Bright and Happy Wishes

Hello...

The big day has come and gone for another year and it's time to put away the Christmas stamps and look ahead to the new year... And maybe the diet Lol!

 

 I can't believe Mikey turns 36 tomorrow and the last day of the year my friend's daughter, Carla, celebrates her birthday

Today I'm sharing the card I made for Carla

 I went with bright inks and lots of splatters, it's shame you can't see how sparkly this is

The leaf dies are from The Works, I know I have plenty but I couldn't resist them

 

 

2018

It's been an eventful year in many ways... Some good and some not so good. 

Throughout the years I've made wonderful friends in our blogging community and I'm thankful to you all for your support and continued friendships... You've inspired me, picked me up when I was struggling and encouraged me in so many ways.

I don't know where 2019 will take me or what the universe has in store but I hope it will be a good year for all of us ...

I wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year 

 

~ Ros~

 

And there's More...

Good morning!

Got time to see a few more cards? I'll be really quick

 

Here we go

Brighter inks on this one

 

...One for a cat lover friend

 

 

And back to blues

I'll enter this last one at Double D Challenge 

where the theme is Let It Snow

 

 

I'm wishing you all a Wonderful Christmas and may

Peace Health and Happiness surround you this season

Hugs

~ Ros ~

Soft Snowy Scenes

Hello there... Are you all ready for the big day?

 Only 4 more sleeps!

I've a couple more cards to share, this time they are softer snow scenes

 

I used a glitter pen on the ornaments but unfortunately it doesn't show up on these photos

I stamped the trees first with distress ink (Iced Spruce) and then over stamped in Versamark and white embossed them

I used a HA ink (cornflower) on the trees here

and one of those tiny sponges for the moon

I also used a correction pen for the falling snow... It's a little quicker than paint and fast drying.

 

My great niece Sophia asked me to make her a some fingerless mittens when she was here on Sunday... I managed to get one done whilst she was here and she insisted on wearing that home so the other one has been mailed to her... She also asked me to make her a crocheted sleepy unicorn! Well, I've finished crocheting all the parts so today I have to sew it all together...

I've also had a big clear out in my craft room and little by little I'm getting to where I want to be in 2019 but more on that another time.

Have a beautiful day

~ Ros ~

 

Birthday Boys

Good morning...

It's another dark and windy day here but it's not too cold.

It also happens to be my nephews birthday and here's a card I made for him

I love playing with distress inks as you can tell 

And plenty of splattering as well

A friend's husband also celebrates a birthday tomorrow so here's one I did for him

What can I say? I love blues and greens 

 

Seems I still have more Christmas cards to do... Hubby decided he needed more yesterday!!

At least I have all my gifts wrapped and ready and my cards have been mailed so for once I am not stressing...

I hope things are going well at your end... Enjoy your day

~ Ros ~

Snowy Scenes

Hello! 

How are you all? It's been awhile since I posted...

 It's been a busy week here catching up with friends and of course I was at the hospital on Monday for injections in my neck to ease the Arthritis... Honestly I was really dreading it but I survived Lol!

I had to have 3 joints in my neck injected on both sides with steroids and for those nurses amongst you, you will no doubt realise what I didn't... Each  one took 3 needles so in total that was 18 needles!!

But I'm feeling fine and the steroids have put my eczema into remission which a brilliant side effect for me... No itching!!

 It's been so dark and wild here - today is a little brighter but yesterday it was so wet and windy and it looked like night time all day....Trying to take photos of my cards has been a nightmare...

I'm expecting my brother shortly with my great niece Sophia so I have a little time to share some more cards. I thought I was all finished with Christmas cards but apparently not, my husband asked for some cards for his old work colleagues so I did a few snowy scenes

The photos are still not very good but hey ho...

So far we haven't had any snow where I am but boy it's been so cold!

For the most part the cards are done with ink blending, stamping and some glitter

 

Well, I've no doubt that you are all busy this time of year so I'll wish you a beautiful day and I hope to catch up with you soon and see what I've missed on your blogs 

Many thanks to everyone that has sent me a gorgeous handmade Christmas card too!

Hugs

~ Ros ~

New Moon

Hello

 Today I just wanted to share a little tip with you but

before you say "I've already seen that card"...Well you have, or rather a similar one.

