Foiled Again

Well I can't believe it's over THREE WEEKS since I posted on my blog... 'Tis the Season and all that - and it certainly IS the season if you live in Western Australia and work in the swimming pool industry; EVERYONE wants their pool in and looking shcmicko for The Big Day, and they don't mind if you run yourself into the ground to achieve it!!  Ah well, the joys of Self Employment :-) 
Anyways, I'm here today with a few Christmas cards from my stash.  They are very simple cards, always best for the overstressed crafter at this time of year ;-)

The first one is a kraft card base, the white card is embossed with a Darice embossing folder (Snowflake Swirl).  The image panel was linen card cut with MFT Stitched Circles and the kraft mat was cut with Spellbinders Lacey Circles, popped up on foam dots to add some dimension.  I used the rather elegant Snowflake Reindeer Silhouette (digi) from Bugaboo Stamps, printed with my laser printer and foiled (using a laminator) with Rose Gold Deco Foil... it goes really well with the Kraft card, I fussy cut the feet to go outside the circle, it gave a sense of movement.  When I printed the image I added a shadow (just done in Word... very simple to do and it really gives the image depth, it looks as if the whole reindeer has been fussy cut, without the work!)  The sentiment is a digi from Pink Petticoat, given the same laser/laminator foil treatment, raised on more foam dots to add more dimension.
The second card for the day is from the same "set" (as in I set up the laser printer and laminator and did a whole bunch of these cards, lol) as the first

I covered the whole front of this card in patterned paper (from Kaisercraft as far as I can recall... the bottom piece was from my scraps folder so I can't be certain).  
I printed the digital image (can't remember the source) on linen card as I like the effect of the foil on the textured paper... I rubbed a little Ranger Archival ink in Coffee colour around the edge to soften it.  I used green foil (obviously) and it matched the green foiled card I got from the $2 shop ages ago... I wish I could find it again, it's absolutely brilliant - shiny and smooth and cuts really well.  I used word to make the simple sentiment and foiled that to match, popping the image and the sentiment up on foam dots
This card goes so well with the sketch (#366) from Freshly Made Sketches you can use any shape but I have the tree anyway
The last one I'm going to share today is a little different only in that I used a different foil... I think it was Deco Foil Opal... that has an iridescent effect.  

The first pic shows how it looks basically silver grey in one light, but the second pic shows it's "true colours".  It is VERY striking IRL

The image is another I have had for years and unfortunately didn't label, I got it back in the days when I somewhat ignorantly - and it would seem wistfully, lol -  thought that I would only ever use one or two tree images, so I labelled it "Swirly Tree 2" and didn't note the source) 
I sprayed glue over a piece of black card and stuck the same Opal foil to it to make the matting behind the image. It didn't end up with a really smooth finish, but the texture actually adds something.
The purple background paper is Kaiser... I think, but don't hold me to it as it's ancient and the label is long gone
That's it for today (well it's tonight here, and well and truly bed time for me, lol)  I have another four of this style of card left in my drafts, they'll pop up soon I'm sure 
I would like to enter (at least one of) these cards in the following challenges: all three cards fit most of their themes but Double D Challenge has Run, Run Rudolph (Use a deer image) and As You Like It has Favourite Christmas Animal… and why, so obviously the first card is for those challenges, (oh, and the "why" deer are my favourite Christmas animal is that there are so many great deer images and dies available, ranging from cute to sophisticated, and deer seem slightly less incongruous to Aussie Christmas cards than penguins or polar bears... though "favourite" is probably pushing it - one of my favourites would be more accurate as I love the cuteness of penguins and bears too) Crazy 4 Challenges has Tree-mendous… use a tree... and  Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Use Patterned Paper - so the second card fits these challenges.  For the rest... pick a card, any card :-))

Hiding in- my Craft Room has Christmas Colours 

Sasayaki Glitter has Happy Holidays

Die Cut Divas has Winter Holidays

Card Mania Challenges , Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge, Moving Along With The Times, Crimbo Crackers, Jingle Belles, Sweet Stampin' Christmas, Winter Wonderland All have Anything (Christmas) Goes

Aud Sentiments has Anything Goes plus a Sentiment
Creatalicious Challenges, Cute Card Thursday, Catch The Bug, Little Miss Muffet, Animal Friends, Through the Craftroom Door, Corrosive Challenge, Digi Choosday, Crafting With Attitude, Crafty  Creations, Creative Fingers, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, A Perfect Time to Craft, 4 Crafty Chicks and Tuesday Throwdown All have Anything Goes 

Thanks for visiting my little blog, I'll be back soon (I REALLY will!!) Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna 

Not Old, Vintage

The card I have today is one I made for my Sister in Law's 60th birthday... I didn't tease her TOO hard at the time as it is my 60th in the not too distant future and she has a good memory, lol.  I like to think that I am, like fine wine, "vintage" rather than old - and hence the theme of the card :-)
I had to take the pics using my light tent, I'm afraid they came out dark and editing them has made them over-contrasted... but at least that way you can see the details!

I used the fabulous "Friends Don't Let Friends Wine Alone" image from Bugaboo, available here.  Coloured with Copics (and some Prismacolor pencil detail), I added some personalization to the label on the bottle with a permanent marker and Glossy Accents to the bottle, wine and drinking and reading glasses... oh, and a little glitter to the earrings.

Of course it's an easel card, just because I like them - I think it adds a little dimension and still leaves loads of room inside for the message.
The birthday wishes sentiment on the front is cut with Sizzix dies (Tim Holtz Celebration Script Words) and gold foil, the "60" on the inside acts as a stopper for the card front... the numbers are wood I painted with burgundy acrylic paint and Glossy Accents.

The paper is from the very first pad I bought when I started papercrafting - Kaisercraft's Gypsy Sisters pad...  I have a few full sheets left (that's one on the inside) and some bits of other sheets... I made up the front panel with some of those - it's in three parts, though one of the original full sheets did look a lot like this (which is probably how I knew this would look okay, lol)   It fits with the sketch from Stella Says Sketch (albeit turned 90 degrees) so I'm entering there

Double D Challenge has this Mood Board and the theme Wishes are Possible... I have the colours, the bottle and the wishes... they also want us to use the word "Wish" or wishes which I (obviously) have.  As You Like It want to know if we like Monochrome or Rainbow - I actually really like monochrome cards... I think they're very classy, but I am a sucker for colour when it comes to celebrations - especially ones like this, when you need cheering up, lol, so I'm going "Rainbow" on this one.  Catch The Bug wants to see Something Yummy - well that would be the wine ;-) and Crafty Cardmakers   has Lots of Layers as their theme, I've got layers on the background (coz I'm a tightar$e and I've used scraps, lol) as well as the double matting, popping the image panel up on foam dots and the die cut sentiment, so I'm in

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge has Use Patterned Paper, which I have, Hiding in- my Craft Room wants to see scraps used in their regular Super Scraps Saturdays challenge as does Di in Pixies Snippets Playground where you always get to Use Snippets
Addicted to  Stamps, Little Miss Muffet, Through the Craftroom Door, Digi Choosday, 4 Crafty Chicks, Crafting With Friends  Challenge # 75 , Creative Fingers, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, A Perfect Time to Craft, Creatalicious Challenges, Crafting With Attitude, Corrosive Challenge and Die Cut Divas All have Anything Goes challenges so I'm entering them too

That's it for today.    

I'm not going to say anything about being back soon... every time I do some drama of varying size comes up to bite me in the butt... the latest being that I have had a rather serious infection in my top jaw - leading to my top central incisor, yes, the main tooth you see when you open your gob, quite literally falling out into my lap on Friday two weeks ago. It was horrifying!  Opened my mouth to talk to my sister, tooth on lap!!!

