Suspenseful Music

I have a birthday card to share today, featuring a Penny Black stamp called 'Suspenseful Music'. I stamped it onto a piece of watercolour paper, added some musical notes and a sentiment using stamps from the 'Critter Concert' set by Lawn Fawn, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'Party Day' pad from Crate Paper...I distressed the edges a little, then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• As You Like It - Favourite Sketch/Layout (This is my go-to on rectangular and square cards...it works well for combining a few different papers)
• Crafty Animals - Anything Goes
• Time Out - Playing Music
• We Love Stamping - All Creatures Great & Small

Woodland Winter Wonderland

Today's card features a lovely woodland die called 'Birch Tree Forest' by Creative Expressions that I got from a charity shop earlier this week. I used it along with a few other dies (one of the 'Hillside Borders' dies from Lawn Fawn, and a couple of the deer from the 'Winter Wonderland' set by Tim Holtz/Sizzix), to create a wintry woodland scene. I cut all the die cuts from snippets of plain white card, then layered them over another snippet of white card embossed using my Tim Holtz/Sizzix 'Snowfall' embossing folder, before adding it all to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Pick a Previous Technique (May - Use Die Cuts/Punches)
• Allsorts - Create a Scene
• Can You Handle the Pressure - Anything Goes
• Creatalicious - Winter Animals
• Cut It Up - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes

Jazzy Cats Birthday

Today's card features stamps from the 'Jazzy Cats' set by Penny Black. I stamped them onto watercolour paper, along with some music notes from the 'Critter Concert' set by Lawn Fawn, and a sentiment using part of an unbranded stamp. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, then distressed the edges. For the background, I used papers with more music on, from the 'Party Day' pad by Crate Paper...I distressed the edges, then added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Birthday - Music
• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafty Animals - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Masculine
• Sweet Stampin' - Birthdays

September Desk Calendar

As it's the first day of a brand new month, I'm sharing my desk calendar page for September. I'm a music teacher (teaching one to one woodwind lessons) and it's back to work this week, so I picked a flute playing cat from the Penny Black 'Jazzy Cats' set. I stamped it onto a snippet of watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then carefully cut it out. For the background, I used snippets of papers from the 'Vintage Dreams' pad by Craft Sensations. I stamped the cat again onto the background...so that he didn't lose his whiskers, then added some extra notes using a stamp from the 'Critter Concert' set by Lawn Fawn. I distressed the edges, then matted it onto a snippet of kraft card before adding it to my calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Stamp It
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Furry Christmas

I have another Christmas card to share today, featuring stamps from the 'Gift Exchange' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company. I stamped them directly onto a white card blank, then added a sentiment using one of the stamps from another Anita Jeram set called 'Furry Christmas'. I coloured them using watercolour pencils, then added a snippet of spotty paper along the edge of the card, cutting the curve using one of my 'Stitched Hillside' border stamps (from Lawn Fawn), then added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• Addicted to CAS - Christmas
• CAS on Friday - Christmas in July
• Krafty Chicks - CAS
• Little Red Wagon - Cats (& other pets)
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Stitch It
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Cute Critters
• The Male Room - Dogs and/or Cats
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Stripes and/or Dots

Christmas Bunnies - Stocking

Today's card features an old Lili of the Valley stamp called 'Christmas Bunnies - Stocking'. I stamped it onto a white card blank, along with a sentiment, using a stamp from an old C. C. Designs/Pollycraft set, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I found a snippet of patterned paper the exact width of the card blank (from the 'Wonderful Winter' pad by My Mind's Eye), then used one of my Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Borders' dies to cut the curve, then added it along the top edge of the card.

Challenges for this card:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Sparkles Forum Christmas - Christmas Stcokings
• Stamps + Fun = Creativity - Clean & Simple
• We Love Stamping - Four-legged Friends

Birthday Carolers

I have a birthday card to share, made using a Penny Black Christmas stamp called 'Carolers'. I stamped the chickens directly on to a card blank, added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Critter Concert' set by Lawn Fawn, then coloured the image using watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• Alphabet Challenge - Quick & Easy
• Crafty Animals - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Fan 'N' Funky - Music to my Ears
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes

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

'Make a Scene'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I used a cute Penny Black hedgie stamp called 'Ballooning!!' that I picked up in a charity shop recently...stamping him on to watercolour paper and colouring him using watercolour pencils before carefully cutting him out. I used snippets of card and some dies to create a background scene for him. The hills were cut using some of my 'Stitched Hillside Borrders' die by Lawn Fawn, and the sun and cloud dies are from the 'Rainbow' set by Sweet Dixie...another charity shop find. I layered all the pieces up, matted it on to a piece of kraft card, before popping the hedgie on top using 3D foam pads, and adding it to a white card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company.

