GDT for Little Miss Muffet, and never a dull moment

A couple of weeks ago the lovely Faye from the Little Miss Muffet Challenge offered me the opportunity to be Guest Designer for the challenge starting today... of course I jumped at the chance :-) It's an Anything Goes theme... Here's my offering

 I took the opportunity to make a birthday card for my niece's little boy... he turns 3 the same day as my darling twinnies turn 1, so I know I'll probably run out of time if I leave it until closer - 28th March will creep up on me, I'm sure :-) 
I used the adorable William With Blocks image, one of the Polka Dot Pals available here; the great thing is (apart from the obvious cuteness!) that it is actually a set of images; there's William with blocks, without blocks and the blocks without William :-)  I made my own little scene up by adding some of the blocks to the picture of William, easily done in Microsoft Word with a little cropping.  I coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, adding some Stickles to the star on his shirt.
The red glittery cardstock I used for the mats is from my stash, I added some Red Stickles to a wooden "3" also from my stash... I can't believe how well they match!  Clear It Out has a Birthday theme and want to see Bling from our Stash... I'm in! and Divas by Design has Make It Sparkle, so I'm  in there too.
The stripy paper is from Kaisercraft and the one with balloons is from a Merci pad.  My Mums Craft Shop has a Spots and/or Stripes challenge, so I'm entering there.  The blocks spelling Nic's name are from a discount store pack designed for necklace making.

I used the sketch from Sketch and Stash this time around, I do like a nice straightforward sketch :-) I just realised I took the horizontal element right across my card - hope it's close enough!  I used the sketch for the inside too - nothin' new in that!  
Crafty Creations and Delightful Challenges want us to Keep It Simple; you don't get much more simple than this little card so I'm entering there.  Colour Me Copic, Through the Craftroom Door and Tuesday Throwdown all have Anything Goes challenges so I'm entering there too.
Well that's it for my card today, thanks again to Faye for having me as your guest :-) Pop over to the Challenge Blog and check out the fab makes - you won't be disappointed.
It was just as well I got my card done early as I had a little mishap with our new under-construction swimming pool - or as my son Chris now calls it "the Crime Scene"; it is half finished (as in the sand is halfway up the outside and the water is half way up the inside) so on Monday evening I thought I would step from the solid ground over the excavation onto the edge of the pool to shine a torch in so we could get a preview of what it's going to look like when the underwater light is fitted - shouldn't have been a problem, we've been in the industry for over 20 years and in my younger days I helped my hubby install literally hundreds of pools requiring stepping onto edge beams from solid ground thousands of times..... of course the primary thing to note here is "in my YOUNGER days"! 

Hubby and Rocky at "The Crime Scene"

I have arthritis now, and it does restrict some of my movement, particularly my hips. I didn't allow for it, failed to bridge the gap, one leg went into the excavation and my momentum carried me over the edge beam into the pool - I was so glad it had water in as I landed head first and would have done some serious damage falling six feet and landing on my head!  As it was I did do some damage.  I was in serious pain in my hip, and ended up in hospital for a couple of days after an X-ray showed a fracture to the neck of my femur.  I thought it unlikely that it was a fracture as I could put some weight on it the next day but had to have a CT scan to check, which failed to confirm either way but showed something else so I had an MRI.  The conclusion is that my arthritis has progressed much more quickly than I thought, knees and spine are Severe and the hip has End Stage OA meaning the only thing left is a hip replacement.  I am technically too young to have one, they are designed for the activity level of a seventy to eighty year old and the concern is that the pain-free me will wear it out too quickly, but the Orthopedic Surgeon says we should start planning for it now and try everything to delay it - including, ironically I think you'll agree, Hydrotherapy!!!  Actually, it was one of the reasons we put a pool in again (after removing our last one 13 years ago!) I find the treadmill and other weight bearing exercises very uncomfortable but swimming is much less so, so good exercise.
So as the title of my post says, there's never a dull moment here - sometimes I long for "boring" lol
I came home from hospital last night, good pain meds, physio and crutches for a few weeks - that's going to slow me down in the help-to-landscape-the-pool-area department!!  We were trying to get it all finished for my hubby's 60th in April, mmmm, we'll see.
I'm trying desperately to get to my DT card for Di's Digis, so hopefully I'll be back with that on Saturday (if not I'll drag one of my drafts out)  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Happy 33rd Birthday Matt

Well, as I have cards dating back to September that I haven't blogged yet, I thought I'd share this one.... that was for my son Matt's birthday - on Monday!!  I will get around to those in my drafts, one day :-)

