Friday, November 30, 2018

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 ~

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

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.

Monday, November 19, 2018

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 ~
 

Thursday, November 15, 2018

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 ~
 
 

Monday, November 12, 2018

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 ~

Saturday, November 10, 2018

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 ~
 

Thursday, November 08, 2018

Sparkly Anniversary Card

Hi there...
It's another dull day here in Liverpool with a cold wind...
Yesterday was much the same with some rain too so I got to spend the afternoon in my craft room. There are a few birthdays this month and one of my brothers celebrates his Wedding Anniversary.
Today's card is the Anniversary card I made for my brother and SIL


I got out my distress inks to make some backgrounds and I also pulled out the glitter, much as I like the look of glitter, I don't like how it gets everywhere

 
I used a SSS die to cut out the hearts from the painted BG and added double sided tape to the back before smooching the glitter over the negative spaces


The lovely white die cut flower was a gift from Loll and Bonnie and I just added another die cut leaf stem to it.
Considering that my mojo took a hike, I managed to finally come up with 7 cards yesterday... I'll share some more with you soon

Have a great day and stay warm

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Tuesday, November 06, 2018

CAS Mix Up

Hello ...
How are you all? It's a dull and windy day here but not as cold as it has been lately...

Today I have a card for the CAS Mix Up Challenge


Though I have a lot of embossing folders, they are not something I use much now so I kind of challenge myself on this one


I added stamping and die cuts... Scraps really


I resisted the urge to add glitter and left it quite bright and simple, unlike yesterday's tree... Cutting the deer was intentional


I hope you enjoy your day

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Monday, November 05, 2018

CAS Watercolour Challenge

Hi there...

I'm happy to say that I recently got Outstanding Design awards for 2 of my cards at
CAS Mix Up Challenge and CAS Watercolour challenge 

Today I have a card I've made for this months challenge at


A hand painted snowy Christmas tree


I used both acrylic paints and watercolours (Gansai Tambi) with a fan brush and I'll let you into 2 secrets here, well, mishaps actually

Originally the tree was bigger then I accidentally cut the bottom of it - Lost the base completely, but I didn't want to just discard it so instead of a top fold card I did a side opening card and it looked less obvious that way haha!


And secondly... See those silver dots? Well, you maybe forgiven for thinking that it's liquid pearls or maybe paint but you'd be wrong. See, when I had a full tree I added some tiny pearls to it but having accidentally cut the base I had to go to plan B...Put a frame die around my half a tree. I forgot about the pearls and the Big Shot completely squashed them flat... Embedded them into the paint!
Ah well, I got a card at the end of it all....


I think I need to lie down for awhile...

Thanks for stopping by... Have a great day

~ Ros ~

Thursday, November 01, 2018

Just Us Girls Challenge

Shock horror... I'm posting a card again today...

Well, the thing was I saw the photo challenge up on the Just Us Girls Blog 

And one of my 'just made' Christmas cards seemed to fit the bill with those pretty colours


I cut the poinsettia from a piece I did with Alcohol inks and used gold mirri card for the centre and some tiny sprigs


Then splattered it heavily with both gold and white paint .. Funnily enough it doesn't show up on the poinsettia in this shot

I've made a few variations of this so my pile of Christmas cards is growing steadily

Did you enjoy your Halloween evening? We didn't have that many callers this year so I still have a basket full of sweet treats and I'm trying to resist dipping into to them...

Have yourselves a lovely day

~ Ros ~