This & That

Good morning - I hope you are well

I have quite a few things to share with you, I'm still doing what I love.

First is a card I made for my friends' wedding anniversary today with a little stenceling and some painted flowers

I had to use the scissors to hold the card flat so you could see the painted flowers down the side and I did some flowers on the envelope too

I'm grateful that being right handed the nerve problem is not as severe in my right hand so it allows me to paint and I love doing these simple flowers. So much so that I made two little cards to send.

Not having done many cards these past few months, I'd forgotten how much I have to get up for things and the effort it is to use the bigshot Lol! When I paint I can just sit with everything on the table, it's so much easier so I painted directly onto the card on these two.

I have also been painting with watercolour card and learning as I go watching videos and a lot of trial and error. I thought you would like to see some I've done

I won't tell you how many goes I had at trying to get that atmospheric sky

...Learning to hone my skills with tree painting

I was quite pleased with the fox until hubby thought it was my cat!

More trees and yes a cat

Ok, another gnome... And finally

I only have sensation in the little finger on my left hand and both hands are always frozen cold which adds to the pain but painting takes me to another place. Talking of which, DH has booked us a little break in Majorca for next month. It will be our first get away in 4 years, it won't be beach weather but it's a break right? And I can take my travel paints with me.

Sending hugs to you all 

~ Ros ~

Happy February

 Hello friends!

I hope you are all keeping well - We are one step closer to Spring, even though we have a forecast of freezing temperatures in the next few days, I'm staying optimistic.

Tulips and daffodils are in the shops and I just love them, they make me happy. I have some cards to share with you with my own painted  flowers though the photos are not the best, I'm struggling to hold the camera still. They are sentiment free till I know what they will be used for.

I stamped the branch on this one and painted the rest, added it to a frame with gold leafing on and a couple of sequins.

 

...Whereas I painted the branch on this one

 

I love the way the paint left a mark on the plant pot ont his next one - makes it look more of a rough terracotta
 

More pots with the start of Spring flowers and foliage

 This looks so much prettier IRL - The heart is painted gold and I love the idea of a house vase. The piece behind the painting is from some packaging I saved and though you can't see it here, it's glossy.

 

I had to throw in a gnome, I was playing with salt on w/colour. I love to do this random technique and look for shapes to sketch/paint into it.

Finally some paintings I did, one of which I framed

 There is a lot of gold sparkle for the stars but unfortunately it doesn't show up here. I did a few of these

...trying out different w/colour papers and plain CS. I'm still not sure which I prefer but they all act differently so it's always a learning curve for me. One thing I do know is that I like to do tiny details rather than landscapes but this past week my hands have constantly failed me. I dropped my coffee all over my desk and it it even seeped into the drawers, what a palaver cleaning that up.

Well, I'm off to get a cup of tea... this has taken me more than an hour to type

Have a beautiful weekend

~ Ros ~

Back to Whimsy

 Hello and a belated Happy New Year!

I hope this finds you well.. It's a wet and cold day here in Liverpool.

Thank you so much for all the lovely Christmas cards and I'm glad to hear that some of my cards made it to you too. 

I've been painting a lot with a little sewing in between - Even made it back to my exercise class yesterday!

 

Lets talk little guys...

 The gnome variety that is. Seems they have taken me over and I just love painting them. I've noticed that they are attracted to snowdrops (well in my world). They come out at night  just to see them, or maybe they collect some secret potion from them, who knows, I haven't figured that out yet.

They are often alone, but sometimes if you look hard enough you can see another little guy in the background

...And once your eyes focus in the dark and the moon moves a little, you can even spot a little gnome house

They don't seem to mind me watching, in fact two of them even posed for a photo in broad daylight Lol!

It hasn't been all gnomes though,  in fact DH spent time putting some of my artwork on my newly decorated craftroom wall. I should have photographed them before to avoid the glare from the glass I know, but here's a peek. They also have a sparkle to them.

 

 

Well I hope I made you smile today...

 

Stay warm my friends

 

~ Ros ~

Christmas Wishes

 Hello friends...