Some of you were interested as to how I did the moon on my cards and I did explain that in the post Here.

 But I thought you'd like to see another version, done slightly differently

For this effect, after inking the blue BG I then 'stamped' very lightly with the ink blending tool in Fossilized Amber DI where I wanted the moon to be...

Then I took a clean damp sponge and swirled over it like I did in the original post.

Two different moons but both equally effective don't you think?

 Enjoy your day

~ Ros ~

CAS Watercolour Card Challenge

Hello from a very dull and wet Liverpool.. 

What's a girl to do but stay warm and make a card for the final challenge of this year at

CAS Watercolour Card Challenge 

I've had such fun with this challenge so my card is dedicated to you all lovely ladies on the team for your encouragement and inspiration

I did some stamping, masking and embossing for the scene

 Then I used Distress Inks to paint the sky, images etc.,

For the sign I used stamps from 2 different sets and painted that too then finished it all off with a white correction pen for snow on the trees, the sign and around the base of the little cabins.

On another note, I went for my check up following the spine surgery I had earlier this year and all was well ... However, the arthritis is causing problems in lots of other places in particular my neck, feet and hands. Oh I love this ageing process Lol! So I am being scheduled for injections in my neck... 8 of them I'm told. The consultant did warn me that they would be painful, so I'm still not sure if I'll go through with it but it's either that or constant pain...

Till then I'll keep on creating

Have a beautiful day and thanks so much for stopping by

~ Ros ~

Wintery Sympathy Card

Hello there...

Did you have a good weekend? 

We did a little shopping but nothing exciting - Everywhere is so busy at this time of year and there are lots of sales on too.

My husband still keeps in touch with his school friends though many are now in other parts of the country and unfortunately we got the news that one of them suddenly lost his wife a few days ago. It really upset my husband... I'd never met her but Ian remembers going to her 21st birthday party all those years ago. I made a wintery card for him to send

 

Ink blending, painting and stamping but a little different this time, using a circle die for a stencil

 

I know I said I was finished with Christmas cards but maybe I'll make a few more with a stencil.. I like how this turned out.

I mailed my first Christmas gift today... I've a ton of cards to write and more gifts to send... That's the part I don't like.. Sitting here making cards and crocheting gifts is the enjoyable bit. Lol!

 

Till soon

 

~ Ros ~

A Couple of Cards

Hello there...

 

I've been missing for awhile I know... Just busy with other things as I'm sure many of you are this time of year.

 

I have a couple of cards to share that I made, this time using DP and digital papers... 

One is a Christmas card

 

 

I rarely use DP but I really like this one... It's from a pad I got at AliExpress and it needs very little else to transform it - a few sequins, a scrap piece of a glittered wreath and an embossed sentiment

 

 

This next one is probably the last of those gnomes, though I can't promise you that... It's a birthday card for my nephew who celebrates his birthday quite close to Christmas

 

 

I used digital papers from The Lovely Studio and ran the white CS through first to get a silver grey checked base card and then printed the star design onto another piece of white CS and stamped on it. 

 

 

It kind of looks blue here but it is grey... The lighting is not good to take photos given the weather

 

I think I'm all done with Christmas cards now and need to get my head into birthday card mode... I mean even this looks Christmassy doesn't it? Not that he'll mind - And I really need to start getting things ready for Christmas mailing...

 

I promise to catch up with you all soon... And many thanks to the team at CAS Mix Up for the mention this month

 

Have yourselves a great day

 

~ Ros ~

More Gnomes

Hello...

Thought I'd pop in and share a couple more gnome cards with you...

 

I have so much fun relaxing and colouring these.. Ink blending, stamping, painting and splattering - Just a shame I can't pick up the sparkle

If you are wondering about the moon in the background... I do this after ink blending using a clean sponge on the ink blender tool, spray it with water lightly and swirl it on the background. It picks up the ink but doesn't give it that stark white effect. I guess it's down to preference.

 And the second one...

It's so cold here right now and I won't be surprised if we see some snow soon too

I'm off to Ikea with hubby now... I can't say I like going there but it's cosy in the car that's for sure!

Have a great day

~ Ros ~ 

Edit... For everyone that asked about the stamp and dies used here... They're from AliExpress. There was a free set with a craft magazine sometime ago and also Apple Blossom crafts do a similar set... Hope this helps.

Gnome Season

Well, not really ... Just that I've made a few gnome cards today.

Actually I think it's arthritis season, my wrists and feet are really hurting. I guess it's the cold weather...Funny things happen this time of year... Take this morning for example... At 8am the phone rang... I thought it was my husband's friend (didn't have my glasses on you see) and I was cursing him as we were still in bed... Well we are retired. Anyway I didn't get it but now I had to get up, feed the cats and birds and then shower. At around 9am the same number rang again... I didn't get to it in time so passed the phone to my husband to call his friend. Turns out is was my son's mobile number that called but he asleep and his phone was switched off! WTH???

Anyway... Here's one of my gnome cards for you

 This little guy was coloured with Copics and though you can't see it, he has a sparkly beard too - those little lines are a sparkly gelly pen

He looks like he hiding under a fir tree but actually those fir branches are upside down tree stamps did you notice? I thought they worked well.

 I did a little ink blending to give the illusion of a slope and then I wet a paint brush and painted around the base of my gnome, added some liquid pearls and some splattering of diluted white acrylic paint to finish.

I'll share the others later in the week... 

Wishing you a lovely day

~ Ros ~

 

Watercolour Christmas Cards

Hello... How are you all?

Hubby is feeling much better and the sky is a lot brighter today

Today I have 2 more cards to share that I made last week - Painted with distress inks (as in my last post) but this time I turned them into Christmas cards

I splattered these in white paint for snow and just added a die cut deer

These are my favourite cards to make... I can do quite a few at a time... Here's another

I think I'd be happy to receive one like this too

Yesterday evening we had a beautiful sunset.. The sky looked amazing! I think I may try to emulate that in my next painted card...

 

I lunched with my GF's earlier this week and they all asked me to make them a pair of the wrist warmers I've been crocheting so that's kept me busy for a couple of days but I enjoy it.

I hope you have a beautiful day... Take care and thanks for popping in on me

~ Ros ~

 

 

Spare Leaves

Yep... there are plenty of spare leaves around right now, the garden is covered in them. No sooner do we clear them when another flurry comes raining down.

But the title of my post refers to the two cards I am sharing today using the spare leaves cut from the background of the card in my previous post

This is a one layered card painted loosely with distress inks and stamped.. It's good quality card and the secret is not to wet it too much... I dry it on both sides to stop any warping

I made it for my brother Rick who has a birthday tomorrow

This next one is very similar

I do like those leaves and just a little touch of sparkle can make a big difference

Hubby is still struggling with his back and I'm hoping he can see a chiropractor sometime today...It's no fun for either of us him being like this poor guy

I'll catch up with you soon... enjoy your day

~ Ros ~

More Cards...

Hello and good morning...

I don't know what I'll be up to this weekend.. I was expecting to go out today to do some shopping  and then tomorrow, off to visit a friend for her birthday...

But yesterday hubby came home from golf unable to walk more than a few steps... He put his back out. He was in a lot of pain and you all know there is nothing as bad a a man in pain...By the end of the day I was totally exhausted Lol!

He's much improved today, though I still had to put his socks on for him and all he can do is sit at the moment so we'll see.

I said I would share some more cards that I did this past week... Whilst I had the glitter and distress inks out, I did a card for my friend's birthday similar to the card in my previous post...

 This time I used a leaf die to cut the space for my glitter

And then of course I had leaves to spare so here's one of the cards I made with the a spare leaf

I added touches of glitter to the spare leaf and I used 2 dies to get that mesh looking piece... I like to combine dies, cut bits of them and get something different...

The photos are not perfect though... It's so dull here and I've tried moving around to different rooms to get better pictures but you get the idea.

Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday in the UK.. A day we think about all those who fought, gave their lives and endured the many conflicts around the world... It's also the first anniversary of my sweet Aunt's passing... She was evacuated to New York for most of WW2 and my Father (her brother) went to serve in the Royal Navy ... He was only 15. My beautiful mother on the other hand, was in London and survived the many bombings...Fortunately she was only hospitalized once having been cut by flying glass. I like to think they are altogether now happy and smiling.

Enjoy your weekend my friends

~ Ros ~