Devastated

 have no craft to share today, only terrible news.

My Mum, New Year 2016

My Darling Mum, who is my best friend, died yesterday morning
My father and she were going for a quick drive to the bank on Friday - despite their advanced age they are fiercely independent - and in a horrendous sequence of events the car rolled into my Mum as she was getting into it on their driveway, the door knocked her to the ground where she hit her head.
She managed to ring my sister Fiona (We live two minutes away but had gone Down South 300km away for a few days, my sister was en route to her home 400km away - she had been up for one of her regular visits, leaving my Mum and Dad's only 40 minutes before.)  Mum managed to dial my sister's number, Dad (who is very confused sometimes these days) told her that Mum had hurt her head.  My sister got her son to go to my folk's house. he was there in five minutes - the ambulance was called and arrived five minutes later.  Mum was still conscious at that point.  My sister had arrived back at their place by then, she didn't get a chance to talk to Mum as she was being put in the ambulance - when she got to the hospital with my Dad my Mum was unconscious.  she had a CT scan which showed a large bleed in her brain.  She never woke again
My husband and I had packed up at the cabin and came back up as fast as we could, we knew by that point there was no hope, I prayed only that Mum would wait for me.  Such was her love and consideration for others, she did.
 My sister and I stayed the night with Mum, playing her favourite Nat King Cole songs and slow swing music. My husband brought my Dad, who has gone to pieces, back up to the hospital at 7am.  Mum took her last breath at 9.46am, she was certified as dead at 11.12
My heart is broken
Mum has bravely battled in the minefield that is old age, with her own health problems and Dad's, she has done this with dignity, grace and love and totally without complaint. She was the most amazing of people; the more so because she really didn't realize just how special she was
I know this terrible pain will pass, we all have so many beautiful memories of her... but right now it's not enough and I am bereft
My sister is staying with my Dad for the foreseeable future; I don't think she is aware of just how much my Mum's life was dedicated to his wellbeing, but for the time being she will do her best to keep Dad in his own home... I have done the lion's share of helping them for the last four years at least, I am tired. I hope I can cope with this next challenging time
I don't know how much time or inclination I will have for my Blog, time will tell
Until then, love your parents... tell them you love them, give them an extra kiss and try not to roll your eyes... ever.  One minute you have all the time in the world to do those things, the next minute the chance is gone, forever

If You're Hot, You're Hot

New challenge starting today (yup, another fortnight flew by!) the theme this time around is "Hot, Bright Colours".  No challenge for me at all this one, I LOVE colour and I'm not afraid to use it, lol.  Here's my card

The oh-so-cute image is called "Slumber Sunflower Time" and it's available here.  I printed it up pretty big (another thing I love about digis) so I could make a big card, actually I made a big card so I could print the image bigger than average... so much easier to get some detail into it that way!  
As You Like It want to see our Favourite or "Trademark" style and say how or why we consider it so; I love digis, use them ALL the time, love colour and this minimally embellished but not really CAS look is as close as I get to "a" style; I love colouring and like the image to be the star of the show.
I coloured with Copics, with just a tad of Prismacolor pencil shading and a big dollop of gloss on the ladybird.   
I used the sketch from Catch the Bug's Stella Says Sketch challenge.I found some My Minds Eye papers in  local craft store super cheap... I bought this sheet then decided I loved it, went back next day... yep, you guesed it all gone!  I did buy ten sheets of other patterns, but this is my fave.  The card base is kraft and the red cardstock is from my stash... as is the ribbon.
  The fence is a MFT die, the sentiment is computer generated.  I added some stitched borders to the image panel with Paper Smooches Dots and Dashes dies, the flower brads on the corners are from my stash, as are the orange rhinestones.
As usual I decorated the inside of the card to match the outside.  The brads looked out of scale so I used mini buttons instead... and that was it :-)  
I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges;

Polkadoodles  Summertime

Fab'n'Funky Challenges  Add A Sentiment

4 Crafty Chicks Flowers

Pile It On Use Your Favourite Colour(s)

OSAAT Elements of Nature

Animal Friends  Animals with Punches and or Dies

Creatalicious Challenges Anything Goes + Opt: Add a Flower
Simon Says Stamp Create a Scene (hope my fence is enough!)

