Come sail with me ....

Hi there!

I am getting back into the old routine here and no longer swaying! 

I promised you a couple of photos and thought I would post some every now and then ... 

When I came home, waiting for me was my book of my 2nd year of blogging ... so I thought ... but there was so much I got 2 books sent to me! I had no idea just how much I had done AND I deleted a few small posts ...

I am so thrilled with them ...

Ok ... Norway .... This is my Aunt and I boarding the ship

and a few of our trip ...

Oh yeh ... there were Vikings too ... waiting as we left the ship 

You can click on to enlarge the pictures ... and just because I've never been a cover girl ... I have to show you this ... which was a surprise to me even as photos were being taken all the time ...

Lol!! Be kind ... next birthday I am officially a pensioner!

I'll be back with you tomorrow for the City Crafter challenge ... if I didn't get around to leaving you a comment last week ... please forgive me ... I had no internet connection

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Paper Pockets

Hello... Are you well?

 I am back from my cruise to Norway... What a beautiful country ... I am still in awe of the beauty ...  
My Aunt and I had a wonderful time and though I was not sea sick at all ... since I arrived on land yesterday evening - I am Land sick!! Honestly ... everything is swaying and it is the most peculiar feeling ever!
I had no internet connection at all for the whole time and I missed you all ... wished I could have taken you with me ... I missed seeing your creations yet probably it did me good to step away for a while and just enjoy the break ... the splendour of the fjords took my breath away ... We had the opportunity to disembark at a few locations and take train rides and tours ... On the second day I threw away my crutch and this trip healed me in many ways ... 


I have to say that the house was spotless when I returned ... my husband had everything looking wonderful ... even flowers in the vase for my return ... I got up early this morning and fed the cats (yes we have a stray that has adopted us too) and I opened the bread cupboard looking forward to the simplicity of wholemeal toast and honey with coffee after the gourmet food that was on offer everyday on the ship and what did I find? The same loaf of bread that I had left last week ... only now it was a funny kind of green with grey fur growing on it ... Can you believe it? Welcome home Ros!


I hope to share some photos with you later in the week we but for now I have a little something I made before I left ... 

I've been seeing these pretty pockets a lot lately and used up some of my scraps to make one too

My pocket has 3 tags inside

I love using up scraps to make something pretty ...

... quite a jumble of all sorts of things... bits of lace, buttons, a sweet yoyo from Jeanneke, and a mish mash of papers and textures ... but such fun to make

I notice that Blogger has also made some changes so I am trying to navigate my way around things ... (ha! sea talk)...  sheesh ... just when you get used to something - it changes 

Before I go I want to say a big Thank you to the lovely ladies at Papercraft Star for my Comet award ... I am delighted you liked my card

Now I have lots of catching up to do ... thanks so much for visiting me and your lovely comments

Sending hugs 

~ Ros ~

Using Burlap ....

... That's our challenge this week at City Crafter ... hosted for us by lovely Cheryl ...

I just know you all love to use burlap ... I've seen so many beautiful projects when visiting your blogs and I certainly love to use it ... 

I decided to go a little "Ooh La La" with this card ... making my own background paper from a mix of digital images and papers I have on my computer ... (I used the same background for some bookmarks I did Here) ...  I layered my digital creation onto some script paper by Grace Taylor

I cut a heart from some burlap... and I discovered that  rubons do stick to burlap as you can see...

The gentleman's hat is also a rubon and I glued a flower to it ... I like to think the Parisian gentleman - my real life Grand father - had been to the theatre then taken a stroll where he purchased a flower from a street seller and popped it onto his hat...

I had 2 French Grandfathers ... but sadly never knew either of them but I can imagine both of them would wear a hat like this whilst strolling along the streets of Paris

I hope you'll check out all the projects on the blog - we have the immensely talented Michelle Bala as our Guest Designer this week - if you have never visited her ... please do so ... she creates the most wonderful cards! 

It would be lovely to have you join us this week ... I'm looking forward to seeing all your creations (laptop permitting)  because whilst you are reading this I will be sailing the Fjords of Norway 

Many thanks for stopping by

Keep safe

~ Ros ~

Melissa Frances wall Hanging

I have lots to do and I have club night tonight ... 
Sadly we lost another one of our lovely group this week ... it always hurts ... Pat was a lovely lady ... she couldn't talk ... but we understood each other and we had lots of hugs ....


Creating helps to take my mind off things so I made a wall hanging today ... 

My new Attic Treasures paper pad by Melissa Frances arrived yesterday together with my new SB dies by Nina Bracket ... I saw these on Mona's blog and just adored them  and as I already got the new C'est la Vie papers last week ... well, creating came easy ... 


You know I love to mix and match my papers but one of the best things about Melissa Frances papers is that there are always sheets that have a mix of patterns on them ... put together perfectly ... so you don't have to think even!

Then again all MF sets co-ordinate with each other so well too ... so this was created using papers from both sets ...

