Thursday, September 29, 2011

Missing You

Hi there ...
I just wanted to let you know that I am having real connection problems here in Majorca so I am unable to pay you a visit and see what you are all up too ... I promise I am not ignoring you ... I miss you and hope to be able to visit with you soon


Keep safe 


~ Ros ~

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

City Crafter Scrap lift challenge

Hello and good morning!
I will leaving for the airport today ... heading for sun and family time ... But before I do ... I am here to post today's challenge at City Crafter brought to us this week by our lovely Kirsty ...
Kirsty has asked us to Scrap Lift this card from our Guest Designer at City Crafter ... Sandi Taloumis


Isn't this just the sweetest? 
... And here is my take on it ...


My image and sentiment are digital from Pink Petticoat  ... I 'painted' the image in photoshop ... and those tiny little buttons were sent to me by Kirsty many moons ago ...


... just waiting for the right place ...

Our wonderful sponsor this week is our lovely past DT member June Lanum ... please pop over to her blog and say Hi ... I know she will really appreciate it ... and also take a minute to check out the rest of the DT work ... 

Ok I have to be off ... I really hope you will play along with us this week ... I will be keeping in touch and visiting your blogs ...

Have a wonderful week and stay safe

Hugs

~ Ros ~

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Jingle Belles Card 39

Hello sweet friends ...
Thank you all so much for your kind words, your thoughts and your prayers following the loss of my Uncle  ... it means a lot to know people care ...
I went to club night on Thursday and maybe it was my imagination but I seemed to get far more hugs than usual ... it was so lovely ... the class was extremely busy ... and though they may be mentally and physically challenge ... they have such compassion and love ... it lifted my spirits no end ...

I have my 39th card done for this weeks' challenge at Jingle Belles Rock the prompt this week being "Here Comes Suzy Snowflake" brought to us by Marie Bingaman based on the Rosemary Clooney song ... I confess that my creative mojo has been up in the air somewhere these past few days .. not good when trying to finish my DT projects before I go away ... sort out projects for the club and keep up with Jingle Belles ... But I did come up with something ...


I thought this Bo Bunny sticker was quite apt ... I like to adhere these to CS first ...
Some glitter card and a felt cut snowflake ... (glittered of course) ... backed onto some lovely satin ribbon
complete a simple card ... and just for a little more bling ... a crystal drop and a pretty star shaped jewel
(an odd earring actually!)


It's a dull wet day here so my photos are not too brilliant ... Never mind ... next week I will be soaking up some sunshine and relaxing (I hope) ... 

Have a wonderful weekend ... and thanks so much for stopping by

~ Ros ~

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Some Sad News ...

Hello there ...
I want to thank all of you who sent well wishes and prayers for my sweet Uncle Terry ... sadly he passed away yesterday morning ...
He never left the hospital and my Aunt was by his side ... In her words .. she has lost her soul mate ... the love of her life ... my heart aches for her ... 

~ Ros ~           

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Shabby Chic Girls Club

Hello ...

I just wanted to say a big Thank You to sweet Cindy Adkins  for featuring one of my early projects on her new blog The Shabby Chic Girls Club ... I am honoured to be amongst the creative talent featured here ...
Cindy has a link party for anyone to link up one or more of their shabby/vintage creations past or present ... I'm joining the party ... and having given it some thought ... there are three things I created that I love ... My Vintage Horseshoe 


The original post can be found Here

...  This sewing plaque ...


And this Bird's nest plaque that still hangs on my door


The original post can be found Here
So if you haven't visited her lovely new blog ... pop over and check it out ... it's pretty and fun too ...

The other shout out today is to the lovely Smilyn Stef who takes the time and trouble every week to seek out her Link Loves ... so many ideas... freebies ... and tutorials ... As you know I hold a class once a week for mentally and physically challenge adults and it can be so hard to come up with a project each week that they can cope with ... even using glue is a problem and many times my brain runs dry of ideas ... So I trawl the Links on Stef's side bar and usually something pops into my head ... ok .. maybe I need to readjust or alter ... maybe I need to make the bulk of it ... but the inspiration starts to flow ... 
I love to go through these links ... see the variety of talent and ideas from recipes to art ... 
Thank You Stef
Tomorrow my group will be making PocketMods ... With pretty covers ... Never heard of them?? Ok click Here for the link ... and why not pop over to Stef's blog to check out her Link Loves every Thursday  they're fabulous ...

