmas cards to share today, made using stamps from the 'St. Nick' set by Jane's Doodles that I got for my birthday recently. I stamped the images on to snippets of watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut them out. I made a simple background by heat embossing my Simon Says Stamp 'Magical Stars' background stamp in white on a snippet of red card. I added strips of that accross the card blanks, then popped the images on top using 3D foam pads. The sentiment stamps are from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

Some close-ups of the cards:

Challenges for these cards:

• Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Add a Sentiment

Flower Shower

Today's card features a House Mouse stamp (by Spellbinders) called 'Flower Shower' that I got for my birthday recently. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, along with a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Signature Greetings' set by Memory Box, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I matted it on to some matching lavender card, distressing the edges, before adding it to a card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Birthday - Critters
• C.R.A.F.T.  - Anything Goes
• Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes (Optional 'Animals')
• House Mouse & Friends - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - CAS
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Add a Sentiment

PBSC August - Anything Goes (Optional 'Flowers')...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

'Flowers'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

For the floral element on my card, I used the Penny Black 'Together' stamp...inking it using Distress Inks (Mermaid Lagoon, Uncharted Mariner, Chipped Sapphire, Mowed Lawn & Forest Moss) and stamping it on to watercolour a few times...with some second generation stamping to add some depth...definitely inspired by my favourite pick from last month's challenge - this card by Bonnie! I heat embossed a sentiment from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image using metallic gold embossing powder, then added the '90' using numbers cut from snippets of gold mirror card using my Cuttlebug 'Olivia' alphabet dies. I mixed some gold Cosmic Shimmers pigment with a little water, then splattered it over the top, before distressing the edges, and matting it on to some gold mirror card, and adding it to a white A5 card blank.

You can see the gold splatter a little better form this angle:

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Beautiful Blossoms - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Sparkle & Shine
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Sparkle & Shine
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Add a Sentiment
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes (Optional 'Summer in the Garden')

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

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Guest Designer

A little while ago I was picked as the winner of a 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge, and as a result, I'm joining them as a Guest Designer for this week's challenge, where the theme is:

I'm rather partial to a snowman (in fact there was another snowman card in my previous blog post), and picked this adorable Penny Black one called 'Sweet Snowman' to use from my collection. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, then added a sentiment using a combination of stamps from the 'Beary Merry Christmas' set by Funky Fossil, and the 'Snow Bunnies' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then matted it on to a couple of layers of coordinating card, distressing the edges a little, before adding it to a card blank.

For more inspiration from the lovely Design Team, please pop over to the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. Thanks for having me!

ABC Christmas Challenge - P, Q & R are for?

We have a fun new ABC Christmas Challenge starting today...Helene is the host, and the themes are:

'P is for Pink'

'Q is for Quartet'

&

'R is for Rudolph'

The prize for the lucky winner is these Fizzy Moon stamps:

For my 'P is for Pink' card, I picked some snowy sky background paper from the 'Believe in Yourself' pad from The Works, using it as a background for my favourite snowman...'Snowy' by Penny Black. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut around the top of the image. I added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, then matted it all on to a piece of pink mirror card before adding it to a card blank.

For my 'Q is for Quartet' card, I used four of the animal stamps from the 'Carol Singers' set by Lili of the Valley, masking and stamping them on to watercolour paper. I coloured them using watercolour pencils, then added a sentiment from the 'Christmas Hats' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company. I distressed the edges a little, then added it toa DL card blank.

Finally, for my 'R is for Rudolph' card, I used another Lili of the Valley stamp...this one is simply called 'Santa'. I stamped it directly on to a kraft card blank, along with a sentiment from another Lili of the Valley set, then coloured it using watercolour pencils.

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

• Cutie Pie - Four-legged Friends (Second card only)
• Dream Valley - Hand Coloured Image (First card only)
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes (Second card only)
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes (Third card only)
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes (First card only)
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Third card only)

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

Tiger-lily Sympathy

I have a sympathy card to share today...made using a floral cling stamp from Penny Black called 'Tiger-lily'. I stamped it on to navy card using Versamark ink, then heat embossed it using metallic silver embossing powder from WOW. I had originally planned on colouring it, but left it, as I liked the way it looked as it was - there's so much lovely detail in the stamp. I added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Sketched Flowers' set by Simon Says Stamp, heat embossing it in silver to match. I matted the navy card on to some silver mirror card before adding it to a white card blank.

Another angle to show the shine:

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Cards - Anything CAS
• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes

Beary Merry Christmas

I have a couple of Christmas cards to share today, made using a couple of the bear stamps from the 'Beary Merry Christmas' set BY Funky Fossil and lots of paper snippets! I started by making the backgrounds...sticking snippets of watercolour effect paper (from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations, and the 'Watercolour Feelings' pad from The Works) to snippets of plain white card. I then trimmed them down to square of the edges, before running them through my Cuttlebug, embossing them with snowflakes and Christmas trees. I stamped the bears on to snippets of watercolour paper, coloured them to match their backgrounds using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut them out. I heat embossed one of the sentiments from the stamp set in white on snippets of black card, then added those and the bears on to the backgrounds using 3D foam pads. I matted both on to more black card before adding them to white card blanks.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Challenges for these cards:

• As You Like It - Bugs, Feathers or Fur (Fur for me - I'm not fussing what sort of furry critter, but I'd sooner have something furry, than creepy-crawly or anything that flies!)
• Christmas With the Cuties - CAS
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Ellibelles Crafty Wednesday - Anything Goes
• Jingle Belles - Leftovers (I save every off-cut of pretty paper...no matter how small...I can always find some use for them!)
• Krafty Chicks - Christmas
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes (Just the panda card)