Use Those Markers

Lucky I'm on Di's Digidesigns Challenge DT or I'd never get anything posted on my poor old Blog!  There's a new challenge starting today, the theme is "Use Those Markers", lucky for me as I LOVE my markers :-)  

It's Mother's Day here in Australia tomorrow so I made a card for my Mum, Tuesday Throwdown has "Special Lady" for their challenge, so I'm in and The Paper Shelter has Love is in the Air (not just romantic love) so I'm in there too.
 I made an aperture card, I did one for my hubby's birthday but that's one of the many cards I haven't had a chance to blog yet... surely I'll get a chance to do some soon!  What I really like about these is that when you decorate the inside, you decorate the outside too - or vice versa :-)  I used this fab tutorial from Great Impressions and that means I can enter their challenge, excellent! 

The image is Kitty Cuddles, Di had removed it from the shop but has seen the error of her ways, lol, and is going to put it back in - why wouldn't you, it's so cute, and perfect for Mother's Day, I think.  Cute Card Thursday has Paw Pals as their challenge theme, my cute Paw Pals get me in for sure.
As it says "on the tin" the challenge is to use markers, I've used Copics; because it's a special occasion I made a list of the markers I used: RV04, RV13, RV16, R000, R01, R20, R22, Y21, Y28, Y32, YR31,C0, C2, C5, C7, T4, W1, W3.  Mmm, sounds like a lot, but some were just a touch and the Toner was used to desaturate the kitten, who was way too orange.  
The papers are from Nitwits, the Stuffed Love collection.  I scaled the paper I used on the front down and used it as a background for the image; the heart paper on the inside is from the same collection as are the horizontal strips. Delightful Challenges, Bearly Mine Challenges and the Simon Says Challenge all have Flower themes, so I'm entering them all and Colour Me Copic has a Pastel Colours challenge, Divas by Design has In the Pink and  Gem of a Challenge has Favourite Colour Combo for theirs... I love all colour, seriously ALL, so I'm in. 

The aperture was cut using Nestabilities Standard Circles and the edge detail with Nestabilities Lacey Circles.  The corner dies are Cheery Lynn the pearls are from my stash and the sentiments are gold stickers I've had for yonks that I'm trying to get some use from.  I don't use a lot of embellishments on my cards, I do use die cuts a lot but really love the colouring aspect the most; Clear It Out wants to see our Style, I guess this is mine, and our Favourite Product... gotta be Copics and Dies.  My Mums Craft Shop has Lots of Layers... there were so many layers for the aperture I could hardly get it to go through my Big Shot, in the end it went through the Cuttlebug (those plates are less warped, which probably helped!)
Through the Craftroom Door, That Craft Place, Stamping Sensations and Papertake Weekly  all have Anything Goes challenges, so I'm entering them too.
That's it for today's card, pop over to the blog and check out my teamies work, fab as always.  I hope you get a chance to join in the challenge, such an easy theme :-)  Great prize on offer too from Marker Pop, and don't forget if you use one of Di's fab images (plenty of new ones in the shop, and available as Candibean Rubber Stamps for the ink lovers among you too) you go in an extra draw, WooHoo!! 
I will try to get back soon, I have had more dramas - the gallstones found in the CT when I had the kidney stone (which I have to go for another scan to see where it's at, though it's given me no more trouble) have caused two gallbladder attacks last week, they are very painful, though not I think as painful as the kidney stone, still very unpleasant as they bring other symptoms.  I've only had one attack prior, last year, and didn't realise what it was - the pain went after about an hour and a half so I thought it was just killer indigestion. I've been told the gallbladder has to come out, I'm not keen but can't do too many of those attacks, I'm in a quandry that's for sure!  I'm going to the Orthopedic Surgeon and the Rheumatologist this week seeking solutions for my hip, which has been literally a pain for a whole lot longer. It's all started getting me down a bit to be honest, quite a bit.  
Just when I was feeling particularly sorry for myself, I read of one of fellow DT's Lorraine's son's friends dying of cancer at the age of only 9; man, did that make me wake up or what?!  I hear client's saying all the time "it's a nightmare" when they're describing the mess their pool excavation has made, the crane being a few hours late or the cost exceeding their expectations and I always say that your child having cancer is a nightmare, those other things are, in the end only inconveniences; I've decided to regroup and try to heed my own advice, the pain and mobility issues I have are certainly unpleasant and unwelcome, but "a nightmare" they are NOT, I am so grateful that we as parents have never had that nightmare.  Even Matt's accident last year, while serious, could not, in retrospect be considered a nightmare as we still have him almost whole and hearty - just minus a few minor appendages :-)
Anyway, enough of my waffle.  I'll be back soon, after all it's Mother's Day tomorrow so my time will be my own (ha, as if!) Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna xx