Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Back to Basics

Good morning to you all ...
We seemed to have adopted a new member to the household here ...



Seems my side bar cat came alive ... and it's making itself quite comfortable .. thank you ... 
I have no idea who it belongs to but I suspect someone has gone on holiday and left it here ... happens to me every year ... they know a soft touch and whilst I have tried to not encourage it too much ... my son just lets it in .. but the cat is hyper active ... quite mad actually ... what am I to do?

Anyway onto the new challenge over at City Crafter Challenge Blog  where I am hosting this week ... and I am taking you 'Back to Basics' and asking you to get out your paints and cardboard  ... you can make a card or project of your choice as long as you use these two items ...  Recycling cardboard is very popular at the moment so I am really looking forward to seeing your creations ... 


Me ... well I'm still hooked on frames ... as you can see ... and this is made from two different types of cardboard ... both of which were originally packaging ... The larger rectangle is just covered in some pretty paper from my box of scrapbook papers ... sorry I can't remember the make ...
I then cut a rectangle out of a piece of corrugated cardboard ... big enough to fit my photo of Sophia ... and used two different paints on it ... I gave it a 'wash' first with an olive coloured acrylic paint and then dry brushed over it with white acrylic ... I also edged it with some TH tape ...


... I think the dry brushing gives a great effect ...


... you can see I added 4 pearl brads to secure it and just a simple rose completes the project ... 
I like the earthy tones to this as it fits in with the photo which was taken in the park ... Sophia is wearing a little green backpack too ...
So are you up for the challenge? ... Why not pop over to CCCB and take a look at the rest of the DT work ... 

Thanks for visiting me ... have yourselves a lovely day 

~ Ros ~






Monday, May 30, 2011

Jingle Belles and CR84FN ...

Hi! 
Have you had a good weekend? It's bank holiday here and once again we have rain .. it's not warm either
But we Brits are used to that ... it gives us something to complain about Lol!
It was my brothers' birthday yesterday and we spent the day together ... with my hubby my SIL and my great niece Sophia ... who is living with her grandparents at the moment ...
She is such a joy ... and nothing is nicer than to hear her chuckles ... she had me playing peek a boo and chuckled so much I though she would choke ... I don't mind telling you that I needed a lie down afterwards  (not that I had one) ... but I am just not used to entertaining 2year olds anymore and keeping up with them!  


So once I had recovered ... I got the chance to make card number 22 for the Jingle Belles Rock challenge ... I really look forward to this challenge every week ... and this week the theme is "We Three Kings" ... to use three different papers on your card ... 
I somehow managed to combine this challenge with the one over at CR84FN ... I missed last weeks' ... and this week we have another beautiful colour palette courtesy of Martha Stewart 



I know these colours would not normally speak "Christmas" to me ... but it all started with a scrap I had of 3 negative snowflakes ... and I placed a piece of pale yellow paper (Websters Pages) behind and added blue rhinestones to the centres ...


I made some scalloped edging with my SB dies ... using snowflake paper from Papermania and added some matching trim which has sparkles in it ... 


... and used some MME glitter paper for the base ... this has kraft, blue and yellow in it ... so I think I covered all bases ...


... and added a little Jingle bell for good measure ...
So there we are ... what do you think? 

Have a great day whatever you have planned ... and keep safe 

Till soon

~ Ros ~







Saturday, May 28, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRSTY!!!

Hi there!
Today is a Special Day for my sweet blog buddy Kirsty 
"Happy Birthday" my friend ... (betcha thought I'd forgotten) 


Kirsty you are one of the nicest people I know ... I hope you have a wonderful Birthday and enjoy visiting all the people who wanted to celebrate with you


much love sweet friend

~ Ros ~


Thursday, May 26, 2011

Pixie Dust Paperie May sketch Challenge

Hi there ...
I hope you are well ... 
I haven't been ignoring you ... I've been having a little trouble with my computer today for some reason ... plus I've been busy trying to get things done for Thursday club tonight ...  
However, I have a LO which I did following Kirsty's sketch at Pixie Dust Paperie


This is a photo of my son when he was about 7 years old ... seems like only yesterday to me ... where does the time go?


