Painted Butterflies

Hello there...

It's been a beautiful bank holiday weekend here which is a bonus as there is always so much going on... The Beatles festival, Cream Fields music festival, lots of summer fetes and more. Everywhere is busy so yesterday we worked in the garden, well, hubby did mostly... I managed to slice my hand on a knife a few days ago so it's been a little difficult to do the normal things... 

Anyway whilst he was working away, there were 2 beautiful butterflies following him around and the card that I am sharing today also has 2 butterflies, left over from the ones I did when making my card for the CAS watercolour challenge... In fact this is made up from all left over pieces

I love putting bits together and seeing how they turn out 

These butterflies are not quite as colourful as the garden ones but it would have been a shame to waste them...

Next week Stella will be here and I've a few things to sort out yet so it may be awhile before I post again... I hope to visit you all today and see what you've been up to.

Have a beautiful week and take care

~ Ros ~

 

And there's more...

Hello!

Where on earth did this week go? 

We had more visitors yesterday, my brother and my great niece Sophia came over.  Of course Sophia wanted to make something but first we baked scones which we ate with a cup of tea and then off to my craft room where Sophia created something I'd pinned from Pinterest... A sort of magic torch scene

 

She is good at drawing and was thrilled with this and couldn't wait to show her Granddad.

Today I have a card using up another tiny left over piece from a previous card that was done with alcohol Inks and the lift technique...

 

I used the same stamp as on the alcohol Ink to randomly cover 2 pieces of grey CS using a white ink pad

 

The frame die is one of a set of 4 which were on sale at Craftstash (an online store)

The little AI piece doesn't fit the frame but sometimes it can still make a statement that's why I keep them all

Enjoy your day everyone

~ Ros ~

Last Little Piece

Hello there... 

Are you having a good start to your week? I hope so.

Our Cornish cousins are heading home today after being enthralled with their trip.. Their football team won, they were blown away with the vibrancy of our city and we all enjoyed a family dinner here at my home. Now I am preparing for a visit from Stella and her family from the Netherlands. They will be here in early September and I'm really looking to seeing them all again.

Today I am sharing another card made with a tiny left over piece of the same AI one I used for my previous two cards

I cut out a leaf from it and inlaid a gold one - You know when you die cut frames you always end up with that square or rectangle? Well one of those got used up too

I hope you can make out the word Smile that I stamped and embossed on the leaf I cut out of the tiny AI piece - It fitted perfectly (well almost)

I think this is one of my favourite cards so I'm glad I kept all those little bits. 

Have a fabulous day and thanks so much for your visit

~ Ros ~

 

One Die - Two Ways

Happy Saturday!

Another week has gone by with lightening speed... Or maybe it's just that I'm old Lol!

We have surprise visitors from Cornwall - DH's cousin Peter and his lovely wife Angie called us on Thursday to say they were on their way. Peter is a big Everton football fan like my husband and they managed to get tickets for today's game so just like that they jumped in the car and came up. It's been more than 2 decades since they were here and there will be so much for them to see and reminisce about especially in the city centre which is vibrant and buzzing with hotels, restaurants, designer shops and so much more to see and do.

Yesterday was the worst day for driving, it rained heavily all day which of course was fine for me - It meant I got to hide away in my craft room and play instead of DH bugging me to go out and now I can catch up with you all whilst the visitors and DH go to the match.

I don't know about you, but I have lots of bits and backgrounds snippets that never get used. I tend to keep even tiny bits so I made a few cards using them up.

Here are two I made with the same die

I made that AI background ages ago and didn't really like the colours but I kept it and made 3 cards from it in the end. 

Here I used the die cut (AliExpress) in white over a piece of the AI background and added an old favourite of scoring lines on my card

 

And here I reversed it, cut the die from a piece of the AI and added a frame

... And a gold leaf

They're Autumnal looking but I love autumn and the glorious colours it brings. I don't own that many sentiment stamps but "Just a Note" is always a go to as I can write inside just what I want to say.

I'll share some more with you in a few days and wish all you have a lovely weekend

Bye for now

~ Ros ~

CAS Mix Up Challenge

Good morning... I hope you are having a good week

We've had a fair amount of rain this week, not that I'm complaining as it's still warm during the day and it didn't stop my GF's and I from meeting up yesterday for a lovely lunch and chat.

Today I have a card that I made for the CAS Mix Up Challenge

Another very clever technique from the talented Loll and a new one for me. That's what I love about these challenges...

So after the spray disaster I took advantage of all that paint and mopped it up with kitchen towel, let it dry, placed it over my piece of card and spritzed away. 

