Cameras!

For those of you who regularly read my blog you will know that Alex has been fascinated with cameras since he was about 2...probably because I follow him round with one most of the time.  He has now become very good at framing a shot and loves to be allowed to play, so I let him have my old camera when the mood takes him, which results in a lot of big grins all round!

As it is Wednesday (where did that week go!) it is time for me to show you my desk as part of WOYWW. My desk is currently in the midst of an ATC making session. On my desk you can see promarkers, some distress ink pads, my craft knife and ruler, Crafty Individual stamps, the ATC I am currently working on and in the background one of Alex's Gormiti monsters (in for emergency surgery as his head and wings had come off!), and the PVA glue I used to stick him.

This is the final ATC which was made using a digital stamp of the wolf pack (I can't remember where I got this one, but it was a freebie), which I masked and then stamped over with green leaves and finished with a sparkling orange butterfly. As a result this ATC fits with the orange and green challenge from Pile it on, the up in the air with green challenge from CCC, and the butterfly challenge from Delightful challenges and flourishes timeless tuesday.

I also made a few thank you cards for Alex as his birthday party is coming up...he will be 4, can you believe it!  Where has that time flown.  For these cards I used a one layer design with Robbie the Robot from Spyders Other corner, and digital words and I coloured them in using promarkers. This card therefore fits with Speedy the cats friends 'green and grey one layer', creative card crews 'no flowers' and Oh La La 'its a man thing' challenges. Have a great rest of the week,
Love,
Caro
x

Wonderful to catch up!

I have had a lovely weekend. Alex seems to be sleeping better so he has been happier and well behaved all weekend and a lot of fun to spend time with.  We went to the park yesterday where he played very nicely with some other boys, and enjoyed taking this flower down the slide (he didn't pick it, it had been picked by someone else and then dropped), and then today I went to Coventry to see one of my best friends, Abby.  While Alex played with Owain, and enjoyed every minute of it, Abby and I sat and talked and talked and talked, putting the world to rights.  It was so wonderful and we were so busy chatting that I completely forgot to get the camera out until we were about to go, by which stage it was too late!  

Crafting wise I managed to make my DT challenge for Quirky Crafts.  This week it was Lyn's turn to set the challenge and it was a lovely sketch. As the whole idea of the Quirky Crafts challenge site is that we accept any form of artwork, not just cards, I decided to make a scrapbook layout.  I was given an image of a tea pot from our sponsor, Stitchy Bear digital stamps, so based my design around that, deciding to make a scrapbook page of my addiction to tea!  The journalling reads 'Definition: one who consumes 8-10 large mugs of tea a day i.e. ME!'. The layout also fits with the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday 'stitching', the DCM 'create your own embellishment' 

- in my case a shrink plastic teacup hanging by its handle on the ribbon, and the Scrap and Stamp 'about you' challenge (this really is who I am and a typical photo of what I am up to a lot of the day so I think it counts!).

I am also loving the challenges over at less is more as they really take me outside my comfort zone and I am learning loads.  It isn't always easy to receive negative feedback on my cards, but provided it is done gently I will learn from it.  That said, sometimes I am limited by my supplies.  Take this card for example...the challenge this week is 'over the edge'. It has to be a single layer card, with the image going off the edge of the card.  Well I used  a mixture of stamps and inks I had available but I think that the fern fronds should be a brighter green (which means a new ink pad) and/or with a thicker leaf pattern to match with the thicker writing and butterfly stamps (which means a new stamp!)...see what I mean!  That said I am still entering this card into the Less is More challenge, knowing full well I will get some criticism of it.  I am also entering it into the Delightful challenge 'butterflies' challenge.

This is another attempt at the Less is More theme which is more masculine in feel using Crafty individuals tree and bird stamps and Penny Black sentiment.  This also fits with the 'tree' theme from crazy 4 challenges. That is all from me for now.  I hope you all have a great week.
Love,
Caro
x

Its the weekend!

Are you one of those people who looks forward to the weekend? Well I certainly am, and especially this weekend as I am going to see one of my best friends for the first time in far too long! I am so excited and can’t wait! Alex also gets enthusiastic about the weekend calling the days ‘Mummy and Daddy at home days’ and he loves the fact that we get to do different things, always asking us where are we going today, what are we going to do? Needless to say I am very happy that it is Friday evening!

Crafting wise I have only managed to make one card over the past couple of days. This is a leaving card for a girl at work and for the card I combined the Whiff of Joy stamp of the girl sitting down with her mug of tea and a Penny Black stamp of a mouse looking like he is about to give her a flower (she really likes animals, especially mice!). I used Hot off the Press papers which were scraps from some of my scrapbook layouts, and followed this weeks sketch from The Pixie Cottage challenge. This card also fits with the lovely ladies theme from the Crazy challenge, the jewels theme from MTTC, the baby blue challenge from Crafty Creations, the three or more patterned papers challenge from Fresh Brewed (the third patterned paper is under the ribbon- it is subtle but the pattern is there!), Simon says stamp 'anything goes' challenge and DYSU 'layers' challenge. That is all from me for now. Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

My workdesk!

