Little Boxes

I have a set of little Christmas gift boxes to share today, made using my We R Memory Keepers punch board. They're the largest size that the board can make...4x4 inches, and each one is made from a single piece of 12x12 paper (from a pad simply called 'Christmas' by Craft Sensations, that I bought at The Range in the sale just after last Christmas). I cut matching tags from another sheet of the paper (one covered in smaller square designs), using a Sizzix tag die, then attached them to the boxes using bakers twine.

Challenges for these boxes:

• Crafter's Cafe - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Fab 'N' Funky - Christmas, but NO Cards
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
• Winter Wonderland - Anything Christmas Goes

Guest Designer - Christmas Craft Creations Challenge

I was picked as the DT Favourite over at the Christmas Craft Creations Challenge for their October challenge, and asked to guest design for this month's challenge. Today, I'm excited to be sharing my card their new challenge the theme is:

'Winter Blues'

Blue is my favourite colour...so I really enjoyed making my card. I gathered together lots of Distress Inks in varying shades of blue (Chipped Sapphire, Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans, Blueprint Sketch, Broken China, Salty Ocean & Tumbled Glass), and a set of snowflake stamps by Stampendous called 'Delicate Snowflakes'. I started by stamping my sentiment (from the 'Letter It - Christmas' set by Ranger) in the deepest blue shade (Chipped Sapphire) several times to get a really crisp image, then heat embossing it using clear embossing powder. I then stamped the snowflakes randomly over the watercolour paper...each in a different blue ink, then heat embossed those too, so that the ink wouldn't smudge when I blended over the top of them. I then blended Tumbled Glass ink over the whole panel, Stormy Sky ink around the edges, and finally a little Chipped Shapphire ink just on the very edges. I then distressed the edges a little before adding it to a navy DL card blank.

Thanks very much ladies for inviting me to guest design - I really enjoyed the theme!

For more inspiration from the fabulous design team, please pop over to the Christmas Craft Creations Challenge.

Holly & Globe

I have a couple of quick Christmas cards to share today...featuring an old Penny Black stamp called 'Holly & Globe'. I stamped it on to kraft card using Versmark Ink, then heat embossed it, along with a sentiment from a set by Lili of the Valley, using 'Metallic Gold' embossing powder by WOW. I matted these on to gold card, distressing the edges slightly, before adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a gold gel pen.

It's always so tricky to get a decent photo of anything metallic and shiny, but here's a view of the two cards together:

Challenges for these cards:

• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Pick a Previous Challenge (I chose May 2020 - Embossing)
• AAA Cards - Made in Minutes (Optional 'Christmas')
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Goes (Optional 'Quick & Easy')
• Jingle Belles - Anything Christmas
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

PBSC December - Anything Goes (Optional 'Winter Wonderland')

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
'Winter Wonderland'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I combined snowmen from the 'Jolly Freinds' and 'Snow Much Fun' sets, stamping them on to a piece of watercolour paper, then doodling some snow to join them all together. I coloured them using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut around the top of the image. I used a piece of snowy paper from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations for a simple background, adding a sentiment from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

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

• As You Like It - Your Favourite Christmas Film ('The Snowman' - I especially love when the snowman tries on all of the different pieces of fruit for his nose!)
• Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
• Fab 'N' Funky - Winter Wonderland
• Love to Scrap - Winter Wonderland

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

Let it Snow Please!

I have an ultra simple one layer Christmas card to share today...featuring a lovely big snowflake stamp by the Colorado Craft Company, along with one of it's accompanying sentiment stamps. I stamped it on to an aqua card blank using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed it using clear embossing powder.

Challenges for this card:

• A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Cards Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• CAS on Friday - Snow
• Creative Knockouts - 'Tis the Season
• Shopping Our Stash - Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Non-traditional Christmas Colours

ABC Christmas Challenge - Y & Z are for?

We have another fun ABC Christmas Challenge starting today...our last one for 2020...I'm the host, and the themes are:

'Y is for Your Favourite Things'

&

'Z is for Zzzzzzzz'

(Sleeping Image)

There's a little mystery prize from Samantha for the lucky winner:

I have so many favourite crafty things...but went with my long time favourites of Penny Black Stamps, Patterned Papers & Faux Stitching. I picked an image called 'Joy Filled Stockings', stamping it on to watercolour paper, colouring it using watercolour pencils, and then cutting it out using one of my circle Nesties. I picked a piece of stocking covered paper to match my image from the Kaisercraft 'Santa's List' pad...lightly distressing the edges and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Tattered Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous...I stamped it on to a snippet of kraft card, then cut it into a banner shape.

As it happens, I actually have quite a collection of images of sleeping critters, but picked this cute pup from the 'Wintertime Cheer' set by Penny Black...stamping him on to watercolour paper, colouring him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cutting him out. I added a strip of co-ordinating patterned paper from the 'Jolly Christmas' pad (form The Works) along the bottom of a kraft card blank, then added the pup on top popped up on 3D foam pads. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Foxy Christmas' set by Woodware.

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

• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Spots and/or Stripes (Second card only)
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

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

Polar Pair

Today's card features an old Lili of the Valley stamp called 'Polar Pair'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils, adding a sentiment from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous. As the image is quite large, I kept the rest of the card really simple, just matting it on to some co-ordinating red card, distressing all of the edges a little.

Challenges for this card:

• C.R.A.F.T.  - Winter
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Cold Outside')
• Dream Valley - Christmas
• My Time to Craft - Christmas Animals
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Golden Pinecones

Today's card features a Woodware stamps from a set called called 'Sketchy Pinecones'. I started by stamping the main branch image on to a burgundy card blank, using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed it using 'Metallic Gold Sparkle' embossing glitter from WOW. I then went back and added the needles, stamping and embossing them the same way along with one of the sentiments from the same set.

Challenges for this card:

• Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes + Sentiment
• Creative Knockouts - Christmas Delight
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Silver or Gold
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Reindog

I have a simple little Christmas card to share today, featuring a cute pup in reindeer antlers from the 'Wintertime Cheer' set by Penny Black. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out. I paper pieced his bandana using some plaid paper (from the 'Festive Chalkboard' pad by Craftwork Cards), and added a strip of the same paper along the bottom of my kraft card blank. I stamped & heat embossed the sentiment (from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous) in white on the top of the paper, then added the pup popped up on some 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas with the Cuties - Feature a Creature
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Goes (Optional 'Something beginning with R')
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Prepared for Christmas
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

Starry Twofer

I have a couple of cards for this month's Twofer 'Stars' Challenge to share today. The star element that I used on both cards is one of the stamps from the 'Magical Christmas' set by Creative Expressions...it's a wavy spray of solid stars.

On the Christmas card, I stamped the stars a few times using Versamark Ink on some navy card, then heat embossed them using 'Metallic Gold Sparkle' embossing glitter by WOW. I used some snippets of white hammer texture card to make a snowy landscape scene, using my 'Tree Landscape' die by Clearly Besotted, and a couple of the Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Border' dies. I added a large star, cut using one of the dies from the 'Snowy Star's set by Tim Holtz for Sizzix, cut from a snippet of gold mirror card, and a sentiment from a set by Lili of the Valley, also heat embossed in gold.

For the birthday card, I started by stamping the stars using Distress Inks (Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade, Festive Berries, Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean & Lucky Clover) on a diagonal directly on to my card blank in a rainbow pattern. I then layered snippets of co-ordinating coloured card on to a piece of scrap paper, then cut a star shape using one of my Nesties, adding it on to the card using 3D foam pads. The sentiment stamps are from the  Happy Little Stampers 'Everyday Sentiments' set.

Challenges for these cards:

• Christmas Card Throwdown - Winter Wonderland (first card only)
• Creative Knockouts - Winter Wonderland (first card only)
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets (both cards use snippets)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Christmas (first card only)
• Sweet Stampin' - Birthdays (second card only)
• Twofer - Stars

Snowflake Lace

I have a simple one layer Christmas card to share today, featuring a lovely snowflake stamp from Indigo Blu called 'Snowflake Lace', which I stamped off the top edge of my kraft card blank, using a white pigment ink, then heat embossed in white. The sentiment stamp is by Penny Black, and was also stamped and heat embossed in white.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Cards - Along the Edge (Optional 'Snowflakes')
• CAS Christmas - Non-traditional Christmas Colours
• Less is More - One Layer Cards - Festive
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Christmas

PBSC November - Anything Goes (Optional 'Bingo')...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
'Bingo/Tic-Tac-Toe'

Pick any row, column or diagonal...or if you're feeling really extra, go for a full house!

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used 'Patterned Papers - Penny Black Stamped Image - Clean & Simple' on my card. The image is from the 'Snow Much Fun' set...stamped on to watercolour paper, then coloured using watercolour pencils and cut out with one of my circle Nesties. The papers are from the 'Festive Chalkboard' pad by Craftwork Cards...I distressed the edges a little then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a white gel pen.

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

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Christmas')
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Happy Holidays
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Christmas
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

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

Warm Reception

I have a couple of super quick Christmas cards to share today...made using a Penny Black stamp, called 'Warm Reception', that I won over at Maureen's Rudolph Days Challenge a little while ago. The prize arrived today...and was inked and stamped almost straight away! I kept it simple, stamping directly on to navy and kraft card blanks using white pigment ink, before heat embossing in white. The sentiment stamp it from a set by the Colorado Craft Company.

Challenges for these cards:

• CAS Christmas - Non-traditional Christmas Colours
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Sentimental
• Fab 'n' Funky - Hand Stamped or Die Cut Sentiment
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Happy Holidays
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Christmas
• Sweet Stampers - Christmas
• Time Out - Quick

Funny Farm

I have another non-Christmas card to share today...this time featuring most of the animals from my Tim Holtz 'Funny Farm' set. I stamped the critters on to snippets of watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut them all out. I made a simple field like background for them using more snippets of card, and my 'Grassy Edges' and 'Picket Fence' dies (all by Die-namics). The sentiment is a combination of stamps from the 'Critter Concert' set by Lawn Fawn and the 'All of Us' set by Avery Elle.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Birthday - For a Child
• Always Fun - Anything Goes
• As You Like It - Favourite His or Hers Birthday (His - I'm not a very girly girl...my favourite colour is blue, and I don't really like adding 'fluff' to my cards...so much prefer making cards for Men)
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Fab 'N' Funky - Old MacDonald
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets

Toot the Flute

Today's cards were made for a couple of my pupils...I haven't seen either of them in person since early March...all of their lessons since then have been over Zoom...and they recently took new video versions of the graded flute exams (grade 1 and grade 7) which they both passed with distinction. Their certificates arrived yesterday, and as I'm still not able to go and see them, I thought I'd make them each a congratulations card to send out with their certifiacte.

I have several stamps of critters playing flutes, but went with the original Penny Black 'Toot the flute', stamped directly on a kraft card blank. I added sentiments from the 'Critter Concert' set by Lawn Fawn, then coloured the images using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for these cards:

• A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Animal Friends - Cats & Dogs
• Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

Perfect Petals

Today's card features a Woodware floral stamp called 'Perfect Petals'. I stamped it several times on to some teal card using a white pigment ink, along with the sentiment from the same set, then heat embossed them all using white embossing powder. I distressed the edges a little, matted it on to some white card (distressing those edges too), then on to a matching teal card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Cards Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Embossing

Red Squirrels Chritmas Tree

I have (yet) another Christmas card to share today...see I told you I wasn't done for the year! This one features a cute Lili of the Valley stamp called 'Red Squirrels Christmas Tree', stamped directly on to a kraft card blank. I colored it using watercolour pencils, then added a sentiment from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

O Christmas Tree

Today's card was inspired by the 'Blue & Silver' colour option of this fortnight's Less is More Challenge. Blue is my favourite colour, and I love it paired with silver on Christmas cards, so even though I've already made more than enough for this year, I couldn't resist another - I'm sure this won't be the last either! I started by blending some of my blue Distress Inks (Broken China, Salty Ocean, Stormy Sky & Chipped Sapphire) on to a snippet of watercolour paper. Once dry, I stamped a Christmas tree, along with some snowflakes, from a set by Paper Artsy, and a sentiment from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed them using 'Metallic Silver' embossing powder by WOW. I matted it on to a snippet of silver mirror card, before adding it to my card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• CAS Christmas - Non-traditional Colours
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Goes
• Less is More - Blue & Silver