I can’t believe that it is Wednesday already! This week is going far too fast for my liking, although I am liking the nice weather – it’s just a shame that I am stuck inside at work trying to write a complicated review article rather than outside enjoying it. Alex and I have had fun outside in the evenings with it though…getting soaked and mucky in the sandpit and playing with his car before coming in for bathtimes, whereupon I get soaked again! While Alex has his evening snack after nursery I have been continuing to exercise on my Wii fit to his amusement. He particularly likes it when I do the jog as there are lots of dogs which run round the island too. I hate jogging so it actually forces me to do it which is no bad thing as already within just over a week I have lost 5lb. 
Not so much crafting this week so far as I have been trying to juggle a bit of everything…cooking, looking after Alex, and getting fit as well as the crafting. I did however, make this card for a friend’s birthday. I followed the sketch from this weeks Friday Sketch and the theme of cupcakes from this weeks Cuttlebug Spot challenge using my favourite swiss dots embossing folder for one of the layers of the card. I mostly used K&CO papers, with the cupcake cut out of some wrapping paper! Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x
...and then decided that he wanted to go and explore the rough playing field next door. By this stage he was getting tired and hungry, but still happy.
I even managed to mow the lawn and do some weeding this weekend, most unlike me! It is nice to have a garden that is fun to look after now, thanks to all my parents hard work. Alex loves being out there, playing with his sandpit and his various plastic toys. He is currently learning how to safely climb up onto his slide.
I have only done a little crafting this weekend in the form of this scrapbook layout entitled 'Grubs Up'. I have used a mixture of stripy papers on top of the blue Bazzil cardstock, as Alex was wearing a stripy top in the photo. I then splodged large amounts of acrylic paint over the centre of the page before layering the photo on top. The Ready Brek symbol was cut from the cereal packet, but I am still undecided as to whether or not I like it. The journaling block was cut out using my scalloped circles nestabilities and the journalling reads 'Alex decided the best way to eat Ready Brek was to drink it from the bowl. Fortunately the bowl was almost empty, but despite that the mess was incredible! July 2008'.
Sadly my Great-Uncle passed away on Friday and I wont be able to get to the funeral as it is in Southampton, so I made this card for my Great Aunt. I tried to keep it simple and elegant using the cuttlebug embossing flower on white card, then highlighting bits of the embossing with a sakura stardust pen. I then printed the text on the computer and added ribbon and flowers.
Finally I made a birthday card following this weeks Sketch Saturday sketch. The papers are all K&CO, the ribbons are Laura Ashley, the butterfly is cut and embossed on the cuttlebug and then highlighted with sakura stardust and pearls, and the flowers are Angel kiss. Both cards also fit the Cute Card Thursday theme which is floral fantasy as they both feature a multitude of different flowers. That's all for now and I hope you all have a great week.
Crafting wise I have managed to make two scrapbook layouts. This first one is entitled ‘Laughing on Daddy’s head’ and uses Basic Grey, Sandylion and Bazzil papers and cardstock, the Purple Onion Fluorish stamp, stickers from and letters cut out using the Cuttlekids Tadpole Alphabet. The journaling reads 'Alex thinks being on his Daddy's head is the funniest thing in the world!'. I was a bit concerned that the photos weren’t very big and would look a bit silly on the large cardstock, but I think it works OK. 
The second layout is based on one from Stuck?! and uses a mixture of Bazzil, K&Co, Making Memories, and American Designs papers and cardstock, the leaves were embossed using my Cuttlebug and cut out with a craft knife, the flowers were Angel kiss and a free one from a magazine, the title was cut using the Sizzixs Alphabet Mango Tango and I distressed the edge of the page using a green ink pad. Sadly the photo doesn't do this one justice as the colours are a bit more vibrant than this. As usual I would love to know what you think. Have a great weekend everyone.
then going 'splat' with the sand. 
Although I haven't felt up to crafting today I did manage to do some on Monday and made two layouts, both based on Pencil line sketches. This first one is loosely based on sketch #128 and uses hot off the press papers, stickers from the local post office (Purple peach ltd) and Purple Onion stamps. There are actually two titles (Butterfly farm and Day Trip out) and the journalling reads ' We had a lovely trip out to the Butterfly farm at North Anston. Alex especially loved the birds, including a crazy rooster who pecked his pram, and the fish. He didn't really show much interest in the butterflies. June 2008'. 
