Guest Designer - Seize the Birthday Challenge (A Rainbow of Colours)

I'm back with another Surprise Party Guest card for the Seize the Birthday Challenge.

The theme this fortnight is:

I used my set of Die-namics 'Party Balloons' dies to cut balloons from snippets of card in rainbow colours. I doodled some 'strings' onto a white card blank, then added the balloons on top. I stamped a sentiment (using one of the stamps from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company), onto a snippet of white card, then added that over the balloon 'strings'.

For more inspiration from the fabulous Design Team, please pop over to the Seize the Birthday Challenge.

Birthday Balloons

Today's card features one of the critters from the 'Hello Friend' set by Penny Black. I stamped him onto a snippet of watercolour paper, and also onto the piece of cloudy sky paper (from the 'Let's Fly Away' (magazine freebie) pad). I coloured him using watercolour pencils, then cut him and his balloons out. I didn't need to be too careful here, as all of his whiskers, wispy fur, and balloon strings would show from the stamping on the background once I'd added him on top. The 'grass' is a snippet of paper from the 'Over the Rainbow' pad by Craft Consortium, cut using a Die-namics die leftover from making this calendar page, and the sentiment stamp is from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company. I layered it all up, then matted it onto a snippet of red card before adding it to an A5 card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Animals
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Happy Birthday

June Desk Calendar

As it's the start of a new month, today I'm sharing my desk calendar page for June. This month, I picked one of the cute pup stamps from the 'Man's Best Friend' set by Penny Black. I stamped him onto a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out. For the background, I used a couple of snippets of papers from the 'Here & There' pad by Studio Calico, using one of my 'Grassy Edges' dies (by Die-namics) to cut the green one. I cut the fence from a snippet of white card using another Die-namics die, 'Picket Fence', layered it all up, matting it onto a snippet of kraft card, then added it to my calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Our Furry Friends

PBSC March - Anything Goes (Optional 'On the Farm')

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

'On the Farm'

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

I picked a little sheep stamp called 'Butterflies & Ewe', and stamped it on to a snippet of watercolour paper. I coloured it using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut out the image. For the background, I used a piece of cloudy sky paper from a pad called 'Let's Fly Away' that I picked up in a charity shop, but I think it was originally a magazine freebie, then layered a picket fence, cut from a snippet of brown card using a Die-namics die, with some grass cut using another Die-namics die and a snippet of paper from the 'Over the Rainbow' pad by Craft Consortium layered over the top. I added the sheep and her butterflies, before matting it on to a snippet of kraft card and adding it to my desk calendar.

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

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

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

Goofy Ghoul Treat Bag

I have a Hallow'een treat bag to share today...fetauring a cute little Penny Black stamp set that I got for my birthday a couple of months ago called 'Goofy Ghoul'. I stamped the ghost and hedgehog on to snippets of watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut them out. I made a simple spooky background for them using a piece of star covered paper (it's from an old 12x12 sheet, and I can't remember the brand), some dies...'Silhouette Tree' by Memory Box (with the borders cut off), and 'Grassy Edge' dies by Die-namics, and some snippets of black card. I layered everything up, matted it on to some more black card, then added it to a kraft gift bag.

Challenges for this treat bag:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes (Optional 'Spooky')
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Use Patterned Paper

PBSC August - Anything Goes (Optional 'Flowers')

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

'Flowers'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used a stamp that I picked up in a charity shop earlier this week called 'Pansy Bunny'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then used one of my Nesties to cut the circle shape. For the background, I used some floral papers from a Violet Studio pad...distressing the edges, and adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, before matting on to kraft card. Inspired by the cards of my lovely DT buddy Lorraine, I added a die cut picket fence (cut using a Die-namics die), and a few paper flowers held in place using BasicGrey brads.

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

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Crafty Animals - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Four-legged Friends
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

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

Hello

Today's card features a cute little puppy stamp by Anita's. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then cut him out. I though that he looked like he should be peering ver the top of something, so cut a fence (using my Die-namics 'Picket Fence' die) from a snippet of kraft card, adding a 'hedge' behind it (cut from a snippet of green card using one of my Die-namics 'Grassy Edges' dies) to hid the fact that he has no body! For the background, I used a piece of 'cloudy sky' paper from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations, then matted it all on to a piece of kraft card before adding it to my card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Big Messages' set by Paula Pascual.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes

Balloon Birthday

Today, I'm sharing the card I made for my brother's birthday last week. I used my Die-namics 'Party Balloons' dies, to cut balloons from a selection of snippets of paper from the 'Fresh Florals' pad by Craft Sensations. I stamped the sentiment using one of the 'Handwritten Borders' stamps by Simon Says Stamp, to act as the 'string' for the central balloon, then doodled the 'strings' for the other balloons using a black gel pen...remembering to doodle the 'string' tied around the bottom of each of the balloons. I die cut the numbers using my Cuttlebug 'Olivia' alphabet, added them to the central balloon, then added the balloons to the card ...layering them up using 3D foam pads.

