Pumpkins - City Crafter 231

Hello...

It's a new challenge at City Crafter and this week we have the lovely Char hosting with a 

Colourful Pumpkin Challenge

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The challenge is to create a project that features a pumpkin which is 

any colour EXCEPT orange

So I went to my Hero Arts scarecrow digital image for this one ... He's such a happy guy and doesn't come out often ... He is pre-coloured and originally those pumpkins were orange but with a bit of magic using photoshop I was able to change the colour of the Pumpkins ... 

Here in the UK we only see orange pumpkins ... these colours are much more fun ... I printed the image a couple of times and fussy cut the pumpkins from one of the prints so I could pop them up on the card

I thought he'd look good with a little sign so I made a sort of chalkboard one for him 

Our GD this week is the talented Samra click the link and go visit her lovely Blog ... She has a wonderful style!

My fellow DT have some wonderful inspiration for you too on the City Crafter Blog ...

Thanks for your visit - Have a beautiful day

~ Ros ~

Stormy Times

Hello there...

I'm sorry I've been absent lately ... I've missed you....

 There are family issues that are taking up my time and energy

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I'm like the lighthouse right now as my family are being tossed by the storm ... I learned a long time ago that you cannot avoid the waves and the tide will take you no matter what you do ... Better that you can keep on treading water until the shore is in sight....

I'm hoping to be able to find time to create this week ... to turn my thoughts elsewhere for just a while

Thanks so much for your emails and your concern ... It's very much appreciated

Have a lovely day

~ Ros ~

City Crafter 230

Good morning!!

I'm hosting this week at City Crafter and the challenge I have set is to 

Focus on the sentiment

Create a card or project where the sentiment is your focal point

Inspiration photo

I've been playing a lot with Autumnal colours and my card this week features a sentiment about nature

I printed an ombre card and first stamped and embossed the BG before cutting an aperture for my sentiment which is slightly recessed

The leaves and acorns were coloured by sponging various inks onto previously white CS

Our Guest Designer this week is Laurkowa Kraina Winner of week 223 - click on her name to visit her blog where you can see her gorgeous creations

Once again we are offering a GD spot to this week's winner so I hope you'll come and play with us 

Don't forget to visit the City Crafter Blog to see the lovely creations from the rest of our team

Enjoy your day and thanks so much for stopping by

~ Ros ~

River

Hello...

I hope you're having a good weekend...

This week at 

Our Beautiful World

Manuela has chosen the prompt for us ... The word is River

Considering I live close to the River Mersey you'd think I would have quite a few photos ... but strangely enough I don't ... This one was taken when I was out walking my dog some years ago ... The tide is out but you can see the Runcorn bridge in the distance ... a kind of a landmark when returning home from a trip ... I would walk along the river bank here often ... It was always so peaceful

The next one is from my archives ... it was taken 20 years ago when I was on a boat trip along the River Thames

Tower bridge is in the background ... I spent a lot of my childhood in London and it always felt like home to me

This is a more recent one I took of my husband when we were in Cork in Ireland a couple of years ago ... this is the River Lee

It runs right through the centre of Cork

And these these next couple of shots are not technically Rivers ... But I thought they were worth sharing

A group of youngsters in Palma

A shallow river bed in Majorca

and a fjord in Norway

I hope you enjoyed seeing my photos ... We'd love you to link up yours at 

Our Beautiful World

Hop on over and take a look at the rest of the photos from around the world

Enjoy a peaceful Sunday

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Colours of Autumn

Good morning!

Autumn is slowly creeping in ... the trees are changing from dark green to rich gold, umber and red 

We had rain last night for the first time in ages and at 5am there was a thick fog around - A typical Autumn morning ... Now the fog has lifted and there is a stillness around, I think the trees will hold on to their leaves for a good while yet.