Till soon my friends ... enjoy your day 

~ Ros ~




Tuesday, September 20, 2011

"Lets Face The Music"

Hello ... Good Morning!

I am hosting the challenge at City Crafter this week and this is your inspiration picture 


Because this week I am asking that you use anything Music related on your projects ... This can be a charm, sheet music, an image etc., Music is the universal language ... where would we be without it?  I have a penchant for anything with sheet music and I love listening to music ... So for my project, I wanted to revisit the piano box I made HERE and maybe tweak it a little ... Warning! there are a lot of pictures 


you may be able to see that the thing I 'tweaked' was the keyboard ... now it sits neatly ... I used a WaltzingMouse stamp for the keys and glossy accents to make them shine


I'm not sure if you can see it but I also glossed the top of the piano


A piece of doily sits on top and I made a little framed picture and a tiny letter which nestles behind a glittered rose also made from sheet music


Sheet music lines the inside of the box too


Then I remembered a black glass frame I bought ages ago in a sale for £1 ... It's not the easiest thing to photograph though


All I needed to add to this was some more sheet music roses, some pearl stems, a ribbon and a pretty butterfly


I love how these look on my glass table


... and I can't wait to see what YOU come up with ... 
For more inspiration just hop over to the blog to see the rest of the DT work and that of our wonderful guest designer this week Jill Sargison ... and we have Pixie Dust Paperie  kindly sponsoring once again

Till soon ... keep safe

~ Ros ~














Monday, September 19, 2011

Jingle Belles and Catch up news ...

Hello sweet friends ...
It's seems ages since I've posted and yet I don't seem to have stopped for breath these past few days ... First off I am posting my 38th card for Jingle Belles ... 

I can't believe how fast these 38 weeks have gone! 28 years ago I was expecting my first and only child ... I was beyond thrilled to find out I was expecting him after 7 years ... I was due for surgery 2 days later and had no idea ... it was only because of my sweet psychic friend ... who also happens to be a nurse ... that I found out ... she did a test and bingo! I was 2 weeks pregnant ... Thank God I found out before I had surgery! The next 38 weeks were the longest 38 weeks of my life!! Now if Jingle Belles were up and running then ... and I had even heard about blogging ... well I'm sure the time would have gone soooo quickly ...

So this week we are asked to use something Digital on our cards ... Their Sponsor this week is Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps  and you can even get a free digital stamp! (of course I forgot this when I was doing my card ??!!) .. so hop over to the JB blog for all the details ...
I used a variety of digital papers and stamps to create my card ... and background paper from PaperMania


I layered a few things and glittered some parts too


... and the sentiment is also digital ...



I mentioned in my last post about the Queen Mary 2 coming to Liverpool ... So
after a busy evening at Thursday club my husband and I went into the city to see the magnificent Liner... I hardly recognise my own city now ... so many new buildings and hotels ... we stopped at a boutique hotel where Marco Pierre White has a restaurant ... sat out and had coffee and watched the people strolling down to the waterfront  ... it was a fabulous turnout ... thousands came ... and the crowd were cheering and waving ... as were the passengers ... funny when you think that no one knew each other ... Here are a couple of pictures which I have had to lighten a bit ... they aren't marvellous but you can see the enormity of this liner 


Can you see all the people on the top deck? 


... and the firework display was magnificent ...


And here I am ... tired and windswept ... but enjoying the moment 
Saturday I did my sale at the church and some of my lovely friends came along too ... I'm not sure if I would do it again ... I had no idea just how competitive some of the table holders could be ... there was another lady selling cards ... nothing at all like mine ... but she was actually trying to stop people coming to my table! No ... I'd rather stay home next time ...
Yesterday I travelled to Lincoln to see my dear Aunt ... my uncle Terry has been in hospital this past week seriously ill ... we were hoping that he may recover enough to be allowed back to the home he has been in for the past 6 months ... and spend his last days amongst friends and with my Aunt by his side ... they absolutely adore each other ... having lost my own father a long time ago, Terry has been like a father to me ... my Aunt and Uncle lost both their beautiful daughters tragically within 2 weeks of each other just after my son was born ... so you can imagine how close we are ... 