 When we asked Matt what he'd like for his birthday, he replied 'sleep" - both the twins are sleeping through the night most nights, just not the same nights!  It's silly season in the pool industry so the overload at work and frenetic pace at home that is life with twins is making him appreciate the little things, like sleep, lol.   He didn't book any work for Monday and he and Elaine took the twins to the zoo for the first time (Matt and Elaine love the zoo, it was where they had their first "date")

All of this added up to this image (Relaxing Dad from the sadly now-defunct Digi Doodle Shop, coloured with Copics) being perfect and the animal print paper from Die Cuts With a View's Animal Crackers pad being perfect too!  The spotty background paper is also DCWV, from the La Creme pad and the green arcs is from Merci's Tangerine Tang pad. A Little Bit Crafty has "Man Up" as their theme, so I'm entering there.  Fab'n'funky Challenge, Gem of a Challenge and My Mums Craft Shop all have Spots and Stripes for their challenges so I'm entering there and Digi Sketch Challenge has Glitter It as theirs, all the animals and the stripes are glittery IRL, I just can't get it to show in my pics, so I'm entering there.

I used the sketch from Friday Sketch Challenge, turning it 90 degrees so my animals weren't sideways, lol.  I added the sentiment before I printed the image and added some Antique Brass brads from my stash to the corners of the image panel.  Everything was matted on dark brown Kaisercraft cardstock and popped up on foam dots.  Papertake Weekly has Lovely Layers as their challenge theme so I'm entering there.
I finished the inside to match the front with more paper from the Animal Crackers pad. Through the Craftroom Door and Colour Me Copic have Anything Goes challenges so I'm entering there too.
That's it for Matt's card, super busy here, we excavated our pool on Monday so it was a minor miracle that I managed to get Matt's birthday cake (Black Forest Gateau, his fave) made... and the makings for woodfired pizza ready for lunch and again for dinner (well we fired the oven up to do lunch for the labourers and just kept it going till tea time, but getting two lots of food ready AND helping with the dig then having Matt, Elaine, the twins, Chris, my Mum and Dad for dinner did leave me pretty shattered and very glad for my bed on Monday night!  Here's a few pics of "before" and "during"... the "after" shots may take a while :-)  Sorry I can't get the pictures lined up in Blogger :-(


First ones from the shed along the back of the house towards the pool area

Second ones up the garden from the al fresco (with the old pool fence in the foreground)

Third lot the spa and pond.... now you see it, now you don't
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Tic Tac Toe-tally Happy With You

There's a new challenge starting today at Di's Digi Challenge, we have a Tic Tac Toe board with a great range of combinations.  As it's our anniversary (36 years!!!) on Tuesday I took the opportunity to make an easel card for my hubby :-)

As soon as I saw this image, "Seaside Moments" I knew it would be perfect for a card celebrating "us"... one of our very first dates was a day at the beach.  As we had eyes only for each other, I failed to note that my under-sunscreened legs were protruding from under the umbrella, as a consequence they got roasted - when I got home I got another roasting from my Mum for being so careless!  I've made sure that the lass in the image has got sunburned legs... it will be interesting to see if my husband recognizes the reference :-))
The line I have used from the Tic Tac Toe board is Digi/Sentiment/Embossing... or is it Embossing/Die Cuts/Stitching? Both!!  The image (coloured with Copics and some Prismacolor pencils) isn't the only digital element on this card, the papers are digital too - Shery K Designs Summer Fun collection.  The purple and black card are from my stash. 
I cut the wave with my new Memory Box Oceana Border die, which I embossed with Cuttlebug's D'vine Swirls folder - I think it gives a sense of movement to the "wave".  I also heat embossed the top edge with white chalk ink and Bridal Tinsel EP - very glittery IRL.  Craft Your Passion wants us to use any of their themes from the last year; I've used #195 which is Fancy Borders, Cute Card Thursday has Clever Cutting so I'm entering there.
I also embossed the Memory Box clouds with Cuttlebug's Tiny Bubbles folder, inking a little to give depth.  2 Sisters Challenge is Embossing, so I'm in.  The corner die is, you guessed it Memory Box (Macarena Corner). I pierced around the panels then used a black gel pen to faux stitch them, I added some tiny seashells (real ones) to the bottom corner of the image panel then made the sentiment on the computer... card finished :-)
Fab'n'funky Challenges, Divas by Design, Paper Crafting Journey, Totally Papercrafts, Card Mania Challenges,   The Crazy Challenge, Corrosive Challenge, Crafty Calendar, Crafting for all Seasons, Whimsy Inspirations Challenge  and Cutie Pie Challenge all have Love themes so I'm entering them, Kaboodle Doodles has For My sweetheart, which my hubby is :-) so I'm entering there too.  Colour Me Copic and Through the Craftroom Door have Anything Goes challenges - I'm in :-)
Well that's it for today, pop over to the blog and check out the rest of my teamie's work, it's awesome :-)  Hope you get a chance to join in the challenge - easy peasy and a great prize from Love Bug Creations to boot.  Don't forget that if you use one of Di's great images you go into an extra draw to win some more.
We started excavating for our new pool yesterday, of course we have to "undo" the garden first so it looks so much worse than it did, ah well, you have to break a few eggs when you make an omelette.  I'll post photos of progress, we're hoping to have it all but finished in time for my husband's 60th birthday in the middle of April, for which we're having a party here; we're still crazy busy with other people's pools so wish us luck, lol
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Happy Anniversary Dear Mum and Dad

