Penny Black 2026 Calendar

I have another Penny Black calendar to share today...this is the one I made for my Aunt for Christmas. The blank calendar is one of the A4 ones from Paper Mill Direct...and I decorated it using lots of Penny Black critter stamps, and snippets of patterned papers. I stamped all of the images onto watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then cut some into circles using my Nesties. I distressed all of the edges of the papers, and matted them all onto pieces of kraft card before adding them to the calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Happy New??? (New Year)
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wedensdays) - Something New (New Year)

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 House, New Job, New Baby, New Stash...)

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

My 'Something New' is the 'New Year', and I'm sharing the 2026 calendar that I made for my Mum for Christmas. Every year, I decorate a couple of the blank A4 calendars from Paper Mill Direct to give as gifts, and use only Penny Black stamped images. If there's a special event in a particular month, I try to find an appropriate image...it's a great project for using stamps that don't often get inked, and also for using up lots of snippets of papers! 

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

• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Everybody Art - Christmas and/or New Year
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes

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

ABC Christmas Challenge - Y & Z are for?

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

'Y is for Yummy'

&

'Z is for Zebra'

(Stripes and/or Black & White)

The prize for the lucky winner is these Chocolate Baroque and Woodware stamps:

For my 'Y is for Yummy' card, I used a Christmas Pudding stamp from Personal Impressions, stamping it onto a snippet of watercolour paper, along with a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. For the background, I used snippets of pudding-covered paper from the 'Peppermint Forest' pad by Craftwork Cards, trimming them into squares. I distressed all of the edges, then added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, then matted the pudding image onto a snippet of kraft card, then the paper squares onto some pink card before adding it to a kraft card blank.

For my 'Z is for Zebra' card, I went with the 'Stripes' option, choosing a piece of silver stripey paper from the 'Silent Night' pad by First Edition for my background, and matted it onto some silver mirror card. I took one of the 'plainish' pieces of paper from the same pad, and stamped the largest snowflake from a Stampendous set called 'Delicate Snowflakes' onto it using Versamark ink, then heat embossed it using metallic silver embossing powder from WOW. Using the matching die, I cut out the snowflake, then added it onto the stripey background using some 3D foam pads.

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

• Addicted to CAS - Metallic (Second card only)
• Allsorts - Anything Goes (First card only)
• CAS on Friday - (Second card only)
• Christmas Kickstart - Anything Christmassy (First card only)
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes (Second card only)
• Creative Inspirations - 'Tis the Season (First card only)
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets (First card only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Use Dies (Second card only)

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

December Desk Calendar

As it's the first day of the month, I'm sharing the December page of my desk calendar. I picked one of the stamps from the 'Christmas Critters' set by Penny Black, stamping it onto a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut it out. For the background, I used a snippet of patterned paper from the 'Peppermint Forest' pad by Craftwork Cards, and layered a snippet of white card, with a torn edge, over the top. I matted it all onto a snippet of kraft card, then added it to my calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Guest Designer - 52 Christmas Card Throwdown

Today I'm excited to be sharing a Guest Designer card for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. The theme of their challenge thi week is:

I don't all that mant suitable images in my (vast) collection of Christmas stamps, and as I'd just uploaded a candy cane card when I was invited to Guest Deisgn for this challenge, I picked a 'Christmas Pudding' stamp by Personal Impressions to use. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, along with a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, then coloured the pudding using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'Peppermint Forest' pad by Craftwork Cards...distressing the edges a little, then adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

For more inspiration from the fabulous design team, please pop over to the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - thanks for inviting me!

