Gentle time

Alex and I are full of colds so we have had a relatively gentle weekend.  Tim cut Alex's hair yesterday and as Alex behaved so well I took him for a little shopping trip to buy a new book and a 'yum yum' (type of donut), which he loved.  In the afternoon we met up with friends at the swimming pool and Alex spent the whole time jumping into the pool and swimming by himself....wonderful! Today we went to the museum where Alex spent a LONG time turning this handle and watching the cogs go round. Don't ask me why but he thought it was wonderful!

Crafting wise I have been busy making a scrapbook layout for Quirky Crafts latest challenge which goes live tonight. The challenge is to use spots/dots and stripes and embossing.  I have to say that I found this one hard, especially for scrapbooking, but in the end I went for a heat embossed castle. It is a Whiff of Joy stamp and I heat embossed it in three colours (black for the outline, red for the flags and blue for the water) so it also fits with this weeks Crafty Creations 'heat it up' challenge. This layout also followed the sketch from Friday sketchers and fits with the crazy challenge spots and stripes challenge as does the card below!

This is also a clean and simple card I made for the Quirky Crafts challenge and this fits with the white on white theme from Flutterby challenge as the card is mostly white and contains a butterfly.

Finally I made a tag for a swap I have joined on CM&PC forum. The swap is to make 3 tags that contain fabric lace and flowers.  This is the first of my tags which follows a shabby chic/vintage style and so fits with the Crazy4challenges theme this week. The lace is recycled from my Gran's sewing box and so it fits with the All sorts challenge, and I used distressed inks and added heat embossed gold edging to make it look even more distressed so it fits with the Tuesday Throwdown challenge and the Let's ink it up 'anything goes' challenge (the background is all stamped using Stamp Away and Inkadinkado stamps).  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
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Weekend!

I'm so glad it is the weekend...I am getting yet another cold and so badly need the rest, not that there is much rest to be had with a mad three year old in the house, but at least I don't have to concentrate so hard! Alex's latest game is to put his Dad's clothes on and bounce around like a lunatic...how swamped does he look in that fleece! I think we are going to have fun this weekend.

Crafting wise I made this very quick and simple, but effective card which fits with the CCC 'food' theme, the Kaboodle Doodle 'Bling' theme (glitter glue on the icing and gems on top), the Ooh La La 'three of a kind' (three cupcakes) theme, the MTTC 'embossing' theme and following this weeks CPS sketch.

I also made a scrapbook layout following this weeks Sketchy Thursday sketch, adapted slightly for 3 photos. This layout also fits with the Paperplay 'layer it up' and the Sew many challenges 'green' themes. That is all from me for now. Have a great weekend.
Love,
Caro
x

Wednesday already!

Where did this week go? I can't believe it is Wednesday already. We are having a good week so far with Alex on fine form, being entertaining and cheeky (don't you love that cheesy grin) and work busy but good.

Needless to say it is time for another WOYWW and this week I don't have lots of papers piled on the shelves..I have put them all away! I do however have a little pile of things on the side of my desk waiting to be filed away while my desk is in the midst of a cardmaking session. You can see my somewhat battered craft mat, a craft knife and ruler (I never got on with a guilotine or other type of cutter), inks, stamps and of course my mug (sadly half full of cold tea - yuk - I need to put the kettle on)

Crafting wise I have made a scrapbook layout following the righthand page of this weeks Nuts about Sketches.  In case you hadn't guessed I am trying to do my holiday scrapbook from last years holiday and as usual I took far too many photos so it is great to find inventive ways in which to use them in both single and double page layouts.  I kept this layout simple using just stamping as embellishments (purple onion stamps in the corners and Crafty Individual's Whitby Abbey stamps) so this fits with this weeks Lasting Memories 'stamping' challenge. The title was made using rub-ons (I really struggle with getting the white ones to look nice) and the journalling was inspired by the lines 'Laughin’ and a runnin’ hey hey, skippin’ and a jumpin’ from this weeks Scrap it with a song. The journalling actually reads 'Despite Alex's objections to the howling wind, he had fun exploring Whitby Abbey, running, chasing, laughing and jumping, whilst I enjoyed the architectural beauty and stunning location of a place that I have wanted to visit for years'.

