Jingle Bells

Hello everyone, hope you're all fighting fit :-) I thought I'd pop another of the Christmas cards sitting in my drafts on to my blog today, to be honest I thought I'd already done this one, but no - well, yes now!

Now, you really don't get much more CAS than this... can you tell I was running short of time? I hope not, as I do actually really like this card.  Of course the super cute "Jingle Bells" image (available here for the bargain basement price of $2!) helps, I coloured him up with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, adding some Gold Stickles to the bells and some gloss to make his nose nice and shiny :-) Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge has Christmas Animals for their challenge so I'm entering there.
There's iridescent embossing powder for snow, the wooden tree is from a set of Christmas card pegs... I have loads of them in various patterns in red and white; and the whole string only cost a couple of dollars, I do love a bargain!  Delightful Challenges has Anything Winter for their challenge, though technicaly Christmas is in summer here, I think the snow makes it winter anyway so I'm entering.
The sentiment was a freebie from the Desert Diva, one of so many freebies; thanks for your generosity :-)  The Paper Shelter wants to see a Digi and a Sentiment, and Fab'n'funky Challenges and Aud Sentiments  want us to use a sentiment, no worries, I'm in!  The red card is from my stash.
I finished the inside with a sentiment I think I got from the now defunct Tickled Pink Stamps and a felt tree from my stash.  Card Mania Challenges and Through the Craftroom Door have Anything Goes challenges running so I'm entering them both
Well that's it for today, one more out of my drafts and out into the world, lol.  It's so hot here at the moment I feel like I'm melting; I painted "the babies room" (one of our spare bedrooms has been turned over for their use when they come to stay... we haven't had a chance to use their little beds yet - my son brings the Portacots every time, oh well, one day) and the paint was drying so quickly it was peeling the previous rollers worth off the wall, I had to scrape it all off one wall, thin the paint down and finish without the fan on - I was dripping by the finish.  My hubby thinks I'm an idiot painting in 38 degrees, but I just wanted to get it done, bit fed up of it now though - nearly finished, I've done the ceiling and walls, I just have to put the shelves back up, paint a bit of furniture and put the wall stickers on, though I'm waiting til the paint is really dry before I do them, I don't want to peel that paint off again if I have to re-position one!  I'll be back in a few days with another offering, until then Happy Crafting, Donna

Di's Digis Going Spotty... or is that Dotty?

The new challenge starting today over at Di's Digis Challenge Blog has a Spots or Dots theme.  My daughter-in-law's mother had a very special birthday this week, my DIL bought her a Day Spa voucher and I thought this image was perfect for a gift card holder for it... of course I didn't get it finished in time!  Ah well, it's perfect for the next time I need a holder for a Day Spa voucher, lol

The fabulous image is Cheeky Duck, available here I coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils - don't I always, lol.  Moving Along With The Times has Girly Cards as their theme, so I'm entering there.  

