Staycation part 1!

Apparently what we are doing this year is having a 'staycation' and supposedly it is quite a trendy thing to do!  Basically it means we are having a holiday from home with lots of day trips out.  We started on Saturday with a trip to the outdoor play area (Sci-tek and Aqua-tek) at Magna. The weather was nice enough for Alex to run around in the water park

Where he had great fun, and even persuaded me to join in

Yes, I did get soaked and I enjoyed every minute of it!

We then went into the adventure playground for a picnic and to warm up in the sun.

On Sunday we went out to the Heights of Abraham where we all enjoyed the cable car ride (don't ask me why Alex insisted on putting his hood up)

and the caves, although Alex wasn't too sure about them switching the lights off!

That said we all enjoyed the light display in the main cave.

Alex then went on to a party for one of his friends where he was given these glasses which made us all laugh.

Today we went to Drayton Manor Park where Alex showed us how much he loves rollercoasters, although he hated the queueing! Poor Tim was exhausted and spent much of the time sat in a heap...we will have to do something more gentle tomorrow.

Crafting wise I have made my entry for this weeks Quirky Crafts challenge which is 'Under the sea'. We were given some very cute images from our sponsor to work with.  Pop on over and check out the rest of the DT entries and join in for a chance to win some digital stamps. I am also entering this into Meljen's theme of 'coastal fun' and Penny's challenge 'Here comes summer'.

I have also made a card for this weeks Less is More challenge, which was monochrome.  I chose shades of brown for my monochrome and used coredination card stock, embossed it using my cuttlebug and sandpapered the embossing to reveal the lighter core in the middle.  The stamp I used was free with the recent issue of Crafty Stamper. This card followed this weeks Unscripted sketch, and I am also entering this card into Delicious Doodles 'texture'. Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
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Woo Hoo!

We are on holiday!  I am having a week off work and am so excited.  Before we start our holiday I had to make a birthday card for a little boy so used a Whiff of Joy digital stamp 'Spider Henry' which I coloured in with promarkers.  This card fits with the 'colours of your flag' challenge from Kaboodle Doodles (red, white and blue), Happy Birthday from Ooh La La, 'Its a guy thing' from Fresh Brewed, 'Masculine' from Simon Says stamp, 'Man or boy' from Fussy and Fancy and 'use a digital stamp' from Stamp something. That is all from me for now.  Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Wet bank holiday!

What a surprise...bank holiday Monday was sopping wet and the day we went back to work the sun was shining!  Alex was on good form though and we had a lot of fun with him dressing his teddies in caps and laughing at what they looked like. (I took this photo with my new phone!).

As it is Wednesday it is time for WOYWW and my desk is relatively neat as I am in the process of making a Wedding Anniversary card for Tim.  On the desk you can see my distress inks, my nearly empty mug of tea, the card I am working on and embossing powder which I am trying to add to the image using a Versamark pen (only having semi-success at the moment). Can my PIF person get in touch as I am unable to comment on blogger at the moment.

I did eventually get it to work so here is the final card which I am entering for Crafty Cardmakers 'love of the lasting kind' (we are celebrating 10 years of marriage), Simon says stamp and show 'your favourite stamp' (I love this Anita's stamp), Spoon Full of Sugar 'flower power', Stampin for the weekend 'blue, buttons (I used tiny ones) and bling and Pile it on 'sprinkles' (I used sprinkles of gem stones and embossing powder).  That is all from me for now. Have a great rest of the week.
Love,
Caro
x

Friends!

We have had a lovely weekend playing outside in the park yesterday and then going to friends in Coventry today. Alex had a fantastic time playing with Robin and Chloe both at their house and in their local park where they decided that they were in Gaol!

Crafting wise I made the first of my Father's Day cards. This was initially made to fit with the Less is More challenge which was to pick a single square in which to place your image and not have anything else anywhere else on the card except the sentiment.  However when I printed out the sentiment it was in the wrong place for me to fold the white card in half so I cut out a white square instead and mounted it onto the brown card, so it probably doesn't fit the challenge any more! I then stamped my image (Crafty Individuals) onto cream card with distress ink giving it an old fashioned parchment effect and coloured it in with promarkers and mounted it on three layers of card in different shades of brown. I am therefore entering this into Aud Sentiments 'for a man', Colour Create 'white, cream and brown', All sorts 'things with wings' and cards for men 'no designer papers' challenges.

Having failed with my first attempt at the Less is More challenge, I tried again with some more Crafty Individuals stamps, this time using the bottom lefthand corner as the area in which to stamp. I coloured the image in using my promarkers. This card also fits with SCSC 'clean and simple' and Stamp somethings 'sentiment' challenges.

Finally I used the cut off piece of card from the Friendship card to make my first ever scrappling using distress inks and Lavinia stamps. This therefore fits with TioT 'scraplings', Spoonful of Sugar 'things with wings', Paper Play 'blossoms and blooms' and Sew many cards 'circle' challenges.  That is all from me for now. Enjoy your bank holiday Monday tomorrow.
Love,
Caro
x

A layout!

As predicted I haven't had a lot of time for crafting this week, although I have managed to make this scrapbook layout of Alex and his friends having fun splashing in the water in the sun. I followed this weeks Sketchy Thursdays sketch and this layout fits with the 'anything goes' challenges from Creative Card Crew, and Paper Cutz, 'Anything but a card' from Freshly brewed, 'Here comes summer' from Penny's challenge, 'Here comes the sun' from The Pixie Cottage and 'tag' from Delightful Challenges. That is all from me for now, have a lovely weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Exciting day!

I have a new phone...a brand new GalaxySII.  I can't believe it, I am so excited, but now have to work out how to use it! Tim has the original Galaxy S so he has promised to teach me how to use an Android phone...there may be less crafting for a while as I learn and play.  Enough about the shiney new phone...here is my desk for this weeks WOYWW. As I type I am in the middle of making a new baby card for a work colleague. I have a steaming hot mug of tea, the card, the topper I have made, a Crafty Individuals stamp on an acrylic block, my box full of versa colour ink pads and embossing powders, a few random pieces of card and the photos of Alex that have been on my desk since last week.

Here is the finished card which used a new technique for me...threading ribbon through the edge of a die-cut shape. I was given the shape and was really pleased when the ribbon threading worked so well.  This means I am entering this card to the Crafty Cardmakers spotlight challenge of using a new technique and the MTTC challenge of using a die cut. As the card features pastel blue and a very cute cuddly teddy bear I am also entering it into the PTW 'pale pretty pastels' and the 'bears' challenges from Stamptacular and Pile it on.

I have also made another Birthday card that fits with the Less is More 'butterfly', the Spoonfull of sugar 'things with wings' and the delicious doodles 'let the sun shine' challenges. The background was made by masking a circle and using an inverse mask for the main shape of the images and then brayering over them both so this card also fits with the Delightful challenges 'masking' challenge. That is all from me for now. Have a great rest of the week.
Love,
Caro
x

Whitsun Fair!

After Alex's fainting episode on Thursday I am pleased to report that he has been fine ever since and doesn't show any sign of being ill other than a snotty nose and a cough, so having had a relaxing day at home yesterday we decided to go to the Whitsun fair this afternoon where we met up with friends. It was an afternoon of firsts for Alex as he got to go on the helterskelter by himself for the first time

as well as on the steam train

and the carousel. All in all he and Katie had a wonderful time enjoying every minute of their time together.

It is time for another Quirky Crafts challenge and this time it was the talented Spyder (Lyn) who set us not one, but two sketches.  You can choose to use either sketch for the challenge, and we also have a fab sponsor this week so pop over and take a look.  I decided to do a scrapbook layout following the first sketch. This was a real challenge for me as I had to put all my photos into a collage in a circle...it took ages! This layout is of all the flowers we have had in our garden this spring and fits with the 'Green and Pink' themes from Stamp with Fun and The Crazy challenge, the 'flowers, ribbon and 1 patterned paper' challenge from Crafty Creations and the 'flowers and lace' challenge from Sew many cards.

I also made a card for this weeks Less is More, following the theme of butterflies. My card was very simple, but effective (I think!) as it used three stamps, a free butterfly stamp from Crafty Stampers magazine, a fluorishes stamp from Inkadinkado and the Happy Birthday stamp from Crafty Individuals. I stamped them all in black then added sparkle by using my sakura stardust pen and glitter glue (not sure how well the sparkle shows up in this picture though...

so here is a close up of the butterfly! This therefore fits with the 'Sparkle and shine' theme from Simon Says Stamp, and the 'Sparkle' theme from Paper play. That is all from me for now. Have a great week everyone,
love,
Caro
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