Jingle Belles and Catch up news ...

Hello sweet friends ...

It's seems ages since I've posted and yet I don't seem to have stopped for breath these past few days ... First off I am posting my 38th card for Jingle Belles ... 

I can't believe how fast these 38 weeks have gone! 28 years ago I was expecting my first and only child ... I was beyond thrilled to find out I was expecting him after 7 years ... I was due for surgery 2 days later and had no idea ... it was only because of my sweet psychic friend ... who also happens to be a nurse ... that I found out ... she did a test and bingo! I was 2 weeks pregnant ... Thank God I found out before I had surgery! The next 38 weeks were the longest 38 weeks of my life!! Now if Jingle Belles were up and running then ... and I had even heard about blogging ... well I'm sure the time would have gone soooo quickly ...

So this week we are asked to use something Digital on our cards ... Their Sponsor this week is Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps  and you can even get a free digital stamp! (of course I forgot this when I was doing my card ??!!) .. so hop over to the JB blog for all the details ...

I used a variety of digital papers and stamps to create my card ... and background paper from PaperMania

I layered a few things and glittered some parts too

... and the sentiment is also digital ...

I mentioned in my last post about the Queen Mary 2 coming to Liverpool ... So

after a busy evening at Thursday club my husband and I went into the city to see the magnificent Liner... I hardly recognise my own city now ... so many new buildings and hotels ... we stopped at a boutique hotel where Marco Pierre White has a restaurant ... sat out and had coffee and watched the people strolling down to the waterfront  ... it was a fabulous turnout ... thousands came ... and the crowd were cheering and waving ... as were the passengers ... funny when you think that no one knew each other ... Here are a couple of pictures which I have had to lighten a bit ... they aren't marvellous but you can see the enormity of this liner 

Can you see all the people on the top deck? 

... and the firework display was magnificent ...

And here I am ... tired and windswept ... but enjoying the moment 

Saturday I did my sale at the church and some of my lovely friends came along too ... I'm not sure if I would do it again ... I had no idea just how competitive some of the table holders could be ... there was another lady selling cards ... nothing at all like mine ... but she was actually trying to stop people coming to my table! No ... I'd rather stay home next time ...

Yesterday I travelled to Lincoln to see my dear Aunt ... my uncle Terry has been in hospital this past week seriously ill ... we were hoping that he may recover enough to be allowed back to the home he has been in for the past 6 months ... and spend his last days amongst friends and with my Aunt by his side ... they absolutely adore each other ... having lost my own father a long time ago, Terry has been like a father to me ... my Aunt and Uncle lost both their beautiful daughters tragically within 2 weeks of each other just after my son was born ... so you can imagine how close we are ... 

Well ... I will be back tomorrow with the CCCB challenge 

 Till then enjoy the rest of your day and thanks so much for stopping by

~ Ros ~

Heart tags and some CAS

Good morning to you ...

I hope you are well?

It's a bright sunny morning here with a touch of crispness in the air ... I love a sunny autumn day ... when the leaves are turning to gold ... I'm hoping that it stays dry ... you may remember I went to see the QE2 last  Thursday evening ... well this evening after club ... weather permitting ... I will be off to see the Queen Mary 2 which is docking here in Liverpool today ... we have such a wonderful water front here and I'm told that the Americans in particular love it ... partly because you can walk right into the heart of the city as soon as the ship docks and the renovation to the area is spectacular ... If any of you care to try it I would love to meet you!
So ... I have a few tags and some CAS cards to share today ... my box of goodies for the church sale this Saturday is growing ... 

I know these would be perfect for the "I Heart You" challenge at CCCB this week and so simple to create ... They will be packaged in little glassine treat bags ... I did some with the hearts positive cut from book pages ...

... and then used the negatives ... with scraps of pretty papers behind

It's a great way to use up scraps and create something pretty 

And a few CAS cards using PTI dies and stamps for the Zebra and a leaves stamp I've had forever so not sure where it is from

I love my SB dies ... but often forget that they can be used in a variety of ways ... and I love the embossed look ... don't know why I don't do it more often ...

My only problem is knowing what prices to put on my goods ... I'm totally useless at that kind of thing ... 

It embarrasses me to ask for money ... So I've enlisted the help of my sweet SIL and hope that we'll get through it ...

***********

Oh! I've just heard a young American guy (from Boston) on the radio ... he is a singer on the Queen Mary 2 and he is marrying a dancer also working on the ship (she's from Liverpool) here today when the ship docks!!! How wonderful is that ... he just sent love to his Mom and Dad in the States ... Awwww!!

Till soon sweet friends ... be safe

~ Ros ~

"I Heart You ..."

I do you know ... "Heart" you all ... 

and this is the theme for the new challenge at City Crafter  chosen for us this week by Cheryl ... 

Sweet Cheryl is asking that we incorporate heart/s on our projects ... and as we have  Fresh Brewed Designs kindly sponsoring this week ... the DT are using one of their digital stamps ... The winner of the challenge will win one of their unmounted rubber stamps ...

