Flower Frenzy at Di's Digi Designs Challenge

Today we have a new Di's Digi Designs Challenge starting... the theme this time around is "Flower Frenzy".  Now we don't mind if you add flowers, use floral paper or, like me, have an image with flowers on, as long as there's a lot of 'em ;)

 The image I've used is Curly's Butterfly and you can get him here on Di's fab new website.  How cute is he? and very versatile too.  Craft Your Passion has Make it Cute as does Gem of a Challenge, so I'm entering there and Crafts 4 Eternity has Cute as you like so I'm entering there too.
I've coloured with Copics, adding some Ice Stickles to the butterfly and around the bouquet... not that they show in the pics of course.

I've used the sketch from Sketch and Stash this time around, you know I love a good sketch :)  I cut a scalloped border with Classic Border dies from Nestabilities to take the place of the lace in the sketch, and I haven't used a sentiment - I'm leaving it open.  I think it makes a super Anniversary card, so I'm entering the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge which has a theme of Fuzzy Friends (Anniversary or Wedding Card)
The papers are from a new (well new for me anyway!) pad from Kaisercraft; Botanical Odyssey, very lush indeed!  Digital Tuesday has Spring Colours for their current theme, so I'm entering there.

I followed the sketch for the inside of the card too.
The flowers are a set of Joy Craft dies, the two on the front are the large and medium, the two on the inside are the medium and small.  The centres are Card Candi... to get the smallest one to be a better scale I cut a piece of Card Candi using a Fiskars hole punch - it took me longer to balance the Card Candi on the punch than it did to cut and shape the flowers, lol.  The Paper Shelter and Simon Says Challenge both have Anything Goes themes, so I'm entering there.
That's about it for today's card, having such a nice easy challenge theme should mean I'll see loads of you entering the challenge; sure hope so :D  The prize is a goodie too, $10 from There She Goes Stamps, yay!
I'll be back tomorrow or Monday with one of the baby cards I made for the twins... I'm just about to go and see them (and their parents of course!) not allowed a cuddle today, they have lost a little too much weight :( For Nathan in particular that is a concern as he has now dropped under 2Kg, so they need to rest and they are now getting topped up with formula; my daughter in law is very keen to feed them herself so she is feeling a bit frustrated at the moment - but she does realise that the best way to monitor them is to measure their feeds - I'm sure it will all sort itself out in a few days. My son is being fantastic, he's sleeping at the hospital and keeping track of everything, doing the nappy changes (until Elaine can get out of bed at least), scheduling visitors, all sorts - we're so proud of him.  Before I go I have to wash some 00000 size clothes, the 0000 are still drowning Nathan :p
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna 

Twinnies Day

Well the day has finally come... I'm a Nanna!

Emily Olivia & Nathan Rhys

arrived today.

Emily arrived at 2.15 pm (local time)  weighing 2.750 Kg or 6lb 1oz and was followed one minute later by her brother Nathan Rhys, weighing 2.095 Kg or 4lb 10oz.  All are well, Nathan (because of his lower than expected birth weight) will spend some time in an Isolette, but will hopefully join the rest of his family in their room by the weekend.
They did allow him to come to the room when we went to meet the babies, we took a couple of photos of my son's new family :D

The new family

Emily Olivia

Nathan Rhys

It's nice to have them here, safe and sound. Our love and thanks go to our darling son Matt and his lovely wife Elaine, :x  :x :x :x :x

I've made a card (surprise!) and one for my folks to give too... I'll be back tomorrow with some pics.  I'm off now to bed, it'll be the first time I've ever slept with a Grandad, lol

A Host of Golden Daffodils

 I have another card with a spring feel to it today, which is kind of ironic as we're heading into autumn here... glorious day today, blue sky, fresh breeze and only about 26C - so much better than those too-hot-for-me months ;) 

I've made another easel card, do love 'em! Addicted to Stamps has Easel Cards for their challenge theme so I'm entering there.
I've used another sweet image from Di's Digi Designs, this is Little Bunnies Daffodils; such a joy to colour - which I have done with Copics and Prismacolor pencils.  My Time to Craft has a Bunnies challenge - I'm in - Deep Ocean Challenge has Cute and Cuddly for their challenge so I'm in there too.

I've used the sketch from Sunday Sketch and Stamp, great sketch thanks!  I used papers from Kaisercraft's Magic Happens pad (which I've had for-eva so I'm entering the Totally Gorjuss Something Old challenge) and Merci's Tangerine Tang pad.  I got the Merci paper in Big W! it's fabulous, heavy weight and most sheets have glitter or foil (on this one the orange circles are foiled, not that it shows in the pics, grrr).  The card for matting is from American Crafts and Bazzil, 

 I cut the image panel using Nestabilities Labels One and the orange mat for the image using Nestabilities Decorative Labels One.  The orange mat on the sentiment is from Nestabilities Floral Ovals, the purple is from Nestabilities Standard ovals and the sentiment itself is from Craftworks Cards :-)  The ribbon is from my stash, Craft Your Passion and Paper Crafting Journey both have Ribbon or Lace as their challenge themes so I'm entering there. 

I added daffodils and bead sprigs from Mulberry Crafts, a leafy flourish from Cheery Lynn and some small punched flowers with Gold Stickles centres.  I coloured pearls to match using Copics.  The current 2 Sisters Challenge is Flowers for Spring, The Paper Shelter has Spring, Colour Me Copic  has Spring Colours, My Mums Craft Shop has Spring has Sprung, Simon Says Challenge  has Easter/Spring as does Gem of a Challenge, One Stop Craft Challenge and Bearly Mine Challenges have Anything goes themes so I'm entering there too.

Well that's it for today's card, now just a quck note for my Followers (and anyone who Follows any Blog really ;) )No doubt you'll have heard that Google is binning their Reader; I have investigated it and as far as I can tell we Bloggers need to find a different way of receiving posts from Blogs we Follow, there are a couple of Readers that fit the bill, Feedly is one and the most popular of them seems to be Bloglovin' ... you don't have to "rejoin" any of the Blogs you Follow, if you sign up for Bloglovin' (which is easy to do, I might add) all the Blogs in your Reading List will be migrated there.  After 1st July, when your Reading List will no longer appear on your Blogger Dashboard you will need to Follow new blogs using your Bloglovin' account (your daily feed is sent straight to your email, so easy peasy) or by clicking on the "Follow This Blog on Bloglovin'" Button if it's available on the Blog you want to Follow
In short, you do need to sign up to a new Reader like Bloglovin' to get notification of when a blog you follow has a new post, you don't have to go to every blog you Follow  now and "reFollow"; your list will go over to Bloglovin' automatically.
I hope that all makes sense,it's just that I can feel a kind of panic out in Blogland the last week or so since Google made their announcement and thought I'd share my thoughts on it :D
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Picture Inspiration at Here Come The Boys

There's a new challenge starting today over at Here Come The Boys.  We have this fabulous Picture Inspiration for you.  
You could use the colours as inspiration, or there's a "planes, trains and auto-mobiles  theme to all the photos, there's that sexy lady on the Memphis Belle or perhaps the pictures evoke a memory for you.... however you choose to interpret it, as long as it's for a guy (young or old) and we can see how our picture has inspired you, you're in!  I've gone down the "planes" route :)  Here's my card...

The cuter than cute digi is from Di's Digi Designs.  I coloured using Copics, I tried to give a mottled finish to Ted to look like fur. In the "original" image Ted is holding a bunch of flowers, as you can see in this picture.  I drew a bunch of balloons using Word, printed them out, coloured them, added Gloss then cut them out and glued them over the flowers to make it a tad more masculine.  Stampin' for the Weekend has For a Child and Stamping Sensations has Great Outdoors so I'm entering there too.

The papers are from Kaisercrafts Rewind pad and my stash. I cut the image panel and blue mat with Nestabilities Standard Circles, then mounted them on a silver mat made with a Nestabilities Lacey Circles die.  The biggest mat I cut freehand then embossed with Cuttlebug's Divine Swirls folder, which is the first embossing folder I ever bought :) I added buttons also from my ancient stash ;) Totally Gorjuss has Something Old as their theme so I'm entering there.  

I used my paper piercer and a silver gel pen to do the faux stitching, Whimsy Inspirations Challenge's theme is Stitching Real or Faux so I'm entering there.

Simon Says Challenge had a choice of two sketches this time around, I chose Sketch One for this card... but sketch two looks yummy too - might have to use that one too, lol.  I finished the inside of the card to match the front, basically following the sketch for that too, though you didn't have to :) 

I made the sentiment using Wordart, I printed it a bit red so I went over it with an orange Copic... it would have been MUCH quicker to just redo it from scratch!  I did a fluttering banner sort of shape 'coz I thought it went with the plane image. Fab'n'funky Challenges has Add a Sentiment so I'm entering there, and One Stop Craft Challenge and Cute Card Thursday both have Anything Goes challenges so entering there too.

Well that's it for today's card, do pop over to the Here Come The Boys blog and check out my teamies inspiration, I hope you enter the challenge - then I can come and check out YOUR interpretation of our picture montage.

Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Easter's Arrived at Di's Digi Designs

A new challenge starts today over at Di's Digi Designs Challenge Blog, the theme is Spring or Easter.  I've used one of Di's gorgeous Easter images for my card, it's Easter Bunnies Plantpot.

See what I mean, cute, huh?  Deep Ocean Challenge has Cute and Cuddly for their challenge, I'm in for sure!  Crafty Calendar, Bearly Mine Challenges, Creatalicious Challenges, Sweet Stampin' and The Paper Shelter have Easter themes, I'm in there too ;)  Anything Goes Challenge theme is Double Up - my two sweet bunnies are in.

I've used Copics and mainly Prismacolor pencils for this card, I like the soft "hand coloured" look they give... well when I use them they do, at least; a more expert hand may have a different end result!  Craft Your Passion want you to use two and only two colours, I think Pink and Green pretty much cover the palette on this card so I'm in, Divas by Design have Put on Some Pink, Fashionista Challenge have  Make it Pink Stampin' for the Weekend For a Child and Aud Sentiments For a Girl  so I'm in there too.

 Colour Me Copic has Spring Colours and this fabby inspiration picture, so I'm entering there too.
I've used the sketch from Sketch and Stash this time around, it was the perfect layout for a gatefold card, which is what I wanted to make, bonus! The only thing I changed was I put the sentiment (which is a fabby freebie from The Stamp Fairy) on the "second" panel.. hope that's still okay :|
Papertake Weekly has 1 2 3  for their challenge; I've used one image, two colours (or two flourish dies) and three of each flower so I'm entering there.

I've decorated the inside of the card to suit the outside.

I cut the image and sentiment panels using Nestabilities Labels Eight and the flourishes are from Marianne D while the border punch is Martha Stewart's Doily Lace.  Stamptacular Sunday Challenge has To Die For as their theme so I'm entering there.  
The fabulously floral papers are from Kaisercrafts Chanteuse pad, it's so old I don't even know if you can still get it (?) Totally Gorjuss has something old for its' challenge; this paper the pink card and green card from American Crafts, the ribbon and card candy are all from my stash so I'm entering! 
The flowers are from Mulberry Crafts and The Ribbon Girl.  I coloured ivory rosebuds with dark pink Copics to match the ribbon, I added some dark pink headed pins to the arrangement to spread the colour out a bit. 2 Sisters Challenge theme is Flowers for Spring - I'm in!
There are a stack of challenges at the moment with a Spring theme, I'm entering Moving Along With The Times,  Oozak, My Mums Craft Shop and  Addicted to Stamps.   Stamping Sensations has The Great Outdoors; I think this counts so I'm entering there too.
That Craft Place and Cute Card Thursday have Anything Goes challenges running... I KNOW this counts there, so I'm in :-)
Well that's it for today's card.  I hope you like it, I do, which is surprising as it has more embellishments on than I would usually use.
I'll be back tomorrow with my card with my card for the new Here Come The Boys challenge , until then Happy Crafting, Donna 

Bella, Blossoms, Butterflies and Bling

The card I have today came about when I was showing my sister how I colour my images... she used to come to my Decorative Painting classes, and still paints up a storm but has never used Copics or Prismacolor pencils and was interested to see how it works ;)   

