My Geisha

Ages ago I bought this cute CC Designs digistamp, I've finally got around to making a card with it!

 Lucky for me All That Scraps, where I got my little Geisha (and one of her little friends) has an Anything Goes challenge, so I'm entering it.  I've coloured with Prismacolor Pencils, adding some Stickles to the centres of the flowers on her dress, I've tried the "blotchy" Copic background that I've seen and admired on quite a few cards in Blogland; I can see the comment on my report now "needs more work"!  I like it though, at least it's a bit of a change.  The whole time I was making the card up I was humming Sukiyaki, it made me think of a movie I LOVED when I was a girl; it was called My Geisha and starred Shirley McLaine - My Time to Craft wants us to be inspired by a Film or Song, I've been inspired by both!

I've used the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday, always a good source of sketches :-)   I used the yummy paper from DCWV Far East mat stack and some cardstock from my stash.  Corrosive Challenge has Favourite Colour Combination as their challenge theme, I love all colour but do find I use this combo a lot - maybe it's a secret favourite, lol.  Sweet Stampin' has For a Special Lady as it's theme, I hope this card counts :-?
I cut the image panel using a Classic Oval Nestie, and the mat using Floral Ovals, popping each layer up on foam dots.  Joanna Sheen has Lots of Layers for their challenge so I'm entering there.  I finally got around to using my Cheery Lynn Fanciful Flourish die, I've had it a while but no time, no time!!

I also made up the little stick pins, I used beads from a necklace I bought at a market for peanuts, and some I got in Malaysia last year - they're very bling-y in real life.  
The ribbon is from my stash, I love this double sided stuff!  Gem of a Challenge wants us to Add a Bow, which I did, and Crazy 4 Challenges wants to see lots of Texture - there's plenty here from smooth card to glass beads and even a little bit of embossing on the flourish.
I finished the inside of the card using elements from the front, I punched the flower from some of the Far East paper (it's card weight really) rolling the petals over a stylus to give them some shape.  
The centre of the flower is made up of more of the beads used on the front.

The Pink Elephant and Bearly Mine Challenges both have Anything Goes challenges running, so I'm in!
That's it for my just for fun card (sometimes it doesn't feel like you get many of those in, lol)  I'll be back in a day or so with something - I have some news on the weekend.... hope you'll come back and check out what it is :D
On a personal note, I'd like to thank all the lovely people out there who left good wishes for my little Rocky in his recent misadventures: he is well and truly on the mend - he can go onto "real" food (his normal food) from tomorrow, though we have to reintroduce it over a few days.  He feels ready for action, in his all time favourite game he chases a laser light up and down our house; we call it "get the bug", but doesn't realise that he isn't healed enough yet so he sits gazing mournfully at the drawer we keep it in.  The sedate walking on a lead that he IS allowed just ain't cutting it, lol.  We did cave a bit yesterday and drove out to one of "our" spots so he could chase the kangaroos... there weren't any around thankfully, as he took off and if there had been any he probably would have run to the point of collapse - he hasn't worked out yet that they ALWAYS win the race :)
Anyway, that's it for now.  Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Happy Anniversary to my Best Friend

On Monday my husband and I celebrated our 35th Anniversary.  Things were not "normal" at our house (more on that later) but I did manage to get a card made for him, here it is.

The sweet image is from Tiddly Inks, it's called "Best Friends" and that is what my husband and I are, so it's most appropriate.  I think it shows that even though two "people" have many differences they can still be best friends. Deep Ocean Challenge has Letter B as their challenge, I have Best friends and Brown cardstock, a Bone and a Bow on the fish; I'm in, lol.  Tiddly Tuesdays challenge theme is Critters, so I'm entering there.  I coloured with Prismacolor pencils and some Derwent Inktense pencils I've added to my stash... they're a bit different to use, but they give a lovely strong colour that I like.  