How I adore that boy of mine ... just looking at this photo takes me back and my heart still swells with love ...
Of course as I always make a point of saying ... scrapbooking is still an ongoing learning process to me ... so it's wonderful to have a sketch to follow 

And a little peek at something we will be putting together tonight ...


A cork board hanger for a pad of sticky notes and a coaster 
I have punched over 200 butterflies ... cut out 25 circles from sticky back cork ... 25 paper circles
25 square cork boards .. 25 pieces of cardboard to stick the cork too .. and sorted an array of bits and pieces for them to decorate with ... not to mention gathering 25 CD' for them to make the coasters with ... now I need to find some animals for Andrew ... Ribbon for Nicki's hair, crackly acetate for Michelle ... and so on ... 
Have a lovely evening ...

~ Ros ~










Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A frame ... on a frame ... on a frame

Hi there ... 
I hope you all had a good weekend ... 
I was so sorry to hear of the tornado in Kansas and my thoughts and prayers are with those of you who may have been affected or have friends and families there ...

Today of course is a new challenge at City Crafter Challenge Blog ... and we have Cheryl hosting for us ... she has come up with a brilliant challenge ... to alter or use a Frame ...
I've been playing a bit with frames lately ... but this week I decided to alter a frame I have had for so long ... nothing too fussy ... the frame is ornate as it is ... 


I gave the frame a wash of white acrylic first ... and behind the glass I inserted some pretty dottie paper from Prima's Botanical Collection ...


The canvas frame is then layered over the glass and on top of that a gorgeous butterfly frame ( a gift from Stella) ... was painted and glittered and adhered.
In the centre is a flower of delicate roses with one of my earring centres hot glued on ...


a few embellishments including ribbons, rubon, buttons, pearl and a diamante and my frame is done ...

So now it's over to you ... if you are in need of inspiration pop over to the blog and check out the DT work and that of our talented GD Colleen Dietrich ... and we have sweet June Lanum as our sponsor this week ... followers will know that June was on our DT and regrettably had to step back ... so we are thrilled to have her sponsor us again this week
Thank you so much for your continued support and your comments ... 

Keep safe

~ Ros ~



Saturday, May 21, 2011

Jingle Belles Card 21

Hello ...
Have you had a good day? ... I had a little ray of sunshine in the form of young Ross over to visit today ... he's such a live wire ... and loves nothing better than to sit on my knee having me tell him stories of when my brothers and I were children ... mind you he has a habit of twisting my hair in his fingers when he listens and right now my head is sore Lol!
So once he left to go stay at his grandparents house I decided to make a start on my card for this weeks challenge at Jingle belles Rock ... which has been chosen for us by Amanda Profumo  ... she has given us this wonderful inspiration board from Paper Doll Romance  to work with 


Beautiful isn't it? ... so much to choose from ... which makes my mind go into overdrive ... shall I use cream ... white ... tulle or lace ... crystals or flowers ... decisions decisions ...
I'm not one of those fortunate people who look at something and think immediately " I know exactly what I'll do......."
 No ... I'm more of a ... gather up your colours and let your heart and your hands guide you ... often walking away if it isn't quite coming together and taking a moment to clear my head ....
But I get there in the end ... and this is card 21 ....


A scrap of sparkly purple paper which I've had forever ... a fussy cut image from an old shop bought card ... some tulle ruffled and glued
The felt snowflakes are cut with my Sizzix and glittered and the sentiment is from WaltzingMouse ( Happy 2nd Birthday WaltzingMouse) ....


... and not exactly a sugar plum ... but a little purple bell tied to the gift ...
I know I say it every week but please go see the cards from the girls this week ... gorgeous! 
And you know because of this weekly challenge ... not only will I have a good stack of Christmas cards  come December ... but each and everyone will be different ... 

Have a lovely evening ...