I'm just popping in to wish you all a very blessed Christmas and to thank you for the lovely cards I've received.

As you may know our postal service have been taking strike action for months now and we were without  post for a long time but some arrived last week including lots from the US & Canada.

 I tried to send my cards but without collections the postboxes were all full so not all of them got through. We queued for over and hour at the post office but standing for that length of time was just too much.

Anyway, for those of you who did not get a card, I will be sending some out in the New Year but they will be hand painted ones but not of the Christmas variety. I've had fun painting when I can

 

and using watercolour card for once... Normally I struggle with it

Many were inspired by my new wallpaper in the dining area, blue and green of course.

Hubby painted the cupboard for me and I added the paper.

Please be safe, I know the weather conditions for lots of you are horrendous. 

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

~ Ros ~

Christmas cards

 Good morning friends...

Through the hustle and bustle of things going on I have found some joy in making Christmas cards. Something I can lose myself in...

 

In the past week alone both my cats have had to visit the vet... The cost is phenomenal and you all know how worrying it is, and we are not out of the woods yet.

 

As for me, I've struggled a lot with my spine and legs lately and need to have more scans but following my visit last week with the neuro consultant, he is also referring me to a hand specialist in the hope that maybe they can release some of the trapped nerves and give me some sense of feeling back and maybe a bit more dexterity. Writing, typing and texting is such a nightmare and I can't even pick up a needle never mind thread one. However, there are things I can still do, albeit not as perfectly as I would like so I'm sharing some of my not so perfect cards with you today. 

I love making these, they are just done with DI's and water with a little stamping. Easy for me to do and the blending doesn't have to be perfect

I wish you could see the sparkle ...

I haven't put all the sentiments on yet but I'll get around to it

You know how much I love to do snowmen cards so I drew my snowman, traced it so I could just make a bunch of cards and though they are all the same drawing, each snowman seemed to take on their own personality- These are just some of them

And I drew and painted some foliage ones

Finally for those of you who asked, a little peek at my new kitchen, which still hasn't been finished

Ok that's it for now... It's taken ages to type this

Thanks to all of you who have stuck by me, stay well and enjoy your day

~ Ros ~

Hello...

 Hello friends...

What can I say ? It's been the longest time since I've been able to revisit my blog or any of yours and there has been no crafting at all up until the past weekend when I finally got to reacquaint myself with my watercolours and just forget everything else...

 

These colours calm me and with all that life has thrown my way lately, I need a little calm

Since my last posting my husband had a stent fitted to unblock the artery in his heart  - He was fine initially but then suffered a few angina attacks. Thankfully he is doing better now and is on a weekly rehab program which focuses on trying to instill a fitness routine for him but quite frankly he hates exercise and is counting the weeks till the course finishes. Unfortunately he is struggling more and more with day to day things now especially remembering and dealing with well, anything really, so everything has fallen on my shoulders.

There has been so much upheaval, the driveway being relaid, the kitchen being remodelled, leaving me physically and mentally exhausted and at times overwhelmed. The kitchen still isn't quite finished (I'll share photos when it is) but it is looking good.. The decorator let us down and now won't be here until the end of the month. I've organised all the wallcoverings, paints and flooring and dealt with all the problems along the way as well as explaining things over and over again to DH. 

 

So hectic have things been that I confess I even had to visit the local card shop for birthday cards... I KNOW! How bad is that.. But I did get around to making a card this morning for my friend who celebtrates her birthday on Friday and I'm hoping that I'll be able to go visit her if only for an hour.

I'm sorry the photos aren't the best and I should explain that whilst the DP is really pretty, The branches and foliage were bare so I painted leaves, berries, tiny flowers and added another painted flower and leaf.

I've also started making a few simple Christmas cards. You know when you buy a pack of DP and there are always those odd sheets that you really don't care for? Well I am using the reverse (white) side to stamp and paint on. I hope my cards arrive this year, we've been plagued with strikes by Royal Mail for awhile now so who knows.

I wish you all a lovely day and even if I don't get around to visiting, know that I think of you all often, it's just that things change and some things are out of our control.

Till whenever

~ Ros ~