Sunday 27 February 2011

Weekend crafting!

We have had  a good weekend, with Alex and I going shopping yesterday morning followed by an afternoon trip to the local museum where the medical students were running a 'teddy bear' hospital. Alex was asked what was wrong with his teddy and instead of the usual 'poorly tummy' or 'broken arm/leg' he came out with 'he has a bone stuck in his throat'.  I don't think the students knew what to make of that! Alex enjoyed the time there, especially bandaging his teddy's arm, putting teddy in the pretend MRI scanner, and listening to the sound of my heart. 
Afterwards we went for a walk in the park where sadly Alex fell over with a big bump and now has a deep graze on his knee.  He was fairly brave about it and didn't cry for too long, being distracted by the idea of having an ice-cream.  Today we went swimming in the afternoon leaving Tim asleep in bed. Alex loved it as usual, jumping in, splashing, attempting to swim on his front and back and going down the water shoots...wonderful!
Crafting wise I have made three cards.  This fortnights challenge on the Quirky Crafts challenge site is 'Alice in Wonderland'.  You don't have to have any specific Alice stamps to join in, just use anything that is mentioned in the book. For example, for this card, which is for my Dad's birthday, I used playing cards, the white rabbits pocket watch and a tape measure (Alice kept growing and shrinking).  This card also fits with the monochrome theme from Stampin' for the weekend and the pound shop pretties theme from DCM (the little playing cards were 4 packs for £1 in poundstretchers.
This card is also for the Quirky Crafts challenge, being inspired by the Mad Hatters Tea party.  The scroll image is from our sponsor, the stamping boutique, and the tea cup stamp was free with the Crafty Stamper a few months ago.  I used paper piecing for the first time on this card (for the tea cup tower) and so this card also fits with Kaboodle Doodles 'new technique' and fussy and fancy's 'paper piecing' challenge. As the card  has a yummy cake complete with a crown, the card also fits with 'food' for Speedy the cats friends, 'sweet treats' for SCSC and 'hats' (I hope the crown counts) for MTTC.
Finally I made a card for this weeks Less is More challenge, which was to make a card using three squares.  Now I had about three attempts at this card before I came up with something I was happy with!  I used a cuttle bug embossing folder for the three squares, mounted them with a thin strip of pink showing added a pink Penny Black flower stamp to each, a ribbon and three pearls and finallly a Kanban sentiment stamp. This is actually my second attempt with these elements as the first time I mounted them too high on the card! This card also fits with the flowers theme from Stamp something and crazy4challenges, and the anything goes theme from do you stack up. That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone,
Love,
Caro
x

Friday 25 February 2011

Clean and simple cards!

This week I have focussed on making some clean and simple cards with minimal embellishments to fit with the challenge from City Crafter Challenge Blog.  I have to say that I really like this style, although I am still learning how best to get it to work.  This first card was inspired by the coffee and cream colour scheme from Simon says stamp. I used Hero Art, Penny black and Crafty Individuals stamps, distress (3 brown shades) and versafine ink pads. As it is a birthday card it also fits with Flourishes Timeless Tuesday and spoon full of sugar. I am also entering this for the 'in the bottom of my garden lives' challenge from crafty creations.
This second card was another attempt at the Less is More 'Spring' challenge. This time I used the snowdrop stamp three times in embossed boxes and a swirl stamp to the left.  I think I actually prefer my original version, as something doesn't quite work about this although I can't put my finger on what is wrong exactly. Still, it was fun to experiment.
Finally I made another Spring card, which may be slightly too busy for the less is more challenge, although it is still relatively clean and simple. This time I used a flower fairies stamp and coloured her with promarkers in various shades of pink (some look more purply for some reason). I then used nestabilities to cut round her and emboss the edge, and then to mat her onto pink.  I finished the card off with some little pink flowers, a pearl, two punches (leaf and hearts) and the Penny Black 'Happy Birthday sentiment. This card therefore fits with the 'pink' challenge from Ooh La La, the fantasy challenge from creative card crew, 'anything goes' from Flutterby Wednesday and the 'fairy and 2 punches' challenge from Crafty Cardmaker.  That is all from me for now. Apologies for the dodgy photographs, the flash bleached out the colours somewhat. Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Family crafting

