When is a Challenge Not a Challenge?

For me using digi images is no challenge at all, so calling this week's theme over at the Card Mania blog a "challenge" felt a bit like cheating!  I thought I'd add to my Christmas card pile, this is what I came up with

I embossed some white card with my new Snowflakes Embossalicious embossing folder; it's 6x6 so no pesky lining up to do.  The Paper Shelter wants snowflakes so I'm entering there.  The digi I've used is called Santa Mouse; this little cutie is one of the StampArt Design by Kathryne designs available here at Whimsy Stamps  Cutie Pie Challenge has Festive Furry Friends as their challenge, so I'm entering there, Papertake Weekly have 2 or 4 legs, so in there too and Sparkles Monthly Challenge theme is "the Big Guy (Santa)" so I'm entering there, hopefully my mouse sized Big Guy is big enough!  Crafty Creations has a recipe: 3 Layers, 2 Papers and 1 sweet Image... I'm in
I coloured with Copics, adding some of the deeper shadows with Prismacolor pencils.  I also added pastel white shimmering EP... but of course the glitter doesn't show in the pic, grrr.

I fussy cut Santa Mouse out very carefully (okay, I bailed when I got down to the curly bit of the tail, but I got most of it!) then mounted the image on an Action Wobbler... I've just about run out of these, but I've found a few tutorials on YouTube (here's one) on how to make your own... I'll let you know how I go :-)  
Here's a few pics attempting to show how he moves around - but I've got to say it's a challenge getting the thing to wobble and then getting back far enough quickly enough to get a focused photograph with it still moving!!
I thought I'd go the whole digi hog and used digital paper too... these are all from Nitwits Merry Christmouse 2 collection. Top Tip Tuesday wants us to use 3+ papers, I'm in! I tried to trim the red panel so that the "merry Christmouse" printed on the paper could be seen, the lazy way of adding a sentiment (well the quick way, for some reason time is still hurtling by)  The glittery gold matting card is from my stash, the stuff on the front in particular is a nice "soft" gold, I'm really going to have to try and get some more of it.
I used the sketch from Sketch Saturday , I even rounded the corners where appropriate... using my newly obtained 1" EK Success Corner Rounder.  I bought a couple of new corner rounders when I bought a slot punch recently... the reason I bought the slot punch is I was going to make some more tabs to hang my ribbons on; I have loads from Ribbon Ring and they're fabulous... but no longer ship to Australia, so I'm trying to come up with alternatives, at this point I've just got some nice corner rounders out of it, lol

I followed the sketch for the inside of the card too, mixing it up a bit so you can see more of the "Merry Christmouse" paper, I turned the jotting panel so that the rounded corners didn't match the mat, I liked it better that way.
Divas by Design had this gorgeous picture inspiration, I've taken it simply as a picture of Christmas so I'm entering there.   Delightful Challenges,  Without Words, Crafty Calendar, Bearly Mine Challenges and Stamping Sensations all have Christmas Challenges running so I'm entering them, and Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge has a Colour Choice Challenge, I've chosen Red, White and Green.
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long, Through the Craftroom Door, Paper Creator Crafts, Little Miss Muffet and That Craft Place all have Anything Goes challenges so I'm entering them too.
Well that's it for today's card, pop over to the Card Mania Blog and check out the rest of the team's fab work.  Why not enter the challenge, after all, all you have to do is use a digi - no challenge at all really is it?  Great prize on offer too.
I thought I'd add a couple of pics of my "bionic hip" The machine to burn them to disc was not working on the day I had them taken, so these pics were taken with the Xtrays propped up against my lightbox in the craftroom... at least they're backlit!
The surgeon was very happy with me on Friday, I'm allowed to drive now, but alas all the other restrictions are still in place for another six weeks.  I am cheating a bit, I slept (with a pillow between my knees, so not ALL bad) for an hour this morning and yesterday... and I'm going to do it again tomorrow; I just don't get good sleep on my back!  I'm up to all my usual duties in the house, walking without aids and running the business etc, but BOY do I get tired! 
It's my son Chris's 30th birthday next Monday, I'm making him a cake... he's having a party in the park with a carnival theme this weekend (like a kid's party, the BIG 3 little 0 sort of thing)  I've got as far as baking four of the cakes, 3 more tomorrow should be enough... then I've got to start moulding some characters - there could be a very floppy ringmaster on show on the weekend, and I'll know EXACTLY how he feels, rofl
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna