Birthday Blues

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

Birthday blues... Let me explain or rather rant a little (does me good). See today is a friends' birthday... Earlier in the week I made this card for her

Yes it took awhile - Lining up the cut out balloon shape behind the shaker part (which you can't really see), cutting sticky foam to place around the small shapes etc.,

 I'd queued up to buy a gift card and flowers and made a lovely decorated envelope for the cards with ribbons and sparkles and her name cut out in gold glitter as she loves bling (sorry, I didn't photograph that)

 

This morning we went out in the pouring rain to deliver them... Actually I placed them in clear plastic covers and laid them on the step, rang the bell and stepped back. There was a brief exchange of words and I guess I expected a smile and a thank you for the effort, sorry we can't get together... Whatever. But I came away wondering why I bother. In fact the last few cards I've sent to family and friends have not even been acknowledged.

Sometimes it just makes me sad or maybe I'm just turning into a crotchety old lady Lol!

 

Anyway I hope you liked it...

 

Take care and thanks for stopping by

~ Ros ~

 

 

Christmas Foliage

 Hello.. How's your Sunday going?

It's cold one today but so far no snow in my neck of the woods.

Well, I said I would share a couple more painted cards and here they are...

I've had fun doing these, though there were a few attempts that never made it, painting on cardstock can be a struggle. It's getting the right consistency of watercolour as any big images like the holly leaves can dry quickly and the colour doesn't blend - Too wet and it just doesn't work at all.

The next one (very similar) doesn't have a sentiment as I honestly think I'm going to keep it as a reminder of my first attempts

 

I recently bought a small pad of Fabriano extra white watercolour paper which I've yet to try... It not as white as the cardstock is and that's the compromise - I love bright white

I'll let you know how it goes... right now the cold is affecting the arthritis in my hands so I can't paint. I bought myself a pair of those compression gloves to help but I only had them 2 days and I've lost them! I tell 'ya things just keep on disappearing here Lol!

Take care of yourselves and enjoy your day

~ Ros ~

The Holly and The ...Bunny

Hello again...

It's done nothing but rain for days here but DH finally got to go to golf yesterday and I can promise you that I enjoyed it far more than he did (hee hee)... Such bliss to have a few hours alone.

 I've been holed up in my craft room with the cats, snuggled in their baskets. An opportunity to sit and paint..

Today's card is as the title says... The holly and the bunny

Proportion wise you have to imagine that this is a tiny bunny

I tried my hand at painting holly and then just kept adding more foliage, when up popped this tiny bunny who was really curious. Well, it's his first Christmas and the glossy berries are so tempting

...Not to mention the gold sparkle of Stickles (which I couldn't capture on the photo).

Actually I'm quite pleased with this - A year ago I wouldn't even have attempted to paint my own foliage let alone a bunny...

Thanks for your visit, have a super day and I'll share some more of my foliage cards in the next few days

Till soon

~ Ros ~

 

Happy Birthday Susan

 Hello there...

Just a quick post today,...

My friend Loll has organized a party post for her friend Susan Here and I thought it would be fun to send her a card too. We don't know each other so I thought it would be a sweet surprise

 

It's been a tough year all round and a little bit of kindness always helps

All the animals on the card are done digitally on my computer and then I stenciled balloons and hills, stamped and embossed the rest.

Happy Birthday Susan!

Enjoy your day friends

~ Ros ~

More Christmas Cards

Hello... 

Well we are nearly into December.. I hope those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving had a lovely day even if it was completely different from the norm. Let's all hope that next year will be better.

The rules here will be relaxed for a few days over Christmas, there are still restrictions, but some family members will be allowed a get together. As for us, we have no plans to meet up with anyone and Christmas day will be as it always is except that this year friends and family all agreed not to buy each other presents, rather donate to charities. The Grandchildren have online wish lists so they will still get gifts.

I haven't done any crafting this week at all but I do have a couple of Christmas cards to share

 

 

This is the same deer I used in a previous card, stamped twice and watercoloured. I just used the head of one (minus the antlers) to make a mama deer and baby deer. I drew a string of fairy lights using liquid pearls for the lights to hang around mama deer's antlers

 

The little bird is from an old Lawn Fawn set

This next card was done pretty quick - I'd ordered the Versafine Clair ink in Twilight and couldn't wait to try it - It's such a lovely colour - and the little bunny stamps (£1.50) also arrived from Inklicious

This is quite sparkly...

...As I used a similar colour glitter to the ink

Unfortunately the days have been very dull here and not good for photos... In fact it was like night time all day yesterday and it's cold!

Stay safe and well my friends... Thanks so much for your visit

~ Ros ~

Shake it Up & Covid testing

 Hello there... How are you?

Well there's been a few things happening here since I last posted but first I'll get on to the cards I'm sharing today.

The weather is cold and miserable, we are in a lock down and Christmas is coming - Time to pull out the sparkle with a few simple shaker cards

Of course it helps to use up those zillions of sequins I have and the painted pieces that work for backgrounds or to make those sequins sparkle and sentiments shine

 These are both normal size cards - The die is from AliExpress and the pretty centres on the snowflakes are from a hoard of gems

The next few cards are slimline...

 Which can be stood either way

So last Friday hubby and I had our Covid tests. Thankfully we tested negative and will be going for a follow up test again this week. I have always been in two minds about the testing given that there are idiots who refuse to quarantine or wear masks and lets face it I could be negative one day but positive the next. However, a lot of time and effort has gone into the organization of the mass testing project and then again those young handsome guys in their Army uniforms were just too much for me to resist Lol!

Was it worth it? Yes. Each time I get a sniffle or a cough, my heart races with the what if? Was it uncomfortable? Only for 10 seconds and the scheme has been extended so we can go as many times as we wish but the main thing is that the R rate has come down and hundreds of asymptomatic people have been diagnosed.

We had to break the rule a little yesterday as my brother needed to come over but he took the test here so we all knew we were clear. Another distressing family issue has rocked our otherwise quiet life and I'm grateful we have each other for support. We'll get through as we always do... 

Stay safe and well and thanks so much for your visit

Till soon

~ Ros ~