I had this cute image printed and ready to go, it's Bella's Flower from Sassy Cheryl, Fab'n'funky Challenges has Cute and Cuddly so I'm entering there 'coz Bella is Cute AND Cuddly. As I said I coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, then fussy cut Bella and her cute little bug friend.
I made my favourite kind of card; an easel!  The papers are from a pack I got in Spotlight called Gelati.  Simon Says Challenge is to use a Bit o' Green and Crafty Creations has Show us some Green - plenty of green here, I'm in ;)  
I cut the image panel with Standard Circle Nestabilities and the mat with an Mpress Scalloped Flower Die. Totally Papercrafts has Punch It (Use Punches or Dies) as their theme so I'm entering there and The Paper Shelter has the same, so in there too. 
I made the larger flowers using a Nellie Snellen punch, and the smaller ones using a punch from my LSS shaping and  colouring them with some light yellow ink before heat embossing them with iridescent sparkle EP (those tiny flowers were FIDDLY!) I then added centres with pearls from my stash that I coloured to suit with Copics.  
Sassy Cheryls Tuesday Challenge theme is Flowers Flowers Everywhere, Addicted to Stamps has Bring on Spring (lots of flowers), My Mums Craft Shop has Spring has Sprung, Allsorts Challenges has Springtime, One Stop Craft Challenge has Spring and Oozak has Anything Goes with Spring; so I'm entering all those.

I used a Martha Stewart punch to cut the butterflies before giving them the same treatment, the leaves are from a punch I've had for yonks.   Cupcake Craft Challenges has Sparkle, Corrosive Challenge has Sparkle or Glittter Digital Tuesday Buttons or Bling - obviously I'm going for BLING ;)
I added a jotting panel to the inside of the card, the ribbon is from my stash, and the sentiment is a die cut from Craftworks Cards, the edges are embossed with the same Iridescent EP as the flowers and butterflies.  
Bearly Mine Challenges has Mother's Day or for a Special Lady, as does Creative Craft Challenges, Joanna Sheen, Totally Gorjuss and Crafts 4 Eternity so I'm entering there.  Papertake Weekly, Craft Us Crazy, Stamping With The Dragon, Colour Me Copic and That Craft Place all have Anything Goes challenges running, so I'm entering there too.
Well that's it for today's card. I'll be back soon, until then Happy Crafting, Donna

You Are The Sunshine in my Life

Today I have another "just because" card.

I loved making this card... I used another of the oh-so-yummy-to-colour images from Di's Digi Designs; this is Sunflower Ted, how cute is he?!  I've coloured with Copics,  I love my Copics for "strong" colour - and I love strong colour :) Fab'n'funky Challenges has Cute and Cuddly as their challenge theme, so I'm entering there and Joanna Sheen has Lots of Layers so I'm entering there too.  Simon Says Challenge is to use some green, I have so I'm in!

Cupcake Inspirations have a great challenge this time around; they want us to pick our favourite Inspirations Cupcake.  I've got sooo many that I love; this is one of them, it's number 172.  I've used this great sketch from Sunday Sketch and Stamp Sketch.

The sentiment was a freebie from Bizzy Becs, I cut it with a Standard Circle Nestie and inked the edges with Kaiser inks. (Apologies for the fuzzy pic)

The patterned paper is from Kaisercraft's Class Act pad - I just treated myself to half a dozen new Kaisercraft pads (they were on sale at a hard to pass up price, so I didn't "pass up", lol)  The golden yellow textured cardstock and the brown card for matting are from my stash. I cut the horizontal strip with a Dienamics Zig Zag Border die, The Paper Shelter has Punches and or Dies for their challenge, so I'm in.  

The polka dot ribbon is from my stash, Craft Your Passion wants us to use an Odd number of embellies, I've used One, which is an odd number, so I'm entering there; however I've also used One ring/button "thing" so I'm not sure if I qualify.  Not sure if I qualify for Digital Tuesday's Buttons or Bling challenge either - is my ring/thing a button; it WAS in a bag of BUTTONS so I'm thinking yes :-?

