Hello Holly

This little fairy is Holly Starshine, yet another of the Sweet November digis that has been on review over at the All That Scraps Blog... there's even more coming next week too!  

I've coloured Miss Starshine with Copics, and breaking with tradition, didn't add any sparkle whatsoever!  It was an oversight, but the silver mat (cut with Marianne Designs die) is pretty shiny and probably doesn't need the competition, lol.  Holly is cut out then glued to the silver board.  It took forever to cut the image out... lesson learned; pay attention to how many fiddly bits are on the edges, and if necessary leave a bit of a border :-)  One Stop Craft Challenge has Christmas Fairies as its challenge, so I'm entering my little Christmas fairy there.

I used the sketch from Pink Inks last challenge, I didn't get this post up in time but thought it worth showing the sketch anyway as it's very "usable".  In the meantime Pink Ink has changed its name to "the Sketchy Challenge" so don't be confused :-)  They have an interesting sketch this time too.  For a change I haven't used Kaisercraft papers; I've used Basic Greys Jovial collection.  I love the rich dark tones of this paper, and it's nice to mix it up every now and again.

The flowers are cut using a Nellie Snellen floral punch, which comes with a die to emboss the petals... I have found if you dampen the paper before embossing it is more effective (running a ball stylus down the back of the petals at the end helps too).  The centres of the flowers are Pebbles, from the Boo collection, they're actually all the same colour, but the one at the top looks lighter because the glue hadn't dried behind it when I took the photo (I was, as usual, in a hurry!)  Sweet Stampin' has Punches and/or dies for its challenge this time, too easy!
I used my new Scalloped Circles Nestabilities die to cut the polka dot circle; I usually have a plain mat on top of a fancy edged one, but in this case I used the largest Scalloped circle and so had to resort to my old Fiskars system to cut the larger circle... it's certainly not as easy as a Nestie, but I was glad not to have to cut freehand! Bizzy Becs has Circles for its challenge, so I'm entering there.

The ribbon is from my stash, it looks quite plain in the pic, but is really nice and lush IRL.  Only the image mat and the triangle piece are foam dotted this time, so NOT like me :-) but it gave me the chance to stick the ribbon flat. 

The inside of the card echoes the sketch and uses papers from the front.  The sentiment is from Tickled Pink Stamps, as is the sentiment border, the whole thing cut using the matching die.

Paper Crafting Journey,  

Fab'n'funky Challenges, The Paper Shelter and Divas by Design all have Anything Goes challenges running, so I'll be entering there.  Pollycraft has Christmas Fun, Copic Oz has Christmas and Craft Your Passion has Tis the Season, so I'll be entering there too.
That's it from Holly and I, don't forget to pop over to the ATS blog and check out some of the other digis in review... there's lots of rubber available for the "old school" too ;-)  You can get them all here.  I'll be back in a day or so.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Me and My Darling Under The Mistletoe

Today's card is for my husband for Christmas.  The theme over at Here Come The Boys is "for the man in your life".  I have a number of men in my life.... no, not what you're thinking, tsk, I mean my sons and Dad as well as my husband; but this card is definitely for my husband, that's who I want to meet under the mistletoe. (Still, after 33 years, aaw)

The image, Mistletoe Jasper, is from Digistamp Boutique...  how cute is he, and his little robin friend?  Papertake Weekly has Christmas Crackers -something Christmassy, Pollycraft has Christmas Fun and Crazy 4 Challenges has Snow as their challenge themes so I'm entering my snowy Christmassy card there!
There is over a foot of difference in height between my husband and myself, so often characters that have a big disparity between them - like these, strike a chord with me :-) and my husband too, I might add.  I'm entering Digistamp Boutique's challenge as all you have to do is use one of their images, never a hardship!  Stampin' for the Weekend has Friends as their challenge theme, so I'm entering there too.
I've coloured the image with Copics, adding Stickles to the fur trim and (my newest purchase) Liquid Pearls to the mistletoe berries. A couple of truly tiny diamante serve perfectly as buttons.  The green brads are sparkly too, you can never have too much sparkle on a Christmas card, can ya?  
All the panels are popped up on foam dots, I'm using a new brand which I bought when I was out quoting a pool job (make it work for you, I say) miles from home... and wouldn't you know it, they're fabulous (sticky when they're meant to be, yet they come off the backing paper easily), I now have to decide whether to make the 70km (nearly 50miles) round trip just to get more (at $2 for a pack of, well LOTS, but fuel at $1.35 per litre) or hang out for another quote in that area; decisions, decisions, lol.