Last Monday was my Mum and Dad's 63rd Wedding Anniversary, I KNOW... 63 years!!!!!
Anyway, I made them a card (of course!) and even though I have loads in my drafts to blog I thought I'd let this one queue jump, lol.

 Just as I was about to start this card, I received my (latest, me bad) parcel with some embossing folders in it from Scrapyland... this is Embossalicious Floral Frenzy and I thought it was perfect for my folks' card; I embossed both the front and back and because the folder is 6" square it did it in one pass - excellent!  Paper Crafting Journey and 2 Sisters Challenge have embossing challenges so I'm entering there.
The cute Tiddly Inks image is "Emma and Jake Love Fully", coloured with Copics with a bit of extra detail in Prismacolor pencils.  Cuttlebug Mania wants to see a touch of red and Allsorts Challenges wants to see colours beginning with B (I have Blue and Brown, as well as Beige and Burnt orange - I know, a bit of a stretch, lol) so I'm entering there.  Totally Papercrafts want to see cute, so I'm in there too :-)
I finished the inside to match the front, as usual. I had used the last of my orange card for matting so the inside circle is a different shade to the rest, but I think it still looks okay.  I used Nestabilities Lacey Circles and Standard Circles to, I got a Big Shot from Hubby for Christmas (misunderstood the Grand Calibur hints, sigh) and I'm not sure that I prefer it to my trusty Cuttlebug; it is a little wider so perhaps for these wider embossing folders it is a bit better. Which reminds me, I'm entering  Divas by Design's Die Cuts challenge and now (thanks for the tip, Brenda!) I'll be entering Brenda's Spellbinder challenge as my favourite tools are definitely my Cuttlebug and my Copics.
I used an old sketch from Papertake Weekly -challenge long gone, but they have a great range of easy to find sketches so I thought I'd link :-)  The floral paper is from Kaisercrafts Peachy Keen pad, the hearts are from a Merci pad, the matting is from my stash.  Simon Says Challenge, Addicted to Stamps, Papertake Weekly and Bunny Zoes Crafts have Hearts themes so I'm entering there, while Crafts 4 Eternity, Little Red Wagon, Corrosive Challenge, Catch The Bug, Crafty Calendar, Tiddly Tuesdays, Gem of a Challenge, Cute Card Thursday, The Crazy Challenge and Crafty Little Fairies all have "Love" themes so I'm entering there too.
Craft Your Passion has a pretty open theme this time around; they want us to use any of their challenge themes from the past year - I'm going with the last one (#199), you guessed it... LOVE :-)
I cut the flowers from some Peachy Keen scraps using a Carl punch, coloured some pearls from my stash with Copics to match as centres and added some teal leafy fronds from another (I think) Carl punch cut and more scraps.  Delightful Challenges and Through the Craftroom Door have Anything Goes challenges, so I'm entering them.
Well that's about it for today's card, I know I've been MIA visiting your blogs... well not strictly true; I've been popping in to my faves over breakfast but I just don't seem to get the time to leave comments on all of them... I am aiming for a bit of a catch up tomorrow - wish me luck, lol.
I'll be back soon, hopefully with a card out of my drafts pile, which is still growing.  Until then, happy crafting, Donna

Holly Jolly GDT

I am very pleased to say that I am the Guest Designer for the Holly Jolly challenge this week... the theme is "Christmas Tags" - you can make a tag or a card with a tag on it.  I've gone with the "card with tag" option :-)

I've used a Bugaboo image, they are the sponsors this week, this is Fancy Sunbonnet Christmas.  I coloured with Copics adding some gold flatbacks from my stash to the centre of the Poinsettia.  Fab'n'funky Challenges has a Christmas challenge so I'm entering there, Winter Wonderland wants us to use a digi, Crafty Creations has Seasonal and Whimsy Inspirations Challenge want us to use something new - in this case my digi image - so I'm entering those too.