Alex had gone off crafting for a while, but recently he has decided that he wants to craft with me in the study. This is fine in theory, but our study is a TIP...my little crafting corner is fine, but there is a LOT of computer equipment, papers, cables etc that are not suitable for a 3 year old to be anywhere near, and he doesn't want to craft on the dining room table...it has to be in the study sat at my desk! Well, we tried it last night with some success and lots of 'DONT TOUCH THAT, LEAVE IT ALONE!' type stresses, but he loved it and the end result was quite fun. Here he is sticking his alien to the landscape.
And this is the final picture. I cut out the Alien and the eyes, but he did everything else, including cutting with the shaped scissors...not easy for a lefthander. He loves cutting, and is very enthusiastic about it, but it doesn't always do what he wants it to! I'm not sure if you can see in this photo but the alien has three tiny googly eyes as well as the two big ones.
As it is Wednesday it is time for another WOYWW.  I feel that I am cheating a little as I had to tidy my desk in order to let Alex craft on it yesterday evening.  Since then I have started my own project, a double scrapbook page so here you can see one page in progress, various scraps of paper, rolled up double sided tape backing,  the original tape roll, pritt stick, PVA glue, my craft mat hidden underneath a leaflet I was cutting up and of course my mug of tea (half finished and a little cold now!).
Here is the final layout which followed the Nuts about Sketches sketch for this week. It also fits with the Lasting Memories 'reduce, re-use and recycle' challenge as the majority of papers on this layout are scraps left over from a layout I created about 18 months ago (I never throw away scraps of paper), the letters F and L were cut from scrap paper and I also used elements cut from the Flamingo Land leaflet. This also fits with Pile it ons 'childhood dreams' as one of my childhood dreams was to go to Flamingo Land, but as we lived in Somerset I never got to go! Finally it fits with Delightful challenges 'animals' theme. That is all from me for now. Have a great rest of the week.
Love,
Caro
x

Sunday 20 February 2011

Surprising snow!

Well we woke up on Saturday morning to find that snow was falling!  It was a bit of a surprise all round, but fortunately, although we had two inches, it was nearly all melted by this lunchtime.  Alex's cough and cold are so bad at the moment that the poor little boy was shattered so yesterday was an exceedingly difficult day with him as he spent most of the time being completely irrational. Luckily for me, by the time I was due to take him out in the afternoon he had calmed down somewhat and was being more fun, so he spent time throwing snowballs at me and having fun with the sledge.
In general today he has been a lot happier and we have managed to have a nice time playing at home with his monsters and then out to the indoor play area which was lovely.
Crafting wise I managed to finish off a layout I started on Friday evening, of a steam train ride on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. The layout follows this weeks Sketchy Thursday sketch, the scrap and stamp theme of 'love is in the air' (I absolutely love steam) and also fits with a  line from one of the songs from this weeks Scrap it with a song 'can't get enough'.  The journalling reads 'My special treat for our holiday was a ride First Class on a steam train on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Everyone else enjoyed it too, but as a complete steam lover I couldn't get enough. It was wonderful!'.
This is the third week of the wonderful challenge blog, Less is More, by Chrissie and Mandy and they challenged us to do a Spring themed card. I used my nestabilities to cut the card shape, a Spring word stamp by Stamps Away stamped repeatedly in green, a needle to pierce around the edge of the embossing and a little snow drop stamp which I coloured with green promarkers and cut and embossed with nestabilities and mounted on pale green card. As a result this card fits with the crazy4challenges 'die cuts', OCC 'repeated word stamp', All sorts 'inspired by nature' and Speedy the cats friends 'Black, white and one other plus piercing' challenges. This is a completely new experiment for me so I would love to know what you think.
I also made a quick and simple card using cuttlebug embossing folders, brayered background and a crafty individuals stamp. This fits with the Pixie cottage embossing challenge.
Finally I made some Oriental ATCs for a swap that Spyder (Lyn) is holding on the CM&PC forum. Two of these are for the swap and one is a thank you for Lyn. I took the inspiration for the colours and flowers from this weeks Cupcake inspirations as the cake in the picture looks slightly oriental in influence with the shape and colour of the flowers and the cake itself is blue.  That is all from me for now. Have a good week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Friday 18 February 2011

That time again!

