Midweek panic

My big grant deadline is looming steadily nearer (8th Feb) and I have to say I have hit panic mode. I hate working at the last minute as that is not normally my style, but somehow with one thing and another this grant is nowhere near as ready as I would normally have it by this stage. The main project proposal is written (although with four other people reading it, there are changes being made almost daily - too many cooks?) it is just everything else I have to do, a short summary that can be understood by a non-scientist, a longer summary for an expert in the field, all the projected costs (hard to work out how much of each reagent, cell etc you are going to need for 5 years worth of research and the costs involved), my CV, other grants and more besides. I know I will get there in the end, but it is tough going at the moment.

All I can say is thank goodness for Alex...playing with him before bed is what is keeping me sane at the moment and means I don't spend all my time thinking about the grant. He has been in a hillarious mood finding everything funny from the loo roll holder banging against the wall of the bathroom, to me typing on the laptop. I try and do a different activity with him each evening alongside regular baths and story time. This evening we were playing with his garage, and yesterday evening we were playing with several balls and his stacking rings. He is starting to try and pull himself up to standing now, succeeding in getting up into a riflemans kneel (one foot on the ground and one knee on the ground). I don't think it will be too long before he learns to stand.

I have done a little crafting over the past few days in the form of another pair of trading cards for the words of wisdom swap. The serious one of this pair reads 'Babies are special people just waiting to go' I love the old fashioned colouring of the central panel so didn't want to use blue or pink as the background, so instead I used a K&Co patterned paper adn then simply added the nappy pin and flower embellishments. The fun one reads 'I keep him at the bottom of the garden for a rainy day and is again placed on K&Co patterned paper (paisley green) and then stamped with HeroArts mini stamps (leaves, flowers and dragonflies) to represent the garden.

I also made two very quick and easy cards this week. The first one is a birthday card for a friend and simply used K&Co background paper, rikrak, card brayered with Adirondack butterscotch and a Crafty Individuals Image. Simple but effective.

The final card used a PB image kindly stamped for me by Christine (Gilligogs, CM&PC forum) which I coloured using watercolour pencils. I have never done this before or used a PB stamp so this was a new experience for me...hoping I will get better at it! The image is then layered over some stripey card from the Nana's kids pack (kindly given to me by Kerry Knowles) and then the stickers added. This is for a friends little girl who is 1 next week. As always I would love to know what you think of these.

Love,

Caro

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