A Bit of Sparkle

You ever get the feeling you want to just hide and let someone else take care of things for awhile? That's how I feel today .. It's just the way life is sometimes

Well how about some glitter to add a little sparkle I said to myself... I know, when did I last use glitter? Lol! Though there was a time I never made a card without it. That was in the days I went through my shabby chic faze... But I moved on and these have smooched backgrounds

I used 2 distress oxide inks  Broken China and Cracked Pistachio and one ordinary distress ink Blueprint Sketch... Well, I only own 3 oxide inks so far but I love these colours

I don't have much in the way of glitter anymore either... This is an old one by Kaban

My next card also has acetate covering it so not easy to photograph but I didn't want any of that glitter to shed

 

I have a feeling Miss Sophia may claim this one, she loves glittery things

Both cards were done the same ... Die cutting the images out of the smooched BG and then adding double sided adhesive in the negative part and burnishing the glitter into the space...

Well I feel better already...

Have a lovely day my friends

~ Ros ~

Save

Hello

Hi there...

Well having had a warm and sunny bank holiday weekend, the weather has turned today and it's gone quite cool...sigh

I went to see a prospective property for my Aunt today, even though it appears she had decided to stay in Lincoln - I'd made the appointment last week so thought I'd still go along and check it out and I was very pleasantly surprised... It's pretty near perfect - just needs a little updating. So when talking to her earlier I mentioned it and she was thrilled! Seems the move maybe back on the cards again! I tell 'ya, my head is all over the place! Thank goodness I can lose myself in creativity from time to time...

Here's another card from one of my watercoloured pieces

I used some translucent embossing paste through a dots stencil and then Versamark through a leaf stencil which I embossed in gold

You can just about make out the shine of the translucent paste

 

The die cuts were smooched in Versamark and embossed with a mix of gold and silver embossing powders - That little hello die by Technique Tuesday was a gift from Lol & Bonnie at CAS Watercolour... Those ladies are just the sweetest! Thank you both so much!

I still felt my card needed 'something' and I remembered how my friend Darnell had recently used score lines on one of her recent cards and it looked fabulous so that's what I did too.

I've got to run - I have a cake in the oven - A recipe from Pinterest (how I love that place) it's a blueberry and peach cake and it looks divine! Hubby's mouth is watering Lol!

Catch up with you later in the week...

Take care

~ Ros ~

 

Sending hugs

Hello there...

It's bank holiday monday here and the city will be heaving with people... It's the Beatles festival, with  groups playing live everywhere, and a few miles away is the famous Cream Fields music festival. Thankfully it's warm and the sun is shining...

 I have another card to share, made from left overs

 The background was a piece of previously sponged and water splattered cs and I added some translucent embossing paste with a stencils over the top

The sentiment was cut from a sponged and siver embossed left over and the die cut leaf was smooched in versamark and embossed

An update on my Aunt...

We've spoken many times over the past few days and as I expected, she made the sudden decision to move scared by her recent stay in hospital. Having had a few days to settle she's now thinking differently. In Lincoln she has a far better quality of life - I've always known that, the north doesn't have nearly as much to offer, so I never pushed the issue of her moving, much as I wished she were nearer. Where she is she has all her friends around her and they really look after her. Her home is safe and perfect in everyway for her needs, quiet, in a pretty rural village, and ground level with much cleaner air than here. For a person with asthma and heart problems that's a big thing. Sadly nothing here could compete to the care she recieves where she is - from the health authorities to the volunteer drivers who take her anywhere she wants to go.....And more importantly, she loves living there and admits she would be so unhappy to leave it all behind. 

It goes without saying that I would love to have her with me, I adore her, but I know how independent she is, she loves her own company, having people around for an hour or so is fine but living with family, much as we love them, is a no no. We are very alike in that way so truth be told, she doesn't really want to give up her life in Lincoln and leave her friends. Somehow we will work it out, so that she has the best life she can for however many years she has...

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you all have a beautiful day

~ Ros ~

 

Been Playing......

Good afternoon...

First of all - Thanks so much for your well wishes for my Aunt, she is out of hospital now but has given me a dilemma... She has decided that she wants to move near to me and whilst I would LOVE to have her close by even living with me, she wants to be independent and finding something suitable is not easy. It's weighing heavily on my mind...

Then my lovely Ginger cat had to visit the vet again as he wasn't well but thankfully he is now doing ok and the vet was delighted to see he's lost weight Yay! Only about 3 kgs to go Lol!

So to relax I decided to pull out my crafting stuff yesterday ... I have so many unused die cuts and plenty of watercoloured and sponged pieces I made but just abandoned so I thought I'd get out my stencils, paste and embossing powders...

I only completed 4 cards but embossed a lot of things to use again. Today I have a card using a piece of watercolour I did with the salt technique - I'm guesting with the lovely ladies over at 

 CAS Watercolour this month

Where I was introduced to this technique, anyway here's my card

I cut a little jar from my salted watercolour piece and glossed it with Mod poge dimensional then added some sprigs...

There's a left over watercoloured sprig of coral and an embossed sprig. When it comes to using silver and gold, well, I often find that the gold is too dull or the silver too flat so I took an empty jar and mixed some of each powder together and I much prefer this colour

I'll share some more of my makes in the next week... 

I hope you have a beautiful weekend and I really hope those of you affected by the latest storm in Texas are safe and sound

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Save

Groningen, The Netherlands

Hello there...

I said I would share some photos of our trip to The Netherlands to visit my dear friend Stella and her family last month... I know some of you won't be interested so feel free to move on as there are a lot of photos even though I've narrowed them down...

I'm not sure what I expected having never been to The Netherlands but I loved it and look forward to going back sometime soon.

So on arrival, Stella met us at the airport and we took a train a couple of stops to meet her lovely husband Marcel who drove us to see one of Stella's sisters, Jacqueline and her husband Fritz

 Such lovely people and it was like meeting family... It was late and a long drive to our hotel across a huge dyke! It took 2 hours and we were ready for bed when we finally arrived.

Over the next few days Stella and her husband Marcel took us to so many places but first was Groningen Railway Station, which I absolutely  fell in love with.... It was like I had been there before somewhere in time

 

It had a gorgeous coffee place and I could just image meeting up here on a regular basis with friends... From here you can take a train and be in Paris in around 9 hours or a short trip will take you to Germany... Oh boy, I would love to do that next time

We visited the huge University bulildings... Like a city on their own and everywhere were canals and people on bicycles... In the afternoon Marcel and Martijn took my husband to a football match

Whilst Stella and I relaxed in her lovely garden... Yep, it did rain but it was warm

We dined out that evening and got ready for a full day ahead on Sunday...

This lovely guy drove us just about everywhere!

We had wonderful food and plenty of coffee stops

Over a couple of days we saw the most amazing buildings and pretty little houses with beautiful gardens

...Many of which had a little bridge over the canal to the front door

Got to love the little gate halfway across the bridge!

There were quaint shops with crocheted goods and of course lots of tulips

The inside of a house in this tourist spot was just as it had been many years ago... All the old fashioned goods on display

We saw windmills...

And yes it was windy Lol!

A large Flea market...

And more bicycles...
Took coffee beside the dyke

 
We even saw storks nesting

So there is a little insight to our trip and to The Netherlands - We had an amazing time and a huge Thank you to Stella and Marcel for making it magical!

I hope you enjoyed seeing the photos

Till soon

~ Ros ~

A Girl with Attitude and a Watercolour Card

Hi there!

Gosh we've had some rain here I tell 'ya... Hailstones as well! But personally I've enjoyed this summer... The garden has never looked to colourful and we had some lovely days...

I'm feeling better too and the medication my doctor gave me for my eczema is working...I haven't said much about it but since June I have really struggled with blisters everywhere and burning skin that keeps me awake night after night... Now if they could get rid of the sciatica I would be like a spring chicken Lol!

On the downside my lovely aunt is in hospital with heart problems but I got to speak to her this morning and she is happy and upbeat. At least I know she is being looked after where she is.

So I have a crocheted girl to share with you...

 I'm trying to add a little character to the faces and this one turned out to be a girl with attitude rather than the cutie I was going for Lol! It's a learning curve...

 I also have a card done with some watercolours and odd bits I had laying about

Well, if the rain holds off hubby and I are going to take a drive and have lunch... maybe even a little retail therapy...

 And just before I finish, take a look at my 2 cats... Bunk beds!

I hope you have a great weekend

~ Ros ~

 

CAS Watercolour Challenge Reminder

Hi there!

Just a reminder of the current challenge at

CAS Watercolour Challenge

Where I am lucky enough to be guesting for the month of August

As you know the challenge is to use salt with your watercolour - Have you seen the wonderful entries on the Blog? Go take a look and check out the amazing team creations too

Here's my card for the reminder post

 Gambai Tambi paints were used on ordinary cardstock and simple table salt sprinkled on the wet paint. This time I thought the result looked like water being splashed so I cut a mermaid from Vellum that had been splattered with gold paint and just added the tail end

I didn't adhere it down completely so the tail kind of moves like it's splashing...

I also splattered the BG with gold paint and then used Glossy Accents to look like water droplets

I told you that no two pieces ever come out the same, that's what's so fun about this technique... Have you tried it yet? There's still time to enter your creations

A HUGE thank you to the wonderful team for inviting me to join them this month... It's been an absolute pleasure and I've learned something new too!

Wishing you all a lovely day

~ Ros ~

Gold and Silver

Hello there...

I hope your week started well... I'm feeling a little under the weather today, maybe a cold coming, so I'll keep this brief

I have a set of cards I made last week... Seems I needed more female birthday cards than I thought for this month so I made 3 the same but ut with a slight variation in colour

There's white embossing

Gold embossing and gold die cut

...And then there's silver

Pretty quick and simple cards to have to hand

I'll be posting my reminder for the CAS Watercolour Challenge in a couple of days... I hope you'll pop by

Wishing you a lovely day

~ Ros ~

Updates

Good morning!

I hope this finds you well....

It's been almost a week since I posted due to my computer being updated. I love my desk top Mac but the system was old and over time I found less programs supported it... Time for a change and thank goodness for my amazing son Mikey. He spent days backing up everything and installing a new up to date system for me. Then it meant reinstalling and navigating my way around the new system....There were a few hiccups but I'm getting there.

 

I haven't been idle though, I picked up my crochet hooks and made a few things 

 

A sweet owl baby

Isn't he adorable?

 

 

 The pattern for this came from Here and there are alternatives using the basic 'doll' pattern which I hope to make too

I also made this one which I call Little Ant

I didn't have a pattern for this... I just improvised

And I used up some odd wool to make a little owl bag...

 

...Using a pattern from Here 

It's just wonderful that people share their videos, patterns and talent so that people like me can actually learn 'how to'

In addition to these I've packed up 3 projects for next term at Thursday Club, so no slacking here Lol!

Pat is coming over in a few hours so we will be pulling out the papercrafting stuff...

Sending you warm wishes for a beautiful day

~ Ros ~

 

Anniversary Card

Hello... How are you?

I can't believe another week has flown by... I was up early this morning to take my DH to hospital for his scan appointment and somehow I just can't get myself into the daily routine...

I've spent the past few days making projects for next term at Thursday Club and I guess I'm just a little tired. 

Today's card is made up of some of my scraps...

Last week I did a card using the tissue paper technique (Here) and I had a big old heart left over so I pulled out my box of other left overs and found the centre from another heart I'd used way back in May and surprisingly they went quite well together

I even managed to cut out the word 'love' from my left over... I added a die cut frame and printed a piece of cardstock with a digital paper called Cashmere - a sort of pale grey colour.

A few sequins and my card is complete and ready to mail to some friends who are celebrating a wedding anniversary in a few days.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, thanks so much for your visit

~ Ros ~