The sketch for this card is another goody from Sweet Sketch Wednesday, I've run the ribbon under the three boxes on the right otherwise it's pretty much exactly per sketch.  The three gifts came all glittered up in a pack, they're mounted on self adhesive foam already to go - all I had to do was change the ribbon trim to match "my" ribbon (from stash, coming to an end, noooo)  and stick them on to the squares - too easy!
The papers are from Kaisercraft (yup, again!), the mats are textured cardstock, well there are little shiny spots on it at least and the middle square is sparkly card embossed with Cuttlebugs Snowflakes folder; the piece I've used is so small you can hardly see the embossing, but it does help "throw" the light... a bit!  Creatalicious Challenges  has Christmas and Make Sure it Sparkles as its theme, tick tick I'm in, lol.

I generated the sentiment on the computer, originally in Word (which is clearer) but here it is as a .png- if you like you can just grab it; I'll have it on my Freebies page too if you want it later.  It can be resized (to a point) and don't forget it's easy to recolour in Word too! 
The inside of the card has more paper from the front and a couple of the gifts, this time in their unadulterated state (au naturel, you might say, lol)
Bearly Mine Challenges  has All My Favourite Things as its challenge theme, this has some of my favourite things... couldn't fit them ALL on one card, lol.  Creative Craft Challenges has a Free For All (challenge wise at least!) and Paper Crafting Journey has Anything Goes, so I'll be entering there too.

That's it for today's card, don't forget to check out the rest of the Design Team's inspiration, and why not enter the challenge this time, it doesn't have to be a Christmas card (if you're sick of them!), it doesn't even have to be a card and it can be any "man in your life" too easy :-)
I've just noticed while posting these photos that they look a bit fuzzy, I don't know what I've changed on my camera (the pitfalls of letting your professional-photographer son source your camera for you -"it's easy Mum", mmm) but the focus does seem to be a bit off, oh well, I don't have time to sort it out at the moment so enjoy "fuzzy", lol.
Until next time, from Jasper and I (I'm the little one) Happy Crafting, Donna

Happy Birthday to....Chris!

It's my youngest son Christopher's 27th Birthday and I've made him a card that doubles as a holder for the gift card that is part of his present.

The digistamp I've used is 1920's Luca from Tickled Pink Stamps.  Chris is a snazzy dresser, and looks very much like Luca and some of the other Li'l Lads from Tickled Pink, and is the reason "my" Luca has green eyes!  I used one of these images for his Christmas card last year, and have found another that's perfect for his Christmas card this year... all I have to do is make it! 
I've used the sketch from the Tickled Pink Stamps Challenge this time, yummo!

I coloured Luca with Copics and made the sentiment on the computer; a play on "Have a Nice Birthday" that suits the hand of cards he's holding.  I used Ballet Engraved font for the "Ace" as it's in the 1920's style (coincidentally Chris lives in a beautiful Art Deco restored apartment close to the city, which he loves, so the style is perfect!)
The papers are from Kaisercrafts Velvet Ensemble... I coloured Luca up to suit another sheet and then decided on this one, so there's a bit more of the caramel colour than the paper warrants, never mind :-)  The black paper with the fleur de lis is from Die Cuts With A View Mariposa 12" stack.  I've matted on very shiny gold card, and used a gold ribbon with black and laser cut sequins that my folks got me on a recent trip to Malaysia.  Digi Stamps 4 Joy  has a Colour Bingo challenge, I've used the line: Jet Black, Neutral and Gorgeous Gold.
I finished it off with some gold brads from my stash and three black Pebbles that I just got in my took-eight-weeks order from the US... Love them!!
As usual I've popped the panels up at different heights with foam dots, and as usual you can hardly tell in the photos, lol.  Oh well, you get that!
The inside of the card uses papers from the front, as usual, and echoes the sketch (which I often do) I have made one of the panels into a pocket for the gift card by simply punching a semicircular hole in a piece of the patterned paper and gluing only the very edges of three sides. 
Here's a photo with the gift card in place.
Fab'n'funky Challenges has Happy Birthday as its theme this time and Sweet Stampin' has  Birthday Somethings, so I'm entering those challenges. Stamptacular Sunday Challenge has Boy Oh Boy (card for a boy or man) so I'm in there too and even though this is for a man, I think it fits the Cupcake Craft Challenges theme of Teenage Boys, so I'm entering there too.  Creative Craft Challenges has a Free For All challenge, I KNOW it fits there, lol.
Well that's it from Luca and I. Happy Birthday to my darling Chris (who's recovering from a very painful episode of kidney stones, poor love)  I'm looking forward to going out for dinner with him and the rest of the family tomorrow evening; park at his place, wander down to the very nearby café strip, roll back for cake... all sounds good - especially as I'm fasting at the moment for a blood test in the morning!!
Until next time, Happy Crafting, D4Donna 

Christmas Presence

Today I have another card with the lovely little Sugarplums Emma and Trevor, digis that are in review at All That Scraps.  This is "Winter Trevor" - don't you just love those little antler, and "Santa Emma", sitting on "Presents" - another digi by CC Designs available here. They're available in rubber too!

You just have to pop over to the blog to see the rest of my teamies work, using these images and some others in review.  My Time to Craft has Take Two as its challenge theme, so I'm using my Two little friends to enter there.
I coloured the images with Copics, adding Star Dust Stickles to Emma's hat and the present, Gloss to her boots and belt, Gold Stickles to Trevor's sweater and Sparkly Fluff to his antler: I love this stuff, it gives texture as well as sparkle, what could be better?!  Creatalicious Challenges theme is Christmas- as long as it sparkles, Oh yeah! I'm in!!
I've used the sketch from Gem of a Challenge , which had the added requirement of Stitching: lucky for me that could be faux stitiching - it's the only kind I do, lol.  I think it finished the edges of the image and dp panel off nicely.
The papers are, once again, Kaisercrafts Christmas Carnival collection, the green card for matting and the red panel with the gold stars on are from my stash.  The Crafty Pad has "Red and Green + Silver or Gold" as its theme, so I'm entering there.

The red stars on the horizontal panel are actually self adhesive ribbon, I bought some last year and never got around to using it; now I have and you can't see most of it under the image panel! The wreath at the top of the image is a brad from my stash.

As usual I cut all the images out (my tip is to run a Copic multiliner around the cut edge to "even" it up) ...it covers a multitude of sins, I tell ya!  Then I popped everything up at different levels by using different thicknesses of foam dots, you can sort of see it in this picture.  Quite often when I photograph my cards just from the front they sort of flatten and you can't see the dimension... but it's usually there, lol

Pollycraft has Christmas Fun and Digital Tuesday has Christmas Time as their themes at the moment... I find Christmas time IS fun, so I'm entering both of these challenges.
Another "as usual" is the inside of the card, finished using papers from the front, the sentiment is from Tickled Pink Stamps stamped in red Kaisercraft ink.
Well that's it from me for today, I hope you like my little Sugarplum friends; they really are a joy to play with :-)  I'll be back in a day or so with the last of my DT offerings, then I have my son's birthday card to share... once I've made it!  Well, it's not his birthday until Thursday so there's plenty of time.... what's that I hear, "famous last words..."   
Actually I was going to get on to it on Friday evening, but spent most of it sitting in Emergency in Joondalup Hospital with said son... he rang me from work in terrible pain, I had a kidney stone - coincidentally when I was about his age, 27- and it sounded (and looked, once I saw him!) very familiar.  Turns out he has three stones in one kidney and seven up to 5mm in the other, any one who's had one move knows just what sort of pain I'm talking about.  

Chris, WITHOUT a kidney stone!