The second layout is based on this weeks Pencil Lines sketch (#130) and using K&Co papers throughout with a Purple Onion Swirl stamp. The title letters were cut using my Cuttlebug and the journalling incoporates the title into it and reads 'Alex loves playing and spending time with his GRANDMA and he thinks she is wonderful. Bishops Hull playground. July 2008'.
This second card follows the sketch from My time to Craft and I embossed the green paper strips. This card also sort of fits the cupcake craft challenge which is to use only one layer of cardstock other than the background and the image...my layer is the green which is split into two! I would love to know what you all think of these different crafting projects. Have a great rest of the week.
Alex thought it was wonderful and played with it for ages, even progressing to playing with the rather soggy sand (having poured water into it!)...he was absolutely filthy when he came in and had to be stripped off immediately. 
We went to church this morning for the family Easter service. Alex loved the worship and danced and clapped his hands with everyone else. He was well behaved during the sharing of the peace...not exactly shaking hands, but doing 'High fives' with everyone! However, it was during the sermon that I was totally embarassed. The vicar started the sermon by throwing chocolates to the congregation so Alex walked right up to him and held out his hand for one before wandering off very happy. He then went and sat on the step next to the vicar while he was speaking...the vicar calmly said 'Alright mate' and then carried on, which was fine, until Alex then started to run round the front so they opened the creche room for us to go into. I was so embarassed!
This afternoon I set up an Easter egg hunt for Alex in the garden. There were 10 eggs in total which were big enough to be seen easily and they weren't exactly hidden as I didn't really think Alex would get the idea, but he actually really enjoyed finding the eggs and giving them to Tim. It wasn't until later that he discovered that the eggs were chocolate and then asked for 'cotchut' continuously while he ate his cottage pie. He was allowed one egg after he finished his meal which he loved.
Alex and I have done some crafting as well this weekend and Alex turned the handle on the cuttlebuug to cut the shapes out for his thank you cards, applied the glue to the shapes (and everywhere else!) and stuck the stickers on, so we can say that these are indeed his creations!
I have also found time for some scrapbooking. This page followed sketch #129 from Pencil Lines and is entitled 'My cousin'. The photo was taken last year and the papers used are a mixture of Basic Grey, Bazzill and K&Co. The doodling was done using a template which came free with Scrapbook Inspirations magazine ages ago and the journalling says 'Alex and Daniel looked like two wise old men as they sat quietly together watching the older children play after Daniel's Christening. 1st June 2008'.
This second scrapbook page is also from a Pencil lines sketch (#126) and uses Hot off the press papers and Bazzil cardstock. The title is 'Tea Cups' and the journalling reads 'Alex loved his ride on the tea cups; giggling and smiling all the time. I on the other hand felt sick! September 2007'. Have a great bank holiday monday everyone.
He wasn't too sure about feeding or stroking the animals himself saying very firmly 'No' when i suggested it, but he certainly liked looking. 
He then had a lovely time on the adventure playground before we decided it was time to head for home while eating his lunch in the car. 
This afternoon we had to play indoors as it was chucking it down so I got his new paints out and we had a very messy time playing with the sponges and paint. He thought it was wonderful to be sat up at the table like that. Just as well we were given a good table cloth for Christmas! Unfortunately the blue paint stained everything in sight, including skin, so we may have to ban the blue and use just the other colours until I can find some non-staining blue.
I have managed to do a little crafting of my own these past couple of days making 6 more ATCs using the images of fluorescently stained cells. Each photo is different as is each background.
I have also started scrapbooking again using the latest sketch from 'Stuck?!'. The title of this says 'I DON'T WANNA' and I used a mixture of Penny Black, Bazzill and Dovecraft papers. The journalling reads 'Alex made it very clear that he did NOT want to come inside and go to bed. August 2008'. As usual I would love to know what you think. Have a very Happy Easter everyone.
