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 Takes Two To Tango

Hello everybody; I'm on holiday (well, long long weekend at least!) with my Family (who don't live at home any more, so it's "special")  in Melbourne at the moment, and didn't get time to make a card for the "Edwin Only" challenge starting today at Here Come The Boys... so I thought I'd post this card which I made before I came away.

 I made an easel card, which I often do when the image I want to use is large or the paper "busy", it  is a good way of still getting a sentiment on to the "front" of a card, it's also a way of making a square card a bit more interesting, though Craft Your Passion think it's Hip to be Square for their challenge this time around, lol.

I've used the Sketch and Stash Sketch this time, I like to use sketches as a jumping off point, and this was a ripper!  The papers are from Kaisercrafts Le Chateau Collection, they're really lush IRL... Without Words wants us to use dark colours, I have so I'm entering there.  The sentiment was one of the die cuts included in the pad.  I used Nestabilities Large Scalloped Squares for the image panel and the mat behind the sentiment, Simon Says Challenge has Dies and Punches and Oozak has Die Cuts for their challenges so I'll be entering there.
The image I used is "Tango" from Karen's Doodles, I love Karen's images and she's "back" after a bit of a break, so I'll be grabbing some more (though there's still several unused in my stash!)  Papertake Weekly has All Creatures Great and Small for their challenge and Addicted to Stamps has Animal Friends, so I'll be entering those.  The Paper Shelter has Love Beats All as their challenge theme, so I'm in there too.
I've coloured with Copics and Prismacolors, quite a lot of the shading and highlighting is with pencils this time, I like the level of control they give you in the fiddly bits, lol.  I find Copics give the best solid red coverage (rich and even) but I like to add the deepest shades and lightest highlights with pencils, like her dress folds and straps - Copics can be hard to control in the red department!  Colour Me Copic has A Touch of Red for their challenge so I'm entering there.
The very sparkly rhinestone trim is from my stash (actually I bought it in Malaysia earlier this year) I wish I could show just how sparkly it really is, but alas that never seems to show in photos!  Paper Crafting Journey wants us to Add Some Bling for their challenge, I have so I'm in.  The Deep Ocean Challenge, 2 Sisters Challenge and Divas by Design all have Anything Goes themes, so I'll be entering them too.
Well that's it for today's card, I'd better get to bed, everyone else has long gone... I'm like a blog junkie; I had to have a fix before I rush off tomorrow to enjoy the last day of my mini holiday (it's tiring, this holiday lark, lol)
Why not pop over to Here Come The Boys and check out my teamies wonderful "Edwin Only" creations, and why not crack out your own Edwins (ooh, that sounds painful, lol) and join in the challenge while you're there?
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Get Well Gill

Well hello there... long time no see!  You know how it is - life getting in the way, etc.  Amongst other things happening is that we've heard my husband's sister Gill, who lives in England, is quite seriously ill - I made this card to send to her.

 

Actually, neither my husband nor (obviously) myself has ever met Gill... my Mother in Law gave her up for adoption at birth and after much research they were reunited... more than 50 years after the adoption... I can tell you it was VERY emotional.  My in-laws came to Australia in 1963 and Norma (MIL) now goes back to England to see her "other" family every couple of years.  It is three years since her last visit as she has decided to go to the Olympics while she's over... she travels alone and it's pretty impressive for an 84 year old, I think!  Unfortunately Gill suffered an embolism two days before Norma was going, and the family didn't want to distress her, so they just let her proceed with her travel plans; it must have been a nasty shock to arrive to the news her daughter is in hospital... and she's in Newcastle where there has been some bad flooding - I seriously hope her trip improves, and that Gill (whose daughter and family we DID meet when they came over last year, lovely people!) gets better soon too.

Anyway, on to my card!  I've followed the sketch from Papertake Weekly Sketch, love a good sketch :-) The cute image I've used is a digi from Karen's Doodles, Digital Tuesday has Amazing Animals as their challenge theme so I'm entering.  I've coloured with Prismacolor pencils adding Gloss to the eyes, thermometer and cuppa. Oozak has Bright Colours as does Bizzy Becs, never a problem for me, lol, and Cupcake Craftroom wants us to use Layers, again never a problem, so I'm entering there too.   

The papers are "Ouchies Too", digital, from Nitwit Collections. That Craft Place has It's All Green as their challenge, plenty of green here, lol especially on the inside.

The Paper Shelter wants us to use Punches and/or Dies; I've used Fiskars Apron Lace punch on the front and Nestabilities Scalloped and Standard Ovals on the inside, so I'm in, Sweet Stampin' wants us to Use Scallops, so I'm in there too.

The hydrangeas are from my stash (one of those $2 stems I hoard) as are the gold stamens,  Allsorts Challenges wants us to Use Flowers as does Crafty Calendar so I'm in.  Over at Waste Not Wednesdays Lisa just likes us to use up our Stash, so I'm entering there, and Bearly Mine Challenges, Charisma Cardz and Creatalicious Challenges all have Anything Goes challenges so there too. Cheryl likes to see what we're up to on her Sassy Cheryl Show Me Thursday challenge, and as I think a photo of me doing the end of financial year reports (I do bookkeeping from home) is guaranteed to put her to sleep, I'll send a photo of this instead and hope it doesn't have the same effect, lol.

Well, that's the end of the story for today.  I'll be back in a day or so with the card I've made for my Mother In Law's birthday which I'll be sending with this one as her birthday is next weekend... and she's in the UK until September!  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

It's Snowin' at Sweet Stampin'

I love the Sweet Stampin' challenge blog, so I was rapt to be asked to be their Guest Designer for the whole of December... this is the first of my cards, the theme this week is "Snow".  I've got snow, snow-people and snowflakes...but you don't have to take it THAT seriously, lol.

This super cute image is "Snowmen Caroling" from Karens Doodles, a digi of course (it's what I do, lol) that I grabbed the other day...along with a few others.  So many images, so little time :-)  I've coloured with Copics and added a load of sparkle with Stickles.  Creatalicious Challenges has "Christmas and make sure it sparkles" as its theme, so this definitely qualifies!  By the Cute and Girly and Totally Papercrafts  have Let it Snow for their challenges, so I'm in there too.

I used the sketch from Friday Sketch Challenge, I do love a straightforward sketch that lets your image shine (and your yummy papers too, of course).  The background paper is kind of sparkly/translucent and slightly textured, really very nice, with shiny gold snowflakes; of course none of this shiny goodness shows in the photos (well actually you can see the Stickles on the image in the last photo, so can't complain, lol)  I inked around the edge with Burgundy to soften the overall look.  The panel of vintage style paper is from Kaisercraft, again, what I do! It's from the Dear Santa Collection, that panel and the image are mounted on green card from American Crafts then gold foil board.  

I glued the ribbon (from my stash) strips on to gold board too, just to give it a bit of a lift.  The sentiment panel and ribbon strips are popped up on foam dots, again what I do :-) it also made it easier to attach the snowflake charm with a little black brad.  Bearly Mine Challenges has All my Favourite Things as its challenge this time, it's really no challenge to use all your favourite things, but I'm entering anyway with so many of my favourite things featuring here!

I didn't have a gold snowflake charm, so I used one of my YR Copics to colour a silver one, it certainly looks the part to me! a tiny red pearl, smothered in red glitter went in the centre.  The large snowflake embellishment is from a chipboard sheet, painted with Jo Sonja paints and Stickled up!  A brad in the centre finishes it off, I forgot to colour the silver frame of the brad, oh well you get that sometimes, lol.

Addicted to Stamps, Stamptacular Sunday and Copic Oz have Christmas, Pollycraft has Christmas Fun and Craft Your Passion has Tis the Season as their respective themes this time around, so I'll be entering my card there too.

The inside of the card is finished with papers from the front with a different sheet from the Kaisercraft pad, this one has gold foil stripes on, and some of the ribbon.  Once again I inked the edges to soften the look.  The sentiment is a wood mounted stamp I got for $3 in a craft shop, I love it and use it quite a bit.  Its stamped with Kaisercraft ink. The snowflake inside is Martha Stewarts Glacial Snowflake punch (I think - can't remember even though I just bought it!), cut in gold board, smothered in Stickles with a rhinestone in the centre.

Lots of challenge blogs have taken pity on us busy crafters and have Anything Goes as their challenge themes, I'll be entering my card in these ones: The Paper Shelter, Divas by Design,  Simon Says Challenge, Paper Crafting Journey and Sundays with Chrissy.

I'll be back in a day or so with a card I've made (well, I'll have it finished by then!) for my Daughter in Law's birthday.  
In the meantime, pop on over to the Sweet Stampin' challenge and check out the rest of the DT's work...gorgeous, and at this time of the year you're bound to have a card with some snow on it to enter in the challenge...I live in AUSTRALIA, and still manage to make my share of snowy cards, lol. 

Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna  (and her sparkly Caroling Snowmen!)