Silver Snowflakes

I have a Christmas card to share today, inspired by the 'Teal and Silver' colour combination of this week's 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge. Teal is my favourite colour, so I couldn't resist! I used snowflake stamps from the 'Big & Bold - Winter Wishes Snowflake' set from the Colorado Craft Company, and 'Let it Snow' set from Happy Little Stampers, stamping them onto a snippet of teal card using Versamark ink, then heat embossed them using 'Metallic Silver' embossing powder from WOW. I added a sentiment, using a stamp from the 'Festive Flurry - Baubles & Bows' set by Creative Expressions, embossing that in silver to match, then matted the panel onto a snippet of silver mirror card before adding it to a white card balnk.

Challenges for this card:

• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Teal & Silver
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Time Out - Favourite Season (Winter - I love cold & frosty weather...and Christmas!)

ABC Christmas Challenge - S & T are for?

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

'S is for Stockings'

&

'T is for Trees'

The prize for the lucky winner is a set of Christmas tree dies, and a set of sentiment stamps:

For my 'S is for Stockings' card, I used a cute Anita Jeram stamp called 'Getting Ready'. I stamped it, along with one of the sentiments from the set, directly onto a kraft card blank then coloured the image using watercolour pencils.

For my 'T is for Trees' card, I decided to use my Penny Black 'Immense Joy' die, to create an aperture for a Christmas tree. I cut the 'Joy' sentiment a few times from snippets of white card, then layered them all up. I cut the centre of the 'O' in Joy from a snippet of watercolour effect card to create a wintery sky, added it to the centre of the die cut sentiment, then added a tree (cut using a Happer Little Stampers die) and a tiny snippet of white card for the snowy ground. I embossed another snippet of white card using a Crafter's Companion 3D embossing folder called 'Glittering Snowflakes', then layered it all up on a white card blank. 

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

• As You Like It - Flat or Layered Cards (First card only - flat cards for me...especially Christmas cards so that the postage is cheaper!)
• Creative Inspirations - Christmas in September (Second card only)
• Just Us Girls - Dies (Second card only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Stamp It! (First card only)
• Stamping Sensations - CAS (First card only)
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes (Second card only)
• We Love Stamping - Make It Cute (First card only)

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

Sledding Sweetness

Today's card features a Penny Black stamp set that I received for Christmas called 'Sledding Sweetness'. I stamped the critters on to watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut them out. I made a snowy background for them using a piece of snowy sky paper from the 'Fresh Florals' pad by Craft Sensations, and snippets of white card. I cut some trees using a set of Happy Little Stampers dies from the white card, glued them on to the background paper, then added a strip of white card, with a torn top edge, along the bottom for the ground. I added the critters on top using 3D foam pads, then matted the scene on to some red card before adding it to a white card blank.

Challenges for these cards:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Optional 'Use Your Dies')
• Christmas with the Cuties - Cute & Christmassy
• C.R.A.F.T. - New (The stamps are new)
• Creative Knockouts - Snow Much Fun
• Cut It Up - Anything Goes 
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Cold & Frosty
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Use Dies

PBSC November - Anything Goes (Optional 'Make a Scene ')

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

'Make a Scene'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used a stamps from a couple of different clear stamp sets to create a snowy Christmas scene. The snowman and hedgie stamp is from the 'Snow Much Fun!' set and the robin is from the 'Wintertime Cheer' set. I stamped them on to watercolour paper, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut them out. For the background, I started with a piece of snowy sky paper from the 'Christmas' pad by Craft Sensations, then added a couple of die cut trees (cut from snippets of white card using Happy Little Stampers dies), a snippet of white card (with a torn edge) for the snowy ground, and a gold star (left over from making these tags). I matted it all on to some kraft card, added the critters on top using 3D foam pads, then added it to a white card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

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

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

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

Let It Snow

I have another one layer Christmas card to share today. This one features snowflakes from a Happy Little Stampers set called 'Let it Snow'. I stamped them on to a navy card blank using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed them using 'Metallic Silver Sparkle' embossing glitter from WOW. I used one of the sentiments from the same set, but this time embossed it in plain 'Metallic Silver' WOW embossing powder.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Blue & Silver')
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Perfectly CAS - Snowflakes
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes

Gone Fishing!

Today, I'm sharing the card I made for my Dad for Father's Day. The image is called 'Gone Fishing' from the 'Mulberry Wood' collection by Crafter's Companion...I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The papers are from the 'Vintage Dreams' pad by Craft Sensations...I used a couple of Cuttlebug embossing folders (Swiss Dots and Spots & Dots) to emboss the plainer ones, then distressed all of the edges, before adding some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I made the sentiment using stamps from the 'Birthday Buddies' set by Paper Smooches, and 'Everyday Messages' set by Happy Little Stampers.