I went straight to the dentist who took some X Rays she didn't like the look of, and stuck the crown (which is the part of the tooth you see) back in - against her better judgement as the infection was quite apparent and the tooth (the part up in your jaw was clearly broken in two parts vertically so not a good anchor) but I wasn't leaving the surgery without SOMETHING.  It was purely cosmetic, couldn't eat with it... she called me back for an OPG, which is like a CAT Scan on the following Monday, checked it out and went "Whoa, above my pay grade".  

She promptly sent me to a maxillofacial surgeon. The surgeon - you know what they're like - was quite blunt, it's serious, you need to get rid of it, NOW, no we can't do it in the chair you'll have to come into hospital have it done under GA, if you can get a denture made in time good if not - too bad, you'll have to go toothless (my brain was exploding at this point!) I want it done next Tuesday (two working days hence!)  I rang my dentist as soon as I got out, she did an impression that afternoon, I picked up my denture on Monday - gotta say that's impressive service.  

I had the surgery on Tuesday last week... an implant is the next step... though I am going to have to have a bone graft as I have now lost quite a bit of bone (mainly through resorption, the infection has basically dissolved the bone) So, I have to go back to the specialist next week for a post-operative check, then back at two to three months for another scan which will determine how big a bone graft I will need for the implant (and so how big a "deal" it is) which will decide where I have it done and even if I can have it done

When I first got the quote I said I'd possibly just stick with the "prosthetic" (surgeon-speak for denture) as nearly $9000 is a LOT for one tooth... now I have had to have the extra process done it's going to cost even more - but I ALSO have now had a denture - which I have to REMOVE every night, which for some reason I am totally freaked out about (I wasn't even going to sleep in our bed with my hubby, I am so turned off by the whole toothless hag thing - despite being married 40 years and being through "a lot" together - daft I know, but quite "real") a denture I find uncomfortable to eat with and which has even affected my speech.... I can't imagine this being my "forever" now I'm thinking who cares what it costs, free me from my piece of plastic....... pleeeeese, lol. I'll be disappointed if we can't do it, we do have the money put aside for such things - we just didn't expect to spend it all on one tooth!  

It is a time-consuming process too, after the implant you have to wait two to three months before you can get the crown; well, it's my 60th in April so now, of course, I'm pushing to get it done before then.  Even if it can be done it can only be done within the limitations of healing so wish me luck

So, I'll be back when I can

Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Christmas in July... and Some!!

This is a long post, but it IS three cards, so, forgivable?  Hope so :-)
I live in Western Australia... where Christmas is HOT, being in the middle of our summer and all :-)  We regularly get over 37C (100F), but at least it's not in February which is the hottest month with numerous days over 40C.  (I have worked, outside with my husband back in our pool installing days on 44C or 118F - in the shade, which we were not... it was over 50C in the sun and, no it wasn't pleasant.
All that was just to explain why I LOOOOOVE Christmas in July; I love Christmas full stop, and getting to celebrate with "traditional" fare is nice for us, as I suppose Christmas at the beach (or around your backyard pool in our case) would be for you cold-climaters :-) 
Hence... today I have a few Christmas cards to share:-)) They're all pretty CAS, that's partly because I like them that way... and partly because I invariably run out of time to get all I need made

On the first one I used a Memory Box die (called Grand Merry Christmas) to cut white glittery (very glittery, just ask my craft room floor, though it didn't shed as much as the last lot I got!) card.  I think it looks really effective over the red card.  The ribbon is from my stash, it's really lovely in real life with a gold thread through it. 
As You Like It wants to know our Favourite: Ribbon or Buttons and Why: I like both, but use more ribbon because it's easy, stays flat (ish) for posting and can add, as in this case a nice patterned element without overpowering your card.  Aud Sentiments Christmas in July plus a Sentiment, I think Grand Merry Christmas has that covered :-)