Well ... I will be back tomorrow with the CCCB challenge 
 Till then enjoy the rest of your day and thanks so much for stopping by

~ Ros ~





Thursday, September 15, 2011

Heart tags and some CAS

Good morning to you ...
I hope you are well?
It's a bright sunny morning here with a touch of crispness in the air ... I love a sunny autumn day ... when the leaves are turning to gold ... I'm hoping that it stays dry ... you may remember I went to see the QE2 last  Thursday evening ... well this evening after club ... weather permitting ... I will be off to see the Queen Mary 2 which is docking here in Liverpool today ... we have such a wonderful water front here and I'm told that the Americans in particular love it ... partly because you can walk right into the heart of the city as soon as the ship docks and the renovation to the area is spectacular ... If any of you care to try it I would love to meet you!
So ... I have a few tags and some CAS cards to share today ... my box of goodies for the church sale this Saturday is growing ... 



I know these would be perfect for the "I Heart You" challenge at CCCB this week and so simple to create ... They will be packaged in little glassine treat bags ... I did some with the hearts positive cut from book pages ...


... and then used the negatives ... with scraps of pretty papers behind


It's a great way to use up scraps and create something pretty 

And a few CAS cards using PTI dies and stamps for the Zebra and a leaves stamp I've had forever so not sure where it is from


I love my SB dies ... but often forget that they can be used in a variety of ways ... and I love the embossed look ... don't know why I don't do it more often ...


My only problem is knowing what prices to put on my goods ... I'm totally useless at that kind of thing ... 
It embarrasses me to ask for money ... So I've enlisted the help of my sweet SIL and hope that we'll get through it ...

***********
Oh! I've just heard a young American guy (from Boston) on the radio ... he is a singer on the Queen Mary 2 and he is marrying a dancer also working on the ship (she's from Liverpool) here today when the ship docks!!! How wonderful is that ... he just sent love to his Mom and Dad in the States ... Awwww!!

Till soon sweet friends ... be safe

~ Ros ~






Tuesday, September 13, 2011

"I Heart You ..."

I do you know ... "Heart" you all ... 
and this is the theme for the new challenge at City Crafter  chosen for us this week by Cheryl ... 
Sweet Cheryl is asking that we incorporate heart/s on our projects ... and as we have  Fresh Brewed Designs kindly sponsoring this week ... the DT are using one of their digital stamps ... The winner of the challenge will win one of their unmounted rubber stamps ...
Note ... There is going to be a Breast Awareness Blog Hop at Fresh Brewed Designs starting 22nd September ... You may want to check this out as there will also be new stamp releases ...

Our Guest Designer this week is Angi Barrs of Cokie pop paper and Lessology ... she's one awesome crafter ... her blogs are well worth a visit and so full of inspiration

So on to my card ... I chose to use the heart covered coffee cup ... and 'painted' it in Photoshop ... 



This is quite CAS ... the digital stamp being the focus .. the great thing about digital is that you can make the stamp any size you want ... my sentiment and the tiny hearts either side are also computer generated and can you see one of my little crocheted hearts just under the flower?


I also added a little wooden one to the top of the cup ... 


If you've never tried digital I urge you to try ... it can be quite fun and don't forget to check out the rest of the DT blogs to see what they came up with ... here are the links for you 


I hope you can join us this week ... look forward to seeing you

Have a wonderful day and thanks for visiting

~ Ros ~

Monday, September 12, 2011

Thank you The Graphics Fairy

I'm just popping in to say a Big Thank You to Karen over at The Graphics Fairy for bragging about my little notebooks ... I am thrilled ... and totally surprised ... I love to look at all the entries ... there are so many talent people out there in Blog Land and some wonderful tips and tutorials ... not to mention the amazing freebies ... 
Grateful thanks to you all and I highly recommend that you visit this wonderful site ... Karen sure works hard to bring all those fabulous images to us ...


