A new day and a new blog

Well having written a private blog for close family for the past few months running up to the birth of Alex, my baby boy, in April and immediately following, I decided that I wanted to attempt a blog based on my crafting, as well as life with a three month old, that anyone could read and comment on. So for those of you who don't know me I thought I would start with an introductory post. My name is Caro (in case you hadn't guessed) and I have been married for over 5 years to Tim and Alex is our first born. I live and work in Sheffield and am currently enjoying my maternity leave.

Crafting takes up most of my free time and I love all sorts. Like many people I started out with card making, inspired mainly by Julia, my flat mate at University, who encouraged me to make my own Christmas cards. From there I progressed to making Birthday cards for family and friends and now make cards for all occasions. Tim and I moved house in October 2004 and he bought me a magazine subscription to Papercraft Inspirations, my first crafting magazine, in January 2005 in which I discovered Scrapbooking. I was hooked from the word go and have had letters published in 'Creative Scrapbooking', which sadly isn't in print any more and in 'Scrapbook Inspirations'. I even managed to make a 6x6 mini book for my brother for his wedding. I am currently working on a scrapbook detailing Alex's first few months of life, and this layout is the first one in his book based on a design by Ali Edwards.

This year I discovered Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) through another magazine I subscribe to 'Card making and Papercraft' and have become hooked. The great thing about ATCs is that they are small (2.5 x 3.5 inches) and therefore don't take as long to complete as 12 x12 scrapbook pages. I have joined the CMPC forum and been swapping my ATCs with others since February this year. It is the greatest of fun to receive little pieces of artwork through the post and to learn from others about different techniques and therefore hopefully improve my own work. This is my most recent ATC based on a photograph I took of Merecats at Tropical World, Leeds. The animals in the foreground have been decoupaged to make them stand out more and to add depth and dimension to the card.

Well, I guess that is enough information about me and my crafts for now and I will try and post regularly with photos of my work and of those I receive. Bye for now,

Love,

Caro

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