The second card features a bit of ribbon too, yes it's wonky in the pic, I DID straighten it up before sending the card :-)  I used some of my (ginarmous pile of) white snippets for this one on kraft card... you know all those rather skinny white bits you end up with when you trim sheets of card down to make your bases.  The image is a digi from Bugaboo called Snowflake Reindeer Silhouette, available here, that I printed on my laser printer then foiled using my laminator... I did make quite a few foiled cards actually - got on a bit of a roll :-)  This was the first time I've used this image, though I've had it for a while. I printed it on linen card - I know it just looks bumpy in the pic, but actually looked pretty classy IRL.  
The top half of the card was embossed with a Die'sire folder called Let it Snow, the bottom half was embossed with a folder I got with a papercraft magazine... I've got to say it embosses so well - you have to make sure you don't chop right through your card actually!  Pixies Snippets Playground wants to see Snippets, so here they are :-)  The image panel was cut using Spellbinders Ovals, the kraft mat behind it with Spellbinders Scalloped Ovals
Now the third card, lucky last.... for today!

I made a little scene using some paper from a Kaisercraft pad (can't be bothered getting up to find which one, sorry) and some more of the white glittery card I used on my first card today, cut with Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside border dies to make the snow drifts.  I have the snow drifts at two different levels then the gold glittery reindeer (Cottage Cutz) on a layer above that; it hardly shows in the pic but did make a nice display IRL... which is just as well as it took forever-and-a-half to cut teeeeny little bits of foam dots to put behind their legs :-)) 
The Noel sentiment is a Sizzix die (Tim Holtz Script Holiday Words), the whole scene is mounted on gold foil card.  Little Red Wagon has Ice, Ice Baby as their theme, this is pretty much as close as we get at Christmas... unless you count the stuff in our poolside drinkies :-)
That's pretty much it for card three.

Catch The Bug has a Bingo Challenge as part of it's Christmas in July week-long challenge (for Day 4) I've covered seven of the square in this - if you count Gold Blue and White as three colours; using Texture, Die Cuts, Sparkle, Patterned Paper, Bugaboo Christmas Image, 3 Colours and Ribbon... of course getting three on one line was still a challenge, but I made it with my first card (Texture, Die Cut, Sparkle or Sparkle, Use 3 Colours, Ribbon
Jingle Belles have this fabulous Blog Header to inspire us, I have the reindeer, more than once in fact :-) and the snow
Now, the other thing I like about Christmas in July is all the lovely challenges that are around at this time; 

Fab'n'Funky Challenges, Hiding in- my Craft Room, and Sasayaki Glitter all have Christmas in July so I'm entering there.  A Snowflakes Promise, Merry Christmas Challenge, Crimbo Crackers and Sweet Stampin' Christmas are Christmas Challenges that all have "Anything Christmas" themes as is  Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge which has the option to "Add Some Red", which I have done
The other thing is that, as a lot of DT's are on Holidays, there's a lot of Anything Goes challenges... and right at the time I'm tucked up in my cozy craft room with time to craft - summer being our busy season with work... win/win I say.  All the following are Anything Goes challenges
Simon Says Challenge, Through the Craftroom Door, Digi Choosday, Crafty  Creations, 4 Crafty Chicks, Crafting With Friends Challenge #72, Creative Fingers, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, A Perfect Time to Craft,  Create and Inspire, Creatalicious Challenges, Simply Papercrafts, Crafting With Attitude, Corrosive Challenge and Card Mania Challenges 
Phew, that's it for today.  I'll be back soon with some more cards... probably Christmas, possibly foiled, then again it could be with one of the 38 still in my drafts.  Until then, Happy Crafting... or sun-soaking or family-funning - whatever you're up to, Donna

May Day

Here we are, first of the month again - time for a new challenge at Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge, where the "challenge" is to use some patterned paper on your creation.  I made a card for our friend's 80th birthday card... it's a "flip" card, the only way I can think to describe it to the uninitiated is in photos, so expect a few :-)

Here's the front, with the cute image from Bugaboo, coloured with Copics (and some Prismacolor pencil detail) with Stickles added to the party favours and hats and - of course - Glossy Accents to the birds' eyes.

