They named it GOLF...

There's a new challenge starting today over at Here Come The Boys... and the theme is Hobbies. I've been told that Golf is a Hobby... and my son - who plays - tells me that it most certainly is serious and most certainly NOT a hobby; he's the inspiration for the sentiment "They named is GOLF because... all the other FOUR letter words were taken!!" 

I've used a digital stamp that I won from Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps  "Tiger Tee", coloured with Copics... I love the vibrant finish they give.  Totally Papercrafts has Saturated Colours as its challenge, always easy for me as I lo ve strong colour; I love ALL colour actually so the Sundays with Chrissy Favourite Colours challenge is right up my street, lol.  
The inside of the card is finished with paper from the front, and a smaller version of the front button.
I've used the sketch from Sketch and Stash this time around, the "stash" part of the challenge would be the papers I've used which are offcuts from the DCWV La Creme pack.  
The ribbon and button are from my stash too... as well as the cardstock... oh my, I DO have a lot of stash :-)  Cards for Men has Texture… ribbon counts, so I'm entering there, Divas by Design has Buttons and/or Bows (I have "Button") and Stamptacular Sunday Challenge has Loaded With Layers (three or more), so I'm entering there and That Craft Place has One for the Boys, so there too.
Simon Says Challenge has an Anything Goes challenge running, so I'll be entering that for sure!
Well, that's it for today's card.  Hopefully my Mojo is limping back into life and I'll be back in a day or so with another card.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

At Last a Card!

Well at last I've made a card.... can't say Mrs Mojo is "back" but it's my cousins birthday and I like to make a card "for her" rather than use one from my stash, and I did enjoy the process once I started.

Joanna Sheen has For Someone Special as their challenge, so I'm entering there.  Crafty Sentiments has For a Child and Crafty Creations has "Feminine Card for a Little Girl", and while my cousin's not a little girl I think the card fits!
While I haven't been actually crafting, I have been buying... funny how that bit of your Mojo never seems to disappear, lol, so this card started when I found some new paper pads by Crafters Choice in Spotlight.  Now you know I love a bargain and these WERE; the papers on this card are from a pad of 120 on sale at $15... and they're 12" x 12" pads!!  This is the Basics pack (spots, stripes, checks etc) in "Gelati".  The horizontal strip is from Kaisercraft's Class of '87 collection... I keep all my offcuts and eventually I get to use them!  The black cardstock really makes the colours pop... I love using it and lucky for me Crazy 4 Challenges has Use Black Cardstock as its challenge.  I used a textured pearl black paper behind the image panel (cut with one of my new Impress dies)  Everything is popped up on foam dots (of course!), the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge is "Loaded with Layers" (use three or more layers... No Problem, I'm in!
The sketch is from Papertake Weekly, I think the symmetry works well with such geometric paper.  The image is another new purchase, Wrynn Birthday Girl from Tiddly Inks, as soon as I saw them around Blogland I knew she had to be mine... so I've grabbed a few, they'll be showing up here a lot; too cute!  Sundays with Chrissy has a Favourite Colours theme, I love ALL colour, 'specially bright colours (on cards, anyway) so I'm in there too. 
I've coloured with Copics but I've changed the card I use... not on purpose I might add!  I went to my usual supplier and, being too lazy to find it for myself, asked if they had any more of "this", to be told they were not getting any more but had three packs left - being greedy I grabbed two and when I opened it the other night it is WAY lighter - too light to use as a base card, and WAY more absorbent than my usual, so harder to use with Copics; looks like I have to find another type of card! Whinge over!  
Back to my card; The Pink Elephant has Hello Sunshine (use yellow) and Colour Me Copic wants us to use our Yellows which I have done (I like the Y0s, with a bit of Y31 for shade).  I added Stickles to Wrynn's yellow present and Gloss to her  shoes... everybody knows your party shoes HAVE to be Patent, lol, Stampin' for the Weekend has Sparkle and Shine as their challenge so I'm entering there. 
The pearls (coloured with Copics), Dew Drop flower centres and brads are from my stash, as is the yellow ribbon (Divas by Design has Buttons and/or Bows, for their challenge - I have "bow") as are the flowers, Fairy Fun Fridays and Copic Oz both have Anything With Flowers and Waste Not Wednesdays wants us to use our stash, so I'm entering there too.
The inside is finished with papers from the front and the sentiment that came with Wrynn - too easy!  Simon Says Challenge and Oozak both have Anything Goes challenges running, so I'm entering there too.
Phew! That's it for today, I've got a couple more cards on the go... so I'll be back soon.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

... and now for something completely different....

