Window

Good morning...

This week's prompt over at 

Our Beautiful World

is Window ... Chosen for us by Mandy

Well, I may have shared this little porthole window before but I love it ... It looks out on Stavanger in Norway

There are all sorts of windows ... how about lighthouse windows

 

Tiny cottage windows in Cornwall

The ornate windows of a Mosque in Gibraltar

or the beautiful stained glass windows in one of our two cathedrals

Really hard to capture just how beautiful they are

Then there are broken windows...

Shop windows...

And well, La Coruna in Spain has just row upon row of windows

Share your window shots with us at

Our Beautiful World

Have a lovely day

~ Ros ~

Darnell's Tour

Hello there...

As most of you know the lovely Darnell is on a UK tour to visit lots of her blog friends and I was lucky enough to spend 2 days with her.

On Tuesday the plan was to meet up in Liverpool city and my DH was driving Darnell, Shirley Em and I to meet up with Monica at our lunch venue. After lunch my DH was going to chauffeur us around for a little tour of my city.

Alas, things didn't go according to plan - as I went off to collect the ladies my husband discovered a flat tyre. So we took a taxi to our lunch venue whilst DH got the car sorted. 

Lunch was lovely and it was like we'd all known each other for ages

Here we are

It took a few hours for the car to be fixed but we just chatted away and then DH picked us up for a shortened tour

Yesterday Pat and I drove out to Knutsford to meet up with Darnell for another lunch and a whole host of beautiful crafty bloggers

I can't tell you how wonderful it was and just how lovely and kind Darnell is ... She's a real gem

I'm so not used to all these meetings, my voice is hoarse right now ... I kind of live a quiet life and type more than I talk Lol!

I thought you'd like to see the card I made for Darnell

I'm addicted to that cat! I did a little masking so I could do a BG and made a little banner

He's a fat cat like my Ginger but don't worry he hasn't swallowed a hamster haha!

It has been a year of so many ups and downs and I will treasure the meetings I've enjoyed in 2016 with Stella, Kirsty, Darnell and all the lovely ladies I got to meet over the last 2 days.

If you read this Darnell, Thank you for inviting me and have a beautiful time and safe travels.

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Another Guy Card and Thank Goodness for Bloggers

Hello there...

I enjoyed a wonderful day with Darnell and her friends Shirley, Monicka and Em... It was just what I needed considering that the night before I received what I can only describe as a vile email banning me from my friend Eileen's funeral.....sigh

I know... There are some very nasty people in this world so thank goodness for all you sweet and lovely bloggers, ours is a wonderful community.

Now before I shoot off to spend another day with Darnell and meet even more crafty bloggers (great huh?)  I have a card to share that I made for my husbands friend who celebrates his birthday soon.

 

Just playing with inks again but you know I'm pretty addicted to them 

...And they can bring a card together so quickly

When I create I can just let go of all the awful stuff out there and have fun

I'll share some photos in the week and let you know how today goes

Take care and have a beautiful day

~ Ros ~

City Crafter 322

Hi there ...

It's time for a new challenge at City Crafter and this week Kirsty is hosting for us 
The theme is Postcard from the World

Photo Credit

The challenge is to create a project that includes either a postmark, postage or travel theme

My lovely friend Pat is off on a family holiday later in the year and this will be going to her

Can you guess where she'll be going? Oh yes... The USA! New York in fact...She has been before though and I'm sooo jealous!

So my card has both a travel theme and postage, lucky I had those papers in my stash and the vacation sticker, the stamp shape and the airplane were cut on my cameo

 

Our Guest Designer this week is the very talented Kathy Schweinfurth, winner of week 318, do go visit her lovely blog and take in her amazing creations...

As always the team have more inspiration for you up on the City Crafter blog and we look forward to seeing what you come up with...

I'm off to the city today to finally meet the lovely Darnell along with a few more of her blog buddies, and tomorrow I get to go play with her and a whole bunch of bloggers!

Have a great day yourselves

 Till soon

~ Ros ~

 

Happy Birthday Stella

Good morning!

We are celebrating on the City Crafter Blog today... It's my dear friend and team mate
 Stella's birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STELLA!!!! 

Wishing you a wonderful day filled with love and happiness...Mwah!

Here's the card I made for her

 

I know that Stella loves blue so that's what I went with

We'd love it if you popped over to the City Crafter Blog and left some love and birthday wishes for our dear friend

I'll see you there!

Enjoy your day!
 

~ Ros ~

Baking..

Hello and good morning...

I'm returning today after a little blog break to share my post for

Our Beautiful World

I picked this week's prompt and it's Baking

I baked a few things yesterday... The weather has been so hot since I last blogged and told you we had rain... Typical! Well hot weather is great for proving bread so that was my first job

 

I much prefer home baked bread ... no sugar and just simple ingredients 

Then I went on to bake one of my favourites

Any guesses? I just love anything with almonds so this is a Bakewell Tart

 

As it's summer we are taking advantage of the fruits available like British strawberries and I made us a strawberry creme patisserie with the last few in the fridge

 

My husband loves it when I bake ... he especially loves the pastry and I always use the left-over to make him a special little pie which he already ate so no photo Lol!

My final photo is one of a sign that I have hanging in my kitchen ... I love it

Hop on over to see what the team are sharing this week at

Our Beautiful World

Have a wonderful day

~ Ros ~

Retirement Card

Hello there ...

