'No!'

Alex is still really poorly, and to add to his stinky cold and high temperature, the poor lad now has a stomach upset. He is miserable and tired most of the time and although he wasn’t too bad in nursery when he was distracted from it all, when he is at home he just lies down and doesn’t really want to do much. I have to say I am getting bored with the word ‘No!’, he says it to absolutely everything at the moment, mostly because he is uncomfortable and doesn’t want to do anything or eat much. What is frustrating is when he says ‘No’ when really he means ‘yes’. I hope he gets better soon otherwise it will be another trip to the doctor for us. That said he was a little brighter this evening and we had a nice gentle play time, bath time and reading time for the first time this week. To top it all off work has been totally hectic, which is hard when you are exhausted so I am very glad that it is the weekend! Crafting wise I have only managed to do one scrapbook layout based on sketch #75 from 'Stuck!', but I am quite pleased with it. The papers are a mixture of Bazzil and Making Memories and the title letters are Dovecraft, Papermania and Cuttlekid Tadpole Alphabet. I am not sure who makes the leaves, but I bought them cheaply in closing down sale and was pleased with the effect they have of making the layout look as busy as the day actually was! The title is ‘The Grand Garden Tidy’ and the journaling reads ‘Our garden had turned into a jungle of weeds, seedlings and overgrown hedges following the birth of Alex, so it was wonderful when my parents came up and spent a weekend transforming the jungle back into a garden, transporting three large car loads of rubbish to the tip in the process. 30th-31st Aug 2008'. I would love to know what you think of this and in the meantime, have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
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Poorly boy!

Poor Alex is really unwell at the moment with a stinking cold and a very high temperature that is resisting all efforts to drop it including alternate dosing of paracetamol and ibuprofen and undressing him. It started on Sunday night when he was upset for a lot of the night and not sleeping, but got worse from Monday lunchtime. This means that his attendance at nursery has been sporadic which is a shame as her has generally been a lot happier at nursery as there are more interesting things to distract him. When at home he is ultra sensitive to everything and has been upset a lot of the time and needing lots of ‘Mimmy cudgles’. Despite the lack of sleep resulting from Alex’s illness I decided that it was time to try and sort out some issues that have been causing a lot of stress at work. Although I was very nervous about it, the meeting on Monday was productive, it just remains to be seen whether things improve significantly over the long term. So you can see it has not been the easiest of weeks so far. Crafting wise I have managed to do a little in terms of making four trading cards for the Easter egg ATC swap on the CM&PC forum. The images I used are all Penny Black and they have been mounted on free paper from the Scrapbooking Magazine, cut out using nestabilities, highlighted with glitter gel pens and additional Easter egg stickers. I have also managed to do a scrapbook page of my parents visit to us last August entitled ‘Play Peep-Boo Grandma’. The page emerged from the latest sketch on Pencil Lines (#123), but then deviated wildly from it so now it barely resembles it at all! The papers are a mixture of K&Co and American Designs, the stickers are Papermania and K&Co, the scalloped circle and oval were cut using nestability dies on my Cuttlebug and the letters were cut using the Tadpole Cuttlekids alphabet. The journaling reads ‘Alex loved his trip to the park when Grandma and Grandpacame to visit. He especially enjoyed playing ‘Peep-Boo’ with Grandma in the tunnel'. As usual I would love to know what you all think of this. Have a great rest of the week.
Love,
Caro
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Active weekend

Well it has certainly been an active weekend. Yesterday I did the shopping, washing, tidying etc and then as the weather was so nice took Alex to feed the ducks at Forge Dam. He hasn't explored there since he could walk so he loved it, walking round the edge of the duck pond, watching the ducks, shouting 'bird', 'uck' and 'wack' at the top of his voice, closely followed by 'wasser' (water), 'bwidge' and 'stream'. He particularly liked the little stone bridge and going into the woods.

This morning he was tired and fractious so we did some drawing and then I decided to do some cooking with him. We had a go at making sponge cakes which was great fun as he stirred the mixture happily and got very messy putting it into the cupcake cases. However, we discovered about 5 minutes afterwards that he has an egg allergy as his skin which had been in contact with the mixture flared up in an ichy rash. Fortunately he didn't eat much of the mixture and the rash went down again within the space of an hour....we will book him an appointment at the GPs next week to investigate further as he has never shown any reaction to cooked egg.

This afternoon we went to the park and spent ages looking at this raven who was sat in the grass just looking back at us and ignoring the yells of 'BIRD'.

Alex had a great time running round the park letting off steam, but didn't really want to go on any of the play equipment.

I have also managed to do a bit of crafting this weekend and have finished off the fatbook page and ATC swaps by making 8 ATCs all of vintage ladies.

These are the next four.

This is what they look like in their pockets on the fatbook pages.

I also made another domino tile. This time in a vintage style ready to hang on a cord. The images on front and back are of Alex which I turned into sepia tones.

This is the other side...the images are clearer in real life as the varnish does not obscure them.

I also made a couple of quick cards using my new Cuttlebug folder 'bird song'. This one I just highlighted the bird and edges of the grass with sakura stardust and added a sparkly ribbon (so it fits with the Cuttlebug spot 'bling' challenge), then stamped the words 'make a wish' and put a little detail on the bird in black pen. The second one I coloured in using chalks and mounted on a blue background card. That's all for now. Have a great week everyone.

love,

Caro

x

So pleased its Friday!

I am exhausted this week as I haven't been sleeping well due to stress about work so I am very glad it is the weekend. Things have been upsetting me there quite a lot recently and it is hard to let go of that and just enjoy family life in the evenings. Alex hasn't been sleeping very well either and so he is exhausted poor lad, especially after a day of playing at nursery. I put him in his cot while I cleared the bathroom ready for his bath and found him like this, all tired out and ready for bed. He perked up a bit and had a great splash around in his bath before story time and then peacefully to bed.

Crafting wise I have joined in with a 'fatbook page with ATC' swap whereby you have to send everyone in the swap a decorated page (3.5x4.5inches) that has a pocket on it and an ATC in the pocket. This means I have to make 8 of them which is why I was a little hesitant about joining in. However, I have now managed to make the 8 pages..these are the fronts with the pockets of two of them (they are all the same with just slight colour variations). The pockets were made with celephane wrapping from my flowers!

The backs have used backing paper images from Joanna Sheen in two different colours. Each trading card will have a different image although the same layout, all following the vintage ladies theme...I hope to make those this weekend. I would love to know what you think and in the meantime have a great weekend.

Love,

Caro

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Crazy work

Work is a bit crazy at the moment what with writing grants, running experiments, supervising students, writing lectures for teaching, and starting to write a review article, so it is lovely to come home in the evenings to a happy playful boy. Alex has been on great form and over the past few days we have played with trains, cars, duplo, footballs, my keyboard and general chase games all to the accompaniment of many giggles. He is using his favourite sentence all the time now - ‘That’s a car/wall/bus/bib etc’ echoes round the house at regular intervals. He also tells me very firmly that ‘Daddy’s sleep’, which is very cute, if not always accurate! Crafting wise I seem to have joined in with a lot of swaps recently so am making a concerted effort to catch up with them hence making two fatbook pages for the angel swap. I am afraid that the two are identical as I didn’t manage to come up with anything original, but I am quite pleased with the way that the Sakura stardust pen has added sparkles and interest to the wings...not sure how well it shows up on the photo. The text reads 'In the still, quiet moments we can hear the angels whisper'.
I have also managed to finish my bamboo tiles for Lotties swap. I added interest to the printed images with the Sakura stardust pen and then varnished the tiles before adding beads and turning them into pendants. I don’t have any appropriate leather cord for the necklace parts of the pendants so hope that they will be OK for the swap like this. I couldn’t leave the backs undecorated so they look like this. They were so much fun to make and really do look effective as pendants. I can feel a new obsession coming on and can’t wait to play with some more! Have a good week everyone.
Love,
Caro
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Valentines Weekend!

I hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day! Tim spoilt me rotten with a lovely hand-made card, that he had raided my stash to make. It is so unusual and beautiful and I love it. He also bought me an enormous bunch of flowers, a set of nestabilities (labels), some acrylic paint and some more Cuttlebug embossing folders. We had lots of lovely food and watched Mamma Mia in the evening, which I hadn't seen before and totally loved. Tim loved all the presents I made him as well as the things I bought him so we were both very happy.

