Tuesday, June 27, 2017

City Crafter 368

Hello and good morning!

Sadly, this is my penultimate posting as a DT member for City Crafter 
So today we welcome a new member to the CCCB team...
Amy Ottmers
I know Amy will love it on this team and I'm sure you will all love her work too!

Our challenge this week's challenge has been picked by Kirsty

Let's go Outside and Play


"Create a project that features on an outdoor activity"

Here's my card


I featured kite flying... I made this to send to a special friend, we grew up together but she now lives in the USA
I miss her...


The BG has been ink blended and stamped and the kites were stamped and cut from leftover bits of watercoloured card


As aways the team have more inspiration for you up on the City Crafter Blog, hop on over and take a look

Wishing you a beautiful day

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Monday, June 26, 2017

Ballerina Bunny

Hello...
How was your weekend?

The heatwave has ended here and at last I'm getting some sleep at night. I'm still struggling from the trapped nerves in my back but even that is not as bad... 
We had a lovely weekend, we went into the countryside on Saturday, had a pub lunch 


...and then strolled around the lovely town of Nantwich. You can probably tell that the weather was not that sunny by the lack of people outside, but it's very lush all around

Yesterday I had a relaxing day doing some crocheting in the conservatory with the cats curled up next to me... I'm really enjoying learning this craft, and my Aunt loves the fact that we are both learning the same thing and can pick up the phone and chat about it.

 Meet my latest attempt - Ballerina bunny


Cute huh?


I have some projects to prepare for my group but crocheting gives me a little break from papercrafting.

I hope you're having a good day...

Enjoy

~ Ros ~


Thursday, June 22, 2017

Me and Him

Hello friends...

Well some of you may already know that I have made a decision to step down from both the design teams I'm currently on... City Crafter and Double D 
Though I will still be on the team at City Crafter for the next 2 weeks, yesterday was my last posting for Double D.
Thanks to all of you who sent me such lovely messages... What can I say? You made me feel so special and loved.

It has been a really REALLY hard decision to make because I LOVE the people I work with... I couldn't have wished for better friends and I'm so grateful for the opportunity Kirsty, Diane and Darlene gave me.  After 7 amazing years it's time I took a break... 
I don't have any plans for new ventures... Just more time to enjoy crafting and, well, life really. 
I will still be blogging and visiting you all but I don't want to spend as much time on my computer as I have been doing.

Well that's me, now let me introduce you to him...

(Greta are you smiling?) Lol! 
This 12 inch tall Schnauzer pup is my second attempt at crocheting and due to lack of time he took a while to make. Now he's finished and keeps me company in my creative space... 


The thing is I don't have a name for him so maybe you could give me some ideas?
I got the pattern from Here though he doesn't look much like Jessie's dog even though I did follow the pattern...


Nevertheless we love him and he gets on well with the cats, which is the main thing.

So from me and him have a lovely day

~ Ros ~


Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Weddings

Good morning...

Weddings is the theme for the new challenge at Double D where team Darlene are hosting
 Here's the tile board to inspire you


Wedding cards and baby cards are my least favourite to make - I much prefer everyday cards, but last month my friend got married and having made all the invitations and Save the Date cards for her which I shared here - I had to make her a wedding card too. Eventually I came up with this one


Gold and silver splattering and lots of die cuts. A die cut heart, which I cut twice to inlay the gold glitter card with the white... The little birds were part of another die but they work well together


Some tulle and lots of gems... Then I made a box to put it in
 
 
It's only when I put this photo on here that I noticed the word 'May' hasn't printed properly... Argh! Hopefully she didn't notice Lol!
 
Both teams have created lovely projects to inspire you and you can see them up on the Double D Blog.
Enter your creation and you can be in with a chance to win this 
 
 
Wishing you a safe a happy day
 
~ Ros ~

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

City Crafter 367

Hello! 
How are you? Ready for another challenge at City Crafter?
Don't I seem upbeat for someone who hasn't had a decent night's sleep in days Lol! 

This week Marina is hosting and has picked another terrific challenge... 

Hagtash City Crafter

Use social media symbols, such as #, @ or an icon such as the t for Twitter or f for Facebook. 


