My head is spinning!

I’m so busy, my head is spinning, like a whirlpool….etc. That’s what life feels like at the moment. Work is mad - within the space of three days I have submitted three papers, been writing an ethics application and planning the next grant application. Roll on Friday and a day of annual leave in which to bake and craft. At home things aren’t much calmer as poor Alex isn’t sleeping well and he is shattered. As a result he doesn’t really listen to what we say and tends to flip out when he doesn’t get exactly what he wants the moment he wants it. We have to gently jolly him through the mornings and evenings, although he was a little better for the most part tonight.
I haven’t had a lot of time for crafting but did make this quick birthday card for my friend’s little boy who is turning 4 tomorrow. This follows the CPS sketch for this week and uses a Penny Black Stickeroo as the main image. I also made another page for my childhood scrapbook with photos of the really deep snow that we had when I was 3. The papers/cardstock used are American Traditional and Bazzil basic and I followed last weeks Pencil lines sketch. The journaling reads ‘The snow fell so deeply in February 1978 that the hamlet of Barr was completely cut off from the outside world. We had to dig the length of the lane by hand. I even helped with my sea-side spade before retreating inside for warmth’. The left hand photo is of me showing the snow drifting up to my head height, and the right hand photo is of everyone digging in the lane.
Must dash now as I have a load of things to do this evening, have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Gentle time

Yesterday the weather was beautiful, sunny with clear blue skies and no wind so after the usual round of shopping, cleaning and tidying Alex and I spent some time outside both in the garden and in the park in the afternoon. Alex loves going to the park, especially when the dogs are there and he had a great time stroking the dogs, playing on his scooter, the climbing frame and slide.
In contrast the weather was extremely wet and windy this morning so we ended up playing in doors with cars, rough and tumble etc. We did consider going to church but Alex was already tired before the service even started…it is just the wrong time for him at the moment, so we decided to have a gentle morning and an early nap. This afternoon we went to a friend’s house so Alex could play with her two little girls and I could meet the new baby. It was lovely to see them especially as it has been quite a while since the last time. Alex and Isabella, who are nearly the same age, had a great time playing together in the den under Katrina's bed and with lots of toys...the mess was amazing, but they had fun! During the times when Tim played with Alex, I have been cracking on with making Christmas cards. This first one followed this weeks Unscripted Sketch and used entirely free papers with some papermania stickers. The second one followed this weeks Sketch Saturday and used K&Co paper in the background, papermania stickers and some card from my cardstock punched with my Martha Stewart punch so it also fits with this weeks Daring Cardmakers challenge (This is the most recent punch I have bought). This card used free papers from the recent Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine and followed the sketch from Friday sketchers, the theme of ripping/tearing from My Time To craft and the theme of spots and stripes from PaperTake Weekly. Alex also had a go at card making for his Dad’s birthday. He loves a combination of sticking and drawing and really enjoyed having a go with one of my stamps. Not a bad effort for a 2 year old!
My card for Tim is the first ‘Z-fold’ card I have ever made. It is in green which is his favourite colour and has the hearts on because he likes romantic cards. The paper is Bo Bunny and I couldn’t resist the cute little dragon, especially as he is getting ‘Dragon Age Origins’ for one of his birthday presents. Thanks for popping by and looking at my blog. Have a great week
Love,
Caro
x

Its the weekend again!

Not sure what we have planned for the weekend but I am looking forward to it! Work this week has been chaotic and the week has just flown by. Alex is absolutely exhausted at the moment because his cough is still keeping him awake at night so the poor little thing is really struggling. He has been a bit more tearful at nursery which is most unlike him, but apart from that has been having a good time there. We have been playing with his camera over the past few days much to his enjoyment. This included taking various photos of me (not at my best as the photo above shows!), his cars, his teddies etc. He is gradually learning how to look through the viewing screen to see what he is photographing although it is still somewhat hit and miss! I hope that he sleeps better over the weekend and enjoys himself.
I have been busy making Christmas cards again. I do them in fits and starts otherwise I get bored. These all used the cuttlebug embossed image of the snow houses which I really like. This first one followed last weeks Friday sketchers sketch…I was a bit slow!
The next one followed this weeks Card Positioning systems sketch with a bit of adaptation.
I also re-used the Unscripted Sketches sketch for a card this time rather than a scrapbook layout.
Finally I used the sketch and stash layout…the old stash I am using up are free papers that came with a scrapbooking magazine over 2 years ago (maybe even 3!). This also fits with this weeks PTW challenge of spots and stripes. Have a great weekend everyone, whatever you are up to.
Love,
Caro
x

Fashion victim?!

Who would have thought that a 2 year old boy would have a strong sense of fashion. OK so it isn’t my idea of fashion but Alex has a definite idea as to what he would like to wear and the most important part of the outfit is that it has to include a cardigan…he doesn’t want to wear jumpers at the moment just cardigans and they have to be done up. Now this can be tricky as he usually needs a clean one every day and he only owns 4, so for three days out of 4 we have upset and a battle to get him dressed when he realises that he isn’t going to get to wear a cardigan! Cardigans are not the end of the story however, trousers are important (he has two pairs which he particularly wants to wear most days), he has to wear Bob the builder socks, and there are about 6 tops which he will wear. I don’t quite know where he gets this sense of ‘fashion’ from but it is so funny, albeit frustrating at times. This photo is of him wearing the cardi knitted by Granny! Crafting wise I have been catching up on some ATCs for swaps that are being run on different forums. These first ones are for a pink themed swap on Quirky Crafts. I found the photos on the internet and used papers that came free with a magazine ages ago, my hero arts stamp and some free stickers. The second lot of ATCs are for a vintage transport swap on the CMPC forum which I am running. I used K&Co background paper, Images from Crafty Individuals and stamps from Xela and Stamps Away for these. Finally I made a card following the sketch from CCC and the recipe of 3 eyelets, 2 different shades of pink and one ribbon from Quirky crafts. Anyone who knows me will know that I am not into pink so to do two pink projects was a real challenge for me, however I used up some scraps of free paper so it wasn’t all bad! Thanks for looking everyone and have a great rest of the week
Love,
Caro
x

A nice weekend

Despite the weather being very changeable, misty and wet yesterday morning, sunny and very windy in the afternoon, and sunshine and showers this morning followed by lots of rain this afternoon, we have had a lovely weekend. Alex is gradually getting over his cold and therefore is on really good form. Yesterday we went shopping in the morning and he was really well behaved round the supermarket and in the afternoon we went to the park where he played with his new car, on his scooter, splashing to his hearts content in the puddles where he was joined by 5 other children who all had a fantastic time, and going down the slide. Today we played in the garden in between showers, cooked flapjack together, then played with cars, trains, etc. In the afternoon I took Alex to meet Andreas, who is almost the same age as him and likely to be going to the same school. Alex had a great time playing with all Santiago and Andreas's toys, but sadly Andreas wasn't feeling very well although he did keep smiling until he fell asleep in his Dad's arms. Alex had such a nice time that he didn't want to come home! I have managed to do some crafting this weekend. This layout follows Unscripted Sketch #28 and fits with the open theme for Scrap and Stamp this week. I stamped the plain Bazzil cardstock in silver with a snowflake stamp that was free with Papercraft Inspirations, and added snowflakes to the tree paper from American Traditional crafts with a small HeroArts stamp. The snowmen in the corner were another free stamp from a few years ago which I stamped on white card and coloured in with Whispers Pens. The three snowmen panels on the bottom were cut from Basic Grey paper as was the lace effect paper on the right, and the large silver snowflake was cut using my Cuttlebug. The journalling states 'One advantage of the deep snows in February 197* was that I made my first ever snowman aged 3 years old. Although the sun was shining I must have had very cold fingers! I have also started crafting for Tim's birthday. He is really into computer games and the game that he most wants wont be delivered in time for his birthday so I decided to make an exploding box featuring the game. The lid has the game title on it while the outside sides have images of some of the different monsters and people from the game. As this box contains images of things I would certainly find spooky or that go bump in the night I thought that this box would also fit with those themes from Kaboodle Doodles and Cupcake Crafts this week. The inside of the box features images of dragons and a flying dragon which pops up on acetate to really look as if it is flying over the city. Finally I made Tim a decorated CD case as he is getting a downloadable CD for his birthday so this gave him something to open on the day. The CD case is decorated front and back with images from the original album art and contains really nice chocolates so fits with the CCT theme of sweets. That is all for now and I hope you all have a great week ahead.
Love,
Caro
x

Improvement!

I am glad to say that both Alex and I are improving although we still have colds. Alex is back to his usual cheeky and mischievous self and the past couple of evenings we have had fun dancing, singing, playing with his garage and general games of rough and tumble. He has also discovered the fun of sliding down the stairs on his tummy! His appetite is back which is also good as he is quite a thin child and can’t afford to lose much weight. I on the other hand am back on my diet which is going well again I have now lost in total 1stone 3lb…only 4lb more to go to my target weight. I went out for a leaving do on Wednesday which was lovely although sad at the same time as I am really going to miss Ann. Needless to say I haven’t done much in the way of crafting, although I did manage to complete a layout following this weeks Pencil Lines sketch. In continuing a scrapbook of my childhood I wanted to do a layout of my imaginary friend – a 2 inch high elephant. Not exactly an easy challenge. In the end I thought that the Pickles and Onion images would work well as they are really cute so decided to put one of them in a thought bubble to try and indicate me thinking of my friend. At Tim’s suggestion I also put a little one on the swing with me to try and tie all elements of the page together. This page uses Bazzill cardstock, Hot off the Press papers and Hero Arts stamps. The journaling reads ‘Between the ages of 2½ and 4 I had an imaginary friend called ‘Nellie’, a 2 inch high elephant. Gran tells the story that one day I came to her in floods of tears and when asked what was wrong I explained I had put Nellie in the paint tray and Grandad had poured paint in, so Gran helped me ‘rescue’ Nellie and wash her and peace was restored’. Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Bad cold!

Don’t you just hate having a bad cold. My darling son has kindly shared his absolute stinker of a cold with me and I am full of it, as is he, bless him. Alex is really suffering with this one, with an intermittently raised temperature, nasty cough and exhaustion. He has still wanted to go to nursery this week though and by all accounts has enjoyed himself even if he is a little more subdued and easily upset than usual. When he comes home in the evening the only thing he really wants to do is watch a little television and then have a bath and go to bed.
I have been attempting to crack on with my Christmas cards this week and made the first two following Unscripted sketch #27 using the snowflake embossing folder on my cuttlebug.
This is the second one with sakura stardust adding some sparkle to the background.
The next card is Tim’s favourite (he likes green) and follows CPS # 138. For some reason I found this sketch really hard to work with, but the card turned out OK in the end.
Finally I followed this weeks Sketch Saturday sketch for this card using slightly subtle shades of blue (the colour reproduction isn't good in these photos I'm afraid). I am off out to a work’s leaving do tonight so must dash. Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x