A Little Bit of Christmas in June

Well it's June... but here in Australia we often have "Christmas in June" or "Christmas in July" events as the weather is more conducive to eating hearty food and sitting in front of a fire then... you know, "traditional" Christmas stuff.  I love Christmas... in June, July OR December :-))  Thought  I'd share a Christmas card today, nothing to do with it being June... it's another one out of my drafts from Christmas last year!  It's a "wobbler" card, I love these things; they jazz very simple card up just that little bit - making this card was FUN

 I used the gorgeous Christmas Tree Guy from Karen's Doodles, coloured with Copics, fussy cut then added to a Spring Wobbler (really will have to get some more of these... or have a go at a bit of DIY, yikes)  I added Ranger Glossy Accents to the eyes and Stardust Stickles to the fur on his hat... the nose is a Sparklet from Kaisercraft. 
I fussy cut him, then mounted him on his Wobbler (!) here he is wobbling away :-))
The white panel behind the image was embossed with an Embossalicious Snowflake folder.  The papers are from my (ancient!) stash, I think the red one is Kaisercraft.  The red, green and gold matting are all from my stash too.
The sentiment is from Craftworks Cards.  That's IT... told you is was a "simple" card!!
 I used the same basic layout for the inside, though I forgot to take a photo of that... it WAS Christmas, fair bit going on!

I thought I'd take this opportunity to announce that I've been lucky enough to be picked as one of the inaugural DT Members for Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - my first card as official DT member will be up on Wednesday when the new challenge starts, but this card would fit the challenge - coz all you have to do is use Patterned Paper somewhere on your creation,... so I thought Id show you just how easy it is to make something suitable for the challenge.  Hope you can pop back then and see what I came up... until then Happy Crafting :-)

THIS card is being entered in the following challenges: 

Fab'n'funky Challenges Christmas 
Outlawz Friday Colouring Challenge Anything Goes With a Christmas Twist 
Hiding in my Craft Room Any Holiday 
Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge  Anything (Christmas) Goes
Pile It On Cultural or Family Tradition (This is THE family tradition in our house, lol) 
Top Tip Tuesday   Name That Tune (Oh Christmas Tree) 
The Outlawz  (CAS) Add Something Green (err, like a tree? Lol) 

Corrosive Challenge Leave a Little Sparkle 
Clear It Out Theme: Your Style (uncluttered, coloured image) Stash: Favourite Craft Item (digi image!) 
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Use Patterned Paper - Tooooo Easy!! 
Through the Craftroom Door Anything Goes 
Paper Creator Crafts Anything Goes 
Art by Miran Anything Goes 
Little Miss Muffet Anything Goes 
Craft Your Passion Anything Goes

See ya soon, Donna

It's Summertime... and the Livin' is Easy

New challenge starts today at Di's Digis Challenge Blog... Summer Fun i the theme... which feels a little strange to me as it's literally midwinter's Day here, lol.  It has been mid 20's Celcius so not THAT wintery, though we did get some rain today, woohoo!!  Anyway here's my card for the challenge;

I've made a centre stepper card this time around, Crafty Calendar has a Fancy Folds challenge so I'm entering there.

The image is one of Di's newer ones, called (appropriately) Summer Sun Mouse ... available here - I LOVE this little dude :-))  The Paper Shelter  has Make It Digital, Bunny Zoes Crafts  has Furry Friends and both Cute As A Button and Crafty Cardmakers have For the Boys, so I'm entering their challenges.  

I coloured the image with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, adding some Sakura Glaze pen to the beach ball and Ranger Glossy Accents to the sunglasses.

Simon Says Challenge wants to see our favourite Technique or Product - mine is colouring... particularly with Copics. Without Words has Summer Holidays, Addicted to  Stamps has Summer Colours while Cuttlebug Mania has "Sunny" so I'm entering there.