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

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• The Sisterhood of Crafters - Landscapes

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

Toot Your Own Horn!

Today's card features a cute Penny Black stamp called 'Merry Band'. I stamped it directly on to a white card blank, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I made this card to send to one of my pupils, along with her clarinet exam certificate, as I won't be seeing her again because she's changing schools, so I added a fun sentiment from the 'Critter Concert' set by Lawn Fawn.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Four-legged Friends
• We Love Stamping - Anything Goes

ABC Christmas Challenge - N & O are for?

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

'N is for No Stamping'

&

'O is for Off the Edge'

The prize for the lucky winner is this a 30.00 CHF Cap sur le Scrap Gift Certificate

:

For my 'No Stamping' card, I used a mixture of die cuts and dry embossing. I started by embossing a snippet of watercolour effect paper from the 'Pastel Watercolours' pad from The Works using a Tim Holtz for Sizzix embossing folder called 'Snowfall'...sanding lightly over the raised areas to reveal a little of the white core. The I took snippets of white hammer card, and used some dies (Clearly Besotted 'Tree Landscape', Your Next Die 'Houses on a Hill' & Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Borders') to cut the wintry landscapes, then layered them up over the background...placing some teeny tiny snippets of yellow card behind the windows of the houses. Finally, I added a large star cut from a snippet of silver glitter card using one of the dies from the Tim Holtz for Sizzix 'Snowy Stars' die set.

For my 'Off the Edge' card, I used one of the stamps from my Simon Says Stamp ' Snowflake Edges' set, stamping if just off the edge of a snippet of watercolour effect paper from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations, using Versamark ink, then I heat embossed it using white embossing powder. I then carefully tore around the edge of the image before adding it to a navy card blank. I added a simple sentiment, heat embossing it in white to match the snowflakes, using one of the stamps from the Crafter's Companion 'Winter Blessings' set.

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

• AAA Cards - Anything CAS (Second card only)
• Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - Anything Goes
• Jingle Belles - Embossing
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Stamping Sensations - Christmas in July (Second card only)

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

A Wish & a Kiss

Today's card is a simple Christmas card, that features a Penny Black stamp called 'A Wish & a Kiss'. I stamped it on to a kraft card blank, along with a sentiment from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I added a snippet of checked paper from the 'Christmas Wishes' multistack by DCWV along one edge...using one of my Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside' border dies to cut the curve.

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas Kickstart - Plaid/Checks
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Fur or Feathers
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

Pink Wonderland

I have a Christmas card to share today made using some dies and punches and lots of snippets of card and paper. I started by heat embossing my Simon Says Stamp 'Falling Snow' background stamp on to a fairly large snippet of pink watercolour effect paper (from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations) using white embossing powder. I cut a couple of snowy slopes from snippets of white card using my 'Tree Landscape' die (from Clearly Besotted) and one of the 'Stitched Hillside Borders' (from Lawn Fawn), and layered those over the top. I added a sentiment (from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous) and a little pink house cut from a tiny snippet of the same pink paper as the background.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Christmas Kickstart - Christmas, But Not As We Know It (I went for untraditional Christmas colours)
• Cut It Up - Layer It Up
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes with Dies
• Krafty Chicks - Christmas
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets

Ice Dance Dog

I have a Christmas card to share today...featuring an old Penny Black image called 'Ice Dance Dog'. I stamped him directly on to a card blank, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I paper pieced his scarf with a snippet of plaid paper from the 'Jolly Santa' pad from The Works. I added another snippet of the same paper along the top edge of the card...I used one of my Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Borders' dies to cut the curve...with a sentiment (from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous) heat embossed on to it in white.

