Look Who's 2

Evening folks,
I didn't want another day to go by without a post so that's why I'm here so late. 
Now where was I ...... the weekend seems a bit of a blur, it went by so fast. 
I did manage to do some baking on Sunday, and lets just say, there's not a lot of it left!  There's still some of the cakes, but the scones were lucky to see the day out - well they were only small.  And we had to try them while they were still warm, with raspberry jam and clotted cream - Yum! Yum!  (will be making more of those!!)

a little bit of Afternoon Tea

It's been a funny couple of days here on the island.  Autumn is most certainly on the way, there's a definite chill outside.  We even had hail this afternoon - inbetween glorious blue skies and sunshine.   That's the Isle of Man for you - changeable!

Luckily I haven't had to go too far, I've been busy in the old craft room.   Alex's birthday cards needed making and I wanted to do something a bit special.
Here's the results ..........

He's 2 on Friday.   He really likes Thomas the Tank Engine at the moment so I decided to go for a train, and make a little mini book style card, with some photos in there.
The chipboard bases are from Craftwork Cards, you can find them on their website here .  They come in a pack of 6 and are such a great size - I used the large version.
The papers are from The Paper Company, with a few other bits and bobs added on there as well. 
There's lots of inking around the edges, dotting and dashing on everything too.  I had so much fun with this.

I used 3 of the trains, and decorated both sides of  them, and everything's held together with a couple of  decorated bookrings.

The cute giraffe on the front cover and the parrots were stamped using a Creative Expressions unmounted stamp set, and all the lettering was done using the Cricut - a mixture of Wild Card (for the Happy Birthday) and Kate's ABC cartridges.

The little owl on the final page was made using the Stampin Up! Owl builder punch.  I love this little guy and he had to make an appearance at some point.  The photo on the page was taken on our recent visit to the Bird and Owl Sanctuary, the look on Alex's face is priceless, I couldn't not use it.

The whole thing took a while to complete, but it's been worth every minute.  I just wish I could be there to see the look on his face when he opens it.

I also made him a card from his Uncle Christopher ........

...... isn't he sooo cute!
When I saw this in one of this month's craft magazines, I just had to give it a go.
This little guy is from the October edition of Papercraft Inspirations.  He's been created, along with some other little friends, by one of the team on the magazine - Angela Poole  .....

He was really easy to do, you get all the templates in the magazine, along with the instructions.  
All the cardstock I've used is Bazzill Basics and the rest are pieces of scrapbooking papers from my bit box.

I do like my craft magazines.  It's a habit I picked up while working in a craft store, and can't seem to kick it.  There's the one I read EVERY month (Craft Stamper), the rest I pick up occasionally.  I used to read them all when I was working.  Well, they were there and I needed to know what the rest of the craft world was up to, plus you can always pick up some handy tips and techniques. 
And, when you'd been doing samples week in, week out for catalogues, shows, TV, classes etc., etc., you sometimes needed all the help you could get.  In fact, even now, on the occasions when Mr Mojo has taken himself off, and gone AWOL, I have been known to flick through my old magazines for inspiration and ideas.

Speaking of magazines, that's me done for the night.  I just need to parcel up these cards then I'm off to bed. I've got a copy of the Seasonal Stampin Up! Catalogue to go through.  It's full of brand new products and as I'm booked on an SU workshop on Saturday, I have to look through and see if there's anything I need to order.
Also,  I've got an early start tomorrow, I have to be at the Post Office first thing (hope it's not raining). Then I think the rest of the day will be spent catching up with Blog Challenges again.  I've got a Twinchie to do, this months Penny Black Saturday Challenge entry, and, I still haven't done my Timmie Tag - well we are only half way through the month, there's loads of time yet!

Thanks for popping by.  See you all again soon

Night, night!

Linda

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