100 Followers!!!!

WooHoo! I've just noticed I've hit the big 100 Followers. 

 I'm so pleased; I've never offered any Candy or incentive to Follow me, so I feel that you guys that do follow must like my "stuff"... at least a little bit :-)  Just to thank you and let you know I appreciate you I will be offering a 100 Follower candy, open to those first 100
I'm going to Malaysia in ten days, so I will grab a load of bits and pieces over there to add to it (my Mum and Dad have been bringing me back goodies for years, this is the first time I've ever been for myself).  So, stay tuned, and I'll be back in a few weeks with CANDY.... of course if you want to Follow me and don't already, I'd love to have you!   I'll be doing another candy much sooner than 200 Followers  and will do some mini candies for Follower-or-nots because I really believe that you shouldn't feel pressured to Follow :-)

Sending Owl Our Love

My Uncle has been battling cancer for more than two years now, recently he received some less-than-good news so he's heading down the chemo path again for the fourth time and I thought he - and his wife, my Aunty - could do with some Hugs and Kisses so I made them this card.

I thought I'd try something new (well new for me anyway) and colour on Kraft paper.  I used my Prismacolor pencils and I'm pretty happy with the result.   As a sort of point of comparison I coloured the same image with the same colours on white card... it looks completely different - I'll post the card I've made with that one.... when I've made it, rofl!!
One Stop Craft Challenge has Colour on Kraft and Papertake Weekly has Getting Krafty for their challenges, so I'll be entering there.
The image is one of the Love Owls from Pink Gem, it's one of Janet's newer releases, all of which are just as cute!  Paper Crafting Journey  has Make It Cute as their challenge theme, so I'm entering there and Cute Card Thursday has Things with Wings, so in there too. Crafts 4 Eternity has an interesting theme this time around: Social Media, to be Inspired by Twitter (or Facebook etc) I don't know whether my bird image is "Twittery" enough, but I'm taking the gamble and entering there too.
I've used the sketch from Gem of a Challenge as well, just because I liked it :-)
The papers are from Kaisercraft; the Homemade Collection, and the vertical panel IS different from the background (hard to tell, I know) so I'm entering the Simon Says Challenge to use three different papers.  The sheer ribbon, which is one of those lovely two-tone jobs that's impossible to capture on film! is from my stash, as are the pearls.  I've had everything on this card, except the image, for ages and now Lisa has extended the criteria at her for-fun challenge Waste Not Wednesdays to include any long standing stash, I'll be entering there.  
I used Nestabilities Fleur De Lis to cut the image panel, originally I cut a brown cardstock frame to put around the image but then decided to use the Kraft paper and distress the edges with ink (Versamark Bark)... this left me with the frame which I used on the inside to frame the jotting panel
My Aunty is the one who really loves owls, here is the card I made for she and my Uncle for Christmas, Paper Play Challenges has "For Mother or any female relative" as its theme this time, and while this card is for my Uncle and my Aunty I think it qualifies.  Joanna Sheen and Crafty Sentiments MONTHLY Challenge both have Love is in the Air as their theme; this isn't a card for Romantic Love but it is Love nevertheless so I'm entering those challenges too.  Moving Along With The Times has Lots of Layers, which is always easy for me... I love my layers (this card has four, five if you count the ribbon!) and the Allsorts Challenges theme is Anything Goes, which is easy for everyone, lol.
That's it for today, hope you like my card.  I'll be back in a day or so (my hubby is having a few health issues of his own so we're on the tests-results-more tests-worry roller coaster at the moment meaning it's hard to find Crafting time... then again isn't it always??!!) Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Happy Anniversary, Darling

Today I'm showing the card I made for my husband on our anniversary last Saturday - our 34th!  Happy Anniversary, Darling.

It may seem a bit "girly" for some, but it echoes the colours of our wedding party, with my "going away" dress (a custom that seems to have disappeared) being this very colour and my husband Stefan wearing a brown suit with a big Velvet bow tie... it really was the height of fashion, who was to know how cringe worthy it would be in 2012, lol. To tie in with that fabulous bow tie, I have used a brown crushed velvet type of paper to mat with instead of card stock, hubby - to his credit - noticed!!!!
Deep Ocean Challenge this time is Pink and Brown, this is the peach side of pink but I think it's there, so I'm in.