(The bluish paper is from C'est la Vie and the creamy kraft ones are from Attic Treasures) 

... and the new SB dies ...

Isn't that house die just the cutest? and that little piece of trim on the right was from my lovely friend Jacira ... I used the rest on another project but kept this little piece

A closer look ... those sparkly wings are from the Nina Bracket SB set too - as is the heart

In case you are wondering ... the sentiment is computer generated ... the pearls are MF, the rose is Prima ... lace, ribbon, fabric and trinkets are from my supplies ...

Got to dash ... Thanks so much for stopping by

~ Ros ~

Papercraft Star - France

I'm still playing with the colours of City Crafter's challenge this week ... 

Black, white or grey ... with a hint of pink ... 

But today's card is for the challenge over at Papercraft Star ... where the theme is France ... The wonderful DT have made some amazing projects ... please stop by and take a look ... I went right in to my new papers from PaperMania ... mixed with some paper scraps on my desk ... 

That little frame is from a set I picked up at the £1 store ... they are actually fridge magnets ... but I just took the back off ... some of them I have painted too and they work well

My sentiment stamp is from WaltzingMouse and the key is a sticker 

This also fits into the new challenge over at Pixie Dust Paperie ..."Fly Away With me" ... go check it out

Of course as I am on the DT for Pixie Dust and CCCB I can't enter this ... Shame ... it would have been probably the first time I made a project that fitted 3 challenges, Ah well, C'est La Vie!

I have lots of packing to do but I want to visit your blogs first so have a lovely day

Till soon

~ Ros ~

A hint of Pink

Sweet Linda Robinson is hosting this week at City Crafter and she has set a fabulous challenge for us ...

Create a project using Black, White or Grey with a Hint of Pink

I love this kind of challenge ... and isn't that photo inspiration just adorable?

So here's my card ...

I got my paints out for this one and splattered black paint onto white card stock for the backgound

then layered it onto black card stock

I stamped this image first and let it dry a little before using water colours to paint over it ... I liked that the water picked up some of the ink from the image and turned it a shade of grey along with the hint of pink

You probably can't see it in this photo ... but I covered the image in acetate before framing it and using some perfect pearls to adorn both the frame and the image ...

This is something different from me .. I don't use paints as much as I probably should ... but I did enjoy this and I quite like the result ...

Hopefully I have inspired you to join in the fun ... Check out the rest of the DT projects and that of our GD this week ... Sheila Burns ... then link up your creation up so we can be wowed by you!

Have a wonderful day and thanks for visiting and leaving your lovely comments ... I really do appreciate it

~ Ros ~

Lighthouse Card

Only 5 more sleeps till I head off to Hull to pick up the cruise ship ... 

I have so much to do ..  not least of all getting my case out and sorting through things to take ...my least favourite job EVER! 

But one thing I will be taking is my new camera ... DH bought me a new one yesterday ... It's not an SLR ... didn't think I could cope with carrying that around ... or reading instructions ... so I got a lovely Olympus digital which I am really having fun with at the moment ... I can really see the huge difference to my old trusty Canon. I took these this morning in my garden and I haven't had to alter anything...

The lilac is really coming on ..

Pieris

You can see the sun is shining but believe me ... it's cold!

I have a card too ... using that lighthouse image once again ... my husband's friend is really experiencing a few storms of life ... not least of all hearing that his sister died suddenly whilst on holiday ... so the lighthouse seems appropriate

... Just to let him know that we are thinking of him ...

And yes, MY football team won on Saturday ... there were a few glum faces here ... good job I made them pizza!

As for the Grand National ... which I refuse to watch or bet on ... well, 2 more horses died and that always saddens me ...

Have yourselves a lovely day and I hope you'll join me tomorrow for the new challenge at CCCB

Thanks for taking the time to visit 

~ Ros ~

Melissa Frances and Papermania

Hello from a sunny Liverpool ...

I finally received my lovely new Melissa Frances C'est la Vie paper pack and the new Bookprint Pack from PapermMania ... they are totally different and yet I wanted to play with them both as soon as I could ... so I created a birthday card for a friend .. using papers from both packs ... 

That's the lovely thing about MF papers ... they blend in with virtually everything ...

The hard part was picking which one of the lovely papers to use ... 

I settled on the Hydrangeas ... which seemed to go perfectly with my card stock

and the print paper from PaperMania

... I also used some of the MF Green Honeycombe paper to cut some leaves for my resin flower and for the banner

Yep, I'm going to enjoy playing with these papers for a long while

It's a big day for the our city - our two Merseyside football teams ... Liverpool and Everton ... are meeting at Wembley for the FA cup semi final ... the things is ... my Hubby and my Son are Everton supporters (Blues) whilst I am a Liverpool supporter (Reds) ... It could be fun here today!

The world famous Grand National race is also on today ... as always it's a sell out ... As was yesterday's Ladies Day ... I enjoyed seeing photos of the girls in their finery and was delighted when a local lady won the 'Best Dressed' wearing a beautiful simple black 1950's vintage dress from her Grandmother! 

