Let Your Light Shine ...

Hello and Good Morning to you all ... 


Here we are on week 20 of City Crafter Challenge and our very own Cheryl has set this weeks' challenge  "Let your Light Shine " ... make a card or project using the word 'light' or use an image relating to light ...

So this is my take on the challenge ... a lighthouse and anchor (everyone needs these in life right? and maybe even a rope ... but definitely a heart!) ...

I used the Tim Holtz embossing folder for my background ... it sort of made me think that we often hit a brick wall in life and need a little guidance ... the aqua and red I think are a lovely combination too ...

Please pop over to the City Crafter Challenge Blog to see all the DT work ... our Guest designer is the very talented Amy Tsuruta and our sponsor is non other than Lawn fawn who make the most beautiful stamps and there is a lovely set to be won. Your entries last week once again were incredible ... and we are so grateful for your support ...

I look forward to stopping by your blog this week and seeing your beautiful, inspirational entries ...

Have a lovely day 

Ros

Old Meets New ...

Good morning everyone ...
Today I am Guest Designer over at The Shabby Tea Room ... how neat is that?? I am so thrilled to have been invited and the theme of course is "Old Meets New" ... in other words .. create a card or project using something old and something new ... Simple yes? Well, being a hoarder of all things I think may be useful ... I delved into this and that ... (humm) ... finally I decided to go down the 'project' line .... this is what I came up with ...

... Ok ... so I'll take you through it ... See, I had this new but rather plain little plant pot ... a couple of crumpled serviettes (stuck at the back of a drawer) some old dress pattern paper ... and an old little metal watch face I bought at a flea market.... that's where it started ...

 

... you can also see some brand new goodies from Emma's Paperie (arrived just that day) and I thought that the circle would be ideal to mount the watch face on ...

So I grabbed some paper, lace, flowers, ribbon and a brand new brad (also from Emma's) and away I went. I used the serviettes to make one large flower and cut circles out to back the flowers I made with the dress pattern paper .... covered the pot .. (that was the hardest)! See, I have no training in art or craft and never attended any colleges ... in fact with the exception of attending a Stampin Up party ... I've never even had a crafting class at all! Everything is self taught, trial and error or watching tutorials on the computer - so I guess that there must be an easy way or a scientific way to do somethings that somehow has me perplexed. Anyway I figured it out and just went from there ...

So there's the "new' little pot all prettied up ... 

There's the old little watch face ... mounted on that new disc and then onto a paper rosette and that gorgeous 'blingy' brad in the centre ... So "old Meets New" ...

I hope you like it and maybe it will give you some inspiration along with the creations done by the DT girls at The Shabby Tea Room .. hop on over and join in the fun ... 

I'm off to spend some family time ... Enjoy your day

Ros

Surprise ...

I have a couple of things to share ... some little gifts that I've made for 2 of my blog friends ...
First up is this little set ....

... a token of appreciation to you ...  "my favourite colour is blue!'" ... Yep, for you Stella ... I hope you like them ....

And next is a little wall plaque for my City Crafters "Jar Swap" friend Lynnda who made me the most beautiful bag and filled it to the brim with goodies ... (We will be having our Jar Swap party shortly and you can see all my beautiful goodies) ... I nearly fell off my chair when I saw everything I'd been sent ... I'd never done this before and now think I should have sent more ...(oooh)

This is done on a canvas board so it can be hung ...

The beautiful lined paper centrepiece with the gorgeous flower border was one of my goodies and something I have never seen here ... 

I just hope Lynnda likes it ... Both gifts will be winging their way to you shortly girls ...

Tomorrow I am Guest Designer for the Shabby Tea Room! (can you believe it?) so I'll have another project to share ...

Time for a caffeine shot now I think ...

Till tomorrow

Ros

Blog Award ..

Wow! I am so honoured as I have been nominated for another Blog Award by both Deb and Stella ... two of the most loveliest ladies in blogland ... 

This is the award and there are rules that are to be obeyed ...

1. Thank the person that awarded it to you .... A huge THANKYOU! to Deb and Stella 

2. Copy the award to your blog ... Done. 

3. List 3 things you love about yourself ....  

1). I love that I was given the gift of Motherhood and have one amazing beautiful son who I love with all my heart ...

2). I love that I have been blessed with wonderful friends many of whom I have never even met (you) and a wonderful family ...

3). I love that I have known the special bond of loving and being loved by all the animals I have had

My List could go on and on ....

