Mixed Media Tag, Rustic House, Male/Female

I'm much later than I had hoped to be with getting anything finished, photographed and posted on this blog...  and I'm woefully behind on commenting again...  but truth be told I'm dealing with some stuff that's hellish right now.  I'll update the Autism section at some point soon to give more details...
All I'll say for now is it involves my daughter and in many ways we're going through a similar situation to the hell we faced five years ago.
Life can be so very unfair...

 I'm sorry to those of you I regularly stop by to say hello to.  I will try my best to catch up again...

*

I'm here today to share my DT take on Erin's tag over at Tag You're It.
Are you playing along?

I tidied up my craft area over the Christmas break so I could finally get back to something a little more 'messy' design wise.  A little bit of ink, some texture paste and my beloved dies were all that was needed for this quick and easy make...

Now normally I would get myself all 'het up' about that cloud at the bottom not being perfectly done.  But seriously, you go look up at the sky and find me a perfectly formed cloud.  

You found one...  Really???

In other words...  I can live with it.  Just this once.  And if I change my mind it will be very easy to place the stencil back over and reapply a bit of extra texture paste.

Here's Erin's tag...

I was initially stumped over what to do instead of that caravan (I have no vehicle dies or stamps) and toyed with the idea of a window, tree and cloud mini scene design...  until I had a rummage through my die cuts and found this house.  It's so basic and 'rustic' looking, but there's just something about it that I absolutely love.  And it has a door AND a window...  just like the caravan :)

Supplies Used:

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress 'Mowed Lawn'
Tim Holtz Distress 'Stormy Sky'

Stencil:
Memory Box 'Mini Clouds'

Dies:
Quickutz 'House'
Marianne Design/Craftables 'Tiny's Pinetrees'
Marianne Design/Craftables 'Tiny's Winter Village'

Other:
Texture Paste
Brown Twine


Challenges I'm entering...

Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge
(All snippets)

The Sisterhood of Crafters
(Something Old, Something New).
Although the Quickutz Die is old, it's new to my die collection...

Craft Rocket Challenges
(Challenge #7 'Clean and Simple')

Have a good weekend...

Donna. x

Faux Aperture, Bird on Branch, Female

Happy New Year!

I've made a quick 'no ink' card today that I'm planing to use as a 'notelet' or 'thank you' card later on in the year.  

Why?

Because I've learnt from experience that these are the cards I like AND need to have to hand...  

For those of you who may not have seen my last 'no ink' creation, my trick with 'no ink' cards is to add texture...  but as it's a quick make, texture paste is out of the question!

Instead, I focus on embossing folders and pair them with textured card stock (normally Hammer card).  Clever use of layers and adding sequins, gems or Dew Drops to my die cuts is normally all I then need to do.

Yes, I know a lot of you will gasp at the very thought of a 'no ink' card, but it looks ok to me.  

Am I wrong???

Dies used:

Memory Box/Open Studio 'Finnegan Fronds'

Memory Box 'Grove Branch'

Spellbinders 'Nesting Squares/Small'

Spellbinders 'Nesting Circles/Small'

Embossing Folder:

Tim Holtz/Alterations 'Birch Trees'

Other:

Black Gem

Flower Sequins

Foam Pads

Collall 3D Glue Gel

Perhaps it's because I'm still quite new to card making, but I like to 'know' that I have some cards/techniques/layouts that 'work' for me.  

Then I can recreate them in a fraction of the time that it took me to come up with the original idea.

Of course, this does mean that I end up keeping some of my cards simply to remind me 'how to'.

Does anyone else do that?

Challenges I'm entering...

Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge

That's Crafty

(Anything Goes)

Cute Card Thursday
(Challenge #406 'Anything Goes')

 4 Crafty Chicks

(Crazy egg/Anything Goes #279)

Creative Card Crew

(Challenge #103 'Anything Goes')

Wishing you all the very best for 2016...

Donna. x

Christmas Crackers, Bird on Branch, Female

I don't know about you, but sometimes I know exactly what it is I want to make.  

Other times, it's a design or a picture/colour palette that inspires me...  

...  and then there are those times when it's the blog challenge itself that 'sparks' my creativity.

  This was one of those times.  

You'll notice that I've made two of these.  

Both exactly the same, except that...

 ...  the acetate one is purely decorative.

 (A Christmas decoration or cutlery/napkin holder to 'dress' the table on Christmas day)...

...  whereas the silver one could actually be used as a fully functioning Christmas cracker or as packaging for a small Christmas gift. 

Dies used:

Tonic Studios 'Christmas Cracker and Sentiment' 

Memory Box 'Twigs and Berries'

Memory Box 'Holly Vine'

Memory Box 'Woodland Branch'

Memory Box/Open Studio 'Finnegan Fronds'

Other:

Sheena Douglas/Festive 'Snowfall'

Gesso (White)

Black Jewel Embellishments

These Christmas crackers were specifically made to join in with the latest Memory Box challenge...

Other challenges I'm entering...

Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge

(Both crackers are made entirely from my snippets stash)

Simon Says/Wednesday Challenge

That's Crafty Challenge Blog

As You Like It

(Favourite Traditional Christmas Colours and Why)

I adore the harmony of putting red, green, white and dark brown together.

Bunny Zoe's Crafts

(Sparkle)

Sparkles Christmas Challenges

(Challenge #59 'Die Cuts for Christmas')

Many thanks to those of you who have been kind enough to 'follow' me or who regularly stop by to read my blog and leave a comment.  It's been lovely getting to know you all over this past 10 months or so.

I apologise for not being quite so active lately.  

I've been recently diagnosed with something called Histamine Intolerance and it's been making me miserable.  I spend most of my time feeling 'rough' with the various side effects of trying new foods only to realise my body simply can't tolerate them and I lost quite a lot of weight in the 'clean' diet phase...  but hopefully things will improve.

Happy Christmas. 

Donna...