What happened? (WOYWW)

What happened to this week?  I can't believe it is Wednesday already!  Thank you all for your messages of support last week...everything went well at work.  I have spent the past 10 months putting together a new Masters course at the University where I work and I finally received all the approvals so the course is now live and open for applicants!  We just have to wait and see if anyone applies now.

This weekend Alex and I braved the wet weather and headed into Sheffield city centre for the Christmas market and the lights...he wasn't sure about the Doctor Who stuff,

but was very impressed with the shark in the fountains.

As it is Wednesday already here is my desk which I am sharing as part of WOYWW.  It is remarkably empty at the moment (the result of working from home yesterday). To the very left is a pile of Christmas papers and embellishments with an even larger pile on top of my smash book.  My mug is half-full of lovely hot tea, and you can see my Christmas tapestry stamps at the back of the desk alongside some others that need cleaning, as well as my latest card and a pencil!

This is the card that was on my desk which i have made for Less is More's 'Glammer & Glitz' challenge.  I am also entering it into All Sorts 'Bring on the bling', FTT 'gold or silver' (gold in my case) and SSSS 'project with heart' - the gold charm is a heart shape.

My next card was very simple, a free patterned paper mounted on red card, and then on the base white card and embellished with a red and white corrugated cardboard tree.  I am entering this into Delightful challenges 'red and green', Kaboodle Doodles 'stripes or polka dots' (there are both), and Ooh La La 'spots or dots' challenges.

My next card uses papers and images from Crafty Individuals with a little hand drawing in the corners.  I am entering this into paperplay 'sweet angel' and Delicious Doodles 'something that flies' challenge.

Finally I made this card using a Purple Onion corner swirl stamp, a sparkly green tree stamp and two different sized gold stars.  I am entering this into DCM 'twinkle twinkle little star' challenge.  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone and I will try and be a bit better about visiting this week.
Love,
Caro
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Stress! (WOYWW)

As usual Alex borrowed my desk before school yesterday morning to create a 3D robot with my help.

Here is the final product -we didn't have time for the arms!

I am feeling somewhat stressed today...I have to finalise all corrections for all the paperwork for the main work project I have been working on all year, and it has to be done by lunchtime!  No pressure then!  This is why my desk looked like this yesterday during the day, once Alex had finished with it...rather boring and covered with work stuff. Why am I showing you my desk you may ask?  It is to join in with a fascinating blog hop at Julia's entitled 'What's on your workdesk Wednesday'...pop over and check it out.

I did take a little time off yesterday evening, which is why it is now looking like this...somewhat more creative and interesting. My smash book is off to one side, and the two latest Christmas cards are sat in the centre with various Christmas stamps shoved to the back.  My mug is sadly nearly empty of tea, but as I am now at work (this post is on a timer - I hope) I will have a fresh mug in my hand by now!

The latest page of my faith smash book is quite simple...When I saw the background paper I thought of two verses from the Bible 'There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens' from Ecclesiastes and 'Be still and know that I am God' from Psalm 46:10.  I decided to do type out each verse, with a little explanation as to its meaning, and then a prayer related to the explanation and verse.  I surrounded each of those with a mixture of 3 different leaf stamps, in three different colours, and finished it off with a gold leaf in the bottom righthand corner of each panel. 

I have also made some Christmas cards.  The first one used two pieces of white card, one embossed with a snowflake pattern, some bright red snow flake ribbon and pearls.  The sentiment is stamped onto white card, then layered onto red card and then stuck onto the background with foam pads so that it 'pops up' from the background.  I am entering this card into Speedy Fox 'Pop it up', PTW 'ribbons and pearls', and Creative craft crew 'anything goes'.

The second card used two Cosmo cricket papers, cut out with two different die cuts.  I then added the wooden snowman embellishment, three little pink star stamps in the corner, some stitching detail and the sentiment.  I am entering this into Less is More 'hardware' (I hope wood counts), Crafty cardmakers 'more than one punch/die cut' and stampin for the weekend 'stitching'. 
That is all from me for now.  Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
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Fun weekend.

