Celebrating!

Well I had to laugh when I looked out of the window on my birthday...despite all the lovely sunshine we have had recently there was a howling gale and torrential rain! No surprises for October really, especially as this is usual birthday weather for me, but  it was a shame. Mind you, I did manage to have lunch outside in the sun the day before so I am not really complaining.

I have had a lovely few days celebrating with a gorgeous bunch of flowers including these orchids, new crafting goodies to play with including a Tim Holtz 'A compendium of curiosities', various Idea-ology embellishments, distress inks, acrylic paint dabbers, crafty individual stamps, charms and some lovely paper chase boxes and files. We have had a yummy take out curry and went to the cinema to see 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' - an excellent movie.

With the new goodies I made this altered printers tray. It is small, at only 6x6 inches, but was my first ever attempt. I loved it so much that I now want a bigger one! I used distress inks, Lavinia, Hero Arts, Tanda and crafty individuals stamps, crafty individuals nature images, Tim Holtz Ideology frame and glass bottle, shells, a conker, a pressed leaf, and a bird cage charm...more detailed photos follow.  I am entering this into the Simon Says Stamp and show challenge for this week, as some of the techniques used were demonstrated by Wendi Vecchi, although I don't own any of her stuff so I hope that this counts. This also fits with the sew many cards challenge to use the colours burnt orange, yellow and brown, all of which can be seen throughout this piece.

I had so much fun incorporating all the different things, playing with inks, paints etc, that I want to get hold of a full size one to alter for our study wall.  I am going to enter this into the Pixie Dust 'Anything but a card',  and crafty creations 'crafty decoration' (this is a wall hanging).

As I used autumnal colours for this and a small conker and real, pressed autumnal coloured leaf I am also entering this into Stampavie's 'autumn', Fussy and Fancy 'fall' and Paper play and stampin' for the weekend 'autumnal colours'.

The largest panel is shades of brown and has real shells, a glass vial full of sand (from Cleethorpes beach!) and so fits with the DYSU 'brown', CCCB '3D' and Delightful challenges 'make it dimensional' challenges.

Parts of this piece also have the same colours as the inspirational photo from this weeks Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge and the butterflies (there are 2 of them), mean that it also fits with the Flutterby Wednesdays 'open' challenge.

I apologise for the photos..all will be improved once my new computer arrives on Monday! Have a nice weekend everyone,
Love,
Caro
x

Wednesday!

It is time for another WOYWW, but before I start I just wanted to update you on my laptop.  It is officially dead, but I have rescued all my files from it and a new laptop has been ordered.  Once it is up and running then I will be back to producing better quality photos.  I can't wait as the keyboard on this thing is a nightmare; half the keys don't work first time so I am constantly having to re-type things.  Anyway, I digress...here is my desk as part of this weeks WOYWW...actually this was taken late last night hence the lack of tea as I was on my way to bed. On it you can see my Christmas stamps, a cuttlebug embossing folder, and the plates, various ink pads and card.

Here is a Christmas card I made as part of this weeks Less is More challenge to use your eye colour (in my case blue) as the main colour on your card.  Both picture stamps are from Crafty Individuals. I am also entering this into Crafty cardmakers 'Anything goes' challenge for this week.

This is a black and white Christmas card made using a Cuttlebug embossing folder and two Hobby Art stamps; clean, quick, simple and effective (I hope!). I am entering this into CCC 'black and white Christmas', TioT 'make it minimal' and PTW 'Anything goes' challenges. That is all from me for now. Have a great rest of the week.
Love,
Caro
x

Sunny October weekend!

Well I have to say, along with everyone else, that I simply cannot believe the weather we are having at the moment. The last few days have been boiling hot and we have been back in shorts and T-shirt which makes such a pleasant change.  This has meant that yesterday Alex and I were able to meet up with friends in the park and have a great time charging round.

Alex had so much fun he did not want to come home!

Today Alex and I tried a new church, actually the one that is nearest to us, and it was wonderful!  We both enjoyed it so I think it is safe to say that we will try and make it a regular occurrence. The weather has been slightly cooler again today, but it is safe to say that we enjoyed getting out to Abbeydale Industrial hamlet where they were holding a steam fayre. Alex really enjoyed having a go at the wood turning and going into every building looking at the different machinery, especially the huge water driven bellows which were working

I think his favourite part was being allowed to sit on the traction engine seat.  For me, well I am happy anywhere near steam so I had a great time too!

Crafting wise the Less Is More challenge for this week is 'make the colour of your eyes prominent on your card'. My eyes are blue (ranging from a vibrant bright blue in sunlight to a paler blue indoors) so we have all shades of blue on this card.

My other card is a Christmas card which is scraplifted from Sandi's card as part of this weeks CCCB challenge. It also fits with Ooh La La 'punches and dies' and Meljen's 'squares and circles' challenges.