The papers I've used are from Inque Boutique and DCWV, the square behind the mat is nice and glittery so I'm entering Craft Your Passion's All That Glitters challenge.  I've used the colours that we had for our wedding; apricot and brown. I still love them, and usually make our Anniversary cards using them. Oozak has an Anything Goes with your favourite colour combo challenge so I'm entering there, Craft Us Crazy has Favourite Things, sweet digi images, nice papers and this colour palette are all faves, so I'm in :-) 

The fabulous sketch came from Sketch and Stash.  The sentiment is from a digi set by Bizzy Becs, I love it!  The ribbon and Card Candi came from my stash - I inked the edges of the Card Candi on the ribbon to "soften" it a bit.  Stamptacular Sunday Challenge had Two's Company - they want us to use two stamps (the image and the sentiment), two embellies (Ribbon and Card Candi) and two colours (Apricot and Brown) tick, tick tick - I'm in there too!

The image panel is cut using Nestabilities Standard Circles, the mat using Nestabilities Scalloped Circles.  Gem of a Challenge has Dies or Punches as their challenge theme so I'm entering there.

The inside is finished very simply.  The Paper Shelter has Celebration as their challenge theme, Totally Gorjuss For the Men - this is for MY man, so I'm entering, 2 Sisters Challenge has Love or Valentines, Crafty Calendar  has Love and Marriage and My Mums Craft Shop has Valentine's/Love so I'm entering those as well.

 That's about it for my card, as I said things have been anything but normal;  On Sunday (you may have read in my previous post) our little fur baby Rocky had an emergency... he swallowed a cocktail fork (!) and had to have it surgically removed.  We thought that was the end of the drama, and expense... if only!  The vet rang on Monday and said he didn't seem well enough to come home, but keeping him in was going to cost a further $1000 dollars for the extra night; having already parted with over $3000 (despite that being the absolute upper amount) we decided, as he always is slow to come out of anaesthetic, he just needed to come home.  

Rocky, when well... so lovable

He was very unwell, couldn't hold down water and still hadn't eaten (since the fork!) I took him to our "own" vet on Tuesday, she let me take him home but on instruction to return him if he did not improve.  Wednesday morning he was obviously very sick indeed; I took him back to the vet, she kept him there, did Xrays and rang me to say she was very concerned that it was Peritonitis, and that it is often fatal but she wasn't sure so needed blood tests.  The blood tests came back negative for Peritonitis (thank goodness), but positive for Pancreatitis - a serious and extremely painful condition in dogs, which can be caused by abdominal surgery, especially if not gently handled; Rocky has extensive bruising, suggestive of rougher than ideal handling - so I'm upset at the emergency vet.  
He was still not eating, he had held down a little water but was failing.  We went to get him on Wednesday night, so that he wouldn't be alone if the worst happened in the night but he was in too much pain to move - it was truly terrible to see, he is such a gentle soul.  The vet suggested putting a IV line up on Thursday morning to see if we could rehydrate and nourish him (still no food at all since Sunday am).  I went down on Thursday morning and really didn't know if it was worth the further discomfort to the poor little man, but he is only 6 so we gave it a go.
I am more than deliriously delighted to tell you he rallied on Thursday afternoon and has come home to us today, we have to feed him very small amounts five or six times a day - that would have seemed like a chore a week ago, but now feels like a privilege!  The $650 our vet has charged feels like a bargain too :-)
I work from home most days, Rocky is my constant companion; I'm glad to have him back, even though he looks like a patchwork quilt with his belly, both front legs, neck and underside of the base of his tail (huh?!) shaved :-)

My hubby was also obviously a bit distracted... he arranged with my son to organize flowers for our Anniversary, but got a card himself.  When he gave me my card I had to stifle a laugh... he had got a Birthday card by mistake, and had then put 53 kisses on it - apart from anything else, I'm 54 this year.  He's saying "can you read it? Count the kisses" and I'm saying, "yeah, it says Happy Birthday, Love Always, Stefan" he smiles sweetly goes to wash his hands then yells "Oh Cr*p, it's not your birthday", we had a really good laugh about it, which with RockyGate going on was most welcome.
Anyway, that's MY week, I'm going to share it over at Sassy Cheryl's Show Me Thursday blog - such a fun "challenge".  I'm hoping things are settled to the point of dull for a while!  Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Happy Birthday to My "Little" Boy & Lots of Layers at HCTB

Today is my eldest son Matt's birthday... he's not such a little boy; 32!!  Today is also the start of a new challenge over at Here Come The Boys, so I took the opportunity to make a card for one of my favourite people using the challenge theme -one of my favourite techniques.... Lots of Layers!

