Thursday, June 30, 2011

With Sympathy ...

Hello sweet friends ...

I don't seem to have stopped working lately ... my Hubby and I are going away shortly so I had quite a bit of stuff to clear before I go ... DT projects and the like ... and projects for Thursday Club ... I need the break I can tell you ... I have been worrying about my sweet brother who is going through a really rough time ... this has affected his health and sometimes the frustration of not being able to do anything is incredibly draining ... I am using all my teaching of Philosophy to get by ... But last week my brother's friend lost his son ... a tragedy in itself ... but I know it brought back sad memories for my brother who also lost his son ... I made this little card for his friend 


The funeral is today ... my thoughts are with them ...


My heart goes out to them ... and to my brother and SIL and to all of you who have suffered such tragedies
If you have a prayer to spare ... can you offer one for my brother please?

Till soon

~ Ros ~


Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Happy Mail


Hi There ... 


I have been trying all day to post this ... Blogger has been having an off day I think ... 
Yesterday I got some Happy Mail  ... you may remember that we had a challenge at CCCB for ATC's and anyone who entered could also join in the 'swap' ... we were all given a partner and we then send our ATC plus a vintage gift to our partner ... I was paired with Marion who is popularly known as "Tante Kathe" and Marion won a spotlight award for her beautiful ATC ... so I was thrilled to receive it in the post along with some lovely braid, vintage pictures of pretty ladies, pearls and a beautiful handmade card 



and I promise you ... that little ATC is quite stunning IRL ...



Thank you so much Marion ... I am very grateful ... and thanks to Kirsty for organising this 'Swap'


Have a lovely evening ... 


~ Ros ~

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

City Crafter Challenge ...week 63

Hello and Good Morning to you all ...

Today I am hosting the challenge at City Crafter and I've set a sketch challenge this week ... I am still quite new to doing sketches ... but if you hop over to CCCB you will see that the DT had no trouble at all coming up with beautiful projects ... and our Guest Designer Julie Tucker-Wolek created two beautiful projects ... This is the sketch ...

I chose to flip it and make a sort of buckle card ... sans the buckle!


This is how it opens ...


and the inside ...


I made this for a friends birthday ...


Are you going to join us this week? ... I hope so ... Pixie Dust are kindly sponsoring us again ... and their goods are beautiful and just in case you are worried about the postage ... from someone who lives in the UK I can promise you that the postage is really reasonable ...
Now hop over and take a look at the lovely projects from the DT and our GD ... you will be amazed!

Thanks for stopping by ... have a lovely day

~ Ros ~




Sunday, June 26, 2011

Jingle Belles Card 26 ...

Hello to you ... 
It is a beautiful hot ... yes hot! Sunday here and I intend to spend time in my craft room ... 
I am going away in a couple of weeks for a very much needed break ... so I have a lot to do before then ...
right now I have just finished my card for Jingle Belles Rock week 26 ... this week the theme is "Lonely This Christmas ... " which basically means that we are to make something to go with our card ... so it won't be lonely ... this can be a tag ... a gift bag ... a box ... anything really ... and Jingle Belles has also teamed up with Order of the Opus Gluei  for this challenge so if you are doing the challenge ... don't forget to link up to both blogs 
Here's my card .....


Quite simple really ... and I made a couple of tags to go with it ...


The paper is digital from DHD and though it doesn't look it ... it is a lovely soft aqua .. and I used it on card number 9 Here ... but I guess the lighting today is making it difficult to photograph ...


Now I really need to get some DT work done ... have a lovely day sweet friends and thank you for stopping by and leaving such lovely comments ... I am very grateful

Till soon 

~ Ros ~


Friday, June 24, 2011

Play Date Challenge

Hi everyone ...
How is your Friday? ... I confess I am really tired ... and glad that this week is over ... 
I needed to create something today ... it always makes me feel better when I do ...
So I did a card for the challenge over at The Play Date Cafe ... it has been so long since I had time to enter one of their challenges ... though I look in every week ... This week the lovely Stef is Guest Designer and the photo inspiration is gorgeous ... I love it ...


