Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes!

We've got a wonderfully easy challenge for you this week over at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge, where:

'Anything Goes!'

 Our sponsor for this challenge is:

and the prize is a $20 voucher to spend in their online store!

I've decorated a little desk calendar that I got in the post Christmas sale in Boots...it's meant for photos...but I've used lots of those little tiny stamps you get in the Penny Black transparent sets...just the right size, as the space for the pictures is 2x3 inches. I've kept it all really simple as the space is so small...with just a single layer of paper and a cut out image...with some doodling too...and it's all flat, as I didn't want it to be too bulky. I'm using this for keeping track of birthdays...so hopefully I won't forget to send anyone a card!

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

• Pollycraft - Anything, but a card
• Stampin' for the Weekend - Out with the Old (All of the stamps & papers I've used on this are at least a year old...some of them are considerably older!)

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

ABC Christmas Challenge - A is for...

We're starting another trip through the alphabet today on the ABC Christmas Challenge...Lacey is our host, and the theme is:

'A is for Anything Goes!'

Nice and easy...anything Christmas will do!

We have three fabulous sponsors to try to tempt you to get cracking with this year's Christmas cards:

Simon Says Stamp with a fab $15 voucher excluding postage.

Stamp Fairy

$10 Gift Certificate

Ribbon Girl

Mini Christmas Ribbon Kit.

I've used an image from the Stamp Fairy on my card, called 'Barry Countdown to Christmas' - isn't he cute?! I coloured him using watercolour pecnils, then added sprakle to his stars using a Sakura Stardust pen. The papers are from the 'Christmas Fancy' pad by Dovecraft - I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching. The snowflakes were cut using Marianne Designs & Cuttlebug dies, and the brads are BasicGrey.

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

• Christmas Cards All Year Round - Non-traditional colours

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, and some of the Ribbon Girl & Stamp Fairy DT, please visit the ABC Christmas Challenge.

The Cuttlebug Spot - Winter Scenery

After a little festive break, the Cuttlebug Spot is back wiith a fun new challenge today...our theme is:

'Winter Scenery - With texture' 

(Think felt, ribbon, lace, twine, pearls, buttons, flocking etc)

I've used some more new goodies...more sales purchases...on my card. The main image is 'Snow Dust' (by Penny Black) and the sentiment is from a set just called 'Sentiments' (by Hero Arts). I stamped them both in Versamark, then heat embossed them in white, then blended 'Tumbled Glass', 'Stormy Sky' and 'Faded Jeans' Distress Inks over the top. For the textured background, I blended 'Stormy Sky' and 'Faded Jeans' on separate pieces of white card, then embossed them using my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' and Sizzix 'Snowflakes' folder, then inked lightly over the raised areas with the other blue ink to make it stand out a little more. I then added a white button threaded on to some blue baker's twine across the bottom.

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

• Christmas Cards All Year Round - Non-traditional Colours (Optional Embossing)
• Crafty Calendar - New (I've used two new stamps, and a new embossing folder on this card)
• Crafty Creations - Heat Embossing
• Crazy4Challenges - New (I've used two new stamps, and a new embossing folder on this card)
• Sir Stampalot - Monochrome

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

Purple Irises

Today's card is a real quick and simple one...I was supposed to be making my DT stuff for the week...but managed to sneak this one in while I had my inks out. I wanted to have a play with my new 'Paisley Swirl' background stamp by Hero Arts, that I picked up in Sir Stampalot's sale...they had some good bargains...so there may have been one or two more items that 'fell' into my basket! I stamped and heat embossed it in white, then blended 'Milled Lavender' and 'Custy Concord' Distress Inks over the top. I watercolour stamped the Penny Black 'Irises' with more 'Dusty Concord' and 'Forest Moss', and added a sentiment (also by Hero Arts)...inking around the edges of the white layers with yet more 'Dusty Concord'.

Challenges for this card:

• CES - Anything Goes (Thanks for choosing me in the Top 3 for the last challenge!)
• Less is More - Predominantly Purple
• Little Miss Muffet - Something New (The paisley background stamp)

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Let them eat cake!

It's Andie's turn to set the theme for the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge this week...and she has chosen:

'Let them eat cake!'

In other words, we want to see yummy sweet treats on your projects.

We have lots of lovely new sponsors lined up for our challenges this year...and this week we are sponsored by Crafter's Companion...the prize is a £10 voucher to spend in their online store!

I have quite a few stamps with of cakes...and cupcakes...but settled on this one...Birthday Dog' by Penny Black...it's one of my oldest stamps, but I still love it! As you can probably tell, this card is for a little boy's first birthday...so I kept it quite simple...using embossed card (with my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' and Craft Concepts 'Cupcakes' folders) for the background. I added a sentiment from the 'Sending Sunshine' set by Simon Says Stamp and a die cut number (using my Cuttleebug 'Olivia' alphabet) to some Nestie circles...with some blue baker's twine to make them look like balloons.

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

• Critter - Celebrations 
• Simply Create - Layers

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please visit the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - CASE IT (Beth)

We have a new challenge for you today over at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge...for the first challenge each month, we will be taking inspiration from one of the DT members...and asking you to CASE (Copy And Share Everything) their favourite PBSC card. We are starting with Beth...who picked this fabulous card:

There are two fabulous prizes up for grabs:

 

From Penny Black Inc

And from the Ribbon Girl

I loved Beth's card so much...I basically just copied it! lol But you don't have to be that literal...you could go the colour scheme...or the stars...or spots & stripes...some bling...doodling...use the same image...papers or layout. I found that I had the same image in my image box (called 'cinnamon')...but chose to use different papers (still with spots & stripes)...these are from the 'Hippity Hoppity' & '72 & Sunny' pads by We R Memory Keepers. I added some doodled borders...a la Beth...some die cut stars (cut with Nesties)...and bling.

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

My Favourite Project of 2011

I'm back to early morning posts...the holidays are over, and it's my first day back at school today :0(
I'm sharing another of my 'favourites'...this time my favourite project of last year...to play along with the Stamp Man Challenge's Annual Award. I wanted to choose something other than a card, as I've already blogged my favourite cards, and Christmas cards in the last week or so...and in the end, I chose these baubles:

And the backs:

I made these back in November, and I'll link to the original post here in case you want to know any info about the products used. These ones went on my parents' Christmas tree...but I still have a couple more of these that I'll decorate for next year :0)

Quick & Simple Christmas

I've made another Christmas card...well...one of my New Year's resoltions is to make my Christmas cards all year round again...so I'm afraid that (hopefully) you'll be seeing lots more unseasonal cards fom me! This was a really quick and simple card to make...I'd been working on new music arrangements all day, but just had to squeeze in some crafting in the evening. The ornament stamp is from the Forever Friends 'A Winter's Tale' set...and when I first saw it I thought it would look good simply stamped with a ribbon bow tied over the top, to make it look like they're hanging from the ribbon, so that's what I did! I coloured the baubles using watercolour pencils, then added some sparkle with a Sakura Stardust pen. The gingham ribbon is from Hobbycraft, and the sentiment is from a 'Me to You' set that came free with a DoCrafts mag.

Challenges for this card:

• Creative Craft - Resolutions (One of my crafting ones is to make Christmas cards all year round)
• Cute Card Thursday - What's New? (The image & sentiment stamps are both new)
• Incy Wincy - Anything Goes
• My Mum's Craft Shop - Something New (New stamps)
• Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes & Optional New (The stamps are both new)
• Pink Elephant - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp - Something New (New stamps)
• Top Tip Tuesday - Anything Goes

My Favourite Cards of 2011

I'm joining in with Debby, and sharing my five favourite cards of 2011 today. When I went through all of last year's blog posts trying to choose...I ended up with a 'short list' of 22...lol...and there were definitely a few themes running through my choices...some of the cards looked spookily similar! I've linked each of the photos to the original blog post, so if you want to find out any details of any products used, simply click on the photo to find out more.