The irony here is that we spent eight hours with the same son in the same hospital four New Year's Eves ago when he fractured two vertebra in his back.... on a bouncy castle!!  I say irony because re the kidney stone, he is a VERY health conscious individual (trains five days a week, diet conscious, drinks only water etc) and re the bouncy castle doesn't drink alcohol at all and was on that occasion the "responsible adult" at the party being held by his (older) brother; we had said earlier in the evening that we could see it ending in tears booze+bouncy castle= broken limb+trip to hospital and that it was lucky for them that Chris was Skipper as we were going out for New Year for the first time in years and wouldn't be available to drive wounded soldiers.... but of course we were, and we did!  It was like being in the Village of the Damned, New Years Eve is NOT the time to test the efficiency of emergency departments, especially if you haven't had a drink between the three of you and everyone else most certainly has, lol.
Well, sorry about that little digression! Until next time Happy Crafting, Donna

Never Say Neva

The image I'm sharing today is Neva and she's one of the gorgeous Sweet November digis in review over at All That Scraps, available to buy here.

Neva is one of several snowflake faires, check out Nixie and Eira too.  The Paper Shelter has Snowflakes as it's theme and Craft Your Passion has Let It Snow; I'm sure Neva fits these challenges, so I'm entering there.
I'm really happy with the way this card has turned out, it looks very much as I had planned it... which is not always the case, by a long chalk!!  I've coloured Neva with Copics and added loads of sparkle with Silver Stickles.  After fussy cutting around her feet (to make sure they didn't get chopped off!) I cut the image panel using Nestabilities Classic Ovals, mounted on Nestabilities Scalloped Ovals.  Stamptacular Sunday Challenge is to Punch It Out, so I'm entering there.
I've used the sketch from the Sketch Saturday Challenge, nice one!
The papers are digis from Nitwits, the Still Joyful Too collection - printed on linen card, the mats are  lavender American Crafts card.  Whoopsi Daisy Challenge this time around is Colours of Winter, this is pretty wintery, so I'm entering there (though winter in Australia does still involve quite a bit of blue sky and not much of the white stuff, hehe).
The doily is from Poppy's Cabin (who due to technical issues is selling through her ebay store the Doily Dealer) I think it's cut using a Martha Stewart around the page punch...which I may have to add to my Christmas List, it's lovely.  I distressed the edges with Kaisercraft pigment inks.
I painted the Twiddlybitz snowflake with Matisse Antique White acrylic paint then used the pigment inks to colour it up a little before smothering it in Silver Stickles.  It still looked a little flat so I reinforced the colour by going over it with Copics, the silver still shows through really well, so that worked out ;-)  The centre is one of those fabby Sparklets from Kaisercraft, boy do they bling!!  Creatalicious Challenges has "Christmas, and make sure it sparkles" as their theme, trust me this SPARKLES!!
I added the little sprays of pearls, which I bought in a florist supply store, they helped fill it out a little without introducing another colour.

I used more of the doily and patterned paper from the front to decorate the inside of the card, the sentiment is from Tickled Pink Stamps.  The snowflake inside is a glittery fabric one, I Copiced (new verb???) the tips to tone them down a bit, pearls are from my stash.
Digital Tuesday has Christmastime and Fab'n'funky Challenges has Baby It's Cold Outside as their themes, I think Neva fits  both of these, so I'm entering there.
Well that's about it for today, I'll be back tomorrow with some more Sweet November digis, or maybe some more Sugarplums... I got both babe! You'll just have to come back and see which way I go, lol.
Until then, Happy crafting, D4Donna - and Neva too of course! 

Christmas with Trevor and Emma

Here I am again with more Sugarplums.  I love these little guys by CC Designs you can see more inspiration over at the All That Scraps Blog, or grab your own at the ATS shop.

Today I have Ornament Trevor and Ornament Emma on show.  They are so easy to colour and are sold separately (Trevor comes with the ornaments, Emma with the wreath)  I coloured with Copics adding gold detail to the ornaments before adding loads of gloss to them and Stickles to the berries on the wreath; you can just about see in the pic!  
Cupcake Craft Challenges has Two's Company for its challenge, these little guys are in!  My Time to Craft has Take Two (use two of something), as well as two little Sugarplums I have used that fabby embellishment along the top, which came in quite a long string from my LSS for $2.50!, with two Christmas lights and two stars, so I'm in there too.  Sundays with Chrissy has Christmas in Non Traditional colours, I'm hoping this is non-traditional enough, lol.
The paper is from Kaisercraft's collection and the sentiment is from a set of clear stamps I've had for years and have hardly used, having never used this particular stamp (you know I'm more comfortable going digi!!)... I'm making the effort this year :-) it's stamped using Kaisercraft pigment ink.  Christmas Stampin' All Year Long has Never seen ink as its challenge this time, this qualifies so I'm in! Bizzy Becs  wants us to use Circles, plenty of circles on this paper so I'm entering the challenge.
I used the sketch from Card Patterns, my little Christmas lights embellishment covered the element at the top perfectly, I think!  The snowflake on the sentiment has been in my findings box for quite a few years, it was a spare from when I made a fabergé egg for Christmas years ago to give to my Mum - then couldn't part with it.  I still have it and it is in fact out on display all year, I open it to reveal the little Christmas tree inside over the festive season.  I will post pictures of it soon as it is a piece I consider among my best bits of craft ever... and it took FOREVER to make!!
I digress.... the inside of the card is simple, the snowflake stamp on the purple tag is from the set I just bought from Tickled Pink Stamps (it's a sentiment set that came with a few little extras) stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with glittery EP; see more "proper" stamping!!
I'll have some more Sugarplums to show over the next few days as well as some really sweet Sweet November images.
Until then,why not pop over to the ATS blog to check out the rest of the DT's fabulous projects using more of the Sugarplums in review. Happy Crafting, D4Donna 
BTW, I'd like to thank the one lady who has contacted me re the mix up of Dee's, to the "naughty" Dee (you know who you are!) all I can say is I'm glad to no longer use the name Dee if you are representative of it

Angels Away at ATS

Well here I am again with even more of those fabulous little digis that are in review on the All That Scraps blog.  These little lasses are the Angel Babies from Sweet November and you can get yours here. They come as a set, but they do have their own names, they are Eva, Mia and Sophie, aaww 

 I've coloured the little ladies up with my trusty Copics, by the way ***enabler alert*** Two Peas in a Bucket have a sensational offer on at the moment: buy two Copic pens and receive a refill FREE... that's a refill per two pens (I bought sixteen pens last night and got eight refills!  Some pens were only $2.49 and you still got to choose your refills, I'm going back later to see if the promo is still on.... more pens coming my way, lol)  Just thought I'd share!

I've used the sketch from Sketch and Stash this time, my new stash is the image, which has been available for some time but is new to me. Christmas Stampin' All Year Long  wants us to use a stamp that has "Never Seen Ink", I hope unprinted digis count, lol.
The paper is from Kaisercraft's Christmas Carnival pad, love these fresh colours, and the ribbon is from my stash.  Digi Stamps 4 Joy has a colour bingo challenge, I've used: Cool Blue, Neutral, Red Hot The Secret Crafter wants us to use Spots AND Stripes, I have - so I'm in.
Instead of matting the image on to card as I normally would, I've used pink hand made paper my lovely son Chris gave me ages ago that I've never used, it's gorgeous but hard to cut neatly with all those silky fibres. The patterned paper panels are mounted on more of the paper from the pad, much easier :-)
The "Joy" metal embellishment came in a pack and was silver, which didn't suit the gold stickles on the angels halos and the star (there's Diamond Stickles on their wings too), so I coloured the silver bits with Y23 Copic and voila gold metal embellishment!
Totally Gorjuss has Christmas Traditions as its challenge theme, this fits;  Digital Tuesday has a Christmas theme and Creatalicious Challenges has "Christmas...And Make Sure It Sparkles" - plenty of sparkle here, even though it's hard to photograph! so I'm entering those challenges too.

