Fore.... Matt, with a Twist

The card I have to share today was for my son Matt's birthday this year - I still have last year's to blog, but this one is "Autumnal", his birthday's in Autumn and I love Autumn, AND it's a fancy fold which I also love so it's today's choice :-)

Matt was going to a schmancy new golf "place" for his birthday - we were all going along... and then, the evening before, he had a very bad reaction to some meds and ended up going to hospital by ambulance.  They kept him in for the night... he got worse (anaphylactic shock) and still looked like an inflatable red M&M when he was discharged the next afternoon... so he didn't go to golf, making this card look like a cruel joke - as I gave it to him anyway, lol
The real "treat" of this card is that it is a Twist and Pop Up card so here's the all-important inside....tada

and a couple of shots of the card in action, as it were

I followed an excellent tutorial (here) that uses metric measurement, yay, so much easier than converting :-)  this is not the first one of these cards I've made, though it is the first I have "blogged", so I know from experience I prefer the metric template :-)
I used a digital Alpha from one of my (many, too many unused, sigh) digital scrapbook kits called "Brick and Metal"... one guess which this is, lol.  
I made the letters BIG and added drop shadows in Word, they don't really show in the pic, but they do make a difference IRL.  I attached them with some bronze eyelets that I also used on the front.  The patterned paper used inside is from the same Kaisercraft pad as that on the outside, the black on blue is flocking, it adds a nice texture
Talking of the front: I just loved the image, it's "Stroke of Genius" from Digi Doodle Shop, (no longer available I fear) I enjoyed colouring him up with Copics and Prismacolor pencils.  I used a kraft card base and added some paper from a Kaisercraft's pad.  The image panel was attached to its mat with some bronze coloured eyelets then propped up on foam tabs.  

I found a flat back that had lots of facets on it, that was exactly the right size for the golf ball... it looks really good IRL. 
That's it for Matt's birthday card, I hope you liked it, I'd like to enter it in the following challenges:
Give a Crafter A Cookie Has "Autumn Colours" and this gorgeous Cookies pic as inspiration  
Crazy 4 Challenges Just wants us to Make a Card

My Time to Craft Has Use Kraft Card

The Paper Shelter Has Let's Celebrate

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Always gets us to Use Patterned Paper

Moving Along With The Times and Addicted to  Stamps Have Autumn or Autumn colours themes, Cute Card Thursday, Catch The Bug, Little Miss Muffet, Through the Craftroom Door, Digi Choosday, Crafty  Creations, 4 Crafty Chicks, Crafting With Friends Challenge 74, Creative Fingers, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, Create and Inspire, Creatalicious Challenges and Crafting With Attitude All have Anything Goes

I will be back in a few days with another offering (I have managed to find most of my cards photos all bar two that I can remember, lol - so I have got quite a big Drafts Folder again)  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Happy 33rd Birthday Matt

Well, as I have cards dating back to September that I haven't blogged yet, I thought I'd share this one.... that was for my son Matt's birthday - on Monday!!  I will get around to those in my drafts, one day :-)

 When we asked Matt what he'd like for his birthday, he replied 'sleep" - both the twins are sleeping through the night most nights, just not the same nights!  It's silly season in the pool industry so the overload at work and frenetic pace at home that is life with twins is making him appreciate the little things, like sleep, lol.   He didn't book any work for Monday and he and Elaine took the twins to the zoo for the first time (Matt and Elaine love the zoo, it was where they had their first "date")

All of this added up to this image (Relaxing Dad from the sadly now-defunct Digi Doodle Shop, coloured with Copics) being perfect and the animal print paper from Die Cuts With a View's Animal Crackers pad being perfect too!  The spotty background paper is also DCWV, from the La Creme pad and the green arcs is from Merci's Tangerine Tang pad. A Little Bit Crafty has "Man Up" as their theme, so I'm entering there.  Fab'n'funky Challenge, Gem of a Challenge and My Mums Craft Shop all have Spots and Stripes for their challenges so I'm entering there and Digi Sketch Challenge has Glitter It as theirs, all the animals and the stripes are glittery IRL, I just can't get it to show in my pics, so I'm entering there.