Alex was very tired and a little clingy yesterday which meant we spent a lot of the day with him sat on my lap drawing or playing with the camera and then when Tim had his afternoon nap we went out to the park. The snow was still there, although turning to slush so we made the most of having the sledge.

Today we have had a gentle and peaceful day, I have been crafting, playing with Alex and gone to the park again and am now totally exhausted. He loved it though and would have been there a lot longer given half a chance, so I am glad I made the effort.

It was impossible for him to walk on the path...he kept slipping over, and we couldn't get the pushchair along it, hence the need for the sledge. It is hard work pulling him on the sledge for such a distance which explains my tiredness this evening. This photo was of a small sapling which is growing on the side of the path...I love the way the buds are surrounded by needles. Crafting wise I haven't been able to do a great deal. I made my ATC for the CMPC competition which is birds - not allowed to show it here though. I have also started to decorate my bamboo domino tiles for a swap that Lottie is running. I sanded the tiles down then sealed them with gel medium before adding alcohol inks on one side (butterscotch and wild plum) and then stamped Oriental images onto them before finishing off by painting gold leaf round the edge. The backs have Oriental images printed onto thin paper and stuck onto the tiles before edging with gold leaf...it just remains for these to be varnished now and then decorated with beads and wire to turn them into pendants...I am a little worried about the varnishing so I have made a quick practice tile to try on tomorrow. Must dash now as it is bath-time. Have a great week everyone.

Love,

Caro

x

End of the week!

Well the week got a bit better as it went on, thank goodness. Alex’s cold has remained at the level of a sniffle so far which is a relief although the poor lad isn’t sleeping well and as a result is completely shattered by the end of the day. He has started to put words together now and we are constantly hearing about his ‘big bus’ or ‘birds all gonna’. This morning was the best though as he said very clearly ‘That’s a bokkle (bottle)’ while pointing at the milk bottle. We both love his bed-time stories and he gets so excited about them, pointing out different things on the pages. This photo is of us reading the Gruffalo... as far as Alex is concerned there is too much book before the Gruffalo arrives!
Crafting wise I have completed another scrapbook page, this one featuring the first photos I captured of Alex walking. The cardstock is Bazzil and the patterned papers are from American crafts. I used the Hero Arts footprint stamp on the background and then Purple Onion flourish stamps on the corners. The title ‘Look at me... I’m walking!’ I cut out using my Cuttlekids alphabet. The rub-on up the side of the photos was a freebie from Scrapbook Inspirations magazine. The journaling reads ‘Alex took his first steps on 17th May 2008 although we didn’t capture the event on film until 10 days later’. As usual I would love to know what you think. Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Finding things tough.

It has been a tricky week so far, what with another couple of inches of snow falling over the past few days and ice on the roads meaning journeys to work took ages and a difficult situation to deal with at work, making me really struggle to enjoy it at the moment. Alex is getting another cold which means he doesn’t want to eat, isn’t sleeping well and is more fractious than normal. All in all I just want to act like an Ostrich...stick my head in a hole until it all gets better! Sadly life isn’t like that and things must go on. Despite Alex’s cold we have had fun this week as he has discovered my keyboard and absolutely loves thumping away on it and likes it when I play (badly!). Bath-times are a firm favourite with him at the moment (huge amounts of splashing and giggles) and getting ready for bed is hilarious as Tim and Alex have developed a series of silly games which make Alex laugh immensely. Story time before bed has always been a bit hit and miss depending on Alex’s mood, but recently he has developed a liking for certain stories (the Gruffalo is the current favourite). What is really sweet is now when I pray with him before putting him to bed he has started to say ‘Amen’, which I just love. Crafting wise I decided that it was high time I made some ATCs. These ones all used a little book rescued from the bin at work and the insert to a Christmas box of chocolates. The book is by Jessica Walker and is 2inches square and came with a box of chocolates. I decided to take the pages with the fun sayings out of the book and put them on ATCs together with images of chocolates. I would love to know what you think of this piece of recycling. Finally I made another scrapbook page of Alex playing with his ball last summer. The papers and card are a mixture of K&Co, Bazzil and Basic Grey. The layout follows sketch #121 from Pencil Lines, and the peel-off footballs were a gift from Kath. Un surprisingly the layout is entitled ‘My Ball’. The journaling reads ‘Alex was so excited when Tim bought him his first football. He carried it around everywhere, hugging it, dropping it, pushing it along the ground and squealing with delight, generally having a wonderful time, although he wasn’t so sure about kicking it. June 2008’ .I hope you are all having a better week than me.
Love,
Caro
x

Great fun!

I have had such fun this weekend! When I went shopping yesterday I found a sledge in the local hardware store for £7.50 and decided to pick it up as the snow was still fairly deep around us. I am so glad that I did because Alex loved it. I'm not sure what he enjoyed most, sitting on it and being pulled around by me, or pulling it himself.

The huge grins, and shouts of 'Slej' and 'Wheee!' as we went round the park and across the fields spoke for themselves.

For my nature photography this weekend I tried to capture the bird prints in the snow, but the camera couldn't cope with focussing in all that white so I am not sure how well they turned out.

Despite the sunny day yesterday the hills were still looking beautiful and white, and we still had lots of snow. This photo was taken as the sun was just peeping out from behind the clouds as it was beginning to set.

We went out to the park again today and although Alex wasn't impressed that the climbing frame was too slippery for him to cope with, and he fell over twice bumping his head quite hard, he did enjoy being pulled around on the sledge again. I am now exhausted!

I wouldn't be surprised if Alex was tired as well because he wanted to walk all the way back from the park himself pulling his sledge.

It has also been a good weekend crafting wise as I have finished off the board book I have been converting for Tim's valentine's present. This is the next page using free paper from a magazine, K&Co paper for the corners and words, Making memories stickers for the 'Discover' and 'adventure' statements and Purple Onion stamps.

The next page used K&Co paper and some vintage paper (don't know where from), gold peel-offs, heart stickers and rub-ons from the Wedding set by E-Z (a kind gift from Kath).

This is the final page, again using K&Co papers and words, Purple Onion and Stamps Away stamps and gold peel-offs.

This is the cover of the book which I first covered in white paper and then put the patterned red mulberry paper on the top. I then stamped the bird images from the latest CMPC magazine and a triple embossed and stamped heart from the same set of stamps. I would love to know what you think of this.

I always give Tim a box of chocolates for Valentines, but saw instructions for an origami box so decided to give it a go and will be filling it with chocolates. I made the box in green as it is Tim's favourite colour and then I decorated it with an embossed card and heart.

Finally I made a very quick and simple packet of sweets using an ATC cover, red card embossed using my cuttlebug and a gold peel-off. I would love to know what you think of this and the other crafting projects I have done this weekend. In the meantime have a great week everyone.

Love,

Caro

x

More snow!

The saga of the snow continued as yesterday I was supposed to be going to a conference in Sheffield which started at 9.30. This meant that I left the house later than normal, having worked from home for a while, by which stage, as it had been snowing heavily for a while, there was over an inch of snow on the roads and no sign of the snowploughs or gritters. We only got about a mile from home, after some rather hefty digging to get the car out, before we hit stationary traffic. We sat in that for ages not even moving an inch before giving up and going home. I then called the bus companies to discover that no buses could get onto our estate and the nearest stop was over a mile away. I set out, fell on my rear and gave up feeling rather bruised and battered. Needless to say I worked from home for the rest of the day. They finally ploughed and gritted our road at 4pm..a bit late for me! Here is a photo of the hills near us taken from our back garden this evening.

With a bit of digging we were able to get the car out this morning and get me to work today which was just as well. It has been a hectic day, but productive which is good. Because it was actually snowing yesterday Alex didn’t get to play in the snow, so I took him out for a brief jaunt after nursery which he loved. He especially liked sitting in his car being pushed around by me!

Crafting wise I have been working on converting a child’s board book into a Valentine’s present for Tim using photos of us taken over the past 8 years, starting with our wedding. The colours of our wedding were blue, cream and silver, hence the colour scheme of the page. Both papers are K&Co, and the rub-on images at the corners were E-Z (a kind gift from Kath). The words are also cut out of K&Co paper. This is the second page and is as far as I have got so far, again I have used K&Co paper and words, gold peel offs, Purple Onion stamps and flowers from a Victorian decoupage sheet. I would love to know what you think of this. Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
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