Anything Christmas at Di's Digis

Well I didn't get time to blog the Christmas cards I was going to post earlier this week,  but with a new Christmas theme challenge starting today at Di's Digis I do get to show you this one

 How cute is this image?!  I decided that the card just had to be Clean and Simple to let the sweetness shine through :-)  It's called Reach for the Star and you can find it here.
I've coloured with Copics adding the obligatory sparkle to the stars and fur trim... oh, and the crown! with Stickles and gloss to the ornaments.  The paper and red matting are from my stash.  The sentiment (which looks crooked but "measures" straight, go figure) is from Create with TLC, I do believe it's one of the many freebies from the ever-generous Paulette :-)
Actually the sentiment may be crooked relative to the side of the paper... my faithful Fiskars cutter seems to have developed a rather nasty habit; it no longer cuts square, which is sadly the ONE thing you need your cutter to do, so a quick word in Santa's ear and hopefully he, as in I, can find a new one - it's so time consuming/frustrating trimming and retrimming to get them square.  I've resorted to measuring and marking first, gasp.

I made this card for my son, he helps me trim the tree every year, and has for years.  As he was really busy at work this year, I thought I'd do it on my own; I got as far as the lights and tinsel when my hubby suggested that we leave it to Chris, well "that looks crap just leave it until Chris can do it PROPERLY" is a pretty strong suggestion, lol.  He does do a super job, I should take a pic though it doesn't look quite as pristine as it did on day one as my other son's dog has squeezed past it to get to the window several times causing a cascade of baubles and stern words!  Tuesday Throwdown has What Christmas Means to You as it's theme, Christmas means family time to me, this image immediately made me think of the special time Chris and I spend every year tree-trimming :-)
That's it for today, why not pop over to the Challenge blog and check out my teamies fab work, and why not enter that last minute Chrissie card while you're there?!
 I'm listing the challenges I've found for the late Christmas card makers such as myself;

My Mums Craft Shop Winter/Christmas

Aud Sentiments Christmas

Crafty Calendar Christmas

Paper Crafting Journey Christmas

That Craft Place Christmas

Kaboodle Doodles Christmas Colours

Papertake Weekly Last Christmas… card of the year 

Cutie Pie Challenge Cute Christmas for Someone Special

Without Words Nearest and Dearest (card for someone close to your heart)

Bearly Mine Challenges Anything Goes 

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge Anything Goes

Crafty Creations Anything Goes

The Paper Shelter Anything Goes

Crafty Little Fairies Anything Goes

Stampin' for the Weekend Anything Goes

Gem of a Challenge Anything Goes

Crafts 4 Eternity Anything Goes

Corrosive Challenge Anything Goes 

Through the Craftroom Door Anything Goes

I may get to blog some others before the big day - though my MIL is coming on Sunday straight after my Sister leaves so.... perhaps not, lol.
Either way with the big day looming I'll be back soon, until then Happy Crafting Donna

Crafty Ribbons Advent

There's a huge Advent event (love that!) happening over at Crafty Ribbons, as Di is sponsoring today's event (possibly yesterday's by now!) Di's Digis Design Team have added a card to the daily inspiration.  Here's mine

I had a ball making this card, some just come together for you and this was one of those :-)  I used Ted's Xmas Choir available here coloured with Copics.  The background for the image is from a fabulous digi set called Day and Night Skies available here, the rest of the paper is Kaisercraft

The red and gold matting are from my stash, as is the gold snowflake, which started life as a wood snowflake :-) the ribbon and the flatback in the centre of the snowflake came from ebay
I finished the inside to match the front, using a Martha Stewart punch for the snowflake.
I'm entering the following challenges with this card: 

 Paper Crafting Journey Christmas

Moving Along With The Times Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Cute Card Thursday Christmas Catch Up

Sweet Stampin' Last Minute Christmas

Papertake Weekly Last Christmas… card of the year

That Craft Place Christmas

Crafty Calendar Christmas

Colour Me Copic Holiday Themed

Crafty Little Fairies Let it Snow

Crafts 4 Eternity Christmas Chaos

Gem of a Challenge Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations Free and Easy

