Gentle time

Alex and I are full of colds so we have had a relatively gentle weekend.  Tim cut Alex's hair yesterday and as Alex behaved so well I took him for a little shopping trip to buy a new book and a 'yum yum' (type of donut), which he loved.  In the afternoon we met up with friends at the swimming pool and Alex spent the whole time jumping into the pool and swimming by himself....wonderful! Today we went to the museum where Alex spent a LONG time turning this handle and watching the cogs go round. Don't ask me why but he thought it was wonderful!

Crafting wise I have been busy making a scrapbook layout for Quirky Crafts latest challenge which goes live tonight. The challenge is to use spots/dots and stripes and embossing.  I have to say that I found this one hard, especially for scrapbooking, but in the end I went for a heat embossed castle. It is a Whiff of Joy stamp and I heat embossed it in three colours (black for the outline, red for the flags and blue for the water) so it also fits with this weeks Crafty Creations 'heat it up' challenge. This layout also followed the sketch from Friday sketchers and fits with the crazy challenge spots and stripes challenge as does the card below!

This is also a clean and simple card I made for the Quirky Crafts challenge and this fits with the white on white theme from Flutterby challenge as the card is mostly white and contains a butterfly.

Finally I made a tag for a swap I have joined on CM&PC forum. The swap is to make 3 tags that contain fabric lace and flowers.  This is the first of my tags which follows a shabby chic/vintage style and so fits with the Crazy4challenges theme this week. The lace is recycled from my Gran's sewing box and so it fits with the All sorts challenge, and I used distressed inks and added heat embossed gold edging to make it look even more distressed so it fits with the Tuesday Throwdown challenge and the Let's ink it up 'anything goes' challenge (the background is all stamped using Stamp Away and Inkadinkado stamps).  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Weekend!

I'm so glad it is the weekend...I am getting yet another cold and so badly need the rest, not that there is much rest to be had with a mad three year old in the house, but at least I don't have to concentrate so hard! Alex's latest game is to put his Dad's clothes on and bounce around like a lunatic...how swamped does he look in that fleece! I think we are going to have fun this weekend.

Crafting wise I made this very quick and simple, but effective card which fits with the CCC 'food' theme, the Kaboodle Doodle 'Bling' theme (glitter glue on the icing and gems on top), the Ooh La La 'three of a kind' (three cupcakes) theme, the MTTC 'embossing' theme and following this weeks CPS sketch.

I also made a scrapbook layout following this weeks Sketchy Thursday sketch, adapted slightly for 3 photos. This layout also fits with the Paperplay 'layer it up' and the Sew many challenges 'green' themes. That is all from me for now. Have a great weekend.
Love,
Caro
x

Wednesday already!

Where did this week go? I can't believe it is Wednesday already. We are having a good week so far with Alex on fine form, being entertaining and cheeky (don't you love that cheesy grin) and work busy but good.

Needless to say it is time for another WOYWW and this week I don't have lots of papers piled on the shelves..I have put them all away! I do however have a little pile of things on the side of my desk waiting to be filed away while my desk is in the midst of a cardmaking session. You can see my somewhat battered craft mat, a craft knife and ruler (I never got on with a guilotine or other type of cutter), inks, stamps and of course my mug (sadly half full of cold tea - yuk - I need to put the kettle on)

Crafting wise I have made a scrapbook layout following the righthand page of this weeks Nuts about Sketches.  In case you hadn't guessed I am trying to do my holiday scrapbook from last years holiday and as usual I took far too many photos so it is great to find inventive ways in which to use them in both single and double page layouts.  I kept this layout simple using just stamping as embellishments (purple onion stamps in the corners and Crafty Individual's Whitby Abbey stamps) so this fits with this weeks Lasting Memories 'stamping' challenge. The title was made using rub-ons (I really struggle with getting the white ones to look nice) and the journalling was inspired by the lines 'Laughin’ and a runnin’ hey hey, skippin’ and a jumpin’ from this weeks Scrap it with a song. The journalling actually reads 'Despite Alex's objections to the howling wind, he had fun exploring Whitby Abbey, running, chasing, laughing and jumping, whilst I enjoyed the architectural beauty and stunning location of a place that I have wanted to visit for years'.

Finally here is the simple card I made for Valentines Day.  I used a free stamp, black out line pen and lots of layering for the main part with two other small stamps for the bottom righthand corner.  This fits with the 'black, white and one other' challenge from Pollycraft, 'love is in the air' theme from Pile it on, 'Valentines' from Spoon full of sugar and this weeks Cupcake Inspiration challenge. Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Party Weekend

Well it has certainly been a weekend of Parties!  Alex has been to two very different parties.  Yesterday he was invited to a 10 year olds skating party so he could keep Callum's younger sister Katie company.  Alex thought he would love skating but the moment he put the rollerskates on and stood up there were yells of 'I don't like it!  Take them off!'.  Sadly he wouldn't try and more after that so spent the time pushing the skates round the lounge area while being watched by a rather bemused Katie.

Today he went to the birthday party of one of his nursery friends.  The party was at an indoor play area so Alex was in his element, running, climbing, jumping etc. He especially loved the toy cars and spent ages driving them round with his friends.  Fortunately the climbing part of the indoor play area is designed for his age group so I didn't have to climb around with him too much - once I had shown him how to get to the tunnel slide and the main slide I didn't have to clamber around any more so fortunately I am not too exhausted!