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas Cards All Year Round - Ten Lords-A-Leaping (For a Male)
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Christmas Goes
• Krafty Chicks - CAS
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Sweet Stampin' - Gingham/Tartan/Plaid
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

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! I'm the host, and the themes are:

'U is for Use it Up'

&

'V is for Vertical'

The prize for the lucky winner of this challenge is this 'Cozy Christmas' 6x6 paper pad & snowflake die set:

For my 'U is for Use It Up' card, I decided to make a card using just die cuts, and picked some scraps of card and patterned paper from my stash to use:

I trimmed the 'snowy' paper (from the 'Christmas' pad by Craft Sensations) to fit an A6 card blank, then used my Penny Black 'Xmas Tree Border' die to cut a couple of rows of trees from the two green card scraps. I inked the tops of them a little (to tone down the bright green!) using 'Forest Moss' Distress Ink, then layered them on to the snowy blackground. I used my Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Borders' dies to cut the snowy grouns from the scrap of white card, then inked the top of those with a little 'Salty Ocean' Distress Ink, before adding them to the card. I cut a little deer (using one of the dies from the Tim Holtz/Sizzix 'Winter Wonderland' set) from the snippet of kraft card, then inked him using 'Tea Dye' Distress Ink and added him to the scene. Finally, I cut the sentiment using the remaining scrap of white card using a Memory Box die, then added it to the snowy sky.

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes (First card only)
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes (First card only)
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes (First card only)
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets (First card only)

For my 'V is for Vertical' card, I used a Woodware stamp called 'Robin Stack' to make a DL sized card. I stamped the robins on to a piece of watercolour paper, along with one of the sentiments from the set, then coloured them using watercolour pencils. I doodled a simple border, then added the panel to a kraft card blank.

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

• Fab 'N' Funky - Show Us Some Colouring (Second card only)
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes (Second card only)

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

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

Winter House

I have a Christmas card to share today, made using a Cuttlebug embossing folder that I picked up earlier this week in a charity shop. It's called 'Winter House', and I used it to emboss a snippet of white card. As it has an embossed border around the edge, and is not quite the right size for an A6 card, I trimmed it down, then lightly distressed the edges. I cut a 'snowdrift' from another snippet of white card using one of my Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside' border dies, distressed that a little, then added it along the bottom to cover the border at the bottom. I used some of the dies from my Tim Holtz/Sizzix 'WInter Wonderland' set to cut a few deer from some more snippets of white card, then placed them along the bottom of the panel before adding it to a card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Use Your Scraps
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes
• Use Your Stuff - Anything Goes

Birthday Chickens

I have a simple one layer birthday card to share today, featuring a Christmas stamp called 'Carolers' by Penny Black. I stamped it directly on to a kraft card blank, then coloured the chickens using watercolourpencils. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Critter Concert' set by Lawn Fawn.

Challenges for this card:

• C.R.A.F.T. - Birthday
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Fab 'N' Funky - Things with Wings
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Inspired by Music
• Stamping Sensations - Anything Stamped
• The Male Room - Animals

Snowy Snippets

Today's card was totally inspired by the current Pixie's Snippets Playground challenge, where they are celebrating Di's 11th Blogoversary (congratulations Di!), by asking us to 'Show Us Your Snippets!'. So, I searched through my paper pads to find the one that was mostly snippets to use...this is the 'Winter Wonderland' pad by My Mind's Eye that I've had for about 10 years! There is one complete sheet, but the rest is just snippets of varying sizes:

I chose to use 'Snowy' by Penny Black, stamping him on to a kraft card blank, then colouring him using watercolour pencils. I then paper pieced his hat and scarf using some of the snippets. I added another snippet of the paper along the top border of the card...cutting the curve with one of my 'Stitched Hillside Border' dies by Lawn Fawn. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Wintertime Messages' set by Hero Arts.

Challenges for this card:

• As You Like It - Favourite Reason to Send a Card (Christmas, because it's what got me into crafting!)
• Christmas Craft Creations - Snippets
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Krafty Chicks - Christmas
• Little Red Wagon - Baby It's Cold Outside
• My Time to Craft - Snowmen
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Too Cute
• Stamps + Fun = Creativity - Snowmen and/or Stars
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes