Hope Springs Eternal

These little guys really "hope" they get a bit of that fabulous pudding!  Not the traditional use of "hope" at Christmas... but relevant all the same, lol. 

As soon as I saw this gorgeous image from Lili of the Valley, I KNEW I had to have it!  So.... I bought it, and about thirty to keep it company, lol.  So far I've coloured up this one, sigh
Anyways, I digress... I coloured the image with Copic markers, added some Prismacolor pencil shadows and highlights and coloured the cutlery with a metallic pencil... gives a a good finish.  I added glitter to the dots on the green scarf... which you can't see in the pic, Glossy Accents to the "cherries" in the pudding... which you can't see in the pic, and Stickles  to the "snow"... which you can't see in the pic unless you reeeeallly try, lol.  But they're all there, honest

I used a kraft card base because I liked it with the vintage-y feel of the image (though I've fiddled around making a 'bright' version and it doesn't look vintage at all, lol) and I used papers with the same style... I think they're both Kaisercraft, but the tartan strip may be Basic Grey
I used red glitter card that I bought in a pad (because I couldn't get any of the one I usually use) and it is BRILLIANT!  It doesn't shed at all and even the tiny little scallops (from a set I bought from Ali Express... which I LOVE) cut cleanly

The image was popped up on two layers of foam dots, the tartan strip on one... it does look 'flat' in the pics but good IRL.  The "Hope" sentiment is a stamp from a set I have had since my very first days of cardmaking... I bought the set for the flourishes that came with it and have only 'seen' the sentiments (there are only three one-word sentiments) since I reorganized my stamps - I put sentiments together and in theme - and have them more readily accessible.  

I used Coffee Archival Ink for stamping, to continue in the vintage/homegrown vein.  I stamped my all-time favourite (I use it on at least half my Christmas cards!) stamp for the sentiment inside the card.  This is a very old stamp, I got it from my sister... it was wood mounted, but not any more :-) and she got it from her friend years before that; that's what you call upcycling, lol
That's it for today's card.  I'd like to enter in the following challenges:

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Y is for Yummy

As You Like It CASE a DT's card… and say Why; I CASEd Brenda's… Adding sparkle is my "go to" for Christmas cards :-)

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Use Patterned Paper

Aud Sentiments Christmas or Winter Sentiment

My Time to Craft Winter Scenes… this is a "scene", hope it is "scenic" enough

Cardz 4 Galz Cute Christmas… this cute card is for my friend Mirella; she is my biggest fan now my lovely Mum has gone :-)

Simon Says Challenge Traditional Christmas (I've used traditional Christmas colours

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Anything Christmas Goes, option: Use something beginning with "R"; I have Running mice, Racing to the pudding because they're Really hungry :-)

Send a Smile for Kids Happy Holidays-  or Anything Goes - for kids

Winter Wonderland Anything Christmas Goes

Cuttlebug Mania has Christmas

Creatalicious Challenges, Anything Goes, Opt: Winter
Addicted to  Stamps, Through the Craftroom Door, Digi Choosday, Crafty  Creations, Creative Fingers, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, Gem of a Challenge, A Perfect Time to Craft and Cute Card Thursday All have Anything Goes

It's been six WEEKS since I posted anything on my blog... there's been a lot going on.  
Don't know what it is with my family, but the drama continues.  The latest is my nephew Craig's house burnt to the ground on Wednesday (well it's been condemned, the roof has collapsed etc)  $300,000 worth of damage to the house, and most of his possessions ruined by smoke or water if not fire.  He was NOT insured.  
Of course my sister is devastated for him; he bought the house from the proceeds of a Workers Compensation payout for an accident in which he lost his right arm... he will not be in a position to buy another house, ever.  He has no money, we have all chipped in what we can to get him the basics... we don't really know what the next step is towards getting the house sold (the house needs to be demolished to increase the value of the block of land it sits on, ironically) all we know is it will cost big bucks 
It has put a damper on Christmas... usually my favourite time of the year.  If you are so inclined say a prayer for him, or appeal to the stars.  
I hope to be back soon, I have SO many cards to 'blog'
Until then, Happy Crafting (and pay your house insurance!), Donna x 

Carol Singing Duo

Hello.  Long time no see :-)  I have a very simple little card today, a Christmas card which may not seem seasonal to some, but we are in midwinter and the Season of the "Christmas in July" is upon us so I thought... why not?

I used a couple of images from Lili of the Valley.... they are so cute, you don't need much more to make a nice looking card :-)  These two are "Carol Singing Mouse" and - wait for it.... "Carol Singing Dog" :-)  How cute are they?!  

I coloured them with Copics, adding some Ice Stickles to the trim on the hat and a few lines to the snow and some Emerald Green Stickles to the scarf
I also added some Glossy Accents to the musical notes, very hard to see in the pics
The patterned paper is from Kaisercraft, quite an old pad... 'Tis the Season I think.  I cut the curved scalloped border die, I can't remember the brand.  I got it seperate from the straight scalloped border die that I cut the BOTTOM border with, and that's all I can remember :-)  I cut a mat for the scalloped edges using red foil card to match the foil stars and spots on the patterned paper... it was the very last scrap of the red, I'm gonna have to get some more, all I've got to remember where it came from, lol
The sentiment is also from Kaisercraft.  Stamped with Memento ink, using the oh-I-wish-I'd-found-it-years-ago stamp positioner that makes it possible to get it at least straight, lol
That's it for today's card... I never took a pic of the inside, it was finished much the same without the red foil matting as I ran out.  I'd like to enter in the following challenges:

Tuesday Throwdown Keep It Simple

Moving Along With The Times CAS

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Use Patterned Paper

Cuttlebug Mania Bingo: Sentiment, Image, Die Cut

The Paper Shelter Stripes and/or Dots

Cardz 4 Galz Favourite Colour Combo

As You Like It Summer or Winter Colours and Why - "Summer", or warm colours... also Christmas is in Summer here and I LOVE Christmas :-)

Fab'n'Funky Challenges Christmas

Jingle Belles Snow Much Fun

Winter Wonderland Use Red or Green

Sweet Stampin' Christmas Anything Christmas, Opt: Non Traditional Colours

Creatalicious Challenges Anything (Christmas) Opt: Spots and/or Stripes

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Anything Christmas

Crimbo Crackers Anything (Christmas) Goes
Aud Sentiments, Through the Craftroom Door, Corrosive Challenge, Digi Choosday, Crafty Creations Challenge # 392, Creative Fingers, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, Gem of a Challenge and A Perfect Time to Craft All have Anything Goes

On a personal note; thank you to everyone that left messages re the loss of my little Rocky, I appreciate it.  I miss him, the house is very quiet without him... my son Matt got a new dog yesterday.  He has been looking at Rescues for a while but wanted to wait until Rocky was gone as it would have been too much for the poor old fellow - especially once he was blind AND deaf.  That was considerate.  Now the time has come.  

Matt drove out to the Wheatbelt to get a dog from a rescue service out there as they are much harder to rehome than dogs in the city.  She is a lovely girl called Molly, but I think she may have not been treated well at all.  We will have to do our best to remedy THAT.  For all that she is sweet and already you can tell she will learn quickly.

Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Ruby Red

I thought I'd post a "current" card today instead of one from my Draft Folder... it was our - hubby and my - 40th or "Ruby" Anniversary on 18th February, I wasn't going to "do" a post on it but as I have made a card I thought... why not? especially as I enjoyed Debby's post about HER Ruby anniversary - and I enjoyed the "blast from the past" that the photos in her post brought so I've added some of ours in the hope you'll get a chuckle out of them... at how insanely YOUNG we look if nothing else, lol.  Here's the card

The image is from Lili of the Valley, it is a digistamp and I can't tell you how stoked I am that they are doing their fabulous images as digis... I've been drooling over them for years waiting and hoping that they'd come out as digis; I have to say I've gone a little bit mad in the Paypal department since they have, lol.  This one is called  "Hearts and Flowers" - you can see how I HAD to have it can't you??  I coloured, as usual, with Copic markers adding some shadow and highlights with Prismacolor pencils. 

I used paper from DCWV's "Glitter Basics" stack, it's fabulous... this actually is a snippet - it wasn't a snippet until I butchered it over and over trying to cut the wavy edge, (Lawn Fawn Stitched Borders die, I think) with the "stitches" on the right side - you know how it goes when you over think something.  I added a burgundy red heart brad that I wrote "40" on in gold gel pen, that with some fine gold twine finished the front of the card.  Incidentally "Ruby Red"... isn't, I mean turns out Rubies AREN'T that red; hubby bought me a gorgeous natural (as opposed to "created") ruby and diamond bracelet for the occassion, and the rubies are quite pink, not "Ruby Red" at all!  Who knew?, well not ME, lol
On the inside of the card I added a sentiment that I made up using Word... the blue-eyes part is a bit of an "in joke" and no, I'm NOT sharing, lol, and that was that
I'm going to enter the card in the following challenges: 

Cupcake Inspirations has these cupcakes and the theme "Pets"... these meeces look tame enough to me to qualify :-)

Cuttlebug Mania Ribbon and Bows - hope the bow in the twine is enough

Pixies Snippets Playground Snippets - yeah, like I DON'T have enough snippets already, I made some specially, lol

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Use Patterned Paper

As You Like It Single or Multiple Layers and Why - I really like multiple Layers, I think they give a  "hand made" look, but I also like the image to shine so am tending to more CAS... so I suppose "CAS with a layer or two" best describes it ;-)

Addicted to  Stamps Have a Heart - hearts on the image, heart brad

The Crazy Challenge Use Red

Cardz 4 Galz Furry Friends

Hanna and Friends Favourite Stamp - new "fave", and it's LOTV, eek!

Aud Sentiments Anything Goes Plus a Sentiment - the sentiment is on the inside
Cute Card Thursday,Catch The Bug, Little Miss Muffet, Through the Craftroom Door, Digi Choosday, Crafty  Creations,  4 Crafty Chicks,  Creative Fingers, Crafting With Friends Challenge 62, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, A Perfect Time to Craft, Create and Inspire, Creatalicious Challenges, Simply Papercrafts, Crafting With Attitude and Corrosive Challenge

Now for "those" wedding pics

That Flower Girl is now 50!!!!!

With my lovely Mum and Dad.  Well... the carpet WAS the height of fashion in 1978, lol

... and now a kinda "Before" and "After" ;-))

.... well it IS forty years on, give us a break :-))  Oh, and that man to the right behind hubby is our son Matt, ye gods and little fishes where HAS that time gone?!


Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna xx

Koala Christmas

Well, another month has gone since I last posted, who knows where the time goes?  
This is a card I made for my Aunty in Wales; we live in Australia and the sun is blazing at Christmas time, so I usually try NOT to use "traditional" Christmas images on cards I'm sending to the UK... coals to Newcastle and all that :-) 

The truth is I've been suffering from depression for a while - it's a longstanding struggle and Mum's death and Dad's demise has knocked me.  I'm finding it hard to get enjoyment out of Blogging, anything really, even crafting - luckily this little chap "found" me and I really enjoyed making this card... leaving plenty of offerings in my Drafts Folder, some actually worth Blogging, lol.  
He is a digi stamp called, unsurprisingly, "Digistamp Koala from Lili of the Valley but he came sans hat; I added a digi hat - I DO love digis, so versatile... do you want to know HOW glad I am LOTV started doing digis?? Well, VERY :-)) He is one of their "bears" - even though koalas are NOT bears, and of course while I was there I HAD to buy the entire gorgeous Alpha Bears and NumBears collections, it seemed rude not to :-) 
I coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, adding Stickles to the fur trim and Glossy Accents to his nose.  Koalas don't actually have glossy noses, so a bit of poetic license, lol, and they are not native to my state of Western Australia so MORE poetic license... still I did say "From Australia" not "From Western Australia" :-)
The latest "thing" in my life is foil embossing.  I bought a laser printer and already had a laminator so I've been "foiling" like a mad thing.  I generated the sentiment in Word then foiled it in gold.... I have discovered that foil is as hard as sparkle to capture in a pic! Doesn't show at all in this one, sigh. Looks good IRL... yeah, I know they all say that! 

