Lanterns

 Hello there friends, I hope this finds you well...

Autumn is creeping in and just like the little hedgehogs, I'm feeling the need to hibernate. I actually got to go to my exercise class this past week - They had closed during the lockdown and on Monday they were allowed to open once again with strict Covid precautions in place. OMG I am still aching...I'm not sure what scares me the most, the pandemic or an hour of class, my co-ordination is totally shot!

I have a couple of cards to share, more of the oriental type

There's the little hedgehog on his way to hibernation... I painted the tree and the lanterns, used distress inks for the mountains and drew a few birds and stones for the ground

This one uses up a circle die I had spare

I don't know why I chose to do lanterns, sometimes things just come into my head

I must confess that these past few days nothing has come into my head... I came across some digital jigsaws whilst on Pinterest and suddenly I was hooked. Oh well... 

I'm off to get lunch now so I'll wish you all a lovely weekend

Stay safe

~ Ros ~

CAS Mix Up

 Hello... 

I know I only posted yesterday but an idea for a card suddenly came into my head and I just had to go with it. We'd been out this afternoon to collect a few things and I was just relaxing when boom inspiration hit. Of course things were delayed a little when I realised I hadn't fed the cats and I also had to prep tonight's dinner... But a card... For the CAS Mix Up Challenge

See, I still had the stencil out and the stamps (Lavinia) so all I had to do was find the umbrella dies

Which I embossed into the card, and then stenciled over. I only used two colours of Distress inks, Walnut Stain and Iced Spruce. I really am liking the earthy tones

Okay that's me done... 

Have a beautiful day/evening

Till soon

~ Ros ~

 

Stencil and Sketching

Good morning my friends...

Well, we are more than halfway through September... The leaves are starting to fall and the darn squirrels have strewn acorns all over the garden.

I'm still trying to get some ideas for Christmas cards but it's just not happening. I'm probably the only one who is not a fan of Christmas. I like things simple and everything now is so commercialized. Give me an old fashioned Christmas when the smallest of gifts was a genuine kindness,  families enjoyed each other and whether they were religious or not, the meaning was never forgotten...

So, no Christmas cards to share but I do have a couple of cards using a Lavinia stencil and my own sketched flowers

It is so much easier to draw around paints than just sketch but I had a go

The mushrooms are also a Lavinia stamp which was on my desk so why not. Looking at this now I am thinking that maybe I could even try sketching into those pebble shapes. I might give that a go...

Both cards are similar but I think I prefer this one

What about you?

One thing I'll always love are my distress inks and stencils, how they can totally transform a plain piece of card into something pretty with very little effort.

I hope you are all well and safe, though I know some of you are struggling with  forest fires and have to stay indoors... What a year this has been

I hope these have brightened your day a little. Take care and thanks so much for your visit

~ Ros ~

  

Birthday Cards

 Hello!

Summer is paying us a final visit before Autumn settles in and it is very welcome...

I have two birthday cards to share, the first one went to a friend in Scotland and the second one is going across the pond to a blog friend.

I used a new stencil here by Lavinia but the flowers I drew and painted

Though you can't see it on my photos, the flowers are very sparkly - I went over them with a glitter gel pen

Whilst I still had those paint colours wet  I did the second card with 'blobs' and doodled over them

I absolutely love how these flowers turned out

I added a little gold paint and some sequins after.

Both cards have embossed sentiments but again not easy to see.

My previous doodled flowers here won me a $25 voucher at Simonsays Stamp... Thank you Diane for the heads up and thank you to SSS!  Of course the postage for goods to the UK is $15.99 but nevertheless it was an honour to be spotlighted.

Okay, so as soon as the guy who has come to clean the gutters today is finished, I'm going to join my Gingerboy in the garden and relax.

Thanks so much for your visit... If only it was IRL

Take care

~ Ros ~

 

A Little Oriental

 Good morning friends... I hope you are all safe and well.

Tough times right now and not just with the pandemic, nature is also having her say and my thoughts are with all of you affected by the terrible fires raging in the USA.