These cards are really easy to make, and to adjust to different dimensions.  For example this Splitcoast Stampers tutorial is what I used for the idea and dimensions for my first flip (also know as swing) card, but for this one I adjusted my template to suit the wider image, resulting in a bigger card overall.  You can use dies to cut out the part that "flips" for a different effect; there are a ton of videos on YouTube - check them out.  

Mine's pretty basic, but it IS in metric unlike most others I found, this pic is just a jpg, if it's not clear enough to follow here's a link to a downloadable pdf,  (it's on my Tutorials, Templates and Freebies page too)  
I used a Cottage Cutz Best Wishes die, cut in blue card then smothered in gloss to "fill" the area next to the image... you need to think about that space when you choose an image for this type of card :-)

Anyway, here's the card mid-swing, and then completely flipped over to read the sentiment, which came with one of my Birdbrain Chick images from From the Heart digital stamps.  I just typed the sentiment on the front - tried to match the font on the FTH sentiment as best I could, I think it's okay :-)

The papers are from my stash... can't remember the origin of either I'm afraid... and the wooden 8 and 0 are from my stash too; given the paint and gloss treatment to tie them in. 
That's all there is to it... easy peasy.  I hope you get a chance to pop over to the Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge to check out the rest of the DT... hope you get a chance to enter the challenge too; great prize on offer as always, and of course the theme is so EASY!
I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges: 

OSAAT Anything with Wings

A Snowflakes Promise Anything Spring

Inky Chicks Birthday

Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Birthday

Little Miss Muffet Anything Goes

Crafting With Friends Challenge 19  Anything Goes (Always)

Creative Fingers Anything Goes

Art by Miran Anything Goes

Simon Says Challenge Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion Anything Goes

Tuesday Throwdown Anything Goes

Through the Craftroom Door Anything Goes
Create and Inspire Anything Goes

I'll be back in a few days, I've got a few things ready to blog (finally!) so it's "just" a case of finding the time to write a post up.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

The Ghost of Christmas Past

Well I thought it was time, REALLY time that I got the last of my Christmas 2014 cards out of my draft folder... so here they are!!  Very simple they are too; they were  made on the "Last" day of pre-Christmas cardmaking, err, make that Christmas Eve, so it was a case of needs-must :-))

For the first card I used one of Bugaboo's cute Fancy Sunbonnet images.... this one is "Fancy Sunbonnet Present", you can get it at here.  I coloured with Copics and added some details with Prismacolor pencils, I also added gloss to the holly berries and glitter to the dots on the parcel.

The card itself is Kraft and the papers are from Kaisercraft, the Christmas Carol collection and, mmmm, another pad I can't remember the name of. The green matting was from my stash.  The "jingle" was cut in corrugated gold foil card with one of the Sizzix Thinlits Holiday Words set by Tim Holt - or is that "one of Tim Holtz Holiday Words set by Sizzix"...? I dunno!!  I added a gold flat back as the dot on the "i"... but I forgot to add one to the "j".... in fact I didn't even think about it until I just looked at the pic :-) 

I never do much on the inside of my Christmas cards... and when you make them on Christmas Eve at about 6pm, they REALLY don't get much; just my all time favourite Christmas sentiment (from a now unavailable Tickled Pink Stamps set) stamped in green Staz On ink and backed up with a red mat (stash again)

My second card looked much nicer in real life than it does in the pics - the other thing about finishing one of your neighbour's Christmas cards about 30 seconds before you take it and their gift over is that you don't get a lot of time to take decent pictures of it, lol.