Well it's something a bit different, at least for me!!  

Less is More wants us to make a One Layer Card and include Doodling.... so that's what I've done!  I've used a lovely cream pearl card.  The first one I made was actually a lovely warm grey pearl card... but that's in the bin - along with the second one and there's no more grey, so.... it's a nice CREAM pearl card.

My Mojo is still woefully absent, so I thought a nice Clean and Simple One Layer Card wouldn't tax me too much; HAH!!  I took absolutely ages fiddling around with the digis on this card to make the silhouette ("Lovers" from Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps) fit into the Fancy Circle from Bearly Mine Designs, which I've had for an age!  It would have been much easier if it wasn't a One Layer Card challenge... I would have just cut the centre of the circle out.  Anyway in the end I got there and only used Word to do it.  Crafty Sentiments has Use a Digi as their challenge, I've used a couple so I'm in! 

I kept the inside simple to suit the outside, by adding a strip of sheer gold edged ribbon with black sequins.... that's it!!

The sentiment is a new stamp I got for $1 in Lincraft the other day. stamped with Stazon ink.  I added extra doodling to the circle and added swirls and doodles to the sentiment too.   To give a more "finished" look, I embossed some lines as a border to the card, I added a rhinestone earring to the lady as there was a "white" one on the silhouette which didn't look quite right... hope that doesn't make it a two-layer card!  Stamptacular Sunday Challenge has an Anything Goes theme, so I'm entering there.  Lisa's Waste Not Wednesdays challenge to use up our stash is just about ALWAYS appropriate for me... so much stash, so little time, lol.

Well that's it for my OLC... with doodling.  I'll be back in a day or so, hopefully my Mojo will be back in town!  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Candy Winners!!!!

Well as promised, I've had my birthday and drawn my Candies.  Thank you to everyone who entered, it was fun!  I used a Random Number Generator and here are the WINNERS....


For my FOLLOWERS Candy it's

1

Random numbers generated Apr 17 2012 at 9:28:37 by www.psychicscience.org
Free educational resources for parapsychology, psychical research & mind magic.
... and that's you **Vicky**.  






For my FOLLOWERS-OR-NOT Candy it's....

11

Random numbers generated Apr 17 2012 at 9:29:29 by www.psychicscience.org
Free educational resources for parapsychology, psychical research & mind magic.
...and that's you Danni [DanniizDesignz]

Congratulations ladies, if you Contact Me with your postal address  I'll get your goodies off to you as soon as I can.


Once again thanks to everyone who joined in, Donna

Card for a BIG Baby?!?

We have a new challenge starting today over at Here Come The Boys... we want you to make a project for a "Tiddly Peep".  I have chosen to make a card celebrating the birth of a baby boy (don't forget it's Here Come The BOYS), but I think this image would work just as well for a Tiddly Peeps birthday.

I got this gorgeous Crissy Armstrong image from Squigglefly absolutely AGES ago - you can get it in rubber at Whimsy Stamps... I don't know why I was so nervous about colouring it up, I just was!  In the end I decided to flex my new found love of Prismacolor pencils to give a softer look... mainly as I'm no good at the pastel look, particularly with Copics :-)  Not that the elephant ended up that pastel either, when I look at it.
I love the soft blue on my papers (Kaisercrafts Lullaby collection and DCWV Animal Crackers) and card from American Crafts, and while I don't have a favourite colour (I really do like most colours) this is my fave shade of blue so I'm entering the Sundays with Crissy challenge; Favourite Colours.
The Deep Ocean Challenge theme is "Inspired by a Song", I have to say Baby Elephant Walk was going through my head the whole time I was making this - (in fact it's going through my head again, arghh) so I'm entering there too!
Once again I've used the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday... once again it's a fabby Sketch, lol.
As I wanted to add some bling to this card, without making it too feminine, I used lovely sparkly paper from Merci (I think) as the background for the image panel.  It went with the glittered leaves on my vertical strip and I added Diamond Stickles to the edge of the sentiment circle too. The sentiment is from Hobby Palais, but I don't think you can get it any more, I changed the colour to blue in Word, it was cut using Nestabilities Standard Circles and matted onto one of my new Impress Flower dies.  Some flat backed pearls finished it off. Totally Gorjuss has Bling as their challenge, so I'm entering there.
Now you may have noticed the stitching on this card... it's the first time I've done "proper" stitching on a card and would you believe it, I can't find one challenge that has "stitching", lol.  Well, at least I've tried something new and I will do it again - dragging the machine out took ten times as long as the actual stitching, but what the hey!
I used paper from the front on the inside, don't I always, and used the same Martha Stewart border punch on the edges of the strips as I did on the vertical panel on the front.  The pearls are on a string - I've had them in my stash for TEN years at least....at WasteNot Want Not Wednesdays Lisa always has us using our neglected stash; ten years is pretty neglected so I'm in (though my lovely hitherto unused stamp would have got me in anyway, lol)
Fairy Fun Fridays, Oozak and Stamptacular Sunday all have Anything Goes challenges at the moment so I'll be entering there too.