4. Choose a favourite photo  ... (that's quite hard) But this is my photo ...

This was taken probably about 18yrs ago ... after my first marriage broke up, my son and I rescued this adorable young German Shepherd from the RSPCA ... turns out she rescued us ... The 3 of us were inseparable ... we didn't have much in the way of material things and money but we had something  far greater .....

5). I have to pass this award on to 5 more people ... if Deb and Stella hadn't already got it I would have picked them too ... so here we go ...

Kirsty 

Linda

Rebekah

Mona

Heather

It's pouring down here again and I am so sorry for all the people who have come to join in the Matthew Street celebrations this weekend ...

Have a good day everyone and keep safe

Ros

You make me smile...

I know I have been absent for a few days ...  I had a few projects to do which you will see over the next few weeks and I was lucky enough to be able to spend some time with Ross. How I love that little boy ... with his constant questions and his endearing charm ... my heart melts when he asks about his Daddy ... 
Some of you wonderful friends have also touched my heart this week with your kindness and made me feel so blessed, so humble and so very grateful ... "Thank you".
One thing I've been trying to master this week is the art of making those little crochet flowers that I see adorning so many creations ... well, I'm not sure that I have mastered it  - or ever will - but  I had a go and thought I'd make a baby card so I could use one of my flowers together with a digital stamp from Pink Petticoat  which I hadn't played with before ...

 got to use my new tiny polka dot buttons too (from The Ribbon Girl) ... and there are my not so perfect flowers! I paper pieced the image and used embellishments from my stash.

I hope you are having a good weekend ... I'll catch up with you soon.

Ros

Summer? Autumn?

Hey there ...


My we are having funny weather ... yesterday it turned cold and it got so windy that it took down one of my trees (again)! ... I already lost my lovely lilac shrub and a couple of years ago I lost a beautiful Lavatera ... Now I know to some serious gardeners ... Lavatera is not the preferred tree ... seemingly because it grows out of control if you let it and the dead flowers can make a mess. But me - I like it! I think it really adds colour to an otherwise dark corner and fills a space. So I planted a new one last year and it bloomed recently ... an abundance of showy pink blooms ... and yep, down it came yesterday (argh)! Thankfully this time somehow it did not snap like the last one and Hubby and I were able to save it in time (phew). I lost a few branches but that's ok ...
See how pretty the flowers look on my table ...

... and today it has been quite warm ... one minute really sunny, then the sky goes black ... 

I have a card to share with you ... another birthday ... pulled out the Websters pages Cherry Pie for this

I printed my CS first with Shimelle's Spring time Basics ledger paper ... background and image are Websters and I printed the image twice so I could cut out those little cherries, coat them in glossy accents and add a little diamond dust then mount them on sticky pads ... 

The little birdie (eyeing up those cherries) is from Vinnie Pearce (digital) "Journey Back" ... A 

little piece of hessian and some tulle tucked under a covered brad which has been in my stash for ages ... The gorgeous lace by the way is a purchase from Ebay ...

That's me for now ...

Till soon - keep safe

Ros

I See Stars ...

Can you believe we are on week 19 of City Crafter Challenge already? 
I cannot believe how many of you lovely people in Blogland joined in our challenge last week! We had so many gorgeous entries ... cards, altered items, projects ... fun stuff, pretty stuff and some simply amazing creations ... There is so much talent out there it makes our choosing a winner really hard but our challenge very worthwhile and fun ... Thank you all so much!


This week our lovely June is hosting and has set the challenge "I See Stars" .... We have Emeline Seet as our GD this week ... please visit her blog and check out her beautiful creations ... you won't be disappointed! There is also another lovely prize up for grabs ... heaps of goodies from our very own Linda Robinson! So come along and showcase your creativity with us ... Just be sure to follow the rules to be eligible to win.


My card this week is dedicated to our very own Kirsty  who sent me these lovely images .. (so I had to use one as soon as I could) ...

How cute is he?? A mixture of digital papers and some MME paper too ... 

A little star banner for the challenge and a touch of lace to give it a little femininity (as it's for Kirsty) ...

I had fun doing this ... a little different for me but I guess I can't get away from my trade mark stitching and lace ... and I didn't think I had a particular style! Ah well...

I hope you too have fun creating with us this week ... look forward to seeing your entries and visiting your blogs ....

Till soon

Ros

Saying goodbye ....