Challenges for this card:

• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Balloon Brithday

I have an 80th Birthday card to share today, made from slightly limited supplies as I'm currently away from home, but I found some masculine-ish snippets of papers in my'Refreshing Basics' pad from The Works, and used my Die-namics 'Party Balloons' dies to make a CAS-ish card. I stamped a sentiment from the 'Doodled Flowers' set by Happy Little Stampers on to a snippet of woodgrain paper from the same pad, then inked around the edges of everything using 'Pumice Stone' Distress Ink. I doodled some strings for the balloons using a blank gel pen on a kraft card blank, then layered up the balloons, adding some numbers cut using my Cuttlebug 'Olivia' alphabet dies. 

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - CAS
• Cards Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Fab 'N' Funky - Birthdays
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - CAS
• Less is More - Birthdays
• Little Red Wagon - Masculine
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets

Boo!

I have another Halloween treat bag to share today...this one features one of the cats from the 'Spooky' set by Penny Black. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, coloured him using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut him out. I used my Polkadoodles 'Going Batty' stencil for the background...inking through it with some Versamark Ink on some purple card, then heat embossing the bats with 'Halloween' embossing glitter from WOW. It's a lovely mix of black and orange glitter - so pretty, but as always with anything sparkly, such a pain to photograph! I used a few die cuts to complete the spooky background...my Memory Box 'Silhouette Tree' (with the border cut off) and my Die-namics 'Grassy Edge' dies. I used my Cuttlebug 'Olivia' alphabet dies to cut the lettering for the sentiment.

Challenges for this bag:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Embossing Delight
• Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes (Optional 'Halloween')
• Fab 'N' Funky - Halloween
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Spooky/Halloween
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Spooky/Halloween
• Stamping Sensations - Animals, Birds & Bugs

PBSC October - Anything Goes (Optional 'Colour Inspiration')...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

'Colour Inspiration'

(Pick at least two colours from: Black, Orange, Purple, Green, Red, White & Teal)

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I picked Black, White, Orange & Purple and decorated another Halloween treat bag. I started by blending 'Black Soot' Distress Ink through my Polkadoodles 'Going Batty' stencil on to a piece of purple patterned paper from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations. I added a die cut 'moon'...stencilling the bats over the top...and some grass cut from a snippet of black card using one of my Die-namics 'Grassy Edge' dies. The cat is from the 'Be Very Scared' set...I stamped him on to watercolour paper,coloured him with watercolour pencils before carefully cutting him out and adding him to background using 3D foam pads.

I'ma also entering this bag into the following challenges:

• C.R.A.F.T. - Halloween/Autumn/Thanksgiving
• Crafter's Cafe - Use a Stencil
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes (Optional 'Black & Purple')
• Happy Little Stampers (Stencils) - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything but a Card
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything but a Card
• Simply Create Too - Spooky/Scary

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

Crazy Dog Witch

I have another Halloween treat bag to share today...this one features one of the Tim Holtz 'Crazy Dogs' dressed up for trick or treating in a witches hat cut using a Polkadoodles die. The background is a sheet of paper from the 'Apothecary Emporium' pad by Echo Park, with a die cut fence (cut using my Die-namics 'Picket Fence' die).

Challenges for this bag:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• As You Like It - Favourite Non Card Project (Gift & Treat bags...like a card, but better because there are goodies inside!)
• Crafty Calendar - Halloween
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Incy Wincy - Halloween and/or Thankful
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Not a Card
• Sweet Stampers - Autumn or Halloween

PBSC August - Anything Goes (Optional 'Interactive')...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

'Interactive'

(Shaker, Slider, Spinner, Pop-up, Wobble etc)

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I made a wobble card this time...complete with a DIY 'wobble'! I started by stamping one of the cute pups from the 'Man's Best Friend' set onto a snippet of watercolour paper, then coloured him using watercolour pencils before carefully cutting him out. I then set about making the 'wobble' by winding some jewellery wire around a pencil a few times to make a 'spring', then sandwiched each of the ends between a couple of die cut circles cut from more snippets of cardboard. I made a little scene for him to be jumping through from more snippets of card and lots of dies (Memory Box 'Puffy Clouds', Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Borders' and Die-namics 'Picket Fence' & 'Grassy Edge'). I added some texture to a couple of the layers using Cuttlebug embossing folders ('Dots' & 'Charles'), then added my wobbling pup over the top!

The 'wobble'was not the easiest thing to capture in a photo, so here's a short video showing it in action:

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

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Dry Embossing
• Sweet Stampers - Dies and/or Punches

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

40th Birthday

Today's card is the one I've made for my brother's birthday...it's not until next Friday, but he's not likely to see it on here. He likes cars, so I picked a Penny Black image (from the 'Hello Friend' set) of a pup driving a sports car. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut it out. I used snippets of coloured card, to create a country road scene for him to drive through...cutting a grassy verge using one of my Die-namics 'Grassy Edge' dies, and adding a white line down the centre of the road using a white gel pen. I made a '40' speed limit sign using more snippets of card, and some Nesties, adding the numbers using stamps from the 'Birthday Bears' set (also by Penny Black). The clouds were cut using my Memory Box 'Puffy Clouds' dies, and the sentiment is from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts.

