Two Super Quick Farm Cards

Hi Blogging Beauties,

Sorry I have been missing in action.

Life has been unusually hectic.

Tomorrow we will have no electricity for most of the day due to repairs on our power lines so no blogging tomorrow either - and no internet, how will I cope, no water, not much of anything else either!!  Will just have to do lots of card-making!

These cards I "whipped up" for two Feb b'days...both Male.

I hope you like them.

I hope to be back to "normal" blogging soon.  I miss it.

Alicia xx

Mad for Markers R/RV Challenge

Hi Blogging Beauties,

Welcome to the weekend!  I hope you have a fun one planned.

This is a scheduled post because I am at Parenting class all day today.

I would like to share a birthday card I have made for the Mad for Markers R/RV challenge.

As you know, it is M4M 2nd Birthday and there are lots of celebrations happening.  Giveaways and prizes everyday so make sure you check in regularly at the facebook site here. 

For my card today I have coloured in one of the new Mad for Marker's digis designed by Sammi.  She was really fun to colour...and nice and easy too.  I think she will be a very versatile image and she is perfect for a birthday card.  If you would like to buy her you can get her here.

The colours I used were:

Dress and Shoes - R59, R46, R35, R22

Stockings and Present: R22, R20, Y26, E43, E51

Skin: E11, E00, R20

Eyes: B05, B02, B00

Hair: YR04, Y38, YR31

Outline: W-1

I also coloured up some seam binding.  Sammi has this in store for sale here.  It comes in white and oatmeal or you can request it to be custom coloured in a Copic Colour of your choice.  I started with white and coloured it with E35.  Then I edged the outsides with R22 to match the flower I used.

Only a week left to enter our challenge now.  So if you colour something up with reds and pinks why not enter it here?

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely weekend : )

Alicia xx

LOTV Baby Cards...

Hi Blogging Beauties,

I hope you are having a lovely day...

I am having a stay at home day today...my favourite type.  I havent achieved much yet.  My brother has been out here fixing some plumbing for us so I have been talking to him.  It is not often I get to hang out with him alone...so I have been making the most of it.  He has gone off to another job and to get more parts so until he comes back later it is onto my to-do list!  But first up, I thought I would share a couple of cards....

This next month or so a lot of my friends are having babies and the first two arrived this week.

They were both caesareans so I knew when to expect them.  The first one is  little girl named Nadiya Karis. I am not sure how you pronounce the first name as I have only received a text and an email.  She is my cousin's little girl and third child.  I was actually making this card as she was being born.  I guessed a girl and got it right!!  We had a power blackout for five hours when I made this card so I did it by candle light and torch light!  It was hard too, because I was trying to incorporate the pink and purple colours and it was difficult to see.

For both cards I used a LOTV die cut which you can purchase here.  These are fantastic for making quicker cards.  No colouring involved.  I also used a sentiment designed by Netty.  They are free if you are a follower of her blog and she has heaps to choose from.  I recommend you go and check them out here.

Here is the boy card...his name is Duncan Rodney (named after his Grandad).  He was born to one of my school friends who now lives in America.  It is her second boy.  This card is much more simple and fuss-free.  Same die cut and same digi sentiment.

I am still waiting on two friends to have babies...so no doubt you will be seeing more baby cards soon!  And my baby is only seven weeks away now...not so long to go I guess!

Thank you for stopping by my blog.

I hope you have a fabulous day!

Alicia xx

Mad for Markers Birthday Celebrations

Hi Blogging Beauties,

I know I havent blogged for a few days...things are a bit hectic here at the moment.  I dont know where the week has gone! Luckily I have today and tomorrow to catch up on a few crafty things...including blogging!! 

This morning I have to tell you about the exciting birthday celebrations that started yesterday at Mad for Markers.  This is some info from Sammi, letting you know all about it!!

"On the 22nd of February in 2010 I nervously sat in the NSW Dept of Fair Trading to see if I could register the name Mad for Markers... and voila! The name was registered... the next month was spent getting in stock and waiting for the website to be designed and then for me to enter all the product... on the 22 March 2010 the website went LIVE!! And so we are celebrating Mad for Markers birthday ALL MONTH LONG!!

I am very grateful to my Customers, Readers, Design Team and of course my friends and family to help Mad for Markers continue! Without you all I would just be sitting here with a bunch of markers hehe!! This way I get to share my bunches of markers - SO THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

So what's going to happen all month you ask??

Well.. we will have a bunch of giveaways... you will be able to enter each day on either the blog here or on our facebook page depending where the giveaway is held ... We have... a sample pack of Xpress It blending card for each day of the month, a load of digi images, Spicas and maybe more... so don't miss out!!

We might have an extra challenge or two ... perhaps some games....

The Celebrations will culminate on the 22nd March with a BIG Copical blog hop!!! WITH more fun prizes!! You will be able to sign up to participate on Monday right here :)"

The ever-talented Sammi has also drawn up some Mad for Markers Birthday Digis to colour... they are available in the store for you to purchase... and they might sneak into some prizes throughout the month also ;)

Here are the digis all coloured up on Sammi's gorgeous cards.  (I did not make these cards, but I hope to get colouring on these images soon!)

First up we have Lady Copical Cupcake

Second is Birthday Girl #1

Third is Copical cupcakes

Fourth is Copical balloons

+ there are a few others including a fun birthday scene.. which you will see on the cover of Copicendium this month (should be about a week away)! This is Lady Copical likes to hang out with a bunch of her friends and colour, colour, colour... 

This is a sneaky peek at the cover of the next Copicendium! :)

My card is on the front cover!!! That yellow, Princess Anya one!!!

So I think that is all the exciting news for now. 

Stay tuned and get entering those prizes!!!!

I hope to be back soon with some new creations.

Alicia xx

Syren ~ Creeper Mermaid ~ in RVs

 Good Morning Copic Lovers,

I hope you have a lovely weekend planned : )

I have a card to share today that I have made for our current Mad for Markers R and RV colour challenge.  I have coloured in Syren and you can buy her here at the Mad for Markers Store.  She is fun to colour.  I find her hair the most challenging bit.

You will die when you read that I had her all coloured in and then I started to cut her out and a bit of the black from her hair smudged onto my finger and then onto the middle of her face, then more onto her tail.  So after trying best to colour over it, blend it out, etc etc I had to throw that image in the bin and start the colouring all over again!  Oh well...a bit of colouring practice for me I guess!

I coloured her with....

Hair: 100, C-7, C-5

Skin: E00, E11, E04

Pinks: RV23, RV21, RV34, RV29

These papers I am just in love with and I am quickly working my way through this Echo Park Be Mine Pad.  If you like them to you should enter my candy.  This paper pad is part of the candy!  I also used some lace, a swirl die cut some pins, soft tulle, pink ribbon, gem stones and a black flower to decorate.

I am entering this card in:

Anyone for Anya - Photo Inspiration

I took the colours from this photo and the bit of tulle is like the dress.

Well I hope you have a wonderful weekend...with some time for a bit of colouring...or a lot (even better)!!  Head over to Mad for Markers and link up a card or project using R or RV Copics.

Thanks for stopping by, 

Alicia xx

Happy {Belated} Valentines xx

Happy Belated Valentines Blogging Beauties,

I trust you did something romantic...

I packed Ben a little chocolate and a note in his lunch box and that was our effort...kept it pretty simple LOL.  I did however, receive a beautiful Valentine card from my blogging friend Carol.  Thank you so much Carol.  It even came on exactly the right day all the way from America - amazing!!

I did have two Valentines cards made up one for me to give Ben and one for him to give me...but we never got around to writing on them!! This is the one I was going to get.  So as it is still unwritten on I am giving it to you for coming over and reading my blog!

I used a cute LOTV die cut, a heart-shaped doily and pink pins.  Some chipboard hearts that i coloured with Copics.  Some swirls, flowers, ribbon, glitter and stitching.  The papers are from the same pad in my Valentines Candy and the ribbon is the same too.

I have had a busy week so far, hence the lack of blogging.  Not really interesting enough to write about...just jobs, appointments and tutoring.  Today is my first stay at home day and I have a man coming to clean our carpets.   Why is there always so much to do at home...cleaning, washing, gardening etc etc.  It really is a full-time job, home maintenance, isnt it??  My cupboard for the nursery that I bought over a month ago should be arriving in town this week.  If I am really lucky I might get it picked up on Saturday otherwise it will be next week.  Then I can really start organising things in the nursery and then I will post some pictures.

Ben has been photographing hundreds of photos with the new camera.  A few evenings ago I had to go and stand in itchy long grass in the next door neighbour's paddock and get eaten by enormous mosquitoes for one photo shoot.  He kept reminding me it was lucky I wasnt getting paid for this job, as I was doing a lot of complaining and squatting of mosquitoes.  I tried to assure him anyone in my position would do exactly the same thing!!!  Anyway here is a photo to prove I survived the ordeal.

I dont think I got any diseases from the mosquitoes...I havent had any strange symptoms as yet...fingers crossed!  Anyway, the good thing is that he is just loving taking photos and learning as much as he can about photography, so the camera was a worthwhile purchase.  Our Picasa library has exploded with hundreds of pictures...lots to sort through.

Well, I think that is about as long as I can stay and chat (or write)...there are jobs awaiting! 

I hope you have a beautiful day.

Thanks for stopping over at my blog.

Alicia xx

A Red and a Pink Blush Babette

Hi Copic Lovers,

I hope you are having a lovely weekend.  My weekend is flying by!

I have made two cards for our current challenge at Mad for Markers which is to use R and RV colours.  I have used Blush Babette again which can be purchased at the Mad for Markers Store here.

For the first card I used:

Reds: R20, R22 and R29

Hair: Y17, Y15, Y11

Skin: E00, E11

For the second card I used exactly the same hair and skin colours 

but I changed the reds to pinks:

RV06, RV04 and RV02.

I have a tutorial on how I colour Blush Babette here if you are interested.

If you havent linked up a creation yet, please head over to Mad for Markers Monthly Challenge Blog  and do so.  We would love to see your colouring with the RV and R Copics.  Please list the colours you use so we can all learn new colour combinations. 

I havent posted for a few days.  I have been back at work casual teaching and tutoring and yesterday Ben and I went to our first parenting course and learnt all about child birth.  It has been a big week.  Today I hope to catch up on some housework.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend,

thank you for stopping by.

Alicia xx

P.S I would like to enter these two cards into the Dimension Challenge at Farm Fresh Challenge Blog and The Stitching Challenge at Farm Fresh Challenge Blog.  The things I used to add dimension were 3D tape, split pins, ribbon, stitching, flowers and diamantes.

My First Saturated Canary Card

Hi Blogging Beauties,

This is my first ever time of colouring in a Saturated Canary image.  I have seen them around blog land and I do love them and I love what people do with them.  The cards I have seen are so so pretty... So I finally got onto this image (it is a freebie and you can get it here) while I was having a good read of Krista's blog one day and I had a little play with it.  It is a special card for a special girl turning eleven that I taught in Year Two and will hopefully always call a friend.  This image reminds me of her..

Anyway, the challenge over at the Saturated Canary Blog is to use Pink, Red and White.  So I kept to those three colours when colouring (apart from her hair and eyes of course).  

The Copics I used are:

Hair: E33, E31, Y21

Skin: E00, E21, E11

Reds and Pinks: R20, R22, R27 and R29

Whites: C1, C0

Eyes: B05, BG01

I hope to colour her up again and get a bit more practice with her and go shopping for some other lovely Saturated Canary images soon!

I hope you have a great day : )

Alicia xx

Some Cards and a Baby Bump Photo

Hi Blogging Beauties,

I hope you had a nice weekend.  The last few days disappeared in a flash for me...Ben has been on the computer a lot editing his thousands of photos he has been taking so I have been working on other things...My Project Life for one.  I am already up to May for 2010!  I have taken a video on my 2011 one, just have to edit it as I dont really want to hear the sound of my voice.  It is on my to-do list so hopefully I can blog that soon.  Tutoring started up again last week...I re-set up my tutoring room and have started getting my head back into school stuff.  I have my first casual teaching day for the year on Friday so naturally I had a casual teaching night mare last night.  This always happens to me! I wont go into the details, just let me assure it was an awful dream!

Anyway I thought I would share some cards and projects I havent shared yet that are sitting on my computer patiently waiting.  First up is an engagement card I made for my MIL to give to my Brother in law and his new fiancée: Scott and Bec.

Secondly a card I made for a male 60th.  It was hard to photograph.

This photo is a bit better.

Thirdly a card I coloured for my Dad to give my Mum for her birthday.  My Mum went to Melbourne for the tennis back in January so he requested a card with a tennis girl and some suitcases.  This is what I came up with.  My Mum has red hair so I coloured the girl with red hair and her fave colour is blue, hence all the blue everywhere.  Anyway she loved the card.  My Dad drew a little tractor on the hill - that was him staying home and farming while Mum went off to the tennis!

So Ben has been snapping away with the camera.  Honey, Ellie, Tommy and I have all be the subjects of numerous photo shoots.  I did try to get a nice baby bump photo to share with you seeing I am now 30 weeks pregnant.  This is the best we have at the moment...

As you can see the "bump" is growing and is moving around quite a bit.

Only ten or so weeks to go now...I am getting pretty excited!  I cant wait to meet him or her.  (But I still think its a him.)  Well I better get on with my long to-do list.  I hope you have a beautiful day today.  Thanks for stopping by.

Alicia xx

Cards, Challenges and Photographs

 Hi Blogging Beauties,

It is raining here today...has been for the last few days.  My poor little puppies are saturated and smelly!!  But the gardens and plants are loving it!!

I have a few cards to share with you today.

These first two cards are with the stamp Syren Creeper Mermaid from The Greeting Farm.  Sammi has her in stock at Mad for Markers click here.  I was experimenting with her hair...it is quite tricky to colour.  I still feel like I need some more practice with this stamp...so hopefully you will be seeing more of her.

For this first card I coloured with:

Hair: E35, E31, Y02

Blues: BG05, BG01, BG006

Skin: E11, E00

I followed the Friday Spy Day Sketch over at the Farm Fresh Challenge Blog.

I actually loved using this sketch.

The second card I coloured with all the same colours except I did the hair slightly differently.  I blended it more and YR20 instead of Y02.

I followed the Anyone for Anya Recipe challenge:

3 Papers

2 Embellishments

1 Image

Lastly, I have a male card I made for the challenge over at Lili's Little Fairies which is to make a masculine card.  I used the same sketch again as in the first card.

Now for a few quick pics taken by Ben on his brand new camera, when we had a little bit of sunshine the other afternoon.  As soon as the rain eases I bet there will be more to share!

Don't be fooled by that innocent face of Tommy (top).  He can be quite a naughty little thing! He has destroyed two of his beds and continues to dig up my gardens.

He needs constant entertainment!!  But he is very lovable.  Ellie (bottom) sleeps most of the day, but comes alive when Ben throws her the frisbee or the football in the afternoon.

Well, I am lucky to have a day designated to the craft room today so I am off to work on my to-do list.  Wish me luck : )

I hope you have a lovely day too.  Thanks for stopping by : )

Alicia xx