Note ... There is going to be a Breast Awareness Blog Hop at Fresh Brewed Designs starting 22nd September ... You may want to check this out as there will also be new stamp releases ...

Our Guest Designer this week is Angi Barrs of Cokie pop paper and Lessology ... she's one awesome crafter ... her blogs are well worth a visit and so full of inspiration

So on to my card ... I chose to use the heart covered coffee cup ... and 'painted' it in Photoshop ... 

This is quite CAS ... the digital stamp being the focus .. the great thing about digital is that you can make the stamp any size you want ... my sentiment and the tiny hearts either side are also computer generated and can you see one of my little crocheted hearts just under the flower?

I also added a little wooden one to the top of the cup ... 

If you've never tried digital I urge you to try ... it can be quite fun and don't forget to check out the rest of the DT blogs to see what they came up with ... here are the links for you 

Cheryl

Kirsty

Linda

I hope you can join us this week ... look forward to seeing you

Have a wonderful day and thanks for visiting

~ Ros ~

Thank you The Graphics Fairy

I'm just popping in to say a Big Thank You to Karen over at The Graphics Fairy for bragging about my little notebooks ... I am thrilled ... and totally surprised ... I love to look at all the entries ... there are so many talent people out there in Blog Land and some wonderful tips and tutorials ... not to mention the amazing freebies ... 

Grateful thanks to you all and I highly recommend that you visit this wonderful site ... Karen sure works hard to bring all those fabulous images to us ...


Have a wonderful evening


~ Ros ~

Magical

Hi there ...

It's been a few days since I was able to blog and I missed chatting to you ... Thursday was a busy day as I prepared for my sweet group ... it was the first week back since the summer break and it was so nice to see everyone ... but I was so exhausted at the end of the evening ... strictly speaking we are only supposed to allow a couple of wheelchairs ... but I had at least 3 people in my room on Thursday who were in wheelchairs ... and trying to get around .. well someone really needs to redesign them ... when you get one of those handles in your side .. man you know about it! 

After club my husband and I went into the city ... the QE2 was docked and due to sail at 10pm after what promised to be a spectacular firework display ...

The sight of this magnificent liner both enthralled  me and gave the Heebie - jeebies! I often have a feeling about the Titanic ... like maybe I was around in another life ... and for a split second ... seeing the thousands of people that had turned out to wave off the liner ... and seeing the waving passengers ... well it was spooky ... I could actually see the old costumes and clothes ... like I was transported back somewhere ... it didn't help when a complete stranger next to me turned and said in my ear ... "the inside of this liner is just like the Titanic..." But it turned out to be a beautiful evening ... the only down side was the fireworks ... a technical fault meant they went off after we had all left the docks ... 

 Yesterday ... I had a visit from Ross and Sophia ... it was bedlam here ... my brother was working on the house and the children (gorgeous that they are) wanted me to play and keep them amused ... doing crazy antics I might add ... I don't know how my SIL does it ... I was worn out ...

Finally today I got some time in my room and made my 37th card for Jingle Belles ... This week Sue Culotti  has set the challenge ... Deck the Halls ... There are actually 4 options this week which involve either playing cards (deck) or ATC's ... hop over to the blog to get the details if you want to play along ... it's never too late to join in and make a start on your Christmas cards ... Anyway this week my card is a Magical card (as in card trick ... ok ... bad joke) 

I made an ATC by up-cycling a piece of an old shop bought card ... added some glitter and edging and a chipboard piece from the Snowman set together with a sticker which of course says "Magical" ... The main paper is from the vintage collection by the Paper Cellar backed onto some Websters and the glittery piece at the bottom is also a bit of recycling

Ok ... so that's it for now ... we have a storm heading our way over the next few days ... it's been very windy but warm here ... quite unusual for this time of year ... 

Enjoy your weekend and thanks so much for stopping by

~ Ros ~

CR84FN challenge

Oh my goodness the weather is getting cold here in the UK ... a howling wind too and some heavy showers ... I really don't want to say goodbye to summer ... such as it was

... and soon the nights will be drawing in and the days will seem shorter ... 

Thursday club starts this week too and I need to come up with a project ... though we have a lot of paper and embellishments so maybe we can just do cards this week ...

I have a fair few birthdays to prepare for this month ... and using the fabulous colour palette from CR84FN this week, I made a card for one of my lovely friends

This is the lovely inspiration picture and quote 

I found it a little hard to combine the light blue with the turquoise ... then realised that I was as usual over thinking it ... and eventually this is what I came up with

I found that pretty ribbon in my stash ... must have come from some gift wrapping ... (I keep everything) ... but it was perfect for this card ... and the heart I cut from some lovely pale burlap I got this week

I also had the lovely creamy material in my sewing stash and tore a strip off it and did a running stitch to gather it as a base for the prima flower and just peeking out is a sentiment from the WaltzingMouse stamp set Fancy Phrases ....

I don't often get time to support the wonderful challenges available so I'm glad I got to do this one ... 

Have a lovely day 

Till soon

~ Ros ~