All the best plans ....

Hi there sweet friends ... this is a second an unexpected post ... If you are looking for my CCCB post ... please scroll down ... 

I just felt I needed to chat ... As those of you who follow me know, I was expected to travel to Lincoln today to stay with my Aunt who was having surgery tomorrow...

Well as they say ... "All the best plans of  mice and men ... often go astray" ...

I am in Lincoln ... I travelled frantically last night ...

My Aunt has been unwell with a chest infection and taking antibiotics ... By Sunday she was a lot better and we chatted just fine on the phone ... 

I called again yesterday tea time and it was a completely different story ... I could not even recognise her voice ... and she was incomprehensible ... a call that lasted maybe 20 minutes was interrupted a few times by her lapsing in and out of consciousness ... To say I was frantic is an understatement! I was screaming down the phone to her to wake up and the visions in my head ... you don't want to know ...

I managed to get the police on my mobile phone and relay what was happening 3 hours away in Lincoln ... They were able to alert the Lincoln force who wasted no time in getting to her home.

It seemed a long wait to hear from the Police as to what was happening ... was she alive was all I could think 

But I guess it was only half an hour before they let me know she was ok ... paramedics were on scene and they were looking after her.

My husband, brother and I made the 3 hour journey straight to the hospital and arrived around 11pm by which time she was much more lucid and doing ok ... a severe lung infection was the cause ... her temperature had risen to 41C ... that's over 105F .... and she was severely dehydrated. But thankfully alive and in safe hands.

I got to her home late and my husband and brother had to travel back to Liverpool ... and no, I haven't slept yet.

I saw her again today and she is so much better ... albeit that she has an oxygen mask and drips ... 

The police lady called me today and I can never thank them enough for saving her life ... the police and the paramedics ... they have gone the extra mile and I am so very grateful ... 10 years ago I walked in to find my mum dead ... history could have been repeated today and I thank God that it wasn't ... That there are Angels around and that I found the presence of mind to call dial 999.

Being alone here with the cat for company ... I just wanted to talk ... Oh the phone has been ringing all day with people that know my aunt ... that are concerned ... But I wanted to talk to people I feel I know ... to you ...

Thank you for being there ....

~ Ros ~

City Crafter Challenge

Hi there! 

This post is scheduled today as I am on my way to Lincoln ... My Aunt is supposed to be going into hospital tomorrow for her hip replacement ... The plan was for me to be there to care for her ... however, she caught a chest infection at the end of last week and has been on antibiotics ... we are keeping our fingers crossed that she will be well enough for the op to go ahead ... otherwise it will have to be re-scheduled ...

Still, we get to spend some time together which will be lovely!

Today I am hosting the challenge at City Crafter and I have chosen a photo inspiration challenge for you and what we want to see is a project using

ONLY the colours in the picture ... your project can be Christmas related but it does NOT have to be ... just have fun!

Here is the photo

Photo Credit

... And here is my card

The background paper is a plain paper from Pink Petticoat naturals ... and I imported it to photoshop where I added the snowy detail before printing it ... then I added stickles to make it glisten

The cats and the fence were cut on the Cameo ... I added glossy accents to the fence and then a little flower soft for snow ... (you can click to enlarge) ...

The sentiment is a stamp I was sent from Suzanne last year ... perfect for this card and perfect for the weather we are having here!

I'm thinking that perhaps I should have added something else to this card ... Hey ho ...

I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with and to seeing what the rest of the DT have come up with too ... They are such a talented bunch!

Have a beautiful day and stay warm

Thanks for stopping by

~ Ros ~

Winter Birthday

Hello there ...

Thanks ever so much for your comments and advice following my last posting ... You guys are the best!  I am so glad that you can still access my blog now I have changed the settings ... hopefully these awful spammers will back off ...

Well it's freezing here ... The shops are full of Christmas shoppers and lots of people are braving the weather to decorate the outside of their houses with pretty lights and ribbons ... sometimes you can see a bit of a competition going on between neighbours ... who has the best display! No matter ... it does look pretty and cosy seeing the lights ...

