Friday, January 29, 2021

Birthday Shakers

 Hello friends... 

Not much to report this week, we are okay and still awaiting our vaccination appointments - Many of our friends have already had theirs so we'll have to be patient.

February is almost upon us and for me there are lots of cards required, both birthday and anniversary at least I've made a start. Today I'm sharing two shaker cards that I made for friends' birthdays.

When I have little pieces of card around I tend to stencil on them or paint something, or both. Here I used a couple of those as the background for my shaker cards. 

The stencil I used here is a Lavinia one and I painted the flower on top. The flower frame I used is rectangular in shape (as you will see in my second card) but the painting was a square shape... I remedied that by placing a square frame over the rectangle and just trimming it.

Now you can see the full rectangle frame (bought sometime ago from AliExpress) and the little dragon flies are also part of the frame...They were painted with cosmic shimmer paints (on both cards) as was the stamped butterfly

I find it a lot easier to make the shaker part as a separate unit and then attach it to the card. I've got lots of these little painting and lots of sequins! So I can see more of these being made - The recipients seem to enjoy them as much as I do making them.

Be safe and stay well and thank so much for dropping by today

Till soon

~ Ros ~


Sunday, January 24, 2021

Two Little Girls

 Hello there! I hope you are well and staying warm... 

We've had some snow, nothing that stays around for long but it's cold! I go out throughout the day to feed the birds and it's a feeding frenzy. This year I haven't seen any holly berries at all, even on my occasional trips out. I had plenty berries on my Firethorn shrub but most of those have now disappeared so I guess the little guys are hungry.

If you read my last post I said I'd share the paintings of the girls and here they are

This is the younger of the two and like me she loves to feed the birds


Whilst her older sister likes a late afternoon stroll with the puppy

 
Spring looks a long way off right now but to a child snow is always magical...


..And in a few months those trees are going to burst into life once more.

Have a lovely day, stay safe and thanks so much for popping in

~ Ros ~




Wednesday, January 20, 2021

The Dog and The Rabbit

 Hello friends... I hope this finds you well

So what's new since my last post? Well we had a visit from the police the other day asking us to stay indoors not even venture into the garden. The road was cordon off, the bomb squad and armed police arrived and we were left wondering... Seems a hand grenade was found that thankfully turned out to be an artificial one. Sad as it sounds it was a little bit of excitement for another day in lock down.

We are drowning in rain which is a good excuse for me not to go walking now my leg is on the mend and  just stay cosy in my craft room. In any event a certain someone is driving me nuts so I venture into my imagination... It's a place in the country where 2 little girls live and they have plenty of open ground to explore, not to mention quite a few pets...It's winter and today one of the the rabbits is out in the snow

Actually this is the bunny's first experience of snow

He's not quite sure what to make of it

The larger of the dogs prefers to pop out later in the day... He likes the snow and is mesmerized

 
There's nothing quite like open space and the silence of falling snow


I'll share the girls with you next time...

Have a good day though they seem to come and go so fast lately...

Be safe

~ Ros ~



Sunday, January 17, 2021

Splatters

 Hello there

I'm playing along with the new challenge over at CAS Mix Up

I'm so happy to see my friend Leslie has joined the lovely ladies on the team. I still love to play along whenever I can and who doesn't like splatters?

My little sketched goose just just happens to be a snow goose (sort of) so to her this is a lovely day (sentiment stamped and embossed) and I used distress inks for the background and also to paint her, along with a little watercolour paint

One of the colours I used was Peeled Paint and believe it or not, her hat and cape are green not yellow as the photo shows... I've no idea why that happens. 

The splatters are done with water, a Posca pen and acrylic white. 

It took me ages to sketch something that resembled what I had in my head and then I wondered how I was going to create the background without covering the sketch... Well, I traced it, cut out the shape and then drew around that onto masking paper, phew... It worked.

I hope you are having a lovely day

Stay safe

~ Ros ~




Thursday, January 14, 2021

Just A Note

 Hello friends...

Are you doing okay? Thank goodness we have our hobby to keep us going. 

Today I have a couple of simple cards using stamps and distress inks - I used the same stamps and inks for both cards with  two different effects


I had so many flowers for my birthday from friends and neighbours, amongst them some lovely tulips


Which really prompted these cards. 


I'm sending these to a couple of friends who called round to leave cards and gifts for me - normally we would get together but it was good just to see them and have a social distancing chat.


Both the flower and butterfly stamps are old ones by Clearly besotted but flowers and butterflies never go out of fashion do they. 

Enjoy your day and stay well

~ Ros ~

Monday, January 11, 2021

Sketch & Paint

 Hello there, I hope you are all doing well.

I'm thankfully lot more mobile than I was last week but maybe someone can tell me how it's possible to have a caught a cold when I haven't ventured out in weeks, if anything gets delivered like post or groceries, I wash my hands and sanitize each time... How is that possible? Another of life's mysteries.

I've a few more cards to share, though I feel more like hibernating than crafting lately, I'm longing for Spring. First up is a card for a blog friend who has been struggling with health issues and I'm hoping this will cheer her up a little

 
I like sketching these birds and dressing them, we have various ones visiting daily and I could watch them for hours

It's been so cold and we've see a few frosty mornings - Thankfully my next little bird was prepared for the ice...

...with her little skates

And my last card
One of the gifts I got for Christmas was a set of Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints so I gave them a try  using my new Acquarello watercolour extra white 100% cotton by Fabriano.
 

Whilst the paint flows beautifully on this, the shimmer is not that evident when it dries.. 

And as you can see it's still not really 'white' but I still like it.

Before I go I just want to say a big thank you for all the birthday cards I've received... I haven't opened any yet, I'm keeping them until tomorrow.

Stay safe and well and thank you for visiting me today

Till next time

~ Ros ~








Tuesday, January 05, 2021

Two Fat Robins and more...

Hello and Happy New Year!

Sorry I'm late in my wishes and that I haven't been visiting you. As I mentioned previously I had a fall and tore my hamstring. It could have been a whole lot worse, no bones are broken anyway, but the bruising is extensive and painful and sleeping and sitting is...Uncomfortable.

I've been itching to paint some of the sketches I'd done, plus our wedding anniversary was yesterday and I needed some sort of card to give hubby so I gave it a go.


Not your traditional anniversary card but you know me... Two fat robins will do. We're in lock down once again so no doubt that's how we'll look come Spring. 
This time I added some hills behind my painting using distress inks and torn paper 


Not my best painting but Hubby was thrilled anyway.
I also did another one with birds


I love these guys in their shiny boots - the only downside is that the white Gouache I used turned a yellowish colour on my cardstock.


Okay... I'm going to try and catch up with you all

Have a lovely day

~ Ros ~