The Cat in the Hat Treat Bag

I have another Halloween treat bag to share today...featuring one of the critters from the 'Spooky!' set by Penny Black. I stamped it onto watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then used one of my Nesties to cut out the circle shape. The background papers are a mixture of Carta Bella 'Spooky' (the black & white striped on), Taylored Expressions 'Hocus Pocus' (the jars of goodies) and the purple one is from an unnamed pad from The Works. I distressed the edges, then added faux stitching using my CitterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I matted the image onto a scalloped circle cut from black card using another Nestie die, then matted the other layers onto more black card before adding it to the kraft bag.

Challenges for this treat bag:

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Inspired by a Book/Song/Film ('The Cat in the Hat' by Dr Seuss)

PBSC October - Anything Goes (Optional 'Too Cute to Spook!')...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

'Too Cute to Spook!'

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

I decorated another Halloween treat bag...and this time used one of the critters from the 'Be Very Scared!' set. I stamped him onto watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then used one of my Nesties to cut the circle shape. The papers are a mixture of Carta Bella 'Spooky' (the ghosts), unbranded (the cobwebs) and a pad from The Works (spotty). I distressed the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I matted all the layers onto black card, cutting a scalloped circle using another Nestie die, before adding it to a kraft gift bag.

I'm also entering this treat bag into the following challenges:

• C.R.A.F.T. - Halloween
• Crafty Gals Corner - Spooky...
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• I Spy with My Little Eye - Something Spooky
• Stamping Sensations - Autumn
• We Love Stamping - Anything Autumn

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

PBSC October - Anything Goes (Optional 'Cute or Spooky')...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

'Cute or Spooky'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I went 'Spooky' again, and used one of the critters from the 'Be Very Scared!' set. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then used one of my Nesties to cut the circle shape. The papers are by Carta Bella, from the 'Happy Haunting' & 'Spooky' collections...I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and black and white gel pens. To match the cat's purple jumper I added some purple cobweb lace, then matted it all on to some black card before adding it to the treat bag.

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

• Little Red Wagon - Halloween is Coming
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Halloween/Spooky
• Simply Create Too - Halloween Colours
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Orange, Black & Purple

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

Cat in the Hat Treat Bag

I have another Hallowe'en treat bag to share today...featuring a cute Wizard cat stamp from the Penny Black 'Spooky!' set. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. The papers are all by Carta Bella...I think from the 'Spooky' and 'Happy Haunting' collections...but I only have snippets left, with not much info on them. I distressed all of the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and black and white gel pens.

Challenges for this treat bag:

• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Fab 'N' Funky - Fur or Feathers
• I Spy with My Little Eye - Something Magical
• Little Red Wagon - Black, White & One Other Colour (I went with Orange)
• Love Those Pretty Papers - Optional 'Hallowe'en'
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Use Patterned Paper
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes

October Desk Calendar

As it's the first of the month, I'm sharing my desk calendar page for October today. I picked one of the images from the 'Be Very Scared' stamp set (by Penny Black), stamped it on to watercolour paper, and added a little bat from the 'Goofy Ghoul' set (also by Penny Black). I coloured it using watercolour pencils, then cut the circle shape using one of my Nesties. For the background, I used snippets of papers by Carta Bella, from the 'Spooky' and 'Haunted' collections...at least I think that's what they're called, I've had these for years, and there aren;'t many bits left with the branding on! I distressed the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and black & white gel pens before matting it on to a snippet of kraft card, and adding it to the calendar (from the Paper Mill).

Challenges for this calendar:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafter's Cafe - Include an Animal
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Pixies Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

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 Craft Stash, New Baby, New Home, New Job...)

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

For my 'Something New', I went with 'New Year' and am sharing one of the Penny Black calendars I made for Christmas gifts. I've been decorating some of these Paper Mill calendars for Christmas gifts since 2009, and each year use an assortment of Penny Black images, and lots of snippets of older papers to decorate each page. I stamped all of the images on to watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then cut the circle and oval shapes using some of my Nesties. I distressed the edges of all of the papers, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black or white gel pens.

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

• Krafty Chicks - Stamps
• Little Red Wagon - What's New?
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - A New Start
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New

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

PBSC October - Anything Goes (Optional 'Spooky')...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

'Spooky'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I picked a cute little mouse image from the 'Be Very Scared' set and used it to decorate a Halloweem treat bag. I stamped the mouse on to watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then cut out the fircle shape using one of my Nesties. The papers are from the 'Spooky' collection by Carta Bella...I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and black and white gel pens.

I'm also entering this treat bag into the following challenges:

• C.R.A.F.T. - Gift Box or Bag
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Black, Orange & Purple')
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Photo Inspiration
• Sweet Stampin' - Anything but Birthday

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

PBSC October - Anything Goes (Optional 'Too Cute to Spook!')

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
'Too Cute to Spook!'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I would usually make a set of Hallowe'en treat bags, decorated wth my Penny Black spooky critters, for my family at this time of year, but I'm not sure I'll be seeing them again before Christmas. It was August(!) before I was able to visit to deliver their Easter treats, so I've played it safe, and made a card...but with as many critters on it as I could fit! They are from the 'Spooky' and 'Be Very Scared' sets...oldies, but goodies...and I stamped them on to watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour paper, then carefully cut them out. I made a simple background using some Hallowe'en themed papers (there's no branding on the spiderweb one, but the skull paper is from the 'Spooky' collection by Carta Bella. The little spider is also by Penny Black...I stamped him directly on to the background paper, then added a little colour with some pencils, and a pair of googly eyes. The sentiment was cut from snippets of purple card using my Cuttlebug 'Olivia' alphabet.

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

• Aud Sentiments - Fall/Hallowe'en Sentiment
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Cut It Up - World Card Making Day
• Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Moving Along with the Times - Animals/Birds
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

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

PBSC October - 'Anything Goes' (Optional 'Black, White & One Other Colour')...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
'Black, White & One Other Colour'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I went with purple as my one other colour this time...and used a stamp from the 'Spooky' set to make another Hallowe'en treat bag. I stamped the image on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils, before cutting it out using one of my circle Nesties. I used papers by Carta Bella...from their 'Haunted' and 'Spooky' collections, distressing all of the edges, and adding some faux stitching using black and white gel pens.

I'm also entering this treat bag into the following challenges:

• C.R.A.F.T. - Box or Bag
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Daring Cardmakers - Black
• Fab 'N' Funky - Feature a Creature
• My Time to Craft - Hallowe'en or Cats
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Hallowe'en
• Sweet Stampers - Autumn or Hallowe'en

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

Ice Cream Mouse

I have a weather appropriate card to share today...featuring a little mouse stamp by Tina Wenke for Stampavie. He's called 'Ice Cream Mouse'...I coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out. I added a snippet of Carta Bella 'Cool Summer' paper to the top of my card blank...the paper is covered with ice cream cone & flag bunting, so I trimmed around the top and bottom first. I added a Hero Arts sentiment (from the 'Cupcakes' set), and popped the mouse up on 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:

• Catch the Bug - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional Summer Fun)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes (Optional Summer Fun)
• Give a Crafter a Cookie - Photo Inspiration
• Heartful Stamping - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Summer Fun

Penny Black Saturday Challenge January - Anything Goes!

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'

(In fact, all of our challenges will now be 'Anything Goes', but from next month we will have an additional optional theme for those of you that like a prompt)

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

My project for this challenge is a 2018 Penny Black calendar. I buy a few of the blank 'Create a Calendars' from Paper Mill Direct to decorate and give as Christmas presents each year, and this is the one I made for my Mum. They still have some available here if you fancy making yourself one.

I used a variety of Penny Black stamps and papers from lots of different manufacturers...far too many to list, but I did manage to use up lots of snippets! Here's a look at each of the months:

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

• Animal Friends - New Beginnings
• Cut It Up - Calendars
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Something New (New Year)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (New Year)

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