It's starting to look a lot like Christmas! (WOYWW)

Guess who has been listening to Michael Buble while writing Christmas cards! I am feeling remarkably Christmassy, especially as we put our decorations up this week...this is our main tree,

and this is the little fibre optic one in the dining room as decorated by Alex without any help!

We also had some visitors this week in the form of a little wooden Mary, Joseph and Donkey, who are travelling round the families from church staying one night in each house.

Alex fell in love with them and decided to make them into stars of their own show; written, filmed and directed by him.  Not sure if the video will work, but just in case not here is the YouTube link (I hope).  Just listen to his words...they are priceless!

Anyway, you really came here for a nosey at my desk as part of WOYWW.  This week finds me in the process of making another page for my Faith Journal (and drinking tea). This one will be based around Jesus being the light of the world, but so far all I have drawn is the candle and painted everything else black...watch this space, by next week it will be finished.  I hope all your Christmas preparations are coming along well and you are enjoying Advent.  Have a nice week.
With love
Caro
x

Finished Advent calendar (WOYWW)

Well as the title suggests I did manage to get the advent calendar finished on time (see post below), so as you can see my desk (for WOYWW) is looking quite empty!  There are some Christmas table napkins which were used in the advent calendar and are now ready to be used for a Christmas Day project, the new edition of Craft Stamper and my note pad with Christmas present lists on it.  Also there is my trusty mug of tea (nearly empty and in need of a refill) and a CD with the soprano part of an anthem we are singing in the Carol Service in church.

Here is the finished advent calendar! It is a totally bonkers creation and as I suspected it takes up much of the dining room, and the excitement from Alex on seeing it was priceless.  He is so excited each morning to 'open' it and has already asked if he can have it again next year.

Each cup has a number (they are in a random order) and contains a chocolate and a little present, hidden by the Christmas napkin so that peeking cannot occur.

There hasn't been time for anything else crafty this week so I thought I would finish with this picture of Alex looking cheeky on our walk in the sunset round Stanage Edge.  The light was stunning. Have a wonderful week everyone.
Love
Caro
x

Preparing for Advent (WOYWW)

As the title of this post suggests I am in the process of preparing for Advent.  I made Tim an Advent calendar about 8 years ago and it is still going strong, so this year I decided to make Alex one, although in a very different style.  My desk (for WOYWW) is covered with the cones that are going to contain the little present/chocolate for each day.  It has turned out somewhat bigger than I intended and will be installed in the dining room later on this week. Alex knows I am making him something, but not the scale of it...I think it will take up half the room!  I am having to keep this short and sweet this week as work means I have very little time at the moment, but needless to say I am having fun with the calendars whenever I get the chance and will show you the completed 'installation' next week!  Have a nice week everyone.
Love
Caro
x

Friday smiles!

Well it is Friday and I am smiling because it is the end of the week and time for  Annie's smiles and Rocking your world Friday.  We went to visit my in-laws last weekend and Alex had a wonderful time with his cousins, playing with the marble run

(marbles did go literally everywhere as you can see from this picture)

as well as building dens and trampolines from cushions and rugs.

We also had a mini sparkler session in the garden which needless to say he loved!  That is all from me for now.  Have a great weekend everyone.
Love
Caro
x

Busy on WOYWW!

Well as the title says I am rather busy so there hasn't been as much crafting this week as I would have liked, however, this evening (I am cheating by writing this on Tuesday evening) I have actually had to make a quick emergency card, as Alex's best friend is going to live in New Zealand and he leaves school this week.  So for WOYWW you can see my desk in the midst of making the card.  I basically pulled a lot of my blue/green scraps and papers out of my drawers until I found something I wanted to work with so there is a pile of papers on the desk, the card itself with the final pieces waiting to be assembled, a rubber stamp and ink pad and my trusty mug of tea.

Here is the completed card...rather simple as I was in a rush, but effective I hope!  The photo is one I took of the two boys while we were clambering round Higger Tor. Alex now has a copy in his room.