I'm feeling a little better having taken a short blog break... It's taken awhile to settle following the loss of my friend, I'm still not sleeping but that is partly down to the heat and my son has not been well.

Ross, however, is doing fine now and is at home recovering after a tonsillectomy that didn't go too well... And finally my home is looking a little straighter!

A couple of weeks ago we had the lounge redecorated but the fabric for the cushion covers hadn't been touched and there was so many things I needed to do including moving the furniture back, now the cushion covers are done, the furniture is back except for the new suite which has been delayed and I've done some card making - Ha! you should see how much ended up in the bin though...

One of the cards is a retirement card for my BIL - here it is

I'm loving that cat ... he's a digital from 'From The Heart Stamps' and I coloured him with Copics

I saw the sentiment on Pinterest and thought that in my case it is perfectly correct!

I also made another masculine card for my husband's friend who celebrates his birthday soon ... I'll share it with you next week

I hope you are enjoying your weekend, it's lovely weather here but a little muggy for me

I'll be catching up with you all very soon...

Take care

~ Ros ~

 

Make Us Smile

Hello again, 

As promised here's my 2nd post for today and it's just sheer fluke that both of my posts today are tropical type cards...

It's not usual for me to do 2 posts in one day but a while ago one of my cards made the Top 5 at 

Try It On Tuesday

 I was thrilled to be offered a Guest Design spot for this week...

The theme is Make Us Smile and here's what I came up with

Actually, all we in the UK were experiencing was rain, not much sign of Summer at all... So I created something that at least made me smile... Does it make you smile?

 

I cut the palm trees on my Cameo and went to town with my ink blending ... The sentiment is computer generated

Do go visit the 

Try it On Tuesday 

challenge blog and check out all the wonderful projects from the team and link up your 

Make Us Smile creations.

Many thanks to the lovely team for having me on board today

Enjoy your day 

~ Ros ~

 

City Crafter 321

Hello there ...

I have 2 posts for you today ...

This is my first for the new challenge at City Crafter where Marina has picked the theme

Typically Tropical 

Photo Credit

Marina is asking that we create a project using, well, anything tropical! Grass skirts, sunshine, palm trees etc.,

I went for bright colours, flip flops and perhaps not a palm leaf but hey use your imagination, I had to...

The day I made this the rain was pouring down and there was little evidence of anything tropical here believe me...

Our Guest designer this week is Karren J ... Winner of our challenge week 316. If you love CAS you're going to love her creations ... hop on over to her blog and take a peek 

The City Crafter team have more inspiration for you up on the blog, go take a look and come join in our challenge ... We'd love to see what you come up with.

Bye the way, I have another tropical card on my next post as it happens

Enjoy your day

~ Ros ~

Just a note

Hello...

 I wanted to let you know that my dear friend Eileen passed away yesterday evening.....

She never asked me for anything, certainly not to undertake responsibility for her, and be her primary carer. In fact she never wanted me to know how ill she was because she knew I'd be upset. When I did find out and found her in a hospice, where she'd spent a month with no visitors, I made her a promise - As her own children were not going to be there for her, I would...I would take the journey with her and be there till the end...
  I kept my promise...3 long months and 7 heart wrenching hours by her side yesterday have left me numb,exhausted and brokenhearted

My wonderful son and lovely husband have supported me and helped me throughout my quest to honour my friend and you lovely people have been amazing, keeping Eileen and I in your thoughts and prayers, giving me the strength to continue when many times I felt overwhelmed and out of my depth. 
To you all - I thank you with all my heart.

In the midst of all this there has been much going on and yes, much neglected... My adored great nephew Ross is in hospital as I write and our family are once again in turmoil...I've long forgotten what normality is...

Tomorrow I have 2 posts scheduled and then I am taking a little timeout. I won't be visiting your blogs for the next few days but I know you're fine with that. 

Hugs to you all

~ Ros ~




 

Green

Hello there ...

I'm popping in with my photos for this week's prompt at

Our Beautiful World

Kirsty has chosen the word "Green" 

I love just about every shade there is of green

 I'm lucky to live in a country that is full of greenery... My own garden is surrounded by trees inside and out and we have had so much rain this year that everything keeps on growing

It's a tough job keeping it all in some sort of order and something I have little time for right now, still the butterflies like it

The ducks on the ponds don't mind it....

The alien looking ferns continue to unfurl with every burst of intermittent sunlight enjoying every  drip drop of rain

And even the sea rocks love their coats of green

What's not to love? Green is restful, green is beautiful

Share your photos with us at Our Beautiful World and go see what everyone else is sharing this week

Have a beautiful day

~ Ros ~

 

Birthday Boy

Hello there ...

I've managed to find a few hours to catch up on DT projects and today I have a card to share ... A really quick card that I made for the hubby of a friend yesterday ... 

I can't believe I actually remembered his birthday, even if it was last minute...

As I said this was a quick card ... I pulled out some inks to sponge a BG and then used Wplus9 stamps for the sentiment and the little paper pieced yachts

This week's trend challenge at Just Us Girls happens to be sponging so I'm going to enter my card there

The sun is shining here for a change and it really makes everything so much better... I spent the morning with my sick friend in the nursing home and soon my crafty friend Pat is coming over

Wishing you all a wonderful day

~ Ros ~