I used paper from a pad I think is called Pool Party... the sentiment tags came from one sheet in it too... the orange one says "soak up the sun" and the green one originally said "Stay cool by the pool", but as mdy image is a seaside scene I covered the "by the pool" with a scrap of paper from the pad. Of course I'm entering Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge.  Aud Sentiments wants to see a Summertime Sentiment, tick, and Cute Card Thursday wants us to Add a Quote (hope this counts, it did say that a quote as a sentiment was okay)

I cut the wave bordered strip from one of the papers with a wave die, the "waves" on the paper were white, I went over them with Viva Pearl Pen to give a bit more depth.  Top Tip Tuesday  has Cut It Out as their theme, my die cut gets me in there.

The only embellishments on the card are the oh-so-cute pair of thongs... well that's what we call them here; flip flops, jandals, or rubber thonged sandals; whatever they are in your neck of the woods... anyway these are metal brads.  Oh, and a resin dot with "relax" on it as a finishing touch. Card Mania Challenges wants to us to Use a Metal Embellishment so I'm in!
I put the jotting panel on the back of this card as, if you put it inside the card it never sits right again after all the "opening and shutting".  Obviously I used more of the papers and another of the little tags/sentiment blocks... it looks crooked in the pic, but I've checked and it's straight so - I dunno, lol.
Moving Along With The Times has Inspired by a Song as their theme; Ella Fitzgerald's "Summertime and the Living is Easy" is the inspiration here,Corrosive Challenge has Pile It On - I've piled on the folds, the number of bits of paper (truly, all those little bands at the top of the sentiment blocks are tiny strips!) and Craft Your Passion,That Craft Place, Through the Craftroom Door, Art by Miran, Paper Creator Crafts and OSAAT have Anything Goes challenges so I'm entering them.

That's it for today's card, hope you get a chance to enter the challenge, that you're not to busy having Summer Fun :-))  Great prize on offer as always and if you use one of Di's super cute images there's extra opportunities to win, yay!!
I'll be back in a few days.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

My First Criss Cross Card

I have been threatening to make a Criss Cross Card for some time... I drool over Teresa's beautiful makes regularly, but do realize mine were never going to be in that style; I'm no good at it!!  I wasn't sure if a simplified version would work, I think it did - I made my first one for my Mum's birthday last year which is "fussy for me"... and this ISN'T it!!!!  I have to find the photos for that one on my old laptop, so in the meantime here is my first Criss Cross card to be blogged; it was for my son's friend Chantelle's 30th birthday... he met her in Pre school and they're still great friends  - now they're both now nearly 31, aaaw 

The photos aren't great... my son (who is a photographer!!) took them just before going out as I had forgotten to take any, oops, and he didn't have the best light or camera.. at least you can get the idea, though I have to say I've finally found a style of card that's harder to photograph than Joy fold cards, lol. 
Crafty Calendar has a Fancy Folds challenge so I'm entering there.
The image is a Deviant Art Image called "The Necklace" from Jade Dragonne, I love her stuff!  it was extra appropriate as Chris bought Chantelle a heart shaped locket as her gift.  I printed on textured card and used Prismacolor pencils to colour, adding a bit of bling to the necklace.
The papers are digital... from Shery K Designs, the set's called simply "Lace".  I used four of the patterns in the pack of 10... they're all nice and so well coordinated.
The card base was textured black card left over from the bonbonniere boxes I made for my son and DIL's wedding (in 2009! Here's a link if you're interested) To say I over estimated the quantity I'd need for them is an understatement... I'll be using the "leftovers" until Doomsday :-)) 

Hiding in my Craft Room have their Super Scraps Saturday challenge on, BOY am I in with this one!

 
The black mats, including the Spellbinders Floral Oval and behind the image and the smaller Floral Oval behind the jotting panel, are made from black card heat embossed with home made black glitter EP.  The wooden "30" was painted then given the same treatment, it's a bit hard to see the glitter in the pics... but it was EVERYWHERE in my craft room for DAYS, lol  Top Tip Tuesday  has Cut It Out and Tuesday Throwdown has Frame It so I'm entering there.  Corrosive Challenge has "Pile It On"... I'm using the number of layers I've "Piled On" to enter there
The turquoise cardstock is from my stash, it's called Tiffany Blue and is VERY "Chantelle" :-)   The VERY bling-y rhinestone trim is a gift from my folk's overseas trips... the two sizes came from two different trips!
I made an easel/stand for the back of my first criss cross card ...  I made it straight at the bottom but it didn't sit right so I kept trimming... very wisely I used it as a template so when it came time to make this card it was a very easy job, and I think it really helps display the card style to it's best advantage.
I'll be entering the Anything Goes challenges at
Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Through the Craftroom Door, Art by Miran, That Craft Place and Paper Creator Crafts too
Well that's it for this card-from-my-drafts.  I'll be back in a few days with something else from my drafts (still got a stack in there, lol), or maybe one of my paintings.... or maybe one of the cakes I've made recently... well the twins' FIRST birthday isn't THAT recent, but you know what I mean.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Di's Dies Challenge - no I'm not stuttering!

So it's that time of the fortnight again... time for a new challenge at Di's Digis Challenge Blog, yay!!  The theme this time around is "Use Die Cuts"... not a problem for many of us I would think, there are so many fabulous dies out there now... I want them ALL, my hubby thinks I'm well on my way to achieving that; little does he know "evil laugh"  Anyway, here's my card... an easel again, what can I say? I just like them :-)

It was my husband's brother in law's birthday recently and I really was scraping the barrel for a card, so there's nothing else for it... time to make some masculine ones, that said I really don't mind making "guy" cards :-)  The image for this one is one of Di's newer ones (I'm just lovin' her meeces in case you haven't worked that out by the fact that they keep appearing on my blog, lol) it's called "Fore You" which I thought was the perfect sentiment.. which is why I printed that exact one, rofl.  You can get your copy here

I coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, as usual, but didn't go quite as intense as I usually do... why, this is positively pastel by Donna's standards.  It is a bit brighter IRL, it was nearly dark when I took the pics so they look a bit dusky... and I really couldn't be bothered setting up the light tent when it's only a bit off reality :-)
The papers are from Echo Park, Walk in the Park pad (I think, the cover's been off it for years!)  
Now for the die cuts; the image panel was cut and embossed using Crafts Too Squares (I took a leaf out of Lucy's book and left it in the die to ink the sky, leaving the border clean and white - thanks Lucy, I think it works a treat!)  The trees border (which I was hoping looked like shrubs in this instance) is the Freemont Pine Landscape Die by Poppy Dies, I drew around the die and cut the black cardstock "shadow" freehand... definitely stood out better with a background.  The clouds are Memory Box; I cut a few of them out first tacked them to the sky with temporary glue then inked with Versamark Sky Blue ink leaving the clouds white... looks so much better IRL, sigh.
The ribbon and black pearls are from my stash.  Ooh, and I added some Viva Pearl pen to the head of the golf club to give it a silver sheen, again better IRL.
I propped the sentiment up on thick foam squares so it works well as a prop for the easel.  I finished the "inside" of the card like a little scene and added the jotting panel to the flap - if you know what I mean, hope the picture explains that better than I just did, lol.
Usually I follow the same sketch for the inside and outside of my card, but obviously this time it's only the outside that gets to use the fabby sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 I checked and you didn't have to use the pentagon shape :-) I just realised that I have the horizontal panel over the bottom edge of the image panel... I still have ribbon though so I hope it's okay (?!)
I found all these challenges to enter my card in... some sort of record I think!!

Simon Says Challenge Make It Masculine
My Time To Craft Male
Crafty Creations All Creatures Great and Small
Seize the Birthday Topping: Animals
Moving Along With The Times Happy Birthday
Crafts 4 Eternity Birthday
Aud Sentiments Bingo: I used Markers/Digi/Die Cut
Without Words Summer Holidays (Golf is my son's "summer holiday pastime... or was BC = Before Children, lol)
Little Red Wagon Use It Up (everything on the card except the new image!!) 
The Crazy Challenge Ribbon or Lace (Ribbon) 
Sweet Stampin' Something Old Something New (new image, old ... everything else!)
Inky Chicks Pearls (they're black, but they're pearls!)
Pile It On Focus on Colouring (Always Do, lol)
The Paper Shelter Make It Colourful
Digi Sketch Challenge Theme: Fave Colour Combo (I love all colour, use orange/green together a lot)
Cute Card Thursday Summer Colours
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Use Patterned Paper
Craft Your Passion Anything Goes
Art by Miran Anything Goes
Paper Creator Crafts Anything Goes
Corrosive Challenge Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly Anything Goes
Through the Craftroom Door Anything Goes
Clear It Out Theme: Anything Goes Stash: You Choose!