The frame is cut with a Paper Roses Stitched Frames die, they cut beautifully, btw, using American Craft card - I must say this cuts SO much cleaner than the Kaisercraft card I usually use.  I kept the whole thing pretty flat for posting Air Mail. The background paper is from Wild Rose Studio, it's lovely, but it is paper, not card, so a sharp blade is a must for a clean finish.  The piece on the front actually had a square cut out of the middle that I used on another card, as did the outer mat. - love getting double duty out of supplies - AND it kept the weight down for mailing :-) I used another sheet from the Annabelle's Christmas pack for the inside.
That's it.  I am doing "Christmas" stuff today.... hubby has had to go to work, yup, on a Sunday (he is definitely too old for this cr@p, lol) so I am making hay as it were
I am entering my card in the following challenges... one thing for sure there's an embarrassment of riches at this time of year when you make a Christmas card, lol
Hiding in- my Craft Room Use a Digital Image

Simon Says Challenge Stitch It

Cute Card Thursday Festive Colours

Allsorts Challenges Cold and Frosty Colours

Pile It On Non Traditional Colours

Little Red Wagon Christmas Critters - Christmas is in summer in Australia, hope my festive koala fits the bill, please ignore my entry if not

4 Crafty Chicks Christmas/Winter Critters; again, hope my Santa Koala fits the "Christmas" part of the challenge, Christmas being a summer event here.  If not sorry for the inconvenience

Animal Friends Anything Goes using an animal image

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Patterned Paper

My Time to Craft, Cuttlebug Mania, Winter Wonderland, Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge, Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Extra Challenge, Paper Creator Crafts, The Crazy Challenge, 12 Months of Christmas, Addicted to  Stamps all have "Christmas" or seasonal challenges, while

Tuesday Throwdown Is either Christmas or Anything Goes… they didn't say

Pixies Snippets Playground Use snippets - the blue card.. And the paper on the front

Cupcake Inspirations These gorgeous cupcakes with a "Holiday" theme 

Cute As A Button, Little Miss Muffet, Through the Craftroom Door, Crafty  Creations, Crafting With Friends  Challenge #57, Creative Fingers, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, Create and Inspire, Creatalicious Challenges, Simply Papercrafts, Corrosive Challenge, Crafting With Attitude, Card Mania Challenges are all Anything Goes challenges

I will be back before Christmas, this is my goal, and I'll probably Blog multiple cards as I HAVE "mass produced" to a certain extent and I'm embarrassed to dedicate a whole post to each foiled card.  I can slip in some of the less than stellar offerings from my Drafts while I'm at it, teehee.
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Twice as Nice

Today I have the card I gave to my Son and Daughter in Law on the birth of their twins... my grandchildren - still getting my  head around that one ;)

 As soon as I found out they were having twins, I knew the image I wanted for their card, this gorgeous Lili of the Valley stamp comes with the sentiment and is one of the sweetest images out there for twins.  Gem of a Challenge want us to Make It Cute and Crafts 4 Eternity want as Cute as You Like - I'm in, lol.
I don't "do" stamping very often, being a lover of digistamps (so much more forgiving than rubber... I must have stamped that sentiment 20 times before I got a good one, lol) I used Stazon ink, but I think I'll have to get some Memento as that's what seems to be the go.

I've used a fold I often use, I don't really know what it's called - really it's just a normal fold with half the front cut away :)  in this case I decorated the inside to match the front exactly, ensuring the ribbon and square doilies were aligned then added a dragonfly (from my stash) on the front doily in exactly the same spot as the one on the inside so that you could see a pink and a blue dragonfly with the card open or closed.

I coloured with Prismacolor pencils and (the devil being in the detail, lol) added an extra "roll" to the little girl's middle because in "our" twins case she is significantly chubbier than the boy :)  The papers are from Kaisercraft's Lullaby pad, Totally Gorjuss has Something Blue for it's challenge; I hope HALF blue is enough :p
I embossed the edges of the image panel, sentiment panel and square doily with iridescent embossing powder, giving the same treatment to the Card Candi (stash) on the bow on the front; looks lovely IRL!  The 2 Sisters Challenge is Sparkly and the Catch the Bug challenge this time around is Cardstock + Bling - I'm in!
As I said I finished the inside to match the front, I waited until the babies were born then printed their names and birthweights on tiny tags to add to the bow on the inside; I love little personal touches like that - my DIL does too. Love to Create wants us to use a tag somewhere on our project... hope this counts :)
The little pacifier charms on the front were from Pink Gem Designs, Divas by Design want us to Use Some Metal, as does Totally Papercrafts, so I'm entering there.
The ribbon came twice this width (I think it was from the Ribbon Girl) and I cut it down to a more manageable size.  Paper Crafting Journey has Ribbon or Lace - this is kinda both! - and the  Lili's Little Fairies  challenge is Buttons and Bows so I'm entering there too.  The Pink Elephant wants us to use Decorative Paper (easy) + our Favourite Embellishment - not so easy... I don't use a lot of embellishments, but ribbon and Card Candi are my "go to" so I'm entering there.
Cutie Pie Challenge's theme is Your Favourite Film, to be honest it's not my Favourite, but I was thinking of Twins with this card... there is a significant weight difference between our twinnies, I hope they don't end up like Arnie and Danny - 'specially as Emily is the bigger twin :))
Creative Craft Challenges has All About the Kids (babies are small kids, and these ones are MY kid's kids, lol) Aud Sentiments has For a Child as does Paper Pretties, so I'm entering there; The Paper Shelter and Simon Says Challenge both have Anything Goes themes so I'm entering there too.

I thought I'd share a photo (or three!) of the twins... I promise this won't keep happening, it is a craft blog after all - but they are so gorgeous - they've had a few issues with weight loss, so we are still not allowed to hold them :(  Daddy can - he's staying in the hospital full time, so he gets to "help", his reward is a cuddle!  Don't worry, I'll get my cuddle-fix when they're well enough;)

Hope they'll soon fit their size 0000 suits!

Well that's it for today's card.  I've got a card that I made for my mum and dad to give for the twins, so I'll be back with that in a day or so.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna.

More Wedding Wishes

I have started to reassemble my craft room - I'm sorting things out before I put anything in there, but it's taking some time; at this stage I'm still determined not to just stuff bits back in the cupboards... but my resolve is waning, lol.

I made this easel card for our local pharmacist when he got married in December, it was super quick which was useful as I was super busy :-)

I used one of the Wedding themed die cuts I bought from Lili of the Valley, soooo handy!  Lili's Little Fairies challenge is an "Anything Goes" so I'm entering there.  I added Stickles to the brides gown and headress and the bouquet; Oozak has Anything Goes + Pink and Bling for their challenge and One Stop Craft Challenge has Sparkle and Bling, so I'm in!

Winter Wonderland has It Takes Two as their challenge theme, and for the time being it doesn't have to be a winter themed card, so I'm entering there, while Craft Us Crazy has Valentine/Love for their challenge so I'm entering there too.

The fabulous patterned paper is from Starfish Lane and the textured cardstock is from my stash, as are the pearls.  The flowers and leaves are from The Ribbon Girl; Totally Gorjuss has Flowers for their challenge theme so I'm entering there.  The sentiment is from Craftworks Cards.

I cut the flourish with a Marianne Design die.  The Paper Shelter and My Mums Craft Shop both have Anything Goes challenges running, so I'm entering them.

Well that's it for today, I'll be back in a few days - until then Happy Crafting, Donna

Christmas is Over.... Happy New Year

First of all I'd like to wish a Happy New Year to all my followers and visitors, hope it brings all that you wish for :-)
The last of my Christmas cards for 2012 today, tada!  I'm sure I made a couple more, but I can't find the photos so this is, at least, the last one I'll be blogging, lol.

I've used another one of those fabby pre-coloured LOTV die cuts, adding some Stickles to the tinsel wrapped around the bear.

The papers are Kaisercraft, the brown card for matting is DCWV, the sentiment tag is from a sheet of die cuts from Graphic 45.  Gold Card Candi from my stash finishes it all off. 

I'm entering the following challenges:

The Pink Elephant Anything Goes

Aud Sentiments Anything with a Sentiment

Simon Says Challenge Anything Goes

Charisma Cardz Anything Goes

Craft Us Crazy Anything Goes

My Time to Craft Animals in the Snow

Di's Digi Designs Christmas

Cutie Pie Challenge Cute Christmas

That Craft Place Christmas

That's it for today's card, must be my shortest post ev-ah!!

I'll be back in a day or so, until then Happy Crafting (if you're back in the swing of it all yet, lol) Donna

More Christmas

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and that the big guy in red brought you lots of crafting goodies; he dropped a few bits off at my place, now all I need is the 30 hour day so I can use them, lol.

Today I have another one of those easy Christmas cards I made, only one more to go after this, promise.  There's snow on my card again... I would love a bit of snow at the moment... it was 39C (102F) today after an overnight minimum of 24C (75F), it's forecast 42C (110F)for the next few days falling to a (what will by then seem balmy, lol) 32C or 90F by New Years Eve.

The image is one of those gorgeous pre-coloured die cuts from LOTV (what a godsend they've been) with Stickles added to the hat trim, present bow and snow. I added faux stitching around the edges of all the panels with my paper piercer and a gold gel pen.

I've used more of the lovely vintage-y paper from Kaisercraft it's either December 25th or 'Tis The Season (or quite possibly another collection, lol) matted on gold card from my stash. 
I used the sketch from Totally Papercrafts, though I have missed the deadline to enter their challenge I still wanted to credit the great sketch.
The kinda-circle shape behind the image is a lovely translucent paper embossed with gold snowflakes (it's very shimmery IRL) that came from Starfish Lane - doesn't all my "special" paper?! cut with an Mpress Antique Frames die.
The snowflake is a Martha Stewart punch backed up with a Marianne D die; the glittery flower centre is from my stash, as is the twine.
Totally Gorjuss has Easy Does It as their challenge theme,  Deep Ocean Challenge has Santa Claus is Coming To Town,  My Time to Craft has Animals in the Snow, Crafty Calendar has White Christmas, That Craft Place has Christmas, One Stop Craft Challenge has A Christmas Carol (Let it Snow) and Cutie Pie Challenge has Cute Christmas, so I'm entering there too. 
The Pink Elephant, The Paper Shelter, Divas by Design, and Paper Crafting Journey  all have Anything Goes challenges so I'll be entering those too.
I finished the inside with papers from the front... too simple to even bother taking a pic of :-)
Well that's it for today's card, I'll be back in a day or so with the last of my Christmas cards.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna xx 

Let it Snow

Today I have another pretty simple card - just about every card I've done for Christmas this year fits that description, oh well, maybe next year I'll be able to devote a bit more time creating masterpieces, lol.  I've called it Let it Snow, bit of wishful thinking really - the forecast for Christmas Day here is 39C (102F), staying up there for at least a week!  

 I've used another one of my yummy LOTV pre-coloured images; what a godsend these have been (I would have had no handmade cards to share this year without them I think!)  I added some Liquid Pearls to the snow, but left the sparkle off  this one, keeping a more vintage feel. My Time to Craft has Animals in the Snow and Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge has Vintage Christmas as their challenge themes so I'm entering there.Totally Gorjuss has Easy Does It (a pre coloured image, can't get much easier!) and Ready Teddy Go has Clean and Simple - I'm not sure if this is "clean" enough, but I'm sure it's simple enough so I'm entering there, but do understand if it's not acceptable.

The great sketch is from Tuesday Morning Sketches, it seemed to lend itself to a Gatefold card, so that's what I made :-)
The papers are from Kaisercraft (December 25th collection?) textured red cardstock from my stash (Oozak has an Anything Goes + Red challenge, so I'm entering there) and Kraft from my stash too (the 2 Sisters Challenge is Krafty Christmas, so I'm entering there too)
The only embellishments on the card are a snowflake brad (Papermania I think) and some clear red Dewdrops
The stamp on the inside is one of a great Christmas set from Tickled Pink Stamps, now sadly defunct I fear :-(
The other challenges I'm going to enter my card in are listed below... there's a common theme you'll see - which means I probably should try and get my remaining Christmas cards blogged ASAP :-)

Deep Ocean Challenge Santa Claus is Coming to Town
One Stop Craft Challenge A Christmas Carol (Let it Snow)
Simon Says Challenge Merry Christmas
Stamping With The Dragon Waiting for Christmas
Di's Digi Designs Christmas
Cutie Pie Challenge Cute Christmas
Craft Us Crazy Christmas/New Year
Fashionista Challenge Winter
Whimsy Inspirations Challenge Anything Goes as long as it's Festive
The Paper Shelter Anything Goes
Divas by Design Anything Goes
Paper Crafting Journey Anything Goes
Stampin' for the Weekend Anything Goes
That's it for today's card, I'll post my other Christmas cards over the holidays; I've got a couple of Wedding cards too, which is a good thing as I'm going to have to sacrifice my craft room AGAIN in the next couple of weeks - we've decided to tile it along with the entry, study, family room, kitchen, meals and passageway - which means I won't have a spare millimetre in the house (I seriously can't see how we'll fit all the stuff from those rooms and cupboards into the bedrooms lounge and dining, along with their own furniture!)  The tiler is coming on 13th January and the rooms have to be emptied and have the existing tiles removed before then - if you've ever removed tiles, and more importantly tile glue you'll appreciate the enormity of the task.  
For some reason hubby is blithely ensuring the tiler that not only will all that be done, but that the doors (thirteen in all!!) and skirting boards will be removed too.  I think he's thinking like a 38 year old not a 58 year old, confusing his abilities with his aspirations, lol.  He thinks I'm worrying about nothing - I'm certain the truth lies somewhere in between, lol. 
Anywho, until next time Happy Crafting.  If you don't get time to visit me before Christmas, I hope yours is a happy one, and that 2013 brings all that you wish for, Donna xx

Drip Feeding Christmas Cards

I have another Christmas card today... I've made a few (seriously a "few", not being modest, lol) but I'm now struggling for the time to "blog" them, sigh.  Without further ado here's my card.

 Another really simple one, this time I've used a precoloured image from Lili of the Valley - they are gorgeous, but it really does feel like I've "cheated", oh well, needs must.

The papers are from Kaisercraft, I think it's the December 25th collection or it may be Dear Santa - can't find the cover!  The gold foil card is from my stash, the sentiment is from Craftworks Cards and the stars are cut using a MFT die.  I've added Stickles to the fur trim, circles and star.  The circles on the border (which came in the Kaisercraft pad) have Stickles on too.

The inside is finished with more of the same papers, and another border from the pad - handy!

I've used the sketch from Friday Sketch Challenge this time and (as I'm stuck for time....AGAIN... I'm listing the challenges I'm entering:

Deep Ocean Challenge Santa is Coming to Town

The Paper Shelter Anything Goes

Aud Sentiments Anything with a Sentiment

Simon Says Challenge Merry Christmas

Paper Crafting Journey Anything Goes

Sweet Stampin' Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Craft Us Crazy Christmas/New Year

Cutie Pie Challenge Cute Christmas

Whimsy Inspirations Challenge Anything Goes as long as it's festive

Well it's nearly 1am here, and I've another busy day ahead (haven't we all at this time of year)  It's my sisters birthday tomorrow (or later today, lol) so I've got to wrap her pressie and write her card - her son was born on her birthday so it's my nephew's birthday too, so Happy Birthday to both of them :-)

I have to go, I'll be back ASAP with more of my Chrissie cards.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna