More Wedding Wishes

I have started to reassemble my craft room - I'm sorting things out before I put anything in there, but it's taking some time; at this stage I'm still determined not to just stuff bits back in the cupboards... but my resolve is waning, lol.

I made this easel card for our local pharmacist when he got married in December, it was super quick which was useful as I was super busy :-)

I used one of the Wedding themed die cuts I bought from Lili of the Valley, soooo handy!  Lili's Little Fairies challenge is an "Anything Goes" so I'm entering there.  I added Stickles to the brides gown and headress and the bouquet; Oozak has Anything Goes + Pink and Bling for their challenge and One Stop Craft Challenge has Sparkle and Bling, so I'm in!

Winter Wonderland has It Takes Two as their challenge theme, and for the time being it doesn't have to be a winter themed card, so I'm entering there, while Craft Us Crazy has Valentine/Love for their challenge so I'm entering there too.

The fabulous patterned paper is from Starfish Lane and the textured cardstock is from my stash, as are the pearls.  The flowers and leaves are from The Ribbon Girl; Totally Gorjuss has Flowers for their challenge theme so I'm entering there.  The sentiment is from Craftworks Cards.

I cut the flourish with a Marianne Design die.  The Paper Shelter and My Mums Craft Shop both have Anything Goes challenges running, so I'm entering them.

Well that's it for today, I'll be back in a few days - until then Happy Crafting, Donna

BINGO...It's the latest challenge at Here Come The Boys

A new challenge starts today over at Here Come The Boys, it's a Bingo Board.  I made my card before dismantling my craft room - here it is :-)

I used the line Die Cuts/Free/Twine... or was it Buttons/Twine/Image, or even Patterned Paper/Free/Buttons?!  Either way you can see how versatile our Bingo Board is :-)

The image is Work James from Digistamp Boutique, with the background image City Corner from Make It Crafty.  Cards for Men has Men at Work as their challenge theme so I'm entering there as well as Digistamp Boutique's monthly challenge.
I coloured my image with Copics, then cut it out using  Nestabilities Labels Three.
The papers are all from Basic Grey's Oliver Collection, fab for men's cards :-)  I embossed the green paper with an embossing folder I got for Christmas (Craft Couture), Gem of a Challenge and Totally Papercrafts both have Embossing as their themes, so I'm entering there.

I used this month's sketch from Crafting Life's Pieces.  
The great chipboard cogs came from Make It Crafty too, I used a brad from my stash in the centres.  The Outlawz Greeting Card challenge this time around wants us to use brads and something new (the embossing folder is new, and I've never used either image before though they've both been sitting on my cyber shelf for a while, shame)
The buttons and twine are also from my stash, and the sentiment is computer generated, Joanna Sheen has New Beginnings as their challenge theme as does  Creative Craft Challenges and That Craft Place so I'm entering them.
I finished the inside of my card with elements used on the front and the same basic layout.
Inky Chicks, Craftroom Door, Bearly Mine Challenges and 

Paper Crafting Journey all have Anything Goes challenges running so I'll be entering those too.

Pop over to the Here Come The Boys blog and check out the rest of the DT's inspiration - it's well worth the trip, hope to see you at the challenge too.

On a personal note, the tilers have finished at our house and we've moved much of the furniture back into it's respective rooms -giving us the use of both the refurnished rooms AND the spaces the furniture is in.  I have bought a new table for my craft room, I'm picking up a couple of chairs this week. Then I only have about a zillion bits of craft stuff to put back in to my cabinets - and I can play, yay!!  Here's a couple of pictures of my room empty, probably the only chance it gets at being truly tidy, lol

Entry through to my Craft Room

Kitchen from Family Room

The electrician is coming next week to install the canopy over the hotplate and a ceiling fan in my craft room, these hot flushes are being very persistent and I'm sick of the little pedestal fan!  The new door for the pantry comes on Tuesday, and that's about it.  Hubby and I are completely exhausted, chipping up the old tiles, moving most of the furniture in the house, painting the entire living area of the house (my job, my legs are killing me from going up and down the stepladder)  

We're really pleased with the results, we've got the same tiles running from the front door through the casual living (and my room, lol) to the back hallway, it looks really crisp.  The kitchen came up well too.

The Dining Room with the Study Furniture in it too!

There's still some small jobs to do, like choose new fabric, recover the pelmets and make curtains, but nothing that has the time pressure we've felt over the last couple of months.  

It's really nice to NOT be living as if we were camping too, I can finally start making real progress on the dust that's pervaded everywhere for the duration.  I am a tidy person and the clutter has just about driven me mad - or is that simply madder, lol.  I thought I'd share what I've been up to this week (actually it's been goin' on since November!!) over at Sassy Cheryl's Show Me Thursday blog, such a fun "challenge" :-)

Anyway, that's it for today.  I'll be back in a few days.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

May I Have This Dance for the Rest of My Life

Today I have a card I made before Christmas, I knew I'd be busy renovating now so I "saved" a few cards to blog.  This one's a wedding card;  My Mum and Dad were invited to our local pharmacist's wedding - this sort of thing happens a lot with my Mum and Dad, I think it's that they're so friendly ;-) 

The Pink Elephant has Celebrate as their challenge theme; One Stop Craft Challenge, Creative Craft Challenges, Joanna Sheen and Digital Tuesday all have New Beginnings as their challenge theme, my card celebrates a young couple beginning their life together so I'm in :-)
The image is a freebie from Papercraft Inspirations, I altered it a little - removing some detail - as I wanted a crisper look.  I coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, the dress has far more shading on it than it looks in the pic.  Colour Me Copic has Pastel Colours, so I'm entering there.  I added Diamond Stickles to the bodice and edges of the gown.  

