David the Pumpkin! (WOYWW)

We have a new addition to our household - David the Pumpkin.  He was designed by Alex and carved by me, and is Alex's new best friend. In fact we almost had tears when Alex realised that David wasn't going to last long before going mouldy.  As a result Alex is making the most of having David with him.  Indeed, David watches Alex in the bath, has his tea with Alex, had breakfast with us all as a family, took Alex to holiday club today and watches television with Alex!

Here is my desk as part of WOYWW. It is amazingly tidy at the moment because I worked from home yesterday and Alex was too busy playing with David to want to craft this morning.  On my desk is my new Smash book which I am currently working on, some berol pens (promarkers leak through the smash book pages), my trusty mug of tea, and peeping from behind it a punch that Alex used in our crafting session yesterday.  To the left of the smash book you can see my altered book, which I have finally finished after starting it 4 years ago!

For ages I have wanted a book in which to record spiritual things of meaning to me, but didn't have the confidence in my artistic abilities to have an Art Journal as such.  When I came across Smash books on the web the other day I thought that they would be perfect and was going to ask for one for Christmas.  Two days later my darling husband gave this one to me! I am so excited and couldn't wait to play. My first page is a pictoral and words representation of our church's vision. It isn't designed to be a great artistic masterpiece, just  a memory of important things that I can look back on, kept somewhere I can find.  I am looking forward to doing more in this book over the coming months.

In addition to playing with my new smash book, I have made this card following this weeks Less is More sketch. I used masking and inking with my distress inks and then added the Lavinia Stamps poppy stamp in black.  Finally I finished it off with a sentiment stamp from Crafty Individuals.
That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Half-term is here!

Well we have started half-term in a great fashion with street dance, followed by shopping, a family lunch and then a lovely walk through the autumn woods.

We are so blessed to be able to live on the outskirts of a big city with lots happening, but only 5 minutes away from such wonderful countryside.

We then came back home to do some baking - Alex wanted to make cakes so here is one of the dozen cakes we made, proudly decorated by him ready for his evening meal.

Crafting wise I made this birthday card for my brother in law who turns 40 this week.  Tim wanted me to do something silly/fun/insulting for his younger brother, hence the sentiment and card!  This card followed the sketch by Cards for men, and I am entering it into Flourishes Timeless Tuesday 'Birthday' and Pennys challenge 'buttons or ribbon' (the buttons are tiny ones as hub caps on the wheels of the truck).

As well as making this card I decided it was high time I finished off my altered book, the one I started about 4 years ago (LOL!), not least because I only had one page to go and the inside of the back cover!  Here is the final page, I first painted in acrylic paint, then used distress inks all over it, then stamped various different leaf stamps across the entire page, then added the grass stamps at the bottom, and the images cut out of a very old countryside book (rescued from a charity shop bin!), and finally I hand wrote the sentiment.The colours on this page have gone a little unusual as it appears that the distress inks have reacted with something in either the paper or the acrylic ink and lost their purity of colour...the whole thing is a little more pinky than it was originally!  Nevertheless I am pleased with how it turned out, it is definitely one of the best pages in the book.  I am entering this into Simon Says Stamp 'Autumn leaves', Fussy & Fancy 'Anything goes', and Stamping for the weekend 'Anything goes'.  That's all from me for now.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a nice week.
Love,
Caro
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Over tired (WOYWW)

Don't you just love misty Autumn days with those beautiful colours?  I took this photo in Graves Park on Sunday afternoon as the mist was beginning to set in.

I currently have a VERY overtired little boy on my hands.  I think he has found this half-term quite hard going and is badly in need of a rest, partly because for some reason he isn't sleeping well.  We have had total melt-downs of the 2 year old tantrum style every evening this week.  Hopefully half-term will improve things next week.  We did manage to craft this morning without too much stress.  He enjoyed making his zebra so much last week that it was the turn of a crocodile...cue cuttlebug embossing folder, brayer and green ink...shame about the blue card he chose for the background!

This is the state of the desk as he left it (we had to run to school so we weren't late), with a mug of tea ready for me to clear it and start again. I am entering this into WOYWW although in some ways it doesn't look that different from last week.  The cuttlebug is on the back left, with my two boxes full of embossing folders hiding under the various plates. Besides them there are some stamps that need to be cleaned and put away, the scraps left over from the 'crocodile skin' making experiment, the filthy brayer in need of cleaning, the Adirondack ink pad, a Batman space ship (courtesy of Alex!), my scissors and of course my trusty mug of tea.