Crafting wise I started by making a card for Callum.  This followed the Friday sketchers sketch, and fits with the for men/boys theme from All sorts.  It also fits with the CCT 1,2, 3 theme...one image, two patterned papers and three stars.

I also made a scrapbook layout following this weeks Sketchy Thursday sketch. It also fits with the use a button challenge from both the crazy challenge and from Pixie dust.  The journalling also fits with a line from this weeks Scrap it with a song.  The line of the song is 'I will blow in the wind' and the journalling reads 'Although Alex wasn't too impressed at being blown to bits by the wind he did enjoy rockpooling, especially when he caught a shrimp and I caught a crab. Filey Beach, Sep 2010'.  This layout uses mostly scraps of Basic grey paper, distress inks stippled through sequin waste and small shell stamps as well as an old button and images of shimp and crab printed from the internet.

Finally I made a valentines day card...I am toying with the idea of trying to sell a few valentines cards this year so thought I would make one and see how it went!  This used an Anita stamp I have had for ages and never used. This challenge fits with the pink and red theme from Meljen's (the edging of the main stamped image is pink distressed ink) and the love is in the air theme from Stamp simply. That is all from me. Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Ready for the weekend!

My sinusitis is still being a pain and after a few days of non-stop meetings at work I am exhausted, have a thumping headache and am ready for the weekend.  Crafting wise I have only had the chance to make one card...my nephew's 1st Birthday card and one ATC.  The birthday card uses a Penny Black stickeroo and other stickers and follows the blue and green theme from Spoonfull of sugar, the spots and dots/polka dots theme from My Time To Craft and the for men/boys theme from creative card crew.

The ATC is supposed to be a fairy/pixie party and I am entering it for Penny's  and Flutterby Challenges anything goes challenges. That is all for me today.  Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Silly Boy!

Alex is going through a phase where he is trying to work out what is funny and what is silly and what is just plain naughty.  He doesn't get it right most of the time, but I had to say that his invention of 'pants head' just made me laugh out loud!

As it is Wednesday and time for WOYWW I thought I would show you my desk, which is mid-scrapbooking.  You can see the layout I am working on, with my craft mat, box of buttons and an ink pad to the left, my mug (empty now - I need more tea!) and PVA glue at the back and various distress ink pads, craft knife, pencil, ruler and a toilet roll (yes, my sinuses still haven't cleared up). 

The reason my desk looks halfway tidy is because I shoved all the papers I had rummaged through to make my scrapbook page onto the shelves to the left of the desk - I'm not as tidy as some of you think I am, just good at hiding the mess!

Here is the final layout which is entitled 'Friends' and follows this weeks Creative Scrappers sketch.  It lso fits with the scrapfit challenge of using strips of paper left over from previous projects. My strips are from K&Co and Basic Grey and all the patterned papers used on this layout were scraps. My layout also fits with this weeks recipe from Lasting memories of using 1 ribbon (mine is a leaf patterned ribbon), 2 buttons and 3 colours (orange, various shades of brown, and green), the use a heart challenge from Speedy the cats friends and the anything goes challenge from Pile it on and from Scrap and stamp (my stamp is the paw prints which have been stamped using tea bag distress ink). That is all from me for now, have a great rest of the week.
Love,
Caro
x

Wet weekend!

Well it really has been a wet and windy weekend so we have been confined to playing indoors.  For Alex this has meant a lot of playdoh, make believe, cars, rough and tumble, and trains at home, and then a trip to the museum yesterday where he dressed up as a sailor in a storm, before meeting up with a friend and running round the museum together.  Today we went to our local swimming pool where we met up with more friends and the kids had great fun splashing together. Alex managed to swim (with armbands) without touching the bottom or holding onto me for the very first time!  He was very excited. It was a great way to burn off excess energy although I am not sure my sinuses liked it much.

I have had time to craft this weekend which is great.  It is time for another Quirky Crafts challenge and this time, most excitingly we are sponsored by Stitchy Bear stamps, who are offering a prize to the challenge winner.  The challenge this week is Spring Garden using at least one stamp (can be digital) and the colours pink and green. My entry uses one of their stamps 'Camelia still life' and I have kept it to the clean and simple style that I like so much.

I also made this thank you card for my Uncle, hence it being a rather masculine card.  The card follows inspiration from the Craft stamper magazine. The background was made using a shape I drew and cut out to mask the cream card and then sponging over the top in just one colour of distress inks (tea bag), varying the intensity. I then stamped the clock using a darker brown distress ink and mounted it ontop of the tape measure (K&Co paper) on foam pads. As the card is all shades of brown I have entered it in for the CCT 'monochrome challenge', and the thank you challenges from Spoonful of sugar, crazy4challenges and crafty sentiments.

This card was a quick and simple one to make using a brayered background and crafty individual and purple onion stamps.  This fits with the Lots to do 'brayering' challenge and the stamp something 'anything goes  stamping' challenge.

Finally I made a birthday card for a little girl who turns 4 next weekend.  The card uses my new papers and ribbons from Dovecraft with the cupcake made sparkly with sakura stardust and glitter glue, and mounted on foam pads for emphasis. The card follows the simple sketch from  OCC and fits with the bling challenge from OLL. That is all from me for this weekend.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
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