I don’t just mean the weather which has been very mixed this weekend - bright sunshine one minute and drizzly showers the next. Alex is so tired that he is happy one minute and crying the next. It gets to the stage where the poor boy doesn’t even know what he wants so there is very little we can do to help him other than cuddle him. Despite that we have had some fun this weekend. Yesterday morning we did our usual weekly shop followed by a ride on the ‘singing truck’, then games in the garden in the drizzle and howling gale, which he really enjoyed. He also had fun playing inside with his racing cars. In the afternoon we went to the park, but tantrums were in full swing about something…don’t ask me what, so we didn’t get any photos, although he did calm down eventually and have a nice time. 
I think he must have slept better last night because in general his mood has been a lot brighter today, although he has still been inclined to say No a lot. We went to the local Fire and Police Museum this morning which was great fun. Although we fully anticipated that Alex would enjoy climbing up into the fire engines he was very determined that he didn’t want to! 
He did enjoy running round and pushing the pumps and working the wheels of some of the hand pumps instead. 
I must say that he got rather confused about the exhibits and didn’t understand why various models of fire engines were stuck behind glass where he couldn’t play with them, but apart from that he enjoyed his ‘Fire Engine Venture’. 
This afternoon we went to Endcliffe park again where he finally got the idea of feeding the ducks, cheering whenever he managed to throw some bread into the water and clapping when the ducks actually ate it. It was still a case of one piece for me followed by one for the ducks, but he really enjoyed himself! He also had a fantastic 15 minutes bouncing like mad on the bouncy castle which made him laugh no end. A much happier afternoon and much more successful trip out than yesterday. 
How lucky am I? This huge parcel of JustRite stamps arrived from the States yesterday - my prize from a random lucky drawer on CPS website. These stamps are of excellent quality and consist of sets of letters enabling you to make your own words as well as some pre-designed stamps and the blocks to set them on. I have used them in every crafting project this weekend and am delighted with them. I just wish they were a UK company as I will definitely want to buy more in the future. 
The first project of the weekend was this double page layout entitled ‘Explore’. This used papers and die cuts from the Bloom & Grow range by My mind’s eye and Bazzil cardstock as the base. I used my new JustRite stamp for the little circle on the righthand page which says ‘June 2009’. The journaling reads ‘Alex and Daniel had a wonderful time exploring Grandma and Grandad’s enormous garden – running across the lawn, climbing steps, shutting gates, hiding under trees, walking between flowerbeds and putting cars in the hedge!’ This page actually fits with this fortnights theme of Blossoms by a new Papercraft website called ‘Crafty Cardmakers’ as it uses flowers as embellishments and there are flowers in some of the photos. 
The next project was a card using yesterdays Sketch Saturday sketch and my new letter set from JustRite stamps. It also fits with the theme of lace by Daring Cardmakers as I used my Martha Stewart Doily lace punch to generate the edge effect. As this card uses paper flowers by Angel kiss, Making Memories flower brads and a flower paper background this also fits with the crafty cardmakers blossoms theme.
Finally I set myself a challenge of using some of my crafting supplies that I have either never used or not used for ages. As a result I generated this card using a cuttlebug embossing folder that I have never previously used and I was given for my wedding anniversary in June, a set of Hero Arts stamps that I haven’t used for any project despite being given for my birthday last October and some orange ribbon I was given a number of years ago. The Hugs and love stamp was generated using the Curlz alphabet set and a decorative border by JustRite stamps. Again this fits the crafty cardmakers blossom theme in a different way. I hope you all have a fantastic week ahead. Love,
Caro
x
Crafting wise I have done some more to my altered book with a double page featuring swifts, swallows and house martins flying through the sky. The page was made by using acrylic paint and painting through some sequin waste and finishing off with stamping using Purple Onion and Hero Arts stamps. The quote is from a Wordsworth poem and reads ‘The swallow is come! The swallow is come! O, fair are the seasons, and light are the days that she brings, with her dusky wings and her bosom snowy white!' 
The second double page spread is of beetles and was a challenge to do, not least because the beetles were really fiddly to cut out! The background uses K&CO papers for the edges and Basic Gray for the centre and has been covered with stamps of leaves (Stamps Away and Tanda stamps) and areas where ink daubers were used through sequin waste. The quote is an old Indian proverb stating that ‘A beetle is a beauty in the eyes of its mother'. This double page spread actually fits with the secret crafter Saturday challenge for this week which is cute bugs…I am not sure how cute these beetles are but they definitely count as bugs! As the altered art book is a new venture for me I would love to know what you think. Have a great weekend.
Crafting wise I completed this scrapbook layout about our last trip down to my parents in Somerset. This loosely follows this weeks Pencil Lines sketch by Anna and uses cardstock by Bazzill, Hot off the Press, SEI and dELiSH Bistro, and some Angel kiss flowers cut to fit the corner. The title is ‘Read us a story please’ and the journaling reads ‘Alex and Daniel loved being told stories by Grandma and Grandad, June 2009’. 
I have also made a card for my brother in laws birthday following this weeks sketch and colour scheme from CCC. It was an interesting challenge which I very much enjoyed. I used papers from Hot off the press and Basic Gray, and the little car in the centre is 3D. As usual I would love to know what you all think. Have a great rest of the week everyone.
the big iguana (gunna) and being allowed to run around to his hearts content. 
camen crocodile, and the snakes.