Have a wonderful evening


~ Ros ~


Saturday, September 10, 2011

Magical

Hi there ...
It's been a few days since I was able to blog and I missed chatting to you ... Thursday was a busy day as I prepared for my sweet group ... it was the first week back since the summer break and it was so nice to see everyone ... but I was so exhausted at the end of the evening ... strictly speaking we are only supposed to allow a couple of wheelchairs ... but I had at least 3 people in my room on Thursday who were in wheelchairs ... and trying to get around .. well someone really needs to redesign them ... when you get one of those handles in your side .. man you know about it! 
After club my husband and I went into the city ... the QE2 was docked and due to sail at 10pm after what promised to be a spectacular firework display ...


The sight of this magnificent liner both enthralled  me and gave the Heebie - jeebies! I often have a feeling about the Titanic ... like maybe I was around in another life ... and for a split second ... seeing the thousands of people that had turned out to wave off the liner ... and seeing the waving passengers ... well it was spooky ... I could actually see the old costumes and clothes ... like I was transported back somewhere ... it didn't help when a complete stranger next to me turned and said in my ear ... "the inside of this liner is just like the Titanic..." But it turned out to be a beautiful evening ... the only down side was the fireworks ... a technical fault meant they went off after we had all left the docks ... 

 Yesterday ... I had a visit from Ross and Sophia ... it was bedlam here ... my brother was working on the house and the children (gorgeous that they are) wanted me to play and keep them amused ... doing crazy antics I might add ... I don't know how my SIL does it ... I was worn out ...

Finally today I got some time in my room and made my 37th card for Jingle Belles ... This week Sue Culotti  has set the challenge ... Deck the Halls ... There are actually 4 options this week which involve either playing cards (deck) or ATC's ... hop over to the blog to get the details if you want to play along ... it's never too late to join in and make a start on your Christmas cards ... Anyway this week my card is a Magical card (as in card trick ... ok ... bad joke) 


I made an ATC by up-cycling a piece of an old shop bought card ... added some glitter and edging and a chipboard piece from the Snowman set together with a sticker which of course says "Magical" ... The main paper is from the vintage collection by the Paper Cellar backed onto some Websters and the glittery piece at the bottom is also a bit of recycling


Ok ... so that's it for now ... we have a storm heading our way over the next few days ... it's been very windy but warm here ... quite unusual for this time of year ... 

Enjoy your weekend and thanks so much for stopping by

~ Ros ~



Wednesday, September 07, 2011

CR84FN challenge

Oh my goodness the weather is getting cold here in the UK ... a howling wind too and some heavy showers ... I really don't want to say goodbye to summer ... such as it was
... and soon the nights will be drawing in and the days will seem shorter ... 
Thursday club starts this week too and I need to come up with a project ... though we have a lot of paper and embellishments so maybe we can just do cards this week ...


I have a fair few birthdays to prepare for this month ... and using the fabulous colour palette from CR84FN this week, I made a card for one of my lovely friends
This is the lovely inspiration picture and quote 



I found it a little hard to combine the light blue with the turquoise ... then realised that I was as usual over thinking it ... and eventually this is what I came up with


I found that pretty ribbon in my stash ... must have come from some gift wrapping ... (I keep everything) ... but it was perfect for this card ... and the heart I cut from some lovely pale burlap I got this week


I also had the lovely creamy material in my sewing stash and tore a strip off it and did a running stitch to gather it as a base for the prima flower and just peeking out is a sentiment from the WaltzingMouse stamp set Fancy Phrases ....
I don't often get time to support the wonderful challenges available so I'm glad I got to do this one ... 
Have a lovely day 

Till soon

~ Ros ~




Tuesday, September 06, 2011

City Crafter Challenge week 73

Hi there!
This weeks' wonderful challenge at City Crafter is brought to us by sweet Linda Robinson  who has chosen a recipe for us "Easy as 123" ... 1 Ribbon ... 2 or more words ... 3 or more Butterflies
and we have the talented Lynnda Hosni as our Guest Designer ... pop by her blog ... she makes the most wonderful pages as well as cards and altered art ... you won't be disappointed


So on to my card ... 



I loved this challenge ... love ribbon and butterflies ...
and I also got to use one of my new doilies ... I actually cut it ... I know ... I held my breath too ... but it worked!
And that piece of paper from Prima was just perfect with the wording on it "Butterfly Chase"


I used one ribbon but tied it into 2 bows ... cut 3 butterflies and stamped the words 'follow your heart' and there we are ... Easy as 123!

This week we have Pixie Dust Paperie sponsoring us again ... have you taken a look at the new kit? It's beautiful ... I might just have to order that!
I hope you are going to join us this week ... you know we love to see your creations ... take a look at the beautiful creations from the rest of the DT too ... here are the links


Have yourselves a wonderful day and keep safe

~ Ros ~




Monday, September 05, 2011

Jingle Belles Card 36

Hello ...
I hope you all had a good weekend 
The time goes so fast ... already we are up to card 36 at Jingle Belles challenge and this week we are asked to CASE any card we wish from any of the challenge entries over the last 36 weeks ... 
Well, I was trawling through some of the entries and would you believe that my card for week 31 Blue Christmas Here... hosted by the lovely June Houck ... was not there ... oh me, oh my ... it was a cross over week and whilst I linked it up to one blog ... either I forgot to link it to Jingle Belles or I was sabotaged by Mr Inlinkz! Oh silly me ... it's an age thing I guess
So ... I definitely needed to use that little reindeer again ... and as I missed week 29 Reindeer Games due to me being on holiday ... this week is the perfect opportunity ... I decided to CASE (sort of) this card by Lauren 



I say CASE... but I didn't have any of those leaves ... nor the pretty bling ... and my reindeer is no way as  elegant as Lauren's ... but here we go 


See I improvised with some of that fibre stuff which is stuck to my fingers and just about everywhere ... stuck a few little leaves on ... and added some bling too ... well I said it was 'sort of' 


See mine's the more fun version ... whereas Lauren did the very elegant version ... 
and I will link this one ... going to do it now before I forget ... 

Have a wonderful evening 
Thanks for stopping by 

~ Ros ~







Saturday, September 03, 2011

Baby goods

Hello ...

It's a wet and windy day here in Liverpool and I am hoping to get some craft time in today ... Yesterday evening we booked another trip to Majorca for the end of the month .. this time we will be taking my Brother and SIL ... they really need to get away and have some rest ... it has been a very hard year for them and there is no light at the end of the tunnel just yet ... I worry about them ... how can I not ... Life's troubles  have a way of forging deeper bonds between family ... so we hold hands as we ride the storms ... but one thing remains constant .. no matter how rough the waves are ... just below the surface there is always stillness and the trick is remembering to keep returning to the stillness ...

I have another frame to share and some cards ... 
When I made This frame ... I made a couple of CAS cards using the same papers 


Both images are digital from Meljen and the paper is from a digital kit that I've had for the longest time from The Shabby Princess (a freebie) 


Love the little bear with his blanket


 ... and this cute little donkey ...

And this is my other baby frame ...


This time I used papers from Websters Pages ... I apologise that the lighting is not so good 
This one is a little more vintage than the first one 


So what do you think?
Oh... and there's a little village growing in my home ...


Have a wonderful weekend and to my friends in the USA ... Happy your Labor Day weekend!

Thanks so much for stopping by 

~ Ros ~





Thursday, September 01, 2011

September ...

Yep, it definitely is September today ... 
Soooo sorry to all of you bloggers I threw into a flurry yesterday 
It was cold and very September...ish yesterday but today the sun is shining and despite the fact that I was feeling really unwell ... it turned out a good day for me ... My blog book came and I am absolutely delighted with it ... Sweet Linda Robinson passed on the link and after a few chats with my UK friend Deb I ordered my own book and seeing it really made my day ... I can't believe how big it is!



I put a 12" ruler next to it ... look 


... and inside ...


A dedication to you all


Some of the pictures


There are 329 pages (just one full year of my blog) ... and I have to say that when my husband saw it ... he was blown away ... I confess that he hasn't always been supportive of my hobby and seeing what I have done in one year really took his breath away ... yep, this book was worth every dollar!

What else have I been doing ... well lots really ... I even taught myself to crochet hearts last night ... they're not perfect (but very addictive)  ... I'll show them at a later date ... I have some more notebooks and matching cards to share which I made for the church sale using graphics from The Graphic Fairy and a little bit of work in Print shop 


a closer look


Just love those birds 
And here are the matching cards 


So that's it for today ... 
I hope you have a wonderful day ... I need to change the tax disc on my car now whilst I remember 
sheesh! ... six months just flies by!

Till soon keep safe and thanks for stopping by

~ Ros ~