Craft Your Passion , Through the Craftroom Door,  Art by Miran, Create and Inspire, Crafting With Friends Challenge25, Simply Papercrafts and Creative Fingers  all have Anything Goes challenges

I hope you get a chance to check out the rest of the team's Hot Bright work, hope you get a chance to enter the challenge too; great prize on offer as always - from the Crafting Desert Diva, and as always if you use one of Di's cute digis, or one of the Candibean rubber stamps you get entered into a draw for an extra prize!

I'm going away on Tuesday to "our" cabin in the bush (Margaret River, wine country... rammed earth house, GOOD wine, nice cheese... aah; rubbish internet though!)  I hope to put up a post or two when I'm down there, though I'm taking my colouring and that's easier to do!  So, until next time, whenever that may be, Happy Crafting, Donna

It's Christmas Time... well it is at Di's Digis

I'm ba-ack!!  Here I am with my DT card for Di's Digi Designs Challenge. The challenge starting today has a "Christmas in July" theme, so I got to make another card for "The Pile"

The image I've used is called Pass the Parcel Mice, and you can get it here.  I coloured with Copics, adding detail with Prismacolor pencils and Ranger's Glossy Accents to the berries.

I softened the edges of all the panels with some brown ink, the circles are cut with Lifestyle Crafts nesting circle dies. 

I've used the sketch from Stella Says Sketch, I haven't used a sketch for a while, it's nice to get back to it, lol.  The background paper is ancient (it was a 12" sheet) the feature paper is from my scraps box; it's Kaisercraft but I'm not really short which pad but it has nice glittery features on it :-) I used some pearlized brown card for the image mat, the rest of the brown card is textured... I think it's Bazzil but I'm not certain.  I used the last of my favourite lace on this card, snipping it a little to facilitate getting it around the edge of the circle, I used the same brown ink to help the lace stand out against the background paper.  I've popped all the layers up on foam dots. 
I kept the bells from the Lindt bunnies my son bought us (and everyone in the family) for Easter; I was fishing them out of the recycling bin when they all left home, lol.  They are really nice tinkling bells, they came with different ribbon - this one is from my stash and is bright red; I toned it down with a Maroon Copic.  
As always I've used elements from the front to complete the inside, the sentiment is one of my favourite Christmas sentiments... it was from Tickled Pink Stamps, but they're sadly defunct now. It's stamped with Archival Ink in Cocoa Brown (I think)
That's about it... easy peasy. I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges: (sorry the formatting has gone haywire!!)

Fab'n'Funky Challenges Christmas

Inky Chicks Christmas in Summer

Addicted to  Stamps Anything Summer (Christmas IS Summer here)

A Snowflakes Promise Summer

ABC Christmas Challenge M is for Mice

Winter Wonderland 3+ Embellishments (Bell, Lace, Ribbon)

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Anything Goes (Christmas)

The Crazy Challenge R is for… (Red, Robin Redbreast, Round, Ring, as in bell!)

As You Like It Markers Ink or Pencils (Markers because they blend well, Pencils for crisp detail)

Polkadoodles Use a Diecut

Animal Friends Animals with Punches and or Dies

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge Add a Ribbon 

Through the Craftroom Door, Crafty Creations, 4 Crafty Chicks, Create and Inspire, Simon Says Challenge.Simply Papercrafts,  Crafting With Friends Challenge 24. Creative Fingers, Art by Miran, Little Miss Muffet and Catch The Bug Anything Goes

I hope you get a chance to check out the rest of the team's work... and that it inspires you to get into "Christmas Card" mode; it's funny, Christmas IS in Summer here so this theme may seem odd to all of you in the Northern Hemisphere- but it's not odd to me at all, lol.  In fact my son has a Christmas in July party every year (the weather then being more conducive to Christmas Fare) that this year - due to circumstances beyond management's control - it will be in August!

Hope you get a chance to enter the challenge too... there's a great prize on offer from Magnolia-licious, with extra opportunites if you use one of Di's fab digis (I know I use her cute meeces a LOT, but there ARE a whole load of other characters for you to love in the Digi  Store) or a Candibean Rubber Stamp available at Little Darlings
On a personal note: I nearly didn't get this card up in time.... I spent the evening I WAS going to spend making it worrying about my darling hubby.  His heartbeat was soooo fast and erratic from dinner time on Thursday, he has had an episode of Atrial Fibrillation before, 12 years ago so we had an idea that that that's what it was.  We went to Emergency at 9pm, they took him straight in - they decided that defibrillation (or cardioversion) was the best course of action; as he'd eaten at six we had to wait until 11pm (because of the risks with eating close to having sedation) long story short they let me stay with him, gave him the IV anesthetic (I held his hand while he "went under) then let me stay in Resus while they "paddled" him at exactly midnight. 
I am not generally fazed by medical procedures, though I have to say having the love of your life defibrillated in front of you was a bit more confronting than I thought it would be.  The staff were amazing; the doctor explained everything, told me he would convulse (which I was ready for) but didn't warn me his face would contort as it did - bit distressing.  The nurse checked I was okay straight after the procedure, so that was kind. 
It WAS amazing to see though; his heart rate IMMEDIATELY dropped from an erratic 160bpm to his normal steady 65 with the first charge, they let me help wake him, which was lovely and we left the hospital with him feeling fine (a bit sore, but SO much less-ill than when we went in) only half an hour later!  We didn't get home until after 1am but he still got up and went to work - allowing himself an extra half hour in bed and getting up at 6 instead of 5.40!  our son, who COULD have done his work for the day was taking his family on a 800km trip that morning and it would have been very disruptive for him to pick up the slack (which of course he would have done if necessary)  The fact he went ahead with his job for the day could be testament to hubby's work ethic or his combination pig headedness/denial ("all good here", I'm fighting fit yadayada") who knows, lol

Anyway, until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Guest Designer at Cute as a Button Challenge Blog

I recently won a challenge over at the Cute as a Button Challenge Blog, WooHoo!  They asked if I'd like to do a Guest spot on the DT... of course I jumped at the opportunity :-)  I got to use this cuter than cute digi to make a card for the challenge starting today with the theme "Summer".

The image is called "Surfing USA" and you can get it in the Etsy store, here.  I am SO pleased with my colouring on this one, it's hard to see the detail in the pics because the quality of the pic reduces so much when you reduce the size of the file for uploading... you know how it goes! Either way, I'm happy with it :-) 
I coloured with Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils... and added absolutely NO shine or glitter, which is unusual :-)  The sky was inked in using a home-made stencil and Versamark ink.

I used papers from Kaisercraft's Seaside Collection.  The floral paper has gloss detail, the top of it is cut with Memory Box's Nottingham Border Die... I thought the flowers matched the hibiscus on the surfboard and patterned paper.  I inked the edges of all panels with a bit of brown ink to tone it all down a bit.

The sentiment tag "Life is a Beach" was from the same pad, I attached it with a brad - my thinking being that I can more easily change it out for a more celebration-appropriate sentiment if I want to later.  The image panel is popped up on foam dots so it's easy to access the brad.
The horizontal scalloped border is from the same pad again, and the blue twine is in fact paper string... I got a couple of packs in different colours in my local $2 shop, the enamel dots (well acrylic, but enamel-look, lol) are either from the same place or my Mum and Dad bought them back from Malaysia.
As usual I decorated the inside of the card to suit the front, using more of the same papers and elements.
I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Cuttlebug Mania Midsummer (Flowers and or Wreaths)

Addicted to  Stamps Anything Summer

As You Like It Favourite Markers, Inks or Pencils (I like 'em all... well, I haven't really tried inks, but I use Markers AND Pencils on practically every card, love the smooth blending of markers and the fine detail you can add with pencils!)

Polkadoodles Use a Diecut

OSAAT Flowers

Craft Your Passion, Simply Papercrafts, Create and Inspire, 4 Crafty Chicks, Crafty Creations, Simon Says Challenge, Crafting With Friends Challenge 24, Creative Fingers, Through the Craftroom Door and Art by Miran all have Anything Goes themes

So that's it for now, check out the Cute as a Button Blog , fab inspiration!  I hope you get a chance to enter the challenge too - you could win some of Francesca's fab digis!  Thnaks for having me as your Guest this time around, 

I'll be back later with another DT card, Until then... Happy Crafting :-)