I made an easel card.... another "favourite", Craft Us Crazy has Favourite Things as their challenge so I'm entering there.  

Matt is mad keen on cars - always has been, it's a source of much ribbing from my husband as he's a "footy" fan; Matt says Stefan likes watching a load of guys running around a paddock chasing a bit of pigskin, to which my hubby retorts simply "vroom vroom"  

As soon as I saw this fantastic image (one of the Funny Giraffes set from The Paper Shelter) I just had to have it and get it on a card for Matt.  Stamping Sensations has Fur or Feather for their challenge, I'm in!  I changed the number on the front of the car to 32 to make it applicable to Matt's age.  I coloured with Copics, adding some extra shadows with pencils and gloss to the windshield and goggles.  I love bright colours, Copics are good for "bright", Oozak has Anything Goes with your favourite colour combo as does Corrosive Challenges so I'm entering there.

I've used the sketch from Cupcake Craft Challenges, I've missed the deadline for the challenge but I do like to acknowledge the source of a good sketch! 

 I thought the sentiment was soooo good, like so many of the fabby sentiments from TLC Creations. I attached it to a strip of card "tucked" under the strip along the front edge of the base, making it act as a stop for the front of the card.  Fab 'n' Funky Challenges has "What's Inside" for their challenge and Aud Sentiments Challenge is "Show Your Inner Sentiment" so I'm entering those.

The papers are from Kaisercraft's Konstruct collection and my stash.  The black panel behind the image is corrugated, the stripy paper is... not!  The brads are from my stash too, the black ones are nice and glittery.  Whimsy Inspirations Challenge is to Use Some Metal; brads are metal - I'm in :-)  All the layers are popped up on foam dots of different thicknesses which makes it a very 3D card indeed!

My Time to Craft has Men Only and Totally Gorjuss has For Your Men so I'm entering those challenges as well as the Charisma Cardz which has an Anything Goes theme.

Well that's it for today's card.  We had "breakfast pizzas" here today for Matt's birthday meal; as a starter we had little bits of sausage and sauce using cocktail forks (we always do, lol) ... my husband dropped one on the floor and our lovely Jack Russel Rocky grabbed it - husband grabbed hold of cocktail fork, handle broke off, Jack Russel swallows sausage AND FORK.  We joked about it for the rest of the meal but eventually rang the vet (insert emergency vet - it's Sunday!) who advised us to take him down.  We did, he had an X-Ray (= dollars) - requiring sedation (and therefore more dollars)  I'm thinking this is going into the hundreds now.  Vet comes back with, yes this is quite serious, he has to have it surgically removed as it could perforate his gut, we'll come back to you with an estimate (mmmm, ominous)  Comes back with the estimate $2800 to $3000, yup, THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!!  What can you do, we love him and he's only six - young enough to make it worthwhile (apparently)  So, Rocky is in Hospital, we're waiting for the phone call to say he's come out of surgery and what time to pick him up tomorrow (oh yeah, and how much the balance will be, aaargh!!)  We're going to rename him the six million dollar dog - and we're binning the cocktail forks, even though we've had them longer than the kids!!  eta: Rocky has come through the surgery fine, he has a 7cm incision, aaaw.

It's our Anniversary tomorrow, hubby was going to go out this afternoon and get my card, it looks like this is the first year I won't have a card at breakfast - blame Rocky!!  I'll be back with the card I made for Stefan in a day or so (just need to go and finish it, lol)  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna 

Be Mine... or else!

Happy Valentines Day!!  Today I have a Valentines card I made for my darling hubby :-) 

 My husband is definitely NOT the soppy card variety, he has a wicked sense of humour so when I saw this image I knew exactly where it was going :-) 
The image is "Cupid You're Mine" from Just Inklined, I coloured with Copics.  Cute Card Thursday has An Eye For Detail as their challenge theme, I think the eyes on these too characters fit the bill perfectly, lol.  Craft Us Crazy wants us to use our Favourite Things, a few of my favourites here: I love digis, especially quirky images like this, and I like lots of colour and layers, so I'm entering the challenge.

I used this great sketch from Sunday Sketch and Stamp,  I've changed the image from a circle to a square and put the three "stars" (in my case hearts) on the image panel instead of the background, but hopefully it's close enough.  The hearts are all brads from my stash, with Stickles added, Stampin' for the Weekend has Use Metal for their challenge, so I'm in there.