Phew!  Well that's it for today.  Pop over to the blog and check out the DT's work.. it's to DIE for... see what I did there??  Hope you crack out your dies and have a go at the challenge, great prize on offer as always and if you use one of Di's cute images there's extra opportunities, oh yeah!
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Fairy Wishes for Fiona

Time for another card to make its way out of my Drafts Folder.  It's not the oldest, but I just fancied showing this one today :-))  It's the card I made for my Sister Fiona's 60th Birthday in December, apologies in advance for the photo-heavy post!

Fiona loves Fairies, Butterflies and Purple... got it all IN SPADES on this card, lol.
I used the absolutely gorgeous "A Little Bit of Gossip" from Sugar Nellie... available as a digi here, and in rubber too. I coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, adding gloss to the ladybird and LASHINGS of Ranger's Bridal Tinsel Embossing Powder to the wings.  
Creative Colours Challenge has this pic as it's inspiration this time around... perfect for my card methinks!!
When I made it, it was based on a sketch from Sketch Saturday, couldn't believe my luck when I checked out the blog today and see that the current challenge is to use any sketch # 215 to 362, I used sketch # 241, albeit flipped.
The papers I used came from Kaisercraft's Lilac Avenue pad, I cut all the circles using my Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Circles dies, the silver card for the matting was from my stash.  The white lace with silver thread came from my stash too, as did the letters that made up Fiona's name, the twine and the numbers (which are foam, covered with Silver Stickles)  
I used a Martha Stewart punch for the butterflies, and the coloured rhinestones on the Fairy's wings are from the days when we were involved in ballroom dancing... the kids used to scour the floor between events and I scored a zillion of different coloured Zwarowski stones, don't worry, I also bought my share!!

This card was also a gift card holder, so I added a pocket to the inside front with textured cardstock, added some lace and a Memory Box Vivienne Butterfly die with some not-Zwarowski (so not so shiny!) rhinestones as a body.  I added a voucher to my sister's favourite craft shop... she's a quilter, lives over 400 km away from Perth and there's a branch of this shop in the town nearest her, so it was a pretty good choice :-) 
Obviously (only because I ALWAYS do) I followed the same sketch  for the inside of the card, using more of the same papers and embellies.
The butterflies on the jotting panel are from the same Martha Stewart punch as the little ones on the front of the card.
Next time, or at least once I've learned how to do it quicker than just loading pics, I'll do a composite shot of the "extra" photos, in the meantime... sorry 'bout all the pics, I just was really happy with the finished product and wanted to "share"!
I'll be entering my card in all the challenges listed below,  

Creative Colors Challenge Colour Inspiration (see pic)

Sketch Saturday Any Sketch from 215 to 362

Pile It On Focus on Colouring

Top Tip Tuesday It's All About Hair

Papertake Weekly Product: Glitter

Clear It Out Theme: Girls Stash: Die Cuts and Punches

Cuttlebug Mania Bling

Seize the Birthday No topping

Cute Card Thursday Too Cute

The Crazy Challenge Ribbon or Lace

Crafty Calendar Things With Wings

Creatalicious Challenges Butterflies

Great Impressions May: Celebrate Spring

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Use Patterned Paper
Catch the Bug  Recipe (Canister #3 = Image/Die Cut/Bling)

Sugar Bowl Challenges Anything Goes

Hiding in my Craft Room Freestyle

Corrosive Challenge Anything Goes

Little Miss Muffet Anything Goes

Art by Miran Anything Goes

Simon Says Challenge Anything Goes

Tuesday Throwdown Anything Goes

Through the Craftroom Door Anything Goes

That's it for this card, I'll be back in a few days, until then, Happy Crafting, Donna