Well that's it for my card for the Tiddly Peeps Challenge, why don't you pop over to the Here Come The Boys blog and check out the rest of the Teams projects, there's some cuteness, that's for sure.  We've got a great prize going, a bag of charms like the one on the left (courtesy of Woo), and you know you always need a "male" themed card so why not get one done for a Tiddly Peep in your life and enter the challenge?

Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Happy Birthday; You Suit Me To a "Tea"

Today is my husband's birthday, I've made this easel card for him.  Charisma Cardz has a Fancy Folds challenge, so I'm entering there.

We have a sort of "in" joke about his tea drinking.... I've never met anyone who likes his tea more, with the possible exception of my Dad :-)  We have a somewhat overstocked liquor cabinet (when you reach "a certain age" it's what EVERYONE gets you for Christmas, lol) and every evening I ask if he would like a Port or something, and every evening he thinks about it... and then says "oh nah, I think I'll have a cup of tea; I know, I'm boring!"  I tell him he really knows how to live large.  Consequently I made the sentiment for his card read: "Happy Birthday to a man who really knows how to....Par-TEA!!"  The Deep Ocean Challenge this time is Inspired by a Song, I'm thinking "I'm a Little Teapot..." though my hubby's tall and not stout at all, lol.

I've used the great sketch from Totally Gorjuss, I love a good sketch.  The image is Dad Relaxing, Dog (yup, there is a "Dad Relaxing, Cat!!) from Digistamp Boutique , they have a monthly challenge to enter if you use one of their fab images, so I'm in.  Fab'n'funky Challenges has "On All Fours" (use an animal image) I've coloured the little dog in this image just like our little Jack Russell Rocky(whose picture is in my sidebar), who sits by my hubby's feet every evening.   I've used Copics, though I did add a little depth with Prismacolor pencils.  Waste Not Wednesdays, which gets us to use our Stash, is on my list of challenges too.
Joanna Sheen has "It's a Man's World as their challenge theme, so I'm entering there, Digital Tuesday has a Birthday theme, so I'm entering there too.
I used paper from a Merci pad, and Basic Greys Oliver pad, plus silver "filler" board.
I cut the image panel with Nestabilites Labels Three, cutting the silver mat freehand to get it large enough.  I embossed all the silver card with Cuttlebugs Tiny Bubbles embossing folder, I love how the texture adds another dimension without the interference of another patterned paper.  The Crafty Pad has Die-Delicious for its challenge so I'm entering there.  
The only embellishment on this card is the little teapot button, which came in a bag of novelty buttons from Spotlight, I toned the colour down a bit with Copics.
Fairy Fun Fridays has an Anything Goes challenge, so I'm entering that too.
The Cutie Pie Challenge this time around is to use our favourite Cute stamp... I haven't been entering because I couldn't decide WHICH is my favourite, but I've decided the cute ones pretty much are ALL my favourite so I'm entering Dad and the Dog there too :-)  
Well that's about it for today's card, it's gone midnight now and so not my hubby's birthday anymore... it's mine on Monday so we're on countdown now, which reminds me to remind YOU that I have Candies running (links at the top of my sidebar) for Followers and for "Followers-or-not"... it's been drawn Monday so DO enter, you never know :-)
I'll be back on Sunday with a make for Here Come The Boys.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

24 Carat Easter

This is quite a long post, I'll forgive you if you just "look at the pretty pictures", lol.
Finally, I have a card to show today.... Mrs Mojo is still conspicuous in her absence but I did sit and play over the weekend and I've come up with a couple of cards - this one I started before I went to Malaysia!!  

