Tulips and Proud News

Hello...

How are you? It's cold and icy here but nothing like many of you in the mid north west of America are experiencing. 

When I was a kid we could guarantee snow and ice in the winter months ... We got on with things, but over the years it changed, the winters got milder and we got 'softer' so much so that everything stops here when there's a cold spell.

 I stay warm and spend time in my craft room with the kitties for company.

Today I'm sharing one of two cards I've made using Clearly Besotted tulip stamps and dies

 

It's a birthday card for my SIL ... I'm trying to get ahead whilst I have some inspiration

I also used a frame die and a triangle die to slide those tulips into

My DH has a birthday soon and I whenever I try to make his he pops into my room... I managed to make an exploding box but still have a little card to make for him...

Ross 

I also wanted to share some news with you... Some of you are aware that my great nephew Ross has Meobius Syndrome and it's been tough for him over the years. As a baby he had to be tube fed and unable to walk or talk he was able to learn sign language even though he only has a couple of fingers. If that wasn't enough, his daddy, my beautiful nephew died suddenly from a brain tumor on Ross's 3rd birthday ... 

With much perseverance, operations and treatments Ross was eventually able to walk and talk.

He is an intelligent and determined young man who is now in a mainstream public school and I want to share with you his latest achievement...
Despite all his disabilities he has just been nominated for athlete of the month

I couldn't be more proud of this guy!

Have yourselves a lovely day and be safe

~ Ros ~

Clearly Besotted - Daffodils

Hello... 

Well, winter is not finished with us by a long way yet with snow and ice forecast...I'm so glad I don't have to go to work anymore but truthfully, I'd rather have the cold than the stifling heat. 

Of course it's nothing compared with the conditions some of you are dealing with and I think of you.

 

I finally got around to making some cards, inspired by the vases of fresh daffodils and tulips I have in my home. I just love spring flowers, they make me happy! But I never expected to have them in January...

Today's card is for a sweet blog friend who will be celebrating her birthday soon

 

 

The daffodil stamps and dies are from Clearly Besotted 

 

 

Not the best photos because it's so dull here but you can see the embossing from this angle

 

 

When I ordered the daffodil stamps and dies I was sent the the tulip set by mistake but what a fabulous company... They sent the correct ones and told me to keep the others. So I made another card using the tulips which I will share another day

 

Before I go, a big thank you to the teams at CAS Watercolour and CAS Stencil challenge for my win and Top Pick - I'm thrilled

 

Stay warm people and be safe

 

Till soon 

 

~ Ros ~

Number 28

Hello there...

How's your weekend going? 

After attending a funeral on Friday it was lovely to get together with my dear friend Beryl yesterday and to talk about anything and everything with lots of laughter thrown in...

She was so taken with my little projects, especially one that was in the making - So much so that she asked if she could buy it! I mean really... It would give me so much pleasure to gift it to her so I personalized it and I hope you don't mind me sharing it with you...

It started as a 4x6 frame that I picked up for £1... No doubt you gathered that she lives in a house numbered 28 

She has a thing about doors and bicycles

And of course she has cats... Her oldest one is quite ill now and very special to her but still likes to sit on the step. Her front door isn't red but she loved this one made from lolly sticks .. In fact that's as far as I got before she arrived

Like me she loves the birds so I added one on the telephone wire..

I think this is one of my favourite projects so I may have to make a few more even though I really should be making some cards - there are quite a few birthdays and anniversaries coming up.

 Maybe I'll get some done later today...

Have a wonderful Sunday

~ Ros ~

 

Project 3 - Beachside

Good morning...

 

Another week is almost over.. It's been cold and miserable and I'm longing for Spring to arrive as I'm sure you all are... Lately I've been longing for the beach, warm sunshine and waves rolling on the sand, which prompted my latest miniature project "Beachside"

In case you are wondering... I never had a dolls house when I was a kid and funnily enough they never interested me... I just like making things and recycling I suppose.

 

The wooden frame was the 'inner' left from my previous project... Just a 6x6 square which I then made into a shadow box and it went from there...

 

 

I made the window with square dies and bits of card and behind the glass (acetate) is a voile curtain... I also made a windowledge from card then added wooden beams and die cut some oars. 

 

 

Everything else is just improvised ... The bird on a perch wind chime was an earring to which I added some shells... the little flip flops, ship and anchor were all charms I've collected over the years and the umbrella is a paper cocktail stick that I pressed into a piece painted cork from a wine bottle

 

 

Can you see the ceiling light? That's a candle tealight wrapped in hessian and fitted into the ceiling with access for the switch above... More hessian for the mat with a hand sewn cushion and a piece of toweling and finally a fence that I also had in my stash together with a washi tape banner.

 

That's it for today... Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day

 

~ Ros ~

 

Sympathy Cards

Good morning....

The time is whizzing by again, we actually had a flurry of snow last week, nothing much really, unlike when I was a kid and we always had lots of snow.

I have a couple of sympathy cards to share today,

Last week my friend from high school lost her beautiful Mum... A lady dear to my heart, who always treated me as one of her own... The first card is for my friend

 

I have so many wonderful memories of the times I spent over at my friends' house... It was a home always filled with love and laughter

One of the things I remember is how much her Dad teased us when we were going through our teenage years... Our fad diets, dance crazes and the pop groups we adored, not to mention our mini skirts Lol! 

So this card is for him... I know he will be lost losing his partner of over 60 years

But he has a loving family to help him through ...

Enjoy your day and be safe

~ Ros ~

Birthdays and Leaves

Hello there...

How are things with you? 

