May Desk Calendar

Today, I'm sharing my Penny Black desk calendar page for May. I picked one of the frogs from my long neglected 'Toadily Happy' set, stamped it onto watercolour paper, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then used one of my Nesties to cut out the circle shape. For the background, I used snippets of papers from the 'Here + There' pad by Studio Calico...distressing the edges, and adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I matted it onto a snippet of kraft card before adding it to the calendar.

Challenges for this calendar:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
• Neglected Stuff - Anything Goes (The frog stamp was last used in 2020!)
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Make it Colourful
• We Love Stamping - All Creatures Great & Small

Tulips in a Vase

I have a simple birthday card to share today, featuring a floral stamp from Woodware called 'Tulips in a Vase'. I stamped it onto a piece of smooth white card, adding a sentiment to the vase using one of the stamps from the 'What This!' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft company. I coloured it using watercolour pencils, then matted it onto a snippet of pale pink card, distressing the edges, before adding it to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday - Primarily Pink
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Mother's Day/Feminine
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

PBSC May - Anything Goes (Optional 'Your Favourite PB Stamp')

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

'Your Favourite Penny Black Stamp'

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

My all time favourite Penny Black stamp, is also one of the first ones I bought, 'Birthday Dog'. I stamped him onto watercolour paper, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment using stamps from the 'Birthday Buddies' set by Paper Smooches, then used one of my Nesties to cut the circle shape. I paired it with snippets of papers from the 'Prince Charming' pad by Recollections/Michaels (found at TKMaxx), and 

'Refreshing Basics' pad from The Works...distressing the edges and adding faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen. I used another Nestie die to cut the scalloped mat from a snippet of kraft card, then layered everything up on a kraft card blank.

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

• Everybody Art - Happy Birthday
• Krafty Chicks - Colour an Image
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• 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.

Many Blessings

I have a Christmas card to share today, made using stamps from the 'Many Blessings' set by Hero Arts. I did a little bit of masking to have the trees behind the snowmen, then added one of the sentiments from the set before colouring the image using watercolour pencils. I paired it with papers from the 'May Your Days Be Merry & Bright' pad by Craft Sensations...I distressed all of the edges a little, and matted the image and base layer onto snippets of green and red card before adding it to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Two or More Patterned Papers
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes
• Rudolph Days - Anything Christmas Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin' - Christmas

Burst into Bloom

I have a simple sympathy card to share today, made using a lovely floral stamp from Woodware called 'Burst into Bloom. I stamped it onto a piece of navy card using Versamark ink, then heat embossed it using metallic silver embossing powder from WOW. I heat embossed a sentiment, using one of the stamps from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image, in silver to match, then coloured the flowers using watercolour pencils. I matted it onto some silver mirror card, distressing all of the edges, before adding it to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• CAS on Friday - Sympathy
• Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes

Cheerful Flowers

I have a bright & cheerful birthday card to share today, which features a lovely floral stamp that I picked up from a charity shop...it's an unmounted grey rubber stamp, and it was not in its original packaging, so I have no idea what it is! I stamped it, along with a sentiment from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image, onto watercolour paper using Versamark ink, then heat embossed it all using metallic gold embossing powder from WOW. I coloured the flowers using watercolour pencils, then matted it onto some gold mirror card, distressing all of the edges, before adding it to a kraft card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• As You Like It - Brights or Pastels (Bright colours for me - I love how cheerful they look)
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Feminine
• We Love Stamping - Spring

Snow Scroll

Today's card features a Penny Black Christmas stamp called 'Snow Scroll' that I picked up in charity shop over Easter. I stamped it a couple of times onto some navy blue card using Versamark ink, then heat embossed it using 'Fairy Dust' embossing glitter from WOW. I added a sentiment, heat embossed to match, using one of the stamps from the 'Winter Blessings' set from Crafter's Companion, then matted it onto some silver glitter card, distressing the edges a little, before adding it to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Crafty Gals - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Peace on Earth Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes

Red Poppies

Today's card features a poppy covered embossing folder that I received with some choccy eggs for Easter. It wasn't in its original packaging, and has no branding on it, so if you recognise it, please let me know the details! I used it to emboss a snippet of red card. I stamped a sentiment, using one of the stamps from the 'Brushstroke Expressions' set by My Favorite Things onto another snippet of the same red card using a white pigment ink, then heat embossed it using white embossing powder. I distressed the edges of both snippets a little, then added them to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - In the Garden
• Beautiful Blossoms - Anything Goes
• Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets

Floral Flourish

I have a simple one layer card to share today, featuring a stamp called 'Floral Flourish' by Stamps by Chloe. I stamped it directly onto a lilac card blank using a white pigment ink, along with a sentiment using one of the stamps from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image, then heat embossed it all using white embossing powder. I added some shading to the flowers using purple watercolour pencils.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Inspired by Nature
• Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Stamp
• Time Out - Pick Two (Pastel & Bloom)

PBSC April - Anything Goes (Optional 'Pastel Colours')...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

'Pastel Colours'

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

For my card, I picked a cute cat image from the 'Christmas Hugs' set for my card, and stamped it onto watercolour paper, along with a sentiment (using a stamp from the 'Christmas Hats' set by Anita Jeram for the Colorado Craft Company), then coloured it using watercolour pencils. For the background, I used a snowflake covered paper (from the 'Christmas' pad by Craft Sensations, and a couple of snippets of plain-ish papers from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad, also by Craft Sensations. I embossed the plain-ish papers using snowflake embossing folders from Cuttlebug and Sizzix, then lightly sanded over the raised areas to reveal some of the white core. I distressed the edges a little, then layered everything up on a white card blank.

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

• Can You Handle the Pressure - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - Anything Goes
• Crafty Animals - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Little Red Wagon - That Song ('Joy to the World')

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

Snowflake Edges

I have a pair of simple Christmas cards to share today, made using stamps from the 'Snowflake Edges' set by Simon Says Stamp. I stamped the borders, with one of the sentiments in between, onto smooth white card using Versamark ink, then heat embossed it all using metallic silver embossing powder. I coloured the snowflakes using mica pigments mixed with a little bit of water, then distressed the edges before adding them to card blanks.

The snowflakes are really shiny in real life, but terrible to photograph:

Challenges for these cards:

• As You Like It - Simple or Fussy (Simple for me - especially Christmas cards so that they are cheaper to post!)
• Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Fab 'N' Funky - Clean & Simple
• Krafty Chicks - CAS