Over at The Mixed Media Card Challenge they are asking that we create a mixed media card using the Colours of Autumn with optional elements of leaves or metal

With under a week to go before the challenge finishes I got around to making a card

I water coloured the outer part of my card with some gold shimmerz paint to create a 'frame' for a wine label I got from the lovely Jacqueline

The wine label was shaded with various inks and then I did some stamping on top

Each of my leaves were cut from white CS and then shaded by sponging on different coloured inks ... a coat of Mod Podge dimensional was then applied to give them a glossy look

The fabric strip "colours of autumn" I had in my stash from an old scrapbook kit

To finish I added some berries (my trees are full of them right now) some fine threads and sequins and a little metal butterfly

I'd also like to enter this at The Card Concept Challenge

It's my first time playing here and I think my card would come under the Freestyle Collage

I hope you have a lovely Saturday ... Thanks so much for looking in

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Shaking Scarecrow

Happy Friday!

Time to start winding down and looking forward to the weekend...

It was such a busy night for me last night ... and hot with so many people in the room

My friend Pat had organised 2 cards for the group so I only had to come up with one to keep them going for the evening ... Being as the club is run by a church ... we are not allowed to make anything relating to Halloween so I decided on an Autumn shaker card.

I thought about the traditional way with foam tape but knew that there was no way they would be able to do that so I used a simpler method that I'd see Liz at Pink Petticoat do ... Using little clear bags

So this is what they made ... I printed 30 little scarecrows (a digital stamp by Hero Arts) and they just popped one in a bag with some sequins.

For the leaves I sponged inks onto 2 sheets of A4 CS and then cut the leaves on my cameo

They were so thrilled with how the shakers work and somehow we managed not to get the floor covered in sequins either Lol!

I hope you have a lovely day and a great weekend ...

Take care

~ Ros ~

Just another Birthday

Hello ...

Midway through the week already and I'm busy preparing for tomorrow's Thursday club when my DH decides he needs a birthday card to post to one of his golfing buddies ... like now!

So I quickly put something together ... which is a challenge for me ... I'm usually a slow card maker

I hope his friend likes it ... I mean there's a limit to how many golf themed cards a person can take right?

We're still having lovely mild weather for this time of year and I've been able to spend some time in the garden reading ... I'm a fan of Sophie Hannah's books and have read most of them ... This is the one I just finished ...

Next up is this one

I hope you're having a good week ... Thanks so much for your visit and taking the time to leave your lovely comments

Till soon

~ Ros ~

City Crafter Challenge 229

Hello ...

The time is flying by and here we are mid September and into week 229 of City Crafter challenges

This week I am so pleased to say that we have a new DT member joining us - The lovely Stella (A little bit of the things I enjoy blogspot) and I couldn't be happier!

Our challenge this week has been set by Kirsty ... She's chosen 

Diagonals

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I'm sure if you have looked around Blogland lately there is a big trend in using Diagonals in papercrafting ...

I had a million ideas for this challenge, in the end here's what I came up with

I've used diagonal scoring as well as cutting my CS to accommodate the word 'happy' diagonally

Happy what you may ask ... Well, as I didn't make this for any special event I decided to leave it as just "happy" on the outside and then I can put inside the card something like birthday, or anniversary, or everything! Depending on the occasion

Our Guest Designer this week is Carol (Just me:c blogspot) Our winner from week 210 ... Please hop over to visit Carol and see her fabulous creations and read her uplifting posts ... she makes me smile

We also have a prize this week sponsored by our brilliant host and creator of CCCB ... Kirsty

Fabulous chipboard letters just waiting for a coat of paint or crackle

Our team have some more inspiration for you so hop on over to CCCB and check it out and link up your amazing diagonal creations with us this week ...

Have a fun and happy day

~ Ros ~

Smile

Hello there...

It's my turn to pick a prompt at 

Our Beautiful World

And this week I've chosen the word

Smile 

Sometimes it's hard to muster up a smile when things go wrong... when all around the world there is so much to be sad about...

But remember "you're never fully dressed without your smile"

It doesn't take much to make this little guy happy ... I swear he's smiling!

(Edited in Picmonkey)

... and even on the darkest of days there is much to make me smile

Like seeing my 2 favourite guys smile

Ok, so it doesn't look like Ross (my great nephew) is smiling ... physically he can't ... he has moebius syndrome ... but inside he's smiling ... I can tell ... and my heart melts when I see my beautiful son smile

My roses are blooming again in autumn ... who would have thought? Now that's something to Smile about don't you think?

And at the close of day there's still a sunny smile from the evening primrose

It can take the littlest of things to bring a smile...

What makes you Smile? 

Link up with us at 

Our Beautiful World

and lets have a Smiley week

Enjoy your day my friends

~ Ros ~

Indian Summer

Hello!

Well, the school term has started back in the UK and now we're enjoying an Indian summer ... 

It also means that Thursday Club resumes tonight ... 

For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a weekly club where mentally and physically challenged adults meet to socialise, play games, craft or just to relax in the bistro... 

I run the craft class and it's always a challenge for me to come up with ideas and prepare them in a way my group of approx. 20 people can assemble. Fortunately my lovely friend Pat has been a blessing and is a terrific help.

So, this week we are making pretty boxes which they can decorate once they are assembled and fill them with treasures or sweets, or whatever they want ... 

This is a sample of what they will be like

The pretty paper is a digital from Pink Petticoat - everything is first cut out in thick card and then my group can just stick the ready cut papers on and assemble the box ... with a little help of course

I put a rose scented candle in this one

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at club tonight ... It may be hard work preparing everything but the result is so worthwhile when you see how happy it makes them.

I hope you are enjoying your day ... 

Till soon

~ Ros ~

City Crafter 228

Hi there!

Today at City Crafter we have Anna hosting for us with a Butterfly challenge

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Anna is asking that we use at least one butterfly on our project ... Simple right?

Our GD this week is the amazingly talented Pamellia of My Little Craft Things... If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing her beautiful creations then click the link and go visit her blog ... you won't be disappointed!

 Here's my card

A little something different ... Playing around with my Cameo I cut out a frame of connecting butterflies (3 different sizes) in white CS then cut them again using patterned paper

I sprayed and stamped on the butterfly frame and then adhered it to another piece of CS that I first stamped all over in text

Then added my fluttering butterflies ....

We have a generous Sponsor this week ... Deedee's Digis

Head over to the City Crafter Blog to check out all the details and to see the lovely projects from the team this week...

I hope you'll join in our challenge!

Have a lovely day!

~ Ros ~

Art Journal Page 3

Hello there ...

We've had some really nice weather these past few days ... the sun has been shining, though it cools right down in the evenings ... I've seen more bees and butterflies lately too ... I took these photos in the garden yesterday

I've also had a little time to play and use up some more scraps to make another page for my journal

I can't seem to get away from these colours ... I just love them

I've used paints, stamps, Rubons, chipboard and molding paste

I also did some crackle effect on my chipboard heart and the 'burlap' is actually made from paper

Before I go I want to wish a very 

Happy Birthday!!

to my sweet blog friend Ira ... I do hope your package has arrived!

I hope you're having a good start to your week ... I'll be back tomorrow with my project for CCCB

Till then, take care

~ Ros ~

Sweet

Hello and good morning!

It's time for a new prompt at 

Our Beautiful World

And the lovely Kirsty has picked the word

Sweet

These are some Sweet buns I made to take to a friend a couple of days ago ...

Unfortunately there are some family issues going on that have been taking a lot of my time and energy this past week, hence it's been a little quiet on my blog, so it was good to escape to a friend's house for the afternoon and eat something Sweet!

 The issues involve this Sweet little lady that my family and I love and adore ... 

My great niece Sophia ... 

I'm keeping this post short and Sweet ha ha! But I couldn't leave you without sharing a couple of photos of the Sweet boy in my life enjoying the lovely warm sunshine that we've had these past few days

Definitely Sweet!

Link up your "Sweet" photos with us this week at 

Our Beautiful World

And enjoy your day!

~ Ros ~