 

Since I last blogged, I had a birthday... My husband and son took me out to dinner, I had even more visitors, lunch with the girls and I met up for coffee with my old boss who gave me a tour of the now fully modernised place I used to work.

Normally I kinda live a quiet life, but for the last month it's been an endless stream of visitors, visiting and meet-ups, so right now, much as I have enjoyed seeing people, I feel like a leaf that has been blown in all directions like on these cards

 

A couple of friends also have birthdays around the same time as me and I managed to squeeze in time to make 2 very similar cards... It was just easier to use what I had cut out

 

 

I used the last of a piece of painted card to cut out all the leaves

 

 

and I still have a few over

Which is fortunate...

As I have a special card to make - A sympathy card for my friend who just lost her Mum

More on that another time... I need to catch up with your blogs so I'll say bye bye for now

Have a lovely day

~ Ros ~

Project 2

Hello there...

I have another miniature to share with you today...  I seem to have accumulated lots of photos frames over the years... If I see them in a sale and I think I 'may' use them I buy them. Goodness knows how many there are hidden in cupboards... Anyway this one was put to use. I call it the sewing nook

I made a sort of half room with cardboard from cat food boxes (of which there are plenty) and spent hours making bits of furniture... I had the little sewing machine and scissor... that was the starting point. I cut out windows, shutters and a door and even made a lamp from a TH memo pin and a little vellum. It's amazing what you can find lying around and transform

Making the tiny tassel for my blind was so fiddly, I don't have delicate fingers at all!  But it all worked in the end

I fitted the half room into the frame and cut cardboard to slot into the back of the frame and the top and bottom so it is all neat and secure - I haven't decided whether to light this up yet... I'm still thinking on that one. I've had a few birthday cards to make so I'm chopping and changing from one thing to another and I seem to have had a stream of visitors lately and requests to meet up... My boss from 17 years ago even rang and asked if we could meet up... It's turning into a busy start to the year.

Have a lovely day and thanks so much for your visit

~ Ros ~

 

CAS Stencil Challenge

Hello...

We have lovely sunshine today but it's cold and frosty... Strangely there are daffodils in bloom and the hedgehogs that should be hibernating are still visiting us every night...

So today I have a card to share for a brand new challenge CAS Stencil Challenge 

brought to us by the talented Loll Thompson

I haven't used stencils for a long time... they tend to be forgotten, but I pulled out a Memory Box stencil for this simple card

The colours I used are Evergreen Bough and Blueprint Sketch

I die cut a leaf from a piece of the stenciled cs and to give it a little more definition I also cut one from silver card, which I cut in half in half then I glued each half behind the stenciled one - Does that make sense?

Well just in case here's a photo to show you

I confess I found it difficult to keep this CAS, I found myself wanting to add things. 

That's it for now... Have a lovely day

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Fox In The Snow

Hello lovely people!

How was your weekend? Good I hope...

I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and one thing I like to do regularly is make a card for the 

CAS Watercolour Challenge

I love to make snow scenes, either with ink blending or using my distress oxide inks to paint with so this was a perfect challenge for me

Here's my card

My blog 'sister' Greta gifted me the lovely fox die and he too is painted with distress oxide inks

For the BG I used Hickory Smoke and Faded Jeans and for the fox it was a mix of Carved Pumpkin, with Walnut Stain and Hickory Smoke on his legs

I have to say, much as I love blue and green together I am really liking the grey here - It's kind of like that outside but not so pretty and no snow. As always I paint on ordinary CS but it is quite thick. A white gel pen for snow added the final touches. 

Thanks so much for popping in... Have a super day! 

~ Ros !

With Love

Hello there...

 

Thanks so much for your lovely comments on my Lantern project... I'm working on something similar but today I have a card to share

It just happens to be our wedding anniversary today and this is the card I made for my husband

 

 

You may think it's totally un-traditional and it is I suppose -  We were married in Cyprus 19 years ago so the watercolour piece represents the sea... We only knew one person living there, a Cypriot friend Andreas who travelled a fare distance to be with us on the day....

It was meant to be a quiet affair, just the 2 of us, with Andreas as a witness together with the travel agent (it was second time around for both of us) but our friend and the people of Cyprus thought differently and we had a huge celebration - even a photographer and florist were roped in.

Andreas lost his only daughter some years before so to him this was like giving his daughter away

He kept insisting that we call our first child after him... I don't think he got the fact that I was 47 at the time and babies were not an option Lol!

Now you know a little more about me Lol!

Till soon

~ Ros ~

 

Project One

Good morning and Happy New Year to you!!

I have something a little different to share with you today... 

 I got to thinking about what I would do now I don't have my group anymore and though I miss them, a lot, I also miss making the projects. Yes, it was hard work and coming up with ideas taxed my brain but I enjoyed making things other than cards.

For a long while making Christmas cards kept me busy, then I had a clear out of a lot of craft stuff and household items that were never used or were just collecting dust, but some things I couldn't part with, one of which was a candle lantern that I bought when I was going through my 'all things French' phase Lol!

Then I saw something on Pinterest that peeked my interest and I grabbed that old lantern and here's the something different

My lantern is now a room with a chandelier (fairy lights)

I made all the furniture from card and bits and pieces I had

The Eiffel tower for example is from a pack of brads sent to me by my blog friend Barbara, the draw handles are beads and the tiny clock was a little imitation stop watch that I trimmed the bits off.

The Piano legs are cut from chopsticks!
Everything is tiny so it was quite fiddly to do but I'm really please with it now it's done
So that's my first project of the year if you don't count the pom pom animals I've also made - I may share them sometime too.

I'm wishing you all a lovely day and a wonderful 2019

~ Ros ~