Tic Tac Toe-tally Challenge Time

Yep, it's that time of the fortnight again... time for a new challenge at Di's Digis Challenge blog; this time around we have a Tic Tac Toe or Bingo Board.  I made a Christmas card, I read somewhere that it's only 7 weeks until Christmas, 'bout time I got serious about the card making :-) I made an easel card, nothing unusual in that, but at least this one is round for a change

I used one of Di's newer digis.. this is Jolly Reindeer Cheers, you can get him here... isn't he the cutest??!!  
I thought the oval die cut on the circular card looked like a stripy Christmas ornament, the main reason I used it though was because I wanted to show the "fold" of the easel and have the image stand out more... this is how it looks set up
I  coloured with Copics and, instead of adding Stickles and Glossy Accents as I usually do, I heat  embossed the fur on his cap with a white glitter EP I mixed myself (oh so technical; clear EP and white glitter, lol) and Ranger Clear on his nose and the ornaments... it is a more subtle finish than the "liquids" I usually use, but it looks quite nice :-)
Ooh, now for that all-important Tic Tac Toe Board... I used the line "Die Cut/Digi Image/Hand Coloring" or was it "Fancy Fold/Hand Coloring/Sentiment", lol

The snowy sky background I made myself in Photoshop, feel free to grab it... I'll have it on my Freebies Page too if you want to come back later... I have it in two shades and is 15cm or 6" square so prints up to quite a good size 
I used Lifestyle Crafts Circle Dies to cut the card and DP (which is from Basic Grey) and a Spellbinders Oval Floral Die (not to be confused with Spellbinders Decorative Elements Floral Oval die for the image mat ... really?? couldn't come up with a different name Spellbinders, geez!)  The plain red oval is from that set too but the gold mat was cut free hand as was the image panel. Here's a pic from the back
Actually I have half the set of these Oval Florals... I was in my LSS and trying to decide whether to get the set, coz they're not cheap, and I only use the bigger dies in all my sets and hate the waste; another lady was pondering the same set of dies, I mentioned (coz I'll talk to anyone, anywhere, lol) that I only want the big ones, she laughed and said I only want the small ones, I suggested we buy one set between us, she smiled and we left it at that... then when I was paying she approached me asked me if I was serious and we did exactly that; both left happy and even the shop owner was pleased as neither of us would have bought a set so one sale is better than none! 
I used a nice cream pearl card for the mat, it embossed beautifully too.

I used another Spellbinders die on the inside, it's one of the Banners set that has sat unused in my craft room for well over a year, oops! The embossing on these dies is what makes them a stand out... I cut a mat for the sentiment as it just didn't look finished without one.
The (digi) sentiment is from Pink Petticoat's Traditional Christmas Greetings set, the gold beaded thread and gold flatbacks are from my stash.
Well, phew, that's it.  If you made it this far, WELL DONE... I did manage to fill a page with info on what is a VERY basic card, but hey ho :-)  Hope you get a chance to check out the rest of the team's inspiration... and a chance to enter the challenge too of course, great prize on offer as always, and there's extra opportunities if you use one of Di's cute images... a digi from her webstore or one of the Candibean stamps if rubber's your thing ;-)

I'm entering my card in the following challenges 

Crafty Creations Colourful

Fab'n'funky Challenges Die Cuts and/or Punches

Cute As A Button Winter
Pink Gem Christmas Critters

Sweet Stampin' Christmas Christmas Travel (Reindeers = Christmas travel, hope so!)
Graphit Colour Challenge Christmas Sparkle 

Great Impressions Bling on the Holidays

Pile It On Anything But Square or Rectangle
Wags n Whiskers Not a Square
CCEE Stampers Circles (apart from 

Crafty Hazlelnut's Christmas Extra Challenge Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion Anything Goes

Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes

Through the Craftroom Door Anything Goes

Crafting With Friends Anything Goes

Creative Fingers Anything Goes

Art by Miran Anything Goes

Little Miss Muffet Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly Anything Goes

I'll be back soon.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Make a Wish

Another easel card today, I do like my easels!  To mix it up a bit, this one is a circular one.  Long post and lots of pics today (I know, not unusual!)  

I cut all the circles for this card freehand, using a pair of compasses... how "old school" of me, lol, except for the image panel which was cut using Scalloped Circle Nestabilities,  The Crafty Pad has To Die For as its challenge so I'm in!  The Secret Crafter has Circle Cards and Moving Along With The Times has Anything but Square for their challenges, so I'm definitely in there.

I've used the sketch Sketch and Stash this time, "converting" it to a circle format, but all the elements of the sketch are there -promise!

I've used a digi image from Pollycraft... unfortunately they're no longer in business, you can get some of their images from Little Miss Muffet Stamps but sadly not this one, which was among the first I bought several years ago(edited to add: this image now available at LMM!!)... this is Fairy Clover "Butterfly Wishes".  Flutterby Wednesday has reopened (yay), the theme this time is Friendship, so I hope this qualifies... I've used plenty of  "fairy" AND "butterfly" (smiles sweetly) The (final, sad face) Creatalicious Challenges theme is Fantasy, so I'm entering there, and 2 Sisters Challenge theme is "In the Garden"... I like to think there are fairies at the bottom of MY garden, so in there as well.

I've coloured with Prisamcolor pencils... well technically I've coloured with watercolour pencils THEN Prismacolors; I coloured the image originally ages ago - before I even had any Prismacolors, and was going to ditch it when I had a bit of a clear out last week, then I started fiddling with it trying to "fix" it up, I spent so long on it in the end I was determined to use it - it's not the best colouring but I am happy with the card overall.  I added oodles of Stickles to Clover and her little butterfly friend, she's a fairy after all so it's practically compulsory :-)

The papers are digital;  from the Fairytale Too pack by Nitwit Collections  gorgeous IRL. Most of the paper's covered on the front, but you can see it a bit better on the inside.  Fab'n'funky Challenges wants us to Use Leaves this time, as well as the leaves on the floral paper I have used leaves on my little flower arrangement that acts as a stopper for the easel, so I'm entering there.

Sassy Cheryls Tuesday Challenge theme is Happy Birthday, the sentiment - which I cut from one of the tags in Kaisercrafts Magic Happens pad is perfect for a birthday so I'm entering there.  

The filigree metal corners were a gift from my blog friend Woo last Christmas, I hope she likes how I used them ;-) Allsorts Challenges want us so use metal, so I'm in.  The white string pearls have been in my stash for at least 13 years!  I used them a lot when I was egg decorating and have reels of them in a few colours, the lilac pearls and the Little Birdie butterflies are from my stash too, so, once again, I'm entering Lisa's Waste Not Wednesdays challenge to use up our stash... if only I didn't keep adding to it I'd be doing really well :-)  Cupcake Craftroom has Fresh and Summery (with the option of lilac and lime) this time around, I definitely have the lilac!  

The Stamptacular Sunday Challenge is Lets Hear it for the Girls, now I'm not sure if "fairies" equals "girls" in this scenario, but I'm entering there, so we'll soon find out :-) Stampin' for the Weekend  has a Monochrome challenge, we'll see if my card counts as monochromatic too... I understand completely if it doesn't, but there is an awful lot of purple and not much of anything else, so I think it might.  I'm sure I'll be alright in the Bearly Mine Challenges, Craft Your Days Away (another 'final' challenge, sob), Divas by Design and Paper Crafting Journey challenges as they're all Anything Goes!

Well, if you've made it this far... WELL DONE YOU!  I know there's been even more than usual pics in this post, but I have been playing around in my My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking programme that I treated myself too (exactly WHEN I think I'm going to get time to do all this scrapbooking beats me, lol) and thought I'd have a little go at something I've been admiring on Vicky's blog for a while... a compilation of photos... what a great way of getting "detail" shots in, don't you think?  This was my first effort, but I see lots of potential!

Anyway, that's it (hooray I hear you say) for today's card, which is of course so much prettier in real life.  I'll be back in a day or so; it's Father's Day here next week, so that's my card making themes sorted for the next couple of projects.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Snake, Rattle and Roll

Okay, I'm back from the bush and ready to roll….you could say “snake, rattle and roll” lol.  My card for today is for the Here Come The Boys Challenge…our theme this week is “Critters”.  

The image I’ve used is a digi from Just Inklined: I do love their cute but not cutesy images: I mean this little guy’s a snake and yet he’s still really appealing!  His name is Ringo and he’s coloured with Copics, with a little green Stickles on the rattle.  It’s the monthly “Digi Day” challenge at Stamp Something, so I’m entering there.   Creative Inspirations has Summertime as its challenge theme, and Divas by Design has Summer; Ringo is a summer kind of critter - well definitely where I live in Australia, (though we don't get rattlesnakes) so we’re in.

I made an easel card, because I wanted to make a round card and I find an easel is the easiest way to get round cards to sit straight!!  Whoopsi Daisy Challenge, Moving Along With The Times,  Crazy 4 Challenges and Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenges all want Shaped cards - other than a square or rectangle this time around (pardon the pun!) my circular card is definitely not a square, so I’m in.  

The image panel is cut and embossed using Nestabilities Standard Circles, as is the mat.  The background paper is from Basic Grey’s Lauderdale collection -part of the goodies I funded with a recent voucher I won…or should I say partly funded; you know how it is – you may as well add a bit to make the post worthwhile, before you know it you’ve doubled the value!!

The inside of the card is finished very simply indeed, with some paper from a scrapbooking pack.

I struggled to get the right trim for this card, in the end I am really happy with the twine (which I purloined from my husbands shed); I plaited three pieces to make it nice and “ropey” looking and just tied it off in a knot leaving the ends loose.

I cut the grass from a piece of hand-made green paper glued to light card to make the “stopper” for the easel – if I had a die cut I would have used it, but I don’t so I just used my trusty scissors.  I coloured the edges to finish them off a bit more.  The leaves along the front edge are from a ribbon or string I got ages ago, the little Kaisercraft pearls are from my stash.

The sentiment is computer generated – my husband suggested turning the capital “S’s” into little snakes so I added forked tongues, cute eh?    Craft Your Passion and Papertake Weekly have Anything Goes as their challenge theme, so I’m entering there too.

What an easy card…quick to colour and so few embellishments!!  I really liked making it; I hope you enjoyed looking at it.  So why don't you go over to Here Come The Boys and check out the rest of the Design Team critters? Check out the great 1000 follower candy up for grabs while you're there!

I'll be back soon, until then, Happy Crafting, Dee.

Pearl Says Hello

I told you I'd be doing some more mermaid cards!  This is Pearl Tidepool with her little friend Seymour, again the image is from CC Designs Sweet November collection available at All That Scraps. It is my round card and also myfirst easel card, I have made it so the personal message inside can't be read without opening the card, ie when it is on display you can't read what is written inside.  It does mean the card "lays" down a little, but being round meant that there wasn't a lot of room to write inside.

Pearl has been entered in a beauty competition!  More than one in fact!  I've entered this card in a few challenges; the Finally Friday challenge over at Two Peas in a Bucket (http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/challenges/ )this week was "make a friendship or hello card", also the Tickled Pink monthly challenge (http://tickledpinkstampmonthlychallenges.blogspot.com/) which was to use the sketch provided by Kellie Winnell - here it is 

The papers are from Kaisercrafts Hippy Girl 6"x6" paper pack .  I embossed the background with Cuttlebugs Tiny Bubbles embossing folder - how appropriate!!  The image is coloured with Copics and Versamark pigment inks  I glittered up her tail, as I did with Current Ebbtide and also glitter embossed the sentiment, though it hardly shows in these photos! I added pearl "bubbles to finish it off.