More snow!

We woke up yesterday morning to a surprise fall of snow, and it kept falling all day. 

I looked like a walking snowman after the school run,

and then after school we went sleding (it was still snowing)

made an enormous snowman and had a great snowball fight

before sledging home (the wind was blowing the snow in our faces at this point).

As it is Wednesday I am showing you my desk as part of WOYWW. Propped up on the back of my desk is my ipad (put carefully out of the way to allow room for crafting) and my trusty mug of tea (almost empty now and in need of a top up). The rest of my desk is covered with the detritus left after a happy crafting session, namely scraps of various patterned papers, some rubber stamps that need cleaning and putting away, some stickers, a craft knife, some glue and pens/pencils.

Here is the double page smash book that I had been working on.  It is entitled 'Song and Dance'.  The left hand page (the song page) is about me joining a choir for the first time in over 10 years, and the dance page is about Alex's first ever street dance exam (we will get the results in a months time).  I am very much enjoying documenting something about our life from each week this year and I think that the book will be fun to look back on.  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Special Friends!

Isn't it wonderful when you have friends that you don't have to see often, or even chat to regularly, but when you do you can pick up just where you left off without any difficulties.  Today we went to Coventry to see one of my closest friends and we had a fantastic time chatting away as though no time had passed since the last time we saw each other.  What was so lovely was that the children did the same with all three of them playing together nicely.

It is time for another Quirky Crafts challenge, this week set by Cazzy.  We are sponsored by the lovely Crackerbox palace who supplied us with some real stamps to use, so the challenge is 'a box of chocolates' and you must not use any digi images.  For my card I made the background by sponging tea bag distress ink over a piece of cream card, then stamping the chocolates and 'yummy' stamps from our sponsor over the top (again in tea bag distress ink to keep it pale) and finished the edges off with vintage photo distress ink. The main central panel was made by stamping a vintage lady (by Crafty Individuals), then masked her ands tamped the nutritional facts and yummy stamps from our sponsor in vintage photo distress inks, and then mounted it on two pieces of different shades of brown card added the gem and finished the whole card with the sentiment (again from our sponsor). I am also entering this card into Penny's Challenge 'one for the girls', Simon Says Stamp 'anything goes', Crazy4challenges 'card to make the recipient smile' and CCT 'a different corner' (sentiment in the main corner and gem in the panel corner).  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Made me smile!

I thought that this might make you smile (as part of Annie's Friday smiles)...this is the sight that greeted me on the landing outside my bedroom door when I came out after getting dressed.  Alex had decided to scrapbook in his own unique manner, and the entire landing floor was covered with paper etc.  Where was Alex you may ask...

...in his room drawing a space scene!

This also made me smile...Alex's pet rocks (made last night from tiny stones on which we glued googly eyes)...they had to come with him to school this morning so he could show them to his friends, so he neatly cut some bubble wrap to put in the box to keep them safe (and warm Mummy!). Thats all from me!  Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Wet & Windy (WOYWW)

I think I almost prefer the snow...it is much more fun to sledge and play in the snow than to run from one building to another getting soaked in the process...I have been soaked every day this week and looked like a complete drowned rat on Monday!  Anyway, enough moaning about the weather...here is Alex on his traditional Tuesday morning play at Mummy's desk; this time he was playing with my cuttlebug.

For my entry to WOYWW here is my desk as it was on Tuesday evening in the midst of a smash book session. All the things from Alex's session have been put away, except I seem to have gained a snowglobe on the back of my desk!  Beside the snowglobe is a lovely little crafting present from JoZart (see below). Apart from that you can see my half made smashbook page, the photos I will be using to finish it off, some nestabilities, and cuttlebug dies, DST, pritt stick and other glue (it is rubbish and I wont be using it again), some snowflake stamps and silver ink, scissors, knife and the smashbook pen.

Here is the final page featuring all the fun and games in the snow.  I cut round most of the images of sledging and turned them into a mini scene with the description round them.  The other photos were in a panel at the bottom, except the two snow scenes which I cut out in circles and mounted in the middle of die cut snowflakes.  I then finished the page off with lots of blingy snowflakes in the form of various glittery and silvery stickers.  As a result I am entering this page into Kaboodle Doodles 'winter' and Tuesday Throwdown 'bling it on'. Sorry, it didn't photograph well.

I made this layout following the sketch on Page maps blog of our Christmas Day walk in 2011.  It was a somewhat muddy walk hence the combination of browns, greens & Christmas embellishments, including lots of little gold stars. I drew the three circles using promarker pens around the edge of a dinner plate! This layout is being entered into SSSS 'stars', Fussy & Fancy 'circles' and Speedy Fox 'doodle a frame' (I hope that the circles count as they frame the whole layout).