The inside of the card is finished, as per usual, with papers from the front.  Once again I have used a "real" stamp for the sentiment inside.  It's from Tickled Pink Stamps and is stamped using Teal Kaisercraft pigment ink embossed with Sparkle embossing powder.  I've got to say, the quality of the TPS stamps is great.  Apart from my beloved digis I've mainly used clear stamps, so I don't know if it's just that red rubber is that much better than clear, or whether TPS are superior.  Either way, the image stamps so cleanly, lovely!!  Don't know if I'm a true convert though, I did about twenty practice stamps before committing to the card, I edit my digis or computer generated sentiments before they hit the paper, so there's less waste!
That's it for today, some of my beloved Sugarplums are on review at the All That Scraps blog tomorrow, I'll start posting my efforts then; on Friday there's more Sweet Novembers too.  If you can't wait for me (I'm sure you can!) or would like to see my fellow teamies projects (more likely) pop over to the blog and check them out.
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Dee4Donna

Jolly Bling-a-ling Buttons

No, Jolly Bling-a-ling Buttons isn't some new age festive greeting; it's the names of these three little fellows who are the Sweet November digis in review at All That Scraps right now.

There's loads on review, check out the rest of the DT inspiration at the All That Scraps Blog, ca-ute!
I coloured with Copics and added Diamond Stickles to the star, I didn't think it needed much bling on the image with all that glitter on the cardstock I matted with, lol.  Bearly Mine Challenges theme this time is One for the Boyz so I'm entering there. eta: New rule, 2 entries only (this was my third, per the "old" rule) so I'm NOT entering there :-(  

I used the sketch from last week's Stamptacular Sunday Challenge, isn't it a good one?!  Of course I missed the deadline (it's what I do!)  Their challenge for this week is Punch It, so at least I can still enter, having used my Standard Circles Nestabilities for the sentiment -  phew!
The papers are from Kaisercrafts 'Tis The Season pad, with the background paper from a budget pack I bought for scrapbooking before I ever made a card.  
I got the sentiment as a freebie, but even though I usually note where they come from, in this case I haven't; so if it's "yours" let me know and I'll credit you :-)  It's a digi (you probably would have guessed that, wouldn't you?) I added the red and green with Copics, but next time I might anticipate that there's going to be red and green on the sentiment and colour it before printing, at least I won't go out of the lines that way!  Some Stickles around the outside edge helped to tone the green down to more similar to the mat cardstock.
Totally Gorjuss has a Christmas theme this week, as does Papertake Weekly and Digital Tuesday has Anything Goes so I'll be entering those challenges.
The inside of the card, as usual, just uses papers from the front.  I stamped....yes, with a real WOOD MOUNTED rubber stamp....the sentiment using Forest Green Stazon ink.  
Well that's it for today, I have some more of the fabby Sweet November images to show you in the next day or so, and there's the rest of the DT's fab work to see too over at the All That Scraps blog too.  At the end of the week we'll be back with even more Sweet Novembers and some Sugarplums, all kind of thematic isn't it: November being the month and visions of Sugarplums dancing in our heads?!
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Dee4Donna

Red, White and .....GREEN

The challenge over at Here Come The Boys this fortnight is: Red, White and Green.  It was nearly Red, White and Blue, but with Christmas looming this colour combo gives you the chance to make another of those Christmas cards... and enter a great challenge at the same time.

I used a sketch from Sketch Saturday, I've missed the deadline but thought I'd credit the sketch anyway as I think it's a beauty!  The image is Floppy (well his name is Floppy, lol) a digi from Make It Crafty, he's one of several super cute elves I just bought .... there's HEAPS of other fabby Christmas digis available too, and yup, I've bought some of them too. Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenges us to use a stamp that's "Never Seen Ink", I'm hoping that unused digis count (to be honest, I could enter this challenge with any one of about sixty unused Christmas digis; "I see, I buy" - what can I say?)  Bearly Mine Challenges has One for the Boyz, this little lad IS one of the "boyz", so I'm in.

I've used Copics to colour and I'm really happy with my colouring on this one... sometimes I struggle with the reds as they seem very "wet" and I tend to add too much colour, leaving the subtleties of the shading drowned in R27!!  Cute Card Thursday  has Red is for Remembrance as its theme this time, hopefully there's enough red here to qualify.