Challenges for this card:

• Cardz for Guys - Father's Day
• CCEE Stampers - Fathers
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Crafty Friends - Men/Boys
• Creative Knockouts - Two or More Patterned Papers
• Moving Along with the Times - Masculine/Father's Day
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Add a Sentiment
• Simply Create Too - Patterned Papers
• Stamping Sensations - Masculine
• Sweet Stampin' - Father's Day/Masculine

PBSC June - Anything Goes (Optional 'Transport')

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
'Transport'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I have a surprising number of Penny Black stamps that feature a mode of transport, but picked this cow taking her chicken friends for a ride called '...for a spin'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The papers are a mixture of 'Happy Colours' and 'Watercolour Feelings' from The Works...I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamps are from the 'Everyday Sentiments' set by Happy Little Stampers.

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

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• A Perfect Time to Craft - Anything Goes
• Card Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Anything Goes
• Dream Valley - Summer Colours
• Krafty Chicks - Stamp Act

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

Garden Birdhouses

Today's card features a stamp that I received with my Easter egg last weekend...it's an old wood mounted one by Stampendous called 'Garden Birdhouses'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, adding a sentiment from the 'Doodled Flowers' set by Happy Little Stampers, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I distressed the edges a little, then added it to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Something Beginning with B (Birdhouses & Blooms)
• Alphabet Challenge - B is for Blooms
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday

Sailing with Butterflies

Today's card features one of two Penny Black stamps that I picked up last week in a charity shop for the bargain price of £1 each. It's an old wood-mounted one (in perfect condition) called 'Sailing with Butterflies'. I stamped it on to watercolour paper, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. The paper are from the 'Watercolour Feelings' pad from The Works...I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Doodled Flowers' set by Happy Little Stampers.

Challenges for this card:

• Aud Sentiments - Use a Birthday Sentiment
• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Wings & Things or Furry Friends
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - I Love (Penny Black stamps, pretty papers, faux stitching & a bargain!)

Butterfly Cascade

Today's cards led me to finally organise my collection of WOW embossing powders and glitters...it's something I've been meaning to do for ages, but would put off in favour of using my crafting time to actually craft! All of my ink pads and embossing powders are stored in  Really Useful Box...whilst they're relatively neat, it often takes a me little while to locate the one's I'm looking for as the embossing powders are stored in a couple of layers and the lids are solid. So, I spent an evening cutting little circles of card (using the smallest of my circle Nesties), embossing each one with a different embossing powder/glitter, then attaching them to the lids of the pots. My collection is fairly 'comprehensive', so the photo below just shows the ones I used on today's cards, but you get the idea:

The cards I made with those embossing glitters, feature a Woodware stamp called 'Butterfly Cascade' and I had the idea to emboss them in a rainbow effect. I stamped it on to white card using Versamark Ink, then added the different coloured embossing glitters, working down from the top. Colours used: Metallic Gold Sparkle, Fool's Gold, Ho Ho Ho, Majestic Mauve, Midnight Dream, Vintage Peacock & Emerald City. I added a sentiment (from the 'Doodled Flowers' set by Happy Little Stampers), then distressed the edges of the panel a little, before piercing a border using my CutterBee Bug and adding the panels to DL card blanks.

As always, it's so difficult to capture the sparkle in a photo...these glitters are so pretty in real life, but here's another angle:

Challenges for these cards:

• Allsorts - I Love... (Embossing Glitters - I've always found heat embossing magical, but these glitters take that to another level!)
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Slimline Cards
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped (Optional 'Wings')
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
• Use Your Stuff - Birthday

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

Owls

Today's card features another new stamp that I recieved for Chirstmas...'Owls' by Woodware Stamps. Well, actually it's only part of the stamp, as the whole stamp features five owls. I stamped the two end owls on to watercolour paper, then coloured them using watercolour pencils to match the bright Spring-y colours of the papers, which are from an unbranded pad that came from a charity shop. I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Doodled Flowers' set by Happy Little Stameprs.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Add a Heart
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes (Optional 'Plaid or Check')
• Fab 'N' Funky - Two or More Papers
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Insects and/or Birds
• We Love Stamping - Anything Stamped (Optional 'Wings')

Reindeer in the Snow

I have another Christmas card to share today...this one features no stamping, but lots of dies. I started by making the snowy background, by blending white ink through my 'Falling Snow' stencil (from Funky Fossil), on to some kraft card. I cut a couple of mountain ranges using Happy Little Stampers dies, and a snow drift using one of my 'Stitched Hillside Border' dies (by Lawn Fawn). I added a little shading along the bottoms of the mountains with some 'Pumice Stone' Distress Ink...although it doesn't show up very well in the photo. I added a few deer, cut from some more kraft card using dies from the 'Winter Wonderland' set by Tim Holtz/Sizzix...inking around the edges of those with some more Pumice Stone ink, and a large gold star, cut using one of the dies from the 'Snowy Stars' set (also by Tim Holtz/Sizzix).