Finally to finish, I received this lovely crafting gift from JoZart. It is a cross made of ribbon which, along with the poem 'a cross in my pocket' were inside the lovely little pocket shown on the left of the picture.  It is such a thoughtful gesture and will definitely be added to my Faith Book at some point soon. That is all from me for now.  Have a lovely rest of the week.
Love,
Caro
x

Snowballs!

We had ANOTHER 5 inches of snow overnight on Friday meaning that we couldn't go anywhere on Saturday. As a result Alex and I had a rip roaring snowball fight, with Alex challenging himself to pick up the biggest snowballs he could manage to throw at me.

Just look at that cheeky expression on his face!  Fortunately it all melted in the rain last night and so this morning he was able to go to his first ever street dance exam.  It apparently went OK, but we wont get the results for about another month.

Crafting wise I have started a scrapbook layout (I will show it when it is finished) and made this card following this weeks Less is More sketch.  I made it by using lots of masking (lines, hills & moon), layers of distress inks (pine needles, dusty concord and faded jeans), then  lots of different Lavinia stamps in versafine onyx black to make up the scene.  I am therefore entering this into CCC 'make a scene', CCT 'out of this world' (this is a fantasty scene with a dragon & fantasy style castle), All Sorts 'masculine' and DCM 'setting the scene'. That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Smiles!

It is Friday and time for Annie's Friday smiles. If you look back through my last couple of posts you will see that there have been lots of snowy related smiles this week, but here are a couple that I haven't shared with you yet....Alex trick sledging (face first on his front),

and one of him walking up the slope from school - I have been pulling him on the sledge most days, but he has to walk up the hills - I'm not that strong!

I have even included a little video, if it works, of Alex doing a solo run down the little slope near school.

This is how the snow looked over the valleys today on my way to work...we still have a lot, but it is getting icy and rather nasty so I hope that the temperature warms up to melt the icy patches.

And to finish, I did manage to do a little crafting yesterday, to make a leaving card for my PhD student who has finished in the lab, but still has to write up - hence the pile of books featured on the card and the Good Luck sentiment. The stamp is from Whiff of Joy, coloured with promarkers, cut out and mounted on the background.  I am entering this card into Ooh La La 'Wheels', CCC 'girly', PTW 'bow', Crafty creations 'use 2 of the same item' (2 gems in the top right hand corner), and Stamping for the weekend 'something girly'.  That is all from me and I hope I made you smile.  Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Snow much fun! (WOYWW)

Sorry about the pun in the title, it just had to be done, not least because we had 6 inches of snow here when we woke up on Monday morning.

This didn't mean a complete day off in the snow for us though, as Alex's school opened at 10am and closed at usual time.  However, it did mean that the walk to school was on the sledge (for the downhill stretches).

And a great time sledging down the really steep pathway after school.

Today the snow was still there, so it was more sledging after school (this should be a video if it works),

as well as a reasonable snowman being built in the slightly more sticky melting snow.

This morning before our walk to school Alex decided that he wanted to (a) dress up as a skeleton (don't ask me why) and (b) make a cardboard ipad - he loves my new toy! So here he is having stencilled the apple symbol on the back of his ipad.

Here is my desk as it was on Tuesday evening for my entry to WOYWW (it is currently empty as I am being good about putting things away after use - mostly because I need an empty desk for Alex to craft at!). At the back and to the left you can see my new ipad, and to the right of it my trusty mug of tea. The rest of the desk is covered with my smash book, with pictures laid out on it while I try and work out the layout of the pages, and various other smash book related items, including tags and washi tape.

This is the finished smash book page all about my new ipad - this smash book is my diary for the year and I am trying to document at least one thing that happens each week - I figured that the arrival of a longed for ipad warranted a double page spread!  I am entering this page into CCCB 'hearts' as there are numerous hearts on this page, and SSSS 'what are you known for' as I am mostly known for keeping a journal and photographing anything that stays still long enough!

My other crafting endeavour of this week was to scrapbook some Christmas photos, so this layout is being entered into Lasting Memories 'Christmas 2012' challenge. However, I have to confess that as my scrapbook is over 12 months out of date, this layout is actually from Christmas 2011 - I hope that they don't mind! I actually used the righthand side of Sketch #248 from 'Nuts about sketches' for this layout and used Bo Bunny and Bazzil papers, and K&Co stickers. Apologies for the flash glare...I just couldn't get a decent photo in this light.
That is all from me for now.  Have a great rest of the week everyone and stay safe.
Love,
Caro
x