Friday 31 July 2009

Friday again!




Friday again and I am so ready for the weekend! At work we are trying to write a paper full of scientific data ready for publication and we need a few more experiments to be run and analysed before it can be finished. This means I have spent the last couple of days running 2 experiments, which fortunately have worked. Just a few more to go and that data will be complete. At home Alex continues to amuse me no end…yesterday he was singing and jumping all evening and today he has been gently playing with his garage. He is still very tired, full of cold and inclined to kick up a stink when he doesn’t get what he wants, but he has had a better report from nursery this week and came back home tonight with a chocolate cornflake cake that they made today. Crafting wise I have completed a scrapbook layout for this week’s Pencil Lines sketch, although I chose to alter the sketch by replacing the single photo with two small ones. These photos have sat on my desk for over a year waiting for me to scrap them, but I just haven’t been inspired as they are not the strongest photos. I am quite pleased now that this page captures the moment of Alex’s first successful attempt at pulling himself up from sitting to standing. As he was using his playpen to do so all the photos are of him behind bars, hence my problems in how to scrap this. I kept the layout fairly simple and used Penny Black and Dovecraf papers, Basic Grey and Papermania stickers, and inkadinkado and Hero Arts stamps. The title of this page is ‘First solo stand’ and the journaling reads ‘Alex first pulled himself up to a standing position on 5th Feb 2008. He was so pleased with himself, but found it hard to sit back down - a semi-controlled fall was the only way!' I would love to know what you think of this. Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Wednesday 29 July 2009

Full of cold

Alex and I both have a streaming cold and are not sleeping well which is not good for either of us. That said, although we have moments where stubborn and wilful are the best words used to describe how he is behaving, we have also had some lovely times. Baths are a firm favourite and a great way for him to relax as I let him splash to his heart’s content. He looks forward to them a lot, saying 'Bath next' and telling me everything he is going to do in the bath 'splash', 'bubbles' etc. In the meantime work has been very busy, with me having edited a thesis, run a PhD viva and submitted a grant application already this week. I am exhausted and fed up of being ill and hoping that things calm down a bit soon.
I have felt a bit rough for crafting this week and really struggled with motivation and inspiration although I have made a card following this weeks CPS sketch using my new tapestry stamps and some Penny Black stamps. This card also follows the theme from this weeks CCC challenge of pink, green and brown, flowers and animals (the brown is in some of the border stamping and on the little dog).
I have also experimented with a new technique of 'flower pounding' which is where you place a fresh flower between two sheets of watercolour paper and run it through the Cuttlebug. This squashes the flower leaving a stain of the petals looking a bit like a watercolour. I quite like this technique and think I will experiment further. Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Sunday 26 July 2009

A mixed bag!

The weather that is! It was lovely and sunny yesterday, albeit a bit breezy and it has been chucking it down today. Apart from the usual round of housework, shopping, cleaning, washing etc it has been a lovely weekend… Alex and I went in the garden yesterday morning, where I managed to actually do some weeding and general tidying. He decided he wanted to help by digging with the big spade! We then went to Endcliffe park in the afternoon to walk along to stream see the waterfalls and feed the ducks (and Alex) with bread. At the end of the walk there was a bouncy castle on which Alex had a lovely long bounce and a little fairground ride on which he rode the train and loved. He would have happily spent all afternoon going round and round on that ride in the different vehicles if I had let him!Today we have been stuck inside most of the day although we made a dash out between showers this afternoon to try and see the Alpacas at the Mayfield valley Alpaca farm. Alex calls them ‘Lamas’ or ‘Pacats’ much to my amusement. It was rather wet and windy but I am glad we went as we haven’t been for ages (since last October) and Alex really enjoyed it. There were lots of new born Alpacas as well as the adults and Alex spent some time getting to meet one of the stud males. I have been crafting again this time scrapbooking some photos of Tim and Alex taken earlier this year. This first page is very simple using just two pieces of cardstock supplemented with stickers and Alex’s creations. The title is ‘Crafting with Daddy’ and the journaling reads ‘I enjoyed the unusual sight of Alex and Tim crafting together – they had a great time with lots of smiles! March ’09.’ The second page is entitled ‘What fun’ and uses a mixture of stripy and spotted papers on a green background. The swirl stamps in the corner are from Hero Arts and as such this page fits with the swirls challenge on ‘Spoonful of sugar’ challenge site. The journaling reads ‘Who needs lots of toys? Alex and Tim had great fun with a few bits of duplo and the empty box!’ The final page focuses on a photograph taken of Alex and me last October at the Alpaca farm. The papers are a mixture of K&Co, Sandylion, American Traditional Crafts and Bazzil. I actually added different things to all the edges of the layers (inking, shading, cutting with fancy scissors, and pretend stitching) so this fits with the Daring Cardmakers challenge although it isn’t a card! The title is ‘Alpaca’ and the journaling reads ‘Alex was delighted when this Alpaca came to say hello as the rest were sheltering from the weather under the trees. Oct 2008.’ I also made a card using a Penny black stickeroo and following this weeks Sketch Saturday sketch. As usual I would love to know what you think of my crafting. Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Friday 24 July 2009

What...Friday already?!