I particularly like the worn look to the slate blue oars ... (I think that's what they are) this was my inspiration and my card is a little different from my usual ones ... 



see what I mean ... I wanted something clean but with a bit of texture ... and I searched my whole supplies to find the slate blue ... and ended up cutting a strip from a patterned paper to adhere to the grey ... it was just the right shade ... I had a little distressed piece of slate blue string and netting too
... then I found the button and the tiny envelope ... so I cut a heart from corrugated card and distressed that ... but the little seagull was the star ... he came from an old picture frame that I bought on holiday once ...


what do you think? 

Now I'm going to relax for the rest of the evening ... Have a lovely weekend and thanks for stopping 

Till soon

~ Ros ~




Thursday, June 23, 2011

Another gift ...

Hi there

Ok ... so assuming Blogger will behave and allow me to upload ... I have one more notebook to share with you ... this time made for a dear friend who loves her garden and celebrated her birthday this week ...

I paired it to go with this card ...



How I love making these ... I don't plan how it is going to look ... I just play around with colours and bits and bobs ... I love these Bella Narratives with the butterfly ... they were a gift from sweet Lynnda  on our first swap at CCCB ...


The flower is from my stash and I cut some felt hearts .. punched some leaves and added some of my canvas cut with SB ...


Inside I used a Maya Road envelope ... just added some white ink and a few gardening related scraps ... and a stamp 


Popped a few seed packets in there too ...
No ribbons or bows needed for this one ... and just a peek at the back ...


Thank you Blogger! ... I had a feeling I would be struggling with this post ... my day started rather badly 
... 4am the cat began to cry  (did I tell you her family took off on holiday last week ... so she seems to be a permanent fixture here?) ... I came down to see if she wanted to go out ... no! ... back to bed ... meowing again ... ok ... maybe some food will settle her ... feed her ... back to bed again ... meowing starts again .. even louder ... this time no asking her ... just tell her she IS going out ... back to bed ... but all this running up and down stairs ... I need to go to the bathroom ... it's dark ... crash bang ... toilet seat falls off!!**!! leave it ... leave it ... go back to bed ... trying to ignore the dawn chorus ... fall back to sleep maybe an hour later ... wake up to phone ringing ... Now yesterday I was doing some online banking and it took almost 2 hours and a long phone call due to 'improvements in security" ... to finally transfer funds ... and the phone call this morning was an automated call to see if I was indeed the person who transferred these funds!!**!! I had to key in all sorts of answers ... heck I could barely remember my own name by this time ... and what was that in the background? ... the cat meowing outside my window. So I give in ... get up and make a nice cup of tea ... let the cat in ... See,  I am not a morning person at all ... I like peace and quiet .. no questions ... no noise no fuss ... and tea ...  followed by a coffee before I am totally able to take on the world ... and then the phone rings again ... before I have even had my tea ... ARGH!! someone wanting to speak to my hubby ... who is in blissful slumber ... I say I will take their number and he can call them back ... no pen ... fumble around .. phone falls to the floor ... caller is rather disgruntled at all this ... Duh! ... and you guessed it ... the cat continued to meow ... but the "lets play" kind of meow ... No my day didn't start too well at all ... 
Hope yours is better 

Till soon

~ Ros ~












Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Blog Award

Hi there ... 
I don't know about you ... but Blogger will not let me uploads any pictures right now ... I am hoping this will be fixed soon ... so in the mean time I promised I would get back following the  Blog Award I received from my lovely friend Linda  ... which you can see in This post ... 
The rules are that I have to give 7 random facts about myself and pass this on to 8 other blog buddies ... so here goes ...

1. I once won a scholarship to a drama school ... my dream was to be an actress
2. In my younger days I was sporty ... captain of both the Hockey and Netball teams
3. I love solitude ... and I am quite happy with my own company
4. I am on a quest for knowledge .... about myself and the universe
5. I practice stillness (of the mind) a few times a day
6. I'm good with technology (for a woman of my age Lol!) 
7. I'm pretty intuitive

The people I would like to pass this on to are ...

Terrie  ................. Terriebaileys blogspot


Keren ..................   Kerenbaker wordpress

Jacira ...................... Jacirascrap blogspot


Deb .............aworldofimagination blogspot

Stef ............... sweetcraf-teachick blogspot

Jak................ ............... thatslife blogspot

A big Thank you to you Linda 

Till soon

~ Ros ~



Tuesday, June 21, 2011

City Crafter Challenge ...

Hello sweet friends ...