It looks darker in the photo than IRL, I didn't take the picture until dusk and my options were "take it in the shade" or "take it in stippled light"... I went for "shade" :-)
The image is Dusty Rabbit from Just Inklined, and I think he looks like we do with our Easter eggs - he's certainly having a "24 Carat Easter", lol.  I got this image LAST Easter and never got around to using it, now I have so I'm entering Lisa's Waste Not Wednesdays challenge to use stash.  He's coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils.  
My Mums Craft Shop and Top Tip Tuesday want to see our Easter creations or things with Animals on... I've got both! Do You Stack Up wants to see our Friendly Critters, Crafts 4 Eternity has Bunnies and Chicks as its theme, Crafty Sentiments MONTHLY Challenge, The Secret Crafter and Craft Your Days Away have Easter themes and The Paper Shelter has Anything Goes with Easter in Mind, so I'm entering all those challenges.

I've used the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday, always a great source of sketches... this one was perfect for the larger than normal image panel, cut using my new Impress Ornate Frame dies.   I bought eight new sets, here, and they're pretty good; they cut really crisply and while not as sturdy as Nestabilities (they "warp" a little, but flatten out again) they're really good value.  Simon Says Challenge this time around is to use our Favourite Crafting Tool - I think my Cuttlebug is my favourite, if I discount my paper cutter, which I use on every card (you do tend to dismiss those "essentials", don't you?) 
The Crafty Pad has Just Die Delicious and Sweet Stampin' has Dies and Doodles; you can see my attempt at doodling around the edge of the mat behind the image panel.  To be honest, there's quite a difference in size between these two dies (largest and second largest) and it needed something to fill the space up a bit, so the doodling fit the bill well.  The sentiment is computer generated, with some Card Candi.
The inside of the card, as always, is finished using elements from the front.

I've used Martha Stewart's Garden Trellis punch as a border on the yellow cardstock, from American Crafts (as is the orange).  The metal floral trim on the front is a purchase from Malaysia (though it was harder to find "stuff" there than I thought it would be - my Mum always brings stuff back, she does well!!)

I've used papers from my Inque Boutique Kabana pad, luckily I bought two of them (actually they were stuck together and we couldn't get them apart without damaging them so I got a "deal" for buying the two!) as I find it very versatile. I distressed the edges of everything with Versamark Lime ink, I wish I hadn't, but once I started I was committed, as it changed the whole look from "clean" to "country",  sort of :-)
 The flower on the front is from my stash, with some Diamond Stickles to "lift" it, those on the inside were punched using Nellie Snellen Floral punch set (which does add some texture, but I go over the back of the petals with my ball tool to add more dimension, and a small flower punch from my LSS (embossed for dimension also).  The centres are Dew Drops from Robins Nest, Green Stickles in the centre of the small flowers.  The greenery is a Martha Stewart punch too, "Pine Branch". 

The Pink Elephant has Flowers as its challenge theme, so I'm entering there. 

Stamping With The Dragon, The Craft Place, Cards for Men and Cupcake Craft Challenges all have "Spring" challenges, so I'm entering there and Fairy Fun Fridays and Papertake Weekly both have Anything Goes challenges, so entering there too.

That's it for today's card, ended up being a much longer post than I intended, sorry about that :-)  I hope you had a 24 Carat Easter and don't find going "back to the grindstone" too hard.  

Until next time, don't forget to enter my Candies - links in my sidebar, Happy Crafting, Donna

Another Day, Another....Candy!!

