The Card Concept

Hello there ...

We actually have sunshine and warm weather today (shhh.... don't want to scare it away)

Now, green and white is way out of my comfort zone when card making ... However, this week The Card Concept features just that on the challenge photo

So I challenge myself to come up with something... Well, that frosting on the cake said embossing paste to me and the paper trays - vellum...

The colour of the cake was not lost on me ... It's in the sequins and to get the 'straw' effect I sponged ink on a piece of CS through a template I made using the word window punch from Stamping Up

My dilemma once again is what style do I class this as?

I am going with  Mixed Media simply because of the stencilling ... I guess you will advise me if I'm wrong ... 

Either way this challenge forced me out of my comfort zone Lol!

On another note I am pleased to say that when I was at the hospital on Tuesday, my friend was a lot better ... She was able to talk a little too. She's a long way from recovered but at least on the right road.

I am working at the Thursday Club tonight and have prepared 20+ owl note books for them to assemble and 20+ cards ... Hard work but so worth it to see them have fun.

Enjoy your day

~ Ros ~

City Crafter 264

Hello and good morning

Today we have Samra hosting for us at City Crafter

Samra has set us a challenge to use a banner on our cards or project and here's the lovely inspiration photo

Source

We are also joined this week by Kara Lynne of Kara Lynne Cards who is Guesting for us having won challenge week 256

Do click the link and go visit her blog ... she is very talented and her work is so inspiring

Here's what I came up with

I cut the banner from some DP - imitating the one from the inspiration photo and used foam dots to pop it up on a paint covered BG which was a left over from another project

This card went to my friend who is still critically ill in hospital ... so much so that her mother's surgery has been cancelled ... she needs to be with her daughter - I'll be there later today too

As always my fellow DT have some more inspiration for you up on the City Crafter Blog ... hop on over and take a look. We are offering a GD spot to this week's winner too so go on get your banners out!

Wishing you a beautiful day

~ Ros ~

Masking Day 5

Hello...

I've enjoyed learning the tips and tricks with the online class Mask-erade

Day 5 was a lesson using heat embossing to mask your images and once again there were some lovely samples from the tutors...

I'm loving water colouring lately and I used a poppy stencil to create this card

You can make your own stencil by using the negative part of a die cut ... tape it down onto your card and smoosh away with your Versamark then heat emboss with clear EP or you could just use your stamps

The embossing resists the paint ... I used TH distress stains for my card ... I love them

You can also see that I added a few old Rubons ...I love how that little butterfly looks against the water colour... To be honest I wasn't sure they would work but they did

I'll share a little tip with you that Debbie Hughes gave and that was if you iron over the embossing (using a piece of paper) the shine comes off... I didn't try that - I thought I may just ruin the whole thing.

Thanks so much for popping by ... Have a lovely day

~ Ros ~

Fun

Good morning!

I'm back with photos for the prompt over at 

Our Beautiful World

Manuela has chosen the prompt for us ... This week it's 

Fun

I saw this on a patio near to the hotel we recently stayed at in Majorca ... It made me laugh!

And at the hotel pool it was fun to see this little guy enjoying himself

But the weather broke and the cold winds came and it even put off the little duck from dipping his toes

We don't have brilliant summers here but we try to enjoy ourselves and make the most of things ... Recently at a local shopping centre I spotted some attractions for the children to have fun

Share your Fun photos with us this week at

Our Beautiful World

And go visit the blog to see what my fellow photographers have to share

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Friends and freezer paper

Hello...

A weird title? Well I'll explain as I go ...

Yesterday was Day 4 of Mask-erade

The lesson was about using freezer paper ... readily available to my American friends so I see, but not here in the UK ... I could order it online ... the lowest price I found would have been about £10 with postage... having already ordered some masking paper and masking fluid (not cheap either) I decided I would try and improvise...

Freezer paper allows you to mask your image and be able to watercolour over it - that's the beauty of the product

So I tried ordinary transparent contact paper and I then tried a thicker patterned contact paper ... the sort you use to cover furniture etc.,

This is the result of the thicker contact paper ... It really worked the best and maybe the image is not as pronounced as the samples shown with freezer paper but it still gives a good result using the Chloe Stem by Memory Box

Now although the thin contact didn't work so well, for some reason I actually love the result I got using my 'hello' die ... It's not so clear but it has a lovely look to me

You can make out the "hello" but it's imperfection is what appeals to me

So to all my British friends out there ... If you have contact paper - give it a go or buy some as it is soooo much cheaper than freezer paper and no ironing either

A quick update about my sick friend ... I managed to get to the hospital to see her yesterday evening and though she is still in a very bad way there was a slight improvement which was brilliant news!
She can't talk but old friends don't need to talk - they just hold hands...
I held her hand for a long while and then massaged her aching back till it was time to leave.
Thank you for your well wishes and your prayers

Have a lovely weekend

~ Ros ~

Keeping busy

Hello...

I've been keeping busy which is a good thing right now ... I had some bad news regarding 2 of my friends ... Mother and daughter

The daughter is a year younger than me and we've been friend since children - right now she is in a critical condition with a lung problem and her mother who is now in her 80's has been by her side but she too has to have 2 operations on monday including a mastectomy...

All I can do is pray that they will both come through...

The 2nd day of the online class Mask-erade gave some ideas about masking off part of your card for sentiments ... I managed to create a little card using a stencil and some paste 

I mixed the paste using a Hero Arts Ombre ink pad which gives it this pretty blend

... And you can see I used a coating of glitter too

I really should have stamped my sentiment a little further over to balance it properly but hey ho.. I'll remember next time.

I didn't do a card from today's class - day 3 as I don't yet have any masking fluid but I'll definitely give it a go when I receive mine

However, I did see a card up on the Simonsaysstamp blog by Laura Bassen and it gave me an idea using an old PTI die ... The clock face

I know my blending is far from perfect but it was one of those moments when a light bulb comes on and you just grab any old scrap piece of CS to see if your idea works - 

I like how it turned out despite the blending and I love it when a die can be used for something totally different

Ok enough from me for now ...

Have yourselves a lovely day and be safe

Thanks for stopping by

~ Ros ~