I used different shades of green (G's and YG's)  to bring out the different shades of green in the paper, which is from Kaisercrafts Silly Season collection.  The Secret Crafter wants us to use Spots and Stripes for their challenge, I've got both here, so I'm entering there!  and Bizzy Becs has Circles, I may be pushing it claiming my spots are circles, but they certainly aren't SQUARES so I'm entering there.  Totally Gorjuss' challenge theme is Christmas Traditions... so I'm in there too.

I've used more of that lovely green glittery cardstock to mat, I only bought one sheet and it's gone a long way... still, think I'll grab some more though now I know how well it cuts.  The red mat behind the image, cut with Nestabilities Labels Twelve... again... (that thing's getting a hammering, lol) is from my stash.  I used Martha Stewart's Modern Garland punch on the strip.  A computer generated sentiment finishes it off. 

I used paper from the front of the card to decorate the inside, and added the lovely felt trees, which I think are from Kaisercraft but as I've ditched the package, can't be sure :-)

  

Papertake Weekly  has (First) Christmas and  Digital Tuesday has Anything Goes for their challenge themes; this is a Christmas card and I do love an Anything Goes challenge, so he's entering there too.

Don't forget to head over to the Here Come The Boys blog to check out the rest of the Red, White and Green projects, and why not give the challenge a go - it doesn't have to be a Christmas card, but it IS easy to use that colour combination at this time of the year!

Until tomorrow, when I'll be posting some of the Sweet November digis in review at All That Scraps have yourself some Happy Crafting, Dee4Donna

Anita Be Stampin' Blog Hop

Today's the day Anita Be Stampin' is releasing their new digis for Christmas - they're available NOW!  What better way to celebrate than with a blog hop; our chance to show these lovely digis off, if you've come from Brenda's you're right on track, if not you might want to start at the Anita Be Stampin' blog.  Be sure to visit all of the stops on the hop today, because one lucky winner - who comments on EVERY blog along the way - will win the ENTIRE digi release.  How good's that?!

I got to play with two of the new digi images, the first one is Santa Bear.  What a cutie. He's coloured with Copics, with Diamond Stickles on his fur.    Charisma Cardz has a two week challenge this time around with the theme "Cutesy", this definitely qualifies, so I'm in.  

The paper is from Basic Grey's Oliver Collection, not really Christmas paper, but it works for me. I've double matted on deep red cardstock and gold foil board.  Three poinsettias with Gold Stickles centres and a few brads finish it all off.
I made an easel card, mainly 'coz I like them :-)  Ready Teddy Go has Take it Easel for it's challenge theme this month, so I'm entering there.  I've used the same stopper system I used here for my Son and DIL's anniversary card;  It's a lazy way of getting a sentiment on to the inside and the outside of the card...sort of "now you see it, now you don't", lol. 
Here's a picture of the "now you don't", lol.
The gold foil sentiment is from a sticker sheet I've had for...well an embarrassingly long time :-)
Gem of a Challenge has Cold and Frosty as its theme this time, I'm quite sure Santa Bear is cold with his little bare tush! so I'm entering there. 
The other fab new Anita Be Stampin' image I got to play with is this foxy young lady... well not so much "fox" as "deer".  This is Reindear, I love the play on words in her name and used it in reverse with my sentiment: Merry Christmas "Deer" 

Of course Reindear is available today at ABS, and of course she's a digi!  I coloured with Copics and added gloss accents to the light bulbs and Glittery Fluff to her fur trim...and her little fluffy tail!  Bearly Mine Challenges theme this time is One for the Boyz, I'm sure this little darling would be popular with the lads, so I'm entering there.  Cards for Men's challenge is to make a Christmas card for the man in your life, this card is for my "deer", so I'm entering there.  
I used the sketch from Card Patterns, elongated and turned on its side.  Allsorts Challenges  theme is Anything but a square so my rectangle is going there.  The image is mounted on red card then green, I used a starry sort of punch to punch the red down one side of the image and as it just didn't look finished I added some gold ''peel offs" around the edge. When I looked at the image, and the way Reindear has her foot held, I thought it looked perfect for hanging something from... so that's what I did;  I made a sentiment on the computer printed in green, then dangled it off her foot with more of the peel offs.