Crafting wise I haven't had much time this week, but I did make a card for Less is More 'Autumn' challenge.  This is very similar to a card I made a few weeks ago but instead of the small copper embossed leaf I added a gold 3D shaped leaf that Gran gave me.  The background of this card is actually cream, the sentiment stamp is from JustRite and the leaves are tapestry stamps. I am also entering this into Crafty Cardmakers 'Autumn', Kaboodle Doodles 'Fall Projects',  Fussy & Fancy 'Anything goes' and Stamptacular 'no rules'.  That is all from me for now. Wish me luck with a tired small person for the rest of the week! Have a great week.
Love,
Caro
x

Fun in the Autumn Sun!

Well we have certainly enjoyed the sunny weather this weekend.  Yesterday afternoon we went for a 'tour' of all the local alleyways, and passage ways ending up at our local park.  This was Alex's idea and he thoroughly enjoyed exploring parts of our neighbourhood that he hasn't seen before.  Scooting through the leaves wasn't quite as much fun as you would imagine - the leaves get caught in the scooter wheels stopping it.

However, scooting through puddles (while dressed as a ninja turtle) is the best of fun!

After a lovely church service this morning we headed out to Graves Park to feed the animals and play in the playground.  Alex particularly enjoyed feeding this little calf

and the very greedy sheep!

Crafting wise it is time for another Quirky Crafts challenge, this time set by me.  As I am very much enjoying our sunny autumn I chose 'Anything but a card with autumn colours' as the theme.  We have a sponsor this week, Robyn's Fetish, and they kindly gave us all a stamp to work with.  Mine was 'Nuts about Squirrels', which you can see at the bottom of my scrapbook layout.  I couldn't resist scrapbooking these photos of Alex playing in the sun last Autumn (I am somewhat behind with my scrapbooking!) and so used background paper from Best Creation Inc which was full of glitter on the leaves, then layered the two photos onto some speckled dark yellow card, then added leaf ribbon from Dovecraft, I also added some extra leaves punched out of copper card, and stamped some trees and leaves in the bottom right corner.  I am entering this layout into MTTC 'one ribbon, 2 images, 3 papers', SSS 'Eerie inspiration' (my inspiration came from the bottom right photo), CCT 'got glitter' (most of the leaves are glittery, not sure how well that shows up in the photo though), Paperplay 'wood' (plenty of trees and branches here), All sorts 'Autumn colours' and Speedy Fox 'Leaves' challenges.

Contrasts (WOYWW)

We had wonderful weather at the weekend, brilliant sunshine and so definitely time for the park and lots of fun, however, the walk to school this morning was wet and windy and horrid. Total opposites.

It is time for another WOYWW and here is my desk, covered in cuttlebug embossing folders and a filthy brayer in need of cleaning after my crafting session with Alex this morning.  My fresh mug of tea is sat there ready for me to clear my desk for work (yep, I work full-time and from home one day a week).  The little zebra you can see is Alex's creation from this morning.

He drew the shape (I cut it out for him for speed and accuracy), then he embossed it with a cuttlebug embossing folder, then brayered in black ink over the top to give the zebra stripes (somehow we managed to keep it of the school uniform!).  He will add some eyes tonight.

Here is my crafting for this week, a card made for Less is More 'one layer with wings', and taking inspiration from Speedy Fox's 'photo inspiration' challenge. I made the card by embossing the frame first, then stamping the Crafty Individuals bird flourish stamp in the middle, then masking the birds and using a masked frame placed over the top and distress inks to make the tile pattern. I am also entering this into CCC 'Two's company' (2 birds), and SSSS 'favourite' (my favourite technique is masking which I have used twice in this card).  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Shopping and crafting!

Well so far it has been a weekend of Street Dance (Alex has a dance lesson first thing on a Saturday), shopping (food, pyjamas for Alex, socks for me and trousers for Tim), and crafting.  I am not complaining about the first and last...just wish that shopping didn't take so long, but what do you expect when you are accompanied by a 5 year old who wants every toy he sees!  Anyway, at least it was mostly successful.

Here is the first of my cards, which features a sentiment from JustRite, tapestry stamps, Kaleidacolor inks, rusty coppery embossing powder and a cuttlebug embossed frame.  I am entering this into CCC 'winter/autumn' (you can't get much more autumn than falling leaves!), Kaboodle Doodles 'Autumn leaves falling', SSSS 'Rustification' (the rusty, coppery embossing powder is my rust element), and CCCB 'Bible or inspirational verse'.

My second card used 7Gypsies paper and stamps, as well as a Crafty Individuals corner stamp, and distress inks.  I am entering this card into Creative craft crew 'Birds', PTW 'All creatures great and small', and I took inspiration from the Crafty creations 'photo inspiration' challenge.  That is all from me for now.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend...we are celebrating harvest festival in church tomorrow so I am very excited...it is one of my favourite services.
Love,
Caro
x

WOYWW time again!

Where did this last week go?  I am another year older, but not necessarily wiser and certainly not tidier as my messy desk will attest to. Here it is in all is glorious crafting mess as my entry for this weeks WOYWW. In the back lefthand corner you can see some stamps and cards that need putting waay, and in the foreground you can see my current work in progress, complete with the heat gun as I have just done some heat embossing with Metal Magic (not on my craft mat I hasn't to add!).  My craft mat has been used to mat the embossed image along with my metal ruler, DST and craft knife.  Notable by its absence is my mug of tea - it is currently very late on Tuesday night and even I don't drink tea this late!

Here is the completed card which I made for this weeks Less is More 'silver' challenge.  I use silver Metal magics embossing powder on the free falling star stamp from this months Craft Stamper, matted onto silver origami paper which is textured and then used some silver edged ribbon. I am also entering this into Delightful Challenges 'winter holiday' challenge. Apologies for the rather poor photo, it is very late and I couldn't get the lighting right.  That is all from me for now.  Have a great rest of the week.
Love,
Caro
x

Birthday fun!

Well I have had the fun of having an extended birthday this week and weekend!  To celebrate we have been to the cinema, had a takeaway with a movie, presents in bed, pancakes for breakfast, chelsea buns for elevenses, been taken out for lunch at the Norfolk Arms, been for a fantastic walk along Stanage Edge with my Mother who joined us yesterday, out to church, had my nephews sing happy birthday over the phone,

and had a yummy birthday cake complete with candles.  Not to mention two enormous bunches of flowers, a smart new top, silver earings, a necklace stand and some crafting supplies. Talk about being blessed!

I have also had some time off work so was able to make two creations for the Quirky crafts challenge site this week (I am a DT member).  We were given images by Stitchy Bear to use and the theme was magical moments with stars, glitter and silver. For my first entry I had a spooky owl silhouette image to use, I coloured round the moon with distress inks (faded denim and duty concord), then extended the tree that the owl was sat on and added birds with Lavinia stamps.  My glitter, silver and star were all included in the one star element in the night sky.  I am also entering this for Stampavie 'Halloween', crazy4challenges 'Halloween', and Pixie Dust 'Anything goes'.

My second entry used the FairyMoon digital stamp from Stitchy Bear. For this card I used a cuttlebug embossing folder, and two die cuts, then added silver and pink pearlescent glue and glitter glue to the image for highlights. I also added pink glittery gems in the corners of the card.  As the colours of this card are white, black and pink I am entering this into CCC 'Think pink' and Fluorishes Timeless Tuesday 'Think pink' challenges.  I am also entering it into Penny's challenge 'die cuts and/or punches', SSS 'glimmer and sparkle', and Paperplay 'shine on'.  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Alex's crafting (WOYWW)

Sadly I haven't had much time to craft recently, but this morning before school Alex had a little time to play with my crafting toys.  Here he is stamping using a Kaleidacolor ink pad and various leaf stamps, having already played with the distress inks.

This is the state of my desk once he had finished, distress inks everywhere along with the four different leaf stamps, a post it note pad, pen, pencil , craft mat and some randome ink pads at the back left. As this is also what it looks like at the moment I am entering it into WOYWW.  You can just about make out the tag I made at the weekend (shown in my previous post), that Alex was using as his inspiration. Notable by its absence is my ever present mug of tea...sadly not available just before school, although I do have one now!

This is Alex's tag made using spiced marmalade, shabby shutters and broken china distress inks, then stamped with Hero Arts, Tapestry and Woodware stamps using colours from the Creole Spice Kaleidacolor ink pad...I didn't manage to convince him to just use the three autumnal colours LOL!  Alex (aged 5) has asked me to enter this into some challenges (to be like Mummy) so on his behalf I am entering Alex's tag into Kaboodle Doodles 'Colours of Autumn', SSSS 'Leaf-spiration', Stamp with fun 'Autumn', Crazy4challenges 'leaves', and Papertake weekly 'anything goes'.
That is all from me for now.  Hopefully things will be a little calmer next week and I will actually manage to do some crafting!  Take care and have a nice week.
Love,
Caro
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