The quilted background paper came from Starfish Lane, the patterned paper is from Papermania (I think).  
I cut the pink mat with Nestabilities Floral Ovals, I just got this die and I love it! Allsorts Challenges Dies and Punches for their challenge, so I'm entering there  Crafty Creations and Papertake Weekly have Something New (which my dies are) so I'm entering there too.
The ribbon is from my stash, as are the glittery flourishes - they're self adhesive and I'm finding them quite useful.  I used miniature roses from Mulberry Crafts and the pink resin blossoms I got at our annual craft show in Perth... I planned to make one of the projects they had on display, but I've cannibalised my collection to use on cards to such an extent that I don't have enough left!  The Paper Shelter Flower Extravaganza (use three or more Flowers) so I'm in!
I used more of the papers from the front on the inside of the card, the card was doing double duty as a holder for the gift card that was my parent's wedding gift so I finished the edge of the pocket with Martha Stewart's Lace Heart Punch and some ribbon.  The jotting panel is cut with a Standard Oval nestie, the sentiment is from Kaisercraft. 

Divas by Design, Paper Crafting Journey, Stampin' for the Weekend and Stamping With The Dragon all have Anything Goes challenges so I'll be entering those.

That's it for today's card, I'm missing my craft room already (it's only been one day, lol)  The tiler started at 7am today (yup, Sunday) and he started in my room, it's looking good already :-) I won't be getting back in there until next weekend at the earliest; the tiler finishes (all the tiling, not just my room, lol) on Thursday but we've decided to get the ceilings painted before we put all the furniture back, I might try to get the walls in my craft room painted too as it will be really hard to squeeze between my wall units and the end wall once they're in... though I have to sand and varnish the skirting boards first so I'm not sure I can delay my re-habitation for that long, lol 

I'll be back in a day or so, until then Happy Crafting - you lucky usable-craft-space owners you :-) Donna

Sketch Time at Here Come The Boys

Firstly thanks to those of you that took the time to comment on my Christmas egg... I really appreciate it, secondly Welcome to my new Followers and Hello to my Already-Followers :-)  
Well it's back to a card today - the new challenge at Here Come The Boys  is a sketch... and you know I love a good sketch; luckily this is a REALLY good sketch!

I've made an easel card, my favourite fold!  I've made a card to welcome a new baby boy, there's a stack of my "regular" challenges that have "new" as their theme, so it's a real value for money card, lol

Here's the sketch, from Here Come The Boys - I hope you join us this time around, it's a very versatile sketch, why don't you pop on over to the blog and check out what my teamies have done with it?  Why not enter the challenge, the prize is a fab Teddy Bo image, yummy!  The image I've used here is "Spit Happens" from Mo Manning - isn't he TOO cute?!  He's coloured with Copics.  Mo's Digital Challenge this time around is Anything Goes (with a Mo image), so I'm in there, Colour Me Copic  has Pastel Colours so I'm in there too.

The papers are from a pad I got in Spotlight, if I can find it I'll link it up.  The sentiment is from Pink Gem Designs, part of a Baby Boy set.  The die cut letters are DCWV, they were white and glittery now thanks to my trusty Copics they're blue and glittery, lol  The ticket sentiments are from Bizzy Becs, I printed them on photo paper then added a pale blue "wash", they look good IRL.  The ribbon is from my stash.  I cut the image panel with Nestabilities Labels One, coloured the edge with blue Copics and freehand cut a mat from American Crafts cardstock.  all the DP panels and the image panel are mounted on foam dots, Digital Tuesday has Layers as their challenge theme so I'm entering there.

The other challenges I'm entering are as follows:

The Pink Elephant Anything Goes

Bearly Mine Challenges Something New

Papertake Weekly Anything Goes

Divas by Design Anything Goes

Crafty Creations Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday Inspired by "New"

Craft Us Crazy Some New

Stampin' for the Weekend Anything Goes

Crafts 4 Eternity Something New

My Time to Craft All About the New

2 Sisters Challenge Anything Goes

Gem of a Challenge New Beginnings

Catch the Bug Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar What's New

My Mums Craft Shop Anything Goes

I have had a super busy, very tiring weekend; we removed all the floor tiles we're having replaced.  We worked from 3pm ti 8 pm on Friday, 10 hours yesterday and 8 hours today.  It was dirty, noisy and hot work and we've decided we're too old for it!  Thankfully our son Chris helped us for most of the time, and Matt gave us a few hours despite the fact that he worked all day yesterday, thanks boys we would have been sunk without you.  The place is nearly back in shape, the dust will settle for days yet, but that's not a real problem.  The tiling commences on Monday 14th, so I have a week to pack up my craft room & strip the carpet out, wish me luck, lol

I'll be back in a few days, making the most of my internet connection which may be a bit flaky once the tiling begins (the study has the cable socket and it's being tiled too) Until then Happy Crafting, Donna

...and an Emu in a Gum Tree (!)

