I Wonder .....

Hello ...

I'm travelling to Lincoln today to spend time with my aunt - She's had a couple of falls this week though she assures me she is OK - I want to be sure. So my post this morning is prescheduled.

It's a new prompt at Our Beautiful World and the prompt has been chosen for us by the lovely Shahrul

The prompt is "Wonder"

I confess with all that's been going on here lately - I haven't had a great deal of time to be out and about taking photos ... Sometimes life just gets in the way ...

But on one of our rather hot days ... I did notice a blackbird ... way up in the trees and he looked like he was sunning himself. He had his wings spread right out ... I wonder if he knew I was watching

I've noticed that lots of the Magpies have lost some of their feathers ... I read about them molting and whilst they are not my favourite birds ... I kind of feel for this this guy who regularly visits and takes the cat biscuits ... I wonder if he knows how sad he looks

This next photo I pulled from my archives ... It was taken a few years ago on a visit to Derbyshire ... I can just imagine those ducks saying "I wonder where the water went"

All of nature is a wonder to me ... We have some amazing things on this planet of ours ... I will leave you with a shot of a white butterfly who thought I wouldn't see him against the white flower

... so delicate and beautiful 

Hop over to the blog and check out the photos from the rest of the team and please link up your Wonders this week ...

Have a lovely day 

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Papercraft Star 156

Good morning!

How's your week going? 

I can't believe it's Wednesday already ... where does the time go?
Today would have been my Mum's 88th Birthday ... 
Happy Birthday Mum, we love and miss you

 Being Wednesday, it's a new challenge at 

Papercraft Star

Here's your Inspiration Photo for this week

There's a lot of detail in there ... lots of things for you to pick out

Me ... I took the 'Book' route and made a book box to store some photos of my recent trip to Cornwall

... And as Cornwall is full of beaches and very much about fishing and the sea ... I decorated it with a beach theme

The box and cover I made from cardstock and then covered it inside and out ... For the first time ever I used a napkin to cover the outside ... My blog friend Asia (Under A Creative Spell) is an expert at this and her work inspired me to give it a go ... The napkins were bought in Cornwall too. 

Once I'd adhere the napkin and let it dry ... I gave it a spray with clear lacquer to protect it ready for decorating ...

I used all sorts of things from my hoard of supplies including bits and pieces I found in some old M&S Pot Pourri - I don't throw anything out I think I can use ...  Tip ... Distress stains wok wonderfully on shells ... you can paint them to match your colour scheme

Here's the inside

and a side view

I'm really looking forward to seeing where your imagination will take you on this challenge ...

Hop over to the blog to check out the creations from the rest of the team 

And please come and join in our challenge this week

Thanks so much for stopping by 

Have a beautiful day

~ Ros ~

City Crafter Challenge 171

Hi there ...

It's time for a new challenge at City Crafter this morning and this week we are being sponsored by

"Paper Sweeties"

The amazing creations of Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Paper Sweeties is celebrating their first year and the winner of this week's challenge will receive a $25 gift certificate to spend in the store ... Please click the links to visit the store and see all the lovely goods available

So you are wondering what the challenge is this week? Well it's 

Polka Dots

Debbie kindly supplied the DT with stamps of their choice for this challenge ... I chose the beautiful Wedding Day stamps

I love this image of the bride and groom and couldn't resist adding some tulle and sparkles to her dress

Who says you can't have polka dots on wedding cards hee hee ...

Also this week we have the lovely Sue Lelli Guesting for us ... In fact Sue is kindly going to be with us for the whole month! She is such a sweet and talented lady ... please give her a warm welcome

Don't forget to visit the City Crafter Blog and check out the beautiful creations from the rest of the team ...

Grateful thanks to Debbie and Paper Sweeties 

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Just Us Girls 200th Challenge

Good Morning!

I noticed that Just Us Girls  is up to their 200th Challenge... That's quite a milestone!

This week it's a sketch challenge

As the weather here has been wet and windy I found some time yesterday to play along ... 

This is for a friend of mine who has a birthday in a couple of weeks ...

I've used the Pink Petticoat Ombre collection to print my card ... giving it that lovely graduated colour

The peeled paint paper is by Fancy Pants and the blue / green paper is another digital from (the no longer) Design House Digitals

The lovely jar is from a set of digital images by Iralamija ... I printed it onto paper first then onto acetate ... sliding the flower stems behind the acetate ... It's hard to see on the photos but it does look like a glass jar

I've been using these jar images a lot lately ... you'll see in some up coming projects ... But I think this is one of my favourite colour combinations

Ok ... I've a lot to do today and I think Ross is also coming to see me with my brother and SIL ... so better dash

Thanks so much for your visit 

Have a beautiful day

~ Ros ~

August

Good morning!

I almost forgot what day it was ... This week has been so full of ups and downs ... 

But as it is Sunday ... it's a new prompt at

Our Beautiful World

Where we share our photos from around the world and ask that you share yours 

This week's prompt is simply August 

It's been a little hectic here for me to be taking many photos ... But I did capture this little guy

He's a regular in my garden and as you can see ... always stealing the nuts from the bird feeder

It's too early for the nuts on the trees just yet so I guess he's getting his fill here first.

As you can see ... I did a little trickery with this shot ... 

I opened it in Printshop and overlaid it with a calendar transparency ... Just one I found on the internet

My husband is not so fond of this little guy ... Because he keeps digging up the flower pots and burying the nuts ... the crazy thing is ... the magpies keep watch and once the squirrel has left ... down comes Mr Magpie - digs up the nuts and flies off with them!

The beginning of August always brings new flowers too ... just as some are fading ... another part of the garden starts to bloom ... 

These  pretties spread each year and take over if you let them ... I'm not sure what they are called but the bees just love them ...

What is August like in your part of the world? I would love see ... please link up at Our Beautiful World and have a look on the blog at what my friends around the globe are sharing ...

Thanks for looking in

Enjoy your Sunday and keep safe

~ Ros ~

2 Cards ... The same ... But Different

Hi there ...

I got to meet up with my GF's for lunch today ... It's been awhile and it was so good to catch up 

It's still warm here with a little welcome rain thrown in ... We've had a lovely summer this year

August brings more birthdays and anniversaries when cards need to be made - a couple of which are for men ... So these two cards are in essence the same ... but different

Both use wine labels from my blog friend Jacqueline ... her work is so inspiring and I bought these labels but never got around to using them until now - This first card is for a friend

I've used Pink Petticoat Ombre digital papers for both cards ... This one Soft Sage and I used distress stains on the label

I stamped and gold embossed black cardstock before cutting the 'birthday' die from PTI

and as an embellishment I cut slices from a wine cork ... embossed that too

This next card is for one of my brothers ... I used the Irish linen from the Ombre collection on this card

... again virtually the same process as the first card

I love the effect from the cork ... I think if I had used red embossing powder it would resemble a seal ... maybe I'll try that next time

It just occurred to me that I have included something to do with wine on my brother's last 3 cards ... oops! I hope he doesn't take it the wrong way - 

He retires from the Royal Navy shortly - I think he's done over 40years and I know he's looking forward to a new life

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend ... Thanks so much for your visit

Till soon

~ Ros ~