Birthday Dog

Today's card features one of my oldest (and most loved) Penny Black stamps...'Birthday Dog'. I stamped it directly on to the card blank, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I cut a wave in the edge of a snippet of paper from the 'Yes, Please' pad by American Crafts using one of my Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Borders' dies, then added that to the top of the card. I added a sentiment using one of the stamps from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts, and a few pieces of pink Card Candi using 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Optional 'Mood Board')
• CAS on Friday - Design Paper
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• I Spy with My Little Eye - A Sweet Treat
• Incy Wincy - Food and/or Drink
• Just Us Girls - Mood Board
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Four-legged Friends

ABC Christmas Challenge - Y & Z are for?

It's the first Wednesday of a new month, so that means it's time for a new ABC Christmas Challenge our final challenge of the year! Wendy is the host, and the themes are:

'Y is for Youngsters'

(Featuring or for a child)

&

'Z is for Zoom'

(Modes of transport)

There's a wonderful prize from Wendy on offer for the lucky winner:

For my 'Youngsters' card, I used one of the images from a Lili of the Valley 'Tis the Season' pre-coloured die cut sheet of two youngsters enjoying their Christmas dinner. I paired it with papers from the 'Mistletoe' pad by Craftwork Cards...I distressed the edges, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

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

• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Carfty Friends - Anything Goes
• Use Your Stuff - Christmas

For my 'Zoom' card, I used a cute Penny Black chicken image called 'Snowboard Ride'. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, added a line to represent the snowy slope using a black gel pen, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I carefully cut around the top of the image, then added a snippet of 'snowy' paper from the 'Pastel Pinks' pad by Make & Create' from The Works behind. The sentiment stamp from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Optional 'Let it Snow')
• As You Like It - Anything Goes for Christmas
• Creative Knockouts - Snow Much Fun
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Christmas Creations
• The Male Room - Transportation
• We Love Stamping - I Love ? (Christmas cards & Penny Black critters)

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

ABC Christmas Challenge - U & V are for?

It's the second Wednesday of a new month, so that means it's time for a new ABC Christmas Challenge! Wilma is the host, and the themes are:

'U is for Unusual Christmas Colours'

&

'V is for Velvet'

There is a surprise gift from Wilma on offer for the lucky winner:

Inspired by more traditional Halloween colours, I picked orange and purple as the main colours for my 'Unusual Christmas Colours' card. I used a Crafter's Companion die called 'Cascading Snowflakes' to cut the snowflake panel from purple card, then layered that over an orage card blank. I cut a sentiment from a snippet of pink card using a Creative Expressions die, then added that over the top.

I  knew I had some velvet ribbons in my stash, and after a good rummage, found a few different colours which happened to be a fairly good match for the papers in the 'Mistletoe' pad by Craftwork Cards. I paired them with a Lili of the Valley pre-coloured image (from the 'Christmas Cuties' set), distressing the edges and adding soe faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

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

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Friends - More Than One Die (First card only)
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

For more inspiration, please pop over to the ABC Christmas Challenge.

ABC Christmas Challenge - Y & Z are for?

It's the first Wednesday of a new month, so that means it's time for a new ABC Christmas Challenge! I'm the host, and the themes are:

'Y is for Yummy'

(show us some food)

&

'Z is for Zigzags'

Here's the prize on offer for the lucky winner:

For my 'Y is for Yummy' card, I went with lots of Christmas puddings! The main image is a Personal Impressions stamp, which I stamped on to watercolour paper, along with a sentiment from the Woodware 'Foxy Christmas' set, then coloured using watercolour pencils. I paired it with some paper from the 'Peppermint Forest' pad by Craftwork Cards, distressing the edges a little and adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

On my 'Z is for Zigzags' card, I used the fox from the 'Foxy Christmas' Woodware Stamps set...stamping him on to watercolour paper, and colouring him using watercolour pencils. I found a sparkly sheet of zigzag paper in a pad by Recollections/Michaels (found at TKMaxx) called 'Simply Stated'. I distressed the edges a little, then matted everything on to some red card.

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

• Allsorts - Hand Stamped or Digital Image
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes
• My Time to Craft - Stitching (First card only)
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Sparkle Mode (Second card only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

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