 The inside of the card is finished very simply indeed...it's what you need for Christmas cards! I used elements from the front of the card and stamped...yes with a REAL rubber stamp the sentiment from Tickled Pink Stamps.  It's the first red rubber stamp that I've bought then had to mount myself, I did alright, if I do say so myself and even stamped the top of the EZ mount so I can see what the stamp is. I'm very proud of myself.  I've got to say it's a lot more sudden death stamping inside your card at the end... I usually print on the card first thing or cut the sentiment out. Its stamped in Stazon Ink, Saddle Brown.  There's plenty of brown in all sorts of shades on this card so I'm entering Craft Your Passion Anything Goes + brown challenge.  Digital Tuesday has Anything Goes, so I'm entering there too.
Thanks for hopping by today. I hope you liked my offerings. The next stop on the hop is Lelia, you wait 'til you see what she (as well as the rest of the team) have in store for you!  Remember to leave a comment on each of the blogs on the hop by 12:01 (CST) Sunday November 13th for your chance to win, not one but ALL of the Anita Be Stampin' digis released today.
Just in case you get lost along the way, here is a complete list of the stops on today's hop: 

• ABS Challenge Blog
• Anita
• Brenda
• Dee...you're here!
• Lelia
• Rene’ 
• Tracy
• ABS Challenge Blog

Happy Hopping and until next time Happy Crafting, Dee Donna...of the Craftdee variety, lol.

More Pixies than you can poke an icicle at

I know, THREE posts in twelve hours... it's those Swiss Pixies, they've been keeping me up at night with their cries of  "colour me", lol.  If you didn't see my first two posts for the Swiss Pixies review that's happening over at the All That Scraps Blog, you can check them out here and here.  In the meantime let's meet Nora....

If you'd like your own Nora, you can get her at the All That Scraps Store as a digi - like I have - or as rubber.  I've shaken it up a bit this time... I've coloured with Prismacolour pencils! - didn't want to go too radical, lol.  I added little gems for her earrings, then decided to cut the image out with my Nestabilities Labels Twelve.  Of course I didn't even think of the pressure put on the gems, so they've become sort of embedded in the paper!  I actually quite like it, they don't look so "stuck on", though they've lost a little of their shine (well, who wouldn't in the circumstances!)

I added red glitter (heat set, of course) to her scarf, but it's not the usual glitter it's sort of long strands... it looks so much like a wooly scarf IRL, I'm rapt.  Crafty Calendar has Winter Wardrobe as it's theme this time, so Nora in her coat  and her scarf are in there.

I used the sketch from Crafts 4 Eternity this time, I like nice sketches - but you know that :-)  Bonus use of the sketch is Christmas Stampin' s theme with is to use a favourite sketch, so I'm in there too. The papers are from Kaisercraft's 'Tis the Season and Basic Grey's Jovial collections, mounted on red card I got in a pack from a newsagent when I was on holiday - it's great, and of course there's nothing like it near home!  

The blingy (is there such a word?) ribbon/embellishment came in my budgie-sitting reward pack from my Mum and Dad, the sentiment is a sticker from a sheet of what I think must be (to any non-card makers, at least) envelope seals...there's about thirty in the pack so they'll be available to me for some time, lol.  Gold Dew Drops on the corners finish it off.  By The Cute and Girly has Christmas Girls as its theme and the Gem of a Challenge theme is Cold and Frosty so I'm entering both of those.

Well that's it for today... I will be back later at 7am CST (which is 9pm my time, which is why it's a bit confusing when I say things like later today, or my second post for today when it may not be the case in your time zone, lol) with a blog hop.  So tune in then, in the meantime why not pop over to the All That Scraps Blog and check out my teamies lovely Swiss Pixies - they've been working hard to inspire you!  Hope you call back for the hop, until then, Happy Crafting Dee4Donna