Spring Candy!!

So it is really Autumn in Australia...even though it still feels like Summer, but this little candy I have put together looks so much like Spring! I prefer Spring to Autumn anyway...so I have called it Spring candy!!  Anyone can enter all you have to do is be a follower of my blog and leave a comment on this post.  It is that easy!!

This is what the candy contains....

A brand new 6 1/2 inch Kaisercraft Paper Pad "Blae and Ivy"

Matching brand new Kaisercraft "Blae and Ivy" Journal Tags

Four large flowers

White lace

White leaf ribbon

A second-hand (but hardly ever been used) Stampin' Up Stamp Set

(I think this is now retired - but still very cute)

I would love you to enter!

This post will remain at the top of my blog until it is drawn so please scroll down for more recent posts.  

Thanks, and have a beautiful day.

Alicia xx

Nicholas

I have to apologise...I havent been returning blogging comments lately.  I have been cuddling Nicholas instead of sitting at the computer.  He is such a snuggler you see and I know he is going to grow up so quickly so I am determined to enjoy every moment.  He is already growing out of his 000 suits and getting stronger and more alert.  

When I am not gazing at him lovingly I have been doing a little housework, going for walks and catching up on sleep.

Thank you so much for your lovely comments.  I have loved reading each and every one.  I hope you are all well and happy.


Alicia xx

More photos of Nicholas

It has been over a week since my last post...I have been taking things pretty easy and settling in to having Nicholas at home.  He has been a very good baby so far.  He is sleeping and drinking and putting on weight.  Ben and I are adjusting to the changes in our sleeping patterns and loving all the cuddles Nicholas has been treating us to.  Here are a couple more pics to share.

Alicia xx

Introducing Nicholas Luke McNamara

On the 19th of April at 7:40 pm Nicholas Luke was born into the world at Newcastle Private Hospital.  He was 52cm long and weighed a whopping 9.8 pounds.  After a "natural" labour of 15 hours with an epijural and forceps delivery he finally made his appearance.

We came home from hospital yesterday to settle in at home.  So far Nicholas is a very calm baby who just loves to be cuddled and snuggled up.  We absolutely adore him.  I am still recovering from the labour.  

I will try and snatch a few moments here and there to post some pictures.

I hope you are all well,

Alicia xx

Mad for Markers ~ Colouring Wet

Have you coloured something wet yet for our Mad for Markers challenge?

I coloured this Creeper Mermaid available for purchase in Sammi's Mad for Markers store.  I coloured her in reds and blues to match my Australia Day paper pad.  These are the colours I used:

Skin: E00, E11, E04, R20

Hair: R59, R29, R35

Blues: B29, B18, B24, B93

Outline: C1

I added lots of Kindy Glitz to give her a bit of sparkle and help achieve that wet look.

Today we have a telephone man coming to check out our lines, so hopefully I will have internet soon..cant wait! Thnaks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

Alicia xx

No Baby Yet...but here are some cards...

Well, today was the due date, but no baby yet.  I visited the Obstetrician today who has booked an induction for the 18th of April.  We will see if the baby decides to arrive before then!  I have finally finished all the unpacking and now have my craft room set up, or craft corner would probably be a better description.  Our new computer has arrived and now we are just waiting on intenet.  Then I will be totally set up again for blogging and crafting, in the meantime I am patiently using the ipad.

I made this card for my brother's girlfriend for her birthday, and then made the second one for one of my friends.  The first image I coloured with Copics, the second image was pre-coloured.  The copics I used were:

Skin: E00, E11, E04, R20

Hair: 100, C7, C5, C3

Pinks: RV29, RV04, RV02

Outline: C1

I will try and catch up on blogging comments tomorrow.  Thank you so much for stopping by.  I hope you have a lovely day.

Alicia xx

Mad for Markers ~ Colour Something to Look Wet

Good morning,

I have a mermaid to share today.

I challenged myself to colour a background for her as well.  I havent put her on a card.  She is kind of like a mini piece of artwork.  I coloured the mermaid first with these colours:

Skin: E04, E11, R20, E00

Hair: Y06, Y17, Y38, E35

Bubbles: B00, B02, B05, BG000

Then I followed a utube video on how to colour water and used the following Copics:

Water: B39, B24, BV17, B12, BG01, BG10, BG000

It was certainly a challenge for me but I enjoyed it!

I hope you have a beautiful and happy Easter weekend.

Alicia xx

Appologies

Appologies for the dodgy posting below.

I am doing my best on this ipad, but having great difficulty editing.

Sorry for the floating picture covering up the writing.

I cant seem to work out how to remove it.

Our internet is a long time away so planty of time for me to practice getting all this right I guess.

I appreciate your patience.

Alicia xx

Life at the Moment

I have been able to catch my breath today...most things are now unpacked before the next load of boxes and furniture arrive today.

This photo is taken through our front window.  Can you see the large ship coming into port?  It is a beautiful morning.

Finally a picture of the baby cupboard in its spot and all unpacked.  I have been trying to get this happening for four months!!

Next to it underneath the little rocker you might be able to see my pink suitcase all packed and ready to go to hospital.  Only nine days left till the due date now.  Beside that is the bassinett all made up and ready to go as well.

And this is my job for today...the craft room/spare bedroom.  My desks will be arriving today and more boxes.  It is going tobe very squishy but I am really looking forwars to setting it all up again and fingers crossed doing a little crafting.

And this is all the crafting I have done this week.  Not much at all...but I hope to get back into the swing of it soon.

Thanks for popping by my blog and for all your lovely comments.

I truely appreciate your friendship.

Alicia xx

View

So I am learning new technology and how to upload a photo from ipad to blogger.

This is the view of the ocean from our bedroom window.

Not bad!!!

You can have your head on the pillow and see the waves...it is my favourite room in the house.

Just wanted to share it with you.

Alicia xx

Moving News

I havent blogged this week as we have been in the middle of our move to Newcastle and we dont have our computer set up yet so I have to use Ben's ipad. I did take a photo to share with you but I cant work out how to load it up. Our new house is right opposite the beach at Stockton. The puppies are settling in well. We have been taking them for walks and they have been loving it. I have been busy unpacking boxes...not so fun. I have completed the kitchen, bedroom and am moving onto the baby room today. We still have another load of stuff to pack up at our old house and then try and fit into this house which is about one third in size so I dont know how we will go with that. I havent been making anything as my craft things are still all boxed up, but I hope to colour something today. Ben has been settling in to his new job and really likes it so that is very good news. He catches the ferry across the Harbour to get to and from work. Hopefully our new computer will arrive early next week and our internet might get connected about then too so I will hopefully be back to blogging again. I hope you have had a good week and will talk with you again soon. Alicia xx

Surfer Ian and a Surfing Movie in Australia

Here is my third Surfer Ian card for the Mad for Markers Monochromatic Challenge.

This time he is coloured in Cool Greys.

C0, C1, C3, C5, C7

Have you purchased this stamp yet?

He is such a must!

Get him at the Mad for Markers Shop here.

Here is a surfing clip my Cousin sent to me of his adorable little kids.  I think he must have a little camera attached to the surf board.  So cute...they are gorgeous.

We are in the middle of moving this weekend.

It is a little chaotic.  I may be without internet and a computer for a few days as we set up our new house.  We are moving into a very old, small house but will be right across from the beach.  Very different to where we are living now.  I promise to blog photos when we get our computer and internet set up.  We actually have to buy a new computer as our old one is dieing a very slow death.  We cant turn it off as we can not turn it back on!!!

I hope you have a fabulous weekend.

Alicia xx

Mad for Markers 2nd Birthday Blog Hop

How exciting! The Mad for Marker's 2nd Birthday Blog Hop!! I am so thrilled to be a part of it!!

If you have come from Marie's blog you are on the right track!!  If not head to Sammi's Blog to start the hop. Trust me it will be worth it there is some great inspiration and great prizes to be won!! 


For the hop I have made a card using "Some Odd Girl" Sweet Thinkin' Mae.  She can be purchased here at the Mad for Markers Store.  The seam binding I used can be purchased here at the Mad for Markers Store


Copics Used:


Hair: E29, R46, E08, YR16
Eyes: G17, G05, G02
Skin: E00, E21, E11, E04
Pinks: RV21, RV23, RV34, RV29
White gel pen
Lots of Kindy Glitz

While you are here why not enter my Spring Candy? See the post above!

Now you are off to Gretchen's Blog.

Happy hopping!

Alicia xx

Mad for Markers ~ Monochromatic Blues

Good Morning Blogging Beauties, 

Happy Saturday! Yay!! Do you have a nice weekend planned? I have a few jobs for this weekend that need to be done, and hopefully some card-making too!!! 

 Today I thought I would share this "wildish" male card which is Surfer Ian coloured in blues. The papers are pretty "out there" arent they! They are from the Bo Bunny Barefoot and Bliss paper pad. The journalling card with the stamped Happy Birthday is from Project Life, the Cobalt Collection. 

 The Copics I used are: 

 BG000, B00, BG01, BG05, B05, B24, B18 

 Why not try to colour something up in some shades of blue today (or any colour) and enter it in our Monochromatic Challenge. 

 If you are looking for the perfect stamp then head over to the Mad for Marker's store and see Sammi's great range. Surfer Ian is available here. 

 Have a lovely weekend, 

 Alicia xx

More Male B'day Cards

Hi Blogging Beauties,

I have more male cards to share today from the special order I did.  This lady loves stripes on male cards so I used as much striped paper as I could find in my stash.

This was a sticker I have had in my stash for a while now.

More Kaisercraft Papers.

These two are very simple - using Martha Stewart doilies and some white gel pen.

The baby has settled down a bit now and now that I am fully aware of Branxton Hicks I dont mind that they are waking me up at night!!  Yesterday I went shopping for baby singlets, maternity tops and pyjamas for hospital.  I am slowly working my way through the list for "what to take to hospital".  I made lots of cards too yesterday because I am trying to get through all my March birthdays this week and send them all off so they are finished with.  Next week is going to be a little hectic because we are starting to move house next week...crazy timing I know, but Ben has accepted a wonderful new job in Newcastle so we are moving three hours south.  We have lived in Newcastle before when we went to uni and began working down there after uni, so we know what the town is like.  We hope to find out if we have secured a rental house to live today.  Please keep your fingers crossed for us! If all goes well we will have a house to move into!  So life is a little hectic.  I am finishing up with my tutoring students next week as well and in the process of finding new teachers for them to go and see.  But, I am just doing one thing at a time...and not getting stressed about the million things that are to be done.  We can only do what we can do right?

I hope your day is lovely, and full of smiles.

Thanks for stopping by,

Alicia xx

Four Male Musical Cards

Hi Blogging Beauties,

I did an order for 20 male cards, but I thought it might be a bit too much to blog them all at once.  

Here is a set of four from the set of 20.

I made these using the Kaisercraft Velvet Ensemble Paper pad and a little bit of other Kaisercraft paper scraps thrown in as well.

I had a lot of Branxton Hicks contractions last night.  I went in to the hospital today to double check everything was alright...and yes it is fine...but oh my, I was starting to think this baby was coming early!!  I am going to stop tutoring next week because I am getting pretty tired and need to rest a little more.  Keeping me still can be a bit tricky...there is always so much I want to do!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Alicia xx

Winner of my Valentines Candy and a little purchase I just had to share...

Hi Blogging Beauties,

Is your life as crazy and busy as mine??  I must make it this way I guess..well at least there is never a dull moment!!  I am trying to catch up on 20,000 things today and I wanted to draw my Valentines candy. Thank you to everyone for entering!

The lucky winner is: Sandra H

Sandra I will be in touch with you to get your address details!

I have more candy all ready to go, so stay tuned I hope to post it up this week.

 

Also I went grocery shopping yesterday and I bought a pair of little booties for the baby.  I have started packing my hospital bag and booties or socks were on the list for the baby.  We dont have any of either yet so I had to go and purchase something.  This is what I found and I thought they were just so cute I had to share a photo with you!  I think they will keep his/her feet warm : )

Four weeks to go now...getting closer!

Off to work on the rest of my jobs.

I hope you have a lovely day, thanks for stopping by.

Alicia xx

Mad for Markers ~ Monchromatic

Hi Blogging Beauties, 

 I hope you are having a happy Saturday. My Mum came over and we did some gardening.  I really needed a hand to get motivated.  We mulched and weeded the front garden.  It looks so nice again now, it is my favourite garden at our place.

I wanted to share my green Surfer Ian. I have put him onto a card. I think he will be perfect for one of my surfie cousins that live up on the Sunshine Coast and both have birthdays later this year...so does that mean I might be organised?? How nice it will be to pull the card out already made and send it off! 

 But I am getting sidetracked...did you want to know colours? 

 Here they are: YG11, YG03, YG23, YG06, G14, G05, G28 

 I followed a sketch, but the challenge has ended now...the sketch I found to be really good though, if you want an easy and quick card to go with an image you have coloured give it a try.  I made five cards with this sketch.

 Well, I hope you have a great weekend and get some colouring time in. Why not make a card for our challenge at Mad for Markers? Pop on over to Sammi's store to buy Surfer Ian and the new Greeting farm stamps here. 

 Thanks for stopping by, Alicia xx

Valentine Candy

To celebrate Valentines Day I am giving away a special Valentines themed candy.

The candy includes:

One Brand-new Echo Park Paper Pad

2 Spellbinders Nestabilities Die packs.  

(These dies are not brand new, but have only been used once or twice and are still in perfect condition.)  

2 Manor House Collection Blossoms

Some Pink ribbon.

This will assist you with making some lovely romance themed cards.

To enter please leave a comment on this post and make sure you are a follower.

The winner will be randomly chosen.

Good luck!

Alicia xx

(This post will remain at the top of my blog, so please scroll down for more recent posts.)

60th Birthday Card

Hi Blogging Beauties,

I hope you have had a good week and are looking forward to a relaxing weekend : )

I made this card for an Principal I used to work for on the Gold Coast.  It was her 60th Birthday this week.  I used papers and elements form the Kaisercraft Sweet Nothing Collection.

I stamped the sentiment with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo ink.

I edged the flower and the music notes die cut with gold gel pen.

I have just finished a special order for 20 male cards...phew!

They have kept me busy.  I will share the pics soon.

I hope you had a beautiful day today : )

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Alicia xx

Autumn Card with Inspiring Quote

Hi Blogging Beauties,

My mother-in-law requested this card for a friend of hers who has had some misfortune lately.

She wanted the quote and a picture of a field.  I came up with this...it kind of has an autumn feel to it I think.

This is the inside of the card.

I am off to tutoring, so just a quick post today.

I hope you have a beautiful day.

Thanks for stopping by.

Alicia xx

Mad for Markers - Monochromatic March

Hi Blogging Beauties,

The new March Challenge at Mad for Markers is - Monochromatic Colours!

We are looking for colouring using different shades of the same colour.

I have coloured in Surfer Ian.

Available in the Mad for Markers Shop here.

Firstly I coloured him with Cool Greys:

C0, C1, C3, C5, C7

Then Warm Greys:

W1, W3, W5, W7

Then Yellows/Oranges/Browns:

Y11, Y15, Y17, YR23, E35, E15 

Then Blues:

BG000, B00, BG01, BG05, B05, B24, B18

And finally Greens:

YG11, YG03, YG23, YG06, G14, G05, G28

I had a lot of fun with this!

Now I have heaps of images to put on some male cards.

I hope you join us in this fun challenge...hop on over to Mad for Markers and link up your creation.

Alicia xx

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