This and That

 Hello lovely people... Another week has gone by in the blink of an eye.

 

I only have one card to share today, whilst I have a ton of stuff, I just haven't made them up into cards yet but I needed a birthday card so pulled out one of my many paintings

I drew and painted this ages ago and maybe it was just a bit too busy or too vibrant, I don't know but I left it to one side. Then I thought maybe with a bit of vellum over the top it would be better.... Glitter coated of course

I'm still doing battle with this new computer... I have to say I really REALLY don't like the keyboard - I've re- typed that many times I can't tell you. It's so touch sensitive.

On other news I went to see a physio yesterday, as you know I have been struggling with my knee and lately my hip area. Turns out that it is all linked to the muscle that runs the length of my leg, it's very tight. I was pushed and prodded and it hurt so bad, I though heck I'm paying for this pain. This morning it hurt even more. Hopefully it will settle down before my next visit.

 

What else have I been up to... Well, sewing and crotcheting to name a few - Here's a little peek at one of my finished crotched garments

I'm self taught in most things, well, all things really but I enjoy trying except when things don't work out... Like a top I started sewing yesterday which just isn't working out like I'd hoped. Maybe I'll salvage something out of it, if not there's always my paint to soothe me.

Have a lovely weekend and stay safe

Till next time

~ Ros ~

And so ends another week...

 Hello there... This week has gone so fast! 

It's very dull here today but we've enjoyed a few days of really warm weather and nature isn't quite sure what to make of things. Flowers are blooming...

Alongside the holly...

...and the garden chairs are out again.

On Monday I went to my flexercise class and had fun with the ladies as we tried to master new steps and positions that taxed the brain as much as the body. I never thought exercise could make me laugh so much.

Wednesday was lunch with my friends and Thursday was flu jab day. The jab left me feeling really rough but I was determined not to miss a catch up (last night) with my long time GF's. I dosed up on paracetamol, went along and had a brilliant night.

 

I did fit in a little crafty time and have a couple of cards to share 

 

I just paint randomly and then look for shapes I can outline and remove paint here and there with water

 

The second card is done the same way

 

And I also used a grey pencil 

 

 

I'll catch up with your blogs soon, in the meantime have a lovely day and thank you for stopping by

~ Ros ~

Falling Leaves

 Hello... How are you? Good I hope.

After my last post, my lovely brother came to the rescue and plumbed in a new tap so all is good there. As for my knee, lets just say I am getting nowhere... The system has completely broken down as far as GP's go. It's no wonder people are clogging the A&E and Walk In centres... I give up.

Other than that I have been trying to get to grips with a new computer. I had my iMac for over 12 years and it served me well but it was getting so slow so I decided to treat myself to a new one. Unfortunately the programs I was so familiar with have all gone along with normal size USB's so I am hoping that my card today looks okay. I had to buy a hub to plug my camera into so I could download and then fathom out where it went to etc...

So... A card for the challenge at the CAS Mix Up

I do love their challenges and this is another I hadn't tried. There are different techniques shared on the blog - I tried a few till I found one that suited me and finally a card

I used rose leaves, painted them with watercolours, lay them onto my card and smoothed them down with a piece of kitchen roll and waited a few seconds before peeling them off. I should point out that the stronger the value of the paint, the better the result and I think using plain smooth card was better than watercolour paper or card.

I die cut a stencil for the background,  painted in part of a tree and added some fallen berries

The sentiment from Uniko has been stamped and embossed.

I'm off to do some baking now... Well, I have done an exercise class and I've lost weight so I deserve a treat. Lemon meringue it is then...

Have a lovely day/evening

Till next time

~ Ros ~

All's Well that Ends Well

 Hello there...

Well yesterday started off badly. My knee had given me pain during the night and I got up to find that my bathroom tap (faucet) had literally fallen off. I only had the en suite remodelled 5 years ago and there have been so many problems with it that the repair guys are like family.

I was left to deal with the matter as DH went into the city for his appointment at the MGUS clinic - Turned out he had got the dates wrong and his appointment is actually for today....Yeah, not a good start to the day.

However, it ended really well. I pulled out my paints (that always calms me) with no particular plan or idea other than just watching the colours collide and ended up with 4 unexpected paintings.

It all started with this one...

 

My mood determined the colours of blues and black which I randomly painted on the diagonal and that's when I had the idea to use a wet paintbrush to drag the paint form shapes. As you know, if the cardstock gets too wet it can pill but that was to my advantage to give me texture as trees appeared, which I then outlined with my fine liner.

Oh I had to try that again but this time I used my fingers to move the paint around too and I had a moonlight forest with a little house I could hide away in...

I was having so much fun I continued...

The colours got lighter as did my mood and I couldn't resist adding little doors to those trees and then I was smiling, wondering who else lived in that forest until finally...

Gold dust was falling down and what started as a bad day ended a good day. 

I still don't have a tap and I'm miffed about that but I do have my paints...

Have a good day friends

~ Ros ~

Little wonky Houses

Good morning friends...

The sun is just putting in an appearance after a night of heavy rain and high winds which have left a ton of leaves around...

Today I have a couple of my paintings to share - Anyone who follows me will know I have a penchant for little houses. I love those little driftwood ones up on Pinterest and I have something similar on my mantle

Aren't they sweet? The shells are lights by the way. Anyway I had a desire to paint some myself

...Cos I love the sea

 I even pulled out a cover plate and used part of the die cut on the bottom of the card

Some old Rubons were perfect for the sentiment and whilst looking for them I discovered a bottle of Puffy Stuff, well why not...

Then again a little place not so close to the sea would be just as good, a solitary place to paint and sketch all day and maybe a little sewing too

And I added some of the negative bits from that coverplate to the top of the card. One thing I still love are my frame dies, though I don't know what this one is, probably a set from Aliexpress.

I think I may even do some Christmassy houses... Oh wait did I just say the "C" word...

Have a lovely day and thanks again for your visit and your kind comments

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Lovely Days

 Hello....

I hope this finds you all well. I went for an x-ray this week, my knee has been troubling me for months and whilst they suspect it is arthritis, it hasn't been right since my fall last Christmas so it needs checking. We are still not able to have face to face appointments with a doctor sadly, and phone consults take weeks so not much I can do. When I'm at my exercise class my knee creaks like an old door - Talking of which, it must have been in my head when I did this...

I hope my knee doesn't look as bad as this door on the x-ray Lol!

But we're in Autumn, a beautiful season and so far it's been a warm one which is good considering the energy crisis - Yes our company went bust so we are waiting to hear what happens next. In the meantime I'm enjoying the season and made this next card with that in mind

That's the thing when I pick up my pencil, I can't seem to stop

 Apart from my sentiment stamps, it seems all the rest are being used less and less...

Have yourselves a lovely day and enjoy your weekend

~ Ros ~

It's All Black and White

 Hello friends!

I hope you are enjoying September, the weather here has been lovely. The mornings have a crisp autumnal feel but then the sun arrives, apologising for the awful August we endured.

Truthfully I haven't picked up my craft supplies in ages. My last posts were both scheduled for my GD spot and then I just got caught up doing other things, but not yesterday...

Yesterday afternoon I spent a few hours with my sketch book doodling away and then I made 4 cards which are quite different from the norm as all I used were a fine liner pen and an ordinary pencil. See what you think...

 

Often my shading gets lost in painting or copic colouring, using just a pencil helps me to learn

They kinda look strange, black and white - Like I converted them but I can assure you it's just pencil

Well of course there had to be mushrooms... My repertoire is not that vast Lol! 

And my last one? You guessed it right?

Aww, I had to have a cat, mine are always close by.

Every time I do something I learn a little more. For example I have a rough time doing ears on animals but the cat you see here started off with just the eyes and nose and I worked outwards doing the fur. I was going to leave it at just the eyes and nose but once I got the resemblance of a face the ears just 'fitted'.

I'd love to know what you think...

Thanks so much for your visit, enjoy your day/ evening. I've just done a flexercise class and I'm aching all over Lol!

Till next time

~ Ros ~

Cas Mix Up Reminder

 Hello there... 

I'm back with another card for the CAS Mix Up Challenge reminder

Honestly I could play with Autumnal colours forever...

Of course there had to be a mushroom involved in my card

Not so sure that bees would still be around but I just couldn't resist... We still see them if it's mild and there are lots of those beech nuts scattered around our garden

Again I drew everything and then painted with Prima paints and if you look closely you may just spot the tiny vellum wings on the bee.

It's been a joy guesting this month for my favourite challenge... Thanks ever so much to the team for inviting me and thank you friends for your visit and your kind comments... Much appreciated

Have a lovely day

~ Ros ~

A Little Bit Of Everything

 Hi... How are you?

Thanks so much for your kind comments, I'm feeling much better now and my brother came to visit which really lifted my spirits.

We've had a beautiful start to September weather wise, but today we have rain which is very welcome, not often I say that.

I've still a lot of paintings to make into cards but this past week I've been sewing, trying to finally use up all the bits of fabric I've been hoarding. I made myself 3 tops and also one for a friend who is so much slimmer than me meaning I could use up small bits.

Today I'm sharing a couple more of my painted sketches which include a bit of everything- Pens, stencils, ink blending, you name it.

