The Tears of a Clown

I don't have a card today, my darling hubby has been home a lot and I just don't seem to get time in my craft room; I'm not complaining we do really nice "stuff' when he's not working, like walks along the river and breakfast at the beach...(it's winter here, perfect for breakfast at the beach!)
So, in lieu of a card, I thought I'd show you a painting I actually did a few years ago, simply because I liked it.  The colours suited our lounge room at that time, then we promptly changed our colour scheme, and my husband said (when I was going to move the picture out of the room) that it was one of my paintings he liked the best, so I changed the mat colour from fuscia to brown and it fits in beautifully... adding a splash of colour to a now very grown up "muted" palette (my DIL is an interior designer; muted = fashionable!)

There is something of a blue cast over this picture, I can't correct it but the close up picture is more accurate.  

I used a pattern from Donna Gilbertson, fellow Aussie who's painting style I really admire.  This is one of about ten paintings I've done using her patterns, my mum absolutely loves the style too and has done four or five of her own; in fact she's working on a couple of mini canvases at the moment (my Mum is the last one standing from my Wednesday art classes, she was one of my first pupils too - ten years, that's stamina!)
Not much more to say about my wistful little clown, he's painted using Jo Sonja acrylics, on a 34cm (13.5") canvas in a 50cm (20") frame.  
Craft Your Days Away is a multi craft challenge blog (there are so few challenges around that aren't exclusively for papercraft, unfortunately this is their last ever challenge, it has an Anything Goes theme.  The Allsorts Challenge is also a "multi challenge" blog, their theme is It's a Gift... this painting was a gift to my hubby, so I'm entering there as well. Divas by Design tell me that you don't have to stamp at all, so I'm taking that as my opportunity to enter their Anything Goes challenge too.
That's it for today, I'll be back in a day or so - hopefully with a card, or maybe with one of my fabergé eggs... I don't want to lose Craft Your Days Away without sharing some of my non-papercraft creations, lol.
Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Make a Wish

Another easel card today, I do like my easels!  To mix it up a bit, this one is a circular one.  Long post and lots of pics today (I know, not unusual!)  

I cut all the circles for this card freehand, using a pair of compasses... how "old school" of me, lol, except for the image panel which was cut using Scalloped Circle Nestabilities,  The Crafty Pad has To Die For as its challenge so I'm in!  The Secret Crafter has Circle Cards and Moving Along With The Times has Anything but Square for their challenges, so I'm definitely in there.

I've used the sketch Sketch and Stash this time, "converting" it to a circle format, but all the elements of the sketch are there -promise!

I've used a digi image from Pollycraft... unfortunately they're no longer in business, you can get some of their images from Little Miss Muffet Stamps but sadly not this one, which was among the first I bought several years ago(edited to add: this image now available at LMM!!)... this is Fairy Clover "Butterfly Wishes".  Flutterby Wednesday has reopened (yay), the theme this time is Friendship, so I hope this qualifies... I've used plenty of  "fairy" AND "butterfly" (smiles sweetly) The (final, sad face) Creatalicious Challenges theme is Fantasy, so I'm entering there, and 2 Sisters Challenge theme is "In the Garden"... I like to think there are fairies at the bottom of MY garden, so in there as well.

I've coloured with Prisamcolor pencils... well technically I've coloured with watercolour pencils THEN Prismacolors; I coloured the image originally ages ago - before I even had any Prismacolors, and was going to ditch it when I had a bit of a clear out last week, then I started fiddling with it trying to "fix" it up, I spent so long on it in the end I was determined to use it - it's not the best colouring but I am happy with the card overall.  I added oodles of Stickles to Clover and her little butterfly friend, she's a fairy after all so it's practically compulsory :-)

The papers are digital;  from the Fairytale Too pack by Nitwit Collections  gorgeous IRL. Most of the paper's covered on the front, but you can see it a bit better on the inside.  Fab'n'funky Challenges wants us to Use Leaves this time, as well as the leaves on the floral paper I have used leaves on my little flower arrangement that acts as a stopper for the easel, so I'm entering there.

Sassy Cheryls Tuesday Challenge theme is Happy Birthday, the sentiment - which I cut from one of the tags in Kaisercrafts Magic Happens pad is perfect for a birthday so I'm entering there.  