Yesterday my Brother came with my SIL and brought their grandson ... my beautiful great nephew Ross ... a million delights all wrapped up in one bundle of energy ... It never ceases to amaze me ... his intelligence, his curiosity and the amount of love that he conjures up inside me ... 
I can't begin to imagine how very hard it has been for his Mum ... losing the love of her life .... her soul mate ... so suddenly just when their future as a family had begun ... Having to face life alone with a little boy who needed so much ... not having that special someone to lean on each time her little boy faced an operation ... not having that special someone to hug, with pride, the day Ross finally walked ... 
But I do know one thing ... His daddy would be so proud ... proud of his little boy ... proud of his beautiful wife ... of her dedication, of her strength ...
And now it is time for them to move on ... a new life beckons which means that they will be leaving soon for another part of the country ... and as a family we will be together for our farewells next week with mixed emotions ... 
I made another one of my little house albums for them ... a little piece of me, made with love ... I stuck to the same colours as a previous one I did and made a card too ...

I'll just show you one of the album as you are probably getting fed up of them by now ...

On a lighter note I want to thank two sweet blog friends ..Kirsty  and Stella ... both of them nominated me for this lovely blog award ...

"Thank you" girls ... I think that I am supposed to pass the honour on to 10 more blog friends but there are so many of you who deserve this ... so many who have taken the time and trouble to stop by and leave me a comment or just to wish me well and bless me with your prayers when things were tough, that I cannot just pick 10 ... so please feel free to take this award ... with grateful thanks ....

Till soon

Ros

All sorts of everything...

Hi there ...
I've been beavering away lately (we still have rain here) ... and I have a few things to show you ... a few things still to finish ... and a whole heap of things going around in my head! 
Yesterday I showed you the card I made for Joanne's birthday ... well I made a box to match and filled it with bath cream, hand lotion, body mousse and shower cream ... I should have photographed it before I sealed it but anyway I thought you'd like to see ...

So that's me ready for her party tomorrow ... she's invited a lot of her special needs friends and her tutors so I just hope they all come ...

I 've also got a little card I did for another friend ... told you I had a lot of birthdays and anniversaries this month ... lost count myself at how many now ...

This is an opening card but I made it into a tag shape ... printed some papers and stitched them on ...

I also adhered a butterfly charm to a felt butterfly for added effect.

And lastly ... I saw a brilliant tutorial for a 'suitcase' posted by the very clever Clare Buswell which you can find Here ..

Well, I just had to try this (I don't have any foam board so I used thick card from some packaging I had) now ... I did this late last night so maybe it isn't that perfect ... I keep telling myself not to craft when I am tired but hey ho ... 

I made mine with the handle on the top ... digital papers used again...

I really can't believe how much I can fit in this ... which has given me so many ideas ... so I'm off to create some more .... 

Till soon

Ros

For Joanne ...

One of my ladies from Thursday Club is celebrating her birthday this weekend ... Now Joanne is not a girlie girl ... Flowers and lace would not suit her at all! So I needed to come up with a card that I thought would be acceptable and pondered on the colours to use ... Then I saw the new challenge over at the Play Date Cafe   with this lovely picture and adorable colours ....

(licking my lips here!...) So I thought I would go with these colours and hopefully she will like it ( I did all her invitations and she was so happy with them) ...

A mixture of digital papers have been used here Spontaneous Delights (courtesy of Shabby Princess) and the CS has been printed using the ledger paper from Shimelle's Spring basics ... 

It's the first time I've tried one of these rosettes and silly me adhered it the wrong way round ... the pinked edge should be showing! Lol

Congrats to Andrea Ewen on making a Private Blend Designer over at PDC ... her creations are lovely.

Till soon

Keep safe

Ros

Isn't she lovely ....

Hello and good morning to you all ...
How do you fancy winning a full pad of 6x6 Melissa Frances "Kitchy Kitchen"?... Well you can ...

... at  City Crafter Challenge Blog... hosted by our lovely Linda (soon to be a grandma! he! he!) and sponsored by our very own Kirsty ... (I REALLY would love to win the prize!!) ... our Guest Designer is the very talented Jessy Christopher  and she has done two beautiful examples for us this week ...  for which I am very grateful as my co DT's have all used beautiful pictures of family and friends .. and I  didn't ... neither did Jessy ... so I don't feel left out ... (LOL) 
On to my card ...

She is lovely though isn't she? (actually thinking about it I could have lied ... said it was a picture of me in my youth ... my Grandmother did have one of those telephones ... he he). This is a little bit of a different style for me ... I tend to worry about colours and though I do love vibrant colours - I am a little nervous using them ... It's ok for a challenge 'cos everyone else uses the same ... but I am glad I took the plunge on this ...

This pretty lady is an image from the Print Shop program again ... the sentiment is also computer generated ... 

Please hop on over to see the other DT's samples and come and play along with us this week ... SOMEONE will get that gorgeous pack of MF paper (sigh) ....

Before I sign off I just want to say 'Thank You' ... for all your lovely comments and in particular for my previous post ... You are so lovely and kind and I look forward each day to visiting with you ...

Keep safe

Ros

Going green ...

Yep, changed my blog again ... somehow that pretty pink was just not me ...
Anyway how are you all? ... Good weekend? 

First off I would like to thank The Shabby Tea Room for my Terrific Top Three award this week ... I was so pleasantly surprised  - given the lovely creations there were to pick from - So Thank You very much!  Today starts a new challenge at The Shabby Tea Room  - "The Delicate Cottage Rose" .... Isn't this just a pretty picture? 

And Squigglefly are sponsoring the challenge - I actually have some digital stamps from here so can recommend them ...

Now it just so happens that yesterday I made a little hanging 'thingy majig' for a sweet lady, to put in her sewing room ... she makes fabulous interior furnishings but more than that - she is a wonderful friend to my dear Aunt.

I think my creation qualifies for this challenge so grab yourselves a cup of tea ( from the STR of course), sit back and get ready for a few pictures ....

See it's all about sewing ...

Starting with a chipboard backing (which I painted first)  I then did a back sheet from an old sewing pattern (just peeking through on the left hand corner) ....

Can you see the pink material with lace stitched on? ... That material has sewing images all over it ...
The little sewing machine is from my digital collection "Sew Crafty" from hero arts .. with cotton on the reel and little buttons, a piece of tape measure, tiny pin cushion ... poppers ...

... Flowers made from old sewing patterns, with a pearl brad and of course glittered ... seam binding, strips of pearls, laid over a heart done with Sizzix and backed with more pattern paper ...

Little cotton reels, tiny scissors that I painted silver, a tied bundle of ribbon, tulle, a glittered butterfly and just peeking out from there are little tags saying (custom made & created for) ...

... roses mixed with white petals and ivy leaves (can't have too many flowers) ... I had so much fun doing this and I know she will appreciate it ... thing is ... maybe I should have done two so that my Aunt could have one in her sewing room ... Yep, think I'll have to do another ...

I thought I could also enter this in two other challenges ... new ones to me.. Frosted Designs (a recipe challenge) and Kaboodle Doodle (use metal) ..

Well that's me done for today ... don't forget to pop over to City Crafter tomorrow for a brand new challenge ... 

Till soon, keep safe ...

Ros

Lil' gift...

We really haven't had a summer here ... all the children are on their summer break from school and it has rained nearly every day ... pretty flowers lose their petals to the weight of the rain and the birds pop out from the trees intermittently to descend on my bird station and feed whilst they can ... But I have noticed that the shrubs are full with berries ready to ripen ... so the wildlife should have plenty to feast on .. even though it is a sign of a bad winter.... 
Another of my friends celebrates her anniversary this coming week and I know she would appreciate anything handmade ... she loves all things shabby ... so I thought I would make another "Home" plaque just for her ... 

Based on the one I did in a previous post Here ... but different in its colours ... more shabby ...

... similar embellishments ( waiting on a delivery of some new goodies) ... but I think it looks totally different from my previous one proving that colour can change everything...

Not sure if you can pick up the glitter and pearls ... 

I hope she likes it ....

Have a lovely weekend ...

Ros

Trick or Treat

I love the colours of Autumn ... I love to see little children dressed for Halloween and enjoying the innocent fun of it all ... I still remember my own son as a little boy deciding on the last minute that he would go with his friends 'trick or treating' and Mum would have to come up with a costume of sorts ... I always anticipated and was good at improvising! I can remember his little face when one of our neighbours gave him some sunflower seeds and not sweets ... he thought he was being given poison!! 
That was all so long ago ...  trick and treat had just begun to wing it's way across the ocean from the US ... before that we just had 'duck apple' ...
My card today is for the JUGS challenge .. a sketch challenge and I sort of turned is on its side ... this is the sketch ...

I haven't had the time to join in their challenges lately so I'm glad I will get this in before it finishes ...

Made a little treat cup too ...

Love making these little flowers .... papers are (green) My Minds Eye and a digital paper 'Dinner Party' courtesy of Shabby Princess  ...  image from The Print Shop  program ... the rest is from my stash 

Enjoy your day my friends ....

Till soon

Ros