Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Anything Goes

This week at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long it's:

'Anything Goes'

We have no sponsor this week...but I'm sure there'll be a lovely prize for the lucky winner!

I've used a much neglected Penny Black stamp on my card, called 'Bedecked Antlers', and papers from the 'Countdown to Christmas' and 'Believe' pads by My Mind's Eye. I kept it pretty simple (and flat for posting!) adding just a little doodling around the edges with a black gel pen.

 

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

• Sweet Stamps - Christmas
• Whimsy Inspires - Traditional Christmas Colours

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to Christmas Staampin' All Year Long.

It's that stamp again...

I couldn't help having another play with my Hero Arts 'Garden Bouquet' stamp after I'd made this card last weekend. This time I stamped it (and the sentiment from the 'Fabulous Birthday' set') using Versamark, then embossed them in white. I blended 'Worn Lipstick' and 'Victorian Velvet' Distress Inks over the top...and then some 'Brushed Corduroy' around the edges.

Challenges for this card:

• Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
• The Stamp Man - Emboss It

ABC Christmas Challenge - V is for...

I have another card for our curent ABC Christmas Challenge today, where the theme is:

'V is for Vibrant Colours'

We have two wonderful sponsors for this challenge:

Crop Stop

 Prize - a $15 Gift Certificate to spend at Crop Stop!

and:

Wild Rose Studio

 2 Wild Rose Studio stamps of the winner's choice!

This time, I used some vibrantly coloured papers from the 'Countdown to Christmas' and 'Believe' pads by My Mind's Eye...adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen. The image is 'Wishes for Kisses' by Penny Black, and the sentiment stamp is by Lili of the Valley.

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

• Crafty Calendar - Wrap Up Warm for Winter
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Three Design Papers
• Penny Black & More @ Allsorts - Dies
• Raise the Bar - Anything Goes
• Sunday Sketch & Stamp - Sketch 
• Sweet Stampin' - Glitter 

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

Pretty in Pink

Today's card is another simple watercolour stamped floral number...using Hero Arts 'Garden Bouquet' again...which will also be making an appearance later in the week too...can you tell I really like it??? This time I used a few colours of Distress Inks...'Worn Lipstick', 'Tattered Rose' and 'Forest Moss'...blending more of the two pinks around the edges. The sentiment stamp is also Hero Arts...from the 'Fabulous Birthday' set.

Challenges for this card:

• Less Is More - Pink 
• Squirrel & the Fox - Flowers, Hats or Horses
• Stamping with the Dragon - Birthdays
• Willow Sketchie - Sketch

Snow is Falling...

Surprise, surprise..I have another Christmas card to show you today...this time I cheated a little, and used one of the Lili of the Valley die cut images...cutting it into a circle shape with one of my Nesties, and adding lots of Flowersoft 'snow'. The papers are from the 'Believe' pad by My Mind's Eye, the brads are BasicGrey, the gold lace is from Dunelm Mill, and the sentiment is also by Lili of the Valley.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Catz - Add Texture (Flowersoft 'snow')
• Do You Stack Up - Brads
• Fab 'N Funky - Die Cuts/Punches
• Lili's Little Fairies - Snow is Falling
• Moving Along with the Times - Stitch Up
• Sketch Saturday - Sketch

I've been published!

 A couple of months ago I received an email from Lucy at Papercraft Inspirations magazine, asking if she could feature a card she'd spotted a card on my blog in the 'Beautiful Blogs' section of the December issue of the magazine...of course I said yes! The magazine is out now...and here's the feature:

My card is the one with the little Penny Black hedgie on...for all the details, the original post with that card on (and the rest of the little set it's part of) is here.
You can find links to all of the blogs featured here on the Papercraft Inspirations blog...they're well worth a look for some fabulous inspiration! Oh...and there's a fab little freebie Christmas paper pack that comes with this month's issue too!
 

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Cute Christmas

It's the first Saturday of the month...so that means it's time for a brand new Penny Black Saturday Challenge! This month, our theme is a nice easy one:

'Cute Christmas'

There are lots of lovely prizes up for grabs from our lovely sponsors:

 3994K Needles and Cones

 

$20 voucher from 1-2-3 Stitch!

I've used an image from the 'Joy to the World' set...which I coloured using watercolour pencils...adding some Stickles to the snowy ground. The papers are from the 'Wonderful Winter' pad by My Mind's Eye, the snowflake is a Cuttlebug die...and is coated with more Stickles, with a piece of Card Candi in the centre.

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

• Raise the Bar - Anything Goes

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

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Your Favourite Colour ombo

This week at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long we're asking you to make a Christmas project using:

'Your Favourite Colour Combination'

Our sponsor this week is Bugaboo Stamps:

With a fabulous prize:

My favourite colour is blue...all shades really, but especially teal/aqua...and it's one I like to use on my cards quite a lot, particularly with brown, so that's the colour combination I used for my card today. The cute 'lil birdie stamp from is from Bugaboo called 'Winter Birds - Scarf'...I coloured him using watercolour pencils in my favourite teal and brown colours. For the background, I usind a couple of embossing folders...'Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' and Sizzix 'Snowflakes'. I cut more snowflakes using Marianne Designs and Cuttlebug dies...then layered them up and gave them a generour coating of Stickles...there's a little pearl in the centres of them too, but I not sure you can make them out in amongst all that glitter! I added more pearls to the corners, and glitter to the snow on the image too.

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

• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - No Patterned Paper
• Crafty Ribbons - Christmas
• Hooked on Craft - Christmas with NO Red or Green 
• Sparkles Christmas - Contemporary Colour Combination
• Totally Stampalicious - Anything Goes 

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to Christmas Stampin' All Year Long.

Flowery Notelet Set & Birthday Card

I have a birthday card and notelet set to share today...I made this last week for my Nan's birthday which is later this month. I've used some of my favourite flowery stamps ('Garden Bouquet' & 'Blooming Meadows' by Hero Arts, and 'Agapanthus Clusters' by Stampendous) and the watercolour technique with Distress Inks, to make a really simple set...

For the birthday card, I used 'Blooming Meadows'...inked in too many colours of Distress Inks to remember. For the background I embossed plain white card with a couple of Cuttlebug folders (the ever faithful 'Swiss Dots' and 'Kassie's Brocade'). The sentiment stamp is from the 'Cupcakes' set by Hero Arts...and I added a piece of green twill (by October Afternoon) to make it look like a rosette. To take the edge of all the white, I inked everything with 'Old Paper' Distress Ink.

The 'notelets' are little 4x4 card blanks from Papermania...my Nan likes writing to people...but doesn't like to have too much space to fill! I made a simple box, and used 'Garden Bouquet' inked in all the same colours as on the birthday card on the outside...

The notelets inside use all three flowery stamps, but this time I used single colours for the flower parts of the stamp on each card (far too time consuming to do them in multicolour, as I made 12 of these!) Again I inked around the edges using 'Old Paper'...here's a photo of them all:

Challenges for this set:

• Anything Goes - Anything Goes 
• C.R.A.F.T. - Birthdays
• Creative Inspirations - Let's Celebrate
• Creative Stamp Friends - Clean & Simple
• Sweet Sunday Sketch - Sketch (Birthday card only)

ABC Christmas Challenge - V is for...

It's time for a brand new ABC Christmas Challenge, and this week Miria is the host, with a theme of:

'V is for Vibrant Colours'

We have two wonderful sponsors for this challenge:

Crop Stop

 Prize - a $15 Gift Certificate to spend at Crop Stop!

and:

Wild Rose Studio

 2 Wild Rose Studio stamps of the winner's choice!

I've used a stamp and die set called 'Reindeer' by Hero Arts & Sizzix to make my card (available here at Crop Stop)...and lots...and lots of vibrantly coloured card! For the background I used lots of different embossing folders to add some texture...'Swiss Dots', 'Snowflakes', 'D'Vine Swirls', 'Spots & Dots' (all Cuttlebug), 'Hexagon Illusion' (by Craft Concepts) and 'Snowglobe' (by Sizzix/BasicGrey). The trees were cut with dies from the same set as the stamps...I made the snow for the little scene by tearing white card, then adding glitter to the torn edges before layering up. I added a few adhesive gems to the tops of the trees, and some lettering cut using my Cuttlebug 'Olivia' alphabet.

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

• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Die Cuts & Punched Pieces
• Crafty Ann's - Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut's - No Patterned Paper
• Do You Stack Up - Embossing
• Dream Valley - Glitter & Bling
• Jingle Belles - Holiday Creatures
• Love to Create - Lots of Layers
• Willow Sketchie - Sketch & Christmas in October 

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

Oldie but a Goodie - Spots & Stripes

This fortnight at the Oldie but a Goodie Challenge, I've picked the theme, which is:

'Spots & Stripes'

Our sponsor for this challenge is Crafty Sentiments:

 

I've a cute penguin image from Crafty Sentiments called 'Christmas Penguin', which I coloured using watercolour pencils...adding sparkle to the ice with some Stickles. The spotty and stripey papers are from the 'Wonderful Winter' pad by My Mind's Eye...this card measures just 4x4 inches...so I was able to make use of some of my scraps on it!

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

• Challenges for Everybody - Anything Goes
• Fab 'N' Funky - Animals
• Friday Sketch - Sketch 

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the Oldie but a Goodie Challenge.

Hallowe'en Treats!

I have a couple of Hallowe'en 'matchbox' style treat boxes to share today...I found a template here which I used for the measurements...they're actually quite big...not matchbox sized at all! The images are from the 'Spooky' and 'Be very scared' sets by Penny Black...and were coloured using watercolour pencils. The papers are from the 'Whoo-ligans' collection by Bo Bunny, the googly eyes are by Craft Planet, and the little bats and spiders were in packs of Hallowe'en 'confetti' that I got in Poundland a couple of years ago.

I've crammed them full of Hallowe'en treats:

Challenges for these boxes:

• 4 Crafty Chicks - Hallowe'en
• Crafty Creations - Hallowe'en Spooks
• Cute Card Thursday - Something Scary!
• Inky Impressions - Fall or Hallowe'en
• Moving Along with the Times - Too Cute to Spook!
• My Mum's Craft Shop - So Spooky!
• My Time to Craft - Hallowe'en
• One Stop Craft - Hallowe'en

Pile It On! Challenge - Birthday Card for a Man

The theme of this week's Pile It On! Challenge is:

'Birthday Card For a Man'

We are sponsored for this challenge by Dude Time Doodles:

The prize is a $10 Gift Certificate to spend at Dude Time Doodles.

I've used my trusty Penny Black 'Birthday Dog' stamp...love using him for male birthday cards...coloured using watercolour pencils.The papers are from the 'Archaic' pad by BasicGrey...I've had this for so long...and it's almost all used up...but there's probably a couple more cards left in it. I distressed the edges, then added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Fabulous Birthday' set by Hero Arts.

Here are the challenges I've piled on:

• Pile It On! - Birthday Card for a Man
• 2 Sisters - Fall or Hallowe'en Colours
• Allsorts - In Stitches
• BasicGrey - Anything Goes ('Archaic' papers)
• Card Makin' Mamas - Anything Goes
• Cards for Men - Sketch
• Crafty Catz - Male Cards
• Creative Stamp Friends - Men's Cards
• Little Red Wagon - Olive, Rust, Kraft & Brown
• Stampin' for the Weekend - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - What's Cooking?/Something to Eat
• Wags 'N Whiskers - Fall Colours

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

Batty Treat Holders

I have a couple of batty little Hallowe'en treat holders to show you today...for the one on the right I followed this tutorial...adding some googly eyes, a brad for a nose, and some hand drawn fangs...the one on the left is a simple pillow box...but I cut some more wings from the template for the fist 'bat' and added them along with another 'face'. They're filled with little chocolate pumpkins and spiders....click the photo for a better view.

Challenges for these treat holders:

• Charisma Cardz - Don't Be Square!
• Corrosive - Treat Containers
• Creative Inspirations - Hallowe'en
• Kaboodles Doodles - Trick or Treat
• Pink Elephant - Hallowe'en
• Stamping with the Dragon - Anything but a Card 
• Top Tip Tuesday - Hallowe'en 
• Totally Gorjuss - Things with Wings
• Totally Papercrafts - Spooky Hallowe'en

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Circles

This week at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long our challenge theme is:

 'Circles'

Our sponsor this week is:

Meljen's Designs: 

Prize: 4 (non-coloured) images from Meljen's Designs!

I've used a jolly Santa image from Meljens Designs on my card...which I coloured using watercolour pencils...then added some Stickles for a touch of sparkle. The papers are from the 'Blitzen' pad by Bo Bunny...I distressed the edges then added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Reindeer' stamp & die set by Hero Arts/Sizzix, the twine is by Dovecraft, the sparkly bells are from Hobbycraft, the snowflake is a Cuttlebug die and the sparkly brad is by American Crafts.

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

• Delightful - Stitching
• Holly Jolly Christmas - Here Comes Santa Claus
• Stampavie & More - Stitching
• Totally Gorjuss - Bling
• Whimsy Inspires - Sparkly

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to Christmas Stampin' All Year Long.

Little Witch

The cute little witch stamp I used on this card was a birthday gift from my lovely friend Uma...she's from Sweetpea Stamps...but after much searching, I still don't know what she's called...so I'll call her 'Little Witch' for now. I coloured her using watercolour pencils, the cut her out using one my 'Deckled Rectangle' Nesties. For the background, I embossed the card using a spider's web folder by Tim Holtz/Sizzix, and a pumpkin folder by Cuttlebug. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Celebrate Everyday' set by Hero Arts, and I added a little 'spider' to one of the cobwebs using a black pearl for the body, and drawing on the legs with a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Mess - Hallowe'en
• Crazy4Challenges - Orange, Black & Purple
• Creative Fridays - Hallowe'en
• Just Some Lines - Hallowe'en
• Love to Create - Pumpkins
• One Sweet Challenge - Hallowe'en
• Papercraft Star - Witches
• Raise the Bar - Witches
• Seems a Little Sketchy - Sketch
• Sisterhood of Crafters - Hallowe'en
• Sweet Stampin' - Hallowe'en