Di's Digis Halloween Challenge

There's a new challenge starting today at Di's Digis Challenge Blog, the theme is Halloween... in perfect time for, well, Halloween!  I managed to knuckle down long enough in my craft room to get a card made.  I was surprised at how tired I got, it's really hard to sit on my swivel chair with the wedge cushion I have to use for the 12 weeks of my recovery, so I ended up standing for most of the journey - definitely have to remedy that!  Anyway here's what I came up with 

I used one of Di's newer digis, this one's called "A Little Bit of Magic", and you can get your Little Bit of Magic here  Isn't it sweet? Not really spooky at all!  I coloured with Copics, adding some extra shadows with Prismacolor pencils.  
I embossed the orb and the stars with Ranger's Bridal Tinsel and the belt with Rangers Multisparkle, as usual it hardly shows in the pic!  The base card has a lovely texture, the black matting is from my stash and the pale lilac mat is more of the pebble paper I love so much that I get from Starfish Lane .  

I used the sketch from Digi Sketch Challenge, following it pretty literally until I added the three gems instead of two.
The paper I used is also from Di... it's her first attempt at Digital Paper and I think you'll agree she's done a super job.  What's more she's offering it as a freebie on the challenge site, so why not grab yours here.  I changed the colour to purple and white from black and white using Word... simply by clicking Format then choosing a colour in the Colour tab... really super easy.  Cutie Pie Challenge is Perfectly Purple, plenty of purple here so I'm entering.
The "sentiment" is actually cut from another fabulous freebie paper that I got from Shery K Designs... I love this paper, one of set of 10 that's one of my go-to's for Halloween. Aud Sentiments wants to see a two or three word sentiment, this is one word twice... hope it counts :-) Without Words has BOO as their theme, not only do I have BOO...twice, this is about as scary a card as I'm likely to make, and it satisfies their criteria of few or no embellies with only the couple of dots, appropriately from the BOO collection!
I've used the same elements on the inside of the card, you can see a tad more of Di's yummy paper, but not much more I know.
Tuesday Throwdown, The Paper Shelter, Crafts 4 Eternity, Corrosive Challenge, Bearly Mine Challenges, Cute Card Thursday, Gem of a Challenge and Clear It Out all have Halloween (or variations of) themes, so I'm entering them while  Through the Craftroom Door, Addicted to  Stamps, Whimsy Inspirations Challenge and Art by Miran all have Anything Goes challenges so I'm entering them too.
Well that's it for today's card, I hope you get a chance to check out my teamies fab projects... and grab yourself that yummy paper, why not enter the challenge while you're there, there's a fab prize from The Cutting Café and if you use one of Di's cute images you go in an extra draw too!
I'm off to bed now, this is the first night since my op that I will be getting myself to bed, hubby went early (he's probably shattered doing the heavy housework on top of his regular work!) I have been keeling over pretty early myself, but have managed to stay up this evening - and I did quite a bit today; I had reflexology and a neck and shoulder massage... it was lovely but I can't wait until I can have a "proper" massage on a table - three weeks more and I should be able to do that (when at least some of my restrictions lift) and I made it all the way around the grocery shopping without having to sit down, admittedly I reverted to two crutches for the day, whereas I have been using only one for the the bulk of the last two days.  More than anything I find I get a wider berth if I use two and it makes me feel a lot safer in places like crowded shopping centres!
Just thought I'd add a couple of pics of the twins visiting me in hospital... in one you can see me, really not looking my glorious best, but it was Day 1 after major surgery, and the twins looking quite unfazed that they had evicted the invalid from her bed, lol


I'll be back in a day or so, I'm really ramping my crafting back up this week as my sister has gone back to the country after her visit (not that I saw her that much, but she did help fill a couple of days) and I'll be on my own and still unable to get out of the house much - may as well use the opportunity ;-)  Until then, happy crafting, Donna

"Hippy" to be Back

Well..... I'm ba-ack!  My Hip Replacement operation went well, there was more damage to the joint and femur (because of the Necrosis) than expected so my surgeon said it was "technically challenging" - he also said it was good of me to make it an interesting day for him... as he's GORGEOUS I said I was happy to oblige :-))  I was up on Day 0 on crutches and home on Day 3. something of a Poster Girl for the more difficult Posterior Approach.... then again I'm probably 20 years younger than the average candidate, lol.  More on that later.  The card I have today is the second of my inspiration projects for the Card Mania Challenge, the theme this week is Buttons; I was supposed to post it yesterday but, well, forgot eeek... so here it is now.

