Winter berries Birds and Bargains

Hi there ...

There's an autumnal chill in the air today and I'm feeling like I have a cold coming on ... But I have a few photos to share with you ... I've been walking around my garden and this year there is an abundance of berries ... I know here in the UK it is said that many berries signify a harsh winter ... well we have had a lot of harsh winters but it is good to know that the birds have food a plenty at the moment ... even though the roses are still blooming ...

Dew covered this morning ... 

And here are some of the berries from the trees overhanging my garden ...

Hawthorne ... the branches bending under the weight ... but don't they look Christmassy

I don't know what these black ones are ... I thought they were sloe berries ... but they grow quite tall 

Fat juicy Elderberries ... one stem already stripped 

These are in my garden and not yet ripe ... they will be an abundance of bright orange ... "Firethorne" and aptly named

Again I don't know what these are called but they grow everywhere ... this is the first year I have noticed so many berries

And can you spot the little Hazelnut hiding here? 

And this little cutie comes a calling to my window ... asking for bread ...

Not fazed by the kitty ...

And grateful for his daily bread

And one final thing to share with you today ... I went to the Art shop where I get some bargains ... I guess many people start to craft and then for one reason or another either off load their stash or the things they no longer want ... to my benefit ... as this shop sells them at very reduced prices ... so here are just 2 of my bargains yesterday ...

Sizzix Movers and shapers 

I love my Sizzix Big shot ... And would you believe this cost me £8... ($13)? Yep pretty please with that!

One other thing I was toying with buying was a Xyron machine ... I'd seen it there each time I went and yesterday decided I would take it ... it may be useful when I do things for Thursday Club ... The sweet young man who runs the shop knows me quite well by now and he said he would reduced this if I wanted it because it had been there a while

Perfect ... all boxed and pristine ... the only thing it didn't have was the adhesive cartridge ... the laminating one was inside (I've ordered the adhesive cartridge on the web) ... Well I couldn't leave this behind ... not when he offered to let me have if for £5...($8)!! I know .... can you believe it?

So I would be interested to know if you have one of these and what you think about it ... there is a DVD with it but I am a novice where this is concerned ...

Well that's all for now ... I hope I didn't bore you ...

Have a lovely day

~ Ros ~

Invasion of Ladybirds ...

Hello ... 

I hope you are well ... We are still enjoying sunny days here in the UK (well in my neck of the woods at any rate) ... and I have been beavering away with a few things ... I decided to do the table sale coming up in September at the local church and as there are usually a few children that attend these functions ... I decided to make a few little notebooks and bookmarks with them in mind ... I love to make these and they always go down well with the youngsters ... and if it gets them encouraged in being creative themselves ... then that's a bonus ...

Looks like some of them are trying to crawl out of the box Lol!

This lot only took 1 sheet of scrapbook paper ...  a couple of pieces of red CS ... a couple of pieces of beige h/weight CS ... and a small amount of black paper for the 'head' ... The ribbon on the bookmarks was from my stash and I only cut small pieces ... I double the CS so the ribbon is sealed inside

It's very therapeutic drawing those antennae and making those dots ..

I have done a few CAS cards too which I will show you another time ...

I hope you are enjoying your day ... 

Till soon

~ Ros ~

CCCB Best of Friends

Hello and good morning friends ...

It's time for another challenge at City Crafter ... I'm hosting this week and the theme I have chosen is 

"Best of Friends"

Even though I have never met you ... I cherish your friendship ...  Friends are the family we chose ourselves right? I've laughed and cried ... prayed with and been inspired by people who I have never met as well as people I have known for years ... My spirit has been lifted many times over the years by friends ... sometimes with just a comment ... Each and every friend brings something different into my life and one of the quotes I love most is 

"Each friend represents a world in us ... a world not born until they arrive" 

Of course there are always the friends we cherish who one minute are in your life and then they are gone ... sometimes without warning or reason ... So lets celebrate our friends past and present ... near and far ...

We are fortunate to have the talented Linda Breedlove (without the pen maker) as our guest designer today and I hope you will stop by CCCB and welcome her and be inspired by her work and that of the rest of the DT ... Pixie Dust Paperie is very kindly sponsoring us again - another very inspiring blog with fabulous design members ....

I hope you come and join us this week at CCCB and celebrate your friendships

Till soon ... keep safe

~ Ros ~

Altered holder

Hi there!

I've spent a lovely morning catching up with friends (no Pilates for 2 weeks) ... we had a light lunch ... coffee and a lot of chatting ... I took each of them a one of my mini notebooks as a little gift ... and I also showed them my book bird houses ... they loved them ... so I am going to make them a few. When I came home and put on my computer ... I saw that my altered tins have been featured on Brag Monday at the Graphics Fairy!! Wow! ... I am both amazed and thrilled ... Thank You!!

Yesterday at the little shop I told you about ... I picked up this lovely candle holder

As you can see this holds 3 ... they did have them in singles and doubles as well ... but my intention was not for candles as those glass jar inserts are quite a decent size 

No ... my intention was to have this in my kitchen to hold my hand wash ... hand cream and anti bac  and pretty as it is I just had to 'perk' it up a little ... so half an hours later here we are ...

A bit of stamping ... well a lot of stamping ... I got carried away

But I do love it ... and now I am going to put French labels on 3 glass bottles to finish it off as it doesn't quite look right like this does it?

Hee hee ...

I am also altering a terracotta pot at the moment ... like those shown on the Graphics Fairy ... (I hope it works for me ... I am being patient with fingers crossed till tomorrow) ....

And the best part about my 'soap' holder ... it only cost me £4.50 ... ($7.50)... Yup, I'm one happy girlie at the moment.

I'll be back tomorrow with the CCCB challenge of course so I'll let you know about the terracotta pot 

Have a lovely day

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Jingle Belles card 34

Hello ... 

Are you enjoying your Sunday? ... It's another lovely day here in the UK and I'm hoping that my hubby will be taking me out shortly for a coffee and a stroll around one of my favourite shops ... where I get my lovely rusted goodies from ... Mind you I bought another beauty yesterday at BHS ... I wouldn't have even noticed it if I hadn't had to use the Ladies room... They had a whole wall full of vintage inspired plaques ... how could I resist? The trip to the ladies cost me £8 ... I'll post it later on in the week ... I want to make a card with the same design first ... Then I promise you'll get to see it

For now I have my 34th card for the challenge at Jingle Belles ... who have linked up with Clean And Simple Stamping blog this week and have provided this sketch as our challenge 

So you get to link up to both blogs and there is a chance to win a super prize too! Even if you don't do the challenge hop over to both blogs and take a peek ... there is so much inspiration on offer 

On to my card ... I confess this sketch got me for a while ... I started a card last night but gave up .. the light was poor and my brain just wasn't working ... so I came back this morning and it all just fell into place ...

It just so happened that my long awaited Prima Printery collection paper pad arrived yesterday ... it's so gorgeous and I chose to use one the the papers from the pad rather than traditional Christmas paper ... all the stars are thick glittered stickers and of course I used my favourite CB folder (Swiss Dots) and a lovely stamp from WaltzingMouse

And I finally got the look I was going for ... no ribbons, no lace and no sewing ... can you believe it?

Have a wonderful Sunday and keep safe

~ Ros ~

A little bit of decor ...

Good Morning 

I thought I'd just share a couple of little things I've added to my home recently ... But before I do I just want to say Thank You to the ladies at Just Us Girls challenge for awarding me an honorable mention for my notebook in my last post ... I am delighted!

The other day  went into Salford Quays ... (little did I know that Prince Harry was in Salford City that day ... we could have met for coffee ... I don't think) ... So whilst I was there I came across this gorgeous  mobile ... I just could not resist it ... But is is hard to photograph ... take a look 

The top opens like an umbrella and a swirl of birds and stars and tiny silver bells hang down

Made from white sparkled mulberry paper ... each bird and star is puffed out ... so pretty

How could I not buy this? ... and it was in the sale for under £9 (That's around $14) ...

This was also something I added to the same room recently ... 

I love these rusty metal containers ... I have various jugs and plaques like this ... I get them from a store in Stockton Heath and they are really inexpensive too ... This one I dressed up with (fake) lavender 

Another one of those metal plaques with my handmade one

This blue metal jug came from the Ikea sale and I added some flowers made from serviettes and some lavender from my garden

So there we are ... a little of what I like and what I'm about 

Have a wonderful weekend my friends 

Thanks for stopping by

~ Ros ~