The papers are from Kaisercraft's Made With Love collection, the little gold hearts on the front are nice and sparkly, I added some gold Stickles to  one of the hearts on the inside to make that sparkly too :-)  The 2 Sisters Challenge is Hearts, Gem of a Challenge has Hearts/Valentines, Crafty Creations has Love and/or Hearts and Papertake Weekly is Hearts or Flowers so I'm entering there too.  The horizontal strip on the front is card mounted on ribbon, I added a dot of red Stickles to the centre of each little heart. The glittery discs on the two corners are from a pack I got (several packs of actually) for 50c - love a bargain, lol.  

The sentiment is a rub on... "be mine" on the outside and "forever mine!" on the inside, I like the almost sinister sound of it, I think it goes with the image - firmly tucked with my tongue to the inside of my cheek!! 
The inside is decorated with one sheet from the Made With Love pad, I used a Fiskars punch to punch the holes so you could see the black card showing through - they're not even but I DID follow the pattern printed on the paper :-)  I used my lovely new paper piercer to pierce the card (imagine that, lol) and used a very fine pen to add faux stitching to the image panel and around the edge of the inside.  Fab'n'funky Challenges wants to see us decorate the inside of our cards this time (easy peasy, I always decorate the inside) and Aud Sentiments wants us to Show them our Inner Sentiment, so I'm entering there too.

There are absolutely loads of challenges with Love/Valentine challenges on at the moment (unsurprisingly!) including these ones I'm entering: The Pink Elephant, Craft Your Passion, The Paper Shelter, Divas by Design, Stamping With The Dragon, Totally Papercrafts, Crafts 4 Eternity, Allsorts Challenges. My Mums Craft Shop, Moving Along With The Times, Paper Crafting Journey, One Stop Craft Challenge, Totally Gorjuss. Crafty Calendar, Fashionista Challenge, Cards for Men, Catch the Bug, Cutie Pie Challenge, Stamptacular Sunday Challenge, Di's Digi Designs

That's it for today's card, I'll be back in a couple of days with my son's birthday card and our Anniversary card.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna 

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad

Hello everyone.  I've got a card today that I made for my Mum and Dad's Anniversary... their 62nd; a long time by anyone's measure!!

 I used the oh-so-fab Gus & Stella image "One Person To Annoy" from Bugaboo... my Mum and Dad have a wicked sense of humour and got a good chuckle from it, Crazy 4 Challenges theme this time is Cards that bring a smile to your face, no problem, I'm in :-) I coloured the image with Copics adding some Stickles to Stella's slippers and the heart and gloss to the glasses.
I've used the sketch from the Stella Says Sketch challenge this time around, great sketch, I've been very literal with it too.  The papers are from my stash, I think the black with pink foil hearts is from Kaiser, but I'm not sure. Digital Tuesday and Simon Says Challenge want to see hearts (plenty of hearts here!) and Creative Craft Challenges has Hugs and Kisses as their theme so I'm entering there too.  

The black paper with raised dots is from Starfish Lane, as is glittery black and the fuschia velvet paper... it's a shame the lush texture doesn't show in the pics.  I cut the border with Martha Stewart's Doily Hearts punch.  I added some acrylic hearts that I coloured with Copics and some diamante trim I got last year in Malaysia, also black pearls from my stash.  The sentiment is computer generated, I love the sentiment that comes with the image "I love being married; It's great to find that one special person you can annoy for the rest of your life", but it was just too big in the end, lol.

Paper Crafting Journey, Cute Card Thursday, Stamping With The Dragon, My Time to Craft, Sweet Stampin', Di's Digi Designs and My Mums Craft Shop all have Valentines/Love challenge themes, so I'm entering them and The Pink Elephant has this great Photo inspiration so I'm entering my "hearty" creation there too.

The inside of the card is finished with elements from the front of the card... as usual, lol.

One Stop Craft Challenge, Bearly Mine Challenges, Catch the Bug and Papertake Weekly all have Anything Goes challenges running so I'll be entering them as well.