I had to make a birthday card for my friend yesterday ... having taken ages to get into making Christmas cards all year for Jingle Belles ... I am now struggling to switch to birthday cards! I am still thinking glitter and lilac and grey ... I pondered for the longest time about this card ... fiddling with this and that ... In the end I just had to go with the glitter, the greys and the fishtails again and hope it would work ... 

What do you think?

The felt flower is cut with a Sizzix die and I find it works much easier with felt than paper ... it kind of rolls better

I'm wondering if you can see that I put little dots of liquid pearls on the tulle ... it looks so pretty IRL ... one of those things that started of as a mistake but became a nice idea

My friend like me loves all things animal print ... so I bought her a lovely top in animal print that perfectly matches paper from Basic Grey (Little black dress) ... which I used to make a matching necklace for her

I took them round this morning and she was absolutely delighted! It's such a nice feeling when you make someone smile ...

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday ... Thanks so much for stopping by .... I'll be visiting your blogs later today to see how you are and your lovely creations that always make me smile

Till soon

~ Ros ~

More Tags and Spam

Good morning everyone ...

It's frosty and cold here in the UK ... the temperatures have dropped to below freezing these past few nights ...

I am still working like crazy to get things done before I head off to Lincoln ... Seems the more cards and tags I make ... the more I need!

I finished my last week at the Thursday Club last night and all my overseas packages have been mailed ... The Royal Mail made a fortune from me I can tell you!

Today I am going to have lunch with my GF's and exchange Christmas gifts ... just in case I don't get the chance again this year ... I am praying that the Pennines will be passable in the next few weeks ...

Here are some more of my tags for this year 

I think these would look good on the gifts for the men 

I am also cutting and stitching stuff to take and make whilst I am away ... I will be on my own for a few days whilst my Aunt is in the hospital so I need something to keep me occupied.

Before I go ... I have been getting hundreds of Spam comments lately ... all from the same place ... I have changed my setting to try and stop this so would you please let me know if you have any problems  either viewing my blog or leaving comments ... I really don't want to have to use word verification unless I have to.

Thanks so much ...

Have a lovely day ... keep safe

~ Ros ~

Holiday Greenery

Hi there ...

We have a lovely inspiration photo for you at Papercraft Star this week ...

Isn't this gorgeous?

The challenge this week is "Holiday Greenery" 

I used some pretty digital papers and a sentiment stamp from Pink Petticoat along with a PaperMania holly stamp from the Home For Christmas Urban stamp set to make a more CAS card

I love these digital sentiments and the paper went perfectly with that pretty trim ... a gift from Kirsty

The holly was stamped onto some Core'dinations card stock which I hand cut then glittered before adding some bright red liquid pearls

You know I liked this so much that I actually did a few of them ...

I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the team have come up with ... why not hop over to the blog and take a look too? You may just be inspired to share your holiday greenery projects with us too ...

Have a beautiful day

~ Ros ~

Christmas Easel

Good morning to you ...

The rain is still falling in the UK ... It was estimated that a month's rain fell yesterday alone ... causing more misery for so many people and freezing temperatures are now being forecast ...

Nature can be incredibly beautiful ... but also a force to be reckoned with...

I hope you are ready for a new challenge at City Crafter where we have the lovely Linda hosting for us ... Linda is asking that we make a Christmas easel card ... Simple right?

This week we have LeAnne as our Guest Designer ... a very worthy winner from week 127 ... Please pop over and leave her some love ..

I chose to use the soft grey paper from Astrid ... I did warn you that you would be seeing this paper and colour combination again ... Not traditional I know but colours I really love together

The lilac coloured paper is from my supplies ... just from a pad of rainbow papers bought at a £1 store to which I added glitter before I adhered it to the card

The lovely ribbon is from The ribbon Girl .. pearls and crystal from my supplies

The sentiment is a WaltzingMouse stamp ... embossed with silver embossing powder and the star was cut on my big shot using a sizzix die

I do hope you can join us this week ... I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with ... 

Have yourselves a wonderful day wherever you are

Thanks for stopping by 

~ Ros ~