~ Ros ~




Friday, May 20, 2011

Something a little different ...

Hello to you sweet friends ...
before I lead you into a little something different ... I want to say "Thank You" to my sweet blog friend Becks of Midnight Lullabies for this beautiful magazine ... 


A real treat to indulge myself in ...
and for the sweetest little card that came with it ...


I love them Becks!

My friends' husband is also celebrating his birthday next week the day before my brother ... so I needed to come up with another masculine card ... 


Ok ... so your thinking ... this is nothing special ... 
but what if I show you this ...


and a side view ...


Not that I'm sure he will want his face posted on the web ... but I transformed a picture of  my friends' hubby ...  cropped it ... changed it to black and white ... used a grain image feature from photoshop and then printed it onto a piece of canvas (white side) ... then I adhere it to a tiny canvas board ... I then overlaid the tiny canvas with a card frame that I covered in paper first ... and embellished ... this is the back just so you can see ...


and see there is a little magnet on the back? so that this gets attached to the front of the card 


By putting another magnet on the inside of the card itself ...

... the corresponding magnet is will be covered by the insert



... so in effect he has a card with a removable framed photo which can either be put on the wall or maybe a fridge door ...
I don't know what made me come up with this but I'm sure I will be doing more of these ... I just hope he likes it ...

Have yourselves a wonderful weekend ..
Till soon

~ Ros ~













Thursday, May 19, 2011

2nd Post ... 2 challenges

I'm in a rush ... got my Thursday group to see to tonight ... but I quickly ... very quickly ... made a card for two challenges ...
WaltzingMouse based on this sketch ...


... not forgetting to use a WM stamp of course ...

And CR84FN based on this colour combination ...


So ok here is my card ... 


both papers are from my scrap pile ...
I also had a little bit of tulle and end piece of ribbon ... But the Prima flower is new ...
Now I don't own that many packs of WM stamps ... but there are quite a lot in one pack and this little one I hadn't used before ... 


It's from the Victorian Frippery set and I stamped it in a line first one way ... then reversed it the other way ... I'm not the most proficient of stampers so I was quite pleased at how this turned out ... more to do with the stamp being so clear than me being clever I think ...
Anyway there you have it ... my card


Got to rush now ... enjoy your evening ...

~ Ros ~





Birthday card and an Angel ...

Hi there
Are you well? I do hope so ... 
it's been a busy week and I don't know where the time goes ...
I have a card to share which I made for my Brothers upcoming birthday  


very blue doncha' think?

And I think I am having the same trouble that Heather had ... my pictures seem to be blurry when I upload them ... which never happened before Blogger went AWOL ...  Hmmm...

I used TH paper backed onto PTI  Ocean Breeze CS with some other striped  paper I had ... but not sure who makes this ....
and I am loving using this canvas I bought a few weeks ago ... the reverse side is printable and I am working on another card using the print side


The little envelope holding the tag ... I had in my stash and the tag ... well it's a tag from some clothing ... I just liked the colour ... and covered some of it in matching paper ... then added a sentiment done on my computer 


I think he likes blue ....

Before I go I want to say a Huge Thank you to a lady called Jak ... A scrapbooker who heard about the Thursday Club and sent me some of her old supplies for us to use ...
I am completely blown away by the amount of stuff she sent me and we are talking beautiful top of the range suppliers here too!  Look at this box ...


and some of the papers ...


Thank you Jak ... you are an Angel ... my group will be delighted!
So sweet blog friends ... if you get the chance to pop over to Jak's blog ... please leave her some love

Enjoy your day and keep safe

~ Ros ~







Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Stripes and Polka Dots ...

Hello to you ...
This weeks's challenge at City Crafter Challenge Blog has been set by sweet Linda Robson
and she has chosen Stripes and Polka dots ... we are asked to use both on our project this week ...


Fabulous picture Linda

Our Guest designer is the very talented Viola Mahr all the way from Singapore who many of you already know ... as she designs wonderful blog headers including City Crafter's ... she also has her own blog and makes the most beautiful cards too ... you can visit her Here  ... and you really need to see the lovely cards she created for our challenge this week along with the creations from the rest of the DT ...
We are also lucky enough to be sponsored by the Ribbon Reel  ... so there is a gorgeous package of goodies on offer ... I have actually bought goods from here and they are lovely ...

On to my card ... my Uncle Terry is going to be 88 next week ... and I made this card for him ... he is the sweetest kindest Uncle in the world and recently he has had to go into a care home so my lovely Aunt has asked that we all send bright and cheerful cards ...



I think this fits the bill ...
I used my new SB banner die and papers from We R Memory Keepers 


... I fussy cut some little birds and a butterfly ... beautiful twine from June
a flower from my stash with a glittered up button and there we are ...
I hope you are going to join us this week .... 

Till soon

~ Ros ~






Saturday, May 14, 2011

Jingle Belles Card 20

Hi Everyone ...
I hope you have all had a good day ... it's wet and windy here and not too warm either ... I'm hoping things improve a little soon ...
Since we still have Blogger up and running I thought I'd post my card for this weeks challenge at Jingle Belles Rock ... This week we are asked to feature Jolly Old Saint Nicholas and this week there is also a Lucky Day ( Friday 13th) ... when one of the entrants will be chosen to be a guest star ... Lauren and Stef who constitute the 'Belles' in Jingle Belles Rock ... have made lovely cards for us to be inspired by ... just in case anyone is struggling to get into the Christmas mode ... so go have a look ... and if you have never stopped by Stef's blog ... or ... Lauren's blog  .. I highly recommend that you do ... they are so creative and each Thursday Stef has a link list to other blogs that are so inspiring ... well worth visiting ...

So on to my card ... I used another vintage image and framed it with some canvas ... which was actually the negative left from cutting a backing for a previous card Here ... waste not want not ...




The papers are MME (again!) and the twine is from my sweet blog friend June ... I love this stuff but it isn't something that I can get here ...


a couple of little 3D stickers and some pompom trim from my stash and card number 20 is done ...
See my Christmas card box is getting fuller


"Yay!"

Have a lovely evening ...
Till soon

~ Ros ~

Friday, May 13, 2011

New Book ...

Hello ...
What a day it has been ... here was I at the end of a busy week with a free morning and a fresh cup of coffee ready to visit you all and what?!!**??
 No Blogger! 
It was so weird ... being out of touch from blogland for so long ... 
I realised just how bad it would be to not have you all there in my life ... maybe it was a reminder to be thankful ... and I truly am ... for your friendships ... and dare I say ... thankful to blogger for making it possible ...

Anyway ... I did manage to create something whilst checking blogger every five minutes ... See ...  I bought the new online magazine Inspired Ideas from Here and was sooo taken by something created by Denise Sharp   (hers was a badge) ... that I had to try it for myself ... it's a collection of butterflies ... printed onto a sheet of a book page ... then you stick several of the pages together to make it thick(ish) and cut out all the butterflies (20 of them) and glue them randomly onto a circle (she used a button) ... you have to buy the magazine to see what she did next ... Gorgeous! Well I did this and wondered what I was then going to do with it ... so I made a book box to put it on ... Lots of pictures here 


I used Tim Holtz papers to cover the outside ... love this paper 


see all those little butterflies ...  aren't they sweet?
I glued them to a cardboard circle ... then onto a rosette and then on to another rosette made by gluing lace to a larger circle (am I making sense?) ...


Inside ... covered with one of my favourite Pink Paislee papers


A closer look


This is very solid as I like to use heavy CS and then back it with cardboard
It measures 5" wide by about 6.5" high ... 


I like to use these boxes for all sorts of things ... I store my handmade flowers in them and other little treasures ... if you are interested in peeking at some others I have done click these links 
Pink ... Blue ... Baby ... Garden ... Piano 
Phew! ... Now I have to go grocery shopping ... and maybe later I can finally catch up with visiting you all 

Have a wonderful evening 

~ Ros ~