I couldn't go without showing you a photo of the new edition to my desk menagerie - MONKEY!  I am a tea addict and so Tim gave me a cuddly monkey as a treat.  He looks a little like King Kong looming over the octopus family, but it certainly makes me smile.  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love
Caro
x

Special smiles!

I have missed out on being here for a few Fridays recently and so have a few weeks worth of special photos to share with you for  Annie's smiles and Rocking your world Friday, to hopefully bring a smile to your face...they certainly did to mine!  This is a photo of Alex and me on the Ferris wheel in Sheffield at the beginning of half-term.

The latter part of half-term was spent at my parents with the whole family, where we had a bonfire..

rode bicycles to the park in town for the monkeys to get some exercise (LOL),

I played conkers with my brother while Gran (aged 89) watched in some amusement,

we went fossil hunting on the beach with a geologist (much to Alex's great excitement we found lots of ammonites and gryphea)

and went to the local fireworks display. As you can tell we had a wonderful time.

Last week I was unable to post as we were out and about celebrating Tim's birthday, and then on Sunday Alex and I enjoyed the sunset over Higger Tor

and scrambling round the rocks.  All in all I have had a lot to smile about recently as you can see.  That is all from me for now.  Have a great weekend everyone.
Love
Caro
x

I'm back! (WOYWW)

I can't believe I have been missing from blogland for so long! Half-term and then Tim's birthday  have kept me away so apologies.  I did see some spectacular fireworks

and a wonderful rainbow over the beach in Somerset while I was away,

as well as a wonderful sunset. More photos of our adventures will follow on Friday.

Now for the reason that you are here...it is Wednesday (nearly) and so as my entry to WOYWW here is my desk looking remarkably tidy following a journaling session.  To the left of the desk you can see my notepad on which I sketched out the design and decided on the wording for the page.  You can see the completed page, some pens, a pencil, paintbrush and the black acrylic paint used for the figure and at the back of the desk is a small stack of watercolours (used for the sky).  The infamous mug of tea is missing as it is currently being filled by Tim!

Here is the finished page which is all about trusting in God's promises and His strength when it all feels too much. Rainbows always make me think about God's promises due to the story of the flood hence the rainbow being so prominent on the page.

I promised you ages ago that I would show you the finished shepherd page so here it is...The Lord is my Shepherd. The background was watercolour, the figures were black acrylic paint and the tree is a stamp. I used a white pen for highlighting. That is all from me for now.  Take care and have a good week.  I will be back on Friday with some fun Alex photos I promise.
Love
Caro
x

Autumn Smiles!

Well it is Friday and time for Annie's smiles and Rocking your world Friday. My smiles come from the gorgeous weather we had last weekend and the fun Alex and I had enjoying the autumn sun.  We went for a lovely bike ride (well, he rode and I had to run to keep up, puffing and panting like a steam engine - I really must get a bike rack for the car now he can ride well) through the woods

to the café where he ordered a hot chocolate with all the trimmings and sat there happily in the sun saying 'Ah, this is the life!'

The other thing that autumn results in, is me having to check and empty Alex's pockets of conkers most days before I put his trousers in the machine.  That is all from me for now.  Have a nice weekend everyone.
Love
Caro
x

Finished! (WOYWW)

Well there is one advantage to having a very simple Christmas card design that takes less than 5 minutes per card...I have actually finished my Christmas card making for this year. It has to be a record for me as I am usually frantically making them well into December.  As a result I have had more time to play with my art journal as my desk (my entry to WOYWW) shows.  You can see the current page I am working on (The Lord is my Shepherd - journaling and verse still to be added).  Also on my desk is my trusty mug of tea, black acrylic paint and paintbrush, black pens, ruler, pencil, rubber, tree stamp and ink and the cheats method of drawing!  I cannot draw for toffee so I found some silhouettes on the internet, printed them, cut them out and then drew round them before hand painting them onto my scene.  Definitely cheating, but I preferred the effect on this to just cutting them out and sticking them on.