Challenges for this card:

• As You Like It - Dies or Stencils (It's dies for me - I love how they can turn snippets of plain card into allsorts of things)
• Happy Little Stampers (Stencils) - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Die cuts for Winter/Christmas
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Shopping Our Stash - Triple Threat
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Together Notecards

I have another set of simple notecards to share today...featuring a Penny Black floral stamp called 'Together'. I stamped it directly on to my card blanks, inking the flowers first using 'Dusty Concord' and 'Chipped Sapphire' Distress Inks, then the leaves with 'Peeled Paint'. I added sentiments from the 'Doodled Flowers' set by Happy Little Stampers.

Challenges for these cards:

• Addicted to CAS - Purple
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Shopping Our Stash - Flowers
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Detailed Butterfly Notecards

I have another set of simple notecards to share today...these ones were made using the off-cuts from these cards I made over three years ago! The original set of cards used the 'inlaid die cut' technique...I used all of the little cut out pieces from the coloured butterflies on those cards, and the colourful outlines of the butterflies (cut using my Tim Holtz/Sizzix 'Detailed Butterflies' dies) have been in my 'bits'n'pieces' box ever since waiting for their moment. I added them to white card blanks, along with an assortment of sentiments (from the 'Doodled Flowers' set by Happy Little Stampers).

Challenges for these cards:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - Butterflies
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Together

Today's card features a favourite floral stamp...'Together' by Penny Black. I inked it up with Distress Inks (Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Peeled Paint & Rustic Wilderness), spritzed it with a little water, then stamped it directly on to a kraft DL card blank...repeating the process a few more times for more flowers. I added a sentiment made up from stamps from the 'Doodled Flowers' set by Happy Little Stampers and the 'Everyday Sentiments' set by Happy Little Stampers, stamping them using Versamark Ink and then heat embossing them with metallic gold powder from WOW.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (Optional 'Nature')
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday - Anything Birthday Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Diamond Wedding

I have a Diamond Wedding Anniversary card to share today...featuring lots of Cuttlebug embossing folders and dies. I embossed some cream pearlised card using my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots', 'Birds 'n' Swirls' and 'D'Vine Swirls' folders...using some of my Nesties to cut the oval shapes. I cut the heart shapes and numbers from snippets of champagne coloured glitter card using my Cuttlebug 'Concentric Hearts' and 'Olivia' alphabet dies...adding them to the oval shapes using 3D foam pads. I cut matching scalloped mats from more snippets of glitter card, and layered those behind the embossed panels. I created the sentiment using stamps from a couple of sets by Happy Little Stampers ('Doodled Flowers' & 'Everyday Messages')...stamping them on to a snippet of the cream card in black, them heat embossing them using clear embossing powder, adding a couple of adhesive 'diamonds' .

I couldn't get the colours to show up very true to life...it's not nearly as gold as it looks in the photo above! The photo below shows it a little better:

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything GoesSnippets
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Lots of Layers

ABC Christmas Challenge - N & O are for?

It's the first 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:

'N is for North Pole'

&

'O is for Off to One Side'

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

I was sure I had a paper pad called 'North Pole', so rummaged through all of my papers, but all that I could find was this snippet of paper from the 'Festive Chalkboard' pad by Craftwork Cards that featured a stack of signs, one of which pointed to the 'North Pole', so that's what I used. It was already trimmed to about the right size for a DL card, so I cut a piece of red glitter card to layer it on...distressing the edges a little, then simply adding it to a white card blank.

For my 'Off to One Side' card, I stamped  a selection of snowflakes (from the Creative Expressions 'Bold Snowflake', Hero Arts 'Wintertime Messages', Happy Little Stampers 'Let it Snow', Stampendous 'Delicate Snow' sets) off the edge of a kraft card blank using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed them in white. I added a sentiment from a Colorado Craft set, also embossed in white, then a touch of teal to the snowflakes using a watercolour pencil.

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

• Addicted to CAS - Christmas (Second Card Only)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Incy Wincy - Christmas in July
• Shopping Our Stash - Christmas in July
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Snowflakes (Second Card Only)

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