I wanted the bubbles to look foamy so I shaded them first (I do wish I'd used blue instead of grey, it looks like the lass needed a good scrub and made the bath water all dirty!) then added Sparkly Fluff in Sugar "flavour". It looks really quite good IRL, hard to capture in photos as is all sparkle in my experience. 
Seize the Birthday want to see our colouring and Craft Your Passion have Cool Colours as their theme so I'm entering there, Little Red Wagon has this beautiful inspiration photo so I'm entering there too.
When I started looking for Spotty paper I was amazed how much I had in my stash, that said I went to my digi stash for the one I ended up using - this is from the Summer pack by Shery K Designs, I love Shery's papers; they always print so crisply. The purple card is Kaiser and from my scraps folder. Tuesday Throwdown has Stripes so I'm entering there and Clear It Out has Theme: Layer It Up Stash: Designer Paper so I'm entering there too.
I followed the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2, I like a good Sketch and am so glad that the DT from SSW has kept going with SSW2 :-)
I made the sentiment on the computer, though I did get the idea from a digistamp I bought here, Aud Sentiments has Use Any Sentiment so I'm entering there.
The twine was part of my Christmas present from my son Chris - he got me loads of it, you may be seeing it a lot, lol, the little buttons are from my stash and the big dotty button is from a bag I bought at a craft stall... it was white with coloured dots, I coloured the whole thing with V04 Copic then "cleaned" off the dots with my 0 marker to have the original colour show.  Great Impressions, Whimsy Inspirations Challenge, Papertake Weekly  and Hobbycutz all want to see something new so I'm entering there.
I finished the inside to match the front, again don't I always :-) using more of the chipboard (coloured with the V04 Copic again) leaves that came from Make it Crafty - sadly Zoe doesn't sell them anymore, lucky I bought up a load before she stopped :-)  Card Mania Challenges and Through the Craftroom Door both have Anything Goes challenges so I'm entering them.
That's it for today, I hope you get a chance to pop over to the challenge blog and check out my teamies great makes, check out your stash for spotty or dotty paper and enter the challenge too, there's a great prize on offer from the Charm Barn, and if you use one of Di's fab images (don't forget you rubber lovers, there's an ever increasing range of them under the Candibean label) you go into an extra prize draw.
I'm about to put the air con on, it's been 37C again today, hotter tomorrow... it's still better than the 43+ we had last Saturday.  I just want to give a shout out to those in the Eastern States that are under threat from bushfires at the moment, especially Halls Gap where we visited a few years ago just after their last devastating fires, such a beautiful place with friendly folk, we're thinking of you.  Our thoughts are with those victims of the fires we had in Perth this week too, an acquaintance of ours had some damage to his home -he has sold his house and settlement is just going through so that complicates it, but at least his house is still standing - five of the 52 homes lost in these fires were in his street so he is counting himself lucky in the end. We still have a lot of fire season left, I pray it doesn't get any worse. 
Anyway on a lighter note, we're drawing up the plans for our new pool tomorrow; we took the last one out 8 years ago and replaced it with a pond and spa - it's time for a pool again with little kids back in the family, (and we have to isolate the pond and spa for peace of mind anyway) the licence from the original pool isn't valid for the new one (of course) so it's literally back to the drawing board!!
I'll be back in a day or so... I really do have to get some of my makes out of my draft folder, lol.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Another Pink Card

I don't "do" a lot of pink cards, to be fair my spot on the Here Comes the Boys challenge DT did tip the scale into the non-pink sector, but with HCTB sadly on a break (hopefully when the lovely Woo's life is back to something resembling normal it will return) I'm getting into the softer side of crafting... that and I needed a card for my nephew's partner's baby shower, and she was having a girl (Kaitlin has been born now, another pink card to follow later, lol)

 I used the gorgeous Baby Shower image from Mo Manning, perfect for the occasion.  Fortunately for me Mo's Digital Challenge this time around is Flowers, so I'm entering.  I coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, adding a layer of Viva Pearl pen to the umbrella, it looks patchy in the pic but perfectly fine IRL, go figure. Moving Along With The Times and Corrosive Challenge have New Beginnings for their challenge and Gem of a Challenge, Hobbycutz and Great Impressions have Something New - this is for a new little life and the image I've used is new too (well new to me!), so I'm entering there.

The papers are digis from Nitwits' Stuffed Love collection, the pink and Kraft are from my stash, Crafty Little Fairies want to see Kraft and Delightful Challenges Patterned Paper, so I'm entering there. I used Nestabilities Standard Circles for the image and jotting panels, matting on a Lacey Circles Nestie,  I used one of the border punches my folks brought back from Malaysia for the horizontal strip, Craft Your Passion have a Fancy Borders challenge, and the ribbon (and bow) is from my stash; Stamping Sensations have a Ribbon, Buttons and Bows challenge... I'm in!  Winter Wonderland have a Monochrome theme, and for the first couple of weeks of the year it's not necessary to have a Christmas project, I hope this is Monochrome enough as I've entered the challenge.

The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch, I made a "shadow" butterfly with Kraft to give it more dimension.  The umbrella and clouds are Memory Box dies, I added Stickles to the clouds to lift them a little, adding the same to the butterfly and the image to tie it in.  