Well that's about it for today's card, I may get some crafty time in tomorrow; my hubby is working in the morning... he tries hard not to work on weekends (he certainly did his share when we were younger) but he didn't get today's job finished so he has to go back.  It's really hot tomorrow too, 38+ yukky for working outside, it's near the beach though so he may get the sea breeze - it's forecast 42C on Sunday, at least he's not working then too; though my son Chris is, he's doing" a Christening (he's a photographer) and it's in the hills - no chance of a sea breeze up there, poor old Chris!

Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

My Craft Room

I just thought I'd pop a few pictures of my craft space on to my blog.  It's not quite finished, there's a shelf to go up, the rest of the stuff to go back in my cabinets and a rug to buy - which I don't need until cooler weather - now the floor is tiled instead of carpeted. 
I'm also in the throes of getting a cover for the table (one of those foam backed vinyl jobs!) and changing the blinds and pelmets - in fact I'm off looking at fabric right now :-)

The whole room is furnished from Ikea... it's just the way it worked out :-)  My hubby made some  CD holders to fit in the end cabinet, it holds all my dies in CD or DVD holders

The REALLY untidy looking stuff is in the solid doored cupboards and the boxes in the Expedit units.




My poor neglected Silhouette sits on the side cabinet... I've put it out and easily accessible to see if that increases my chances of using it... of course crafting time has been at a premium recently, so it's not worked out that way yet!
Anyway I'll be back with a card tomorrow.
Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna 

Here Come The (Cow)Boys!!

There's a new challenge starting today over at Here Come The Boys, the theme is "Western" - hence the oh so clever title of this post (didya get it, didya??)  I've made a card for a friend of ours, Dave, who's turning 50 (sweet young thing!)

 I used a freebie image I got at Animal JR... one of the many colouring pages they have, I spent over an hour browsing - thing is I don't have the spare hour, lol.  I've coloured with Copics and made the sentiment on the computer.

The punch line is inside the card, with an image I got from fellow HCTB DT Woo (thanks Woo). Fab'n'funky Challenges theme is Shoes so I'm entering there.  Crazy 4 Challenges theme is Cards that bring a smile to the recipient, this did (he loved it in fact) so I'm entering there.
Paper Pretties has Square Cards as their challenge theme - I'm in!
The papers I used are from Kaisercrafts Handmade collection, the blue cardstock is from my stash.  Divas by Design has Blue, Brown and Cream as their challenge theme, so I'm entering there.  Oozak has Anything Goes with your favourite colour combo as their theme, I love brown with any colour :-) so I'm entering there too.

Papertake Weekly has a sketch this week... in fact they have a "Sketchie Free For All" whereby you can pick any one of their sketches, there's plenty of great sketches to choose from; I've chosen #55
Joanna Sheen wants us to use three Papers, two  Embellies and  one image - my papers and image are obvious, as my embellies I've used ribbon with metal letters (Stampin' for the Weekend has Use Metal as their challenge theme so I'm entering there) threaded on to spell Dave's name.  I've also added a translucent acrylic "50th" tag to the inside with some fine gold wire - but hopefully that doesn't make my card ineligible :-)  If you've ever wondered if these little details are worth the time, Dave told me, without prompting, that they were the things he liked the most; what made him feel the card was for HIM.

Simon Says Challenge, One Stop Craft Challenge and Catch the Bug all have Anything Goes challenges running so I'll be entering them.
That's about it for today's card.  I hope you can find the time to check out the rest of the team's makes, lots of inspiration there... so hopefully you'll be inspired to enter  the challenge yourself.  There's a great prize... the fabulous Bugaboo is offering a selection of their digis; such a huge range, guaranteed to be something you like :-)
I've just about finished with our renovations (for the time being), there is a fault in one piece of the new granite in the kitchen so they're going to replace that in a few weeks - they have to cut the piece with the crack off using a grinder so I KNOW there's going to be mahoosive amounts of dust... just when I thought I'd finished with all that :-(  
It all looks great, I have a new big table and flash chairs in my craft room, looks very swish indeed.  I'll post some pics -just because I'm proud of our efforts :-) I'm still putting stuff back in the cupboards and shelving units, trying very hard to sort out the "junk" as I go; I must say my resolve is wavering.  I should be back to "normal" next week, Yay!!
Until next time, Happy Crafting Donna