I cut and decorated this egg a few years ago to give to my mum - then couldn't bear to part with it (anybody else ever do that? lol)  It sits on the hall table in my entry year 'round... but I do only open it at Christmas, well usually!  I've never "shared" this before, I hope you find it interesting.
One of the songs we have here for Christmas is an Aussie version of the Twelve Days of Christmas, where we have "an emu in a gum tree" instead of a partridge in a pear tree...   this is an emu egg, in a Christmas theme so it always brings that song to mind.  There's a lot of photos, but with this sort of project it's all about the detail so I hope you forgive me, the inside of the egg was the most work, so feel free to skip to them, lol

Emu eggs are between a Goose and Ostrich egg in size and are a gorgeous dark teal colour, unfortunately that didn't go with my theme so I painted the outside of the egg (after cutting it; very smelly and very fiddly!) with Warm White Jo Sonja acrylic paint, then sealed it.

The poinsettias are made from goose eggs, using the natural curve of the egg makes them more lifelike somehow.  They were painted pale pink then loads of very fine Star Dust glitter was added, very fine gold cord outlines them, the centres are tiny hole-less gold beads with some Swarowski crystals added for even more bling!  The  duck egg leaves were painted green with a Gold Crystal very fine glitter, gold cord outlines and "veins" .

 The "loops" on the front were finished with clear beads AB Crystals and Siam Crystals,  I added Texture Paste to the swirls on the sides before adding Star Dust glitter to them too. 
The findings all came from my local craft shop, which has unfortunately closed down now - it had such a wide range of products I miss it dearly! 
It's where I did my fabergé egg classes and got the pattern for this egg from too.

The back of the egg was cut in a lattice pattern like the front but plainer ;-)  I put a scene inside made from a Christmas card, it's hard to see in the pics.  
I then decorated the inside of the egg to look like a living room on Christmas morning - just without all the wrapping paper and people in pjs, lol.I painted the inside of the egg pink, adding detail to make it look like wallpaper. I made a fireplace from card,there's a photo of Santa in a gold frame over it, and candlesticks made from toothpicks too!  It's trimmed in true Christmas fashion with holly and (red bead) berries.  There's a toothpick fire in the hearth.  I made the rolled ribbon roses for the little tree, and added tiny bows too. 

The pièce de résistance is the lights on the tree, they light up when you press a button hidden under the (fabric) carpet.  A Christmas medley plays and the lights flash for about a minute.  I put a red globe in the fire too, so that flickers.  Every child that presses that button has a look of such wonder on their face, it fills my heart :-)  I've taken a picture, it is of necessity dark and sort of captures it, but as with most things crafty it's much nicer in real life!

I'm entering my egg in a number of challenges - I did try and weed out the challenges I thought were only for Papercraft -  if you think it's not appropriate for your challenge, please feel free to remove my entry, I hope you enjoyed looking at my project anyway :-)

Those challenges are:  
Papertake Weekly Anything Goes

Crafty Creations Anything Goes

Craft Us Crazy Christmas/New Year

Joanna Sheen With Love at Christmas

2 Sisters Challenge Anything But A Card

Cutie Pie Challenge Cute Christmas (the inside is cute, and it's for Christmas)

That Craft Place Christmas

Oozak Anything Goes + Pink and Bling

Creatalicious Challenges Christmas (non traditional colours)

By the Cute and Girly Cute and Girly

My Mums Craft Shop Anything Goes

I'll be back in a few days with a card - and a lot less photos, promise!

Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna 

Christmas is Over.... Happy New Year

First of all I'd like to wish a Happy New Year to all my followers and visitors, hope it brings all that you wish for :-)
The last of my Christmas cards for 2012 today, tada!  I'm sure I made a couple more, but I can't find the photos so this is, at least, the last one I'll be blogging, lol.

I've used another one of those fabby pre-coloured LOTV die cuts, adding some Stickles to the tinsel wrapped around the bear.

The papers are Kaisercraft, the brown card for matting is DCWV, the sentiment tag is from a sheet of die cuts from Graphic 45.  Gold Card Candi from my stash finishes it all off. 

I'm entering the following challenges:

The Pink Elephant Anything Goes

Aud Sentiments Anything with a Sentiment

Simon Says Challenge Anything Goes

Charisma Cardz Anything Goes

Craft Us Crazy Anything Goes

My Time to Craft Animals in the Snow

Di's Digi Designs Christmas

Cutie Pie Challenge Cute Christmas

That Craft Place Christmas

That's it for today's card, must be my shortest post ev-ah!!

I'll be back in a day or so, until then Happy Crafting (if you're back in the swing of it all yet, lol) Donna