Finally here is the simple card I made for Valentines Day.  I used a free stamp, black out line pen and lots of layering for the main part with two other small stamps for the bottom righthand corner.  This fits with the 'black, white and one other' challenge from Pollycraft, 'love is in the air' theme from Pile it on, 'Valentines' from Spoon full of sugar and this weeks Cupcake Inspiration challenge. Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
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Party Weekend

Well it has certainly been a weekend of Parties!  Alex has been to two very different parties.  Yesterday he was invited to a 10 year olds skating party so he could keep Callum's younger sister Katie company.  Alex thought he would love skating but the moment he put the rollerskates on and stood up there were yells of 'I don't like it!  Take them off!'.  Sadly he wouldn't try and more after that so spent the time pushing the skates round the lounge area while being watched by a rather bemused Katie.

Today he went to the birthday party of one of his nursery friends.  The party was at an indoor play area so Alex was in his element, running, climbing, jumping etc. He especially loved the toy cars and spent ages driving them round with his friends.  Fortunately the climbing part of the indoor play area is designed for his age group so I didn't have to climb around with him too much - once I had shown him how to get to the tunnel slide and the main slide I didn't have to clamber around any more so fortunately I am not too exhausted!

Crafting wise I started by making a card for Callum.  This followed the Friday sketchers sketch, and fits with the for men/boys theme from All sorts.  It also fits with the CCT 1,2, 3 theme...one image, two patterned papers and three stars.

I also made a scrapbook layout following this weeks Sketchy Thursday sketch. It also fits with the use a button challenge from both the crazy challenge and from Pixie dust.  The journalling also fits with a line from this weeks Scrap it with a song.  The line of the song is 'I will blow in the wind' and the journalling reads 'Although Alex wasn't too impressed at being blown to bits by the wind he did enjoy rockpooling, especially when he caught a shrimp and I caught a crab. Filey Beach, Sep 2010'.  This layout uses mostly scraps of Basic grey paper, distress inks stippled through sequin waste and small shell stamps as well as an old button and images of shimp and crab printed from the internet.

Finally I made a valentines day card...I am toying with the idea of trying to sell a few valentines cards this year so thought I would make one and see how it went!  This used an Anita stamp I have had for ages and never used. This challenge fits with the pink and red theme from Meljen's (the edging of the main stamped image is pink distressed ink) and the love is in the air theme from Stamp simply. That is all from me. Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
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Ready for the weekend!

My sinusitis is still being a pain and after a few days of non-stop meetings at work I am exhausted, have a thumping headache and am ready for the weekend.  Crafting wise I have only had the chance to make one card...my nephew's 1st Birthday card and one ATC.  The birthday card uses a Penny Black stickeroo and other stickers and follows the blue and green theme from Spoonfull of sugar, the spots and dots/polka dots theme from My Time To Craft and the for men/boys theme from creative card crew.

The ATC is supposed to be a fairy/pixie party and I am entering it for Penny's  and Flutterby Challenges anything goes challenges. That is all for me today.  Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Silly Boy!

Alex is going through a phase where he is trying to work out what is funny and what is silly and what is just plain naughty.  He doesn't get it right most of the time, but I had to say that his invention of 'pants head' just made me laugh out loud!

As it is Wednesday and time for WOYWW I thought I would show you my desk, which is mid-scrapbooking.  You can see the layout I am working on, with my craft mat, box of buttons and an ink pad to the left, my mug (empty now - I need more tea!) and PVA glue at the back and various distress ink pads, craft knife, pencil, ruler and a toilet roll (yes, my sinuses still haven't cleared up). 

The reason my desk looks halfway tidy is because I shoved all the papers I had rummaged through to make my scrapbook page onto the shelves to the left of the desk - I'm not as tidy as some of you think I am, just good at hiding the mess!

Here is the final layout which is entitled 'Friends' and follows this weeks Creative Scrappers sketch.  It lso fits with the scrapfit challenge of using strips of paper left over from previous projects. My strips are from K&Co and Basic Grey and all the patterned papers used on this layout were scraps. My layout also fits with this weeks recipe from Lasting memories of using 1 ribbon (mine is a leaf patterned ribbon), 2 buttons and 3 colours (orange, various shades of brown, and green), the use a heart challenge from Speedy the cats friends and the anything goes challenge from Pile it on and from Scrap and stamp (my stamp is the paw prints which have been stamped using tea bag distress ink). That is all from me for now, have a great rest of the week.
Love,
Caro
x

Wet weekend!

Well it really has been a wet and windy weekend so we have been confined to playing indoors.  For Alex this has meant a lot of playdoh, make believe, cars, rough and tumble, and trains at home, and then a trip to the museum yesterday where he dressed up as a sailor in a storm, before meeting up with a friend and running round the museum together.  Today we went to our local swimming pool where we met up with more friends and the kids had great fun splashing together. Alex managed to swim (with armbands) without touching the bottom or holding onto me for the very first time!  He was very excited. It was a great way to burn off excess energy although I am not sure my sinuses liked it much.

I have had time to craft this weekend which is great.  It is time for another Quirky Crafts challenge and this time, most excitingly we are sponsored by Stitchy Bear stamps, who are offering a prize to the challenge winner.  The challenge this week is Spring Garden using at least one stamp (can be digital) and the colours pink and green. My entry uses one of their stamps 'Camelia still life' and I have kept it to the clean and simple style that I like so much.

I also made this thank you card for my Uncle, hence it being a rather masculine card.  The card follows inspiration from the Craft stamper magazine. The background was made using a shape I drew and cut out to mask the cream card and then sponging over the top in just one colour of distress inks (tea bag), varying the intensity. I then stamped the clock using a darker brown distress ink and mounted it ontop of the tape measure (K&Co paper) on foam pads. As the card is all shades of brown I have entered it in for the CCT 'monochrome challenge', and the thank you challenges from Spoonful of sugar, crazy4challenges and crafty sentiments.

This card was a quick and simple one to make using a brayered background and crafty individual and purple onion stamps.  This fits with the Lots to do 'brayering' challenge and the stamp something 'anything goes  stamping' challenge.

Finally I made a birthday card for a little girl who turns 4 next weekend.  The card uses my new papers and ribbons from Dovecraft with the cupcake made sparkly with sakura stardust and glitter glue, and mounted on foam pads for emphasis. The card follows the simple sketch from  OCC and fits with the bling challenge from OLL. That is all from me for this weekend.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Crafting fun!

Although I have been at work all week I have had time for some crafting in the evenings.  I mostly spent the time making these three bookmarks for a swap which is going on at the CM&PC forum.  They all use distress inks, Lavinia, Crafty Individuals, Purple Onion and inkadinkado stamps.  As they are bookmarks they need to be nice and flat so they have minimal embellishments. The pink one is being entered for the crazy4challenges 'photo inspiration' challenge, and as book marks are quite like tags I thought I would ask if these could be entered for the Pixie dust 'tag' challenge.

I also made a scrapbook layout following this weeks Sketchy Thursdays sketch.  I used my normal clean and simple style with cream coloured card stippled with distress ink using a paintbrush and then stamped over with leaves in autumn colours. I then only added a few autumnal papers and the matching alphabet stickers from Crate paper.  This layout really does show my style and so I am entering it for this weeks Lasting Memories challenge as well as for the 'cutie patootie' challenge from Paperplay (well I think Alex is cute!).  The journalling was inspired by the song title from this weeks Scrap it with a song 'All the right moves' as the journalling reads 'Alex loved sunny autumn afternoons in the park, especially when he realised that he could turn his scooter into a leaf bulldozer. It took some practice to get the move just right, but the squeals of laughter when he got it were wonderful to hear'. That is all from me for now.  Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