I am chuffed to bits at the moment because some of the new bulbs I planted in my garden last year have started to flower...I just love spring flowers!

It is Wednesday and that means it is time for another WOYWW. If you don't know what I am talking about then click the link and pop over and see all the fun.  My desk today is mid scrapbooking.  You can see the various elements of the scrapbook page that I am putting together, the cropped photos, the scraps of patterned paper, the background white card with green stippled distress ink already on it, my craft mat, double sided tape, pencils, pens, craft knife, and most importantly my lovely mug full of steaming hot tea. Perfect!

Having shown you the page in pieces I thought I would show you the final creation! It loosely followed the Sketchy Thursdays sketch for the week, and fits with the Tuesday Throwdown challenge of using scraps (all the papers, with the exception of the background card are scraps from earlier projects), the lasting memories challenge to show case your own style (lots of white space), crafty cardmakers challenge to use fabric (ribbon and felt), and Kaboodle Doodles and Do you stack up challenges to use green (photos are matted on green, green distress ink stippled round the background panel, green papers and embellishments). That is all from me for now. Have a great rest of the week,
Love,
Caro
x

Busy and fun!

Although we are all tired we have had a fairly busy weekend.  One of Alex's closest friends from nursery had his 4th birthday party yesterday at an indoor play area near us.  The boys had a wonderful time climbing round the indoor play area before sliding down the party slide to the special party room where the food was followed by a mini disco. 

Alex loved every minute (apart from one very hard bump to his head) and was so excited and over tired that he found it hard to sleep last night!

Today we went to see my in laws down in Kennilworth.  As the sun was shining we let the boys run off some steam in the garden where they sat in the hedges,

and clambered through the trees to their little den, while we sat happily inside drinking tea and chatting. It was lovely to spend some time with the family and to hear everyones news. 

Needless to say I haven't had a lot of time for crafting this weekend, although I did make a couple of clean and simple cards. This first one is for the less is more 'pastel colours' challenge and used a Lavinia flower stamp, which I stamped using versacolour inks, and a Penny Black sentiment stamp.  The strip of background paper was free from a magazine.  This card also fits with the Crafty Creations 'feminine birthday in blue and green', Aud sentiments 'birthday', 'blue and green flowers' from Cupcake inspirations and Stampin' for the weekend 'spring' challenges.

I also made a little notelet using a computer based sentiment for the first time...this took me ages to position right, and then I realised that I had been looking at the wrong side of the stamp, so it didn't turn out quite how I planned!  I added highlights to the flower and leaves with my sakura stardust pen (not sure how well it shows up in the picture!) and so this fits with this weeks One Layer Wednesday challenge. That is all from me for now. Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Glad its Friday

Well it is the end of another busy week and we are all tired and a little fractious. Alex has turned into a mini zombie, too tired to even eat so I really hope that he manages to sleep tonight, not that it stopped him from giving me a big cheesy grin when I had the camera out!

I have managed to complete one scrapbook layout over the past couple of days. This layout follows the sketch from Lasting Memories and the word ‘breakdown’ from the song 4 minutes to save the world as part of this weeks Scrap it with a song challenge (the boys were breaking down the cushion wall in the photos). The page is entitled ‘the Break Out game’ and uses basic grey papers and stickers.

I also made this little card using a Penny Black stamp coloured in with my promarkers, some Doodlebug paper (dotted spring colours), free ribbons (from various magazines ages ago) and prima flowers. This card fits with the colour scheme from CCCB, the flowers and colours from Cupcake inspirations, the Spring theme from CCT, Delightful challenges, the pixie cottage, and the crazy challenge, use an animal from Meljen’s designs, and seeing polka dots from Pixie Dust. Thats all from me for now. Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Wednesday already!

Time is really flying by this week and I don't seem to be able to catch up with my self at all!  That said I have realised that it is time to show you my crafting desk as part of WOYWW.  I am in the process of making a birthday card for one of Alex's friends who turns 4 at the weekend.  Theo is a very physical little boy so I thought that a scene with a little boy dressed as a knight fighting a dragon would work quite well. As a result you can se the relevant stamps, and lots of promarker pens everywhere as I am colouring in the image.  In the background you can also see my mug of tea (sadly going cold as I have been focussing on colouring and not drinking), to the left of my desk my notebook of challenges and crafting projects.

Here is the final card which fits with the 3 circles challenge from Pollycraft, the stars theme from Sew many cards, 'fantasy' from creative card crew, and the song theme from Tuesday Taggers with the song being Puff the Magic Dragon.

I have also made a card for my sister in law following this weeks Unscripted Sketch.  My sister in law loves purple and has burgandy died hair hence the slight burgandy tint to the hair in the image I used and the emphasis on purple in this card. This card fits with the 'anything but a square' from CCC and 'anything goes' from PTW - I did use something old...both the patterned papers have been in my stash for ages! I apologise for the colour balance in the picture, for some reason the photo didn't work well. That is all from me for now.  Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x