I used the sketch from Friday Sketch Challenge, turning it 90 degrees so my animals weren't sideways, lol.  I added the sentiment before I printed the image and added some Antique Brass brads from my stash to the corners of the image panel.  Everything was matted on dark brown Kaisercraft cardstock and popped up on foam dots.  Papertake Weekly has Lovely Layers as their challenge theme so I'm entering there.
I finished the inside to match the front with more paper from the Animal Crackers pad. Through the Craftroom Door and Colour Me Copic have Anything Goes challenges so I'm entering there too.
That's it for Matt's card, super busy here, we excavated our pool on Monday so it was a minor miracle that I managed to get Matt's birthday cake (Black Forest Gateau, his fave) made... and the makings for woodfired pizza ready for lunch and again for dinner (well we fired the oven up to do lunch for the labourers and just kept it going till tea time, but getting two lots of food ready AND helping with the dig then having Matt, Elaine, the twins, Chris, my Mum and Dad for dinner did leave me pretty shattered and very glad for my bed on Monday night!  Here's a few pics of "before" and "during"... the "after" shots may take a while :-)  Sorry I can't get the pictures lined up in Blogger :-(


First ones from the shed along the back of the house towards the pool area

Second ones up the garden from the al fresco (with the old pool fence in the foreground)

Third lot the spa and pond.... now you see it, now you don't
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Birthdays Only Challenge at Here Come The Boys

Well yesterday was one of my "boys" birthdays... my youngest son Chris turned 28 - where did the  time go??  As I'm really busy at the moment with life other than craft, it was a lucky break for me that the challenge starting today over at Here Come The Boys is "Birthdays Only", as it meant today's card could do a sort of "double duty"

I always make a "special" cake for my boys (actually all the family get one, they all have a different "favourite, lol) and over the years The Cake has taken on more and more significance, so when I saw this image over at Digi Doodle Shop (now sadly out of business) I had to have it, then when I saw the great sentiment (on the inside of my card) "Birthdays, it's all about the cake" over at TLC I could hardly believe my luck - not only was it perfect, it was one of the ever-generous Paulette's freebies BONUS!  The sentiment on the front is a die cut from Craftworks Cards.
This great sketch from Sunday Sketch and Stamp gives loads of room for interpretation - I love sketches like that - obviously my card is a rotated version :-)
I coloured the image with Copics, adding some extra shading with Prismacolor pencils.  The papers are from Echo Park (A Walk in the Park pad, I'm on scraps, aahhh!), and Inque Boutique (I think) I love these cheery colours - who says a man's card has to be dull?!  Without Words has Whizz Bang (use bright colours) as their theme, so I'm entering there, Moving Along With The Times has Let's Go Dotty, Craft Your Passion has Use your scraps and Divas by Design has Two or More Patterned Papers, so entering there as well :-)
I spelled out "Chris" using metal letters I got in a pack from spotlight ages ago, fixing them with brads, which is the reason I have a strip of patterned paper on the inside of the card - to cover the "legs" of the brads! 
The Paper Shelter has Birthdays as their challenge theme, My Mums Craft Shop has Inspiration From a Song (I was actually thinking Rihanna's song Birthday Cake, not the obvious, lol) and Fab'n'funky Challenges has Birthday; include 3 of something - I've got three bits of Card Candi as well as three papers, so I'm in :-)
I've used Mpress Victorian Frames dies for the image panel and mat, and my Carl Punch corner rounder on all the patterned paper panels.
Chris is going to Kuala Lumpur with a friend next weekend for a wedding, we decided to give him some spending money as his birthday gift so I made sure his card had a place for some cash :-)  
I put the sentiment on a tag, adding an eyelet with my fabby new Cropadile... sooooo much easier (and more reliable!) than the Fiskars system I was using (rarely, because of disappointment with the results) before.  I double matted the tag, meaning I could use the back of it to write our personal message, then I popped it in front of his money giving at least a tiny element of "surprise" to the whole cash-as-a-gift scenario :-)
Joanna Sheen has Anything Goes (Excluding Christmas) and the Corrosive Challenge is Anything Goes this time around too, so I'm entering there.
That's about it for my card today.  My son is a truly lovely young man (no bias here, lol) so I hope this year brings him much happiness... unfortunately his job came to an end on Thursday so he is job hunting as soon as he returns from his little holiday to KL :-(  Never easy at this time of year in Australia, as many places close for a several weeks over Christmas/ January (it's the summer holidays too), but he is very employable and has never had any trouble getting work; it's not always in his field, (he is a photographer) but he has eclectic taste and an ever increasing skill set, lol.
Don't forget to pop over to Here Come The Boys, check out the great range of Birthday projects by the team, why not have a go at the challenge too... it may be Christmas but those guys in your life still need birthday cards :-)
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

What a "charming" couple

Well, as you may or may not have noticed my crafting time has still been very limited.  Today, however, is my son and daughter-in-law's third anniversary so I had a good excuse to sit and make a card! Happy Anniversary Matt & Elaine!

 I don't have a lot of time to "blog" it though.... some of you are probably very relieved to hear that, lol. Creative Craft Challenges has Special Occasion, NOT birthday as their challenge theme, I think an Anniversary is pretty special, so I'm entering there.
The cute image I've used is a recent purchase from the Digi Doodle Shop...in their closing down sale unfortunately.  It's really sad to see  this little shop go, I had quite a few of their images... now I have quite a few more!  When I was trawling through my burgeoning digi collection I realised how few images I have that work for anniversaries, 'specially someone else's anniversary!  I'm glad I grabbed this one now :-)  The computer generated sentiment inside says "Happy Anniversary... to a charming couple".... snakes, charming, get it?  Hubby didn't, but then my youngest son did so I felt better :-)
I've coloured with Copics adding some (very few) Prismacolor details. The Pink Elephant has Use Your Favourite Colouring Medium as their challenge, which I have, so I'm entering there; and My Mums Craft Shop has Bold and Bright, which this is , so I'm entering there too.

