Show us Your Colouring Skills at Di's Digis

The new challenge starting today over at Di's Digis is right up my street... we want you to show off those colouring skills.  Colouring is the favourite part of card making for me, sometimes I like to mix it up with some fab papers, but most of the time I just love colouring those images :-)
For today's card I decided to colour up TWO images and make a "different" sort of card...

I've used Candy Star Ted and the Background Xmas Fireplace for this card; I wanted to create a sort of scene, with Ted having fun outside in the snow knowing that inside that window there's a nice warm fire burning :-) It's really hard to photograph, but I'm sure you'll get the idea!  Crafty Calendar wants to see bears, so I'm entering there.

I cut the window panes out (just with my paper trimmer) and added acetate - it's amazing they just look like holes then you add acetate, completely clear acetate and voila they look like windows! (well they do IRL, of course it's hard to see in the pic) I coloured the images with Copics, adding some Prismacolor pencil shadows and embossing the fur trim with Pastel Opal glitter (there's some on the snow too, I know you can't see it!), Gold Stickles on the star and the centres of the flowers on the fireplace and Royal Coat Gloss on the fire. The Crafts-Too Challenge You Theme is Texture, Twist: add something shiny/glittery - plenty of glitter here, I'm in. I did some basic colouring of the back of the bear because you can see it through the windows.  Charisma Cardz want us to Decorate the inside of our card, I have in spades!
The patterned papers are digis from Bearly Mine, the Christmas Frolics set. I cropped the stripy paper for the carpet and I even scaled one of the papers down (in Word) and cropped out the picture for above the fireplace, mounting it on a gold oval cut using Nestabilities Scalloped Ovals - I love digis :-)  Totally Gorjuss wants to see Traditional Christmas Colours, and Pile It On wants to see Warm or Cool colours - I've used Warm - so I'm in.
The snowflakes are from Marianne Design, embossed with the Pastel Opal glitter again, the brad on the ones on the front is from my stash and is the only true embellishment on the whole card!! I put some on the inside of the front to cover up the "legs" of the brad.
The panel with the fireplace image opens the opposite way (a bit like a Joy Fold card I suppose) revealing the jotting panel below... more of the same paper collection and more of those snowflakes and another brad from my stash :-)  Hiding in my Craft Room has a Lots of Layers challenge so I'm entering there.

Designed to Color has Anything Goes (provided you use a coloured image of course)as do Digi Makeover, Crafts 4 Eternity, Through the Craftroom Door, Simon Says Challenge, Bearly Mine Challenges and Marianne Design Divas (using a product from Marianne Design, like my snowflakes!) so I'm entering all of those.

That's about it for my "little bit different" card, I had a ball making this - and worked out some of the pitfalls... like making the middle layer a little narrower than the front to give it room to close; of course I didn't work it out before I cut it, hmmm, I know for next time :-)

I hope you get a chance to check out my teamies offerings, fabulous as always.  and I hope you get a chance to "Show off your colouring skills" and join in the challenge. Great prize as always, this time it's the Cutting Café with the choice of 3 items from their shop :-) and if you use a Di's Digi image you go in an extra draw too.

Nathan and Emily... 6 months old today!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, we are watching the footie grand final today, and making the most of tomorrow with our son Matt and his family as he is starting back at work on Tuesday... hurray!!  It has been a long (17 weeks to the day), and at times difficult journey, and while we know it's not as if nothing has happened it feels so much closer to "normal" now.  My hubby can take it a bit easier, and in a few weeks Matt will be back up to speed and we can maybe take that week off we've been trying for since MAY!  We're heading into summer, which is our "silly season" so a break before that would be great.

I've still got a few cards I haven't "blogged", I'll be back in a few days with one of them, until then, Happy Crafting, Donna.

Here Come The (Baby) Boys

Well as the title suggests, the new challenge starting today over at  Here Come The Boys is Babies... Baby BOYS that is!  Here's my card

It's funny, some cards just seem to be more fun to make than others, this was one of the "fun" ones!  
I used the gorgeous Wee One from Wee Stamps, I've flipped it because I just prefer my image to be "looking" to the right (I dunno why!) and with digis it's so easy to make it happen :-) The Pink Elephant want us to use a digi image or digital papers, so I'm entering there.
I've coloured using Copics, adding some texture and highlights to the baby's hair with Prismacolor pencils.

I used coarse textured blue card for my matting, it was super thick and quite hard to cut with my lovely new border punch (one of eight my Mum and Dad got me when they were in Malaysia recently, thanks Mum xx) Bunny Zoes Crafts want us to use Something Blue, plenty of blue here, I'm in :-) The theme this time around at Clear It Out is: Men/boys and the Stash element is: Punches or die cuts - I've used both so I'm in there too.  I used one of the  punched out scrolls on the edge of the image panel, adding a baby bottle die cut I got in a set from Make It Crafty, painted white and embossed with Pastel White glitter.  The image is mounted on a mat cut using Nestabilities Lacey Squares which I also embossed with Pastel White Glitter (using Hot Set Powder and very fine glitter), it looks so nice and glittery IRL! The  Crafts-Too Challenge You challenge is Theme: Texture, Twist: Shiny/Glittery so I'm in.
The sentiments are from Bizzy Becs Digi Ticket Stubs, Little Boy. Totally Papercrafts has "Happy Birthday Baby"  (Birthday or New Baby) so I'm entering there, Crafts 4 Eternity has Cute Kids - this wee one definitely fits the bill so I'm in there too, Cutie Pie Challenge has A Cute one for the Boys so I'm there and 

My Mums Craft Shop has Boys Only, as does Eclectic Ellapu so in there as well.

The papers are from a pad I got in Spotlight, Totally Gorjuss has a "Dotty" challenge so I'm entering there.  The ribbon is from my stash as is the Card Candi and the little pearls on the scroll border; Addicted to Stamps has a 1 2 3 challenge... I've used 1image, 2 sentiment tickets and 3 embellishments (Card Candi, ribbon and pearls) so I'm entering there.

I finished the inside, as usual, to match the outside.  Through the Craftroom Door, Divas by Design and Colour Me Copic all have Anything Goes challenges, so I'm entering there.

I hope you get a chance to pop over to the Here Come The Boys blog and check out the rest of the Team's inspiration.  Hope you get a chance to enter the challenge too, a baby BOY card is always a handy thing to have on hand :-) 

Well that's it for today, I actually have a few cards that I've finished, taken pictures of and sent so I should be able to show you those soon - I just have to find the time to "blog" them, lol.

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

Falling into Autumn

Well I know you guys in the Northern Hemisphere are "fall"ing into Autumn - I know this because here in the land Down Under we're "Springing" into Spring, lol.  The challenge starting today over at Di's Digis Challenge Blog is to use Autumn or Fall colours - easy for me really, as I love rich earthy colours, ironic in a way as (as well as it NOT being autumn here) we don't get much in the way of an autumn - it jumps pretty swiftly from summer to winter, which is very mild... anyway enough waffling here's my card.

I've actually used two of Di's lovely digis on today's card, the scene is set for Daphne Donkey and her little birdie friend with the Background image Tree and Fence, actually I used the background stamp twice, flipping one copy and cropping the tree out of it; I then put Daphne in front of the "join", all done so easily in Word - and one of the reasons I love digis so much:-)  Gem of a Challenge want us to Use Two Images, so I'm in.

I've coloured the image with Copics, adding the clouds with a home made stencil and Versa ink.  I added Viva Decor Pearl Pen to the centres of the flowers (on the image) and Stickles to the bird.

The papers are Prima's Fairy Floral on the front and Basic Grey's Indian Summer inside (though that was a bit "pink" so I went over it with Copics to make it more autumnal). We're not the only ones having an Autumn challenge; Bearly Mine Challenges, Corrosive Challenge and My Time to Craft all have Autumn colours, Deep Ocean Challenge has Goodbye Summer (hello autumn?) and Card Mania Challenges has Favourite Colour Combos this is definitely one of mine :-)  

I reduced and flipped the image of Daphne and added it to a jotting panel inside the card.

The mats are Bazzill I think, though the inside and outside don't quite match, so one may be something else!

I used some of the orange card from the mats to cut a Memory Box Lavish Branch die, which I then cut up to use in my floral arrangement, along with some greenery cut with a Martha Stewart Branch punch.  The daisies are from my stash (they were on a long stem from a discount store for $2, love a bargain!).  The small flowers are a Carl punch (I think) with Viva Decor Pearl Pen centres,  Cuttlebug Mania have a Back to Nature challenge so I'm in there.

Cute Card Thursday have It's Hip to be Square, so I'm in there too - I'm pretty square and my card certainly is, lol.

Pile It On have a Bingo challenge; I used the Patterned Paper/Dies or Punches/Autumn Colours line though I could have used Autumn Colours/Image/For a Child line too.

I made the sentiment on the computer, I'll have it on my freebies page shortly, though it did only take about a minute to do :-)

Well that's just about it for today's card... very easy really, Through the Craftroom Door, Addicted to Stamps, Totally Gorjuss, Seize the Birthday and Hobbycutz all have Anything Goes challenges running so I'm entering them all.

I hope you get a chance to check out the rest of the Di's Digis team's inspiration, and get a chance to enter the challenge too... we have a great prize from Crafty Ribbons, and of course if you use one of Di's uber cute images, you're in with a chance to win two more!

It's been raining HEAPS here today, we still managed to get a bit of blue sky and sunshine in, but it only got to 18C and is blustery tonight - feels quite autumnal, lol.  

I didn't come to Australia until I was 13, living in Wales for six years before that - it rains here differently to there; very heavy but not for days on end (well that's how I remember it, but then I was a kid and maybe it just seemed that way!)  

We have already received our average rainfall expected by the end of September, so above average to date, just as well as we have been miserably short for years and our dams are down to 30% capacity.  The Eastern States of Australia are just about up to capacity, but we in the West are a long way from there... in fact we are quite a bit closer to Singapore than Sydney so their weather doesn't necessarily relate to ours.  There I go waffling again! 

Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna 

I've Got Some Christmas Blues... and it's only September!

Well I sort of have the Blues... we have a new challenge starting today at Here Come the Boys - and the theme is "Blue Christmas in September"

The fabulous image is from Dr Digi who is our sponsor this fortnight, this is Surfin' Santa and you can grab yours here.  Divas by Design has a "Water Themed" challenge so I'm entering there and Deep Ocean Challenge has You Are My Sunshine so I'm in there too.

I coloured with Copics, adding a white highlight to the sunglasses, and some gloss to them too... just for good measure!  
Fab'n'funky Challenges wants us to use Opposite colours (of the colour wheel), I have so I'm in, Stampin' for the Weekend  has Colours of Summer and Sweet Stampin' has Got the Blues (only like I have, lol) so I'm entering them too :-)  
The papers are digis from Bearly Mine Designs, the Christmas Wishes set, the blue card is Canson and the white matting has glittery dots all over it, so nice IRL.  
I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches, the horizontal band has the white glittery paper and the blue has been punched with a Christmas punch that my lovely Mum just brought me back from her (latest!) trip to Malaysia.

The snowflake charm is part of a challenge win from the lovely Nikki at Bunny Zoe Crafts, attached with bakers twine; The Crazy Challenge has a Bingo theme, I've used the "Charms/Image/Punches or Die Cuts" row.  I've got loads of layers here... 
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long wants to see 4+ Layers, so I'm in, and Crafts-Too Challenge You want to see Texture + Your Style... I think I've got enough texture and this card is my "style", such as it is (focus on the image and only a few embellies - whatever you'd call that style, lol)The sentiment is from Create With TLC, my 'go to' place for sentiments, Aud Sentiments wants us to use Any Sentiment... too easy!  The pearls are actually Pebbles from Scrappers Must Haves, they're translucent but didn't look quite right, so I gave them a coat of Stickles, now they look just fine :-)
I finished the inside using the same sketch, dispensing with the charm, lol.  

Whimsy Inspirations Challenge has Masculine as their theme, as do Creatalicious Challenges and My Mums Craft Shop so I'm entering there. Bearly Mine Challenges, Addicted to Stamps, Totally Gorjuss, Through the Craftroom Door and Paper Crafting Journey have Anything Goes challenges while Papertake Weekly Anything Goes with the option of Christmas, so I'm entering there too.

Well that's it for today's card, I hope you get a chance to pop over to the blog and check out the rest of the team's "Blue Christmas" cards, why not get a start (if you haven't already!) on your Christmas cards... you'll be in with a chance at some of your own Dr Digis too - bonus! 

I thought I'd share the latest photo my son (Matt, not Chris the photographer) took of the twins the other day with his phone, they're nearly five and a half months old now - wow, time's flown! I'm sharing this pic over at Sassy Cheryl's Show Me Thursday blog, such a fun space :-)
Matt's still not back at work yet, the amputation site has healed over, he has started driving again and is going to the gym daily to try and get some flexibility back in to his foot where the scar tissue is hard and inflexible (and to build up his leg muscles which have wasted a little over the last three and a bit months)  He should be back to work by the beginning of next month, he is slowly increasing the time his foot is down, currently it swells once it's not elevated for more than an hour or so.  He has yet to get his orthotics and prosthetics are probably out of the picture as the quote came in at $16000!! a bit much for two toes, when they only last about three years.
One thing about having all this time at home is that he is spending a lot of time with the babies there'll be a lot of adjustment when he goes back to work... for everyone!
Anyway, I'll be back in a few days hopefully, with another card; until then Happy Crafting, Donna

It's a Birthday Challenge at Di's Digis

We have a new challenge starting today at Di's Digi Challenges, the theme is "Birthday"  - too easy!  I decided to make a tri shutter card

The Di's Digistamps image I've used is  "Wendy's Presents", coloured with Copics and some Prismacolor pencil shading.  

I heat embossed the blue present and Wendy's headband with Iridescent EP, Digi Makeover has Embossing Heat or Dry for their challenge so I'm entering there and Bearly Mine Challenges has Digi days (Use a digi image or digi papers) for their challenge; never a challenge for me... I LOVE digis :-) so I'm in there too.
This tutorial for a trishutter card from Splitcoast Stampers is really good - I "metricated" the measurements - soooo much easier than that "one sixteenth of an inch" stuff, lol.  Creative Craft Challenges has Anything But Square for their challenge so I'm entering there.The papers are from Kaisercraft's Bubblegum Hills Collection, I added some white and some silver pearls from my stash to give it a bit of a lift. The butterflies have a lovely glitter finish, so much better IRL, Pile It On wants us to use Designer Paper, I'm in and Anything Goes Challenge has In the Garden plus Add some butterflies - so I'm in there too.

The pink flowers are from my stash, the centres are self adhesive (and nice and glittery too!) the flourish is Memory Box Corner Bow cut up.  Cuttlebug Mania has Die Cuts for their challenge so I'm entering there, the sentiment is computer generated; Aud Sentiments has Any Sentiment for their challenge, Seize the Birthday has Anything Goes Birthday and Through the Craftroom Door, Simon Says Challenge and Paper Crafting Journey all have Anything Goes challenges so I'll be entering them too.
Well that's about it for today's card, tri-shutters are really very simple cards to make (a bit time consuming with all the cutting and matting, but easy-peasy), the other thing I really like about them is that when they are "shut" they fit into a standard size envelope for mailing... provided you don't overdo the embellies of course, lol.
Hope you get time to pop over to the blog and check out the rest of the team's inspiration - and with such an easy (and useful) theme I hope you can enter the challenge too.  There's a super prize from Sweet Stamps and if you use one of Di's fab digis you go into an extra draw too!
I've got a few images coloured up, all I need now is time to make the cards to go with them, lol.  I have made a card for my Dad for Father's Day (which is tomorrow here in Australia) I was hoping to get one made for my hubby too, but it's 10pm and I only have time to make pavlova (for tomorrow's family breakfast - held here every year) or a card, the vote is currently strongly for pavlova, lol.  One way or the other, I'll be back in a few days; until then Happy Crafting, Donna

Roll Out Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

I'm back today with a card for the new challenge over at Here Come The Boys, with the theme "Lazy Summer Days" - I am a bit late with my post as I was quite unwell earlier - I'm feeling a lot better now, thank goodness!

I've used one of the many fabulous images from Dr Digi, who is our sponsor for this challenge, this is Ambrose King of the Waves.  I've coloured with Copics adding some extra shading (which is really hard to see in the pic!) with Prismacolor pencils and some gloss to the eyes and swim mask. The clouds I did with versamark ink. A Little Bit Crafty  has Summer Sun, as does My Mums Craft Shop so I'm entering there.  Anything Goes Challenge  has By the Sea, Crafts-Too Challenge You has Summer Fun - Beach Colours, The Paper Shelter has Holiday Time and Without Words has Beach Holiday/At the Seaside so I'm entering there... and hoping that my card is CAS enough to qualify. 

I've made the card base with Kraft, again!  The mats are from scraps I had from a DCWV Mariposa pad, you can see them in my "red" scraps folder :-) Tuesday Throwdown are challenging us to Use Our Scraps... I could probably make a thousand cards with my hoard of scraps, lol.  The designer paper is from a Design by Dani pad "All American Summer", I got it as a digi from Jessica Sprague...   I've just discovered this site and they sell Echo Park Hybrids (one of my all time favourite pads is EP Walk in the Park... which is available as a hybrid, yay!)  I did have a bit of a spend up, aah, again :-)  Pile It On has Designer Paper as their challenge so I'm in. The only embellishments I've added are a couple of eyelets and the seashells, which I bought in a pack from my LSS.  I've added some to the front and also to the inside to use them as a stop for the easel. 

I cut the image panel (and the jotting panel inside, with more inked clouds) with an Mpress Victorian Frame die, I hand cut the mats using the die as a guide.  The sentiment is Craftworks, also with a freehand mat.

2 Sisters Challenge wants to see Square Cards, so I'm in, and Little Red Wagon wants Layers so I'm in there too.

Gem of a Challenge want Anything with a B - I have Beach, Burn (check out Ambrose's shoulders, nose and bald pate, lol), Bathers and of course Birthday. Seize the Birthday has Anything Goes Birthday (as always), so I'm in, Cards for Men has "funny birthday" and Inky Impressions, Cuttlebug Mania and Creatalicious Challenges all have "masculine" challenges, so in there too.  My Time to Craft has Sports (swimming, well Ambrose will go swimming after he's finished his ice cream, lol) and Through the Craftroom Door, Colour Me Copic, Cutie Pie Challenge, Paper Crafting Journey and Crafty Calendar all have Anything Goes challenges so I'm entering them too.

Hope you get a chance to visit the blog and check out the rest of the team's efforts, brilliant as always!  With such a nice broad theme and that fab prize from Dr Digi, hope to see you enter the challenge too :-)  

I'll be back in a few days with a card I've got sitting on my desk, until then Happy Crafting, Donna