I can’t believe it is Friday already. This week seems to have disappeared on me. I have been really busy at work trying to finish off a grant application, run my own experiments and edit a student’s thesis, so I am really ready for a relaxing weekend. Alex is unfortunately showing that he has a very stubborn streak and is not listening to anything anyone tells him..he thinks it is funny to be told to do something several times and not do it, so we are undergoing a battle of wills at the moment. You can really tell he is two. He is also not sleeping well so he is very tired, which doesn’t help. In between the tantrums and clashes of will we have had a lot of fun dancing to Offenbach, singing, playing chase and of course playing with his cars and garages. He has discovered the joys of bubble baths and so bath-times are even wetter than usual, but the greatest of fun for us both. Crafting wise I have made this little card for Tim’s cousin who recently gave birth to a little boy. The card follows the sketch from My Time To Craft and the theme of Spots and stripes from SCSC. As I didn’t get accepted onto the design team for the new Sketch?! Challenge site it means I can show you the layouts that I submitted. This first one is from when Alex first started to walk and is entitled ‘Walking practice’. The picture wasn’t great as it was all greys so I decided to use my first ever acetate overlay to accentuate the photo. The papers I used were mostly the free ones that came with this months Scrapbook Magazine and the foot print stamp is from Hero Arts. The journaling reads ‘Once he had taken his first solo steps Alex spent hours practicing his walking by pushing his pushchair round the park. June ‘08’. The second layout is entitled ‘Chocolate Bomb’. I made the white messy paper using ink dabbers to represent the messy chocolate finger prints that were all over Alex’s white top. The background paper is K&Co and the stamp is Hero Arts. The journaling reads ‘Who would have thought that a finger of Kit Kat could make such a mess and go so far. You did enjoy your first real experience of chocolate though! 21st Nov 2008’. That is all for now. I hope you all have a great weekend.
Love,
Caro
x

Wednesday 22 July 2009

'The Parple Game!'

Alex has invented a game for us all to play, which is something he finds hillarious. He invented it a while a go but this week has been playing it every day whenever possible. The basis of the game is that we (Tim and I) have to blow a raspberry against whatever he tells us, whether it is his cheek, the wall, the door etc. The instructions form the phrase 'Parple wall' or 'parple daddy cheek'. He finds this completely hillarious...the new angle for this week is that he has discovered how to do this and so has been saying 'Alex parple Daddy hand' and then does this followed by huge giggles. It has kept us all entertained every evening this week, especially when getting him changed for bed. Don't you just love that happy look!
Crafting wise I have managed to complete a layout for this weeks Pencil Lines sketch (#144) which is entitled 'Cuddle' and uses Basic Grey and Fancy pants papers, Basic grey stickers and Angel kiss flowers. The journalling reads 'You are such an active little boy that those rare occassions when you climb onto my lap and ask for a cuddle are very precious to me. Nov 2008'.
I have also made a card following this weeks sketch from CPS (#125). I kept this card relatively simple sing my new tapestry stamps for the patterned paper. I have also used the 'take your colour pick' challenge from PTW and used Pink and Green as my rather unusual colour combination. As usual I would love to know what you all think. I hope you have a great rest of the week. Take care.
Love,
Caro
x

Sunday 19 July 2009

Ducks!

Well it has been good weather for ducks this weekend! That said, we did have a dry afternoon yesterday and so Alex and I went for a long walk down by the stream and the duck ponds where we fed the ducks. Mind you, I think Alex ate more of the bread than he gave to the ducks, but he did have fun. The waterfall obsession continues and everytime there was the slightest bit of a waterfall he had to stop and have a good look. To his delight the walk ended with a good bounce on the bouncy castle! Today it was so wet that we went to the Western park museum where he ran around and enjoyed looking at the woolly rhino and stuffed animals. We are so lucky to have such a child friendly museum so close to us..it really is a God send in wet weather.
Our new routine really does give me more of a chance for crafting as I have made 4 new layouts this weekend. I am only showing two on here as I am going to apply to join the creative design team for Stuck?! sketches. Wish me luck...there are some amazingly talented crafters out there and I am not sure whether my style is what they are looking for, but it is worth a go! This first one is the last of my Christmas layouts and uses Bazzil, K&Co, Sandylion and Basic Grey papers and cardstock along with Papermania stickers. Neither photo is particularly strong, but I wanted a record of Alex's nativity play. The journalling reads 'Alex was very ill for the Nativity service and was not going to wear his hat, but still managed to enjoy being a shepherd dancing to the carols'.
The next one is entitled 'These boots were made for splashing' and I made the central panel of card by splattering it with acrylic paint using a toothbrush to generate the impression of splashes. The other papers are from Fancy Pants and SEI (added to with ink dabbers). The blue blobs with Bo Bunny brads in the centre are supposed to represent splashes and I used inkadinkado stamps for the corners. The journalling reads 'Alex was delighted with his new boots and loved splashing with them in every muddy puddle he could find. Jan '09.'
Finally I made a quick card using my cuttlebug and new tapestry stamps. This was very quick and easy to do and is a change from my previous one. As usual, comments are welcome. Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Friday 17 July 2009