The papers are from Kaisercraft's Made With Love collection, I've used only one paper (along with one image and one ribbon) on the front of the card so I'm entering Crafty Creations Just One challenge. 
The acrylic hearts are from my stash, coloured to suit using Copics, and I've added Stickles to the hearts and the centres of the flowers on the image.
I've used the sketch from Stella Says Sketch this time around, it was ideal for the oversized image (I really should pay more attention sometimes when I print my digis, lol) and the busy background paper.  I chose to use the sheer polka dot ribbon so it didn't compete with the paper too.  I'm entering the Paper Crafting Journey Ribbon or Twine challenge and I hope the polka dots are enough to get me in to the Gem of a Challenge.  
The Paper Shelter , Stampin' for the Weekend, Catch the Bug and The Crafty Pad all have Anything Goes challenges running.... I KNOW my card qualifies for those, lol  
Well that's it for me today.  The kitchen renovation actually "begins" tomorrow (well we should be getting the skylight fitted, so a start of sorts) hopefully they can put one in my craft room too - though we "went solar" with our power last year and most of that face of the roof is covered with solar collectors, so I'm not sure if they can fit a skylight tube in.... we'll know tomorrow at 2pm!  I'm still trawling tiling shops looking for "the" wall tiles, but one of my spare rooms is brimming with new oven, hotplate, dishwasher - even the kitchen sink, lol.  

The cupboards and tops are being made (well the granite was made millions of years ago, but you know what I mean!) the floor tiles are ordered (we had to change 75m of tiling because we altered the kitchen layout and couldn't match the floor, curses of open plan living) the new window is going in once we remove the old kitchen - which we'll do the weekend before the new kitchen is scheduled, eating out for more than one week would be too hard..... or would it?????  We're not even thinking about ripping up the old tiles until work settles down a bit, we did our bathrooms two years ago and it's really hard work and very dusty... we have a few weeks over Christmas, I may be able to nag encourage hubby into it then, lol

Well, I promised it would be a short post then didn't deliver, sorry 'bout that!  Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Baby Boy Bonanza

Today is the first of three baby boy cards I have to make for babies born in due in the next few weeks.  I also have a card for a baby shower.....but I'm working on something a little bit different for that!

This is for my son's friend Jurgen and his partner, congrats to them on the arrival of Hendrix.

I used paper my other son bought me from Starfish Lane, and Kaisercrafts "Homemade" collection, I coloured the bluebird (which was grey) with my B02 Copic. The image is from Digi Doodle Shop and is called Sleeping Infant.  Next time I use this image for a boy I may remove the bows and flowers.  I coloured the image a little darker than "usual" for  a baby image, and the flowers aren't TOO obvious so I think I got away with it this time.

The lace border is el cheapo paper and Martha Stewarts Garden Trellis border punch, I love it!!  The sentiment is from Kaisercraft, uses Kaisercraft pigment ink and is embossed with clear detail embossing powder.  

I bought the little buttons in Spotlight, I'm building up my collection of this size as I find them the most useful (there's quite a range, so it may take some time to get them all!)  The cute little feet are on a ribbon, that came from my local cake decorating shop - they have a great range: it goes to show there is potential EVERYWHERE!  You can't see much of it - originally I was going to put it where the trellis is at the bottom of the image, but I cut the paper at the top of the card a bit short!!  I like how this turned out anyway.

I'm entering this card in quite a few challenges:

I used this sketch from Sketch and Stash and used new paper and a new image.  Simon Says Stamp has Bingo happening this week, I used the "Punch/Embossing/Ribbon" line.  Bizzy Becs has "3 Flowers, 2 Buttons an 1 Ribbon" - now, not much ribbon shows, but it IS there, lol.  Stampin' for the Weekend has New and Blue, and Cute Card Thursday and Creative Craft Challenges have monochrome. Pollycraft has pastel colours, One Stop Craft Challenge has a Card for a Male (yes, baby boys ARE male!!) and Die Cut Dreams has use a digi and a rubber stamp; the main image is a digi and the sentiment is rubber (well, clear, nearly rubber) I hope that's enough to qualify. I'd better make sure I actually enter the challenges this time, last week I posted my Mermaid Tissue Boxand promptly forgot to enter half the challenges!  I AM getting old!

Thanks for looking at my card, there'll be more in the next day or so as I have a few well underway.  Until next time, Happy Crafting, Dee.