BBQ in a Box

G'day from WA :-)  The project I have today is a card-in-a-box I made for my son Chris's birthday... in 2015! (Well his birthday IS at the end of November so it's not as dire as it sounds, lol)  We bought him a barbecue as his gift so I thought I'd make a card that went with it

I thought the black and silver was "manly", and the papers I used were, in fact, part of the box of goodies said son bought me for MY birthday - he likes to know what he has chosen is "useful" to me so it gives him a buzz when he sees it "in action".  The black with silver glitter on it is a tissue sort of paper, the snippet of grey and white stripe is flocked and the silver and white on top is foil; all the food groups covered there :-)  The black and white polka dot strip is also paper, though I could just as easily have used ribbon.  The stars (MFT Die-Namics Stacking Stars) on the top are attached to acetate strips, 
I made the whole box from silver card, the decorative strip around the middle is cut using a die.  Of course the real feature of a "card-in-a-box" is what's IN the box... so here it is

Obviously, all the same elements used on the inside as on the outside... plus black leathergrain card. The barbecue is made from that card, the legs are black straws with an eyelet joining them and the wheels are Card Candi I've had in my stash for years.  
The controls on the bbq are silver flat back "pearls" and the red "light" is a hole-less pearl.  I used a jewellery finding (the type that you use to have a multiple string necklace) as a handle for the bbq lid.
Having a son called Chris is handy sometimes... the "Chris" on the right-hand panel was cut from a "Christmas" die, Memory Box I think, the Happy Birthday is an Elizabeth Crafts die and the 31 are Kaisercraft
The lid of the barbie opens too: I wish the plate of MY barbecue was as clean and shiny as it is on THIS one, lol

That's about it for my bbq in a box.  I would like to enter it into the following challenges:

As You Like It: Favourite Die and Why - "Chris", from the "Christmas" die... I love it because I love Christmas, use it a lot ... and the die cuts nicely too :-))

Card Mania Challenges Monochromatic
Crazy 4 Challenges #419 "Opposites" - black and white

Fab'n'Funky Challenges With a Number

Allsorts Challenges Old Favourites - the Christmas die, and those silver "pearls"

Pixies Snippets Playground Snippets (striped paper)
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Use Patterned Paper
Tuesday Throwdown, Aud Sentiments, Through the Craftroom Door, Digi Choosday, Creatalicious Challenges, Paper Creator Crafts, 4 Crafty Chicks, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, Crafting With Friends Challenge 59, Corrosive Challenge, Little Miss Muffet, Create and Inspire, Crafty  Creations, Creative Fingers and Simply Papercrafts all have Anything Goes Challenges

I'll be back soon (hopefully) with another offering, quite likely from my drafts... though I have been adding to THAT recently so it may not be an "old" make.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Oh "Deer", More Christmas Cards

Yup, it's another simple Christmas card (or two) from me today.  I will blog something different next time... promise!  These were made for this Christmas (2017); you can tell by their simplicity, lol.  They did look pretty nice IRL, truly :-)
The first is a scene that I made using inspiration from Pinterest
 
I embossed the base of the card with a really nice snowflake embossing folder from Die'sire (I think)... unfortunately it's a bit "munted" along one edge where I forced it through my Big Shot (causing some damage to that too, sigh) in a moment best described as, umm, tantrum!  I was tired, it wasn't going through - so I made it, I'm not proud, lol... and I have to try and replace the folder!  I cut the circle out of the gold foiled card with a Stitched Circle die set from Li'l Inkers that I've had for ages and hardly used, though I LOVE it.  I sponged in some sky, with a masked off moon, with pigment ink.  The snowbanks were cut from glittery fun foam using Stitched Hillside Border dies from Lawn Fawn... again I've hardly used them despite loving them!

The deer are Cottage Cutz, I used a snippet of gold-glittery card - it really WAS a snippet; I actually didn't have enough to do a complete deer, so Mr Deer has had a foot amputated... that's why it's tucked behind the frame :-)  Pixies Snippets Playground Snippets is well covered here, as is Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge: Anything Christmas, Option- Upcycle or use something old... that glitter paper is ANCIENT :-) 
The deer are popped up on foam dots, the hills are on different layers and the whole gold piece is up higher on more foam dots.  Tuesday Throwdown has "Layer It Up" as it's challenge theme, I think this qualifies, lol.  The snowflake dies were from a set of four on eBay... they were technically "for Christmas", but as I bought "a few" dies as my Christmas gift from hubby, I was able to filter out the ones I could use BEFORE Christmas - these cut beautifully and I have found that the fun foam is SO much sturdier than card, especially glittery card; this cut cleanly and you could really tug it out of the dies, be slapdash with the glue and position them more than once - try THAT with card, lol.  A few flat back pearls in the centres helped break it up.  Jingle Belles has "Look What Santa Brought Me" as their challenge theme, Santa was busy so I brought me with these dies - so I'm in, lol, Allsorts Challenges wants to see Something New as does Cute Card Thursday and 4 Crafty Chicks has Anything Goes with a "Use Dies or Punches" twist... in there too.
The second card is even more simple: I had the scalloped-edged card in my stash, I embossed it with a Couture Creations folder "Sugarplum Ball"... what a lovely crisp finish it gives!  
The image is from the net, I used my laser printer to print on linen card and laminator to add the foil... the sentiment is from Pink Petticoat, it doesn't show in the pics but that is gold foil too.  I just tied it on to the gold cord wrapped around the flap of the card. Done.  Card Mania Challenges has a Monochromatic theme, this should do, and The Crazy Challenge has Winter Wonderland - I think either card will do there, and either will do in these "Anything Goes" or "Anything Christmas" challenges:

As You Like It, Catch The Bug, Little Miss Muffet, Through the Craftroom Door, Digi Choosday, Crafty  Creations, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, Creatalicious Challenges, Crafting With Attitude, Paper Creator Crafts, Corrosive Challenge, A Snowflakes Promise, and  12 Months of Christmas all have Anything Goes or Anything Christmas Goes themes

Like I said I'll bring something better to the table next time... or at least it won't be Christmas!  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Simple Tidings

Firstly I hope you had a lovely Christmas, we did and as all the "duty" things are now out of the way I can relax a bit - may even have time to use some of the new goodies I got from the man in the red suit :-)
I have a "Twofer" today; for those non-Australians that is "Two for the Price of One"... both are really simple cards and I didn't think they (one in particular) merited their own post so, "Twofer" it is!!
Firstly I have one I made for Christmas this year; I bought a laser printer recently (and had a laminator) to get into the foil embossing "thang" that's going around, and BOY have I got into it :-)  This is the one of 19 I made using the technique somewhere on it this year!

Of course, I have now discovered that foiling is even harder to capture in a photo than glitter!
I used background paper that has foil strips on it; it was originally a 12" piece bought years ago.. I've slowly whittled it down and now have a very small snippet left, off this snippet, so I'm entering Pixies Snippets Playground challenge to use Snippets
I have a few pics here, not to show details; just to try and capture the shiny goodness of this foil
The sentiment is a freebie I got from the generous Paulette at Create with TLC, I added a shadow using Word - sometimes that just adds a shadow around the "outside" of the whole image, sometimes (like in this case) it adds it to each word.  Printed it using my laser printer then obviously then ran it through the laminator with Gold Deco Foil.  Ribbon from stash.

The second card is one I made for Christmas 2015 (I didn't make any last year) and was a bit embarrassed to "blog", it's so straightforward - I would like to say the biggest problem with this card was the photography - it looks so much better in real life.  I used Versa Linen card, edged with Gold ink.
I can't remember the source of the embossing folder, could be Sizzix, the snowflake border is a die from Memory box, as is the Candles (named, unsurprisingly "Memory Box Candles"), I inked those up after cutting too.  "Joy" is either a Sizzix or Memory Box die, I think Sizzix, cut from gold card
The sentiment on the inside is from the now-defunct Tickled Pink Stamps, the frame is from the same set: I love this stamp set, use it soooo much :-)
So that's it!  I am entering one or other of these cards in the following challenges, you pick which one :-)) Well, Cutie Pie Challenge  has "Stars and/or Snowflakes" as their theme, so that would be the second card with the embossing folder snowflakes (as well as the snowflake border) and Pile It On has "Non-Traditional Christmas Colours" as their theme so the first one with it's pink/peach/coral colour is the one for there... with the same card being for Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge (as it's the only one using patterned paper!),but all these other challenges apply to either card:
Sweet Stampin' Last Minute/ CAS Christmas

Paper Creator Crafts, My Time to Craft, Sweet Stampin' Christmas, Winter Wonderland, Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Extra Challenge, Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge, 12 Months of Christmas All have "Christmas" challenges and

Tuesday Throwdown, Simon Says Challenge, Cute As A Button, Little Miss Muffet, Through the Craftroom Door, Crafty  Creations, Crafting With Friends  Challenge #57, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, Create and Inspire, Creatalicious Challenges, Simply Papercrafts, Crafting With Attitude and Corrosive Challenge All have "Anything Goes" themes

So that's all for today, I am going to go and get dressed now... it's 2pm and I'm still in my PJs, as is hubby; which is something we NEVER do, in fact I think this is a first - really enjoyed it tbh :-)  We have to go out in a while, we're having a few friends over to bring in the New Year and really should get the ingredients together for the promised "Pizza night".  The weather is great, not too hot but warm enough for a midnight swim if you feel like it (though as we've got older we all are less prepared to mess up our hair/makeup than we were when we were younger, lol.  One couple that are coming we've known for 25 years, we don't care with them and they us, lol, but some of the others haven't seen us at our "glorious best", so we may not want to dispel the myth, haha.

If I don't get back, enjoy your New Year Celebrations and I'll see you in 2018.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

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

Another Simple Card

I have (yet another) simple card from my (yet again) Drafts Folder today, ONE day I'll get back into my Bloggin' Groove.  I've still got a lot of cards "unblogged" so I'll keep chipping away at them :-)
This is a card I made for my Sister in Law when her son died in 2015... I can't believe it is over two years since sweet Bradley went to a better place, but it is!

The grey and white designer paper is gorgeous in real life... just impossible to capture in photographs!  It has a lustre on the gold and a true pearl finish to the white... yummy!  It is from one of my "birthday vouchers" from my son, from one of my favourite haunts for "fab" paper... Starfish Lane in Perth.'

I popped the patterned paper (with flat black mat) up on foam dots.  I used versa linen light card for the image, colouring the sky and grass with Prismacolor pencils before printing the trees - which is just a free-to-use image I downloaded from the net, resized and flipped to make each tree look a little different.  I added a few native grass trees (Brad loved the bush) with permanent marker and some long grass and shadows around the base of the trees, I also added some highlights to one side of the trees to indicate light source... and to just break it up a bit!
The sentiment on the front is from a clear stamp set, can't remember the maker, the larger dots (they are faceted, but that doesn't show in the pics) are stickers I've had for yonks, the small flatbacks are also from my stash

In the inside I used a sentiment I made in Photoshop a while ago, I have the .png file for it on my "Templates and Freebies page" or here, if you'd like to grab it, and the same techniques and finishes on the front.  I added the jotting panel to the inside "cover" as I think it looks nicer than writing on the card base itself
... and that's it :-))
I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges: 

Moving Along With The Times Theme: Trees

Allsorts Challenges Theme: Colours of Autumn

Paper Creator Crafts Theme: Reds, Browns and Oranges

Cupcake Inspirations Using this pic as inspiration.......

Fab'n'Funky Challenges Theme: Masculine Touch

Cuttlebug Mania Theme: Masculine

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Theme: Use Patterned Paper

… and the following challenges have "Anything Goes" themes
Aud Sentiments, Polkadoodles, Cute As A Button, Little Miss Muffet, Crafting With Friends  Challenge #54 , Creative Fingers, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Create and Inspire, Creatalicious Challenges, Simply Papercrafts, Crafting With Attitude, Paper Creator Crafts, Corrosive Challenge, Card Mania Challenges

So that's all folks for today.  I hope to be back a little sooner with my next card, I also hope to MAKE a Christmas card or too... but it's my son's birthday (again, I know!!) so that will have to take precedence, along with his cake of course

Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Gift of Winter

I have a Christmas card from my (burgeoning!) Draft Folder today... this one was made for Christmas 2015 but it hasn't been "Blogged" yet so here it is

It's a very simple card, but I really love it.  Quite possibly the beautiful Sara Burrier image from Crafts and Me called "Gift of Winter" is the reason!  After printing the image on Versalinen paper I coloured it with Prismacolor pencils, I really like the effect of the pencils on the textured card.
The background paper is from Kaisercraft, can't remember the pack... it's probably one of my 6x6 pads (that's what I use the most) but it may not be; it's so long since I made it I simply don't know where to look, and if I'm completely honest my Mojo isn't quite back yet so I can't bring myself to get up and start looking for it!!
I cut the oval mat with Spellbinders Floral Ovals, love this set, and embossed it with gold embossing powder from Ranger - it doesn't give a smooth finish and is exactly the look I was going for with the vintage image and paper.  The poinsettia is a Cottage Cutz die (I think, the name I put on it has rubbed off!), the gold "beads" in the centre are actually from my stash of egg decorating supplies... from 20 years ago!!  Who said I'm a craft-hoarder, lol.
The little dove is a Memory Box die, I inked the edges with some Colorbox gold ink, which I used to soften all the edges on the card inside and out.  
Talking of the inside, here it is.  More paper from the same pad, the sentiment is a really old wood stamp - I should have juiced up my red inkpad but I think I get away with the slightly starved look - it has a vintage feel.  The same Spellbinders Floral Oval die for the mat, Spellbinders Standard Oval die for the sentiment panel and poinsettia die as on the front.  That's it

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Little Red Wagon What's Red All Over? (Use Lots of Red)

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Use Patterned Paper
Cute Card Thursday Vintage/Distressing
Hiding in my Craftroom Anything Holiday

Fab'n'Funky Challenges Christmas

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Anything Christmas Goes (opt: Things with Wings

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Extra Challenge Anything (Christmas) Goes

12 Months of Christmas Anything (Christmas) Goes

A Snowflakes Promise Anything (Christmas) Goes

Simply Papercrafts Anything Goes

Creatalicious Challenges Anything Goes

Create and Inspire Anything Goes

Polkadoodles Anything Goes

Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes

Creative Fingers Anything Goes

Crafting With Friends #53 Anything Goes

Crafty  Creations Anything Goes

Through the Craftroom Door Anything Goes

Little Miss Muffet Anything Goes
Simon Says Challenge Anything Goes

Thought I'd add a quick pic of the twins... my how they've grown!  We took them to a local park last week and my son Chris took a few pics - these ones are from LAST year, the same park though, lol, I'll add the current ones another day

I hope to be back soon with another offering (quite possibly from that Draft Folder... though I HAVE managed to add some "new" makes to it over the last few weeks, so it's not as dire as it sounds.  Until then Happy Crafting, Donna