When I first saw what she had come up with I kind of panicked, I'm not really a social media type of gal... To be honest I had to ask my son what all this "hashtag" business was about...  Yeh, well I'm old!
I guess I could have taken the easy route and just used a letter somewhere but I had a vision haha! And it all came together in the end 


I remembered that my friend Stella once sent me some stamps that included a hashtag symbol (boy that was lucky). I don't use Windows anymore, when I did there were so many times that it crashed and big brother Ron had to come and fix it for me so I moved over to Apple, but this would have been a great card to send him back then


I found a shape in printshop that sort of looked like it could be one of those 4 curves in the 'Windows' sign so I digitally grouped 4 together in the size and position I wanted and reduced the opacity right down before printing it - Just enough of a line to see where to colour. Colouring it was the challenge! I have limited Copics (and colouring abilities) so trying to get it to look right was not easy for me... But when big brother saw it, he thought I'd actually printed the sign so I was happy with that


I can't wait to see what the team have come up with so I'm heading over to CCCB 

Wishing you all a wonderful day

~ Ros ~




Sunday, June 18, 2017

MFT Slider Card

Hello...

Are you enjoying this heat or are you wilting like me? We're not used to having a few hot days in a row  and right now I wish I lived on a beach.... 

So, Miss Sophia, my great niece celebrates her 8th Birthday on Monday ... Heck, the kiddies grow up fast these days ... Being a little crafter herself I thought she would enjoy a slider card this year


Using the MFT Gulls again (love those guys) I created this card.... When you pull the tab the smug looking gull  (It's his birthday too) whizzes by attracting looks from the other gulls (don't mind me - It's the heat)


I did have fun making this and I'm loving the oxide inks the more I use them


So it's Fathers Day and I hope you are all enjoying your day and the lovely weather

Be safe

~ Ros ~

Friday, June 16, 2017

Blue Flowers

Hello there...

There was a dreadful fire in a London tower block this week which touched my heart... Looking at how quickly the fire spread and the billowing smoke, I couldn't help but think of 9/11... So many lives have been lost and many changed for ever... My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved...

I haven't done much crafting for myself this week, though Pat and I did have a creative and busy afternoon on Wednesday, but today I had to make a card for a friend and neighbour who has a birthday tomorrow....



I pulled out my MFT stamps and dies for this one, citron distress ink for the BG and my copics to colour the flowers


I still have lots of those vellum leaves around - I cut tons for the wedding invitations I did so I'm using some here, along with a little silver thread and some Nuvo drops




Rather than just inlaying the centre, I wanted to add a little interest by tilting it and I'm pleased with the result... I hope she likes it too.

You remember I told you that we are off to The Netherlands in July to visit Stella as our husband's football teams are to play each other? Well, it seems the Mayor of Groningen was not happy about the match and cancelled it Lol! We are still going of course, everything had been booked and paid for but the guys won't get to enjoy a little bit of rivalry.

Have a lovely day and enjoy your upcoming weekend

~ Ros ~

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

City Crafter 366

Hello...

I can't believe another week has gone by and it's time for a new challenge at City Crafter
Stella is hosting our 366th challenge 

Frame It!


Create a project and add a frame

Here's my card


I created the background using distress inks through a stencil cut from balloon dies - It was then splattered in silver and gold paint - which is quite hard to see here


I added 2 frames, one of which is a shaker using vellum and filled with gold and silver micro beads and to finish I added a die cut sentiment in silver glitter card


Hop on over to the City Crafter Blog to see what the rest of the team have to inspire you this week.

I'm also entering my card at Happy Little Stampers


Wishing you a lovely day!

~ Ros ~

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Hey Gullfriend

Good morning



We've seen some pretty wet and windy weather here, normally we go out and about on Saturday if hubby isn't at the match but it was so miserable yesterday that we had a lazy day indoors.

I did make a card though, playing with those MFT gulls again

I'm going to enter it at Inkspirational where the theme is windows



This was so quick and simple to make... The fence is made from a digital paper ... You know when you have those paper pads and there are always some that you will never use? Well, I turn them over and print digital paper that I will use... The paper is better quality than copy paper and it uses up all those sheets.



You may wonder what that gull is so smug about, Well I have some pretty exciting news... We will be flying off again next month to The Netherlands to visit my dear blog friend Stella! You all know that my hubby is a huge Everton FC supporter and they have been drawn to play Stella's home team Groningen who of course are supported by Stella's family! So the guys get to go to the match and Stella and I will have fun!

That's it for now - Wishing you all a wonderful day

Till soon

~ Ros ~




Thursday, June 08, 2017

Summer

Hi there ...

The new challenge at CAS Watercolour for the month of June is Summer


Whenever I think of summer, I think of the beach and the sea so this is my contribution to the challenge

 I did a similar version of this card a few years ago which is in a frame - For some reason I am always drawn to a worn and weathered boat on the shore... The many thoughts and feelings it evokes


I copied the boat from a picture I saw on a colouring page and just used Gansai Tambi paints to work with. I keep promising myself to make a large version that I can hang on the wall but so far that hasn't happened...