It has been a lovely and happy weekend...Street dance followed by shopping, lunch and a fun walk through the autumnal woods yesterday, and then church this morning and a play area with friends this afternoon.  Perfect!

Crafting wise it is time for another Quirky Crafts challenge set by Cazzy 'Come to the Quirky Dark side' which means no cute images and using dark colours.  We have two sponsors this time so please go over and check the challenge out.  I was given 'Medusa' from the Stamping Boutique to work with so I coloured her with promarkers with the snakes in her hair coloured in red with sakura stardust added on top to make them 'pop' a little (it doesn't show up too well in the photo sadly). I used Hot off the press papers for the background, layered up to frame medusa. I then heat embossed red round the edge. I then added a black gem to the bottom left, and a tiny one on her sash and in the centre of the flower at the bottom. Finally I added the two 3D mulberry flowers and the ribbon. I am entering this tag into PTW 'flower power', and Crazy4challenges 'create a tag' challenges.

The next card was made for Less is More's 'hardware challenge', in this case the 'hardware' was a metal stocking charm.  The main image was actually a sticker from Bo bunny and the stamps were from Crafty Individuals. I am also entering this card into All sorts 'its a gift' as there are lots of gifts featured on the card and Penny's challenge 'Anything goes'.  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

midweek chaos (WOYWW)

Yes! It is that time of the week again where I get to show you Alex crafting at my desk before school, except today's picture is slightly different as this time he is sat on my chair modelling the mask he made! The reason for the slightly moody face is that apparently he was being a ninja and 'ninja's don't smile mummy!'

Here is my desk as part of WOYWW as it was late yesterday afternoon in the midst of making a retirement card for a work colleague.  You can see the sequin waste I was making honeycomb patterns through by stippling with a brush, my craftmat, some adirondack ink, a pile of work hiding underneath it and the distress ink pads (very dull!), my mug of tea (in need of a re-fill), a compass (used to help me drawing and cutting those hexagons) and various other crafting detritus!  Hiding at the back next to the mug is the most exciting thing on my desk at the moment - that wonderful box of bits from JoZarty - I have rummaged through several times and keep spotting new things each time - so much fun! You may also be able to see a cute charm hanging down which was included as a present with the box. Thanks again Jo!

This is the completed card. Sue is bee keeper and runner hence the images on the card.  I am entering this into OLL 'someone special' challenge as Sue is a special friend as well as a colleague, and into MTTC 'vintage' challenge as all the images are vintage.

I have continued to work on my faith smash book and this lastest page is all about God's strength.  With Alex being slightly hyperactive, and Tim's illness added to me working full time, I often feel tired and as though things are overwhelming me slightly (such as housework, shopping, cooking etc), yet in the Bible there are lots of references to God's strength being sufficient.  I have to learn to lean on God's strength more and more in my weakness and this page which is full of Bible quotes is designed to remind me of this.  As well as the Bible quotes there is one of Alex's drawings (God makes me strong in the dark), and on the righthand side my drawings to remind me that God makes me stronger than I think.
That is all from me for now. Have a great week everyone.
God Bless,
Love,
Caro
x

Sunny November weekend!

As part of Tim's birthday celebrations we went bowling as a family...so much fun, although sadly Tim's illness meant we were only able to manage one game.  At least we had that special time together.  Alex loved it, not least because with my help aiming the ramp he actually won!

The weather this weekend has been simply beautiful so Alex and I have gone to a different park each day as well.  Yesterday we met up with school friends in Endcliffe park (pictured) and then today we went a little further afield to Graves park.  The beauty and sheer number of parks and green spaces is one of the reasons I love this city!

Crafting wise I have been busy with my Christmas cards this weekend.  I was given a selection of fun and slightly different embellishments for my birthday and so I decided it was time to put them to use.  This first card, uses a little wooden snowman (isn't he cute) and some scraps of Cosmo Cricket paper left over from my scrapbooking.  I am entering this into crafty creations 'no flowers', Delightful challenges 'let it snow', and paperplay 'snowflakes'.