Challenges for this card:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Crafty Calendar - Masculine
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Stamps + Fun = Creativity - Cars, Planes & Boats

ABC Christmas Challenge - H & I are for?

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

'H is for Houses/Home'

&

'I is for Icicles'

There's a fab prize on offer from Lynda for the lucky winner of this challenge:

On my 'H is for Houses/Home' card, I used dies and punches to create a wintry scene on a DL card. I used lots of snippets of white card (so glad I keep all those offcuts when making square cards!) to cut the snowy slopes...mainly using my Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside' border dies, alhough the one at the top with the little trees is a Clearly Besotted die called 'Tree Landscape'. To add a little definition to the edges, I distressed the edges before I layered them up. The little house was cut using a Woodware punch, from a snippet of kraft card...adding an even tinier snippet of navy card behind for a coloured door. The snippet of snowy paper is from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations, and the sentiment stamp is from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

I used lots of dies on my 'I is for Icicles' card too...repurposing one of my Die-namics 'Grassy Edges' dies to cut some 'icicles'. I cut them from white glitter card, then trimmed along the top with scissors to create a more 'organic' edge, then placed them on top of a 'wooden fence'...made by inking a snippet of kraft card with 'Gathered Twigs' Distress Inks, before embossing it using a woodgrain embossing folder from Sizzix/Doodlebug. I made a cheeky reindeer to pop over the top of the 'fence' using dies from the Tim Holtz/Sizzix 'Winter Critters' set...using lots of snippets of card...inking the edges with more 'Gathered Twigs' ink. I used a snippet of snowy sky background left over from making this card, then matted it all on to kraft card, before adding it to a card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Celebrate Everyday' set by Hero Arts.

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

• Christmas Cards All Year Round - Something Beginning with G or H (House)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Christmas Goes
• Jingle Belles - Dies
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Layer It
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

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

Party Balloons Twofer

I have a couple of cards to share today inspired by this month's Twofer Challenge, where the theme is 'Balloons'. I chose to use one of my 'Party Balloons' dies by Die-namics on my two cards.

On my first card I cut the balloon from a snippet of matte gold card, turned it upside down, and used it as a vase for one of the Inkadinkado 'Doodle Flowers' stamps. I stamped the rose on to watercolour card, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then added the 'vase' over the top of the flower stem using 3D foam pads. I doodled a simple border using a black gel pen, then stamped a sentiment (from the Happy Little Stampers 'Doodled Flowers' set), before adding the panel to a matching pink card blank.

On my second card, I used the balloon in a more conventional way...cutting it this time from a snippet of paper from the My Mind's Eye 'Pretty Please' pad. I started by stamping the kitty (from the 'Be Very Scared' set by Penny Black) on to a sky blue card blank...masking off the 'pumpkin balloon' before inking, so that I could replace it with the die cut one, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I cut a few clouds using my Memory Box 'Puffy Clouds' dies, then added those and the balloon to the card using 3D foam pads in varying thicknesses. The sentiment stamp is from another Penny Black set called 'Airborne'.

Challenges for these cards:

• Dream Valley - Hand Coloured Image
• Fab 'N' Funky - Birthdays (Just the first card)
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Twofer - Balloons
• We Love Chocolate Baroque - Flowers, Butterflies or Birds (Just the first card)

Guest Designer - CAS on Friday Challenge

I was picked as the winner over at the CAS on Friday Challenge of a recent challenge, and asked to guest design for one of their future challenges. 

Today, I'm excited to be sharing my card their new challenge the theme is:

'Use the Colours Orange, Turquoise & White'

To make my card, I cut balloons from turquoise and orange patterned papers (from the 'Bright Freshness' pad by Craft Sensations) using a set of Die-namics dies called 'Party Balloons'. I stamped a sentiment (from the 'Handwritten Borders' set by Simon Says Stamp) vertically on a DL card blank then doodled some strings on the end of it to attach the balloons to. I added the balloons using 3D foam pads of varying thickness for a little dimension.

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 CAS on Friday Challenge.

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

James Butterflies

Today's card features an old Lili of the Valley bear image called 'James - Butterflies'. I stamped him on to watercolour paper, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I layered up some papers from the 'Spring Freshness' pad by Craft Sensations to make the background...distressing the edges a little, then adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I added a couple of paper flowers (from Poppicrafts many, many years ago!), layered up and held in place using a BasicGrey brad, and a die cut fence, cut using my Die-namics 'Picket Fence' die.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Incy Wincy - Summer Colours
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes