WOYWW 473

Where did that week go?  I cant believe it is Wednesday already and time for a nosey rounds lots of peoples crafting spaces via Julia's blog.  My desk is in the process of clearing up one project and about to start another.

On it you can see my dirty paint water (I had already spilt some of this), my cleaned brushes, stamps that need putting away and various other bits and pieces that I used for my most recent project. At the back instead of a mug of tea there is a large glass of diet coke (too hot for tea!)

This weekend we celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary by eating far too much and sitting in the garden with our feet in the paddling pool! 

We went out and had an extremely special afternoon tea - so much food we had to take the cakes home in a doggy bag for later!

I have been keeping up with the index card a day challenge this week as well - the following are a few of the cards i have made.  I am using this as an experiment to try different techniques and things i would not normally have the courage to do which is fun.

I will leave you with a photo of Alex cooling off in the paddling pool after school yesterday - wearing his school shirt and swimming shorts!

I hope that you have a wonderful week.

Love

Caro

x

WOYWW 472 (and I'm back!)

Well, I am back in blog land for the first time in nearly 4 years!  It is the delights of the desks and nosing round other peoples crafting spaces on a Wednesday (for What's on your Workdesk Wednesday - WOYWW - hosted by Julia) which has encouraged me back.  My desk is its usual chaos of piles of pens and pencils on the edges in pots and stamps and inks etc around them, with a small patch of bare desk to work on. At the moment my working space is occupied by two index cards I have made using gesso and adirondack ink, my bullet journal and prayer journal piled up on the right, and a book I am reading at the moment as I prepare for a talk I am giving in church on Thursday evening. My main crafting at the moment is joining in with a daily challenge - to decorate an index card anyway I fancy!  The challenge runs for all of June and July and was set by Tammy.

This one was made using alcohol inks and a freebie stamp

This was doodled during a conference day at work to stop me falling asleep!

This was a complete experiment with inks and paint and layering

Another experiment of inks and paint, this time adding in some paper weaving for texture.  That is the beauty and joy of the index card challenge - you can experiment to your hearts content - no rules, no judging, just enjoyable creativity.

Just before I go, I thought I would leave you with a photo of my not so little young man to show how much he has grown up in the past 4 years!  This was taken at the local splash park a couple of weekends ago.  That's all for now, I look forward to hopping round the desks later.
Love,
Caro
x

Messy cardmaking (WOYWW)!

Well this is the state of my desk (as my entry to WOYWW) as it was after an emergency card making session...no space even for my mug of tea as I had turned my patterned paper drawer upside down looking for inspiration for the card I needed to make. Hidden under the paper are the ink pads, dylusion inks and stamps I had been using for a journal page which I abandoned when I remembered the card!

Here is the finished card...sadly I didn't get it to the recipient on time, but I hope she liked it.

Part of the reason for my distractibility this weekend was a little sporting event called 'Le Tour de Yorkshire'...Alex and I went up to Kirk Edge road to watch the tour whizz past. 

The atmosphere was amazing and we enjoyed every bit...I am glad that we didn't try and go to one of the hills, the crowds were so big we wouldn't have seen as much. That's all for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love
Caro
x

Dinosaur smiles!

Well it is Friday and time for Annie's smiles.  My smiles this week come from the fact that we finally made it to the Dino Jaws exhibition in Leeds as a family - it was small enough for Tim to get round with plenty of rests and was really well set up. Alex was fascinated by the Baryonyx skull

and animatronic model

as well as by the massive pile of dinosaur poo!

It has to be said that all the animatronics were excellent and well worth a visit, and we all enjoyed them (a rare photo of all three of us).

 This week I also had the bonus of a girls night out in Bakewell at the official Bakewell pudding shop where, alongside a delicious meal, we got to make some real Bakewell puddings:

puddings note, not tarts - they are completely different, as this photo shows. It was a great evening with lots of lovely chat and laughter and definitely made me smile. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Love
Caro
x

Loom bands and camouflage (WOYWW)

Well it is Wednesday and time to show you my desk as part of WOYWW.  As you can see my desk has been taken over by loom bands.  Alex loves them and can make three different varieties of bracelet. However, he keeps asking me to make the more complicated ones which is why the bands are all over my desk.  Half hidden under the bands are my ipad, my phone and various stamps which need cleaning and putting away!

Here are some of the bracelets I have made for him and a smiley face (the smiley face and the starburst bracelet were the most difficult - I definitely need a better and longer loom!).

The main excitement of the week however, has been the amazing parcel that arrived from Jo (Twiglet) - if you check out her blog you will see all the lovely goodies that she very generously made for Alex, all neatly laid out.  She made him camouflage curtains for his den, which have the words 'Top Secret' sewn onto them and were installed immediately as shown here...

a padded cushion for his desk chair, a cushion cover, two pillow cases and a duvet case (already in the wash so he can have them on his bed asap), a wonderful bag which he is wearing (Alex was most impressed with the three pockets inside it - 'it even has a pen pocket Mummy') and the notepad that he is showing in this picture. Thank you once again Jo! Now the pressure is on for my woodworking skills to make the desk to complete the den (although it wont be this weekend with the school fete and tour de France). 
I hope you all have a wonderful week.
Love
Caro
x

Ikea smiles

Sadly we didn’t get to do what we planned last weekend as Tim was too ill to go out so my smiles (for Annie’s smiles) come from a trip to Ikea in Leeds, that Alex and I made to go and get some of the furniture for his new den under his bed.  It is the first time Alex had ever been to Ikea so he thoroughly enjoyed looking round the different rooms, being pushed around on the trolley and testing out some of the chairs – I think he is a little big for this one, don’t you!

This is him with all the things for his den (plus a few items for the rest of the house) as we headed to the checkout.

Needless to say I had to build him the furniture the moment we got back. This is the cosy end of the den which he loves; the other end still needs a desk installing - we are going to custom make that to fit the space so it will be a little while before it happens. At the moment it has a small set of drawers, a desk chair and some file storage all ready and waiting for the desk. He has also requested some curtains to turn it into a top secret spy den (they are on their way thanks to Jo - her generosity really made me smile this week).

Alex also had a wonderful time at a friends party this weekend (I had to crop the photo to show only Alex waving a balloon sword - they all had them and were posing as a group round the monkey mascot).  That is all from me for now.
Love
Caro
x

art journalling (WOYWW)

Well, as my entry to WOYWW this week, I have two shots of my desk to show you.  This first one is when it was tidy and covered in the crafting goodies that Tim gave me for our wedding anniversary - you can see some new stamps, new stencils, a little bottle of liquid pearls, some pens and some grunge paste.

The second shot is from when I had been playing with lots of those items in making some pages for my art journal!  There is stuff everywhere (stamps, paints, distress paints, inks, pens, stencils - you name it and it is on there somewhere!) and hiding in the middle is my trusty mug of tea, almost empty now.

Here is the wedding anniversary page that I generated using acrylic paints applied with a spatula, stencilling (again with the acrylic paints), pen work, stamping, liquid pearls and a small photo from our wedding.

This next page is the 'Family' page generated with acrylic paints, masking, stencilling, stamping, pens, a making memories 'tie' and a photo of the three of us taken last summer.

Finally I made the 'Who am I?' page using dylusion spray inks, water through a stencil, masking, stencilling, stamping, and hand drawing/writing.  I think it is fair to say I have found my mojo again! That is all from me for now. Have a great week everyone,
Love
Caro
x