 I made a double easel card, I've only made one of these before, not sure why... I quite like them.  I used heavy textured burgundy (or is it ruby) card as the base; it definitely was better at not flattening out than the last one I made though it does still 'wilt' a bit.  The decorative papers were all from Kaisercraft's Gypsy Sisters pad - it's a real feast of texture, with flocking. sparkle and gloss featuring generously, the shaped borders are die cuts from the pad too. Divas by Design want to see texture, I'm in! 
I've used this colour combo before, though with the emphasis reversed (here's a link if you're interested) and I do really like it; Top Tip Tuesday and Delightful Challenges want to see our Favourite Colour Combinations so I'm entering there and That Craft Place has Girly but no pink, so in there too,

Now,the buttons - after all that's what the challenge is about!!  The beautiful turquoise and gold filigree buttons featured on the back layer have been in my stash for YEARS... originally I was going to make earrings from them.  I added a red pearl to the centre to tie them in with the colour scheme.  For good measure I added some tiny red buttons to the panel at the front, the scroll embellishment featured there is a self adhesive strip that I coloured with a Red Copic.
The image is from Milk n Coffee, who are the sponsors of the challenge this time around, it is "Tiffany with Champagne"  I coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, adding gloss to the glass and cherry, Metallic gel pen to the necklace and Stickles to the earring and shoes

I cut the image panel with Nestabilities Standard Ovals die (leaving the base of her dress "outside" of course) the turquoise (actually it's called Tiffany, so more appropriate than ever) mat was cut using Nestabilities Scalloped Ovals and the Burgundy (ruby?) mat was cut with a Nestabilities Floral Ovals die.  The sentiment is from Craftworks Cards.

I added a jotting panel to the back of the card, I found last time I made one of these cards having the jotting panel on the inside meant you're flattening it out all the time making it harder to get it to stand to attention!  The floral oval is one of the die cuts that came in the Gypsy Sisters pad, I added some pearls to finish it all off... Done!!
I'm entering Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Patterned Paper Challenge, and Crafty Calendar has this Bingo Board - I've used Die Cuts/Sentiment/Pearls
Seize the Birthday has an Anything (Birthday) Goes so I'm entering there and Through the Craftroom Door, Bizzy Becs, Whimsy Inspirations Challenge, Addicted to  Stamps, Art by Miran and Aud Sentiments all have Anything Goes challenges running so I'm entering them too.
Well that's it for today, pop over to the Card Mania blog and check out the rest of the button-y goodness. Hope you get a chance to enter the challenge too.
I'm done, the one thing I've really felt since this operation is what is a well known side effect; the energy drain.  I had the Posterior Approach for my surgery, leaving me with a bigger wound/scar, more muscle injury and more precautions but giving the surgeon a better working field - you don't second guess your surgeon on these things, so I was happy to go with his advice.
I am walking on one crutch only for most of the time, two when I'm on uneven ground and I'm taking no painkillers at all during the day, so I'm doing pretty well.... yet I can't seem to avoid the energy drain; it hits hard and fast and wipes me out, all I can do is nap.  I am getting better each day, doing Physio and walking as much as I can.  As the leg feels stronger and all the bruising and incidental stuff goes I feel generally better.  I hope to get some time in which I manage to stay awake and actually craft, I can't drive for another three and a half weeks at least, and my surgeon wants me to observe the precautions such as sleeping on my back (hate it!) not bending past 90 degrees etc for 12 weeks - which seems interminable.  I'm sure I'll survive :-))
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Tags are it at Card Mania

Some time ago I was asked if I'd like to be Guest Designer for the Card Mania Challenge... of course I said yes!  Of course in the mean time my hip replacement op has come up and I am currently at "Day 3" so I have scheduled this post. This is the first project I will be sharing, I'm "guesting" until the end of the year so it's the first of seven!  The theme at the challenge this time around is "Tags" - here's mine

We're being sponsored by Colorink Digital Stamps I've used the gorgeous Flower Boy Bunny image from Colorink, isn't he cute?!  I coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, added some gloss to his eyes and nose then "fussy cut" him and mounted him on some foam dots for dimension.  The image comes with a sentiment but I actually forgot to add it, so it's sitting printed ready for another project :-))

The textured purple paper is from my favourite "special" paper store, Starfish Lane.  The pale lilac has flocked leaves on it and is from Kaisercraft's  Lilac Avenue pad, as is the central tag, which is what the whole tag was built around.  I added some shading with Copics to make it a bit less flat looking.  I added some more of the lilac paper to the back of the tag to write on, it's not flash as i hand cut it and probably would have benefited from ruling it first, next time :-)
I put a gold eyelet in with my trusty Crop-A-Dile and added some purple ribbon from my stash.  I was going to add some more embellies, but I just didn't think it needed them so I "stepped away from the tag", lol.  
So that's it for today's tag... I don't "do" tags very often but I'm thinking it's a great way to get some of my lovely digis "out there", and so useful too.
Now you don't have to make a tag to join in the challenge, you can make a card or project with a tag on it instead.  Pop over and check out the rest of the team's inspiration, well worth a look - hope you get a chance to enter the challenge, there's the fab prize from Colorink as added incentive don't forget :-)
I hope to be back online very soon, I'm in hospital for a while and probably won't be up to much for a week or so, but look forward to seeing you then.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

I don't know if I'll get the chance to enter these challenges, but my tag suits the following: 

Tuesday Throwdown	Opposites Attract: pic, opposite sides of colour wheel
Through the Craftroom Door	Anything Goes
Delightful Challenges	Cute and Cuddly
Outlawz Friday Colouring Challenge	Anything Goes, opt Christmas twist
Art by Miran	Anything Goes
Little Miss Muffet	Make it Mini
Corrosive Challenge	Halloween Colours
Charisma Cards	Anything But a Card
Catch The Bug	Anything Goes