We also got to see the bird of prey display which was great as 
I got to have a go with the Harrier Hawk called Red. 
I have always wanted to do that, so it was great to be allowed to have a go.
This afternoon Alex and I went to a local stream where he had a paddle 
before exploring a new playground.
Crafting wise I have had a break from both scrapbooking and cardmaking this weekend and have decorated two more pages in my Altered Book. This book was started last year and I have not done anything on it since! The theme of the book is nature and it is being done in a vintage style. This first page is of deer and uses a K&Co paper in the background with stippling in different greens, acrylic paint done through a bit of sequin waste. I used all the leaf tapestry stamps tat I had for the edges and to add some texture round the images of the deer. The quote is part of a poem I found on the internet.
The second page is of wild flowers and uses K&Co papers, acrylic paint, Purple Onion and tapestry stamps and a quote from a William Blake song. The flower images are cut from the same book as the deer. It was fun to do something completely different for a change and I will keep adding to this book as I get inspired. Have a good week everyone.
Crafting wise I have made a scrapbook page of Alex’s cousins birthday party. I deliberately kept the page bright and colourful with most of the photos focussing on the boys playing on the climbing frame, although I couldn’t resist the photo of the cake and of the three boys eagerly anticipating their slices of said cake. The papers are by Basic Gray, Bo Bunny and Sandylion layered onto a Bazzil cardstock background and I used stickers as the main embellishments. The title is ‘Birthday party’ and the journaling reads ‘Alex really enjoyed Tom and Sam’s family Birthday party – especially eating Tom’s birthday cake and climbing on their new climbing frame. He learnt to climb a ladder for the first time which was pretty terrifying. 16th May 2009.’ 
I also made a card following this weeks CPS sketch and following the beach theme set by CCC. I must say I found this one hard as I would never normally make a beach themed card, but here is my attempt! Have a great weekend everyone…. Let’s hope for some sun!
Crafting wise I have made a scrapbook layout of Alex and his Grandpa Pete (‘Grampa Feet’) by following this weeks Pencil lines sketch (#147). This page uses the Dadz collection from Junkitz and the circles were cut out of Dovecraft paper. The journaling reads ‘Alex gets very excited when we go and visit Granny and Grandpa Pete, telling us over and over again that he is going to see ‘Grampa Feet’!’ 
This second page follows the sketch from the newly started Stuck?! sketch site. This is a site which gives a new sketch every other week and I am so glad that it has started up again as I really enjoy working from sketches. This page uses a mixture of Bazzil, K&Co and Sandylion papers, Making memories brads and the little embellishments were hand drawn. The title is ‘Blow (just right)’ and the journaling reads ‘Alex thought blowing Dandylion clocks was great fun, although it took a lot of concentration to make sure the blow was just right – hard enough to dislodge the seeds, ad not so close they stuck to his mouth! 22nd May 2009’. 
Finally I made a card following the sketch from 
Despite that he woke up in a really good mood and was happy to go straight into cuddles with Grandpa Pete (who he calls Ganpa Feet) and then Granny, and then charge off to explore, discovering the battery operated quad bike that he called a motorbike. 
He spent hours on this while his cousins bounced around on cushions spread on the floor.
After lunch, while the adults played on the Wii, 
the boys developed a game of their own, instigated by Alex, aided and abetted by Tom. 
This game was called ‘All fall down’ and consisted of the boys sitting on this sausage shaped cushion, bouncing up and down on it and then throwing themselves off onto the floor with yells of ‘All fall down’. 
Tom liked the idea of squashing Alex in the process which Alex found hilarious and improved the game as far as he was concerned, right up until the moment he landed on top of a walking stick which bruised his cheek although not as badly as I feared. It didn’t stop him from wanting to play however, a cuddle and kiss and he was straight back into playing the game. 
Today the weather has been much nicer and Alex and Tim went out into the garden to play leaving me to craft inside in peace and quiet which was lovely. Alex and I then made white chocolate chip cookies (when I could persuade him to stop eating all the white chocolate!). This afternoon we went back to Endcliffe park so Alex could watch the waterfalls, feed the ducks, bounce on the castle, ride on the fairground ride and, for the first time ever, climb to the top of the bouncy slide and go down it. I think he found it a bit big and scary so was a bit upset at the bottom, but other than that we had a great time.
My crafting for the weekend was this double page layout of Alex’s first trip to a Whacky Warehouse with a ball pit back in May. I used a mixture of K&Co, Basic Gray, Sadylion and Hot off the press papers, Making memories brads, K&Co stickers, Purple Onion stamps and I used circles cut out of spare bits of my photos for added embellishments. This double page spread very loosely follows a sketch from Becky Fleck (Page Maps) and is entitled ‘Ball pit fun!’. The journaling reads ‘Alex and Daniel had a fantastic time at the Whacky Warehouse at Evesham. The ball pit was a firm favourite with both boys climbing out and diving in with great enthusiasm. They were moving so fast that we couldn’t get a decent photo of them together. 9th May 2009’. Sadly this photo doesn't do the brightness of the original colours justice. Have a great week everyone.