I haven't had my desk to myself this week mind you....here is Alex busy brayering a cog that he cut out on the cuttlebug!

As I made a promise to myself that I would try and work in my art journal each week I thought I would share my latest pages with you.  This one was made using acrylic paint and pens and finished with gold peel offs in the corners.  It is supposed to be a sort of spiritual mandala with Jesus at the centre.

The next one was one of those pages that didn't quite turn out as planned - I am sure you recognise the scenario.  Some of the paint from the previous page had leaked through onto this one so I gave it a coat of gesso. No problems there you might think, except that dylusions ink spray struggles to dry on gesso and I am impatient hence the somewhat thicker blobs on the left hand page than I intended...it doesn't look too bad, just not quite what I pictured.  The verse is from Psalm 139.  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love
Caro
x
P.S. I know I am posting this on Tuesday evening, but tomorrow is an insanely busy day at work so I don't know when I would get a chance to write, post or link this up.  I may not link until the evening, but at least it will be posted!

Beaver smiles

There has been plenty to smile about this week so I am definitely entering into Annie's smiles and Rocking your world Friday. At the weekend we went to Coventry to see one of my best friends and while we were there we went to Ryton Gardens for their annual Apple day.  The children were very excited to try different apple types and the freshly squeezed apple juice proved a great hit,

As did the den building – this one had already been built

They just ‘improved’ it a little!

Alex was also really excited this week because he had his enrolment at Beavers.  I must say that he said his Promise beautifully, clearer and loudly without hesitation and you could tell that he meant every word.

Doesn’t he look proud!  That is all from me for now.  Have a great weekend everyone.
Love
Caro
x

I've finally started (WOYWW)...

...making Christmas cards that is!  Why am I telling you this, or indeed showing you the desk that is covered with them?  Because Julia hosts a weekly desk hop and nosey with the acronym WOYWW.  As you can see my trimmer is currently being used to trim the cards and the empty mini roll box (white box at the back) is being used to store them neatly.  On my desk you can also see my washi tapes which I have been using to make the cards, my art journal, my headphones (waiting to go back in my bag), some paint that needs replacing in the wooden box, and for some unknown reason Alex's small torch!

Here is a close up of my main card design this year (although the stamping on this one is wonky!).  I used a cuttlebug embossing folder to make the embossed frame, then washi tapes and a gold star sticker for the tree and finished it off with the stamped message.

This week I have also played in my art journal which is definitely turning out to be a faith journal.  The next page was made by painting over the whole page with gesso, then painting the globe in the centre, then the black background paint, then stamping stars over it with a Lavinia stamp in silver ink, and dotting around them with silver pen before finishing off by colouring in the white areas with a sakura star dust pen to make it sparkle.  The writing was in silver.

The next page is entitled Singing praises to God.  The diagonal words are Bible verses and the horizontal lines are my own thoughts and the words of a song.  The background was made using distress inks over a layer of gesso using masking and stencilling techniques.  The face was painted using acrylic paint for the background, the eyes, mouth and cheeks were coloured with promakers and the hair was done using crayons.    That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love
Caro
x

Birthday smiles

Those of you who read my previous post will realise that I celebrated my birthday this week so I am entering my happy times into  Annie's smiles and Rocking your world Friday .

There has been lots of loveliness this week including a Harvest dance and meal at church (the photos of the line dancing were taken by Alex so are not being shown – you really don’t want to see the backside of lots of people, myself included!), a birthday tea with cake

And a trip to the National space centre where we saw a show in the planetarium, rode in a space flight simulator, and saw a rocket that was about to take off (as shown above).

Alex and I also got to give a futuristic weather forecast.  We had a great time, but didn’t manage to see even half of it.  We will definitely head back again some day.

Tim and I also managed to go out for a nice meal at our favourite Chinese restaurant and I am going to see my best friend tomorrow (more of that next week). All in all it has been a very good week!
Have a nice weekend everyone.
Love
Caro
x