I've used the sketch from the Friday Sketch challenge, I thought it lent itself well to adding the tag.  The papers I've used are from Kaisercraft's Christmas Carol pad, the print is nice and shiny (not that it shows in the pics of course!)  the scalloped strip and the tag are from the same pad, I matted everything onto Kaisercraft card.  The sentiment is from a set of clear stamps by Xtra, the eyelet was set using my Cropadile (love that thing, so much easier than the old bash-and-hope system I used before, lol) and the green sheer ribbon and red bow are from my stash.  Creative Craft Challenges have a recipe challenge, sadly their last for the foreseeable future; 1 image (check), 1 sentiment (check), 2 papers (the background print and the scalloped border), 2 different types of embellishments (gold pearls and ribbon/bow), so I'm entering there. 

I finished the inside of the card using more of the Christmas Carol paper, and another of the tags from the pad, the jotting panel is really textured, very nice IRL.  I added some Pearl Pen berries to the tag and Cropadile-d a smaller eyelet to it.  I cut a scrap of the paper from the front with Spellbinders Classic Border scalloped die and added a few gold flatbacks to tie it all in.
Through the Craftroom Door, Papertake Weekly, Paper Creator Crafts and Bugaboo have Anything Goes challenges running, so I'm entering them all.
That's it for today's card, I'd like to thank Holly Jolly for having me as their Guest Designer and to particularly thank Cindy for adding my card as I only realised when I wrote the date this morning that I hadn't sent her photos of it.. in fact I hadn't taken photos of it so it was a rush job - and I'm sure she didn't need the stress!  Sometimes time just gets away from you... or is that just me?  Nah, surely not!

Nathan

Emily

I'm going out with my DIL  and the twins in the morning, it's the first time since Matt was in hospital that we've been out together just the two of us, and actually the first time I've been out with her and the twins without any other people wanting to cuddle them and show them off... we see each other at least twice a week so it was actually surprising to me when I worked out that this was the case; I'm so looking forward to it, even though it's a medical appointment first there'll be lunch after and even though I spent most of today with them I'm excited, lol. 

I'll be back soon with another card from my draft pile, Until then Happy Crafting, Donna

Love...is all around Di's Digis

I'm back, did you miss me?  No, I haven't been anywhere interesting just crazy-busy!  Di's Digis has a new challenge starting today, the theme is Love and/or Valentine's

I've used a new image, "With All My Heart" -isn't he just about the sweetest mouse you've ever seen?!  Cute Card Thursday wants to see something new and Pile It On want to see Animals, so I'm entering there.   I merged the image with digital paper from Nitwits Valentine Too collection (which looks like polka dots but is in fact tiny hearts) which saved me the trouble of fussy cutting the image, and coloured it with Copics and Prismacolor pencils.   

The pink background paper is more of the Nitwits papers as is the dark pink (which has "Love" written on it) the pink with random hearts is from my stash and the stripy paper is from DCWV's All Glittered Up collection (it's very glittery IRL)  My Mums Craft Shop and Craft Your Passion have Spots or Stripes as their theme, so I'm entering there.

I've used this sketch from Sketch and Stash, it's a great sketch as it lets all the layers show and has enough elements to make it interesting, Top Tip Tuesday want us to use our Favourite sketch so I'm entering there too. 

The little flowers are a Carl punch, they're glittery too, and the leaves are a Joy die I just treated myself too, the pearls are from my stash.  Addicted to Stamps has a flowers challenge so I'm in.  The pearl hearts were paler, I coloured them with Copics.  The twine (I think it's paper... it matches the Kraft brilliantly) makes great bows, Simon Says Challenge has Anything Goes with Twine  so I'm entering there too.
I used the same layout for the inside, without popping up the layers, the sentiment was printed on the computer.
Aud Sentiments, Cuttlebug Mania, Gem of a Challenge, Allsorts Challenges, Little Miss Muffet, Sweet  Stampin' and Crafty Calendar  all have Love/Valentine's challenges so I'm entering them all and Paper Creator Crafts and Through the Craftroom Door have Anything Goes challenges so I'm entering them too.
Well that's it for today's card, I hope to get some crafting/blogging done over the rest of the weekend; we've got Monday off too but are starting to get things ready for the new pool so I can see that disappearing; we've got the licence (madness having to get a new licence when we had one for the pool we removed before, but new one we had to get) and we've had some of the palms cut down to make excavation a bit easier, which is kind of sad as I liked my palms - hubby  thought they'd got too tall anyway so he's happy. 

I hope you can pop over to Di's Digis Challenge blog and check out the rest of the team's work, it's awesome:-)  We've got Marker Pop sponsoring this time around with a great prize, and don't forget that as always, if you use one of Di's great images you go in an additional draw.
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna