Summer is here!

What a beautiful weekend we have had weather wise. Brilliant sunshine, blue skies and a gentle breeze to stop us boiling to death. It really feels like summer has arrived. What makes it even better is that we have had a wonderful weekend as well. Yesterday was the usual round of Saturday jobs (cleaning, shopping, washing, tidying etc) and then in the afternoon Alex and I went to the park. Alex decided that he was big enough to go down the tunnel slide by himself, which I found terrifying to watch. Not because the slide was difficult, but more because to get to the top of the slide he has to walk along a path that is 15 foot off the ground with the occasional gap in the fencing for other, very steep ways up, that he could easily have fallen down. That is the reason why I haven't let him do it until now, but actually he was very good and stayed in the centre of the path and walked straight to the slide everytime. He thought being allowed to go down the slide by himself was the best thing ever, accompanied with shouts of 'charge' and 'Whee!' as he came down. Later on in the afternoon we played out in the garden with me teaching him how to build sandcastles, before playing a good game of rough and tumble in the grass to the accompaniment of loud giggles and squeals of delight. Today we decided to go the the Whit Fayre at Weston Park, Sheffield where the Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers had decided to set up camp - somewhat surreal, but good fun!
We went for a ride on the miniature railway (Alex wasn't so keen) and then down the helter skelter, which he prefered, and then he and Tim sat and shared a Hot Dog while listening to the Brass Band. The classic car collection was a big hit with Alex, but best of all was the merry-go-round, which after initial 'get down' complaints about having to sit still, he started to enjoy. This afternoon while Tim had his nap Alex and I went back to the park for more solo sliding, and then out in the garden for more sand and water fun. During nap-time I have managed a little crafting in the form of this scrapbook layout following Pencil Lines sketch #136, which I entitled 'Wheee!'. The papers are from Bo Bunny and cardstock is Bazzill Basics. The journalling panel was cut using a labels nestability. I drew and hand cut the swirl and finished it off with the Angel kiss flowers. The journalling reads 'Alex loves going down the tunnel slide at Spider Park. We go down together to the sound of giggles and shouts of Whee!' March '09'. Finally I made my three ATCs for the mermaids swap I have entered. For these I tried a new technique of brushing mica powder over versamark embossing ink to give a shimery shiney background. The only problem was that the rather regular pattern of the background paper gets in the way and the only way to see it in a photo is with the flash hence the glare! I also added to the layers with ink dabbers, sakura stardust circles for bubbles, sakura white glaze for the top of the sea and ribbon and a layer of shells (stamped and dabbed to look like they were on sand) for the bottom. Each little mermaid had her scales coloured in stardust. I am quite pleased with the effect, but wish I had had a better background paper to work from. As usual I would love to hear any comments you have on these creations. Take care and have a good week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

P.S. Apologies to anyone who logged on earlier...I had a brain malfunction and pressed publish without adding the photos...hopefully they are here now!