 

I used Versa Linen card as the card base and for the image... which is a digi from Doodle Pantry, The Merry Deer set (which is fabulous value; outline and coloured images of several different deer, papers and sentiments - all for $2.25); having just visited the site I see that you can get matching SVG files... might just have to go back and grab those :-)

I coloured with Copics and used a Versamark pen to go over the snowflake then embossed it with Bridal Tinsel Embossing powder... it looks white in the pic, but was very glittery in reality.  The gold card I used for matting was from my stash as was the sentiment - which were from my embarrassingly large sticker (or peel offs) collection.I used another favourite stamp for the inside, my sister gave me this stamp and all I can say about it is that it's one of the three wood mounted stamps I own, I've had it for years and Fiona had it for years before that... sorry that doesn't help if you like it and want to get one of your own, lol.

Picture Inspiration, Catch the Bug Challenge

One or other of these cards fit the following challenges: 

Hiding in my Craft Room Any Holiday

Crafty Hazlenut's Christmas Extra Challenge Christmas

Hanna and Friends Die Cuts

Cutie Pie Challenge Krafty Cuties

Catch The Bug Picture (reindeer)

Creatalicious Challenges Snowflakes

Simon Says Challenge Critters

Moving Along With The Times Embossing

Pixies Snippets Playground Use Snippets (polka dot strip, matting)

That Craft Place Anything Goes

Inky Chicks Anything Goes

Simply Papercrafts Anything Goes

Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes

Crafting With Friends Anything Goes

Art by Miran Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion Anything Goes

Through the Craftroom Door Anything Goes

That's it for today.  We've had the family over today as it is Australia Day and therefore a Public Holiday.  

We celebrate by having breakfast... which we do for a lot of family events.... we used to have a Barbecue brekkie, but for the last ten years or so since we built the pizza oven it's been Breakfast Pizzas (we still have the snaggers or sausages, though now they're cooked in the pizza oven: This tradition nearly came to an end in 2013 when the swallowing of a piece of said sausage WITH FORK ATTACHED came close to costing our little Rocky dog his life, and DID involve costing us thousands of dollars and a lot of stress... if you want to read about it here's the original post... the start of the saga at least!)  But the yumminess prevailed so we still do the brekkie pizza thing at a lot of our family get togethers... especially when we have a swim after, as we did today.

Emily's ready for the pool

Nathan and his Grandad... my hubby!!

The bigger they are.... the bigger the spash!

The kids get a lot out of the pool now, they are going to be real fish, lol.  

Glass cleaning comin' up

Here's a couple of pics of them ready to swim and of MY kids doing bombies (they're big kids now, so they got to clean the glass fence of all the KERSPLASH they managed to create, lol) also one of Emily doing her "Geronimo" into the pool... they simply have no fear!

GERONIMO

I'll be back on the weekend with a couple of DT cards, Until then Happy Crafting, Donna

Happy New Year... and a new Challenge at Crafty Hazelnut's

Happy New Year to you all... Followers and Visitors... I hope 2016 brings all that you wish for.  

Being the first of the month... even though it's also a New Year... means a new challenge has started over at Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge, where the always-easy "theme" is to use Patterned Paper on your creation.  I have a Christmas card to show you as my DT inspiration, but the truth is it is one out of my drafts from last year; no, not 2015... 2014!!  My New Year's Resolution is - you guessed it - to get my projects out of my Draft pile within a month of being made.  We'll see how THAT one goes, though if my bitten nails and unused stash are anything to go by Resolutions aren't worth the mental paper they're written on, lol

Not only is this a card from my Drafts, it's a Christmas card, which you're all probably heartily sick of by now... and a very basic one at that; oh well, it DOES show off that lovely paper from Basic Grey's Jovial collection nicely.  The image is from Bugaboo; it comes with or without the sentiment - see if you can guess which way I went, lol.  I coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils (as usual) and added lashings of Ranger's Glossy Accents (it really is the best!) to the eyes, noses and hooves.  I also added Stickles (Spruce) to the ornaments and stars (Stardust)... it helped tie in the super glittery red ribbon from my stash; super glittery ribbon that liked to share its "super-glitteriness" EVERYWHERE I might add!

