No Sketches, No Challenges, Just my own Design...

I really shouldn't be making cards so late into the evening tonight. After my parent-teacher interviews today I didn't get home from school until 8pm. They all went very well and my parents all seem happy...I am pleased...but their children are doing very well..so thats all good!

I was on the phone to Mum tonight and she leaves for the wedding tomorrow. Mum and Dad will travel with my Grandparents for two days to get to the wedding. A big effort! Anyway she hasn't got a card yet for Kate and Pat so I said I would make one for her. This is what I came up with. She probably will end up choosing the one I made last night because she doesn't like black for weddings, so I will probably write on this one. I used my stamps Lucinda gave me a few years back as a present. I inked them with pale pink ink to add a touch of romance to the card. The photo doesn't actually show up the hearts very well. One has "love" written all over it in fancy handwriting and the other has hugs and kisses. The "forever" sentiment is a white Stampin' Up rub on over black paper. I think its modern and and a bit different to a traditional wedding card. I love to read your comments, please tell me what you think...

Alicia xx

A Wedding Card

This weekend we are going to my cousin Kate and her fiance Pat's wedding in Noosa, Queensland. I made them a wedding card following the sketch for Mojo Monday. I wanted to make it a mainly white card with silver to pretty it up. I used papers from "The Alphabet Stack" by DCWV. I just love this premium stack of papers that I bought from Big W. I have used it so much since I have purchased it. My "happily ever after" stamp is from Stampin' Up - a retired set I think.

A busy day for me tomorrow...Parent/Teacher interviews until 7:30 at night...wish me luck! I hope all my parents are happy and kind to me! I hope you had a fun-filled Tuesday...

Alicia xx

Blog Candy Give-Away

Happy Monday!

Come and sign up for my Blog Candy give-away. There are some gorgeous stickers, embellishments, ribbons and papers up for grabs! Scroll down to the blog post to enter. Somebody has to be the lucky winner!

This card I have made for my friend Elaine's little girl Mackenzie who turns two this week. I combined the Cupcake Craft Challenge to use five embellishments and the Sketch and Stash Challenge sketch.

The five embellishments I used were:

1. Silver ribbon

2. Large pink and white flower

3. Smaller pink flower

4. Pink button

5. Small pink glue-on flowers.

The stash I used is my new "Lilly" stamp. I have only used her once before...and she is very cute! This was the sketch to follow if you would like to have a go at the challenge.

Turquoise and Yellow

I was really inspired by Kath's card from Kath's Blog seen below. I love how she has used the colours turqouise and blue to make this card. I also love the papers and the scalloped edges around the card. I also love the flower stamp and the swirl with stitching. In fact I love everything about this card! After seeing Kath's card it inspired me to have a go using the colours yellow and turquoise. The colours seemed to go with the weather today - bright and sunny! Because I am not making cards in the middle of the night today! (Amanda - you will be so pleased!) I photographed the card outside on our front grass. I used my new stamp that I received in Cheryl's Blog Candy "Lilly" from Bizzy Becs Stamps. I used a sketch from Inspirational card Sketches. I also used Stampin' Up card from the bold brights collection. It is definately very bright! I coloured the image using my aqua painter and stampin' up markers and ink pads. (Although Lilly looks a bit pale out there in the bright sunlight - she doesn't look as pale indoors.)

I decided to put some white card on the inside to make it easier to write on and added a verse from Stampin' Up "Cheery Chat".

Well I am off to two parties now...Jesse's farewell and then a 30th Birthday at North Burleigh Surf Club. It is a beautiful Gold Coast day out there...time to get amongst it! Have a great day.

A busy day and Lily of the Valley Challenge

Hello! What a busy day today has been...We made Anzac biscuits at school and did lots of talking about the ANZACs...We are also studying "Charlotte's Web" this term and so we managed to get the Charlotte's Web display up on the back wall of the classroom. Then it was home time and I tried to get a bit of housework done and out of the way so I can relax and enjoy the weekend...Finally, then, onto some card making!

I started this Lily of the Valley challenge card last night but kept having trouble with the images, but when I picked it up tonight it all seemed to work, thank goodness! I know I have been using a lot of the same colours lately, but I had lots of pink papers still out from the last card and they just fell onto this card. I wanted to use my new Magnolia stamp again to have a bit more practice with it. It was my good friend from uni Regina's 30th birthday yesterday and I think this card will be perfect to send to her. Hope you like it...

Alert: Blog Candy Giveaway!

After winning some blog candy from Cheryl I thought it would be nice to put another candy package back into the blogging world. Inside this blog candy package is lots of different scrapbooking papers, ribbons, embellishments and stickers.

To enter you need to do three things:

1. Leave a Comment.

2. Post a link on your blog.

3. Become a follower of my blog, if you would like to view my cards.

I will post this complete package worldwide to the lucky winner drawn on the 16th May, 2009.

Good luck! You never know this could be the package that you will win!

My very first Magnolia stamp and card

My friend Amanda who works at my school gave me a birthday present today all wrapped up with a gorgeous card and it was a Magnolia Stamp! I was so surprised and excited when her daughter Chelsea (who is in my class) handed it to me this morning. I had to make a card tonight to thank her for it. I combined two challenges Cute Card Thursday Floral Fantasy and Friday Sketches. The Floral fantasy challenge meant you had to include a flower somewhere on your card and I copied the Friday Sketch as accurately as I could - but I had no oval punches or cardboard cut-outs and couldn't find anything oval to trace so I had to modify the sketch slightly. It took me all night to make this card! Which is why I have to post quickly tonight and get myself into bed ready for school tomorrow! I hope you like my very first Magnolia card. I think its a bit cute!

Colour Create Challenge - Mother's Day Card

This week's challenge at Colour Create was a pink, black and white theme with polka-dots. I used a sketch I have used before to create my card. I love this sketch with the four square panels. It is so simple, yet effective. I thought I would turn it into a Mother's Day card as this date is approaching quickly and I need four Mother's Day cards for my Mum, Ben's Mum and our two Nans. I decided to do a basic inside for the card as well because the base card stock I used felt a little bit flimsy. I used a Stampin' Up rub-on for the inside. I love those rub-ons. They give a really nice finish. Overall I really like this card, I haven't decided who to give it to yet. I will wait and see how the other Mother's Day cards turn out and choose an owner for this one later. At least I have one ready!

Busy Weekend

Hi Everyone!

We had a busy weekend away visiting family and going to Scotty's 21st. His card was a big hit (by the way) and everybody signed it. As well as attending the party we caught up with my sister, Alli, and her family. We visited her new house and farm near Tamworth. I wanted to post a picture of my gorgeous nieces Charlotte and Molly. This pic is me, Mum and the girls at Alli's house. Aren't the girls gorgeous! No cards this weekend unfortunately and after an eight-hour drive home today I am feeling a little too weary to embark on a new project. Back to school tomorrow - no more holidays, but hopefully more time to create!

Scotty's 21st Birthday Card

This weekend we are celebrating my brother-in-law's 21st Birthday. I was asked to make a card for all the family and friends to sign. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law emailed me a couple of photos to add to the card. I wanted to use the colours blue and silver as they are his favourite colours. I also wanted to show his interests; guitar and basketball so I used some cut-outs for this. This card actually took me hours to make. I used papers for the inside and the back of the card as well. Hopefully the inside will get filled with lots of birthday wishes from family and friends. I hope Scotty likes it!

Kreativ Blogger Award

Wow! I am so excited and grateful to receive this special award from Cheryl! Thank you Cheryl. I have only been blogging for a short time and have seriously become addicted. Cheryl has been very kind to me and has made lots of lovely comments on my cards. I really appreciate her support. If you are reading and don't know Cheryl, she is an Australian Stampin' Up demonstrator and a very talented and creative card maker. Why don't you check out her blog "My Cardmaking Haven".

Here are the rules for this award:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog

3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award

4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting

5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers

6. Post links to 7 blogs you nominate

7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.

Seven things about me that are (hopefully) interesting:

1. I was born in Tamworth (North-western NSW)

2. I went to University in Newcastle NSW

3. I have been living on the Gold Coast QLD for 5 years.

4. I have two neices Charlotte and Molly and two nephews William and Ryan.

5. I just got Wii fit for my birthday and so am beginning a new exercise regime.

6. I love teaching the kids in my class and I love working with the teachers at my school.

7. I LOVE the beach.

My Seven Kreativ Bloggers are...

1. Madonna

2. Kristy

3. Lulu

4. Kellie

5. Cathy

6. Jennifer

7. Paula

Combined Challenge on my Birthday

Well today is my 29th birthday and I have had a lovely day. Lots of phonecalls and messages from family and friends in the morning and this afternoon, the house to myself and plenty of time for card-making!

I have combined the Little Paper Shop colour challenge using the colours So Saffron, Perfect Plum and Certainly Celery with the Sketch and Stash #8 sketch. I was lucky enough to have all three of these colours. For the Sketch and Stash challenge my newest stash (that I have never used before) is my new Stampin' Up stamp "A kind word" you can find this stamp set in the new catalogue. I also used my neglected "Leaves Awash" jumbo roller from the 2007-2008 catalogue. I wanted to keep this card nice and simple and fresh looking without too many embellishments. I coloured the girl using my stampin' write markers. The colours chosen by Little paper Shop go beautifully together and the sketch was flexible and easy to create with.

The Pink Elephant Challenge #10

Hi! Had a lovely day today with Mum, Dad and Ben we went out for lunch in Brisbane and then to the Museum. I am so sick of the rain that has been falling for the past four days and would like some sunny Queensland weather back.

I had a go at "The Pink Elephant Challenge" which was to use the colours pink, green and yellow. I searched for the brightest pinks, yellows and greens I could find and I had to add a little blue into the mix due to it being in the ribbon. It turned out to be a bright and cheery card. I love the bright colours best!

Happy Easter and Sketch Saturday Competition

Happy Easter everybody! Hope you are having a lovely long weekend. Mum and Dad are staying with us for three nights and they arrived this afternoon. I am looking forward to having some quality time with them, eating, sight-seeing and of course shopping (with Mum)! Hope the Easter Bunny has visited your house! The children in my class spoiled me with lots of yummy chocolates so we have began to eat our way through those eggs.

I attempted the Saturday Sketch #46 and created this card using Stampin' Up papers I haven't used previously. I actually really love the papers because I think the colour combinations are different to many other papers I have seen. Not really sure if I love the card so much. Tell me what you think...

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge 27

This was a chocolate and orange challenge. Chocolates with orange filling are not my favourite chocolates - I am more of a peppermint or strawberry girl, but this challenge was loads of fun! I have never used chocolate and orange together on a card, but I love the colours together on the cards I have seen at the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge Blog. I had a great time making my card, collecting all the papers and embellishments I could find in brown and orange and putting it all together. I love colour challenges and the sketch was simple to make but when you added on all of the embellishments it turned into a very fancy card!

Friday Sketches Number 24

I was inspired by Heidi representing Norway on the Friday Sketches blog to use the colours red and green for this card. I haven't used many large circle cut-outs in my cards before so this was a refreshing sketch to copy. I used Stampin' Up Summer Picnic paper with Old Olive and Real Red card. The flowers were made with Spring Flower Bouquet punch and I added a Cherished Memories white rub on to the Real Red crossgrain ribbon. I think it ended up bright and cheery! It was lots of fun to make.

Cute Card Thursday Challenge - Marshmallows and Chocolate

Yummy! How good does this Cute Card Thursday challenge sound! I love marshmallows and chocolate so I couldn't wait to make this card. I used a sketch by Kristen from 2sketches4u to help me plan the card, chose my papers and got to work. I really enjoyed making this card because I love the colours pink and brown. So does Carmel my first follower, so she might like this card as well! I used Kindy Glitz to add a bit of sparkle into the centre of the flower. This card will be perfect for my brother's girlfriend, Renae. Her brithday is coming up next week.

Mojo Monday Entry

I had a second go at the Mojo Monday Competition. I succesfully followed the sketch this time around. I used the Stampin' Up "Ahoy Matey" set.

Mojo Monday Contest

I had a go at the Mojo Monday contest, but I think I got a little off track of the sketch. Perhaps I was more "inspired" by the design. This card is for my teaching partner Michelle. She has been wonderful to me this term photocopying for me and keeping me organised and on-track! I hope she likes the card. I might have another go at this sketch tomorrow night and see if I can be more accurate to the design!

Addicted To Scrap April Sketch Challenge

I decided to have a go at the Addicted to Scrap Monthly Sketch Challenge. This is the first competition that I have entered with scrapbooking. I followed the design template and this is what I created. This is an old photo of me, my cousins and my sister in our Auntie's wedding. If you would like to enter the competition follow this link.
http://www.addictedtoscrap.com.au/Competitions.htm