The inside of my card is finished very simply with papers the same as the front. By the Cute and Girly, That Craft Place, Catch the Bug, Stamping With The Dragon, Craft Us Crazy, Papertake Weekly and Colour Me Copic all have Anything Goes challenges running, so I'm entering them.  I think this card would make a great Mother's Day card, though it's not Mother's Day here until May and I no doubt will have made another card for my Mum by then, so I'm entering the Mother's Day themed challenges at  One Stop Craft Challenge and  Creative Craft Challenges

That's it for today's offering, I'll be back in a day or so -  until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

And Now for Something a Little Different....

A new challenge is starting today over at Here Come The Boys.... No Stamping Allowed.  Now, when I first saw this I thought it was too, well, challenging; but once I started it all came together really easily.

I made a card for my niece's little boy; he turns two on the same day my grandtwins are due :)  I'm sorry the photo isn't the best, I took it really late under my "daylamp" and haven't had a chance to re do it - I will if I can later.
The patterned paper is from DCWV, the Animal Crackers pad.  The die cut arrow, triangle and star are  from them too, I think.  
I coloured the wooden U and R with Copics, adding some silver gel pen lines.  I covered the cardboard "2" with paper then coloured it with Copics, then added Mint Ice Stickles.  I popped the arrow and the "2" up on foam dots.  Joanna Sheen has Lots of Layers as their challenge theme, loads of layers here; I'm in!
The NIC (my grand nephew's Nic name, lol) are foam, they're already coloured.
Inside the card, I've used more die cuts and some twine from my stash.  The Happy Birthday is a sticker.
The Pink Elephant, Divas by Design, Simon Says Challenge, Craft Us Crazy and Stamping With The Dragon all have Anything Goes challenges running so I'll be entering them.
That's it for my very simple No Stamping card, pop over to the Here Come The Boys Blog and check out what my teamies have done - it just goes to show that there's plenty of scope even without stamping ;-0
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Di's Digis.... New Challenge and New DT position!!

I am very pleased to tell you that I am now officially on the Design Team for Di's Digi Designs, yeehaw!!  - it's such a privilege to have been picked at the recent DT call.  There's a great range of fab digis to choose from, and the other ladies on the team are sooo talented; I only hope I can fit the bill!
The challenge starting today on the Di's Digis Designs Challenge Blog has the theme Child(ren), so we want to see those projects with either a child or children as the main image, or for a child.

I made an easel card, they are my favourite kind of card - apart from anything else it means the inside of the card gets shown off too, lol. 
I've used Hello Bunny for my card, coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils (had issues; refilled my E000 with E00 ink, started colouring without noticing - my little lass looked like she'd been under a sunlamp, lol - I was lucky I could salvage it with my pencils!) Moving Along With The Times has Lovely Ladies so I'm entering my little lady there ;) and The Paper Shelter has Animal Magic as their theme, so I'm entering there too.

The papers are from Prima,  Corrosive Challenge wants us to use our Favourite Colour combo - I love all colour so I'm in (even though I can't pick a favourite, lol) and Oozak has Anything Goes + Spring.
Paper Pretties wants us to Use a Punch, I used a Martha Stewart punch for the horizontal strip, adding a few pearls to zing it up a bit.  Joanna Sheen has a Lots of Layers challenge, never really a challenge for me to be honest, I love layers!
I used this great sketch from Papertake Weekly, they've got a Sketchie Free For All - as long as you use one of THEIR sketches of course! Why wouldn't you? there's loads to choose from, this is Sketch #55
The Pink Elephant, Bearly Mine Challenges, Divas by Design, Craft Us Crazy and Stamping With The Dragon have all got Anything Goes challenges running so I'm entering them all - I'm like that, lol.
Colour Me Copic has Anything Goes with the optional use of butterflies, I've used a couple of butterflies from my stash, so I'm in.  
The digital sentiment is one of the 3 Scalloped Valentines set from Bizzy Becs, I propped it up on some foam dots so that the butterfly looked at a more natural angle.

That's about it for this, my first card on the Di's Digi Designs Design Team.  Please hop on over and check out my teamies makes, very sweet one and all :)
Why not have a go at the challenge too - you don't even have to use a Di's Digi to enter - though why wouldn't you with so many beauties to choose from - and if you do use one you get the chance to win 2 fab images in addition to the prize on offer for the challenge; which this week is this lush collection from Crafty Ribbons.
I'll be back tomorrow with my Here Come The Boys DT card, until then Happy Crafting, Donna