Mo's dp 2 challenge dt and some sad news

We have another great challenge on Mo's challenge blog today and its one of those that most of us shy away from " Masculine"

Well i gotta admit that this is always a challenge for me, i am never sure what to add to masculine cards so i tend to try and keep them rather simple.  for my card this week i decided to use Johan, and sure he is gonna come in real handy soon as its my sons birthday on the 1st July.  My son is also quite the guitarist, or should i say, he likes to think of himself as quite the guitarist, does it count if they play the guitar using that programme for the tv, not sure what its called, lol.

Anyway i just gotta add here that it really doesnt matter what Mo image i use, i LOVE them all!
I saw the MS punch used on my friend Barb's card and thought i GOTTA have it, so now that i do own one, i seem to be using the thing to death as you may have noticed it on a few of my cards recently.

The panel that has the music notes on is a stamp from one of the local stamping companies, unfortunately i dont know which.  Also the little guitar charm was from my charm stash and loved that it fitted in with this image, as i said not many things can be added to men's cards so this works for me.
Enough gabbing, i am off for coffee with a friend this morning so will catch you later
smiles
Paola
The sad news is that our talented dt sistah Sheila has decided to step down from Mo's challenge team, she has been on the team since the very begining and it is so sad to see her go, i would like to wish her every happiness and success in whatever future ventures she takes on.

Tomic #54 challenge dt

There is a fab new challenge on Tomic and for this challenge its Tags and flowers.
I'm really no good when it comes to tags, i seem to have this mental block that if its a tag its too small to do anything with, and once made what am i gonna do with it?

While talking to Barb the BFF the other night i made the first tag, and when i showed her she said "No thats not it! you gotta make another one"  I gotta say she was right, the first tag looked my poor Tilda was standing in a thistle bush.  I am just loving these papers and colors right now, so i went with the same paper for the second go at the tag.

so i re thought the tag thing and then i was quite pleased that i had.  I added the little hat to it since the image i chose has a hat, adding ribbon and pearl sprays.

I hope you too will join in the challenge and enjoy the process of creation with us this week on Tomic
smiles
Paola
Paper:  Bo bunny and basil basics
stamps:  Tilda with straw hat and Tilda with hellebores
inks: copics and memento
dies: spellbinders, doohickeys, Xcut, and ek success deep edge flower
other: pearls, butterflies and pearl sprays from the stash

P.S: will enter this into:
Midweek Magnolia's: anything but a card, and mine is a tag

the Paper shelter challenge dt

Our latest and greatest challenge for the Paper shelter is up and running and this week its "the great outdoors.
I had seen a tutorial on doing the sunlight reflection under water at Make it crafty and the tutorial was done by Barbara, oh hell i dint come close to doing what she accomplished, but i really need to add that my effort really does look better in real life than here on my blog.

I teamed up the image from the Paper Shelter digi shop here with soem rubber that i have had for ages, i also masked of the diver for my card using Paint Net as i really only wanted the mermaid.
Image was colored with my copics and i did add loads of spica to her tail and to the water bubbles, not sure you can actually see it in the image.

The ek success punch that i used for my border down the side of my card, i just love, but someone who played with it last has obviously started the process of it going to the dump as i had to hammer it to punch this border, so goodbye my fond friend the wavy ek successs punch :(  will have to see if i can replace it.
I hope you will join in the fun on the Paper shelter challenge blog this week, i look forward to seeing everyones take on the great outdoors
smiles
Paola

Mo's dp 2 challenge dt

Can you tell i am up to my old shenanigans, yep thats me, late as usual, this week i have a great excuse, will share at the end of my post.  First up we have our new challenge up and running on Mo's challenge blog and this week its "At the park"

Now i remember when i was young my late father used to take us to the park and my brothers would make paper sail boats and sail those around in muddy patches that i am sure now as i look back were meant to be some kinda duck pond, but being Africa were rather dried out puddles,lol

Hence my thought for using this darling sailor boy image available here
my card is pretty self explanatory, and before you shoot me for the cheapie embellishment, i personally thought it kinda cute with this image,
Ok, my reason for being so late today is that this morning i attended a culinary course with Sharon Glass who currently has a television show in SA and writes recipe books.  Well i can honestly say, i do know how to cook, in fact have invented a few of my own recipes, but my family were certainly wowed by the dinner they got this evening.  So heads up for Sharon's recipe's.
have a great weekend
smiles
Paola

my time to play

For those of you that follow my blog i am sure you're aware that my life has been hectic of late, to say the least.
I have three little kids, we have recently moved into a house from a condo, i have started teaching again recently and that too takes up a lot of my day time craft time, also i am on the Magnolia ink dt and that demands that i find time to make projects and send to Sweden.  So i havent had very much time to play, i kinda try and get my dt commitments done and then the demands of life also need to be seen to.  Well i sent my projects off to Sweden today, i am neglecting the house work and the kids are safely plugged in to the TV.  TIME FOR ME TO CRAFT!!!

i had so much fun making this card and am gonna enter it into the challenges listed below.  What inspired me to make time to craft?  Have you seen the fantastic card that Norma made here!  Those clouds and background just blew the wind right out of my sails and i thought, even if i NEVER measure up i gotta try that.

 So i followed the links she has from where she was ispired, watched a few more you tube videos, and thought ok here goes nothing!!  Well i did mess up, but kept going till i was happy with what i saw, then cut the card and wouldnt you know it! the image was wayyyy toooo big for my card, i wasnt going to color another one, so if you look at the bottom of the image you can see a coupe of chopped pieces where i had already cut my image in one nestie and then had to figure another one that would still cut the image so i could use it.

I am also nuts for little sprigs in my flowers as fillers, so i made these little brown ones which i love making, work for the brain dead, yep thats me right now, lol

Added loads of stickles, the sentiment was cut by a friend of mine who was gonna throw them away as she said the machine had burnt them, i love the burnt look!
challenges this card fits:
Its a Magnolia challenge #34: pink and brown
Lovely hanglar or sweet magnolia: faourite color combo
Magnolia down under: winter
Tilda's town: sketch
have a great week
smiles
Paola

Ponchos pronto

 We went ice skating this morning, it is so cold here in SA, if you were planning a trip to Africa thinking it would be warm, rather go to the desert, it is frigid here, we have 10"C, which means around 47"F.  Go somewhere warm!!!

 Why go ice skating when its so cold, well it is as cold in the ice rink as it is out doors, so when we came home at 2pm i got stuck right in and made the girls these ponchos, now if that isnt a poncho pronto, made two in about 1 1/2 hours, the girls love them.

be back later with a card hopefully
smiles
Paola

Mo's dp challenge dt

Our newest challenge on Mo's challenge blog is "Anything Goes"  which is a great excuse to pull out one of your freebies that Mo has generously given in the past or head on over to the store and grab one of Mo's fabulous images and join in our fun this week.

For my card i used the Dream image girl version, i colored her up a while ago and wasnt sure how or when i would use her, i just loved the image so much that when i recieved it i colored the image.
Sadly this is the very last of the echo park paper that i have in my stash, these two of each pattern blocks of paper, i have just loved this paper and used it so sparingly to make it last, alas that day came.

I made one of my flourishes using flat backed pearls from my stash and the sentiment was stamped for me by a friend and thought it so apt for this image.
have a great week
smiles
Paola

Going dotty!!

Our challenge on the Paper Shelter this week is Spots and dots, well i can say that after the day i have just had i sure am going dotty.

I decided that today would be the day for me to get some retail therapy done and spend a bit of the money i have been stashing away for just such an occasion, i ran from one end of the earth to the other, and i bought two dies and a set of punches, duh!!! does that mean i have everything i need or there just isnt anything available that i feel i gotta have?  GGGGRRRR!!!! I came home with purse still intact and most of what i left home with this morning still inside :(

Anyway onto our challenge, i LOVED this little boy image available from the Paper Shelter digi store here, he is called "Happy times", isnt he so cute, love that mop of hair, lol
Colored him with copics and the paper used is from a Papermania pack that i am eeking out, dont want it to finish as it is just my kinda paper pack, monochrome!
i also didnt want to over embellish this card as i wanted the focus on the image, so just gave him a ribbon and a banner.
the girls on the dt really have done a fab job so head over to our challenge blog and give them some love and hopefully you will join in our challenge too
smiles
Paola

Tomic- 1st Anniversary

WE are having a very special 1st Anniversary bash over on Tomic this week and i really hope that some of you will play along with us, the fun challenge is of course anything goes and there is also a surprise for the winners, to read all about the prizes pls head over to the Tomic challenge blog

I had to whip this card up in record time as i had almost forgotten about the challenge coming up and had planned on making something other than a card for the auspicious occasion, however when short of time this is what you get, lol

stamps:  Rose scent Tilda, old bench
punches: MS cherish, spellbinders labels 17, Nellie Snellen leaf punch and emboss, Leone Em
Papers:  MME and basil basics
sentiment: computer generated
Flowers:  handmade and from my stash, ribbon from the stash

have a great week

smiles
Paola
P.S; am entering this card into the challenge on totally Tilda: clouds