The filigree metal corners were a gift from my blog friend Woo last Christmas, I hope she likes how I used them ;-) Allsorts Challenges want us so use metal, so I'm in.  The white string pearls have been in my stash for at least 13 years!  I used them a lot when I was egg decorating and have reels of them in a few colours, the lilac pearls and the Little Birdie butterflies are from my stash too, so, once again, I'm entering Lisa's Waste Not Wednesdays challenge to use up our stash... if only I didn't keep adding to it I'd be doing really well :-)  Cupcake Craftroom has Fresh and Summery (with the option of lilac and lime) this time around, I definitely have the lilac!  

The Stamptacular Sunday Challenge is Lets Hear it for the Girls, now I'm not sure if "fairies" equals "girls" in this scenario, but I'm entering there, so we'll soon find out :-) Stampin' for the Weekend  has a Monochrome challenge, we'll see if my card counts as monochromatic too... I understand completely if it doesn't, but there is an awful lot of purple and not much of anything else, so I think it might.  I'm sure I'll be alright in the Bearly Mine Challenges, Craft Your Days Away (another 'final' challenge, sob), Divas by Design and Paper Crafting Journey challenges as they're all Anything Goes!

Well, if you've made it this far... WELL DONE YOU!  I know there's been even more than usual pics in this post, but I have been playing around in my My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking programme that I treated myself too (exactly WHEN I think I'm going to get time to do all this scrapbooking beats me, lol) and thought I'd have a little go at something I've been admiring on Vicky's blog for a while... a compilation of photos... what a great way of getting "detail" shots in, don't you think?  This was my first effort, but I see lots of potential!

Anyway, that's it (hooray I hear you say) for today's card, which is of course so much prettier in real life.  I'll be back in a day or so; it's Father's Day here next week, so that's my card making themes sorted for the next couple of projects.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

It's Sketch Time at Here Come The Boys

As I've said many times on this blog,  I LOVE a good sketch... and that's what we have for you at the Here Come The Boys challenge this fortnight, woohoo!!  I made a z fold card; because it shows a "different" way of using the sketch... and because I like 'em!

Well first of all I here is Wonderful  Woo's Wonderful Sketch...
if you hop on over to the Here Come The Boys blog you will see that the DT have all come up with a different interpretation of the sketch, which is always interesting to me!
I made my card from scored white card, then added panels of the blue textured card as when I tried just scoring the blue card I found it too thick - it wouldn't sit flat.
The image is one of the new Retro (which sounds like an oxymoron if I ever heard one!) images from Kenny K Downloads, I've coloured with Copics keeping the shading pretty simple to suit the comic book style.  
I made the starburst and the sentiment on the front "Newsflash: Birthdays are good for you, the more you have the longer you live" in Word using Britcomics font, again to suit the style of the image.

 Totally Papercrafts has Inspired by a Song as its challenge theme, I had "Heard It On The Grapevine" playing through my head the whole time I was playing with this image, so I'm entering there too.
The patterned paper is digital, a freebie pack actually, from Shery K Designs - this is the Free Digital Pack 2, there's 10 different patterns... cool!  Papertake Weekly and Bizzy Becs have Spots and Stripes as their challenge theme, so I'm entering those, and Paper Crafting Journey has an Anything Goes challenge, so I'll be entering there too.
I matted on brown cardstock from Die Cuts With a View, the panel behind the image panel is ultra fine corrugated gold foil. I've raised the horizontal panels up and then the image up further on foam dots Sassy Studio Designs Pop It Up has Pop It Up as their challenge theme, so I'm entering there.  I added Happy Birthday using Word Art and some Card Candi (Regent Park) to finish.

The gold card, the Card Candi and plain cardstock are all from my stash so I'm entering Lisa's Waste Not Wednesdays Stash challenge too.
That's it for today's card, do pop over to the Here Come The Boys blog and check out the rest of my teamies offerings... I hope to see you enter the challenge too so I can scope out what you do with the yummy sketch!
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna.

Hearts and Flowers... that's MIICE!

I have the quickest of posts today, my hubby has been home quite a bit (nothing untoward, just seasonal work) so my crafting time has been limited... I'm not complaining, we've had lovely weather and have been "out and about" :-)  Oh, and "doing" stuff around the house - as always!  I did get time to make this CAS number.