I'm back!

The past two days has been exhausting, but I have to say that the conference was excellent. I came back full of ideas for extending my research, which is fantastic. Alex and Tim coped very well with me being away, although Alex was very over excited this evening at my return. I had a nice surprise when I came back though as there was this lovely parcel full of crafting goodies for me...my winnings from a card making competition on the CM&PC forum. It is a complete mixture of things and I am sure I will get a lot of enjoyment from it.
Needless to say there has been little time for crafting but I did manage to make these two trading cards before I went.
I also made this card for Gran using a set of Tapestry stamps. I just love these little stamps; they are so quick and easy to use. As usual I would love to know what you think. Have a great weekend everyone.
love,
Caro
x

Wednesday 15 July 2009

Shoes!

Alex is so funny! His old trainers are now too small and are falling apart so he has some new trainers, but the first time we tried to put them on him it resulted in a tantrum which lasted for about 10 minutes. The next day he was asking for his 'smart new shoes'...aren't kids so funny! Here he is as a couch potatoe in training watching an episode of 'Chuggington'.
Only had time for a little crafting this week. A quick card for a work colleague who has a new baby boy...
... and a scrapbook page following this weeks Pencil lines sketch (#143). I like the way this sketch challenged me to use multiple photos in a more random pattern than I usually do. It was a fun challenge in which I used patterned papers from Junkitz, Rusty Pickle, my minds eye and Daisy bucket. The title is 'Cannon Hall Farm' and the journalling reads 'We had a lovely time feeding and stroking the animals. Alex loved watching them and enjoyed running round the play area'. Must dash now as I am off to a conference in Chester for the next couple of days. Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Sunday 12 July 2009

Playground fun!

We have had quite a fun weekend enjoying the nice weather both days. The usual jobs of shopping, washing, cooking, cleaning etc have been done, but as well as that I have had time to craft (bliss!) while Alex and Tim played together, and Alex and I went out while Tim slept. Yesterday we had fun at our local park with some friends, Chloe and Robin. Alex decided he wanted to wear his Thomas top with the hood...definitely a hoodie in training!
Chloe and Robin had a great time on the seesaw
Then Alex enjoyed being bounced by Robin
Alex and Robin also enjoyed making a lot of noise in the tunnel...Chloe wasn't quite so sure about that!
Today we went to Endcliffe park in Sheffield, but although the playground is new Alex wasn't too happy with the different climbing frames etc. He prefered pushing his tractor round and just loved the stream that runs through the park
Especially the waterfalls which he spent ages watching.
My crafting for the weekend consisted of two scrapbook layouts. The first of these is entitled, 'All tired out' and uses Penny Black paper and Bazzil cardstock with inkadinkado and seeDs stamps and a random mixture of stickers and rub-ons which I bought in my local postoffice! The journalling reads 'Alex was just too tired to play and fell asleep on the floor amidst his toys.
The next page is called 'Fun on the Farm' and uses a mixture of Bazzil, Basic Grey, K&Co and Rusty Pickle papers. The journalling reads 'we met up with Andy, Nel & Daniel at a farm near Kettering and we all had the most wonderful day together feeding sheep, herding pigs, playing on tractors, going for a lovely walk and of course, going on the barrel train ride. Oct 2008'. As usual I would love to know what you think. Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Friday 10 July 2009

Happy its Friday

Friday and what a relief! I am so tired that I have been completely brain dead all day...fortunately it didn't affect the experiment I was running. Alex is also very tired and is starting to express his frustration in not getting what he wants when tired by throwing things or hitting people (mostly me) as well as crying lots. It is the battle of the terrible twos I am afraid, but at least for most of the time we have fun together. He has discovered that he likes drinking from a little water bottle as it makes him feel big. A few accidents do occur, but as it is only water it doesn’t really matter. We also had a lovely time this evening dancing and jumping round together to Offenbach's music which Alex loves. I am pleased to report that Gran is now on a portable Vacuum dressing which means that she can start her physio and hopefully get back to full fitness again, although it is going to be a long hard uphill struggle. Crafting wise over the past few days I have made a couple of cards. This one was for Gran following the CPS sketch and using an image taken from a charity card I was sent, K&Co paper in the background and a Hero Arts stamp. This next card followed the sketch from sketch Saturday and fits with two other challenges as well…the black and white challenge for cupcake craft challenges and the my favourite things challenge for PTW as black and white are a favourite combination of mine and I used my favourite Martha Stewart edge punch. I used papermania background paper and brads, angel kiss flowers, and American Crafts rub-ons. The stamped image was from a swap on the CM&PC forum a while ago. Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Wednesday 8 July 2009

Bump!

It has been a mixed few days here. Yesterday I had a lovely evening as I got to spend a little time with one of my closest friends, Abby. We don’t see each other anywhere near often enough so it was lovely to have dinner with her and a good gossip and catch up session. Poor Alex has a grazed head and arm following a fall in the playground at nursery yesterday. Apparently he was very brave - had a cuddle for a little while and then wanted to get on with playing outside. He and I have had some very funny times in the evening as he invents new games to play, usually involving some form of rough and tumble, or something to do with his cars and garage. The positive news it that there has been a miraculous resurrection as far as my computer goes…it is now working perfectly! It appears that the keyboard must not have quite dried out on Sunday when we tried it, but by yesterday afternoon it was working perfectly so it doesn’t need to be sent back to ASUS. I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I am! I have done very little crafting over the past few days, with the exception of this scrapbook layout following sketch #142 which uses photographs taken in March when my parents came to help with lowering one of our flowerbeds so we can actually see the flowers from the dining room. The title is ‘Garden Make over’ and the layout uses K&CO and Bazzil cardstock and Angel kiss flowers. The journaling reads ‘We spent a weekend Spring Cleaning the garden. This included lowering a flower bed and to my great excitement, planting some flowers. March 2009’.
Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Sunday 5 July 2009

Why?

Why does it always happen that when you are incredibly busy something always goes wrong to make things worse? On Friday I succeeded in knocking over a bottle of diet coke on top of my lap top. Needless to say the lap-top switched off instantly and I spent the next hour with tissue paper trying to get every bit of liquid out of it. Tim then took the keyboard off for me and cleaned up underneath it and we then had to wait for 48 hours for it to dry out fully and it spent the weekend sat in bits on my desk. Total nightmare. Fortunately when we put it back together again it worked, but the keyboard does not and so it will have to go away for repair (again!). At least I managed to rescue all my data, but it was so frustrating. Mental note to self -do not have a drink anywhere near the computer - EVER!
This weekend has been lovely despite that as the weather was gorgeous (with the occasional shower) and we have a new routine which means that Tim looks after Alex for an hour each day giving me that time to craft...bliss! What was even better was that we all went out to the local school fete yesterday where Alex had a wonderful time on some of the rides, especially liking the cars and Thomas the train. Tim left us there to go and get some sleep and we stayed on, enjoying the brass band and the bouncy castle before going on to the park to let Alex have a proper run around. I have to say that while Tim was there he spoilt me rotten as the local craft shop had a stall at the fete and he bought me a load of crafting goodies!
We have loved being in our garden this weekend as well...Alex getting thoroughly soaked and sandy and me actually doing a little gardening. Much more is needed but most of the flower beds look much better. We went back to the park again today and met up with some friends which was lovely. Crafting wise since Wednesday I have made some trading cards all using the Heritage papers and images from Hot off the Press and embellished with various stamps in the background and Doily lace punched borders.
I also made another lables shaped card to send to Gran who is now back in Yeovil hospital which is wonderful news. All being well she will improve significantly from now on. I will find out more tomorrow and let you all know. This scrapbook layout is entitled 'The Stocking Tradition' and is of photos taken on Christmas day! The journalling reads 'My brother and I always opened our stockings in Mum and Dad's bed so it was lovely to see both our boys carrying on the family tradition watched by the rest of the family. Christmas Day 2008'.
The next layout is entitled 'Sand + water = Joy' and the journalling reads 'Alex loves his sand and water table and usually ends up in a very happy MESS!'. The stamps I used are from Inkadinkado.
The final layout is entitled 'That Smile' and is loosely based on a sketch from Becky Fleck. The journalling reads 'Alex is so happy pushing his big car across the patio: I just love that cheeky happy smile. Oct 2008'. I apologise for the quality of the photos...suffering from lack of desk space at the moment with computer parts all over it. Hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly. In the meantime, have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x