Tone on Tone

 Hello friends...

It's been a while since my last post - A week ago I had the flu jab and woke up the next day feeling dreadful. It lasted quite a few days but I'm fine now. My husband didn't have any problems after his jab but I know of a few people who were so bad they were given Covid tests. Thankfully I didn't have any Covid symptoms which is great considering we have been classed as a high risk area now...

I had intended to post this a little earlier but it's just been one of those days,

 the printer kept chewing up paper, my camera didn't want to cooperate and worst of all - I realised (too late) that I hadn't put the slow roast in the oven.. Hey ho

 

I needed a thank you card this week so to kick start me

 I turned to the new challenge at

CAS Mix Up

Here's my take on Viv's Tone on Tone challenge

I only used one distress ink - Iced Spruce which I blended lightly through a die cut triangle 

and then used a stencil by Dutch Doobadoo over the top

The sentiment and the leaves were stamped with Versafine ink and embossed 

with clear embossing powder.

Thanks so much for your visit - Be safe

~ Ros ~

 

Lanterns

 Hello there friends, I hope this finds you well...

Autumn is creeping in and just like the little hedgehogs, I'm feeling the need to hibernate. I actually got to go to my exercise class this past week - They had closed during the lockdown and on Monday they were allowed to open once again with strict Covid precautions in place. OMG I am still aching...I'm not sure what scares me the most, the pandemic or an hour of class, my co-ordination is totally shot!

I have a couple of cards to share, more of the oriental type

There's the little hedgehog on his way to hibernation... I painted the tree and the lanterns, used distress inks for the mountains and drew a few birds and stones for the ground

This one uses up a circle die I had spare

I don't know why I chose to do lanterns, sometimes things just come into my head

I must confess that these past few days nothing has come into my head... I came across some digital jigsaws whilst on Pinterest and suddenly I was hooked. Oh well... 

I'm off to get lunch now so I'll wish you all a lovely weekend

Stay safe

~ Ros ~

CAS Mix Up

 Hello... 

I know I only posted yesterday but an idea for a card suddenly came into my head and I just had to go with it. We'd been out this afternoon to collect a few things and I was just relaxing when boom inspiration hit. Of course things were delayed a little when I realised I hadn't fed the cats and I also had to prep tonight's dinner... But a card... For the CAS Mix Up Challenge

See, I still had the stencil out and the stamps (Lavinia) so all I had to do was find the umbrella dies

Which I embossed into the card, and then stenciled over. I only used two colours of Distress inks, Walnut Stain and Iced Spruce. I really am liking the earthy tones

Okay that's me done... 

Have a beautiful day/evening

Till soon

~ Ros ~

 

Stencil and Sketching

Good morning my friends...

Well, we are more than halfway through September... The leaves are starting to fall and the darn squirrels have strewn acorns all over the garden.

I'm still trying to get some ideas for Christmas cards but it's just not happening. I'm probably the only one who is not a fan of Christmas. I like things simple and everything now is so commercialized. Give me an old fashioned Christmas when the smallest of gifts was a genuine kindness,  families enjoyed each other and whether they were religious or not, the meaning was never forgotten...

So, no Christmas cards to share but I do have a couple of cards using a Lavinia stencil and my own sketched flowers

It is so much easier to draw around paints than just sketch but I had a go

The mushrooms are also a Lavinia stamp which was on my desk so why not. Looking at this now I am thinking that maybe I could even try sketching into those pebble shapes. I might give that a go...

Both cards are similar but I think I prefer this one

What about you?

One thing I'll always love are my distress inks and stencils, how they can totally transform a plain piece of card into something pretty with very little effort.

I hope you are all well and safe, though I know some of you are struggling with  forest fires and have to stay indoors... What a year this has been

I hope these have brightened your day a little. Take care and thanks so much for your visit

~ Ros ~

  

Birthday Cards

 Hello!

Summer is paying us a final visit before Autumn settles in and it is very welcome...

I have two birthday cards to share, the first one went to a friend in Scotland and the second one is going across the pond to a blog friend.

I used a new stencil here by Lavinia but the flowers I drew and painted

Though you can't see it on my photos, the flowers are very sparkly - I went over them with a glitter gel pen

Whilst I still had those paint colours wet  I did the second card with 'blobs' and doodled over them

I absolutely love how these flowers turned out

I added a little gold paint and some sequins after.

Both cards have embossed sentiments but again not easy to see.

My previous doodled flowers here won me a $25 voucher at Simonsays Stamp... Thank you Diane for the heads up and thank you to SSS!  Of course the postage for goods to the UK is $15.99 but nevertheless it was an honour to be spotlighted.

Okay, so as soon as the guy who has come to clean the gutters today is finished, I'm going to join my Gingerboy in the garden and relax.

Thanks so much for your visit... If only it was IRL

Take care

~ Ros ~

 

A Little Oriental

 Good morning friends... I hope you are all safe and well.

Tough times right now and not just with the pandemic, nature is also having her say and my thoughts are with all of you affected by the terrible fires raging in the USA.

Sadly this week, a neighbour passed away very suddenly which is always hard on the family and particularly her two sons who still live at home. Fortunately I did have an appropriate card. 

 I had been trying my hand a couple of oriental type cards similar to the amazing paintings that often appear on my Pinterest feed and thought this one would be suitable to send to the family

I used distress inks for the background and the sun and the bamboo is stamped. I've a few sets with an oriental theme that have been in my stash for years - I just never really used them much

I drew a few birds with a fineliner and stamped a border to the base of the card

I also tried another one using distress inks

 

...But I messed up a bit with the sun. I drew the little fishing boat, the tree and the birds and added some acrylic paint in red for the blossom
 

Although I messed up a little I still like it and I'm hoping to try more of this style

I don't know about you but I'm still struggling a little with this new blogger... I can't seem to get the line spacing right. 

Anyway... Thank you for stopping by, have a safe and happy day

 

~ Ros ~