It is the weekend!  I do so love a Friday evening when work is finished for the week and I have the weekend stretched ahead of me.  We have absolutely nothing planned so it will be a gentle lazy weekend with a  mixture of entertaining Alex, crafting and watching movies...OK, so there will have to be some shopping and housework in there too, but I am looking forward to relaxing, especially as none of us have been sleeping well with the stinking colds that we have all had.
I have had fun playing with my new inks and stamps over the past few days, combining them with a brayer.  This card was very simple to make once I measured and cut out the mask.  The background is brayered with Adirondack sunshine yellow and red pepper. I then used Lavinia stamps (and a Hero Arts dragonfly) in versafine onyx black. For a finishing touch I used glitter glue to add a bit of shine and sparkle to the card so this card fits with the 'shine' theme from CTT and Paper Play.
I couldn't resist having a go at making a rainbow with my brayer and the bright Adirondack inks...it was great fun, if a little messy to do.  I then stamped over the rainbow background with my Lavinia stamps, added the butterfly shiney sticker and glitter glue for the finishing touches.  This card therefore fits with the 'Rainbow' theme from Flutterby Wednesday challenge and Penny's challenge. It also fits with the funky theme from Stamp something and the bright theme from Simply create and pile it on.
Finally I made a scrapbook layout using this weeks Nuts about sketches sketch. I am entering this for the Spoon full of sugar 'anything but a card' challenge and for this weeks Lasting Memories challenge of white, pink and red as the challenge did allow the use of other colours (I hope this is OK). I used paper that was white in the background and a white journalling spot, all papers used had pink in them and I used a pink pen for my journalling and the red was mostly in the mats for the photos as well as in some of the papers. This page is of my last birthday which seemed to last a week with lots of lovely things going on as depicted in the photos and described in the journalling. That is all from me for now. Have a lovely weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Busy at work!

Well I had a lovely Valentines Day, what with lovely presents, a day off work to enjoy crafting and a trip to the cinema to see the Kings Speech - wonderful film, but since then it has been back to work with a bang as I have to set an exam paper, not a job I enjoy doing!  Hey Hoh, never mind.  In order to cheer me up in the evenings I have been playing with my new crafting goodies and as it is Wednesday it is time to show you my desk as part of Julia's WOYWW! My desk is relatively organised as I needed the space to play with my new crafting toys.  At the back of the desk you can see my new inkpads and Lavinia stamps (a Valentines Day present from Tim) and towards the front you can see my brayer, the brayered card I am working on, a thistle stamp or two, scrap paper, my very beaten up cutting mat (It is no longer flat having been too close to the heat gun on more than one occassion!), and to the left some baby wipes for cleaning off stamps and brayer. Before you ask I do have my usual mug of tea, but it is hiding to the right of my computer out of shot  where it is in less danger of being knocked over!
I discovered a new challenge blog this week called 'Less is more'. Now, this is right up my street as I just love the clean and simple lines.  The challenge for this week is a single layer card, so I masked out a rectangular background and used my new sunshine yellow Adirondack inkpad to brayer and sunshine sky then stamped my new thistle stamps using versafine imperial purple and olympia green. Unfortunately my sentiment stamp has warped a little, but you get the idea.  I am also entering this card for Tuesday taggers 'sky' as the background is a sunrise sky and SCSC 'stamped flower' challenge (I hope a Thistle flower still counts).
I like the Less is more challenge so much that I also made another card, which is even simpler just using dandelion stamps and versafine onyx black, the lighter images are second impressions. I then added some black dots and glitter glue as a finishing touch.  As the glitter glue adds an element of glitz, I am entering this card for the PTW 'glitz' challenge.
Finally I made a new home card using another Lavinia stamp coloured in with promarkers.  This card follows the sketch from stamp with fun and the three patterned papers (all K&Co, the pink and pale green pattern is very subtle texture and lines) challenge from Flourishes Timeless Tuesday. That is all from me for today. Have a great rest of the week.
Love,
Caro
x

Monday 14 February 2011

Valentine's Day!

