Babies Everywhere!

Lots of babies coming into the world at the moment! My cousin Anita has a had a baby girl - Clare and my high-school friend Jo-Anne who lives in America has had a little boy - Lachlan. Another one of my cousins has had a baby as well, but I only got two cards made tonight. I am entering the baby-boy card (my favourite) in the Dare you to Digi Stamp Challenge.

My image is my well-used digi stamp Thomas in a Pram. Probably my most-used digi stamp ever! The papers I used were all scraps from here and there. I added some of the pearls from my pretties kit (I love these pearls) and did lots of machine stitching on both cards.

I had a lovely day today, a bit of shopping, some reading, a midday sleep, a walk down to the broadwater and to finish off the day some card-making. Can a day really get any better? I am loving being on holidays and having time for me.

I hope you had a lovely day also. Thanks for coming and visiting my blog.

Sunday Sketch and Stamp

Well, to celebrate the first official day of holidays I have two cards to post this morning. I am entering these cards in the Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge. I borrowed Lucinda's Cuttlebug embossing folder yesterday and used them on the silver part of my cards. I coloured in the images with my stampin' write markers and added some brads and pearls from my pretties kit. I really like this sketch. It is simple to follow, and lends itself to any genre of card with a rectangle shaped image.

A Bright and Cheery Birthday Card

I began this card a few weeks ago when I borrowed Amanda's SU Eastern Blooms stamp set. I finished it off tonight. I am really in love with this set. I stamped the flowers in Real Red, Tempting Turquoise and Yoyo Yellow. I thought it would be a good card for a Stampin' Up workshop - simple, colourful and it allows you to have a play, stamping the flowers onto whisper white. I am giving it to my friend Lucinda to see if she would like to use it in one of her workshops. The sentiment is not SU - but could be replaced with any sentiment that suits.

I am entering this card in the Charisma Cardz Challenge where you are free to stamp any theme and in any style. Sometimes it is nice to have freedom!

I went to a baby shower today for a girl at work. We played games, drank cups of tea, ate lots of delicious treats and watched her unwrap many gorgeous presents. Tomorrow is the first "official" day of holidays! I am going out for lunch at Red Rock to celebrate Carol's birthday. Should be fun. Sunny weather is predicted for this week so I am looking forward to a few strolls along the broadwater.

Hope you had an enjoyable weekend. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Sweet Sketch Wednesday

Wow! This was the trickiest sketch and colour combination I have done in a long time! At Sweet Sketch Wednesday you had to follow the sketch and use the colour combination - light pink, dark pink, green and yellow. I found this so difficult! I have been working on this card for the last three days - the little bits of time I have had.

My week has been very busy being the last week of school. The last two nights I have been in bed very early and so I have not done much in the way of stamping at all. I finally made it to the end of Term 2 and so now I am on holidays! I have a quiet week ahead of me and so I hope to post a card every day!

Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you have a lovely Saturday.

Magnolia Down Under - Pink, Brown and White

I couldn't wait to get home and make a card tonight. Yesterday I had car troubles and so I had to call RACQ and spent last night driving my car around town charging up the battery - the joys! There was no time to make a card last night and so I was really hanging out to create one tonight. I could have begun the endless and daunting task of my class portfolios but no way! I was taking a stand, I had to spend time making a card - time for me to relax and have some fun.

I love the challenge over at Magnolia Down Under. I chose the colours pink, brown and white, although it was a real toss up. I was nearly ready to go blue, brown and white - maybe I can have a go at that tomorrow... Anyway, onto my card details!

The back ground paper on my card is DCWV "The Sweet Stack" and the other papers are SU "Close to Cocoa" and "Whisper White". I am in love with "Whisper White". It is so smooth and the ink stamps so nicely onto it. The butterfly and flower stamps are retired SU "Bold Butterfly". I have always loved this set but only just purchased it second hand from Madonna. I am so glad I did - because I love the way you double stamp the outline and then the fill. I stamped it in "Pretty in Pink" and "Pink Passion". I added rhinestones to the centres of the flowers and kindy-glitz to the butterfly wings. I did some machine stitching around my Magnolia image and the background paper. I used a chip-board border (not sure of its correct name) for my sentiment and covered it in DCWV paper with brads from my pretties kit. I used my lace punch as well for some trimming.

Only three more days until holidays now...not long...lots to do, but I'm sure we will get it all done. I hope you had a fun-filled Tuesday. Thanks for visiting my blog.

"One Lovely Blog" Award from Cheryl

Thanks to Cheryl I am the proud recipient of this "One Lovely Blog" Award. What a sweet award. I would like to forward this on to two special card-making ladies who share my daily trials and tribulations... Amanda and Lucinda. These ladies are such wonderful stamping buddies - without them card making would not be as much fun.

Reports are finally over....

It has been a week since my last posting - and what a yukky week it has been! I have had to stop everything, card-making and life in general to get my dreaded reports over and done with! The Penny Black image on my card today is me now! Chilling out and rejoicing that they are finished!!!!

This card is for our good friend Josh who turned 28 two days ago. I have used all SU papers and ribbons. I am a little behind on the card-making front, but I will catch up. I have missed the blogging world and hope you are all well and happy.

Congratulations...

I began this card a week ago, but never finished it and it remained on my desk patiently waiting. This afternoon I took it out and used Amanda's cuttlebug swirl folder to add some interest to the background. I found some matching silver butterflies and coloured in a flower from my SU Pretties kit to sit in the middle. As I have nobody needing a congratulation card at the moment I guess it will be another one to add to the box at work.

Well, the weekend is just about over...I am going to head upstairs to the kitchen and do some cooking. An early dinner and a few treats for my lunchbox this week...I hope you had a nice weekend. Thanks for visiting my blog, I love reading your comments.

A touch of country...

I was having a little card making session today and I used sketch 18 from Card Patterns. I loved the sketch and was really inspired by the DT cards. I love these papers from SU called Washington Apple. I just adore the colours. I added some SU gingham ribbon to add to the country feel. I have been dreaming of the simple life lately and moving away from the hectic hustle and bustle of the Gold Coast and I think this came out in my card...

Hope you are having a peaceful Saturday afternoon.

Ribbon Border Card

I couldn't resist it. I had to have a go at creating a card with the ribbon border from The Next Level challenge. I think my Nan would like this card, she loves flowers and her favourite colour is blue. I am not overly "in love" with this card. Its not really my style, but I will add it to the card box at work. I sold another three cards this week - so I was very happy with that! I used SU papers and flowers and pearls from the pretties kit. I coloured in the flowers with SU markers. This week has gone so fast for me! I can't believe it is the weekend again - but hey I am so not complaining! I have a pretty busy day tomorrow, but I hope Sunday will be nice and restful. Unfortunately some report writing will have to be fit in somewhere....Hope your weekend is shaping up to be a good one!

A Blog Award from Linda

Linda was kind enough to pass on this Blog Award to me. Check out Linda's Crafty Creations, she has awesome pictures of her crafting space on her blog at the moment and trust me her craft space looks AMAZING! Thank you Linda for thinking of me!

The rules that go with this lovely award are to:

a) Thank the person who gave it to you.

b) List 10 honest things about yourself.

c) Pass the award on to 7 people.

1. My full name is Alicia Maree McNamara
2. I have one brother and one sister.
3. Both are younger than me.
4. I have been married to Ben for 7 years.
5. I love going on holidays and want to go on more of them!
6. I enjoy working with children.
7. I love card-making
8. I love shopping (with lots of money)
9. When I "settle down" I want to live on an acre block and have a few chooks, a dog and bring up baby lambs on the bottle.
10. I have three sponsor kids; 2 little boys in Africa and a little girl in India.

Now I need to pass this award onto seven people...

Amanda at Blop Blop Blogger

Amy at Tsurata Designs

Jeannie at Dragonfly Journeys

Cheryl at My Cardmaking Haven

Victoria at Blue Jelly Too

Alicia at Playing with Paper

Fi at My Crafty Spot

Digi Stamp Double Challenge

I received my first Cuttlebug embossing folder today and I couldn't wait to try it out. I showed my husband what it looked like and he said it reminded him of dinosaur skin. This comment inspired me to get out one of my dinosaur digi-images from Digi Stamp Boutique and make a card. I knew of the challenge at 365 Cards to use bold colours; orange, blue, green, red and yellow. I thought this would go perfectly with my dinosaur card. I also knew of the challenge at Bee Crafty to use a digital image and letters, numbers or words. I know this card is quite a simple design - but sometimes simple is best and I imagine this would be great for a little boy (or girl) who loves dinosaurs - and kids often like simple, bright objects.

Our Grade Two classes went on an excursion today to Paradise Country. A farm designed for tourists on the Gold Coast and school excursions. I can't post any photos of the kids having a fun time, but I have posted a few photos of some of the animals we saw today; a koala, kangaroo, cow and alpaca. It was a lovely sunny day.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Super Sketchy Sunday with Dragonflies

Jeannie at Dragonfly Journeys is sponsoring the 365 Cards Super Sketchy Sunday Challenge. I love dragonflies so I just had to play along. I have made this card for a teacher at my school who needed a birthday card for her Mum. Her Mum's favourite colour is green, so I used lots of green in this card (and brown and white to balance it out). I also used lots of 3D dots so the card pops out a little. I think its a bit cute. I like this magnolia image - she looks like a free-spirit with the flowers in her hair and her hair swaying in the breeze. My sister has a dragonfly theme in her house and she told me that dragonflies represent freedom. I think this girl looks free and at one with nature.

Stampin'Up Party

Yesterday we all got together at Amanda's house for Lucinda's Stampin' Up party. I was actually pretty good and didn't spend up too much! (Keep in mind, though, that I put an order in only just last week and the week before that too.) Anyway we all had a lovely time and we made three cards that you can see in the photo. By the end of the day five of us had all bought a Cuttlebug machine through some ladies who were at the Brisbane Craft Fair. It was all a bit too exciting! I am only just getting mine out of the box now. I was too exhausted after 8 hours of crafting and socialising yesterday that I slept 12 hours last night. Then today I did some reporting, had lunch at Paradise Point and went to Westfield for some new winter clothes, so I am only just getting to have a play now. The best thing is that tomorrow is a holiday - Yay! So no going to work - a whole other day of the weekend! I hope your weekend has been lots of fun too. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.

2 Sketches 4 You Ultimate Card Showdown

Because it is their 1st Anniversary over at 2 Sketches 4 You they are having an Ultimate Card Showdown. The challenge is to use Laura's sketch and make the most stunning card ever. For my card I really enjoyed using blue and silver colours. Everything on my card is SU except for the silver paper which I bought a long time ago for some invitations. It reminds me a bit of my Mum's bedroom this card - all the blue I think! It has an antique feel with a few modern touches -which suits my Mum as well. I'm off to another SU party today - can't wait to get together with my friends and make cards! I hope you have a lovely Saturday. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Happy Birthday Ambrose

I found a gorgeous sketch over at Papertake Weekly. I loved the sketch because of the neatness and simplicity of the three sections at the back of the image. It looks so symmetrical. My cousin Ambrose is having a birthday very soon and he is turning twelve I think. He is such a cutie and I am sad he is growing up so fast! He lives in the country and loves animals so I thought this Penny Black stamp might work. I am combining it with the Creative Card Crew's challenge - A card for a child. I used SU papers, cards and ribbons. I coloured the image with SU Watercolour crayons and a Blender pen.

School was very busy and tiring today...late nights staying up making cards probably isn't helping...report writing has begun (yuk)...the kids are wearing out and we are all looking forward to a well-earned holiday!! Luckily we get a long-weekend this weekend for the Queen's Birthday!! Then I think everyone will seriously start counting down to the end of term. Thanks for visiting my blog. I really enjoy your comments.

A card for Ryan

I am entering this card in the Creative Inspirations Challenge "A Card for a Male". It does take a male card challenge to get the inspiration and motivation flowing for a male card. I used the Mojo Monday sketch to create this card for my nephew Ryan who will turn two this year. I stayed away from all the feminine colours and papers and reached for orange, old olive and pale blue. I haven't used any pretty bows, flowers or butterflies and so this card was a bit of a struggle because I kept wanting to add all the pretty decorations. I coloured the image with stampin' write markers and cut out the star with a cuttlebug I am having a lend of from a Mum at my school. I hope to have a little play with the Cuttlebug tonight because on the weekend I think I will purchase one from the craft fair in Brisbane. I know most of you have already got a Cuttlebug, and they really do seem very versatile and good value for money. Hope your Wednesday had many moments of happiness. Thanks for coming and visiting my blog.

A new baby...

A little baby called Sarah has recently popped into the world so a baby girl card needed to be made. This meant I could have a play with some pink papers (my favourite!). I used a sketch from Dare you to Digi Stamp and my digital image from Digi-Stamp Boutique Thomas in Pram - I know he is a boy, but dress him in pink and he looks like a girl too! I used papers from SU and DCWV. My pearls are from the SU pretties kit. The 100% pure baby tag stamp is SU, flowers and ribbons from my stash.