Finally I have made a scrapbook layout using inspiration from SIWAS challenge of Brian Adams 'Heaven'. The  line I chose was 'Young and wild and free' so the title of my page is 'Bounce wild & Free'. The journalling reads ' Alex had a wonderful time on the bungee trying to bounce as high as birds fly and pretending he was spiderman' hence the images I chose to use on this layout.  This layout also fits with Pixie Dust 'book or movie' (Spiderman), and stamp, scrap and doodle 'Anything but a card'.  Once again my apologies for the quality of the photos...I am hoping that my new computer will arrive this week, but that remains to be seen! Have a good week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Dead computer!

It is official, my laptop is dead. The computer guys at work are not sure if it is a problem with the screen or the graphics card but whichever, it is not worth repairing and so a new one has been ordered. Fortunately all my work has been rescued from the hard-drive, which is working properly, however, it means that I am stuck on an ancient laptop with minimal software or capabilities until the new one arrives and is set up, hence the dodgy photos!  Thanks to the computer problems I only have one card to show you today, a clean and simple Christmas card made with two inkadinkado swirl stamps (stamped using green and red distress ink) and a Hobby Art sentiment stamp. I then added pearls to some of the dots.  As a result I am entering this card into this weeks Crafty Creations 'CAS', Delightful Challenges 'Pearls and swirls',  Do you stack up 'swirls', Penny's Challenge 'Anything goes' and Simon says stamp 'anything goes'.  That is all from me for now. Have a nice weekend and enjoy the unexpected sun!
Love,
Caro
x

Continued computer problems

Well my laptop screen is definitely defunct and we are not yet sure if it is fixable - I hope I will find out today.  At least the guys at work should be able to rescue my data from the hard drive (I hope). Yesterday I spent the day in Leicester doing a student viva and got the opportunity to meet with my uncle and Great Aunt for lunch as an added bonus! Meanwhile Alex came home last night with his first ever reading book from school. He was so proud to be a big boy and to try reading. The only trouble is that he knew the first few pages by heart.  We think at the end of his reading session he could recognise and read the word 'The' but we will find out for sure when we try again tonight! The other words were recognised by the pictures they were associated with not the words themselves unsurprisingly.

This is my desk as part of WOYWW for this week.  Those observant ones among you who have seen my desk over the weeks will realise that there is something missing...my mug of tea.  Don't worry I am not ill! The kettle is boiling as I type this.  On my desk you will see a strange looking card covered with post-it notes as I was masking out most of the card ready to stamp in the top left corner. You can also see a pile of Christmas stamps in the background, some scrap pieces of card, distress ink pads and some scrap paper on which I was stamping my background image before stamping onto the main card.

And here is the finished card (I do now have tea!) which follows this weeks Less is More sketch.  It also fits with MTTC 'musical medley' thanks to the music background stamp, and Speedy the cat's friends 'things with wings' challenges.  That is all from me for today. Once again I apologise about the picture quality...I want my computer back!! Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Very mixed weekend

Well both life and the weather have been very mixed this weekend.  Driving back from the shops with Alex yesterday the car engine cut out while we were on the main road and refused to start again.  The AA came and rescued us and said that it was a battery problem, but that wouldn't normally cause an engine to cut out while we were driving along. Fortunately we have been able to borrow a car from our garage to tide us over so we were able to get about.  Yesterday afternoon we met one of Alex's friends in the park which was good fun and made up for the difficulties.

Today we went down to visit my in laws in Kennilworth which was lovely. The boys went to the park where Alex was very happy on the swings and then they played reasonably well together after lunch.  Sadly when we got back home this evening my laptop refused to work...it is obviously booting up as the hard drive is working and the lights are on but I have no computer screen so can't see or do anything. I will have to take it into the guys at work tomorrow and ask them to look at it, although I suspect a new computer may be necessary.

Crafting wise I have made my DT entry for Quirky Crafts this week. The theme, which was chosen by Cazzy, was In the Jungle and we had to use jungle images on our creations. For this layout I followed the sketchy Thursdays sketch for this week.

I went with a scrapbook layout of Alex in my parents garden as he likes to pretend it is a jungle. I am also entering this into MTTC 'L is for lion', and PTW 'creature comforts' challenges.

I also managed to find a little time between the chaos to make a card for this weeks Less is More challenge which was a sketch.  This card also fits with Stampin for the weekend 'What a cutie' as I think this little elf is very cute, and All sorts 'keep it simple'challenge. My apologies about the quality of the photos...there is no photo software on Tim's computer so I can't crop them. That is all from me. Wish me luck with getting my computer fixed.
Love,
Caro
x

LIM card #15

This is my 15th card for this weeks Less is More challenge and this is probably going to be my last, unless I can sneak in a quick one before the challenge deadline tonight!  This time I used a Hobby Art sentiment and then tapestry stamps in an oval around the edge.  Super quick and very effective.  I am also entering this one into Sew Many cards 'Ovals' challenge.  If I don't manaage to post any more, have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x