I seem to be posting a lot lately and today I am back for the challenge at City Crafters hosted this week by our Birthday girl ... Cheryl
Cheryl has challenged us to us the word or number ONE on our card or project this week ... in honour of you lovely people out there! So here's what I came up with ...


My image is a digital from HA and my sentiment was done on the computer


This week we have as our Guest Designer Heidi ... a super talented lady ... please hop over and see her beautiful work together with that of the rest of the DT ....
Last week you lovely talented ladies created some beautiful ATC's ... what a choice the DT have to make!
 Thank you to all who entered the challenge and the "swap" and to those of you who constantly support us at CCCB ... 

Have a Wonderful Day

~ Ros ~

Monday, June 20, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHERYL!!!

Today my sweet friend and fellow DT at CCCB
 ... is celebrating her Birthday ... 
"Happy Birthday my dear friend ... it is a pleasure to know you and to see your amazing talent week after week ...
I hope you have a wonderful day! ... 
 This card will be winging it's way across the Atlantic to you ...


... with love and hugs ...


..  I know there will be a lot of you out there who would also like to wish Cheryl a Happy Birthday ... and Kirsty has set a link up at City Crafter Challenge especially for you ... hop over and check out the details ... don't forget you still have plenty of time to enter this weeks' challenge too ...


Till soon

~ Ros ~

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Jingle Belles Card 25

Hello again ... my 2nd post today ... 

I got a chance to do my 25th Card for Jingle Belles challenge ... nearly half way there already!
This week the guest star is Candy Blake and she has asked us to get "All Bundled Up" ... this means using layers ... 3 or more layers on our card ... 


Mission accomplished!


I used 4 layers of paper ... glittered a doily ... added a circle of paper to that, then a 3D sticker ... some lace, twine, a chipboard sentiment ... a Christmas stamp, a cardboard star and lastly I stamped a postage mark ... phew! ... Oh ... and some sewing ...


Have you done yours yet? ... why not pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the inspiration on offer ... lovely cards from Stef, Lauren and Candy

Thanks for stopping by ... see you soon

~ Ros ~


Happy Birthday Sweet Sophia ....



This sweet little girl is 2 today! 
... and this is a little clip of her laughter as my brother and I play with her ... (I hope this works .. never tried this before and got no one to ask) ...

Anyway here is the card I made for her using my lovely MF papers ... 5th Avenue ... just love these


I confess that this was made in rather a hurry ...


Today is also my friends birthday and I have one more little gift to finish before I go to visit later ... But before I go I would like to thank sweet blog buddy Linda ... for this award ... 


I know that there are some rules to follow ... before passing this on ... and I promise I will be back ... I am just a little rushed right now 

Have a wonderful day

Till soon

~ Ros ~



Thursday, June 16, 2011

What a day ....

Hi there ...

I have so much to do today ... I need to get things sorted for club night tonight ... usually I have something done by now but have been so busy with birthday gifts ... I have 10 birthday's one after the other this month! ... My hubby took me out for a coffee to give me a break and on our way back someone ran right into us! ... We are all ok thank God ... but my hubby is so very upset ... He loves his car ... it's his pride and joy ... but I keep have to reminding him that we are ok and it could have been worse. 
I hope that you are not getting tired of seeing my little gift sets as I have one more to share with you ... done with beautiful Melissa Frances papers sent to me by sweet Stella  ...


There are quite a few pictures here ... the card ...



Lets be honest ... MF papers are so pretty and detailed that they need little in the way of embellishments  to make something special ... and the rubons I have been hoarding forever!



even the leaves are punched from MF paper


The notebook .... I punched 3 butterflies to make it a 3D effect ...


... and the book mark ... 


... using up the scraps ...



I hope you like them ... now I need to get on and sort out some things so my sweet group can make some Father's Day cards ... 

Have a lovely day ...  thanks for stopping by and Keep safe!

~ Ros ~






Wednesday, June 15, 2011

More gifts ...

Hello and Good Morning to you ...

This month many of my friends have birthdays ... and I have another notebook and a bookmark to share that I made to go with This card  ... you all know I love to make these ...


I used Prima Botanicals paper for the background and kept the theme pretty much like my card 


... the punched butterflies are left overs from one of my Thursday classes ... That's the best part about making notebooks and bookmarks (and tags)... scraps always come in useful and look so good mixed together ...