The sentiment was computer generated 

I hope you have a lovely day ... We still have wind and rain here but it's not cold

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Wednesday, June 07, 2017

Double D Challenge

Hello again...

Well, I had a surprise visit from my brothers yesterday ... Though I see my brother Ron regularly, I hadn't see Rick and many years and yet it was just as though it was yesterday... That's family I guess and you know it was so lovely for us to all be together and made me so happy



 Rick is on my right in the jacket and there's only 14 months between us, Ron is big brother 4 years older than me.
I just had to share that happy news!

A new challenge starts at Double D today 


A Blue & White challenge hosted by team Diane


I wanted to try stenciling with watercolour and here's what I came up with


As always I just used plain card stock (not watercolour card) I like the brightness I get with ordinary card, but I hear Ranger does a pure white watercolour card so I may check that out.

The stencil was one given to me a few years ago by a blog friend and I used Gansai Tambi paints to work with


I die cut some feathers and then painted them too and added some splats of white paint...


...And a few droplets of Glossy Accents

Both teams at Double D have created cards to inspire you ... If blue and white are your thing, link up with us, we'd love to see your creations and you'll be in with a chance to win this fabulous stamp set too!


Thanks so much for stopping by - Have a great day!

~ Ros ~



Tuesday, June 06, 2017

City Crafter 365

Good morning to you

Today Kirsty is hosting this week's challenge at City Crafter with a photo Inspiration challenge


It's like an English country garden 


For my card I started with a wash of paint for the BG and then stamped the flowers a few times on pieces of cardstock and coloured them with Copics


Having fussy cut the flowers, I then layered them up 


Hop on over to the City Crafter Blog to see what the rest of the team have to inspire you this week - We hope you'll join in our challenge.

Have a lovely day

~ Ros ~

Saturday, June 03, 2017

7 Days

Hello there...
I'm home from a 7 day cruise in the Mediterranean and thought I'd share some photos of our trip just in case you are interested...Feel free to move on if not

Day 1 
We flew to Majorca to board the ship - The flight was late and we were kept standing in a very hot room and then in a queue on the tarmac for well over an hour...
Day 2 
Was a day at sea which gave us time to explore the ship and every evening we returned to our cabin to find a cutie waiting for us constructed from our towels


Day 3 - Sailing into Sicily

Due to me having sciatica my legs were pretty bad, fortunately we booked mostly coach tours for the whole cruise and here we visited a winery and had a mini cruise on a lagoon


And our cutie that night


Day 4 

We arrived in beautiful Sorrento to take a drive along the Amalfi coast... I've done this before but my hubby hadn't and truthfully you couldn't pay me to do it again ... It's stunning but terrifying for a gal who doesn't like heights!


But Amalfi, with it's little streets...


...it's stunning coastline 


And where lemons grow freely, is not to be missed


And this nights cutie...


Day 5 we headed for Rome
I have always wanted to see Rome, even if it was on a coach with a little free time for exploring but my legs got so bad I had to visit the ships medical center and thankfully they made sure I didn't miss a thing by giving me daily injections for the pain...
I made Rome, and instantly fell in love


Excuse some of these photos, they were taken through the window of a moving coach with my jaw on the floor Lol! Never did I think it would be so green and lush with flowers and trees everywhere


Seeing the Colosseum for real was really hard to comprehend


You may be wondering about all those holes, well the original Colosseum was studded with gold and jewelled embellishments that have all been removed leaving those holes.
I even got to taste the amazing sorbet

 
All too soon our visit was over...That night's cutie


A frog?

Day 6  I managed to capture the sunrise as we sailed into Corsica


What a gorgeous Island this is


These photos don't do it justice... It's so pretty and like a picture postcard
 
 
...and funny how my schoolgirl french came tumbling back - well enough to order drinks etc. Lol!
This was supposed to be our last cabin cutie 


But the lady who looked after us was so concerned about my health and wanted to make me happy that she managed to leave another before we left after Day 7 - Menorca


We'd never visited here before even though it's the next Island to Majorca and it's so lovely but very hilly... Just to get from the ship to where I took this photo was over 100 steps - Thank goodness for those injections


... And huge tree roots to rest on.

Our last cutie was E.T.... Yes ... "Home" was beckoning


I hope you enjoyed seeing my travels...

Have a lovely weekend

~ Ros ~