Bearly Mine Challenges Anything Goes

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge Anything Goes

Through the Craftroom Door Anything Goes

Divas by Design Anything Goes

That's it for today... tomorrow my sister is coming up from the country to stay for her birthday (which is on Saturday, which is also her son's birthday... but that's another story, lol)  As she is going home before Christmas I'm in a rush to get her Christmas presents and those for her grandkids (the ones that live about half way between us and her) organized, so she can drop them off on her way home.  I haven't even wrapped her birthday present yet, it's 1.15am so I'm out of here.  I'll be back as soon as I can with some more of my Christmas cards.  Until then Happy Crafting, Donna

Joy to the World

Well I've finally found a few minutes to "blog" one of my Christmas cards... it's probably one of my favourites for the year, (though I haven't finished making all I need yet!) so I'm giving it to my Mum and Dad :-)

I made a three-step card, I've seen these around blogland and always fancied making one, it being Christmas and having almost no time to spare seemed to be the right time to try one, lol.  I used this great template and tutorial, it really wasn't that hard :-)

Sketch Saturday wants us to use any of their sketches after # 215, I've used # 240 though ended up adding the corner element to all four corners; I can't help it, I'm a symmetrical kinda gal!  The super sweet image is Berry, a digi from Wee Stamps. I coloured with Prismacolor pencils, adding some gloss to the berries.  The sentiment is a freebie from The Desert Diva, thanks very much :-) I was going to colour the ornament but decided against it. 

The image panel and narrow gold mat was cut using Nestabilities Standard Ovals as a template, the Kraft mat was cut using Nestabilities Floral Ovals, one of my favourite Nesties.  I just find the difference in size between the Standard and Floral Ovals doesn't always suit, so freehanding is the way to go.

The paper is Kaisercraft's Twig and Berry - 1 sheet (it's red one side and green the other!) Delightful Challenges wants us to use Red and Green and Stampin' for the Weekend wants us to Use Some Red, so I'm entering there.  The banner is from my Christmas scraps folder.  I used gold stickers (peel offs) from my stash for the borders and the corners, the leaves are from Mulberry Crafts and the Dewdrop berries are from The Ribbon Girl, I used very fine gold wire from my stash to finish the arrangement. Clear It Out has an Anything Goes theme and we can use any Stash so I'm entering there.

Now, the really significant thing about a three-step card is, wait for it, the three-steps! which of course are on the inside of the card.

I finished them with more of the Twig and Berry paper, gold stickers and a flourish cut with a Memory Box Snowflake Corner die.  The oval on the left came from a Kaisercraft 6" pad and the mat behind the jotting panel was another of the Floral Ovals dies.  The "JOY" letters are wood, coloured with Chalk White ink then embossed with iridescent EP, they (of course) look much nicer IRL!

Pile It On has P is for... for it's challenge, I'm thinking P is for Pencils, Peel Offs, Patterned Paper and Pretty image - I know, bit desperate :-)

I don't usually list the challenges I'm entering but as there are so may Christmas challenges running at the moment I thought you'd forgive me.... so I'm entering all these:

Papertake Weekly Christmas Creatures (NOT Berry, the little furry friend she's holding, lol)

Moving Along With The Times Walking in a Winter Wonderland

My Mums Craft Shop Winter/Christmas

Crafty Hands Season's Greetings/Winter

Brown Sugar Challenge Christmas

Jingle Belles Christmas

That Craft Place Christmas

Crafty Calendar Christmas
Deep Ocean Challenge Santa Claus is Coming to Town (Anything Christmas related)

Card Makin' Mamas Christmas

Colour Me Copic Holiday Themed

Sweet Stampin' Last Minute Christmas (I do have some even-more-last-minute cards to enter here too!!)

Crafts 4 Eternity Christmas Chaos (goes without saying, lol)

Cute Card Thursday Christmas Catch Up (I may, catch up that is!)

Paper Crafting Journey Christmas

Cuttlebug Mania Anything Christmas

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge Anything Goes

Corrosive Challenge Anything Goes

Gem of a Challenge Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations Free and Easy

Divas by Design Anything Goes

I hope you like my card, I really do (which doesn't always happen, lol) I've got quite a few more cards to show over the next week or so; mostly Christmas and CAS - some CAS because I thought Clean and Simple was appropriate and some less CAS and more SOT - Short Of Time!!!

We're in the middle of a heatwave here, we failed by 0.9 degrees today to reach a December record of five days in a row over 38C; instead of a record it was just HOT - though not as hot as yesterday at 40.4C It's forecast HOT again tomorrow, but we should have a balmy 29C on Tuesday.  Our hottest month is February, so it looks like it's going to be a long hot summer, sigh.

I'll be back with some cards soon, until then, Happy Crafting Donna

Non Traditional Colours for Christmas

It's time for a new challenge at Di's Digis Challenge Blog, this time we'd like to see your Christmas cards made using Non Traditional Christmas colours.  I'm a Traditional colours type of gal, I've got to say, but I really enjoyed this challenge and I'm happy with the result - which isn't always the case, lol.

I made another Kraft card so these colours just seemed to be the way to go. This is one of the new Christmas images from Di's Digi Stamps, I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it- it's called  "Izzy's Nativity", isn't it sweet?!!  I've coloured with Copics adding some shading and details with Prismacolor pencils, and this is the first card for some time without any glitter or gloss - it just didn't seem appropriate.  I did 'blotchy' shading around the image; I have tried this before and failed miserably, ending up fussy cutting the image, this time it's okay, I'm sure practice makes the master so I'll just have to persevere!  Creative Craft Challenges has a Non Traditional Colours challenge too, so I'm entering there.  The Cutie Pie Challenge theme is Cute Scenes (definitely cute, hopefully counts as a scene!) and Hobbycutz is Make a Scene, so I'm in there too.
I've used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches, great sketch - very versatile... AND I'm inside the deadline for once, lol.  I used plain papers embossing the brown with Cuttlebug's Snowflakes folder and the blue with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots folder. I sanded the embossing then inked it with blue Versamark (on the brown) and a bit of brown Versamark on the blue.  Simon Says Challenge wants us to Make Our Own background paper, so I'm in, and Winter Wonderland and Addicted to Stamps both have Embossing, so in there too.

The wooden angel came from Bunny Zoe's Crafts, I inked the edges with brown Versamark to soften it a bit.  The gold cord is from my stash and the little golden 'stars' came as a freebie with some metallic pearls I bought on ebay - they're really quite sparkly IRL and do add a certain "something" even though they look a little out of place in the pic :-)  The sentiment is from Craftworks Cards, I really will have to get some more of these as, despite having a LOT of senitments both stamps and digis I find myself reaching for these all the time.  Bearly Mine Challenges want us to use a Christmas Sentiment, so I'm in and Pile It On has P is for - I'm stretching it but "P is for Peace on Earth" - okay, I'll understand if it's disallowed :-)  Paper Crafting Journey, Creatalicious Challenges, My Mums Craft Shop, and Divas by Design all have variations of a Christmas theme so I'm entering those too.

I finished the inside of the card (don't I always!) to match the front. Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge, Through the Craftroom Door, Clear It Out, Papertake Weekly and Stamping Sensations all have Anything Goes challenges, too easy!!

Well that's it for today's card, pop over to the blog and check out the rest of us radical (well Non Traditional for this week, lol) chicks... I hope you get a chance to enter the challenge, there's a great prize on offer and if you use one of Di's images (there's plenty of sweetness over there to choose from) you go in an extra draw, woohoo!

I'll be back soon - as soon as I get time that is - you'd think it was Christmas with how busy we are at the moment, lol. Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna 

Ho Ho Ho..ere Come The Boys

Well it's that time of the year... the new challenge starting today at Here Come The Boys will take us through the Festive Season, and has everybody's favourite theme Anything Goes.  I made  a Countdown To Christmas calendar, I'm not totally happy with the result but I did enjoy challenging myself - and I now have a set of templates and a better idea of the difficulties involved, lol

I made the "stand" simply by scoring a rectangle of silver board near the bottom, bending that forward to make a ledge for the "days until Christmas" block and along the sides, bending them back to make wings to balance the stand.  I punched the top edge with a punch my Mum and Dad brought back from Malaysia.
The number cubes and the block they stand on are simple boxes made from the silver card, I'll have templates made up on my freebies page soon.  The patterns for the numbers and text are a freebie from See Vanessa Craft. brilliant, thanks :-) I added Stickles to jazz it all up - but I'd rethink that, as it went EVERYWHERE, though that's probably due to my impatience - not a problem if you actually let the stuff dry, lol.  The rest of the paper is from my stash.  