First up my attempt at a wolf

You can see I used a fine liner pen for this guy and then added paint to both him and the BG and blended over the BG with distress ink before splattering with white paint

I'm sure this next one needs no introduction

Seals have such lovely eyes... Again a bit of everything including glossy accents for  bubbles and I tore the bottom of the paining to get a rough edge

And now I have to go cut my nails... They grow like weeds and I struggle to type. I see all these ladies having false nails applied and I have to keep cutting mine! Oh well...

Have a lovely day and thanks so much for your visit

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Flowers and Ruben

 Hello friends... 

I hope this finds you well? 

I've been a little out of sorts this past week, just not feeling 100% though I've kept myself busy sewing, painting and even some gardening. Maybe it's down to Ruben - I will explain below, but first a couple of cards.

These were made for friends 

First up is the green one...

This happens to be my favourite

But then you may prefer the blue one

...which is also quite glittery courtesy of a glitter gel pen. I'm not sure if you can see the sparkly frame but it is there

I tend to do my sketches on paper and then trace them onto the card stock, that way I can keep the original to use as many times as I like.

Now Ruben...

You may recall I recently painted a grey cat which looked like one I lost years ago... Well, we have been looking after a grey tom cat for about 4 years now. He comes regularly a few times a day, often with a couple of scratches that we've tended to, eats his food and off he goes. I've posted many times on various social media sites to see who owned him but to no avail so we continued to care for him.

 

Last week I saw a post on Facebook of a missing cat and it was our grey. I contacted the lady (who lives close by) to tell her he was here and it seems she 'adopted" him during the first lock down and named him Ruben. Well, cutting a long story short, I asked her to get him neutered when he came back and have him checked out - he was looking quite thin. He returned to her 4 days later and she took him to the vet but sadly it turned out he had cancer, his breathing was laboured and he had to be put to sleep.  

Honestly it broke my heart and I miss his little face...

 

Till soon

 

~ Ros ~

 

CAS Mix Up

 Hello... 

I'm excited to be guesting over at the CAS Mix Up Challenge this month

And it's a watercolour challenge! Couldn't be better.

Who doesn't love the rich and beautiful colours of Autumn... It's probably one of the prettiest seasons

Here's my card

I loved doing this - drew the branch and leaves etc. and added every colour of autumn to it using Prima paints

 

I had a circle die that included the sentiment and tiny leaves so I die cut them in gold glitter CS and just cut out a few to add to the card.

Please go and visit the Blog to see the beauties created by the team and I really hope you will be inspired to play along.. Thank you to the team for inviting me this month... I loved it!

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Fox and Donkey

 Hello there...

How's your week been? Not much good news is there... Honesty I'm just happy to stay home and enjoy my hobbies. 

This week I've been trying to draw more animals.. namely a fox and a donkey. For some reason I found it really hard to draw a lifelike fox, let alone paint one but I'll share the result anyway

 

 

What do you think? Am I convincing you that it's a fox? 

And then the my little donkey...

I've a thing about eyes... They are the soul and they tell the story. They can bring a picture to life... or not

I always think donkeys have sad but gentle eyes - My donkey is a happy little one though,  he's well looked after.

Either way, I much prefer to live in the world of animals whether it be sketching, painting or just enjoying my own pets. 

Have a lovely day and enjoy your weekend

Till soon

~ Ros ~

The Owl and the Pussy Cat (no boat in sight)

 Good morning friends...

Did you have a good weekend? The rain held off a little here which was good as we travelled to Derbyshire to visit DH's eldest son, DIL and granddaughter. They moved house this year and live in a quaint little village and their daughter is gorgeous! We really enjoyed our visit...

August has been a complete wash out here with more rain than we deserve and I'm grateful for my hobbies... I couldn't imagine not having something to do. Today I have 2 more painting for you 

The owl...

I saw a photograph of an owl peeking around a wall and that was my inspiration...This of course is only a youngster and a little shy... Took me quite awhile to do this and I'm hoping he looks like an owl to you

We often hear the owls at night in our trees  but I've never yet seen one...

The pussy cat...

I had a grey cat when I was little and I got 2 kittens for my son when he was little, Lucy who was also grey and her sister Lisa who was all black. We had them for 16 years and Lucy was a real character who was very attached to both our GSD's... One evening Lucy went out in the garden and we never saw her again. We searched for weeks, posted flyers etc., but to no avail. It was the not knowing that haunted us. 

This is how I remember her, sitting watching the birds but never able to catch one thank goodness.

Funny, never did I think that one day I would be able to paint her

Thanks so much for your visit and for all your wonderful messages regarding Ross

Have a wonderful week

~ Ros ~