WOYWW time

Well it is Wednesday again (I can't believe it has come round so fast) and it is time for another WOYWW.  This weekly blog hop and look round other peoples work desks is great fun and very inspiring so I would encourage you to take a look and join in if you can. My desk can be seen mid crafting session when I am playing with a mixture of inks (mostly distress and Adirondak) using cut and dry foam and my new Lavinia stamps in an attempt to make a scenic card. To the back left, well out of the way of the card I am working on is my traditional mug of tea (half drunk and still nice and hot), and immediately beside it is a toilet roll (to blow my nose on as I have run out of tissues and STILL have a cold). Apart from that my desk is relatively tidy - the only part you can't see is the far left where there are two disastrous prior attempts at this card (they will go in the bin!).

Here is the completed card which I am entering for the 'animals' themed card for the Crazy Challenge, and 'use new things' (my Lavinia stamps) from Pollycraft , 'all about favourites' from Flourishes (distress inks are my favourite things to use as they are so versatile), 'anything goes' from craft your days away.

I was also asked to make a card for a baby girl but not in pink, they requested yellow so this is what I came up with.  The background was embossed using a cuttlebug embossing folder I have had for a while but not used before. The card therefore fits with the 'something new/new beginnings' (a baby) themes from CCC and Stamp, scrap & Doodle, and 'embossing' theme from Simply create. That is all from me for now.  Have a great WOYWW and a good rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Experimental weekend!

It is fair to say that we have had a lovely weekend. Alex has been on great form so we have been playing all sorts of games with him from racing cars to monsters, from rough and tumble to sitting and quietly reading.  The main theme of the weekend though has to be playdoh.  Yesterday we spent ages making playdoh dinosaurs which were multicoloured and really good fun, and today he has been using a mould to make literally hundreds of little fish.  He has loved every minute of him and it is nice to seeing him doing something constructive and playing nicely.

We have also had two trips out this weekend (while Tim had his afternoon naps). Yesterday we went to an indoor play area near us where Alex had a wonderful time running, climbing, jumping and sliding, and today we went to a friends house where he played with the scalelectrics, trains and then dressing up. Needless to say he had a fantastic time.

I have also had lots of opportunity for crafting this weekend which has been great. I am continuing with our holiday scrapbook pages with a page on the Whitby Steam bus which uses Basic Grey and Bazzil cardstock and a Xela stamp as well as ribbons and buttons from my stash. I actually started this layout on Friday, and finished it on Saturday morning.  The layout follows this weeks Sketchy Thursday sketch and fits with the theme of using at least 2 ribbons from Pixiedust. 

I have also been experimenting with my new stamps and my distress inks (hence the title of this post!).  This first card used a cuttlebug embossing folder to generate a textured background, as well as three different distress inks for the main image. The stamps are from Crafty Individuals. I am entering this card for the SCSC 'textured' challenge.

The next card uses a mixture of crafty Individuals and purple onion stamps as well as distress inks and I am entering this for the Lets ink it up 'anything goes' challenge.

I also made a book mark using the same stamps, plus some inkadinkado and Lavinia stamps for a swap being run by Dorothy on the CM&PC forum.  For the book mark I gold embossed highlights on the tree and so this is being entered for the Marks Finest papers 'embossing' challenge.  This is the front of the bookmark, the back is very similar.

Finally Tim gave me some Lavinia stamps as an extra present (isn't he wonderful!) and I used them to make this card which I am entering to the Flutterby anything goes challenge (as it has fairies/pixies on it) and for the crafty sentiments 'anything goes' challenge.  As you can see I have had a lovely weekend of crafting and fun with family and friends.  It is back to work for me tomorrow so I hope you have a great week.
Love,
Caro
x

Monsters!

Alex was given a magnetic drawing board for Christmas and his latest game is to draw monsters for me.  Mostly they are just scribbles that he says are monsters, but this one actually looked like one with lots of tentacle like arms and curly hair. I thought it looked quite cute and he did assure me that it was a friendly monster. We are both pleased that it is the weekend as we are still suffering from our colds/infections and are very tired after our first week back at work/nursery.

