Wednesday again!

Well it is Wednesday again. I simply don't know where the weeks are going at the moment. Yesterday morning we were a little more organised that usual and so had a few minutes to kill before walking to school so Alex decided that he wanted to sit on my lap, at my desk in the study, and craft.  He used my circle cutter and tapestry stamps to make himself a badge which he was very pleased with.

It is time for WOYWW, the brain child of Julia (click on the link to see what I am talking about!) and so here is my desk.  This photo was taken last night as I will now be at work (this is on a timer, if I can get the timer to work!). On my desk you can see my trusty large mug of tea, my cuttlebug and some embossing folders, and various Christmas papers, a rubber and pencil and hiding half behind the cuttlebug, some ink pads left over from Alex's stamping!

Needless to say I have been working on some Christmas cards. This first one used a scrap of paper from Crafty Individuals as the main image. I just love these two cute little angels together. I used an embossed frame as the background and added fake stitching in pale blue pen to match the image, and then two mistletoe images. This card therefore fits with CCC 'two's company',  Pollycraft 'friends' (they look like friends to me!), Simon says stamp & show 'women only' (I hope these two young ladies count) and MTTC 'take two'

This next card was made using the same cuttlebug embossed frame and a free stamp from one of last years magazines (possibly CM&PC) coloured in with promarkers.  I am entering this into CCCB 'four legged friend' (who could resist that cute cat!).

This card was made using tapestry stamps and I am entering it for PIO 'traditional Christmas' as it is a traditional Christmas wreath.  I am also entering it for cards for men 'Christmas' and LIM 'leaves' challenge although it does contain a few flowers as well as the leaves!

The final card was made using free papers, a cuttlebug embossing folder and a free stamp.  Not bad going really!  I am entering this one into the SCSC 'spots and stripes' challenge.  That is all for now folks.  I hope you have a great rest of the week.
Love,
Caro
x

Fireman Alex!

We have had a lovely weekend with Alex's good behaviour and good mood continuing enabling us to have a lot of fun.  Yesterday we went to my in-laws where we were joined by all Tim's family. Alex and his cousins were taken out to the park by my Father-in-law (Grandpa Pete) leaving the rest of us to chat in peace.  When they came back, the boys spent much of the time building dens with various cushions, cloths, clothes horses and tables.   Adults weren't really allowed hence the dodgy photo. As you can see it was utter chaos, but really good fun!

Today Alex and I went to the Fire and Police museum here in Sheffield, where Alex had a great time pretending to be a fireman, and was given a ride in a fire engine, complete with the sirens on...he loved it!

He also enjoyed being put in the stocks although he said it was a bit uncomfortable!

I haven't had a lot of time for crafting this weekend, but the first thing I did was my entry for Less is More; this weeks challenge is a one layer card with leaves on it. I used the cuttlebug and a labels nestablity (no. 4 I think) to emboss the centre (it doesn't show very well in the photo unfortunately)and then used the free stamp from Crafty Stampers, and a masking technique to stamp the corners (stamping and masking are my favourite techniques so I am entering this for Speedy the Cat's friends favourite techniques challenge as well). I used pine needles distressed ink and then a lighter colour promarker to colour them in. I am also entering this into Penny's challenge 'give thanks', Aud Sentiments 'Thank you' and Stamp scrap and Doodle 'Thank you' challenges.

I also made a start on catching up on my scrapbooking as I have now established that I have over 50 layouts to do in order to get up to date!  I used this weeks Sketchy Thursday sketch to make this layout, which also involves stamping and so fits with the WWU #18  from ScrapFIT. The colours also mean that it fits with this weeks Cupcake Inspirations, and the theme of friendship (along with the little butterfly stamps) mean that it fits this weeks Flutterby Wednesday challenge. That is all from me for now. I hope you all have a really good weekend.
Love,
Caro
x

Good Week!

Alex has had a good week this week, behaving nicely everyday much to my relief!  Today saw his first school performance which was a sign language version of Percy the Park Keeper, and The Enormous Turnip. He enjoys performing but always looks faintly worried by it, or is that just a look of concentration?!

He joined in with most of it, with only the occassional lapse in concentration!  The photos aren't great because they were taken on maximum zoom with no flash and have had to be cropped to show only Alex.  As well as performing the children had made turnip soup and bread for us all to have.  It was a lovely occasion.

Crafting wise I have been busy with Christmas cards this week, all along the clean and simple lines.  This first one uses cream card, a cuttlebug embossing folder, images from Crafty individuals and some tapestry stamps.  This fits with The Crazy challenge 'Something with wings' challenge.

The next card is similar, using the same components, but now has stitching on it and so fits with Ooh La La 'stitching challenge'

For these two cards I fought a long and hard battle with my Cuttlebug.  After 6 failed attempts I finally managed to master the double emboss technique and so can enter these for Fluorishes Timeless Tuesdays 'Double emboss' challenge. I am also entering these into Delightful challenges 'snowflake' challenge.

The final set of Christmas cards use the new stamps I got free with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine, which I have coloured with my promarkers. I am entering these into Papertake weekly 'Christmas cards' and DYSU 'inspired by a song' challenge (Winter wonderland).

And finally as a break from Christmas cards I also made this, which fits with Simon says stamp 'Poppy fields', Delicious Doodles 'Remembrance' and CCT 'reds for Remembrance' challenges.  That is all from me for now.  Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Misty weather!

I have enjoyed having a few days off work and being able to walk Alex to school through the mist which has been ever present since the weekend! The reason for my few days off is to celebrate Tim's Birthday, hence the home-made orange and lemon cake.  I am not an icing guru as you can tell, but the cake tastes yummy! The birthday boy refuses to let me put a photo on here sadly!

The advantage of being off work is that I have had more time than usual to do things for me, rather than for everyone else. As a result I have actually managed to sort out all the photos I have printed ready for scrapbooking. Here is my desk for WOYWW with various snapfish folders containing photos ready for scrapbooking, as well as my trusty book detailing all the photos, how many of each size for each occassion, which folder they are in etc to make the process of scrapbooking easier. You can also see my trusty mug of tea, some stamps that need cleaning off and a fiskars circle cutter that was used on a recent scrapbook page.

Ok, now time for a confession!  This weeks Less is More was a colour challenge, to use red and orange on your card.  I duly came up with a design and added brick red and marmalade orange distress inks to my Lavinia leaf stamp and stamped two images, only to discover that I hadn't clean the stamp properly from the last time I used it, and instead of the images just being red and orange, there was a hint of green on some of the leaves (unintentionally)...I am still entering this card into LIM in the hopes that Chrissie and Mandy will forgive me this once!  I am also entering this card into Kaboodle Doodles 'colours of fall', CCCB 'Thanks', Creative card crew 'Thankful' and Fussy and Fancy 'be thankful' challenges.

I have also made a Christmas card using a page from an old book I rescued from the Charity shop bin.  I am using the rest of the book to make an altered book, but have needed to remove various pages during the process so recycled one here.  I coloured the page using distress ink 'shabby shutters' and tore the edges of the page and the green card mat for a vintage feel.  I used my favourite techniques of stamping and masking to make the central panel.  The santa stamp was free with a magazine last year, and the music stamp is from Stamps Away.  I finished the card off with four brads and a couple of flowers...the cream flower came from a fake flower stem I was given years ago and was looking rather tatty so I took it apart to use for crafting instead. This card therefore fits with CCC 'textalicious', Simon says stamp & show 'recycle/upcycle', Tuesday Throwdown 'your favourite colour combo' (green & red), Delightful challenges 'sparkly Christmas' (the white fur on santa's hat is sparkly), Let's ink it up 'favourite technique' and Speedy the cat's friend 'Winter theme' challenges.

This is the Birthday card that I made for Tim, which is vintage in feel as he is really into Leonardo Da Vinci at the moment. This card fits with OCC 'masculine card' and Meljen's 'use brads' challenges.

Finally I made a start on the backlog of scrapbook layouts with this Easter layout based on this weeks Nuts about Sketches sketch.  This also fits with SCSC 'flowers, ribbon and lace' challenge as all are used on this layout. That is all from me for now.  I am off to continue sorting my photos for scrapbooking. Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Fun Firework weekend!

Well we have had a lovely weekend which included Alex enjoying his first ever sparklers in our back garden.  He was very good with them and really enjoyed every minute of it.  We didn't go out to a big fireworks display because they are mostly too late for Alex, but we didn't need to. By sitting at his bedroom window sill we got the best view of about 4 local displays and several more that were further away...perfect! 

Today as part of Tim's birthday celebrations (his birthday is later this week), we went 10 pin bowling for the first time in about 9 years. We all really enjoyed every minute of it, although poor Tim was exhausted afterwards (having beaten Alex and me rather spectacularly!). Alex thought this was a great way to spend time with us both and wanted to go back again this afternoon!

Instead we made the most of the nice weather and went to the park before coming back to bake and ice Tim's birthday cake!

Crafting wise I haven't had time to do much having been so busy with organising birthday things and entertaining Alex.  I did manage to make my design team entry for Quirky Crafts though.  The challenge this week was set by Cazzy and was 'Attitude'. We were given images from the Stamping Boutique (this weeks sponsor) to work with and I used Art Doll.  I thought she looked a bit like a teenage fairy with an attitude to match so coloured her accordingly! I decided to make a fatbook page with her, using Hot off the press papers, an inkadinkado swirls stamp, buttons, bling, and ribbon. I used sakura stardust for sparkle on her wings, and silver on her crown.  I am also entering this into stamp with fun 'buttons', Fresh Brewed 'anything goes', Simon says stamp 'buttons', Stampavie 'Anything goes', Aud sentiments 'make us laugh' and Paperplay 'buttons'. That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x 

In trouble

Well sadly this week hasn’t been a very good week for Alex.  My little man has been in trouble at school quite a lot. I am not sure why he is suddenly acting up, but it maybe to do with being over tired since the clocks changed last weekend. However, that said he has been much better today and so I hope that this is an end to the naughty behaviour and we can just have fun again. 

Crafting wise I attempted to make a thank you card using an oval mask into which I stamped leaves in autumnal colours using tapestry stamps.  I then stamped a Crafty Individuals tree of centre so that it came slightly out of the frame and added a Hero Arts bird, also flying out of the frame.  This card therefore fits with the CCC ‘leaf’, Fluorishes ‘out of the box’, Tuesday Throwdown ‘thanks’ and Fussy and Fancy ‘be thankful with a sentiment’. That is all from me for now.  Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Emergency surgery!

Well it is Wednesday and therefore time for WOYWW. Most unusually for me this week my desk is full of sewing things..this is because Alex's teddy is in need of some emergency surgery.  His teddy is his favourite toy and he needs to cuddle it in order to get to sleep at night. Teddy was knitted by one of my Gran's friends, who was 100 at the time and has now passed on so we cannot get another one.  He has had a lot of love and abuse since Alex was born and now looks more like roadkill than anything else having lost a lot of stuffing and been patched up more times than I care to remember. Today's surgery involves sewing around his arm and shoulder before his arm falls off! Also on my desk you can see my Christmas stamps, my trusty mug of tea (essential for keeping me calm while sewing...I hate sewing a LOT), and my two most recent Christmas cards.

This is the first of the cards which I am entering into this weeks Less is More 'stars' challenge.  This card uses the free stamp from this months Crafty Stamper and free papers from Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine as well as silver pen and some bling.  As a result I am also entering this into PTW 'anything goes with sparkle and bling' and Fussy and Fancy 'black, border punch and bling' (I used black ink for the stamping and a border punch for the scalloped edge).

The other Christmas card uses a cuttlebug embossing folder  and Crafty individuals stamp which I have coloured using promarkers.  Very quick and simple! I am entering this one into Stamptacular's 'borders and frames', and Pollycrafts 'anything goes' challenges. That is all from me for now. Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x