Sadly this week, a neighbour passed away very suddenly which is always hard on the family and particularly her two sons who still live at home. Fortunately I did have an appropriate card. 

 I had been trying my hand a couple of oriental type cards similar to the amazing paintings that often appear on my Pinterest feed and thought this one would be suitable to send to the family

I used distress inks for the background and the sun and the bamboo is stamped. I've a few sets with an oriental theme that have been in my stash for years - I just never really used them much

I drew a few birds with a fineliner and stamped a border to the base of the card

I also tried another one using distress inks

 

...But I messed up a bit with the sun. I drew the little fishing boat, the tree and the birds and added some acrylic paint in red for the blossom
 

Although I messed up a little I still like it and I'm hoping to try more of this style

I don't know about you but I'm still struggling a little with this new blogger... I can't seem to get the line spacing right. 

Anyway... Thank you for stopping by, have a safe and happy day

 

~ Ros ~

 

Dew Covered Mushrooms

 Hi there... How are you?

I took a trip to the local shops earlier and it left me fuming! I was queuing at a checkout obviously distancing and put my heavy basket down whilst the woman in front who was NOT wearing a mask, packed up her stuff. There was more than a meter between us and I was behind the markings when suddenly the checkout operator shouted rather loudly to me "make sure you don't cross the line". When I got to the till I asked her why she felt it necessary to shout at me and yet not say anything to the person before me not wearing a mask and the others in the queue not wearing masks or distancing - Her reply? "Well we're not allowed to say anything in case we get abuse" I REALLY despair of people...

Anyway... Lets talk about something else like my sketched and painted card today

Another bunch of mushrooms complete with dew and a little spider web

My brother once made a remark on asking him where his wife had gone that day... He said "I don't know, I'm just a mushroom" When I asked what he meant he said "I'm always kept in the dark" Lol!

I mentioned a logo I did for a family member in my last post - She's starting up a cleaning business and asked for something whimsical with a mop and bucket and I can now share what I came up with

She's had all the cards and flyers printed and is delighted.

 Have yourselves a lovely day, thanks for stopping by and for all your encouraging comments

~ Ros ~

 

Stitched Mushrooms

Hello friends...

I hope your weekend is off to a good start...

My card today is another one I sketched and painted giving the mushrooms a stitched look

The only thing I didn't sketch here was the little bird... I found that stamp on a very old set that came free with a magazine years ago and he was just right for this sketch

  The watercolour paint is Prima but the gold sparkle paint is by DecoArt... I like their metallics 

I've been working on a whimsical logo for a new business a family member is starting. I'm happy to say she was really pleased with the result and maybe I can share that sometime in the future once the printing is finished. It's not something I would normally take on but seeing as how she was made redundant after lockdown plus she loves my sketches... I was only too happy to help.

I have another new mushroom one still to share but I'll save it till the upcoming week.

 

Stay safe and well 

~ Ros ~

The Doodle Bug

 Well, Hello and welcome to September!

I hope you are all well? It's wet and miserable outside but we've enjoyed a few sunny days so I'm not complaining.

Today's card was a sort of self challenge. I wanted to randomly apply watercolours and see if I could doodle on or around every part....And I did

Here's a secret for you... Eleven years ago when I was on the DT for City Crafter's, my team mate Linda set a doodle challenge. I was totally thrown... I had no idea what to do and ended up drawing some rather childlike flowers on patterned paper...Not good

It was only at the beginning of lockdown that I came across Ceecee's paintings and her amazing doodles that pulled me in and made me want to have a go. Now I am hooked! Okay, so my flowers are... unusual? I could/would never have just sketched them in this random way but by following the flow of the paint, a little different shading here and there, the blobs come to life in an non uniformed way that makes me happy. It's so relaxing to do, especially when inspiration is lacking. 

It's not everyone's cup of tea but each one is unique and fun to do and you get to invent your own flowers lol! It does get to be addictive though.

Thanks to my friend Diane for alerting me that this Monday's challenge at Simon Says

is doodling... So I'll add mine to the list 

I hope you have a wonderful day - Thanks so much for your comments and your visit

Till soon

~ Ros ~