Christmas Gift ...

I don't have anything crafty to share today ... well... I spent a couple of days working on a new wintery heart wreath ... which I was going to enter at Papercrafts Star this week... But so far it has been impossible to photograph ... well not impossible ... but I am unable to get a decent shot no matter what I do ... so I have given up on that one ... 

Instead I would like to share with you one of my favourite Christmas presents from a dear friend ... 

Two books ... "Meditations for Women who do too much" (she knows me so well!) and "Jesus Calling .. a 365 Day Devotional"

Now I would not class myself as an overly religious person (if that be possible) ... but I do have my faith and I do study Practical Philosophy ... and yes I have fallen out with my God many times in my life and questioned my faith ... But I need faith in my life ... of that I have no doubt ... and these two books suit me down to the ground ... and I can very much recommend them.

Both books have a short page for each day ... easy to read and digest ... I look forward to taking time out to read both of them each day ... my peaceful time ... I recognise myself in the daily meditation book with every page ... For example ... 

Common Sense ... 

"Quote"

"Did you ever stop to think ... we women who do too much, wouldn't be able to do too much if we weren't competent, strong, intelligent, courageous and determined? We might however, be a bit lacking in common sense"

You see common sense tells us when to quit ... but do we? I know it is something I have had to teach myself... 

And  ... Jesus Calling ... It's easy to understand and it warms my heart ... it tells me that I shouldn't feel guilty when I quit ...  That I can take off the many coats I often wear ... guilt, anger, pain, frustration ... all of which weigh me down at times ... I can take them off because God is my burden bearer (Jan 3rd)

This is just a small quote from the book (Jan 6th) ...

"Instead of letting difficulties draw you into worrying, try to view them as setting the scene for my glorious intervention. Keep your eyes and your mind open to all that I am doing in your life."

Pretty profound huh? ... but it is often all too easy to see the not so good things in our lives and not appreciate the good things we have ...

For me these books compliment each other perfectly ... 
A gift I shall treasure 


Enjoy your day


~ Ros ~

Wild weather

Hello

We've been having wild weather here these past few days ... Very high winds and rain ... my garden looks a mess this morning ... the bird table down and the trellis arch in pieces ... In the southern part of the UK I think it is much worse and some have lost their lives to the storms so I am grateful we are ok here.

A few days ago we learned that a dear friend and colleague had sadly died ... In my opinion there are very few typical English gentlemen left ... Mike was certainly one of these ... it is a sad loss ... and I needed to make a card ...

This digital stamp from Pink Petticoat is my go to stamp for these occasions ... and as I had cut a few cards on the silhouette ... this came together quite quickly and simply

It does say ... sincere condolences ... my bow kind of hides the sentiment on these photos ...

And you may be interested to know that Pink Petticoat is having a sale at the moment ... worth taking a look ...

On a lighter note ... My husband and I had a lovely anniversary dinner last night ... (braving the storms) ... Thank you so much for your kind wishes ... and Thank You to my friend Cindy Adkins who made me a blog button ... actually she did 3 for me and it was hard to choose one! 

Pssst! ... it's her birthday today ... so if you get a chance go leave her some love ...

I hope you have a lovely day and keep safe!

Till soon

~ Ros ~

City Crafter "Save the Date ..."

Hello ...

Happy 2012! 

 I hope you are all doing well ... survived the hustle and bustle and the celebrations ... 

We are back in full swing here at City Crafter with a brand new challenge from our lovely Cheryl who this week is asking us to create a card or project incorporating either a month, day or year or a combination of all 3 ...

We have a digital Stamp sponsor this week Bugaboostamps which I know many of you are familiar with .... They have a huge range of stamps from the more classic (which I chose) to the more fun variety ... and they are ever growing ... 

Please take a moment to visit CCCB and read all about our sponsor and the prize this week and check out all the projects ... We each got to chose a stamp to play with ...

It's my wedding anniversary tomorrow ... We were the first couple to marry in the millennium on the lovely island of Cyprus so I made this card for my hubby ... 

keeping to just 2 main colours .. I used the Butterfly digital stamp ... re-coloured it and printed it in various sizes which I then cut and layered ... My card shape was cut on my Silhouette and backed with BG paper which I've had forever!

I used liquid pearls around the heart ... and that beautiful flower brad (which just happens to fit my colours perfectly) came from Pixie Dust Paperie ...

Now it's over to you ... I hope you will join us this week ... I can't wait to see what you create ...