As promised in my post yesterday, offering my Followers a Candy, today I have a Follower-Or-Not Candy :-)  As the title suggests, you don't have to be a Follower to enter this one, it finishes on 16th April, which is my Birthday so it's a sort of reverse birthday gift.  If you are already a Follower, please feel free to enter both candies, but if you're not one of my First-102 then please enter only this one.  There are no strings attached; you don't have to become a Follower (of course I love to get new Followers, but I don't want anyone to feel pressured to Follow), you don't have to post in your sidebar, again you can if you want to, all you DO have to do is Add Your Link using the Inlinkz button at the end of this post.  Now you'll probably want to see what's up for grabs:

 There are 10 sheets of 6x6 paper from various manufacturers, some lace doilies, 2 lengths of gathered lace, some flat lace, a pack of 3 gel pens, 5 lengths of ribbon, some spotted organza, a length of braid and a length of pearl trim.  I'll also throw in some paper ribbon I forgot to add for the photos!

 

 Okay, now it's time to enter, use the inlinkz button below or if you don't have a blog you can email me and I'll add your name to the list.  The winners of both candies will be drawn on the morning of 17th April (Western Australian Time) and I'll post them as soon after that as I can.
Hopefully I'll have some crafty creations up over Easter, Mrs Mojo has been very tired since our holiday -which was anything but relaxing! 
Don't forget if you're one of my first 102 Followers you can enter my Followers Candy (here) as well as this one:-) Good luck to everyone, thanks for checking out my blog. Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

A Little Candy For My Followers

This post has been resurrected....I can't believe it, Mr Blogger Ate My Candy!!! 

 As I said before I went away on holiday, I have reached 100 Followers, WooHoo!! As a special Thank you to my Followers I have a Candy. This Candy is open only to those that are Following me at this date... there are 102 of you :-) If you are not a Follower, don't be alarmed I have another Candy for Follower-Or-Not that is coming up tomorrow! If you are one of my first 102 Followers, you can enter that Candy too. Here is what's up for grabs in my FOLLOWERS Candy:

 There are 12 sheets of 6x6 paper from various manufactures, some lace doilies, some self adhesive rhinestones, a pot of ultra fine glitter, 2 lengths of gathered lace, some flat lace, 6 lenghts of ribbon, 2 lengths of braid and a some pearl trim, I'll also throw in some paper ribbon that I forgot to include in the photos.

Okay all you have to do to enter THIS Candy is to be an existing FOLLOWER, and add your link to the inlinkz button below.
My Followers Candy will be drawn by Random at the same time as my Follower-or-not Candy; the 16th April, which is my birthday :-)
If you are a Follower and have trouble using the Inlinkz button, email me and I'll add your name to the list before the draw.
Don't forget to enter my other Candy too.  I hope to have something Crafty to add to my blog soon, at least Mr Blogger doesn't get rid of those posts!!

A Painting for a Change

Well I'm back from my holiday in Malaysia (well I actually had some dental work done there, so not so much a "holiday" more a sort of working holiday, lol)  Many stories to be told, and I'll share a few photos soon.  I haven't had a lot of time to craft since I got home, and as this fortnights challenge over at Here Come The Boys is "Anything But A Card" I thought I'd post one of my paintings.  I painted this to give to one of my son's friends when they had a baby... I ended up doing another (different) one as well,  so I've still got this in my back room - maybe another "boy baby" will come along and I'll be ready, lol.

This is "Little Ronnie" and I used a pattern by Wendy Scott from her book "the Cats Pajamas Vol 1", scaled up quite a bit!  I cut the frame out of a piece of MDF, using my scroll saw... and no, hubby didn't help!  I even cut a rebate in the back for the image panel (which was a piece of thinner MDF, nothing too hi-tech here, lol)  I painted it with Jo Sonja Acrylic paints and distressed it back to give an antiqued look.  
The image is painted with Jo Sonja Acrylics too, but only as washes - altogether I probably only used enough paint to cover a ten cent piece!  I'm really pleased with how it came out; I find faces very hard to paint and while Ronnie does have a slight "boxers nose" he does at least still look like a little boy :-) 
Crafty Creations, which is open to all crafts, has "Game On" as its challenge theme so I'm entering there, and Craft Us Crazy, also for all crafts, has Anything But a Card and/or Altered Item, so I'm entering there too. 
There's not much more to say about my little painting (actually, it's not THAT little, measuring 60+cm or more than 2' square!)  other than to say that it is "Anything But a Card", Creative Craft Challenges also has an Anything But a Card challenge, so I'm entering there.   
Please go and check out the rest of my Here Come The Boys team, there's a range of ideas to inspire you.  
I'll be back soon with a project, and maybe some Kuala Lumpur sights :-)  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna