I'm ba-ack!

 Hello world.  Long time no see :-)  A long boring story involving health, the lack of it and the effect on one's psyche :-)  but I'm back now... just not with a card today, but a birthday cake

I have made a lot of decorated cakes over the years, many of which I don't have pics of... another long boring story I related on this here Blog years ago, involving misplaced trust and Microsoft OneDrive.  Suffice to say several hundred craft photos disappearing into thin air was NOT the heartbreak it WOULD have been if I hadn't lost six YEARS of family photos in the same heinous event... it's all relative

Anyway.... this one photo of the cake I made for my hubby's 60th birthday DID disappear along with its stablemates, but showed up on an old SD card I found when I was looking for a 'clean' one to donate to my grandson's Nintendo... happy Donna, one is better than none, lol.

Hubby loves pigs... loooooves pigs, so that's what he got.  He also has a saying about being as happy as a pig in mud, so..., you got it :-)  The mud is the chocolate ganache I used as the filling for the cake, the cake covering is fondant, airbrushed with food colour.  I made the pigs with fondant, and the rocks, towels flowers leaves and letters in fondant when I come to think of it, haha.  The sign (fondant!) is on a toothpick and says "60+ only.... Stefan ALLOWED"

He loved his cake, we had a Spit Roast night... not pork, lol.  I hope you like it too :-)  

I'm entering in the "As You Like It" challenge, which has the theme "Favourite non-card Project and Why".  Cakes are my favourite craft other than cardmaking... and Decorative Painting.  Different emphasise over the years, but cakes have been the longest held passion: I did a course when my eldest was two, he is 40 in February.  They are like comfy shoes in my crafting world :-)  I'm entering A Perfect Time To Craft's challenge too, which says "any" craft... though they probably mean papercraft, and I'm definitely pushing it with Allsorts Challenge who has the theme this time around of "Birthday Cakes/Cupcakes"... I just couldn't resist

Apologies if not appropriate, be gentle with me but feel free to delete my link

On that note, I'll be back soon with a card... my Drafts folder is huuuuge

Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna 

Lemon and Lime Birthday Time

I'm back today with a card I made for my lovely Daughter in Law's birthday

... I coloured it to match the birthday cake I made for her, which was lemon and lime flavour - her fave :-) and decorated with stripes.  I made an easel card - my fave (or one of them, lol)

The image is Stampin' Bella Brittany Birthday Girl.  I stamped on Linen card, using my stamping platform... so much better, but still room for improvement :-)
I had a little strip of stripey lemon-ish card that I thought was perfect for across the fold of the easel, I would have used that as the mat for the image but I didn't have enough, so I used some green stripy paper from my stash instead, could be Echo Park, but don't hold me to it!  
I die cut the edge with a tiny scalloped border die I got in a set from Ali Express.
I've coloured with Copics, adding shadows (and highlights, long story) with Prismacolor pencils.  There's a nice bit of glittery goodness on the image too, I used Stickles and Glitter Glue but I can't remember the flavours :-)  
The citrus paper is from DCWV, it's very glittery too.

I used the last scrap of the yellow paper with the scalloped edge on the top edge of the pocket inside the card, made to hold the gift card that was my DiL's gift and a little tag for the sentiment.  
The strip of rhinestone bling finishing the edge of the pocket helps make the "stopper" of the easel stronger, it is some of the (loads of, lol) such bling my lovely Mum bought me over the years... no doubt this came from one of their many trips to Malaysia, my DiL is very aware of such things and even commented on me "sharing" some with her, which I thought was very sweet indeed.  
The organza ribbon on the tag was from a present from my son (not my DiL's husband, t'other one) who loves to wrap gifts elaborately... and I love him doing so too as I get a lot of lovely ribbon and "bits" out of it, lol.
That's it for my card, oh here's a (iPhone, so not that great) pic of the cake that inspired the citrus them -it was YUM btw :-)
I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers  For Someone Special (my DiL is Special to all of us)

Fab'n'Funky Challenges Just Add Ink

As You Like It Favourite Colouring and Why I love Copics, they blend so well, have a good range of shades and are refillable (so cost effective)  I used Prismacolor pencils too, because I find them excellent for adding very small detail

Pixies Snippets Playground Snippets That yellow stripey bit :-)

Sweet Stampin' Anything Goes, Opt: Mellow Yellow Ooh yeah, we've got yellow
Catch The Bug, Cute Card Thursday, Through the Craftroom Door, Digi Choosday, Crafty  Creations, Crafting With Friends Challenge #2, Creative Fingers, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, Gem of a Challenge, A Perfect Time to Craft and Creatalicious Challenges All have Anything Goes

I'll be back soon, I really do have to get through my Drafts folder :-)  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

Life's a Circus

It's the first of the month so there's a new challenge starting at Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge, you know - the one where all you have to do is use some patterned paper on your creation!
Sometimes life is a circus... well mine is, lol.  This card however was not to celebrate that fact but to celebrate my son's 30th birthday; he had a circus/carnival theme party, I made this card with that circus theme and his cake along the same lines and colours, so I thought I'd share some pics of that too, first the card - easel of course, we all love 'emin this family!

The papers are from stash and Kaisercraft, the red stripe on the stripy paper is foil, it looks really nice IRL.
I printed the image (called Circus Tent, available from Make it Crafty, here) on linen card, coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils and added Ranger's Antique Gold Embossing details.  
The whole base is covered in red foil card.  The swirls are Memory Box and they and the fancy border trim (a die, Nellie Snellen I think) - which is actually a "stopper" made by sliding half a strip of card under the stripy paper and leaving half "free" for the front of the card to sit against when folded - are cut from the same red foil card. The tickets used for the sentiments are from Bizzy Becs (I think!), I cut the red mats around them freehand.
The rhinestones on the border and corners are from my stash.  I added the "Circus Chris" sentiment to the image before printing using a free font called Bingo Star for Circus and another for Chris.  That was basically it for the card..... the cake took a bit more work :-))

It was a "rainbow" cake, so first I baked six different coloured cakes, I stacked them (not dry like in this pic, but with yummy chocolate ganache between the layers) then put a layer of ganache over the whole thing before adding a thin layer of fondant before decorating as you can see.  
The big top roof was just cardboard covered in fondant :-) and the tent poles were straws with twine... but everything else was fondant, or in the case of the animals peeking out of the tent, royal icing.
The ringmaster took the most work, as usual I left my run a bit late and each element didn't really have time to set firm enough before I stuck it altogether... so he ended up a bit squashed looking :-)  
Chris takes his parties very seriously, this one was no exception; he hired space at a very nice park, hired oversized games such as Connect Four, Chess etc, he had face painters, balloon animal makers, gymnasts performing and a popcorn machine and chocolate fountain in the food tent - a real "kids" day that everyone seemed to really enjoy - I was surprised at how "into it" we all got; the tug of war and egg and spoon races were particularly competitive, and the average age was ... well, not kids! 

I shrunk down a copy of one of the invitations Chris had made for the ringmaster to hold in his hand.  The bottom cake was a rainbow cake too... I kept all the bits of different coloured cake mix I didn't use in the Big Top part of the cake and swirled them together (well three shades in each of two cakes) then gave them the gananche fondant treatment.  Even the board is covered in fondant - for a butter cake this thing weighed a LOT!!
Well that's about it for the cake too.  You don't have to do anything elaborate to enter Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper challenge... just use some Patterned Paper, any project...doesn't even have to be a card, why not give it a go?  Great prize on offer as always, and so easy!!
That's it for today, I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly Take Your Pick: (Technique,embossing)

Sweet Stampin' Use a Non-white base (Red Foil) 
Seize the Birthday Opt: Border punches or dies 
Polkadoodles Favourite card shape (any easel) 
Cute Card Thursday Masculine

Without Words For the Boys

Outlawz Friday Colouring Challenge Anything Goes

Art by Miran Anything Goes

Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes  
Craft Your Passion Anything Goes 
Simon Says Challenge Anything Goes 
Through the Craftroom Door Anything Goes

Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

First Post

I have two posts today... my goodness, something of a record for me in recent times - it's been more like two posts a fortnight :-))  The first is my DT card for Di's Digis Challenge, where we have a new challenge starting with the easy peasy theme, "birthdays"

As the acetate was still on my desk from my last creation... I've used it again!  I wanted to show off that super cute image (Cute Cupcake Tower, available here) as I was really pleased with my colouring on this one, I've coloured as usual with Copics and Prismacolor pencils (though I've bought a couple of Rembrandt pencils so they're in the mix too, lol)
I added lashings of Star Dust Stickles to the icing... of all the cakes - on the image and the papers inside and out!  I also added Glossy Accents to the cherries (even those eensy teensy ones on the paper on the inside!) and the candle flames.
I used paper from a Merci pack, the "doily" was already printed on the green background with the cupcakes in the corner... I just used my Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Circle Dies to cut an aperture in the white card (fussy cutting around the cupcakes to keep them whole!) and to cut the pink "ring" to finish it off.  I backed the whole inside of the card with acetate then decided it looked better with the pink "lining".  The aperture in the lining became the mat for the image, perfect!  It's amazing (I think) how different the image looks with green around it, with the front closed, to a lot of pink around it with it open.
The sentiment is from Create With TLC, the little 'resin' cupcake holding it on is actually from a digi paper kit I have, printed on shrink plastic then, well, shrunk!  It looks really good IRL but was difficult to capture on film :-)  A couple of pearls, card finished!
That's it for this post, hope you get a chance to check out the rest of the team's inspiration... and I hope you get to enter the challenge too... as always there's a great prize on offer and, again as always, if you use one of Di's great images you go in a draw for an extra prize, wow!
I am entering this card in the following challenges

The Paper Shelter	Make It Digital
Send a Smile for Kids	Punches and/or Die Cuts 4kids
Catch The Bug	Picture (Keep Calm and Bake Cakes)
Cupcake Inspirations	Cute Critters
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge	Use Patterned Paper
Bunny Zoes Crafts	For the Girls
OSAAT	Anything Goes with Birthdays
Simon Says Challenge	Anything Goes
Art by Miran	Anything Goes
Through the Craftroom Door	Anything Goes
Tuesday Throwdown	Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion	Anything Goes
Sweet  Stampin'	All or Nothing (one layer or lots of layers)... it's actually "lots" :-)

I'll be back in a few minutes with my second post for the day 

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

Home again, home again

Well, we are back in Perth after our little sojourn in Margaret River; it was nice and cool down there, we stay in a rammed earth cabin on a bush block so there were loads of possums and even a bilby visiting every evening!  It's still HOT up here, in our Summer-without-end!  Rain is forecast for tomorrow -it will be our first since the 0.4mm (which is about 1/100") we had on 1 Feb... if it happens!  I haven't had a chance to get any craft finished to post, hopefully tomorrow after work.  I thought I would show you the cake I made for my son's 30th Birthday in February in lieu of "real" craft.

 Matt is in the earthmoving business, like us (but not in OUR business any more, he has run his own since he was 18!) so I thought the earthmoving theme was appropriate: he bought a  truck and another excavator (bigger than his original and both of ours) a few months ago, the excavator is bright orange just like this!  

I "dug" a trench out of the fondant and made it look like sand (which is our predominant soil type here) by colouring raw sugar with food colouring.  The orange marker pegs are just tiny bits of rolled fondant, as is the    staff (with "measurements" drawn in food colouring) and the laser level - the yellow lumpy thing set on (in this case) toothpicks.

 Both the truck (I couldn't find a white one like his "real" one)  and the excavator were from The Basket in the games room cupboard, they were Matt's when he was young, in the case of the truck, very young!  I love to use stuff like this, it gives a further sort of reference to things I make, especially for my boys.  I used something from the basket for Matt's 30th birthday card, he loved it! 

Anyway, that was Matt's 30th Birthday cake, complete with sand!!  Hope to post some papercraft tomorrow, until then, Happy Crafting, Dee

60th Anniversary Cake

I thought I'd get this post up with a few photos of the cake I made for my Mum and Dad's Diamond Anniversary  on 3rd Feb. 

I made the cake in the shape of a diamond, quite funny really as I started with a square then cut it down: the only thing is I cut BOTH sides down -  so I ended up with.....a smaller square!  Finally I thought about the maths and got the diamond shape, lol.  
All the flowers are made of sugar.  The main ones are orchids, my mum and dad's favourite flower: "special people" are the only one's I'll make orchids for, the breakage rate (and therefore the frustration level) is high.  These weren't bad, I only broke a couple in the process - probably because there are not a lot of "filler" flowers; it's when you're jamming the little flowers in that you break the orchids!  
I have a couple of cards (for my son's 30th Birthday and Our Anniversary) that I'll be posting in the next day or so.... it's my son's birthday today so we'll be having dinner at our place tonight, celebrating our anniversary tomorrow and a PARTY at Matt's house on Saturday evening (helping set up in the day) - so it's just a case of getting time to blog :-)
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Dee

Weddings Old and New

As we've just celebrated my mum and dad's 60th Wedding Anniversary (and I haven't downloaded any photos of it yet) I thought I'd post some pictures of the cake I made for my son's wedding: it was in November 2009 so I suppose it's about time.

 In real life the flowers, which are all made with sugar,  were a beautiful soft peachy pink, I've made the photos low resolution and it seems to have washed the pics out, but you get the idea!!

I used Swarowski crystals and pearls as trim around the bottom of the cakes, and in amongst the flowers; I made bracelets and earrings out of the same for the bridesmaids - they looked very elegant with the black lace dresses and cocktail hats!
In addition to the cake - because I always think I can easily cover more than I actually can cover - I made the bonbonniere boxes and the sweets that went in them; 120 boxes which means 480 serves of sweeties!!  Well more, actually, because I HAD to taste test - A LOT, lol!!

The sweets were coffee-macadamia marzipan, chocolate coated mint fondant, Raspberry liqueur ganache and "Tablet" which is a Scottish form of fudge (my mother is Scottish as is the brides family, so it was a sort of tribute to our heritage, oh and it tastes REALLY NICE!!

I did use the computer to print all the names on the bonbonniere boxes (and the guide to the sweets on the insides of the boxes) then stuck them on sheets of double sided sticky paper, which made it a little easier.  I've got to say, if I had my time again I would buy the boxes pre-cut instead of cutting them myself out of sheets of card.  A lot of unnecessary work, oh well you live and learn!!
Well that's about all the info you need on a wedding cake, lol.  Hope you enjoy the photos, until next time Happy Crafting, Dee.

What's a Birthday Without a Cake?........

As I posted previously, 7th August was my Mothers' 80th birthday, one of the things I did for her special day was make a cake.  Pink frangipanis are one of her favourite flowers and make a nice bright splash on what is here in Australia, a winters birthday.  Mum has been one of my staunchest fans ever since I started my life in craft, with cake decorating, 28 years ago and has always loved icing lace, so of course this cake has icing lace!  I've gotta say, the cake tasted good too and I baked an extra one at the same time - it's put away for Christmas - can't wait!!

The flowers and leaves are made of icing,
airbrushed with food colouring

The Lace is icing, the Pearls and crystals...... aren't!