The image is Pepe L'Souris in Love, one of the uber cute Pepe L'Souris from the Paper Shelter.  I printed it straight on to my card as the challenge over at Less is More this time is for a One Layer Card and a theme of Fur or Feathers. The Paper Shelter challenge blog has a Clean And Simple theme this time too, so I'm entering there and the Simon Says Challenge is Animal Antics, so guess what? entering there too:-)

I added the border and sentiment in Word, and used my lovely new Hougie board (I can't believe how much better the scoring is with it than the bone folder and slot in my cutter that I was using before!) to emboss lines from the edge of the card to the border, just to break it up a bit. 

I used the same image reduced in size (another feature I love about digis!) for the inside, and changed the sentiment from "For You" to "With Love"... too easy!  I saw this idea on Joey's blog... thanks Joey, I told you I'd be lifting it :-)  I coloured the images with Copics, love them for stronger colouring, Sassy Cheryls Tuesday Challenge wants us to use our Favourite colour combo, I love all colour, and particularly this sort of crisp look, so I guess this is "my favourite" so I'm entering there.  More scoring and the card is complete!  Actually the inside is on a separate piece of card so that where the Copics have bled through doesn't show (I just continued that piece over the inside of the front to cover where that image showed through too.

As I've had Pepe (in this and quite a few of his other guises!) in my stash for some time, I'm entering Lisa's Waste Not Wednesdays Stash challenge.

I hope you like my card, I do, and it was a nice change to not agonize over what embellies to add (or not add!);  I like the image to be the feature of my cards, and in this case it had nowhere to hide, lol.

I'll be back on Sunday with a card for the Here Come The Boys new challenge, until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

My Best Friend is You

Today's card is a "just because" card... my Mum is away at the moment and I've been thinking a lot about how (after my darling hubby!) she is my best friend, is that strange, to have your 82 year old mum as a best friend?  She likes this image, and I was going to use it on her birthday card but didn't - so I've used it now.  I probably won't even give her the card, but she'll be chuffed that I made it "for her", if that makes any sense, lol

The super cute image is a digi (Sassy Sally Reads To Teddy) from Sassy Cheryl, I thought they look so cozy - like best friends so I wrote "my best friend is you" as the book title.  I'm continuing my mission to perfect colouring with Prismacolors, I am improving, albeit slowly. I used pencils for the face this time but don't think you can beat Copics for faces so I'll probably stick with them in future, I do like the somehow-nostalgic look pencils give to images though, so I will persevere with them for non skin bits, lol.  The Joanna Sheen challenge was to try something new, I have so I'm in! 

I finished the inside of the card with more papers from the front and a digital sentiment from Create With TLC, such a great site with fabulous digis and so many freebies... as this was.
The papers are from Kaisercrafts Class of '87, cardstock is DCWV.  I used Martha Stewarts Doily Lace border punch and  buttons from my stash.  The metal embellishments "Friends" on the front and "Forever" on the inside are also from my stash, I wish I  could remember where I got them as they're very handy, The Crafty Pad has Show Us Some Metal so I'll be entering there and in the Waste Not Want Not Wednesdays stash challenge too.

I used this sketch from Totally Gorjuss, but missed the deadline (a common practice!) still it was a nice sketch so thanks :-)  This fabulous photo from Cupcake Inspirations inspired me too, mainly the colours but even the little ladybirds captured my imagination (great cupcakes aren't they? btw)
After I had finished the card, it looked a bit bare so I added some faux stitching with gel pen... it's definitely easier to do that BEFORE you've added all your layers, so some of my "stitching" is wonky - I assure you it's not as wonky as it would have been had it NOT been "faux"!!
Divas by Design has For a Female as their challenge, so I'm entering there, and Craft Your Passion, Deep Ocean Challenge , Papertake Weekly and Catch the Bug all have Anything Goes challenges running so I'll be entering those as well as Sassy Cheryl Show Me Thursday fun challenge.

The Simon Says Challenge is a Bingo board, I've used the Punches Free Buttons line. 

Well that's it for today's card. I'll be back soon, I have another couple of images coloured and ready to go, all I need now is time ("and a cry rang out", lol)  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Blue and Green.... Can Be Seen Here!

The old saying "Blue and green should never be seen..." doesn't apply at the Less Is More challenge this week, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I bought the papers from Starfish Lane with the birthday voucher my son gave me... I bought a lot of what I call "special" paper, the base is a really rich colour IRL, and very textured.  
The Chiyogami panel is mounted on a strip of micro corrugated gold board, the edge of which is punched with Fiskars Apron Lace punch.  
I used this paper on the card on the left (in this post), isn't it amazing how different it looks when used with a different contrast colour?!  
The sentiment is stamped with Versa Mark clear ink and embossed with gold embossing powder - and was the hardest part of the card!  I was thinking of making a set of these cards as a gift, but as the stamping is so hard to get even on the heavily textured card, I may use stickers (or peel offs) of which I have about a zillion in my stash, lol.

I finished the inside with elements from the front, very simple, to suit the style of the card.  As well as the Blue and Green challenge at  Less is More, I'm entering the Clean and Simple challenge at Cute Card Thursday and the Anything Goes challenges at Craft Your Passion, Papertake Weekly and 2 Sisters Challenge.
I've been colouring some images up, I really have to get some on to cards and out of my embarrassingly-large stash.  The problem is I'm amassing a stash of made cards too;  I've sold some previously, via my son and a friend, but I think I'll have to get some sort of system in place to keep it ticking over... to make room for more, if nothing else :-)  Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Here Come The Boys... and Their Toys!

There's a new challenge starting today over at Here Come The Boys, the theme is "Boys Toys"... pretty easy really, I know the Boys in my life have a very varied preference in "Toys" so there's plenty of scope.  Having said that, I went really literal with my card - here's a Boy with a Toy:

The digital image I used is called I Love It from Mo's Digital Pencil ... and I Love It!  Then again, I love all of Mo's images, they're so "colourable" :-)  The challenge over at Mo's Digital Challenge is Anything Goes (using a Mo image, of course, no hardship there!) so I'll be entering.  I've coloured the image with Copics, adding a few extra shadows with Prismacolors, it's the first time I've attempted curly hair, I'm not that happy with it, but consider it a challenge - something to master!

I've used the sketch from Papertake Weekly, I love a good sketch!  I only just realized when I posted the pic, that I've put my (computer generated, grab a copy here from my Freebies page if you like) sentiment in the "wrong" place, hope it's okay!
The papers are digis from  Bearly Mine Designs  - the Boyz Zone collection, they printed beautifully.  Coincidentally Bearly Mine Challenges, one of my faves, have an Anything Goes challenge running so I'll be entering there.  Sassy Cheryls Tuesday Challenge have Pretty Papers as their challenge, I probably shouldn't use the term "pretty" on my boys card... but they are, aren't they? so I'm entering there too, and while I'm at it I'll be entering the Sassy Cheryl Show Me Thursday Show Me Thursdays challenge. eta: oops, can't enter the Tuesday challenge as I already have and it's one entry only... really should pay more attention to the rules :-)
The Card Candi (Covent Garden) is from my stash, as is the mustard cardstock (DCWV) and the mesh tape (which has just arrived in my stash from the hardware, lol) so I'm in Lisa's Waste Not Wednesdays Stash challenge - aren't I always :-)
I've added a lot of layers with foam dots, it's something I love to do to my cards, and it means I'll be entering the Paper Play Challenges Layer It Up challenge.

The inside of the card is finished with more of the Boyz Zone paper, and the checked piece for jotting panel mat is from a pad from the $2 shop, very simple. Deep Ocean Challenge, Paper Crafting Journey, 2 Sisters Challenge and Catch the Bug all have Anything Goes challenges so I'll be entering them all :-)
That's it for today's card, such a simple one it just fell together, which is probably why I really enjoyed making it, lol.
Pop over to Here Come The Boys and check out my teamies inspiration - there's some yummy stuff there.  Hope to see you enter the challenge, it really is an easy one and of course there's the chance at a prize and our winners or Top Three badge to add to your sidebar - all that and you get to add a card for a Man or Boy to your stash!

