A special heart...

Hello friends ... 
As you know this weeks challenge over at City Crafter is "I left my HEART in San Francisco" ... it got me thinking about something strange that happened 5 years ago and I am going to tell you a very personal story .. a True story ... make of it what you will ....


Five years ago we lost my beautiful nephew aged 33 ... quite suddenly really ... We are a small family and only family flowers were requested by his wife ... I chose a beautiful heart shaped arrangement in red and white ( from my husband and I ) with a smaller heart of red roses mounted on the top (from my son) ... 
You can imagine that this was a terrible time for us I was very close to my nephew and 2 days after the funeral my husband insisted on taking me out for a drive into the countryside. Naturally I did not want to go but I knew he was trying to help me as best he could ... so off we went. 


We were driving through country lanes .. no houses in sight and I looked up into the sky ... When my Mum was alive we used to play a game when we were on car trips .. we would look at the clouds and pick out shapes .. you know what I mean? 'There's a dog... there's a dragon ... there's a rabbit" .. And as I looked up this morning I played the game alone ... in silence. In the shape of the clouds  I saw what looked to me like a door ... I imagined that this was a door to heaven, a place where my nephew had gone to join his grandparents... It was then that I spotted something shining in the sky - heading for this 'door' .. my thought was that it was a helium balloon drifting in the warm air, broken away from somewhere far away as there were no houses ... no properties of any sort around. My husband became aware of me staring at this and stopped the car to look too ... sure enough he saw the same as me .. a Heart shaped object floating high up and still rising ... we watched until it disappeared into the cloud shaped door and I said to my husband "It looks like the Heart I got for Peter is going with him". 


A few hours later we arrived back home and my brother and his wife called me in tears ... not unexpected given that they had lost their beautiful son ... but the tears were in part distraught anger and disbelief as they explained that on visiting the cemetery earlier that day ... my beautiful Heart of flowers was missing ...
They searched all over in case someone had moved it ... but there was no sign of it .... I told them not to fret, Peter had taken them with him.... 

Till soon
Ros

Home Sweet Home ...

I have had a lovely day ... albeit different from what had been originally planned - my friend was due to call ... she needed some crafting advice and I was looking forward to both having a chat and crafting ... alas she could not come as she had a slight accident at the weekend and was not up to it... So I did some chores and then the post arrived ... Look at what my dear friend Kirsty  sent me ...

Aren't I just the lucky one? ... a gift from her visit to CHA and I couldn't be more delighted! We can't get this kind of thing here in the UK and so that and the thoughtfulness of my friend really made my day ... Thank you Kirsty ... from my heart.

 Then with time to spend on myself, I decided I would find my mojo and make something for the Shabby Tea Room challenge .. have you seen this beautiful picture? 

Isn't it just so serene ... and Debbie and the DT have done some beautiful cards ... Yet I knew I didn't want to do a card ... So, inspired by this picture and also by Cherry Nelson's beautiful mini album Here (you have to visit Cherry's blog ... fabulous!)

I created my own ...

(click to enlarge)

I made the templates from cardboard and covered them front and back with papers ....

Lots of embellishments from my stash ... bits of lace and tulle ..... glitter and jewels ...

... cut out hearts ... scrunched seam binding ... little mirror tiles ... black stickers on acetate ....

... butterflies and flowers ... even a little heart charm ....

I have been wanting to make one of these for so long and today for some reason it just all came together ... in all the rich, creamy and yet serene colours that I love.

I hope you like ....

There is something else I think you would like ... the beautiful creations of a blog friend Rebekah of Midnight Lullabies .. she makes such gorgeous shabby albums ... go visit her and leave her some love

Have a wonderful day all my friends in the USA and to all my other lovely friends have a wonderful evening ...

Ros

All about hearts ...

Good morning all you lovely people in blog land ...
Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving such nice comments ... it really is so good to hear from you.....


Today starts week 17 of the City Crafter Challenge  and this week it is all about hearts ... you can make anything your little heart desires (excuse the pun) as long as there is a heart included. Kirsty has set this weeks challenge and we have the very talented Lori Hairston as our guest designer ... she is one very talented lady I tell ya' you need to visit her blog .. so very inspiring ....
We had some wonderful entries last week and I am only sorry that you can't all be winners ... it is a very hard choice ....
Anyway, on to my card ...

I made this for some dear friends who are celebrating their 39th wedding anniversary! They met at school and have been together ever since and they are so good together ....

I thought this saying was most appropriate ....

My friend's favourite colour is green so I know she will like this ....

Have a wonderful day and I hope to see your entries at City Crafter this week ... 

Till soon

Ros

Thank You Shabby Tea Room

I was fortunate enough to win another Terrific Top Three award over at the Shabby Tea Room this week!
Thank you so much Debbie ... the entries were unbelievably beautiful and I am happy to say that the winner is my friend (and creator of  City Crafter Challenge) Kirsty ! (Well done to you girlie! ) Pop over and see her lovely creation.
Today I have a one layer card I thought I'd make for the Simply Stamp challenge ... I love Sharon Johnson's style .. her cards are always so elegant ...

I have used Pink Petticoat digital papers and their 'Wisps" stamp again ... I also used one of my postal rubber stamps, did some faux stitching adhered some buttons and decorated my wisps with 'Stickles' ...

I am not quite sure why my Stickles dried pink as this is the 'Icicles' variety? Never mind ... I like it anyway ...

Be sure to join us tomorrow for a new challenge at  City Crafter Challenge blog ... there is still time to enter our current competition ...

Off to Pilates now ... it is pouring down with rain again! 

Have a lovely day ...

Till soon

Ros

Buon Giorno!

I have a card to share that I made for the challenge over at the Play Date Cafe ... this weeks challenge is going Italian ... a colour challenge based on this lovely photograph of Positano

... Lovely isn't it? I have actually been there too and the whole coastline is just breathtaking ... you can never imagine the number of steps the residents have to climb each day there in Positano just to get anywhere ... I am told that some of the oldest people live here too! Truly amazing ....

So my card  ....

It had to be "Amor" ... I love Italy and it is a such romantic place ....

A handmade rose, a paper heart, a pretty tag, ribbon and more embellishments from my stash ... and just in case you're wondering ... the sentiment translated says ... "Love never tires"...

Enjoy your day

Ros

Another Birthday ...

Hello there ...


It still isn't a bit like summer here .... further down I have a couple of photos to share of my day and you can see from the skies just what our British summer is like....
Firstly though I have another quick birthday card to share ... I suddenly remembered that this weekend my friend's grandson is having a birthday. Boys birthday cards can be quite difficult especially when they are that 11/ 12 year old stage ... anyway I looked through my digi files and found This kit, Yep, another fabulous freebie from Michelle Underwood ....

I promise you it took no time at all to make this ... All I added was the stitching, the little fences and the cupcake ....

I think this will be suitable don't you?

Today my husband and I went for a drive to a place called Nantwich ... a real old market town with tudor buildings and a slow pace ... we stopped off for lunch at a country pub we know and then on to Nantwich to have a stroll around the few shops there and then drove back stopping at "Snugbury's" ice cream place .. not that either of us are ice cream lovers ( though theirs is good ... very good!) but the surrounding countryside is beautiful and one of their fields in particular each year boasts a huge hay sculpture ... they have had Big Ben , ferris wheels, rockets etc., and this year it is an enormous Meerkat!

See, there I am by the Meerkat and you can see how windy it is and how dark the sky is ... I guess only us Brits walk around in the rain and wind eating ice cream in August!!

If you are interested in seeing the other sculptures ... Here is a link ...

Have a great weekend everyone 

Till soon

Ros