I also used a small acrylic block to press it down in places and got a few usable pieces, one of which is here on my card... 

I kept it pretty simple and added a strip of lilac vellum (not that it look lilac here) together with some die cut (left over) leaves. The leaves were cut from silver holographic card so they are really sparkly but of course hard to photograph

It's a great technique and I do love the effect plus I needed a quick birthday card... It's not that I don't remember birthdays, it's just that when you are retired, the days just come and go so fast and things creep up on you before you know it.

Have a lovely day my friends and thanks so much for stopping by

~ Ros ~

Stencil Challenge Disaster

Hello there...

So I decided to make a card for this months challenge at CAS Stencil

And it turned into a bit of a disaster...

Here's the card that I came up with, though I'm not that enamored with the result of the stenciling...

 

It's kind of fuzzy... Maybe because I just used ordinary cardstock 

 

I used a couple of Vibez ink sprays which have a sort of sheen to them

The card is for hubby's DIL who is having a gall bladder operation today so I hope it will cheer her up a little.

So what happened was, I got out the sprays, card and stencil and as I was wearing a new white blouse, I took the precaution of placing the card with the stencil into a box before spraying.

Well the first spray was fine but the second one for some reason splattered right back at me and yep, all over my new blouse. 

The thing is, I bought a blouse a few years ago that I really loved... over time of course it lost that whiteness being a delicate fabric and I was bummed. Then I saw the exact same one, brand new on Ebay a size bigger than I needed, but I bought it anyway thinking I could alter it. It hung in my room for about a month till I finally made the alterations and I was delighted with the result, then disaster. 

I tried various things to get out the marks and some did fade but not all so that's the end of that. 

Things happen

Before I go... Some of you have left comments and asked me questions... Unfortunately I'm unable to reply if you have 'noreply' on your blog so can you either change that status or please email me.

I hope your day is going well, thanks for stopping by

Till soon

~ Ros ~

CAS Watercolour Challenge and A New Baby

Hello... I hope you are all well?

I'm popping in with a card for this month's challenge over at CAS Watercolour

Actually I was going through my cupboards to see what sprays I had to make a card for the CAS Stencil challenge when I came across a few pots of Inklingz shimmer paints... I'd totally forgotten I had them and wasn't sure if they were still usable so I got some water and a paintbrush and tried them on a scrap of card. Well they worked, so I used the painted piece to make butterflies for my card

I stamped and embossed a bunch of butterflies and fussy cut them, minus the antennae, which I die cut and added on top.

The paints have a lovely sheen which of course as you all know is very hard to photograph even when turned towards the light

The card is going to my chiropractor who sadly for me is returning to her native Norway shortly.

There's something special about her... You know sometimes when you meet someone, it's more a feeling than anything, but you just know they have something about them that makes them special? Anyway, I crocheted a cowl scarf and some finger-less gloves to give her - It gets pretty cold in Norway come the winter - and they are in soft multi-colours like these butterflies which is a bonus considering I hadn't planned to do a watercolour card today

I was going to just stamp 'Be Happy' on the card, I got the stamp out then it just disappeared! I searched everywhere but I couldn't find it at all... A mystery. So, "just a note" it is.

It's been another busy week in the Crawford household. We popped over to see hubby's new Grandson on Sunday... Meet Owen (meeting Grandpa)

Heck, I'd forgotten how tiny new babies are and we were both terrified of holding him, and they wriggle! Lol!

We've also taken advantage of the weather and had all the flagging and brick paving cleaned in the rear garden. Would you believe the council came yesterday to renew the tarmac pavements in the road too, but it was raining heavily so whilst it all looks fresh and new... there are quite a lot of bumps and dips... Still I guess we shouldn't complain.

Well, I'm going to love you and leave you for now

Take care

~ Ros ~

 

Happy August

Hello and Happy August to you all

It's a beautiful sunny day here and I have a card to share, though it's the only one I've made in a week...

I kinda had to, as friends of ours will be celebrating their wedding anniversary in a few days and I didn't have anything suitable.

You've probably noticed that I don't always make the traditional kind and this is no exception

I wanted to use up those little scraps left over from AI and DO backgrounds so I used them for the feathers. They originate from a dream catcher die... I had enough scraps to cut just the feathers

But see there are touches of gold in there too and it would be a shame to waste those pieces - Even the silver heart was a different colour originally but smooched in Versamark and silver E/P it found a place here

 I found the sentiment on the Painted Poppy set by Altenew and it was just right because they are the perfect couple who have been together since their school days.

So maybe not a traditional card it's but certainly different.

Have a wonderful weekend friends... 

Till soon

~ Ros ~