... and of course using digital images (mushroom from Etsy Madebyjanet) means I can make them any size to fit my project ...
I have a couple more to do now and a card for Sophia who will be 2 in a few days ...

Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by ...

~ Ros ~



Tuesday, June 14, 2011

City Crafter Challenge ... ATC's

Good Morning to you!
It's Tuesday again and that means another challenge at City Crafter Challenge blog and this week Linda is our host and she has challenged us to make an ATC ... and I have to admit ... I have never made one before ... I think of them as tags but slightly bigger except where a tag maybe created to compliment the gift ... or in the style favourable to the recipient ... an ATC is a trading card so should reflect something of who you are as an artist ... I ended up making 3 ... each with a little something that reflects 'me' ...



First up is this one ...


...  I love text and post marks, stamping and trying new techniques ... with this I used the tissue paper technique ... actually I used vintage dress pattern tissue and just so you can see the effect ... the paper the ATC is on (Pink Paislee) is how the ATC looked before adding the tissue ... (there is a tutorial Here ... by Betsy Veldman if you would like to try it) ... then I just stamped on top of the tissue covered paper ...


This one reflects my love of vintage and all things French and romantic ... I love to use lace, buttons, ribbon and glitter ....


and finally one that shows how I love to sew on my projects ... I love the effect it gives and I have a penchant for birds and butterflies ...
As an extra bonus this week ... you can even 'Trade' your card ... the deets are on the City Crafter blog ...
I hope that you will visit the rest of the DT ... and our incredibly talented Guest Designer Suzanne Czosek to see their wonderful projects and be inspired to join our challenge this week ... here are the rest of the links

Linda Robinson 

Kirsty Vittetoe

Cheryl Nelson

Thanks for stopping by ...

~ Ros ~


Monday, June 13, 2011

Notebook ...

Hello ...
How has your day been so far? 
Yesterday it was so wet and cold and this morning had little improvement ... but now the sun is shining and it is indeed a welcome sight!
I've been to my Pilates class this morning and it was soooo hard ... then after some housework I got into my craft room and made a notebook ... as a gift for my friend who celebrates her birthday this week ... You may remember This card for which I was lucky enough to win a Top Mouse award at WaltzingMouse  .. well my notebook is to go with that card so I used some of the same papers from Bo Bunny and some from Prima Botanicals 


as you can tell I changed the colour of the beads and flower ... mostly because I cannot for the life of me find where I have put my turquoise ones!


... and I also used a different stamp from the Victorian Frippery set ... and just so you can see that I always cover the back of my notebooks too ...


ooops! ... Left a little piece of cotton on there ... 

I'll be back with you tomorrow for another City Crafter Challenge ...  there is still time to enter the current challenge if you haven't already done so ... hope to see you soon 
Enjoy the rest of your day and keep safe

~ Ros ~


Sunday, June 12, 2011

Jingle Belles card 24

Happy Sunday!!
It's raining here and not exactly warm but I am content having visited my Aunt yesterday and finding her looking so well ... I just cannot believe she is 84 ... she certainly does not look anywhere near that! (Please God I have her genes) ... the journey to Lincolnshire was beautiful as the sun shone and the countryside was stunning ... fields and fields of the most gorgeous red poppies against the hues of Lincoln greens ... It certainly is a lovely part of the country ... little villages nestling amongst the acres of farmlands and fields ... villages with strange names like ... Spital in the Street ... and lots of cottages like this ...


Before I left I managed to get my card done for this weeks' challenge over at Jingle Belles Rock ... where my sweet blog friend Kirsty is Guesting and also sponsoring a prize from her store ... Pixie Dust Paperie ... Kirsty has set us a sketch challenge this week ...

... and this is my take on her brilliant sketch ...


I started with a sheet of denim blue paper from Core'dinations  which I embossed and sanded and it grew from there ... the only problem I had of course is photographing it because there is quite a bit of  silver ... both my images are 'upcycled'  with a little fussy cutting


Lucky for me I see that The Shabby Tea Room are having an embossing challenge this week hosted by Pattie so I covered two challenges with my card and my Christmas card box continues to fill ...

This evening my Thursday group are doing the church service ... so I will be going along and watching like a proud mama ... 

Have a lovely day my friends ... thanks for stopping by

~ Ros ~