I'm off now, think we might go for a drive in the hills or along the beach, which we love in winter - the dog's looking at me  and I don't know if it's his "it's lovely and warm in here, any chance at a snack" look or his "I'm slightly bored and am prepared to sacrifice the heater for a change of scenery" look.  We'll plump for the latter!  My son and daughter in law are back from their holiday in the Maldives - which they loved - and they'll pop over later (though they did come for breakfast yesterday to pick up their dog and drop off payment for the kennelling - Cologne for hubby and Grand Marnier... for me!) so we'll be glued to the screen later looking at holiday pics!  We're bird sitting for my Mum and Dad now, so more duty free in a couple of weeks methinks! or it may be crafting goodies as they're in Malaysia (yup, again) so they have access to "different" stuff - you never know your luck, lol.
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

NOT Twenty One Again!

Yup, another Birthday card... but this one is NOT for a Twenty First... it's for my Mum, and seems as you asked it's her 82nd!  Her birthday is not until next week, but she and my Dad left for a holiday (yes, Penang again!) this evening and won't be back for two weeks; As her gift I gave her some Malaysian Ringitt to spend while away, so this card doubles as a gift holder.

My mum loves easel cards (so do I, so that's handy!) and she also loves these sketch style of images; this one is called simply Poppies and is from Delicious Doodles - digi of course!  I used Copics to colour the image but I did add some Prismacolor shadows and a few "veins" with pearl gel pens, it looks really effective IRL.  Bizzy Becs still have their Flower Power challenge running and Divas by Design has Flowers, so I'm entering those.   Crafts 4 Eternity has Brilliant Birthdays so I'm entering there. 
I used Mpress Victorian Frames dies to cut the image and sentiment panels, I cut the mats for them using the next size up and there really is too great a difference between them to leave plain, so I embossed them with a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, then embossed them in the frame die again which gave the nice finished edge and flattened the dots a bit to make it more subtle, I'm happy with the result.  I rubbed some Liquid Pearls on the mats to to soften the effect.
I've used the sketch from Stamping With The Dragon again, I know I used it for my last card, but I really did find it to be a very versatile sketch, and I think this card looks quite different from the last despite being to the same sketch.
I've used papers from Prima, Faerie Florals... I used my Cuttlebug Forest Branches embossing folder to add some texture to the panel behind the image, I can't believe how different it made the paper look, before I embossed it that panel just blended into the background, definitely be using THAT technique again!  The Stamptacular Sunday Challenge is to use three or more papers, so I'm in, Sassy Cheryls Tuesday Challenge is to use Pretty Papers, these really ARE pretty, so I'm entering there and I'll be entering the Sassy Cheryl Show Me Thursday challenge too, why not? :-) 

I made the pocket for the money and a tag (cut with the same die as the image, using some of the buff coloured card that is the base layer, it has embossed dots on it to, but they were flat enough to still be able to write on) by just not gluing the top edge of the lower panel... it works as a prop for the easel too. 
The butterfly is cut from scrap dp, and Memory Box Vivienne Butterfly die, the corner embellie is another Memory Box die, Macarena Corner,  I added some Liquid Pearls to those too.  The "body" of the butterfly is a strip of rhinestones that I got, believe it or not, in Penang when we were there in March, the pearls are from my stash (Totally Gorjuss has Pearls as their challenge) as is the lovely translucent ribbon with the gold swirls on.  I mounted the ribbon on a panel of card cut with a Spellbinders Classic Border die.  
The acrylic dragonfly is also from my stash, as is the lace edging so I'll be entering Lisa's Waste Not Wednesdays challenge. Everything is popped up on foam dots (I'm going to have to do my 50km trip to the scrapbook shop that stocks my faves, as I'm running out already!) so I'm entering the Paper Play Challenges Layer It Up challenge  - no challenge for me really, I LOVE layers :-)
I love all ice cream, though it's not particularly the season for it here right now, lol, I'm entering the My Mums Craft Shop Favourite Ice Cream Flavour challenge with Tutti Frutti being the colours of my card.  Bearly Mine Challenges and Deep Ocean Challenge  have Anything Goes themes, so I'm entering there too.
That's it for today, I hope you like my card, my Mum did... and that's the main thing (mind you she is a "good" Mum, and likes everything I do, what a sweetie)  I'll be back in a few days with my next offering. Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna