Summer is here!

What a beautiful weekend we have had weather wise. Brilliant sunshine, blue skies and a gentle breeze to stop us boiling to death. It really feels like summer has arrived. What makes it even better is that we have had a wonderful weekend as well. Yesterday was the usual round of Saturday jobs (cleaning, shopping, washing, tidying etc) and then in the afternoon Alex and I went to the park. Alex decided that he was big enough to go down the tunnel slide by himself, which I found terrifying to watch. Not because the slide was difficult, but more because to get to the top of the slide he has to walk along a path that is 15 foot off the ground with the occasional gap in the fencing for other, very steep ways up, that he could easily have fallen down. That is the reason why I haven't let him do it until now, but actually he was very good and stayed in the centre of the path and walked straight to the slide everytime. He thought being allowed to go down the slide by himself was the best thing ever, accompanied with shouts of 'charge' and 'Whee!' as he came down. Later on in the afternoon we played out in the garden with me teaching him how to build sandcastles, before playing a good game of rough and tumble in the grass to the accompaniment of loud giggles and squeals of delight. Today we decided to go the the Whit Fayre at Weston Park, Sheffield where the Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers had decided to set up camp - somewhat surreal, but good fun!
We went for a ride on the miniature railway (Alex wasn't so keen) and then down the helter skelter, which he prefered, and then he and Tim sat and shared a Hot Dog while listening to the Brass Band. The classic car collection was a big hit with Alex, but best of all was the merry-go-round, which after initial 'get down' complaints about having to sit still, he started to enjoy. This afternoon while Tim had his nap Alex and I went back to the park for more solo sliding, and then out in the garden for more sand and water fun. During nap-time I have managed a little crafting in the form of this scrapbook layout following Pencil Lines sketch #136, which I entitled 'Wheee!'. The papers are from Bo Bunny and cardstock is Bazzill Basics. The journalling panel was cut using a labels nestability. I drew and hand cut the swirl and finished it off with the Angel kiss flowers. The journalling reads 'Alex loves going down the tunnel slide at Spider Park. We go down together to the sound of giggles and shouts of Whee!' March '09'. Finally I made my three ATCs for the mermaids swap I have entered. For these I tried a new technique of brushing mica powder over versamark embossing ink to give a shimery shiney background. The only problem was that the rather regular pattern of the background paper gets in the way and the only way to see it in a photo is with the flash hence the glare! I also added to the layers with ink dabbers, sakura stardust circles for bubbles, sakura white glaze for the top of the sea and ribbon and a layer of shells (stamped and dabbed to look like they were on sand) for the bottom. Each little mermaid had her scales coloured in stardust. I am quite pleased with the effect, but wish I had had a better background paper to work from. As usual I would love to hear any comments you have on these creations. Take care and have a good week everyone.
Love,
Caro
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P.S. Apologies to anyone who logged on earlier...I had a brain malfunction and pressed publish without adding the photos...hopefully they are here now!

T-Shirts!

Aren’t children so funny! Alex gets such strange ideas into his head sometimes that it makes me grin, even though it can be exasperating at the same time. At the moment he is having a thing about T-shirts… for some reason he doesn’t like wearing them. For example this morning he wanted to wear a top that had a picture of Percy on it from Thomas the Tank Engine. He was really keen on this idea until we got the shirt on him and he realised that it was short sleeved and we had tantrums and screaming fits about it. There is no doubt about it, he much prefers long-sleeved tops, but he is boiling in them so he has to learn about T-shirts again for the summer. I hope he learns soon and that we don't have the same trouble with shorts! This week we have continued to have fun in the evenings drawing and playing with cars and bubbles. He has also discovered strawberry jam, which he usually scrapes off the bread in his fingers before putting it in his mouth. Don't you love the strawberry lip in this photo! I made this card for a work colleague who’s wife has just given birth to a little girl called Laila. This card actually fits several challenges this week as it is pink (My time to craft), is celebrating new beginnings (Secret Crafter’s Saturday Challenge) and, like most of my cards, is entirely made of scraps (Papertake Weekly).

Finally I made my nephews 2nd Birthday card using another cute elephant sticker from Daisy and Dandelion and following the sketch from Sketch Saturday. This again qualifies for the Papertake Weekly challenge as it uses scraps left over from my scrapbooking. I should point out that the balloons are also blue and green in real life, but the light has reflected off them making them look a strange colour. That is all from me for now… it looks like it is going to be a sunny weekend so I hope you all have fun.
Love,

Caro
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I love Bank Holidays!

It was so nice to wake up on Monday morning and to know that I had a whole day of playing at home with Alex. We had a great day together playing in the garden, playing with trains, cars, diggers etc, playing games of rough and tumble, and of course our usual trip to the park. Alex also drew one picture and made a sticker and drawing collage. He chatters away the whole time now, telling me different things that he is doing, pretending to chat to his Grandma on the phone etc. His latest game is to walk out of a door, shutting it behind him while saying either ‘bub-bye’ or ‘see-ooo later’ and then to walk back in a few seconds later saying ‘morning!’…it doesn’t matter that it is usually the evening when he does this. It is very cute to watch! This evening he cracked me up as he decided that he wanted to wear a hood, however, as he had just come out of his bath and was only wearing a nappy this was not possible so he put a t-shirt on his head and pretended it was his hood until bed-time!In the evenings I have been playing with my new quilling papers. I remember trying quilling as a child and hating it so I wasn’t convinced it would be for me, but having been given the papers and a book I thought I would give it a go as this month’s fat page swap is for new techniques. Well I enjoyed it a bit more than I expected and these two fat pages are what I came up with. The daffodil was my first attempt and I’m not convinced it looks much like a daffodil. The cat was somewhat more successful although you can't really see his eyes in this photo.It is my God-daughter’s birthday this week so I made her a card following the CPS sketch and using my new Pickles and Onion stickers. I thought that this elephant looked suitably cute, and as she is a girl who is into all things cute and pink, I am fairly confident that she will like it. That is all from me for now. Hope you are all having a good week.
Love,
Caro
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Sunny weather

We have very much enjoyed the sunny weather of the past few days. Yesterday was the usual round of shopping and washing coupled with games in the garden and a trip out to feed the ducks. Alex loves water and kept wanting to go in the stream...not an option when it is a deep as he is in places and down a 6 inch drop...rather terrifying and a challenge to keep him walking on the path. It was fun though.

There were some extremely cute ducklings in the pond which Alex was fascinated by calling them 'baby ducks'. He also made friends with another little boy and they followed each other round the playground. In the evening Tim and I had a treat in the form of finally watching the new Batman movie...it was fantastic.

This morning we went out to Heeley City Farm which has a small selection of animals of which the peacock, goose, cows and goats were a big hit with our small boy, but I think that the piglets won the day.

He also liked the playground, climbing up and down and then sitting in the little raised house.

After we got back I mowed the lawn and this afternoon we went out to our usual park where Alex had great fun running round and climbing. It has been fun to be able to spend so much time outside and both Alex and I have enjoyed it. While Alex was having his afternoon nap both yesterday and today I managed to do a little crafting in the form of these 8 trading cards. They were cut out of the background I made on Thursday and Friday to which I added gold edging, pearls and the 1920s ladies. Apologies for one photo being sideways...Microsoft malfunction! I would love to know what you all think of these. Hope you are all enjoying the bank holiday weekend...I hope it is sunny again tomorrow!

Love,

Caro

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Way Hay!

It’s the weekend, and even better, it is a bank holiday weekend! I have received good advice from both my line manager and my head of department regarding the awful student, which is helping. It doesn’t stop the student from expecting me to do all his work for him, but at least I don’t feel that I have to and can tell him to get on with it by himself. This means that I finally have time to get on with my own work! Meanwhile at home poor Alex isn’t sleeping well and therefore is completely exhausted so inclined to get very upset at the slightest thing which is a shame. However, both yesterday and this evening we very much enjoyed being able to get out into the garden for the first time in days. It was wonderful to get outside and watch Alex play on his slide, his car and tricycle. He also thought it was really funny to blow the dandelion clocks although he isn’t very good at blowing so a lot of the seeds ended up stuck to his face. Crafting wise I have started a project that I don’t quite know how I am going to finish! I have decorated an A4 piece of card with K&Co paper and then stamped various swirls, leaves, flowers, postmarks, Eiffel towers and Tower of Pisa images, then layered postage stamps and images of postcards, envelopes and tags on top as shown here. The general idea behind this is to then cut this page up into trading card size pieces and further decorate the top….this is definitely a work in progress so watch this space! Other news is that my prize for an article in the cardmaking and Papercraft magazine has arrived. It is massive containing 3 books, 8 bottles of glittery/shiney glue in different colours, several ink dabbers, and some quilling papers. I haven’t tried quilling since I was about 8 so I guess I know what I will be doing at some point soon! I hope you all have a good weekend.
Love,
Caro
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Work hassles!

