Palma

Hello...

I spent last week in Palma ... It was far too hot for me ...  DH loves the heat but not me...

The first day I was so miserable, my head ached, my tummy ached and I couldn't find any respite from the heat. 

I met Sid the seagull who came everyday to the hotel in search of a free meal...

... How I wished I'd had wings to fly away to somewhere cooler...

Fortunately my DH took pity on me and took me off to the beach where the sea air was fresh and a constant breeze put a smile back on my face as the sun and the sea turned my skin to a golden brown ... I found a special spot under this Palm tree

Over a few days we became best friends

Life is good at the beach ...

We did meet quite a few Americans on the island ... Some had travelled for 36 hours from Pennsylvania 

 Now though I've said goodbye to Sid ... he was sad

Goodbye to the lovely shaded street cafes in the city of Palma

To the designer shops with pretty windows

Even with that 30% discount the prices were crazy ... But I did spot this set I thought my blog friend Sue Lelli would LOVE ... it's just her colour

Sorry I couldn't buy it Sue ...

And what about this gold Eagle collar/necklace ...

There was a matching wrist cuff to this ... I dread to think how much this would cost ... they even had security guards on the door!

Thankfully for my husband I'm not into designer goods ... I like what I like, labels don't come into it ... And I much preferred this bicycle

...and the shop interior to the goods on sale

So for now I'm content to be home where my heart is ... with my kitties and my son and my craft supplies ... Catching up with my friends here and in Blogland and baking recipes from Pinterest like this (now half eaten) raspberry and cream cheese coffee cake

It's delicious and the recipe can be found Here

I hope you are having a lovely day ... I'll be back tomorrow 

Keep safe

~ Ros ~

Baby You Are One

Hello and Good morning!!

I'm happy to be back home and just in time for a special celebration

Our Beautiful World 

Is turning ONE this week! 

Congrats to my lovely friend and creator of Our Beautiful World ... Kirsty!

We are so grateful to you lovely people who have shared with us over this past year and we will be celebrating over the next 2 weeks with a

blog hop and prizes

We have a word prompt today and another one next week ... you can link up to either or both 

Please go on over to the Blog for full details and to see what you could win

Our prompt this week is

Baby You Are One

So... We were asked to post a photo of ourselves around the age of ONE ... 

I only have a single photo to share

I was about 15 months old ... Oh my goodness where did the years go?

Here I am with my Mum and my brothers ... 

I'm really looking forward to seeing your photos and here's the gift I am giving away

A purse from the UK and something for your photographs ... and maybe a little surprise too?

Here's the blog hop order ... 

Our Beautiful World

Kirsty

Ros

Milagros

Manuela

Robyn

Our Beautiful World

You need to start and end at Our Beautiful World 

Have a wonderful day

~ Ros ~

Red White and Blue

Hi there!

I hope your week is going well ... I'm on holiday so whilst you are reading this I'll be getting some R & R time!

Today of course is City Crafter Challenge day and this week we have Kirsty hosting for us with a 

Red White and Blue challenge

You may use other colours ... but the challenge colours must be prominent

Source

Of course there is only a short time before Independence Day so I have no doubt that this challenge will be easy peasy for many of you ...

Here's my card

I actually made this card for a dear friend of mine who went to live in the USA almost 30 years ago and celebrated her 60th birthday this month ...

It's another Cameo cut flower ... See, when I lost my mojo a few weeks back, I cut a few of these and made similar cards as you've seen in my previous posts so forgive me if you're fed up with them but 'needs must' as they say

Our Guest Designer this week is the lovely Victoriya of Fairy tales For Mary blog... Spotlight Artist from week 206 ... I just know she will be thrilled if you hop on over and say "Hi"

And the team have some lovely projects to inspire you at City Crafter so get out your paints, stamps, papers ... whatever you play with and come join us this week!

I'll be back at the end of the week so have fun and be safe

~ Ros ~

When The Unexpected Happens

Hi ...

I never expected that when I did this post for my friend and shared the card I made for her birthday that a week later I would be sharing a sympathy card for her daughter Elizabeth ...

Tragically 2 days after my friend celebrated her birthday, her son in law was killed in a car accident...

Elizabeth is left with 2 young children of just  5 and 2 ...

Somethings are just hard to comprehend ... It was only a few years ago that my friend's son lost his girlfriend in the same way...

He's gone on to find love again and a has a baby daughter now ... I can but hope that in time Elizabeth will be able to find peace and her new beginning...

~ Ros ~

Mail

Good morning!

It's time for a new word prompt at 

Our Beautiful World

This week we have Kirsty to thank for the prompt which is

Mail

Our Post (mail)boxes are bright red but this one is painted over in black as it's no longer in use ... I took this shot at Lands End and it's special because it's the first and last Post box in England

(altered using Picmonkey)

I love getting mail ... we do get inundated with junk mail but it's lovely when you get something special

Like this brown envelope dropping through the door

I knew straightaway it would be from Kirsty ... A Lovely Thank you card

And here's some mail I recently posted ... there are 9 friends and family birthday's this month

(photo altered in both iPhoto and Adobe PSE)

This little lot cost me almost £11 in postage!

My final photo today is of a lamp on my desk ... I just love that the burlap shade has a mail theme

Ok ...I'm handing over to you now ... I've got packing to do ... I'm leaving for a short vacation tomorrow but I'm looking forward to seeing your photos on my return

Please link up to 

Our Beautiful World 

And hop on over to the Blog to see more photos from around the globe ... remember you don't have to be an expert in photography ... this is just for fun

Have a beautiful day 

~ Ros ~

Blue ...

Hi there ...

It's been really warm again today and I've been working with DH in the garden ... somewhere in between I fitted in some baking... lemon slices ... and also put a lamb cobbler in the oven for dinner ...

There's been no time at all for creating with paper and I'm exhausted now ...

I have a card to share that I made last week for a friend who celebrates her birthday today ... I'm using the same blue flowers as I did for this card ... just a different design

My friend loves the colour blue and she once was a keen gardener ... now she's in her 80's and struggles with her health

The flowers were cut on the cameo so it was feasible to cut a few at the same time

The friend die is by Paper Smooches and what you see is the negative cut into the white card and the same dark blue paper from one of the flowers is placed behind

I hope to get around to visiting you all tomorrow ... This evening I'm going to curl up and watch one of may favourite programs ... The Good Wife ... I'm sure I'll be asleep shorty after!

Enjoy your day or evening ... Keep safe

~ Ros ~

Playing with chalks

Good morning ...

I do hope you're having a good week so far

Make it Monday at Papertrey Ink this week is tutorial by Melissa Phillips ... 

It's all about using chalks and the lovely effects you can get by embossing your card stock first and stamping over your chalks

I have used chalks before but never tried stamping over them so I thought it was time to pull out those long forgotten chalks and give it a go ... Unlike Melissa ... I chose not to stamp in co-ordinating colours but in a soft muted pearlescent ink and I also did some wet embossing on top of that

I really do like the effect and it was fun to see the transformation as you go

I'm hoping you can see the sheen on this ... I used Archival Brilliance ink 'Platinum Planet'

The sad part is that I can't link this up to PTI because my supplies from them are meagre and I realised after I completed it that didn't use anything of theirs on this card...

Oh well ...

Thanks for stopping by ... Have a lovely day

~ Ros ~

City Crafter "Fruits"

Hi there!

I'm here to share my card for this weeks' challenge at 

City Crafter

Where our hostess this week is the lovely Anna

Source

Anna challenge to us this week is to 

create a card or project with any sort of fruit on

I confess that I have a hard time using fruit on cards ... so this was a challenge for me ... I decided that a 'Get Well' card would be most appropriate

An apple a day keep the doctor away right? And whilst you may think this apple doesn't look too fresh being as it has spots ... well those spots are gold ink 

It's a Golden Delicious Lol!

... I cut my apple, used inks to colour it and then added lots of Glossy Accents

I think this would cheer someone up don't you think?

Our GD this week is the very talented Sylvia Nelson and we are so happy to have her with us ... Click on the link to visit her blog and check out her lovely creations ... she is such an artist with stamps and ink.

You too could be joining us with a guest spot ...  Hop over to the CCCB blog to see the projects from this week's DT and link up your lovely creations with us at 

City Crafter

Enjoy your day and thanks so much for stopping by today

~ Ros ~

Without change there would be no butterflies ...

Hello ...

This morning started sunny and warm but suddenly it's turned cool and overcast ... how quickly some things can change whilst other things can take a long time

A friend of mine celebrates her birthday today ... she always associates me to a butterfly, we have known each other for over 30 years - a lot has changed for me over that time ... perhaps that's why ...

So it's only fitting that I made a butterfly card for her ... 

My style has changed ... even the colours I use since I first started to make cards

I think I am a brighter, happier person these days ... in many ways that's down to blogging ... To the friendships I've made, to the support you give and to accepting that change can be good

I'm not afraid to try something new

One thing that hasn't changed is the bond I have with my friend and my deep affection and gratitude to her for being there when change was inevitable and I needed a hand to hold...

I hope you have a beautiful week

Till soon

~ Ros ~

By the Seashore

Happy Sunday!

I hope the sun is smiling down on you ...

Today at

Our Beautiful World 

The prompt is brought to us by the lovely Robyn who lives in Australia

I guess as it's summer here ... It's winter over there

 Robyn has given us a great prompt

By The Seashore

This is a recent shot I took when we were away a few weeks ago, staying in Santa Ponca Majorca

How I love that view ... So peaceful ... 

There's something so breathtaking about blue green waters, the 'woosh' of the waves and the sunlight dancing down ... 

On the island of Majorca there are lots of celebrities who are lucky enough to have homes overlooking the seashore

This belongs to 'Top Model'Claudia Schiffer

 Seashores vary from place to place ... This is part of the Seashore in Cornwall where surfing is a popular sport

Those rocks are huge ... and just as I was taking a shot ... This guy flew in ... hence the blur

Well, the Seashore is their territory...

Being an island we are surrounded by the sea ... One local Seashore that was always popular when I was a child was New Brighton ... we would get the Mersey ferry across and spend the whole day there ...

In it's hey day it was amazing ... a huge funfair, a big outdoor swimming baths (that I spent a lot of time in) and a rocky beach ... A child's paradise ... As I remember summers were always hot in those days ... But the Brits don't worry too much about walking on a beach in cold weather

Even if there's no one around ... The kids still see it as a treat... Especially Ross and Sophia

Whereas in Cadiz ... The heat is so fierce that on Sunday's it seems everyone takes to the seashore ... The roads are empty - the shore full

By midday there isn't a space left on that shoreline ... and mid afternoon the tide starts to creep in .... bit by bit the bathers move to the left until there are hundreds of people all crammed into one place ... reluctant to relinquish the day ... It's a funny sight

Well, these are my photos for the prompt ... We'd love to see yours at

Our Beautiful World

Come and link up with us ...

Have a lovely day

~ Ros ~

For Anna

Happy Birthday Anna!!

 Today the lovely and Uber talented Anna Rogalska (annar-mojepasje) celebrates her birthday

As well as being on many DT's Anna is part of our City Crafter team and we are celebrating up on the blog so please hop over and leave her some love

"Anna, I hope you have a wonderful birthday and many more to come ... your work is so amazing and always inspiring ... This card will be winging it's way over to Poland ... I hope you like it"

Big hugs to you!

~ Ros ~