I've used textured card to make a gate fold card, which I like but find quite hard to photograph! Crafty Creations challenge is Fancy Folds, so I'm entering there.
The image is from Tiddly Inks, it is called "You and Me" and is the same characters as I used on last years anniversary card (here) that my darling liked very much.  My hair was that long when we got married, I had it "put up" for the wedding and it took over an hour to brush it out before bed on the wedding night, auspicious start, eh? :-)  I've coloured with Copics.  Fairy Fun Fridays has Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Crafty Calendar has Love and Marriage, Charisma Cardz has Anniversary and the  Crafty Sentiments MONTHLY Challenge is Love is in the air... so I'll be entering You and Me in all those challenges :-)

The papers are digital, the Chocolate Valentine set from Stitchy Bear Stamps.    The colour wasn't quite what I wanted so I "tweaked" it in Photoshop.  I added Platinum Stickles to all the hearts, it's quite glittery in real life (I hate how it never shows in photos!) The Tiddly Tuesdays challenge this week is Sparkles and Digital Tuesday has Make It Sparkle so I'm entering there.  Just in case all that glitter isn't enough, I added Swarowski AB crystals to the corners of the panels and the die cuts (which I used Nestabilities Labels Three for), so I can enter Divas by Design  Bling It Up challenge.
The inside of the card uses more of the Chocolate Valentine paper and loads more of that yummy brown velvet paper - a gift from my son Chris who got it from Starfish Lane... my hubby has given me one of their vouchers as an Anniversary present, some kind of serendipity happening there, methinks :-)  The Simon Says Challenge this week is to use 3 papers, which I have!  I inked the edge of the sentiment panel with Versamark Bark ink, and added the "Love" and "Always&Forever" metal embellies on the side panels, leaving plenty of that velvet on show helped "unpeach" it a bit, lol.  I added a back to the image panel and inked around that too... it looked pretty ordinary when the card was open before that, I can tell ya :-)
That's it for our anniversary card, I hope you like it.  I'll be back soon with another card... or maybe I'll just post a picture of my hair (which I took from "really long" to "pretty short" a few years ago, so I have a digital piccie of it just prior to the chop!  So really, a photo of my ex-hair, lol.  I did have it cut from my longest to razor cut (again, the fashion) when I was about 26, my dad still has the pony tail in a shoebox... he never wanted his little girl to have her hair cut... even though I had two kids by then.  Enough babble, until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna 

April Showers...

The card I have for you today was made as a Design Team project for All That Scraps, but in a very sudden turn of events the Digi Design Team has been scrapped; so I am no longer on it - if you get what I mean :-) It makes the sentiment on this card kind of poignant; life's all about doors closing and windows opening.  

I was offered a place on the Challenge team, and while I enjoyed my stay I've decided to lighten my commitment for a while. It means of course, that I can once again enter the All That Scraps challenges, and as this week is "fancy folds" that's exactly what I'll be doing with my little easel card.
The image is Honey with Umbrella, digi of course!  Isn't she cute? Paper Crafting Journey has Make It Cute so I'm entering their challenge.  I coloured her with Copics and meant to add gloss to her little boots but completely forgot (just like yesterdays card), I've been super busy so my brain is a bit crowded at the moment, lol.

I used the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday, a beauty as always :-)  The papers are from Inque Boutique and Echo Park, with blue cardstock from American Crafts.  The ribbon is from my stash, as are the tiny buttons, Pollycraft has Ribbon and Buttons as their challenge this time, so I'm entering there and Totally Papercrafts has Ribbon and or Bows, so entering there too.  

The flowers, which were white until I inked them up with some Versamark ink were in my stash too. Cute Card Thursday and the Cutie Pie Challenge both have a Flower Power theme so I'll be entering there, Make It Colourful has Spring Colours as their theme so I'll be entering there too.
The sentiment is computer generated, and since I took these photos I've added the faux stitching to the "bring May flowers" panel.... didn't even see that I'd missed it until I posted the photo!
I cut the image panel with Nestabilities Classic Ovals and the mat with Nestabilities Scalloped Ovals.
Allsorts Challenges has Anything Goes all this month... so this is this week's entry.

Well, that's it for today.  I've still got a couple of cards to post - at least things are not so manic as they were last week so I should get them up this week.  It's hot again (Summer in Australia, seriously what do I expect, lol) it was hot really late today - 37c (100f) at 4pm so it's still warm now (10pm) and it's forecast the same tomorrow.  Looks like the air con will be on in the bedroom again... last night I had the air con AND the ceiling fan on, I think my hormone pills are struggling... maybe not, maybe it's just HOT :-)  One thing for sure I'm looking forward to those April Showers...

Vintage Feel at Here Come The Boys

Here Come The Boys  has a new challenge starting today with the theme "Vintage Feel"  As it was my son Matthew's birthday on Friday I used the opportunity to make a card for him.  He loves all things mechanical and he's feeling old (he's only 31!) so I thought he'd like the "old timer" look of this card.... and he did!

The fabby steampunk image is from Tickled Pink Stamps, he's Li'l Victorian Steampunk Lad Eric (what a mouthful!) and he's coloured with Copics... I meant to put gloss on his goggles, but I forgot - oh well it looks alright without.  I've had the image for quite a while (I bought it as soon as they were released) so I'm entering Digital Tuesday's challenge to "Use your stash" and Waste Not Wednesday's to do the same (it's good to be using some of my horde of digis!)

I've used this yummy sketch from Sketch and Stash, as well as using a digistamp from my stash I've used the fabulous chipboard cogs that I won -along with a bunch more - from Make It Crafty, thanks Zoe :-)  I grunged them up a bit with Ancient Page ink, which I used around the edges of everything else too.

The background paper is a digital freebie from Free Vintage Digistamps, they have masses of vintage and ephemera... for free! I've never "done" steampunk before (I think of it as the masculine version of vintage, or lace-less vintage!) so I'm entering the Fab'n'funky Challenge to Try Something New.  The stripy paper is from Kaisercrafts Up, Up and Away 6" pad and the brown card for matting is from American Crafts.  I used my new MFT Open Zig Zag border die to cut a more-masculine scalloped edge.  The twine is from my stash, I grunged that up with Ancient Page ink too!  Cupcake Craft Challenges has Entwined (use twine) as its challenge theme, so I'm entering there.

The sentiment is from Bizzy Becs, it's from the Vintage Tag Sheet (loads of different sentiments on an A4 sheet, easily cropped out in Word).  Sundays with Chrissy has Birthdays as its theme so I'm entering there.  There are three or four layers on this card, it looks so much chunkier in real life!!
I fiddled around with buttons on the corners of the image for ages, but the plastic ones I had didn't "fit" and I the wood ones were too big, in the end I just added four brass brads and they seem just right (sounds like the three bears, lol).

As usual I finished the inside of the card with elements from the front, the background paper is from the Kaisercraft pad too.  I added a brad to the centre of the cog on the inside, looks okay - maybe a bit like a wagon wheel :-)
Well that's it for my first steampunk style card, I've got some more of this range of stamps in my stash so it no doubt will not be my last, and it was fun!
Don't forget to check out the rest of the inspiration over at the Here Come The Boys Blog, and why not enter the challenge too.... as long as your card is suitable for a guy, young or old, and has a Vintage feel - you're in!  There's a great prize on offer too; a voucher from Digi Doodle Shop.
I'll be back tomorrow with another one of the cards I've made that are patiently waiting for posting :-)  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Happy Anniversary to the Olds

Today I have another "White on White"card I made as February's Guest Designer for Bizzy Becs, there's still plenty of time to enter the challenge and there's more inspiration being posted today as a mid-challenge reminder.  I made this for my Mum and Dad's 61st Anniversary earlier this month... it's the month for Anniversaries, ours is on Saturday but they've been going a lot longer than us, lol.

The image is "Flossie Congrats" from Just Inklined, coloured with Copics.  Lisa's little challenge Waste Not Wednesdays gets us to use Unused stamps (or unused stash now), I've had this image an embarrassingly long time, like soooo many, so I'm entering there.
My Mum has a little blue budgie that she adores, so I made sure the bird on Flossies hat is nice and blue - even though my Mum looks nothing like Flossie, lol.  Now to be honest, as well as my Dad being her sweetheart, this little fella (called Cuddles, believe it or not!) has a large chunk of her heart; Fairy Fun Fridays challenge is Let Me Call You Sweetheart, so I'm entering there.
Of course, being a White on White card, the paper choice was pretty straightforward :-)  The background of the card uses some yummy quilted satin card from Starfish Lane. I did the embossing on the other panel with Cuttlebugs Kimmi Luvs folder and punched the edge with Martha Stewart's Doily Heart border punch.  All the matting uses a very fine corrugated silver foil board.  Crafty Emma's Store challenge this time is to use three or more Layers, never a problem for me.... I'm in!

The ribbon and the small hearts are from my stash.  Digital Tuesday wants us to Use Our Stash, so I'm entering the challenge. The inside of the card is finished with elements from the front, aren't they always, lol, I used more of the hearts from the front; they were coloured but I did deepen the colour a little to match my image with Copics.  I didn't use the coloured ones on the front... white on white, remember ;-)
There are loads of challenges I think my card "fits"; Charisma Cardz has Anniversary, Crafty Calendar has Love and Marriage, Addicted to Stamps has Valentines/Love, Crafty Sentiments has Love, while Totally Gorjuss has Lurve... which is nearly the same just trendier :-)  I know it fits the Allsorts Challenge because the theme is  Free and Easy!!
Well that's it for my White on White Anniversary card, I've got to say that I've long avoided WoW, but it really was not difficult at all... and it does let the image "shine".  Why not give it a go yourself over at Bizzy Becs, the prize is fabulous; in fact 2 prizes of Memory Box dies - I've got to get some, they're yummy - of course I can't win, but YOU can :-)
I've got a few cards in the pipeline, well in drafts on my dashboard, which is nearly the same, lol.  I'll be back tomorrow with one of them, though it is my son's birthday today - his house for dinner and Black Forest Cake (mum made as requested, lol) and our Anniversary tomorrow (1 hour massage booked for the morning and Dinner at flash restaurant in the evening) so I'm not sure when these posts will magically do themselves, I've gotta say, from a time management perspective.... massage wins!!  Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna xx