Tilda in Blue

 Tilda is probably my most favourite stamp and blue is my favourite colour so when I saw the challenge over at Die Cut Dreams - Tilda in Blue, I had to enter.  I dug out some old SU DP that my friend Amanda gave me a while ago and teamed it with that lovely blue ribbon from Craft Brulee.  The white added to the freshness of the card I think.

 I stitched around the four square panels, two with zig-zag stitch and two with double rows of normal stitching.  I coloured her with Copic markers, added a white doily, charm, flowers and sparkly gems at the bottom.

I went to an Antique fair with my Mum today and then we went and had afternoon tea...you would not believe how hard it is in Tamworth to get a cafe open at 4pm that sells decent food and make a nice hot chocolate...something I have been struggling with since I have moved back.  The other thing I really miss from The Gold Coast is the Chinese massage shops in the shopping centres where you dont have to book an appointment, but can just rock up and get a massage straight away.  My back, neck and shoulders are giving me a hard time at the moment, and oh how I would love to just walk in and get a massage.  Here I need to ring up and make an appointment and wait until there is a vacancy.  Mum says thats the thing with my generation we want everything immediately.  I agree...but not all things, I love to look forward to a package coming in the mail, or an online order that I know will be making its way to me...but when I need a good hot chocolate or a massage - yes! I want it asap!!

Hope you have a great weekend : )

Paper Play Design Team - Anything Goes - Scrapbooking Project

It was my neice Charlotte's 5th Birthday in June and she had a party with her friends from school. It was a very hectic day with lots of children and my sister did not get any photos on her camera. I took a few and I thought it would be nice to make a mini Scrapbooking album for Charlotte to treasure the memories of her 5th Birthday. The photo above is the front cover.

The Paper Play Challenge this week is "Anything Goes" and I thought this would be a perfect for my mini Scrapbook Album. This week we are sponsored by Waltzing Mouse Stamps.

I wanted to enter a few more challenges with this project and have listed them here:

Creative Inspirations Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Dutch Dare Card Challenges - Anything Goes

Cowgirls Sunday Stampen Challenge - Anything Goes

Creatalicious Challenges - Show Something 3D

Lots To Do Challenge - Shapes

To make this album I used a Kaiser Craft "Beyond the Page" Chipboard blank album and painted the edges white (not that you can see the edges in the photos). Then I used nearly a whole packet of SU Cottage Wall Designer paper. I do love this paper, but let me tell you, by the time I had finished the album I was sick of looking at it LOL! I used lots of lace and lace doilies throughout with a range of flowers and ribbons. I hand wrote little captions on some of the pages which you could probably read if you wish to enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

The angel image on the front cover is a Rachelle Anne Miller stamp. The present and cake are SU stamps. Two of the magnolia stamps were stamped for me from Aussie Loz and one was my own. The cupcakes and Happy Birthday sentiment are from Meljen Designs. So there is a bit of everything included in this project and all coloured with Copics. All the stitching is Faux and done with either a Stampin'Write marker or a white gel pen. Bits of glitter are added here and there using Kindy Glitz.

I havent seen Charlotte for a couple of weeks so I havent given it to her yet, and her Mum hasnt seen it yet either. Hope they like it when they do get it!

Thanks for popping over to my blog today

and dont forget to head on over to Paperplay and join in the fun!

Goodevening Blogging Buddies.  Thanks for dropping past my blog today.  I have a cute little card to share tonight.  I made it using CC designs stamps and I coloured them with Copics.  I went with a summery theme so I could enter the Crafty Calendar Challenge and Crafty Creations Challenge on Summer.

The Create 4 Fun Challenge is to use flowers on your project...which I have some are stamped and one is pasted on.  Fussy and Fancy wanted to see Stitches, Scallops and Sparkles.  I used machine stitching around the DP.  The scallops are in my lace and the sparkles is the Kindy-glitz around the edge of the card, on the flowers and butterfly.

I survived my two days of teaching...I think I earnt just about every dollar of it too!  Hopefully that will be all for this week...tomorrow my Nan has another eye appointment so I will take her to that and then I hope to craft for the rest of the day.  I hope your week is going along smoothly.

Take care,

Alicia xx

My Vintage and Distressed Tilda

Isn't this Tilda such a little cutie! This is the stamp I won in Stephanne's Blog Candy...she is adorable and so much fun to colour. I wanted to enter many challenges with this card so I tried to do the "Vintage" look for the Just Magnolia challenge this week. I am very new to Vintage, I have always loved bright, shiny and new...but now I am coming to love older, distressed and more muted colours..whites and creams etc. I included vintage things like lace, white and cream buttons, a green velvet ribbon at the base of the card and flowers. I coloured Tilda in vintage colours with my Copics.

I followed the sketch from Crafts and Me Challenges. I thought it really suited the Vintage/distressed look with the little tabs and buttons at the top and bottom of the card and the lace through the middle. I really enjoyed this sketch...each corner is covered and accounted for! Sometimes I struggle with the corners of these larger square cards...whether to fill them or leave them blank.

The Daring CardMaker's Challenge is "Layer it Up!" I have used lots of layers for this card and distressed and inked them all so that also qualifies me for the Raise the Bar Challenge: Distressed, Torn, Ripped, Broken. My flowers in the bottom corner allow me to enter "Something Flowery" over at Stamp Something.

Thats about it I think for this card! I'm off to work for two days tomorrow and Wednesday...my old 3/4 class tomorrow from last semester and a little Kindy class on Thursday at a school I havent been to before. I have to get my Casual Teaching bag all sorted tonight...sitckers, pens, whiteboard markers, some activity worksheets, books etc etc. Wish me luck - I may be needing it!!

Thanks for visiting me today.

Winners of my Six Cards in 1 hour Challenge

Hi Blogging Buddies,

I am very excited to announce the winners for my Card Challenge.  I used a site called Random List Generator to decide on the winners.  I have one First prize which includes the Magnolia stamp, lace, ribbon, flowers and DPs and three runner up prizes of just the flowers, lace, ribbon and DPs.  The winners are:

1st Prize. 1 - Annette

1st Runner-Up. 7 - Kerrie

2nd Runner-Up. 3 - Cheryl

3rd Runner-Up. 5 - Sammie

Because there are only three of you, Loz, Carol, and Merry who didn't get drawn out...I would like to send you a little prize as well so I will rustle up something today.  Can you tell I'm a softie! I can be a bit like that in the classroom too...if the little cherubs are behaving themselves LOL!

The only addresses I need are Merry, Sammie and Cheryl...everybody else's I have already.  So if you ladies could please email me your addresses I will post all the parcels this week. 

Congratulations to everybody on their gorgeous cards.  I may do another challenge in the near future because some of my other blogging buddies wanted to enter but did not have the time this week...hope you are all having a lovely day : )

Kez's Six Christmas Cards in 1 Hour

I think this could be the last entry to my challenge - so my blog is now beautifully decorated with Christmas cards...and many of you are way more ahead with your Christmas Card preparation.  Imagine if we did six cards a week, how many we would have in our stashes!

These festive cards are created by Kez, and completed in traditional colours.  I do love the die cut Kez has used to frame her image...and each one so beautifully coloured.  They took her 2 hours to create...but worth every minute of her time I think.  I also like the way the sentiment is threaded through the ribbon at the base of the card.  Very effective!

Thanks so much for entering Kez, and thanks to all my beautiful blogging buddies who entered their gorgeous cards...  The challenge does end tonight so I will announce the winner tomorrow and I have organised a few extra prizes so we can have some more people expecting goodies in their mailbox.  I will use random.org to draw out the names so it is fair..Am taking my Nan to the eye specialist tomorrow so I will post the winners tomorrow afternoon.  I cant wait to see who they are!

Merry's 6 Christmas Cards in 1 Hour

Here is an entry from Merry, she is a fellow Aussie crafter who has joined the six cards in one hour challenge and yes, she has chosen to make Christmas cards!  Her cards are just gorgeous, made with traditional colours, clean and simple, yet they include elegant details like her carefully cut out leaves, gold swirls on the ribbon and gold sentiments. 

These cards took Merry 1 hour and 30 minutes. 

Thanks for entering the challenge Merry your cards are stunning!

Sammi's 6 Adorable Christmas Cards

Many thanks to Sammi for entering my challenge because it gives me the chance to showcase another talented Aussie crafter who is well-ahead in her Christmas cards. I must be the only one who hasn't started! He he he...

Sammi was extra smart and printed her images already coloured for these cute cards. She made them in 59 minutes! How about that for timing!!! I love the design...and what an adorable Christmas fairy image. I am feeling the need to have a go at six Christmas Cards in one hour...I dont want to be left out! If you are wanting to enter the challenge (and you can make any type of card) pop on over here...but you have to be quick you only have till tomorrow to enter.

Cheryl's Six Elegant Christmas Cards

Here is another entrant for my challenge to make six cards in one hour.  These are Cheryl's elegant Christmas cards...and aren't they exquisite!  Cheryl went slightly over time, but that is okay! So did I...and we really arent used to making so many cards in such a short time!  It is a real challenge for me, but what a sense of achievement you have in the end and the satisfaction of six cards sitting there before you!  I love how Cheryl has cut the circles with nestabilities and embossed the images well with copper embossing powder.  I also love her designer paper and the colour of the red card.

There still is tomorrow left to challenge yourself to make six cards.  Christmas cards have been very popular...so if you wish to get a head start on your cards for Christmas tomorrow could be the day!  You can find the original challenge details here or you can scroll down and see all the beautiful entrants on the way.

Thank you to all my blogging buddies who have participated in this challenge so far.  I have loved seeing your cards and am preparing some yummy prizes in preparation for the winners.

Carol's Six Beautiful Cards in less than 1 hour

Carol is one of my dearest blogging buddies. She comments on every single post on my blog and is a very faithful follower. Although I haven't talked her into having her own blog yet, she was kind enough to participate in my challenge and email me her photos!

Carol made these gorgeous six cards in 35 minutes! Wow !!! That included finding the right color papers, hunting for flowers and adding ribbon. She made 4 neutral cards to have on hand, the pink and black for a co-workers daughter and the one with a daisy for a friends daughter. Fronts say *Congratulations* and inside reads *Welcome to the wedded bliss club*.

Thanks so much for entering Carol, I love your cards...they are so pretty and the flowers you have used are gorgeous. Sometimes clean and simple is so refreshing...these are certainly that with their embossed white fronts and coloured base card.

If you would like to challenge yourself to making six cards in one hour you still have till tomorrow to enter . Scroll down for the original challenge post.

Thanks for popping over to my blog today,

Stephanne's Beautiful Card

I was so lucky to win Stephanne's blog candy...delicious goodies...a gorgeous Magnolia stamp, flowers, stickles, spica pen, ribbon and lace...and not only all of that yummy stuff, but this absolutely gorgeous card! Talk about making my day!!! I was so excited to find it in my green mailbox...hard to believe things arrive from the other side of the world isn't it?

Anyway, I just LOVE this card. I have studied it oh so closely and I love the stitching, the inked edges, the sketch, the cute Maggie image, flowers, papers, lace and everything! Thank you so much Stephanne...I really appreciate your lovely candy and card.

Much love,

I made this card last night for one of my Aunties for her birthday.  I followed the sketch from Cowgirl's Sunday Stampen Challenge.  I used the colours Pink, Chocolate and White to go with the challenge at Colour Create.  Mainly pinks, with white highlights and a touch of chocolate for her hair.  Because this CC Designs fairy is so cute I am entering her in the Papertake Weekly Challenge - Cutie Patootie.  I coloured her with Copics.

I used Magnolia Papers on the new SU Melon Mambo card with some flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The leaf is a die from the current SU mini catalogue.  I added some hatpins as well and a little pink bow.  The Recipe for Happiness digi stamp is a freebie over at Meljen's Designs.  My husband is not a fan of the paper doilies on cards, he thinks they look cheap...I love the way they fill in a space so easily, I would be interested in your opinion.

I had a nice day today, the sun was out, even though it was pretty chilly.  My chickies laid two eggs this morning, so that means another chickie has started laying.  I did a little house cleaning and some crafting - but nothing too serious!

Tomorrow we are having a birthday dinner at our house.  My Husband turned 31 on Tuesday and his sister turned 33 today, so a combined birthday dinner tomorrow night with slow cookers, rice and steamed vegies, and of course birthday cake!

You still have a few days to enter my challenge of six cards in one hour.  Scroll down a few posts to find it.

Hope you are having a nice evening.  Thanks for visiting me today : )

PaperPlay DT Card - Colour Combo - Blue, Cream + 1

  

This week at PaperPlay Challenge our theme is Blue, Cream and one other colour of your choice.  I went with Blue, Cream and Yellow.  I used a gorgeous Sweet Pea image and coloured it with Copics.   This week we are sponsored by Craft Brulee.  I was so lucky to receive the gorgeous blue ribbon and lace which I have added to the base of my card.

I cut a sentiment into strips and inked the edges with Creamy Caramel ink to give an aged effect.  I used Ballet Blue card stock with SU DP and a bit of furry, creased cream paper which I cut out with the Top Note die cut.

I added a blue flower and pasted a pearl in the centre of it and cut out some cream leaves using the SU Sweetest Stem die.  I also added two stems of blue crystals coming up the left-hand side of the card.

Why dont you come over and play this week?  Blue and cream would make great colours for a Christmas card for those who are working on that huge task! 

Click on the picture below to go directly to the challenge blog.

Our prize this week is a $10 voucher at Craft Brulee, and oooh do they have some lovely things!  Pop on over to the shop here and check out their lovely laces, flowers and ribbons and so much more...

Well thats it from me today, thanks for hopping onto my blog for a little look, I hope you are having a lovely week.

Aussie Loz's 6 Christmas Cards in 1 Hour!

The Aussie girls are getting a head start on their Christmas cards this year! These adorable cards are made by Aussie Loz and she did this in just one hour! Incredible, but it can be done!  I just love the gorgeous teddy bear image Loz has used and her pretty papers and ribbons. 

Six cards in one hour, that is the challenge...and you have until Sunday to enter.  Scroll down to see Annette's six Christmas cards and then to see the original challenge post.  There is a lovely prize for one random winner and the odds are looking good!  So snatch one hour of your time, gather your materials and get creating.  Link to Mr Linky below and share your photos with us. 

Annette's Entry in my "Six Cards in 1 Hour Challenge"

Annette is the first person to enter my challenge - "Make Six Beautiful Cards in 1 hour". Look at the gorgeous Christmas cards she has made! Annette made these in 1 hour and 10 mins! She now has another 6 christmas cards to add to her stash.

If you are super organised like Annette and already making Christmas cards you could aim for six in one hour and enter my challenge. The prize is a brand-new Magnolia stamp, some DPs, ribbon and flowers. The winner will be decided on Sunday 25th July. Scroll down to find the original challenge post and enter via Mr Linky. If you dont have a blog please email a photo of your cards to me here.

Remember you don't have to get them finished in one hour - just aim for one hour and record your time in your post. Why not enter? I would love to see your cards!

Challenge - Make Six Beautiful Cards in 1 Hour

Hi Blogging Buddies,

I set myself a challenge...can I make six beautiful cards in 1 hour?

I have to be honest and say I couldn't do it...these beauties took me 1 hour and 20 mins...but I think it is possible and it is a goal I am aiming for.

I am entering these cards in the

My Time to Craft Challenge - Butterflies

and

La-La Land Crafts Challenge - Black White and one other colour

How do you think you would go? I am sure there are heaps of talented card makers out there who would be able to produce six beautiful cards in one hour..are you willing to have a try?

Make your cards, post them on your blog and specify how long it took for you to make your cards...it is okay if you went over the hour time frame...you will still be eligible for the challenge - so feel free to be honest! Link your post up to the link below and in a weeks time I will choose a random winner. There is a prize which includes a brand-new Magnolia stamp, some DPs, ribbon and flowers. Why not enter? I would love to see your cards! The winner will be decided on Sunday 25th July. Please include a link back to this post.

If you dont have a blog please feel free to email me your photos...(this is especially for Carol and Danielle - I would love you ladies to enter!) You can email me here.

Recipe for Happiness...

 Good evening Blogging Buddies, my husband Ben and our friend Josh are at a concert tonight and I am picking them up at the end of it so I will be up late tonight blogging and creating.  I wanted to post this set of cards I made this week.  I used a freebie digital image from Meljen's Designs, some Bashful Blue and Kraft card stock, SU DP, ribbon, buttons and a lace doily.

 I have a few challenges I would love to enter tonight...

Alphabet Challenge Blog - L is for Lace (I used a lace heart-shaped doily)

Raise The bar - Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

Something old is the SU DP

Something new is the digi image

Something borrowed is the blue ribbon (it came from a friend)

Something blue is the card stock and buttons

Stamp Something - Something Digital (the image I used)

Miami Doodles - Anything Goes

Dare You to Digi Stamp - Stitching (Faux stitching in the image)

KL Stampin' and Scrappin - Ribbon (Blue Ribbon)

I hope you are having a lovely weekend.  I am hoping to go to the local markets tomorrow and have a bit of a look around...

Much love,