I finished the inside of the card in very simple fashion, always a good idea with Christmas cards when there's so much time pressure... not THIS year though, I'm starting them in January... another New Year Resolution (you can stop laughing now, hehe)
The sentiment is a freebie from the fabulous Paulette at Create With TLC, at least I think it was a freebie, it may have been in one of the sets I purchased, but Paulette does offer a LOT of freebies (she's such a sweetie) so the chances are it WAS a freebie :-)
That's it for my card, embarrassingly simple really.  I'd like to enter it in the following challenges:

Gem of a Challenge Anything Christmas

Pile It On Anything Christmas or Winter

The Crazy Challenge Celebrations

Pixies Snippets Playground Use Snippets

OSAAT Anything Goes with the Colour Red

Bunny Zoes Crafts Sparkle

Sparkles Monthly Challenge Favourite Christmas Colours

Crafty Hazlenuts Christmas Challenge Anything Christmas

Crafty Hazlenut's Christmas Extra Challenge Anything Christmas

Tuesday Morning Sketches Anything Goes

Tuesday Throwdown Anything Goes

Through the Craftroom Door Anything Goes

Crafty Creations Anything Goes

The Paper Shelter Anything Goes

4 Crafty Chicks Anything Goes

As You Like It Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday Anything Goes

Outlawz Friday Colouring Challenge Anything Goes

Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes

Hiding in my Craft Room Freestyle

I hope you get a chance to pop over to the blog and see the rest of the team's inspiration... they've all pretty much managed to avoid the ol' Christmas cards unlike me!  Don't forget all you have to do to enter the challenge is to use some patterned paper somewhere on your project, there's a great prize on offer as always so it's well worth entering
I'll be back tomorrow with my DT make for Di's Digis Challenge Blog... at least that's a new card, and a bit more complex than this one - AND I only made it yesterday so I'm managing to stick with my New Year Resolution so far; what do you mean it's only been one day? lol
Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Christmas in July

Well, here in Australia Christmas is right in the middle of Summer, so all of you in the Northern Hemisphere that think Christmas in July  feels "odd"... welcome to my world, lol.  When we celebrate "Christmas in July" (my son has a big party on the last weekend in July every year) we take the opportunity to have traditional hot food and mulled wine - not to say we don't love the crayfish (rock lobster), prawns and crisp white wine we have on Christmas day proper :-))  The Christmas cards I'm showing today were in fact made for Christmas 2013 - I wasn't going to share them, (they're very basic) then I thought about the "in July" thing and decided why not?!

All three cards use images from Bugaboo... I find them a fabulous source of images to colour in a hurry... and with a sense of humour (which I like in a Christmas card, as the rest of the season feels a bit like you're playing for Sheep Stations, lol)  The first one is Stella Christmas - Fruitcake, coloured with Copics with Gloss on the "fruit" and glasses, Stickles on the ornaments and iridescent embossing powder on the fur trim on the hat.  The red card is from my stash, the gold stickers around the edge of the image panel are also from my stash.

The second card uses Merry Christmas - Tree. coloured with Copics, Gloss on the ornaments and Stickles on the stars.  The green mat behind the image is from my stash too, again edged with gold stickers - I have a gazillion of these things in my stash, it's nice to get some used!

The third card is covered in paper from a Kaisercraft's pad - can't remember the name, so I'm entering Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - more of the red card as a mat for the image panel; the image is JJ Christmas Cheer - On Blitzen! ain't she sassy? lol  Moving Along With The Times says Girls Just Want to Have Fun, so JJ's IN! and  Crafty Creations has Let's Party, so (hic) in there too.  Sweet  Stampin' has a Christmas in July challenge... we're in! 