Well, I didn't post yesterday mostly because I didn't want Tim to look at my blog and see his Valentine's present!  As I have now given it to him I figure it doesn't matter any more.  But I digress...Yesterday was a miserable wet day and so Alex and I went out to an indoor play area in the afternoon where we met up with my Chief Bridesmaid, Arlene, who I haven't seen in nearly 8 years.  It was so lovely to meet up and while Alex and Sophie played we were able to have a good old natter and catch up. This photo is of Alex and Arlene taken just as we were all about to go home.
OK, so crafting wise there are no real surprises as I have been doing Valentine's projects.  This first one is an altered frame which I entered as my DT entry for Quirky Crafts, whose theme is 'Recycled Romance' meaning anything romantic with at least one recycled element. 
My recycled elements are the two hearts which were cut out of an Amazon parcel. On one of them I stripped off the outer layer to reveal the corrugation underneith and then coloured and embossed it.  I am entering this one for the creative card crew 'for a loved one', Simon Says Stamp 'anything but a card', CCT 'hearts and flowers', CCC 'I 'heart' you', Crafty Cardmakers 'hearts' and Stamp something 'for your valentine'.
As well as the picture frame I also packaged up some chocolate hearts using a clear celephane (is that how you spell it!) bag and some die-cut shapes with embossed hearts.  I am entering this one for Fussy and Fancy's 'something edible' challenge as the chocolates are definitely edible!
This is the last of the tags I made for Tim's presents and I am entering this for Meljen's 'gift tags', Tuesday Taggers 'Hearts and Flowers', SCSC 'a stamped flower' and Let's ink it up 'Valentine's challenge.
I have also made a couple of Valentine's ATCs for a swap that Spyder is hosting on CM&PC forum. These use images from the sponsor of this week's Quirky Crafts challenge (yes there is a prize available!) and also use recycled wrapping paper in the background, cardboard, tinsel from a christmas cracker, lace from an old table mat and the label from a skirt (anyone recognise the three hearts of Per Una?!). I coloured the images with my promarkers and spent simply ages trying to cut round the little mouse so I am entering her for the OCC 'cut it out' challenge.  These also fit with Pixie dusts 'pink & red Valentine's', Aud Sentiments 'corny Valentine's sayings' and Stamp scrap & Doodles 'love is in the air' challenge. That is all from me. I am off work today and Tim is treating me...I have just been given some lovely new inks and stamps and a gorgeous bunch of flowers so I am off to play.  Have a nice week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Saturday 12 February 2011

Sun!

Firstly, an apology for not posting last night, things got a little on top of me and I didn't manage it.  However, here I am today and better late than never (I hope!). We were all very tired at the end of the week, and Alex was fast asleep when we went in to get him this morning, and then had a long nap this lunch time.
 Despite the tiredness he has been great fun and when asked yesterday whether he can colour between lines he answered 'I surely can, but it is difficult as I get distracted!', which had me in hysterics...not exactly a phrasing you expect from a 3 year old!. Today we enjoyed the sun and went out to Endcliffe Park where Alex spent time on his scooter, the bouncy slide & castle and then in the playground.
I have also been busy crafting, making things for Tim's valentines presents (I wont show them here until Monday in case he peeps!). I also made this scrapbook layout of our trip on a Speedboat in Scarborough.  The layout follows this weeks Pencil Lines sketch and fits with the 'water' theme from crafty cardmakers (I used watered down ink to add to the splatters on the Fancy Pants paper) and the buttons theme from Flourishes Timeless Tuesday.
I have also made a couple of tags for Tim's valentines presents...these used a lovely Anita's stamp over a distressed ink background, then Crafty individuals birds cut out and coloured with promarkers.  These fit with the theme of 'gift tags' from Meljens, 'anything but a card' from Simon Says Stamp, and Valentines/for your Valentine for Stamp something and Sew many challenges.   That is all from me for now, I will be back again on Monday with the projects I have made for Tim.  Have a lovely rest of the weekend.
Love,
Caro

Wednesday 9 February 2011

What happened?

What happened to the last week? I can't believe it is Wednesday already as the week has gone past so fast.  As it is Wednesday I guess it is time for another WOYWW, the worlds biggest blog hop and brain child of Julia (check out the link if you don't have a clue what I am talking about!).  My desk and surrounding shelves are a complete tip as I didn't clear up properly after my previous projects and I am part way through a scrapbook page.  To the right of my desk you can see my laptop with the sketch I am following on it.  I also use the keyboard as a dumping surface for various crafting items (not to be advised!). Towards the back of my desk is my Fiskars circle cutter (wonderful gadget), pritt stick, PVA glue, little box of buttons and of course my lovely mug of tea.
To the left hand side of my desk you can see the pile of papers, card and stickers that I am using for this layout and my craft mat peeping out from underneith.  You can also see the fact that there are papers for another project shoved on the shelves and that the shelves are a bit of a mess this week. Mental note to self, tidy up after each project - it makes it easier, especially with limited space!
Here is the completed layout which follows the sketch from Creative Scrappers. It also fits with the hearts and flowers theme from creative craft, MTTC,  the love themes from Stamp with fun and the Crazy challenge, hearts theme from crafty cardmakers, ribbons from Kaboodle Doodle (sheer pink ribbon going horizontally) and die cuts from Lasting Memories (I don't have a cricut so used a nestability on the photograph). Unusually for me I didn't add any journalling, just the title (My Gran) and the date as I felt that the photograph and embellishments said it all.  That is all from me for now. Have a great week.
Love,
Caro
x

Sunday 6 February 2011

Friends!