The flowers are from my stash, I coloured cream pearls with Copics for the centres.  Cupcake Inspirations have this fabby sparkly pink creation as their inspiration this time around so I'm entering there, Fab'n'funky Challenges, Divas by Design, Crafty Calendar, and A Little Bit Crafty all have Let's Celebrate challenges while Colour Me Copic, Creative Craft Challenges, Stampin' for the Weekend, Through the Craftroom Door and Papertake Weekly all have Anything Goes challenges so I'm entering there too.

That's it for today, we've started back to work today so I'm off to see what horrors await me in the office (I have hardly even looked at it for three weeks, I only found an overdue phone bill by accident when I checked the business email to make sure today's job hadn't been cancelled (wishful thinking, lol)  At least it's only low thirties today, Saturday was a record high for January... 43.3C (110F) that's HOT!  We had a record high minimum on Saturday night too; it was 31C or 85F, they're not all time records, of course, as February is our hottest month, but those temps are up there for sure, and we're very glad of our air con.  It looks like we'll be putting another pool in too, we took the one we had out seven years ago and I've missed it; now we have grandchildren it seems more justified putting one back in  It is a messy business though, so I have to steel myself, it really is a case of the Doctor becoming a Patient as we put five pools a week in for other people and pretty much expect them to "suck it up"

Anyway I'll be back in a few days, until then Happy Crafting, Donna

Let's Celebrate at Di's Digis

Well here we are with a new challenge at Di's Dig Challenge Blog, the theme is "Let's Celebrate".  Friends of my son have had their second child; a little sister for their son, I've made an easel card to Celebrate the occasion

The super-sweet image I've used is Hammock Slumber, I paper pieced the quilt... then didn't use that print anywhere on the card, lol. This time I used mainly Prismacolor pencils to colour, I love the soft finish they give, I did use Copics on the sky and the grass.  
Crafty Calendar and A Little Bit Crafty have "Let's Celebrate" challenges too, and Craft Your Passion, Simon Says Challenge, Crafty Little Fairies and Totally Papercrafts all have "New Beginnings/ Something New" challenges so I'm entering there.

The papers are from Kaisercrafts Lullaby collection and my stash, the Picket Fence die (a Christmas pressie from my Mum, mwah) is from Cottage Cutz - it came with ejector foam - now I'm on a mission to add it to all my intricate dies, it's FAB!

 I was lucky enough to have a challenge win recently with a prize from I Am Roses, the pink daisies were part of that prize and arrived this very morning, solving my dilemma of what flowers to use!  The leaves are a Martha Stewart Branch punch.  I used one flower on the front of the card and one as the stop on the easel, biggish 3D flowers like this are great as they look like one arrangement (well I think they do anyway)  Papertake Weekly are letting us pick any of their challenges from this year for their current challenge, I've picked "Flower Power" from back in August
The sentiment came from the Kaisercraft pad, I cut it down to a rectangle and matted it on more of the pink.  Some pink Hush a Bye Card Candi to finish the "front" and another of the picket fences on the "inside" and c'est ça!  Pile it On has P is for... I have a Picket fence and Plenty of Pink, I'm in!

Creative Craft Challenges, Through the Craftroom Door, Gem of a Challenge, Hobbycutz Challenges, Allsorts Challenge and Digi Makeover have Anything Goes challenges running so I'm entering them all :-)

That's it for today's card, I hope you get time to enter the challenge; check out the rest of the team's inspiration... loads of Celebrating goin' on there, lol.  We have a great prize on offer from Crafty Ribbons and don't forget that if you use one of Di's images you go in an extra draw with a prize of two more of those sweet digis.

I'll be back in a few days, I do have a lot of "stuff" ready to show you - hubby is home until 13th, and before then we are (supposedly, ain't happened yet, lol) decorating one of the spare rooms for the babies when they come to stay, so time is against me (as usual!)

Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Christmas is so "last year"

Happy New Year!!  I've stolen a few minutes - alright I'll admit it, I've mooched around just about all day and have still had to stay up late - to "blog": I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are raring to go in 2014.  
It is summer here, our industry (construction) closes down for a few weeks over Christmas and New Year (we're going back on Jan 13th) and it is school holidays until the beginning of February so we're still in holiday mode, though with hubby at home there's not a great deal of time for crafting... so here's some I made earlier, lol.

Christmas cards I'm afraid (you're probably sick of the sight of them too, lol) I'll hold a few back in case I get desperate to blog something in a few weeks. The first one uses one of the Xmas Frames set from Digistamp Boutique, coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils with the obligatory sparkle courtesy of Stickles and red ornaments courtesy of a Viva Decor Pearl Pen.  The card is gold metallic (you know the ones that come in a set with matching envelopes) embossed with Cuttlebug's Snowflakes folder, distressed a little before adding Viva Pearl Pen dots.  The plaid paper is from Basic Grey and the red card is Kaisercraft.  I added some Sakura Glaze pen to the sentiment to add a little dimension. the Digistamp Boutique challenge is open to anyone using one of their fab images so I'm entering there (if the link's up, sometimes it's not) 

My second card uses another of the Digistamp Boutique's Xmas Frames Set... again coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils and again having that Christmas sparkle added with Stickles.  

The background paper is from my stash, wish I could get some more, it's such a useful pattern.  The horizontal strip is from Kaisercraft's Christmas Carnival pad and the green matting from my stash.

As with all these simple Christmas cards, I finished the inside very simply.  The sentiment is a wood stamp I've had for years (well before I started making cards regularly), my sister gave it to me after SHE had it for years :-) I really like it, it won't offend anyone's religious beliefs, is especially appropriate here as we are very much "on Holiday" and is in a nice font to boot! Crafty Calendar has a Christmas challenge and Colour Me Copic has a Holiday Themed challenge so I'm entering there. 

The third card I have for today is very simple indeed!  I made an A6 card (holiday postage rate, always a plus lol), printed Bugaboo's Sunbonnets Christmas Ornaments quite large (and incidentally facing the opposite way - I just like my images to "look" to the right, or future!) - love digis!  

I coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils adding Stickles sparkle to the ornaments, Sakura Glaze pen to the "Merry" (fabulous freebie sentiment from the Desert Diva, thank you) and some Holly Berry Dew Drops from The Ribbon Girl to the Sunbonnet.  

I mounted the image on some Forest Green cardstock and that was that! Craft Your Passion has a Something New challenge, this little image is new, mind you the images on the other cards I'm showing today are new to me as well in that I've never used them... even though I bought them (with the best intentions) last Christmas, yegads, where did THAT year go?!  The Catch the Bug challenge this time around is "Your Favourite Christmas Song"; I have sooo many faves, one is "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", especially when sung with gusto, lol, so I'm entering there.

Creative Craft Challenges, The Paper Shelter, Crafty Creations, Through the Craftroom Door, Cute Card Thursday, Crafty Little Fairies, Gem of a Challenge, That Craft Place and Kaboodle Doodles all have Anything Goes challenges running so I'm entering those.

That's it for today, I'll be back in a few days - getting back in the routine with a DT card for Di's Digis on Saturday.  

I thought I'd share a photo of the twins (yes it WAS lovely having babies for Christmas again, lots of special moments and an all round fuzzy feeling for all of us)  As I said it is summer holidays here, Matt and Elaine have taken the twins to stay for a few days with their good friends who have moved to the country (about 180 km away) Mummy was in a bit of a flap about what to pack, Daddy knew the most important thing: see pic!

I'm not sure how much relaxing they're getting in, it's the first time they've tried going away with the babies, when we spoke earlier Matt said they now realize how much "stuff" they use every day - oh well, only another night or two (depending when they crack, lol) and they'll be back.  We're going to have Nathan and Emily for a day to give M&E a break; sounds like they'll need it! I miss them already; Emily now says "Nanna", clever girl that she is ;-)  Nathan looks like a vampire as he has cut his two bottom middle teeth and his two top lateral incisors.... too Cute!! 

Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna