Still full of cold!

I hate colds - they just get in the way of so many things including sleep. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a moaning blog entry, I just had to get that out of my system! Apart from the cold life is pretty good at the moment; Alex’s cold is clearing up so he has been on good form this week. We have had some hilarious games in the evening racing cars up and down our kitchen and extension, seeing which one would go the furthest etc, dancing round the room, singing and playing chase. The current favourites have to be the ‘Daddy squash’ game where Alex lies on the floor and Tim squashes him with his feet, or the ‘Mummy tickle’ game where Alex lies on the floor and I tickle him, either with my feet or hands. Both are greeted with squeals of laughter and shouts of ‘not fair’ – a phrase he has picked up from me as that is what I say when he tickles me (I am very ticklish!). This evening however, he was shattered as he didn’t have his lunchtime nap so all he wanted to do was watch television, hence the rather serious expression of concentration in this photo! Crafting wise I have made a card for this week’s 3D challenge on crafty cardmakers. All the examples were of decoupage, but I just don’t have the patience for lots of fiddly cutting out (my scissors are pretty rubbish which doesn’t help) so I decided on a different take. The edges of the card were made using tapestry stamps and the shape was cut out using Nestabilities.
The 3D elements on this card are the pot which was rounded on a glue pot before being stuck down and the flowersoft where the wires have been coated in PVA glue before adding the flowersoft to them. This is a close-up to show the 3D aspect of them. This is actually a retirement card for my mentor who retires next week. I hope she likes it.
This is the inside of the card with the retirement message in it. I have also made this ATC which seems to fit with about three challenges (a) Vintage for the Quirky crafts forum, (b) Shabby Chic (lace, buttons, charms and torn & distressed edges) for the Daring Cardmakers challenge and (c) Distressing techniques (inked and torn edges) for the Cupcake craft challenge. I must say that I really enjoyed making this ATC as the lace was made by my Gran, and the button came from my Mum’s button box. I stamped the background paper with music in butterscotch and then with the swirl (Purple Onion) in cranberry. All the edges are in cranberry as well.

Finally I made this scrapbook layout of Alex feeding the ducks following the 15th September sketch from Stuck?! Sketches. The layout also fits with the colour scheme of blue and green from this week’s Scrap and Stamp. The blue background paper is from Fancy Pants and has quite a lot of texture and splash marks on it, but I added some swirly stamps and inking through sequin waste effects round the edge of the green panel (Basic Grey paper) to add to the feeling of water. The title is Feeding the ducks and the journaling reads ‘Alex is so sweet when we go to feed the ducks. He crouches down at the water’s edge and says ‘Hello Ducks!’ in a very cute voice. He isn’t very good at feeding them though, preferring to eat the bread himself’. look forward to your comments. Have a great rest of the week.
Love,

Caro
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