Once again I've coloured with Copics, Gloss on the glass, bubbles and JJ's glasses, Stickles on the headband and Sparkly Fluff on her tummy detail and tail.  Christmas Stampin' All Year Long has a recipe challenge; 2 CS, 1 Image, 2 Embellishments, 1 Sentiment - I hope coloured cardstock and patterned card count as 2CS and "hic" counts as a sentiment :-))  I'll understand if it's too much of a stretch tho', lol

The polka dot ribbon from my stash, actually we got about a hundred metres of polka dot ribbon when we were in Malaysia a few years ago, it's some of that :-)  Jingle Belles wants us to use something from our stash more than a year old, not a problem.... EVAH!  The embellishment in the centre of the bow came from ebay. 

That's it!! I told you they were very basic cards, still I'm sure they qualify for the following challenges: Bearly Mine Challenges has Let's Go Digital (no challenge at all for me!) and Through the Craftroom Door, Aud Sentiments and Charisma Cards have Anything Goes themes.

I'll be back in a few days with another offering, until then Happy Crafting, Donna

Holly Jolly GDT

I am very pleased to say that I am the Guest Designer for the Holly Jolly challenge this week... the theme is "Christmas Tags" - you can make a tag or a card with a tag on it.  I've gone with the "card with tag" option :-)

I've used a Bugaboo image, they are the sponsors this week, this is Fancy Sunbonnet Christmas.  I coloured with Copics adding some gold flatbacks from my stash to the centre of the Poinsettia.  Fab'n'funky Challenges has a Christmas challenge so I'm entering there, Winter Wonderland wants us to use a digi, Crafty Creations has Seasonal and Whimsy Inspirations Challenge want us to use something new - in this case my digi image - so I'm entering those too.

I've used the sketch from the Friday Sketch challenge, I thought it lent itself well to adding the tag.  The papers I've used are from Kaisercraft's Christmas Carol pad, the print is nice and shiny (not that it shows in the pics of course!)  the scalloped strip and the tag are from the same pad, I matted everything onto Kaisercraft card.  The sentiment is from a set of clear stamps by Xtra, the eyelet was set using my Cropadile (love that thing, so much easier than the old bash-and-hope system I used before, lol) and the green sheer ribbon and red bow are from my stash.  Creative Craft Challenges have a recipe challenge, sadly their last for the foreseeable future; 1 image (check), 1 sentiment (check), 2 papers (the background print and the scalloped border), 2 different types of embellishments (gold pearls and ribbon/bow), so I'm entering there. 

I finished the inside of the card using more of the Christmas Carol paper, and another of the tags from the pad, the jotting panel is really textured, very nice IRL.  I added some Pearl Pen berries to the tag and Cropadile-d a smaller eyelet to it.  I cut a scrap of the paper from the front with Spellbinders Classic Border scalloped die and added a few gold flatbacks to tie it all in.
Through the Craftroom Door, Papertake Weekly, Paper Creator Crafts and Bugaboo have Anything Goes challenges running, so I'm entering them all.
That's it for today's card, I'd like to thank Holly Jolly for having me as their Guest Designer and to particularly thank Cindy for adding my card as I only realised when I wrote the date this morning that I hadn't sent her photos of it.. in fact I hadn't taken photos of it so it was a rush job - and I'm sure she didn't need the stress!  Sometimes time just gets away from you... or is that just me?  Nah, surely not!

Nathan

Emily

I'm going out with my DIL  and the twins in the morning, it's the first time since Matt was in hospital that we've been out together just the two of us, and actually the first time I've been out with her and the twins without any other people wanting to cuddle them and show them off... we see each other at least twice a week so it was actually surprising to me when I worked out that this was the case; I'm so looking forward to it, even though it's a medical appointment first there'll be lunch after and even though I spent most of today with them I'm excited, lol. 

I'll be back soon with another card from my draft pile, Until then Happy Crafting, Donna