We have had a lovely weekend of seeing friends. Yesterday we had a busy morning catching up with the housework, washing and shopping (including new shoes for Alex) and then in the afternoon we went to Sheila's house for Alex to play with Katie.  The kids had a wonderful time, with Alex especially enjoying having a go on Callum's drum kit....a sign of things to come?
Today we went to Julia's house for the day. She is one of my best friends who moved to Coventry about 6 months ago so I really miss not being able to see her regularly. Alex is a similar age to her children so the three of them played really well together with the usual small person mishaps! Alex particularly enjoyed playing with Robin's transformers and then after lunch they all charged around the house pretending to be monsters before playing dressing up...with Alex dressing up as Buzz Lightyear, then a fairy and finally a blue monster. 
They even decided to put on a 'show' for us all which was too cute for words.  It was a wonderful time and so nice to see Julia again...we can't wait to go back!
I have only had a little time for crafting this weekend, but did manage to make a Valentine's day card for Tim.  I used the Whiff of Joy stamp 'Henry hugging heart' and coloured it in with promarkers. The two hearts were cut by hand...the second one using edging scissors (very fiddly). The layout of the card is loosely based on this weeks Unscripted sketches (flipped, using two roses instead of three and a heart instead of the oval) and fits with the Valentine's theme from Cards for menStamp n doodle, Stampin for the weekend, SCSC and Crazy 4 challenges, the roses theme from Pixie dust & crafty creations and love from All Sorts.
Finally I made a tag for the swap that Dorothy is hosting on the CM&PC forum.  The theme is flowers and fabric lace.  I used distress inks and a mixture of stamps (Penny Black, Hero Arts, Inkadinkado and Crafty Individuals) to build up the layers on this tag which I am entering for the sew many cards & flutterby challenge 'anything goes', the PTW 'anything with flowers' and Penny's challenge 'heart is a flutter'.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Friday 4 February 2011

Doctor Doctor!

Alex decided for some reason that he was going to dress up as a doctor yesterday morning which was great fun.  I have to say I feel like I need a doctor as I have a stinky fluey cold complete with achy muscles and joints, but Dr Alex is not very experienced in his practice prescribing remedies such as 'jump up and down then turn around'...although he is loving and sympathetic when you tell him something hurts!
Crafting wise I have made a layout following this weeks Lasting Memories sketch.  I kept the design fairly simple, letting the photographs speak for themselves, using only the Amazing Grace papers from Flair design and a simple white flower as embellishments.
I also made a fun little card for a little girl who turns 4 this weekend. She loves fairies and cupcakes so I thought it would be fun to have the fairies sprinkling fairy dust onto the cakes.  I used the colour scheme of pink and orange from the Spoon Full of Sugar inspiration photo, the Happy Birthday theme from The Crazy Challenge, the stamping challenge from Paper Play, come Fly with me challenge from Delightful Challenges and Anything goes from Flutterby challenges. Have a great weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Wednesday 2 February 2011

WOYWW time again!

I can't believe it is February already!  Where is this year going?  As it is Wednesday again it is time for another WOYWW (check the link if you don't know what this is).  My desk is in the midst of crafting chaos as I am making a scrapbook layout from our holiday last September.  You can see the partially finished layout which is half on top of my very beaten up craft mat, with my roll of DST and craft knife behind it.  There is also a pile of Alphabet and Pirate stickers ready to be used on the layout and hiding to the left of the picture are some doileys I bought but have never used! As ever my lovely mug is half full of lovely hot tea which I am very much enjoying.
Here is the completed layout which follows this weeks Pencil lines sketch and fits with the MTTC fluorishes theme (the Bo bunny paper has fluorishes on it and I stamped a Purple Onion Fluorish beside the journalling).
I also made another tag for the 'flowers and lace' tag swap that Dorothy is running on the CM&PC forum.  This one followed the colour scheme from this weeks Cupcake Inspirations, the floral theme from Crafty cardmakers, the 'love' or 'hearts' themes from Simon Says stamp & show, Creative Craft, Flourishes Timeless Tuesday, Tuesday Taggers, City Crafter Challenge Blog and Meljen's.   That is all from me for now.  Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x