Tuesday 30 April 2013

Too busy! (WOYWW)

While I love the fact that work are investing time and energy into training and developing me as a teacher and leader I wish all the courses wouldn't come along at once!  As a result of 4 lots of training already this week (and it is currently only Tuesday evening!), I am somewhat behind with my e-mails and my real work, hence the stress.  Anyway, enough of that...you didn't come here to listen to me moan..so here is a happy photo of Alex playing with a birthday present in the park.
Here is my desk as part of WOYWW.  On my desk you can see my smash book with some images printed out ready to crop and stick in, my fiskars cutter, scissors, pencil, pens, mug full of lovely hot tea (yes, I do like it weak and milky!), and those paints which STILL haven't been put away!
This is the next page of my smash book which details some of the time spent at my parents over Easter, in particular our family trip on the Easter trail round Hestercomb garden.  We followed white rabbit footprints to bunny ears where the answers to clues could be found, hence the little black rabbit footprints and dotted trail on the page. I am entering this page into CCCB 'spring has sprung'.  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Sunday 28 April 2013

Party weekend!

It was Alex's birthday party this weekend, which he celebrated with 18 other children at an indoor play area with the most enormous ball pit!  He loved every minute of it, especially this swing into an enormous ball pit.  I on the other hand am now somewhat stiff due to rescuing lots of children from that ball pit!
Needless to say I haven't had a lot of time for crafting this weekend, although it is time for another Quirky Crafts challenge. Cazzy set the challenge which is to use only 2 colours (one bright and one dark) and to not have any squares or rectangles (except your base layout). This time we are sponsored by Stitchy Bear stamps and I was able to use the beautiful 'Prayer' stamp to make a page for my journal.  I made the background all using the mustard seed distress ink. I masked out areas and inked over them several times to generate the darker stripes. In the lighter areas I stamped using a variety of stamps or inked through sequin waste.  I printed the image separately and coloured it using promarkers, then cut it out, mounted it onto the background and rimmed it with black ink and the words of the Lord's prayer.  I finished it off by adding little touches of sakura star dust to the swirls, music and especially the wings. I am entering this into CCC 'monochromatic', SSSS 'colour', Tuesday throwdown 'make your own background', Simon says stamp 'anything goes', All sorts 'anything but a card'.  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Friday 26 April 2013

Sunny smiles!

It is Friday and time for Annie's smiles!  I so enjoy looking round at all the different things that make us all smile during the week.  My smiles from this week are of having fun in the sun in the park last weekend.
One of the parks near us has a water section including things to jump on to make a water fountain, a little stream with dams, and various water pumps.
Needless to say he got completely soaked filling up a water bottle at the pump and throwing it everywhere.
When he was dry again, we sat and had an ice cream in the daffodils! 
Crafting wise I made this card for one of my best friends.  I made it using Dovecraft background paper, Crafty individuals and Crackerbox palace stamps.  I am entering this into Speedy the Fox's friends 'punched borders', Fresh brewed 'sweet treats', Penny's challenge 'Anything goes' and Fussy & Fancy 'vintage' challenges.
Love,
Caro
x

Wednesday 24 April 2013

I'm late! (WOYWW)

I can't believe how late I am for WOYWW!  I usually manage to get my post sorted out the day before but that just wasn't going to happen so here I am late to the party, but at least I have managed to do some crafting this week.  This is my desk as it was yesterday evening just after finishing a birthday card for my sister in law. The flash has bleached things somewhat, but you can just about make out the finished card (see below for close up), some spare paper and scrap card, my empty mug of tea, various ink pads, ruler, pencil, the acrylic paints that have been sat there for several weeks and my boxes of cuttlebug embossing folders.
This is the finished birthday card which was made by CASing Chrissie's card as part of the Less is More challenge this week. I think it is obvious what I used for the inspiration (pretty much everything with a slightly different layout!!).
I have completed another couple of pages of my smash book.  For this one I used die cut ovals to represent Easter Eggs for Easter day with images of everyone who was there on the day, trying to capture the essence of the day so I am entering this into Stampavie's 'lots of die cuts' challenge. For this page I took the white background with squares and used distress inks to colour it...pale green was used for the main background with some swirl stamps (not sure how well they show up) and water droplets for interest. I then used a darker green round the edge and stamped the leaf type flourishes in this. As a contrast I used bright coloured stickers for the lettering.  I am therefore entering this into SSSS 'colour' challenge and Tuesday Throwdown 'make your own background'
For the Easter monday page I used green hexagons on a green background, with green stamping and so am entering this into CCC 'monochromatic' challenge (the only other colours came from the images and the ticket so I hope it counts) and SSS 'anything goes'.  That is all from me for now.  Have a wonderful week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Friday 19 April 2013

Tooth Fairy smiles!

Alex will be having his first visit from the tooth fairy tonight having lost one of his bottom teeth so I thought I would share his slightly gappy smile as part of Annie's smiles.  Trying to get a decent photo of the gap was tricky, not least because the new tooth is already growing, and he looked drunk in most of the photos...this one was the best of the bunch!
The other thing that has been making me smile this week are the little signs of spring. Most of the spring bulbs in my garden (apart from 3 daffodils) are nowhere near flowering, but there are a few pretty exceptions with this hellebore
and the primroses which have been protected from the bad weather by a shrub.  I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Love,
Caro
x

Tuesday 16 April 2013

Spring is finally here (WOYWW)


Spring has finally reached Sheffield. The sun has been shining, and the daffodils (my favourite flowers) are finally beginning to bloom. Today it was even warm enough to take my coat off! For me, life always feels that much more hopeful at this time of year, and having managed to complete my marking on time, I have even managed to do a little crafting! 
For my entry to WOYWW this is my desk (photo taken on Tuesday evening) with my trusty mug of tea (nearly finished), my smash book and pen, pencil, rubber, phone, ipad and hiding behing the mug several acrylic paints.  At the very back of my desk is an altered CD I made, ready to be sent to the recipient (see previous post for a close up and more details).
Here is the latest page in my smash book...as you can see I am a few weeks behind now, but hope to catch up again over the next week or so.  This page is entitled 'Palm Sunday with Snow' and has three different acrylic paints in the background, my palm cross, the photos from the day and some silver snowflakes (thanks Jo!).
That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Sunday 14 April 2013

Intermittent showers!

Well we have had some sun this weekend, but finally the April showers seem to have turned up.  Alex and I dodged the showers in the park yesterday, and then decided to embrace the rain anyway...it meant we had most of the playground to ourselves which was great.  It also didn't stop Alex enjoying an ice cream, although I went for the warmer option of hot chocolate!
Today it is time for another Quirky Crafts challenge and it was my turn to set the challenge, which is wings and clouds - both must be included on your creation.  We have two great sponsors (Bugaboo and Doodle Dragon) this time.  I used ' Scene It - Believe' from Bugaboo to make an altered CD which is going to be a wall hanging for my God daughters bedroom. I masked over the image and then used distress inks to colour the sky. The main image was coloured using promarkers, pearlescent glue for the clouds, gold pen for the stars and sakura stardust for the wings. I edged it with pearlescent gold embossing powder and added flowers, an angel charm and gold notes to give the impression of the angels singing. I am entering this into SSSS 'fly', creative card crew 'clouds', My time to craft 'in the sky', PTW 'Bingo' (ribbon, free, punches), crafty creations 'no squares', Delightful challenges 'round up' and All Sorts 'letter of your name' (Caro - clouds, charm).
That is all from me for now.  Have a fantastic week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Friday 12 April 2013

Spring smiles!

Is Spring finally with us?  Well  we have got rid of the snow and we have even had some sunshine over the past week so I thought I would share some photos of us enjoying the sun last weekend as my entry to Annie's smiles this week.  We went out to the park so that Alex could have a go on his new bike (his birthday present).  He wont be getting rid of those stabilizers anytime soon, but he is definitely doing much better on this bike than the old rusted one that he had before.
As well as cycling he enjoyed a time on the bouncy slide
before cooling off with an ice lolly.
Today he went to an art club which he really enjoyed coming back with this great painting of a panda and its baby. 
The main smile for me this week however, was Alex's fantastic drawing of an angry crocodile...it made me laugh!  Have a great weekend.
Love,
Caro
x

Tuesday 9 April 2013

A boring WOYWW!

Sorry to say that my desk is really dull today! And why am I showing you this?  It is to join in with the best blog hop in the world...the brain child of Julia.  Those of you who are regular participants of WOYWW, will realise that I was missing last week.  This is because I was on holiday at my parents...we had a wonderful time (some photos later!), but I didn't manage to get onto the net.  This week I have come back to a mountain of work including exam marking so my desk is fairly empty, with various crafting bits shoved to the back such as stickers, paints, stamps etc, as I spent all yesterday marking exams and did not have time for even a little crafting.  My trusty mug is there as I did a LOT of tea drinking during the process!
We had a lovely time in Somerset with Alex enjoying games with his cousins and especially tractor rides on Grandad's tractor and the Easter Egg hunt round Grandma's garden.
I enjoyed the fact that there were signs of spring (the daffodils aren't out yet here) even though we had to wear coats & hats everytime we went outside!
While we were there it was my Dad's birthday and this is the card I made for him.  I used papers and images that came free with various magazines over the years and am entering this into CCCB 'Happy Birthday' and Stamp with fun 'Birthday.
I am a bit behind with my smash book, but this is the latest page featuring Alex in Red Nose day mode! I used masking for the background and then cut a large circle of red card on which to mount the photos and the red nose day leaflet!  That is all from me for now.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

Friday 5 April 2013

Birthday smiles!

Having been missing from blogland for a while it is time for Annie's smiles. Last weekend Alex and I went to Abbeydale Miniature railway and here is a photo of the two of us having a great time on one of the steam trains!
We have been away since then and have so many photos I could share (Easter egg hunts, treasure trails etc), however, as Alex has celebrated his birthday I decided that it should be Birthday smiles that are shown here!  We started the day with presents in bed (lots of excitement and a cheesy fake grin!)
followed by a treat breakfast and a trip to Yorkshire Wildlife park.  Alex was delighted to see all the big cats (isn't this Lion splendid!)
and especially excited at being able to stroke a wallaby.
He enjoyed going crazy in the jungle climbing area
and having birthday cake when we got back home.  What with playing with all his birthday presents, I think he had a wonderful day and there were certainly smiles all round.
Have a nice weekend everyone.
Love,
Caro
x