 I'm off to make a pizza for the boys and we can all settle down to watch the match ... 

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by

~ Ros ~

Candle Tin

Hi there ...

Well we've certainly been having the April showers ... mixed with hailstones, wind and bursts of sunshine ... today is lovely so far.
Kinda prompted me to change my blog colours to something a little brighter ... not sure I will stick with this ... it may be a little plain for me ...

Anyway ... All I have to share today is an altered tin which I did a while ago but never posted ... I made it into a candle tin ... here are a few photos 

Book pages pasted on the lid and the base is covered with TH papers

Some ribbon and tulle and a flower (which I didn't make ... it was salvaged from a hairband)

Some bits of lace and a co-ordinating candle inside

I got to go into the city yesterday (Liverpool) ... it's only 30 mins away but I don't go often and as the children are still on their Easter break ... the city was heaving! that's why I don't go much. 

It is fabulous though ... any tourist would just love the buildings, the restaurants, the shopping and the sights. There is a lot to see and do and if you're into Designer .. well we have that too!

Today is the start of the Grand National so this evening the city will be even more busy - I'm looking forward to Ladies Day tomorrow .. not that I go ... I just love to see the pictures of the ladies all dressed up 


Before I go I just want to thank the ladies at The Play Date Cafe for picking This card as one of their  Fab 4 ... I am thrilled! 

Wishing you a lovely day

~ Ros ~

City Crafter Birthday Week

Can you believe that this week the City Crafter Challenge will be celebrating their 2nd birthday! 

It's only fitting that our creator Kirsty is hosting this week with another fabulous challenge ... 

 Case a card or project from one of our current DT (any week from 1 - 103) ... 

You need to show the card or project that you chose to case with your new creation

We are so lucky to have the fabulous Lauren Bergold of "All The Good Blog Names Were Taken" as our Guest Designer this week ... and Pixie Dust Paperie as our fabulous sponsor ... 

I took ages to decide which project to case ... in the end I kept going back to this card made by Kirsty in week 73 ... 

This is my take on Kirsty's beautiful card

... The original challenge was a recipe ... 1 ribbon, 2 or more words and 3 or more butterflies

Fabric butterflies mixed with butterfly stickers just bring this to life with those pretty Webster Pages papers

Please take a moment to check out the creations from both our DT and our GD this week ... I'm sure you'll be inspired to join us ... 

YOU make this challenge successful and exciting ... 

Many thanks to all of you who have supported us over these last 2 years 

Happy Birthday City Crafter!

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Jingle Belles ...Sketch challenge

This week's challenge at Jingle Belles is to use a sketch by Amy Tsuruta ... 

This sketch

Well I made my card ... sort of based on the sketch ... and then realised that I'd put the sentiment in the wrong place ... Duh! I didn't look properly ... So I made another card that does resemble the sketch ... 

Nothing too fancy ... just layered papers and a pretty snowflake

This is the one that I did first ... not quite a representation of the sketch though ...

... but at least I have an extra card in my box

Thing is ... I was looking at my Easter egg ... and now it's all eaten (I know!) well maybe there will be no more distractions ... 

Hope you had a lovely day ... I did! 

See you tomorrow for the City Crafter challenge

Thanks for stopping by

~ Ros ~

Pixie Dust Paperie April Challenge

HAPPY EASTER!!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend ... 

The new challenge at Pixie Dust Paperie has begun ... and this month Kirsty has picked a fabulous  challenge -   
Create a project related to a city  (e.g. London, Rome, Paris,  New york ... Any city in the world!)

The challenge title is "Fly Away With Me!!"

Everyday this week you will be able to see the projects from our design team ...

For me I chose London ... the place I spent a lot of my childhood ... a place full of happy memories for me ..... and what do you think of when you think of travel? A suitcase or a trunk maybe? 

Here's my 'well travelled' and 'shabby' little trunk...

I used papers from PaperMania's  Portobello Road and some travel stamps from Crafty Individuals and Elin's Huis

I started by making to boxes exactly the same size from card stock - covered them inside and out with paper and added an extra piece at the back to hinge them together (using brads) ...

... used a little more CS with a key hole for the front and some velcro to fasten ... The corners are made from circles cut in  pewter mirri board (score the circle into 4 and remove 1/4 of the circle to get the fold) ... All it needed then was a handle made again from card stock

Take a peek inside

Some English Afternoon Tea and a shabby heart

I scanned into my computer some of the Portobello Road paper and printed it on to fabric to make the heart

Just a few embellishments ... red white and blue and a little crown too ... As our Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee this year

... and there we have it ... my little London gift set!

Well I'm off to find some chocolate ... seeing as how it's Easter (like I need an excuse..Lol!)

I do hope you will be inspired to play along at Pixie  this month ... and I MUST mention that there are some FANTASTIC offers on at the moment ... hop over to the blog to see all the details ... I'd really hate for you to miss out!

Have a wonderful day ... Thanks for stopping by

~ Ros ~