The second card used the free stamp from this months Crafty Stamper magazine.  I stamped the stamp in three different colours 'versacolour sage, adirondack pesto and cranberry' in a random pattern and then finished it off with red gems in the centre of the cranberry stamped panels.  I then layered the panels onto deep red and gold before mounting onto the white card creating 4 layers in all.  I am therefore entering this into OCC 'make your own background' and Penny's challenge 'lots of layers'.

Finally I made this card using a crafty individuals pine tree stamp with repeat stamping to get the faded trees in the background, and some tapestry stamp deer in the snow.  I am entering this card into DYSU 'trees and leaves' challenge.  That is all from me for now. Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
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Fireworks! (WOYWW)

 Poor Alex was far too tired to go to the school fireworks display so I put on an extremely early mini display for him and Tim at home where they were able to watch from the comfort and warmth of the dining room.

They did brave the cold for a family sparklers session beforehand which was great fun.

This is my desk yesterday morning before school when Alex did his traditional before school crafting session - this time the project was a paper donut decorated with pink glitter glue and gems! He actually left the desk fairly tidy, but it wasn't going to stay that way for long LOL!

Here is the desk as it is today for WOYWW in the midst of finishing my lastest Faith Smash book page. As well as the smash book you can mostly see odds and ends from old sticker ribbon sheets (I was using up some of those bits), some bright music stickers, my scissors, ruler, some ribbon, my note pad peeping out from under the detritus and of course my trusty mug of tea (nice and warm).

Here is the second page of the Faith book I started last week.  The words immediately surrounding the heart are taken from a worship song (I'm coming back to the heart of worship and its all about You, it's all about You Jesus), and the other pieces of black writing are from various Psalms.

The next double page spread is of Expressions of Worship and are a mixture of images taken from the net, verses from the Bible, and my dodgy drawing!  At the moment I seem to do a lot of movement and dance in worship and have always been a singer, hence the images and verses on the left hand side of the page and the bottom of the righthand page.  It has been a while since I waved a flag in church but I wanted to include that as one of the possible expressions of worship especially as I may be called back to it in the future.

Finally here is a card that I made for Tim's birthday.  His favourite colour is green so there are highlights of green in this as well as gold embossing and tea dye distress ink.  The stamps I used were a French script from Crafty Individuals and steampunk images from Darkroom door.  I am entering this card into Cards for men 'Anything goes', Kaboodle Doodles 'Anything goes', SSSS 'Francais' (French script), Papertake Weekly 'Anything goes'and All sorts 'For men only' challenges.  That is all from me for now. Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Parties!

On Wednesday I took Alex to a church 'Glow party' where he got to do various craft activities including cake decorating, tea light holder painting, and lantern making.

This was followed by lots of team games, then a mini talk and demonstrations with re-lighting candles on all the cupcakes.  Much nicer than getting soaked in the rain while knocking on neighbours doors!  He has also had a happy weekend with more parties ...one very lucky boy.  It will be a bit of a shock to go back to school tomorrow.

Crafting wise this weekend I have made two cards for this weeks Quirky Crafts challenge which was set by Lyn (Spyder) and is 'Let it snow' with lots of layers.  Now as you are probably aware, I don't do fussy cards much prefering the clean and simple style so this was a challenge for me.  My first card used two Dustin Pike images put together to make a scene...it just amuses me the idea of a dragon and a monkey building a snowman together.  I coloured the scene with promarkers and used pearlescent glue for the snow.  I used lots of matting for the layers and patterned paper from My minds eye, with a punched snow flake and gem to complete it.  I am entering this card into OLL 'C for Christmas' and Stamping for the weekend 'Anything goes'.

The second card used image and sentiment from Cutting Edge Cafe.  In order to make the layers I used decoupage on the snowman as well as matting.  The snowflake was cut and embossed using my cuttlebug, and completed with sakura stardust pen to add sparkle, and a pearl in the centre.The snowman himself was coloured using promarker pens as well as sakura stardust for the sparkle.  I am therefore entering this card into SSSS 'just add pearl', DCM 'colour challenge' (red, green, white & blue) and Delicious Doodles 'embossing' challenges.  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
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