Favourite Five Cards 2025

As has become traditional on New Year's Eve, I'm sharing my favourite five cards of this year. As I look back through my blog posts, I always find it interesting to see if any themes have emerged in my cardmaking over the course of the year. Whilst there are still plenty of cute critter cards, I used more die cuts this year, and my cards have become increasingly clean and simple.

All of the photos are linked to the original blog post, so please click through for more information.

My first card is from February, and features (unusually for me) die cuts as the main focus. I love the modern shape of these floral dies...and they're great for using up little snippets of card & paper!

My second card is from May, and features several things that I love (and usually make it onto at least one of my favourite cards each year) - Distress inks, gold embossing and the big butterfly stamp!

My next card is actually a bookmark...I'm an avid reader, and always like to have plenty of bookmarks handy...and they're a great way to use up offcuts of card! This one features a favourite floral stamp, and Cosmic Shimmers that I've used many times this year.

Of course, there's a Penny Black image amongst my favourites, and the next card, from August, features a 'new to me' stamp called 'Surprise!' I also love the colour in these floral papers.

My final card is from November, and although I've made a lot of one layer cards this year, I love the effect the added layer gives on this CAS card.

I'm going to link up this post over at Ellie's I Spy With My Little Eye - Favourite Creations of the Year.

I posted my Favourite Five Christmas Cards here last week, if you'd like to take a look.

Finally, thanks to everyone who has visited and taken the time to comment on my blog this year - I wish you all the very best for the New Year!

Guest Designer - I Spy With My Little Eye Challenge

Today, I'm excited to be sharing a Guest Designer card for Ellie's 'I Spy With My Little Eye Challenge', where the theme for this month's challenge is:

'I Spy With My Little Eye...At Least One Butterfly'

I have a number of butterfly stamps, and picked my 'Big Butterfly' stamp by Stampendous, and a set of stamps from Papermania's 'Urban Stamps' range simply called 'Butterflies' to use for my card. I stamped them onto watercolour paper using Versamark ink, then heat embossed them using metallic gold embossing powder from WOW. I added a sentiment using a stamp from the 'Signature Greetings' set by Memory Box, heat embossing it in gold to match. I used (quite a lot of ) Distress Inks to watercolour the butterflies (Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Crackling Campfire, Festive Berries, Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire, Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, Salvaged Patina & Gathered Twigs), then splattered it with a little gold mica pigment (from a Cosmic Shimmers set) mixed with water. Once dry, I matted it onto some gold mirror card, distressing the edges, before adding it to a white card blank.

It's always tricky to capture the shine in a photo, but the gold is really pretty in real life:

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

• AAA Birthday - Anything Birthday Goes
• AAA Cards - Birthday
• Aud Sentiments - Watercolouring + a Sentiment
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Things with Wings
• Stamping Sensations - Feminine

For more inspiration from Ellie and Pauline, please pop over to Ellie's 'I Spy With My Little Eye' Challenge.

 

All Is Bright

Today's card features some of the stamps from the 'All is Bright' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company. I stamped them on to watercolour paper, then coloured the image using watercolour pencils...adding some sparkle to the start using a Sakura Stardust pen.The starry background paper is from the 'Twelve Days of Christmas' pad by Papermania...I distressed all of the edges a little, then matted the image on to a snippet of kraft card before adding it all to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• I Spy With My Little Eye - Fur or Feathers
• Krafty Chicks - Masculine
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• My Time to Craft - Make It Male

Bauble Decoration

Today's card features an old Papermania stamp called 'Bauble Decoration'. I stamped it directly on to a kraft card blank using Versamark ink, then heat embossed it in white. I added a sentiment using a stamp from a Lili of the Valley set...heat embossing that in white to match.

Challenges for this card:

• Christmas Kickstart - Baubles
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes (Optional 'Photo Inspiration')
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas 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'

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

Prize - a $20 voucher!

I went with 'New Year' as my Something New, and am sharing the calendar I made for my Mum for Christmas. Every year I decorate a couple of the Paper Mill blank calendars to give as gifts, and use exclusively Penny Black images. The panel on each month is A6 in size, and I used lots of snippets from a mixture of brands for the simple backgrounds. I distressed the edges of everything, and added some faux stitching to the papers using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I won't list the names of all of the images, or papers...partly because there are too many to list, but also because I can't remember and I'm not at home able to check!

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

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
• Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• 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.

Guest Designer - AAA Birthday Challenge

Today I'm sharing some projects I made for a Guest Designer spot at this month's AAA Birthday Challenge!

The theme this month is to 'Add a Tag'...either feature a tag on your project, or make a matching tag.

I chose to make a matching Birthday card and tag for my Aunt's birthday. 

For the card, I used a mixture of butterfly stamps (Indigo Blu 'Big Butterfly' and the 'Butterflies' set from the Urban Stamps range by Papermania), stamping them on to watercolour paper using Versamark ink, then heat embossing them using gold embossing glitter from WOW. I then watercoloured the butterflies using Distress Inks (Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Seedless Preserves, Chipped Sapphire, Broken China & Gathered Twigs), and added a heat embossed sentiment (in matallic gold this time), using a stamp from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image. I distressed the edges a little, then added it to card blank.

For the tag, I picked just the large butterfly, and again heat embossed in in gold glitter on watercolour paper, and coloured it using Distress Inks. I trimmed it down, distressed the edges, then added it to a kraft tag along with some coordinating twine.

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

Urban Butterflies

Today's card features all three of the stamps from the 'Butterflies' set from the Urban Stamps range from Papermania. I stamped them on to watercolour paper, adding a sentiment from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image, then coloured them using watercolour pencils. I distressed the edges a little, then added the panel to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• AAA Birthday - Butterflies
• Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Birthday) - Anything Birthday Goes
• Krafty Chicks - CAS
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes

Urban Butterfly

Today's card features one of the butterfly stamps from the Papermania 'Butterflies' set (from the Urban Stamps' range. I stamped it on to watercolour paper using Versamark Ink, along with a sentiment from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image, then heat embossed them using 'Gold Pearl' embossing powder from WOW. I watercoloured the image using Distress Inks (Gathered Twigs for the body, and Peacock Feathers & Uncharted Mariner for the wings). I splattered a little of the inks over the top, then distressed the edges a little before adding it to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Alphabet Challenge - F is for Flying
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Daring Cardmakers - Garden Bugs
• Just Us Girls - CAS Thinking of You
• Krafty Chicks - Any Occasion
• Sweet Stampin' - No Designer Papers

ABC Christmas Challenge - E, F & G are for?

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

'E is for Elves'

'F is for Food'

&

'G is for Gold'

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

For my 'Elf' card, I used a Penny Black stamp called 'Bauble Balance', which I stamped on to watercolour paper, along with the sentiment that came in the set, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I added some sparkle to the baubles using a Wink of Stella pen, then distressed the edges and added faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen, before adding the panel to a kraft card blank.

For my 'Food' card, I picked a Christmas pudding stamp from Personal Impressions, stamping it directly on to a kraft card blank, and colouring it using watercolour pencils. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

On my 'Gold' card, I used an old Papermania stamp called 'Bauble Decoration', stamping it on to cream card using Versamark Ink, then heat embossing it using metallic gold embossing powder from WOW. The sentiment is part of the stamp, so nothing else needed - perfect for quick cards. I matted the panel on to some gold mirror card, then added it to a cream DL card blank.

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

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Christmas with the Cuties - Something with a Sentiment (First card only)
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Christmas Goes
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Emboss It (Third card only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Slimline Cards (Third card only)
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

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

Bauble Decoration

I have a couple of Christmas cards to share today, made using a stamp that I picked up in a charity shop last week. It's an old wood mounted stamp by Papermania called 'Bauble Decoration', that I remember seeing everywhere when it first came out! On the first card, I stamped it on to white card using black ink, then added a little colour to the baubles using watercolour pencils...I did add a little sparkle with a Wink of Stella pen, but you can't really see that! The sentiment is part of the stamp, so I simpley matted the panel on to some silver mirror card before adding it to my card blank.

On the second card, I stamped it on to burgundy card using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed it using 'Metallic Brass Sparkle' embossing glitter from WOW (another charity shop find). I matted the panel on to some champagne coloured glitter card, then on to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Krafty Chicks - Stamp Act
• Perfectly CAS - Christmas (First card only)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Something New (the stamp is new)
• Sparkles Christmas Forum - Sparkle/Glitter Accents (Second card only)
• Stamping Sensations - Add Some Sparkle (Second card only)

Guest Designer - AAA Cards Challenge!

A couple of month's ago I was picked as one of the favourites of a challenge over at AAA Cards, and asked to guest design for a future challenge which starts today. The game this week is 1/9th with optional 'Butterflies':

If you're not sure what this means...simply divide your card base into 9 rectangles/squares, and keep your entire design (including the sentmiment) within one of the rectangles/squares:

I used a white, square card blank and picked the centre 9th for my butterfly (it's from the 'Butterflies' set from the 'Urban Stamps' range by Papermania), stamping it directly on to my card blank using Versamark ink. I then heat embossed it using 'Metallic Gold' embossing powder from WOW, before adding a sentiment (also heat embossed in gold) from the 'Just for YOu' set by Penny Black. To colour my butterfly, I used Cosmic Shimmers mica pigments...mixing them with a little water to create a paint.

As always with shiny, shimmery things, it's really difficult to get it to show in a photo, but here's a close-up of the butterfly that shows it a little better:

For more inspiration from the wonderful AAA Cards design team, please pop over to their challenge - thanks for having me!