Wishing you a wonderful day

~ Ros ~

Jingle Belles week 1 and Happy New Year

The year long Christmas card challenge has started again at Jingle Belles Rock ... if you stuck with it last year - like me you will have have made 48 cards by the end of December ... 

It seems really weird that I still have cards hanging up from this Christmas and here we are thinking about next Christmas! 

And a lesson learned ... each of my cards cost around 75pence to mail ...  that's a lot of money! So this year I am hoping to keep things simple ... Well I'm hoping! 

So ... This weeks prompt is "No time like the Present ..." ... use wrapping paper on your project ...or... make a holiday card with an image of present(s) on it ... There is plenty of inspiration on the blog if you dare to join in ... 

I chose to use wrapping paper ... silver wrapping paper ... which of course is virtually impossible to photograph ... Duh! 

I made 2 cards ... one using a shape cut from my Silhouette ...

The background is black paper which I misted with Mister Huey's calico white mist ... 

This shot may be better

The second card is done the same way but I made one of those little folded trees 

The sentiments I hand wrote with a white gel pen ... I promise you they look much nicer IRL ...

I'm off to prepare for a dinner dance we are attending tonight with some friends ...

May I take this opportunity to wish all my dear blog friends a

Happy New Year

May 2012 bring you and your loved ones Peace, Happiness, Good Health and Love

Thank you for your friendship ... for all your wonderful comments which continue to inspire me and cheer me 

Keep safe

~ Ros ~

January Birthday

Well Christmas may have come and gone for another year ... but the birthday card list is just beginning... This is one I made for a friend who has a birthday very soon

I used my Silhouette to cut this card ... the fancy cut really doesn't need much adding to it 

I used a scrap of Basic grey paper on the front of the card and a sheet of paper from the Paper Cellar to the inside of the card... 

... a handmade flower together with a Prima flower and lots of  liquid pearls ... Love that stuff but sometimes it takes a while to master ...

It's a wet and dreary day here ... so photographing things is not easy ...

I also received more Happy Mail today .... from my friend Sylvia Nelson ... one of her lovely handmade cards 

and two beautiful tags ...

Aren't they lovely?

Thanks so much Sylvia ... I love them

Wishing you all a wonderful day ... thanks for stopping by

~ Ros ~

Happy Mail and Strange happenings

A while ago I contributed a few short stories to a book written by sweet Cindy Adkins ... Angel stories... and I have many untold ones ... Things that I can't explain ... if you are reading this Cindy ... here's a new one for you...

A couple of days ago my back went into spasm again ... more than likely due to my limping ... I've been trying to get my appointment with the foot specialist for ages ... so all in all I don't sleep too well and I'm often up in the night trying to relieve my foot pain or my stiff back ...

The night before last I was in a fair bit of pain and lack of sleep was not helping ... after being awake for several hours I finally fell asleep asking God to please help me out here. The next thing I knew I felt immense pain shoot through my foot ...  someone ... something ... was manipulating my foot ... I swear to you I had no control over the movements and it was agony ... I was wriggling about trying to pull away yet I couldn't ... But ... after that ... my foot pain eased and I am no longer limping ... and I can't explain it at all ...

Today I finally get the call I am waiting for ... the hospital with an appointment for me ... the earliest appointment they have? 12th January ... which just happens to be my birthday ... so ok ... I've had worse ... I actually had major surgery on my 40th ... so I accept the appointment only to find out that my foot consultant is called Doctor Toe ... "You're having a laugh ... " I say to the lady on the phone ... but no, she is serious ... Sometimes Angels have a sense of humour!


And to cheer me further ... I got not one but two Happy Mail packages today ... 
I was fortunate enough to win a lovely stamp pack from the ever so talented Suzanne Czosek
This set ...

and it arrived today ... but look what came with it ...

One of her fabulous cards ... and ... all this 

Look at this ribbon lace

Sue, Thank you ever so much ... You are one lovely lady ... I am thrilled to bits!


The other package came quite unexpectedly from my dear friend Ira ... I fell in love with her latest card and little did I know it was winging it's way over to me ...

I absolutely adore this and I am going to put it in a frame

along with it came 2 beautifully wrapped gifts ... for my upcoming birthday ... I just had to open them ...

Look at this ...

A gorgeous stamp set and the most stunning dimensional butterfly stickers

Thank You Ira ... I am beyond delighted at your thoughtfulness ...

 Thank you to the Angels both earthly and ethereal who have shown me humour when I'm down, and kindness when I most need it ...

Have a lovely Day

~ Ros ~