These mice, and the yummy papers were on a couple of my 'short listed' cards...along with plenty of inking, distressing & faux stitching!

Any regular visitor to my blog will know of my love for Penny Black stamps...this is one of my favourites...I love the versatility of this stamp...I've used just part of it on this card...and I do like a bit of patchwork effect for using up those paper scraps!

I've developed a bit of thing for Distress Inks and floral stamps this year...and had a few cards along that theme in my 'short list'...but I picked this one because it won me a prize in the Cardmaking & Papercraft Cardmaker of the Year competition :0)

I still love my white cards too...and embossing...and have been trying different card folds too.

And...I had to include a one layer CAS card...and a PB dog...this one makes me smile :0)

First Christmas Card of 2012!

Guess what I did yesterday? Yep that's right...made a start on this year's Christmas cards! Well, it's never too early...I plan to make them all year round again...and besides, I got some new stash for Christmas! The image I've used is from the Forever Friends 'A Christmas Tale' set...which was a Christmas present...I coloured it using watercolour pencils to match the My Mind's Eye 'Countdown to Christmas' papers. I added the faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug & a white gel pen. The snowflakes were cut from kraft using Marianne Designs & Cuttlebug dies, and the sentiment is from a 'Me to You' set that came free with a Docrafts mag. The spotty buttons (also a Christmas gift) are from a 'Neighbourwood' set by Helz Cuppleditch, and the baker's twine is from the Ribbon Girls.

Challenges for this card:

• Forever Friends - Sketch
• Christmas Cards All Year Round - Non-traditional Colours (Teal)
• Crafty Catz - Santa's Hat (On the dog)
• Creative Friday's - It's Cold Outside
• Crimbo Crackers - Snowflakes
• My Time to Craft - Winter Pals
• Paper Sundaes - Some Old (The MME papers) & Something New (The FF stamp & buttons)
• Simon Says Stamp & Show - Some Old (The MME papers) & Something New (The FF stamp & buttons)
• Squirrel & the Fox - Something New (The FF stamp & buttons)
• Totally Gorjuss - Happy

Pile It On! Challenge - Anything Goes

Happy New Year everybody!

Today sees the start of a brand new challenge over at Pile It On!...where our theme is:

'Anything Goes!'

As this is the first challenge of the month, we are sponsored by our fabulous regular sponsor:

The prize is a $15 voucher to spend in the wonderful Simon Says Stamp store!

We are joined today for the first time by our lovely new DT buddies, and both teams of DT members are playing this week, so there's a bumper crop of inspiration for you over on the Pile It On! blog.

My project is an easel card calendar...I usually make a few of these to give as gifts for the New Year...and for this one I decided to go for a 'non-cute' stamp...using my Hero Arts 'Blooming Meadows' stamp with the watercolour stamping technique. To make sure that my 'papers' matched...I blended the same colours of Distress Inks ('Victorian Velvet', 'Dusty Concord', 'Faded Jeans', 'Chipped Sapphire' & 'Forest Moss') on to white card. I used my Cuttlebug 'Victoria', 'D'Vine Swirls', 'Flower Fantasy' and Craft Concepts 'Budding Vine' folders to emboss, then lightly sanded over the surfaces to reveal some of the white card beneath. I distressed all of the edges a little, added a border punched with my EK Success 'Scalloped Diamonds' punch, and a calendar tab from Hobbycraft.

Here's a view from the front:

Here are the challenges I've piled on:

• Pile It On! - Anything Goes
• Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - New Year
• Creative Stamp Friends - New Year's Card
• Cute Card Thursday - Happy New Year
• Digi Doodles - Anything Goes
• Hotshot Craft - Easel Card
• Little Miss Muffet - Anything Goes
• My Mum's Craft Shop - Anything Goes
• Pollycraft - Punch It
• Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
• Stampin' for the Weekend - Anything Goes
• Wags 'n Whiskers - Fancy Folds 

For lots more inspiration, and to meet the new DT members, please pop over to Pile It On!