I don’t know if I am coming or going this week. Work is completely chaotic as I have run two experiments, analysed three very time consuming experiments and sorted out a paper for submission to a journal, not to mention supervising four different students, one of whom never listens to a word I say and generates complete rubbish as a result. It is a complete waste of my time and of lab resources which I intend to discuss with my line manager tomorrow. In the meantime Alex is being great fun and is my stress relief. He absolutely loves the new little cars that he was given at the weekend and would take them everywhere if we let him, telling us all about the 'lello car' etc. He has also started singing nursery rhymes which is very cute and repeating phrases which he has obviously picked up from nursery e.g. No screaming inside! He now enjoys helping with various jobs around the house including putting the washing in the machine or out to dry (it usually gets dropped on the floor in the process, but it is the thought that counts). Most of all we have been playing with cars of all shapes and sizes, and getting very wet at bath-time. I have managed to do two scrapbook layouts this week which is nice. The first one is a different take on last weeks Pencil Lines sketch (#134) as I really loved that sketch. This time I have used outdoor photos from our Boxing day walk, stamped Hero art stamps on the background and used Sizzix die cut leaves and branches for the left hand edge. The journaling reads ‘Our traditional walk on Boxing Day 2008 was to the Seven Sisters on the Quantock Hills. The views were spectacular, but it was freezing so we didn't stay long'. The second page is of Alex’s birthday this year and uses this weeks Pencil lines sketch (#135) with lots of fun coloured papers, stickers and toppers. The letters for the word ‘CAKE’ are actually cut out of some Basic Grey paper. The title is ‘Birthday cake’ and the other words are ‘mess’ and ‘crumbs everywhere’. The journaling reads ‘Alex loved his ‘cotchut’ birthday cake and despite eating most of it the mess was amazing’. Apologies for the slight focussing issues on this photo. I would love to know what you all think of these pages. Have a good rest of the week everyone.

Love,

Caro

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Busy Weekend!

We have had a wonderful weekend full of friends and family. Yesterday we went down to Kenilworth to see Tim's family. All the way down in the car Alex talked about going to see 'Gampa Feet' so when we all arrived it was only natural that Alex and Grandpa Pete should have a nice cuddle. It was Tom and Sam's birthdays this week so we had a family party for them which was lovely. It was great to get everyone together and to see all the kids enjoying themselves. Both boys loved the presents we gave them...Sam spent ages hunting for insects to catch with his new bug catcher while Tom lined his creepy crawlies up in a row. In the meantime Alex played with all of their toys, creating mayhem whereever he went!

He also had a few cuddles with Granny, Daddy and Grandpa Pete on the sofa.All the boys sat watching the candles being lit on the cake. Tom had a great birthday cake and Alex was very impressed with Tom blowing out the candles, but he liked eating the cake even more. We were able to go into the garden in between the showers during which time Alex learnt to climb ladders! It was fun to get all three boys onto the slide at the same time, just a shame my camera didn't take the shot a bit sooner.

Today Alex and I went shopping in the morning, and then he played with his new garage and some little cars that he has just been given before lunch and his afternoon nap. This afternoon we went to see some work friends, both of whom have two girls. Alex had a great time chasing round the kitchen with cars, prams, pushchairs etc and then ate everyone elses muffin - little pig wig! Sadly I didn't manage to get any photos, but it was very funny to see how all five children interacted.

I have done a little crafting this weekend in the form of this scrapbook page of photos from Alex's birthday last month entitled 'Open my presents'. The papers are a mixture of Hot off the Press and sandylion, and the stickers were from my local post office! The journalling reads 'Alex loved being able to unwrap his presents himself on his second birthday, although he didn't mind when his big cousin Sam helped'. That is all for now as I am running a little late with this post. Have a great weekend everyone.

Love,

Caro

x

Glad it's Friday!

I’m so glad it is the weekend. Work is chaotic at the moment as I have a Master’s student who needs constant supervision meaning that I have less time than usual to do my own work. Despite that I have managed to complete and submit my review article and am hoping to do some of my own work next week. In the meantime at home poor Alex is still struggling with his cold and is finding it hard to sleep meaning that he is completely shattered in the evenings after nursery. This led to some of his worst ever tantrums yesterday over the strangest things as basically he was just too tired to cope. You can really tell that he is 2! Today he is much happier and we have had fun playing with trains, cars, bubbles at bathtime (a new favourite!) and games of ‘Boo’ as pictured. I haven’t done a great deal of crafting as I decided that my desk needed clearing as I couldn’t find anything I wanted to use and it was stressing me somewhat. However, I did manage to make a card following last weeks Sketch Friday’s sketch – I always seem to be late! This is a birthday card for a 10 year old boy who is into whales and dolphins so I hope he likes it. The sticker is holographic, which is why the photo doesn’t do it justice, and the whales move depending upon the angle you look at it. Finally I decided to jazz up the lion birthday card with some more stickers making it more fun and funky for a 3 year old. I am much happier with it now. We have a busy weekend coming up with a birthday party and visiting friends so not much crafting for me…I hope everyone has a great weekend.
Love,
Caro
x

Ouch!

Well so much for my get fit and lose weight scheme...I have inflammation of my achilles heal which has led to my right ankle completely ballooning up and being very painful to walk on. It gets better overnight, but the swelling isn't going down. I am now on anti-inflammatories to try and get rid of the swelling as apparently once that goes the pain will stop and I can start exercising again. It may take a while, but in the meantime I have been advised to get some better trainers. While I am hobbling around the place poor Alex is coughing around....we make a right pair! The poor boy has a stinking cold and nasty cough which is keeping him awake at night so we are all exhausted and he is inclined to cry if he doesn't get exactly what he wants, which makes life difficult all round. However, despite that we have had some fun in the evenings, especially playing with bubbles in his bath, a new game I invented this week to entertain him which he loved.

The only crafting I have managed so far this week is a scrapbook page following this weeks Pencil Line sketch which I have adapted slightly. The title of this page is 'Shh...Artist at work' and I have included Alex's artwork on the page. The journalling reads 'Alex had a wonderful time sitting up at the table playing with his new paints and sponges. He loved getting thoroughly messy while creating his masterpiece. April 2009'. I apologise about the quality of the photo...I am still on my old laptop which doesn't have any photo editing software and the light is rubbish tonight for photography hence the flash glare on the phot. As usual I would love to know what you think of this. Have a great rest of the week everyone.

Love,

Caro

x

Exciting weekend

Firstly an apology for not updating on Friday. My laptop went back to the manufacturers and I hadn't managed to set up my old laptop in time. I still need to load lots of my documents etc onto it, but the basic functions are at least now in operation. There isn't really much to report from the end of the week as work was manic (marking presentations, editing manuscripts, running experiments and teaching) and the evenings were spent playing, feeding, bathing Alex and then trying to sort out the computer.

Yesterday in contrast was lovely. Alex and I drove just over 2 hours to Evesham to meet up with my brother and his family. We haven't seen each other since Christmas so it was lovely to spend even a few hours together. We had a lovely lunch in a family pub and then the boys had a fantastic time playing in the Whacky Warehouse. Alex even climbed right up to the top and had to be brought down by one of the supervisors! Alex loved diving into the ball pit and rolling round in it. I just love these photos of him - definitely ones for the scrapbook.

We then decided that the boys needed a run around outside so we went to an animal sanctuary where they had a great time looking at the different animals with the otters and bats being especial favourites. Alex also quite liked the horses.

Our attempts to get the boys to sit together for a photo were mixed success, but good fun in the attempt. The first one was based on Alex climbing up onto this bench and sitting on it all proud like a big boy, so we popped Daniel beside him. The second one was trying to get the two of them sat side by side on the double slide which was hillarious...as fast as one climbed up the other slid down! They also liked the single slide, taking it in turns to climb up and slide down...this is my favourite photo of Daniel from the day. All in all we had a wonderful day out.

Today it is back to reality with a bang, shopping, cleaning and cooking, although we did get to the park this afternoon which was nice, although a little cold and windy. Alex and Tim also had some great games together and built really tall lego towers.

I have also managed to do a little crafting this weekend. This scrapbook page actually fits the My Time to Craft challenge for this week, which was to make anything but a card. I didn't follow a sketch for this one and used Bazzil cardstock, the letter S, duck and bubble papers from American Traditional designs, the brads from Hot off the Press and the stamps from Purple Onion. I doodled the water droplets using a sakura white glaze pen, but I am not sure where the felt letters are from. The title is 'Splash' and the journalling reads 'Alex loves everything about having a bath, but as far as he is concerned the funniest thing is when he splashed and I cry out 'I'M SOAKED' - he has even started telling me to say it!'.

I have also managed to make a card following this weeks Sketch Saturday sketch. The card is for my nephew who turns 5 next week, and it also fits the theme of touchy feely set by Spoonful of Sugar as the patterned cards (both circles and lines) are embossed and the stickers are glossy.

Finally I wanted to show you my Mother's birthday card, made using my Cuttlebug. This almost fits with the theme of The cuttlebug spot this week as their theme is Mother's Day cards, but in the UK we celebrated Mother's Day in March, so I thought that maybe my Mother's birthday card would fit the bill instead! That is all for now. I hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Caro

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