I have managed to do a little crafting over the past few days.  I finished the card I started on Wednesday.  It is a mostly white card using a cuttlebug embossing folder and mounted to show a thin layer of red round the edge so it fits with the CCCB 'all white with an accent colour' challenge. I am also entering it into the Paper play 'clean and simple' challenge.

I have also continued with my aim of trying to catch up with scrapbooking and have scrapbooked a layout of Alex dancing in the street in Scarborough.  I used up old stash with this one, punching star shapes out of old paper and hand drawing the scalloped circle on the background card, as a result this layout fits with the CCT challenge of 'using old scraps' . The title of the page is taken from this weeks Scrap it with a song and is 'Here I am (dancing)' as Alex just danced in the street with no inhibitions at all throwing his arms and legs around as if to say 'here I am' to the world around him.  Passers by watched with amusement and he had a great time which I tried to capture in this layout which follows this weeks sketch from Pencil lines.  Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Back to work!

Well I had a lovely last day of the holidays although it was packed with a number of jobs including taking the decorations down, tidying and cleaning the house, shopping and cooking.  In the afternoon we headed out to the park where despite it going dark and the day being cloudy Alex insisted on playing in his sunglasses as well as his coat, hat and gloves (it was freezing!).

As it is Wednesday I thought I would share my desk for the first WOYWW of the year, although it is looking rather tidy thanks to Mondays cleaning session!  You can see the clean and simple cards I am working on, my promarker pens stored in a drawer at the back of my desk, the crafy individuals stamp and Versafine ink pad I am using. The cuttlebug was put away immediately after use as I just don't have enough space to leave it on my desk.

This is the card I have made so far, a clean and simple, but elegant card made using an edging cuttlebug embossing folder and the bird stamp coloured in using promarker pens.  I am entering this card into the 'White is white' challenge on CCC, the 'All things new' challenges from The Crazy challenge and Pile it on as the stamp and promarkers I used are new, and the 'up in the air' challenge from MTTC.

Crafting wise I made a scrapbook layout following the facebook only Sketchy Thursdays sketch.  This layout also fits with the scrap fit challenge of using scraps only (with the exception of the background cardstock) and a mixed Alpha title.  I am also entering this layout for the DCM 'at the beach' challenge and Kaboodle Doodles and PTW 'Anything goes' challenges. Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all and I hope it is a really good year filled with love, laughter, health and happiness. We started the year at my in-laws with lots of laughter, fun and love, but sadly not health as so many of us had flue/colds etc. Despite that we had a lovely belated Christmas complete with a yummy meal

Crackers and the traditional Christmas crowns, as well as party poppers to festoon the Christmas star on the ceiling.

Big cheesy grins from Alex, who was especially delighted with the marbles from his cracker

Silly games (Uncle Ben with Alex and his cousin Tom)

and Christmas presents (we even had various attempts at a family photo with hillarious results that Tim doesn't want me to post here - this was the best we got with the presents!). It was a lovely way to start the New Year and I hope everyone recovers from their various illnesses soon (I can't wait to get rid of my sinus infection!).

Today was a much more gentle day and I managed to catch up with some crafting.  This first card is a clean and simple New Baby card made for a friend who gave birth to a little girl on 21st December. This is my DT card for Quirky Crafts 'New things' challenge which starts tonight for two weeks. I am also entering it into the Lots to do 'New beginnings' challenge.

This next card is another one for the Quirky Crafts challenge...this time I used my new Christmas stash (Crafty Individual stamps) and so I am entering this card for the 'new things' challenge from Sew Many Cards and My Time to Craft.

This card was made for a man's birthday card and so is being entered into the Crazy4Challenges 'celebrate something' challenge.  I am not too sure about the colour of the trees on the bottom of the card, but I guess you have to experiment to find out what works!

Finally I made another thank you card, this time following Unscripted Sketches #13 and using another Crafty Individuals stamp coloured in using my promarkers.  I am really pleased with the effect of this card and am entering it for the All sorts and CCT 'thank you' challenges as well.  That is all from me for now. Have a very Happy New Year Everyone.
Love,
Caro
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