Our sponsor for this challenge is the fabulous Dr Digi, I've used Naughty or Nice - it's my favourite Dr Digi Christmas image... but there are a few close seconds :-)  I coloured the image with Copics, adding some shadows and highlights with Prismacolor pencils - and the obligatory gloss to Santas's eyes and some glitter to the buttons.  Allsorts Challenges wants us to be Inspired by a Christmas Song, "...Santa Claus in Coming To Town", Divas by Design want us to Use Some Red, I'm in and Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge have One for the Boys so I'm in there too. Crafty Calendar has Christmas, Totally Papercrafts has Ho Ho Holidays, Corrosive Challenge has Happy Holidays and Stampin' for the Weekend has Feeling Festive so I'm entering those, while Bearly Mine Challenges, 2 Sisters Challenge, Cute Card Thursday,Colour Me Copic, Simon Says Challenge and Through the Craftroom Door all have Anything Goes challenges so entering those too!

Nathan, cheeky little chap

Well that's it for today's project, I'll be back in a few days with a card... or maybe another non-card - depending on how brave I'm feeling, lol.  Hope you get a chance to enter the challenge... it's running for five weeks, so that helps!  Pop over to the blog and check out the rest of the team's inspiration, well worth a visit. 
Now, as promised in my post yesterday, here's some more pics of my gorgeous twinnies; they're eight months old now and crawling - you need to have eyes in the back of your head to watch them both!  They're very aware of each other now too, and know when the other one's getting something or has a toy THEY'D like; Nathan's particular thing is food - he LOVES his solids and taking a few seconds out to shovel some into Emily's mouth is just not on, lol.
They are like chalk and cheese - Nathan is the image of his Dad at that age and Emily the image of her Mum, Nathan is "on" all the time, and Emily is a pretty chilled chick :-)  They've reached their milestones in different order too, Emily could sit really well for weeks before Nathan, he doesn't want to be still and crawled (albeit commando style) for ages before he started sitting.  

Emily, such a sweetie

They've come a long way from the little premmies they started out as, and we are grateful, Emily is still bigger than Nathan, but the percentage is not as high so we hope he'll catch up.
Anyway, until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna.

Sympathy for Sid

Today I have a card that I made for my Aunty Ellen;  Sadly, my Uncle Sid lost his battle to cancer in September, Sympathy cards are always a little difficult - especially for a man - and as my Mum asked me to make one for her as well, I had twice the difficulty.  Anyway this is the card from us

 I relied on the sentiment (which I made on the computer - feel free to grab it here - open it before Saving to make sure you get a better resolution - or from my Freebies page if you like it) to "make" this card, and the lovely paper - which is flocked with silver embossing - from my go to store for specialty paper Starfish Lane.
The sentiment panel was cut using Nestabilities Classic Ovals, as was the brown mat, the silver mat is Nestabilities Floral Ovals.  I used the Lavish Branch die from Memory Box (cut up) for the embellishment, adding some tiny silver pearls from my stash and some faux stitching done in silver pen.  Delightful Challenges have a Favourite Things challenge, I love die cuts, and my Floral Ovals are one of my favourite Nesties sets, and any Memory Box die is a Favourite!
The inside of the card followed the same layout as the front.  All in all a very simple card, always the best for the occasion IMHO.
I thought I'd enter the Aud Sentiments challenge, where you can use any sentiment and Bearly Mine Challenges, Through the Craftroom Door, Simon Says Challenge, Cute Card Thursday, Hobbycutz and Cards for Men which all have Anything Goes challenges running.
I'll be back tomorrow with my DT project for Here Come The Boys.... how quickly these fortnights come around - especially at this time of the year!
I thought I'd pop a picture of the twins on, just to lighten the mood - we babysat them the other day, so I took the opportunity to get some photos even though they weren't all scrubbed up after dinner; which my son pointed out as soon as he came to pick them up! I still think they're cute pictures, but then I would, lol  Sassy Cheryl's Show Me Thursday blog loves to see what we've been up to (and gives us nosey peeps the opportunity to see what others have been up to, lol) so I'm sharing my babysitting pic there... trust me there isn't much time to do anything else when you're watching eight month old twins at dinner/bath/bed time :-)

 I'll put some more pics on tomorrow's post,Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna