And so ends another week...

 Hello there... This week has gone so fast! 

It's very dull here today but we've enjoyed a few days of really warm weather and nature isn't quite sure what to make of things. Flowers are blooming...

Alongside the holly...

...and the garden chairs are out again.

On Monday I went to my flexercise class and had fun with the ladies as we tried to master new steps and positions that taxed the brain as much as the body. I never thought exercise could make me laugh so much.

Wednesday was lunch with my friends and Thursday was flu jab day. The jab left me feeling really rough but I was determined not to miss a catch up (last night) with my long time GF's. I dosed up on paracetamol, went along and had a brilliant night.

 

I did fit in a little crafty time and have a couple of cards to share 

 

I just paint randomly and then look for shapes I can outline and remove paint here and there with water

 

The second card is done the same way

 

And I also used a grey pencil 

 

 

I'll catch up with your blogs soon, in the meantime have a lovely day and thank you for stopping by

~ Ros ~

Falling Leaves

 Hello... How are you? Good I hope.

After my last post, my lovely brother came to the rescue and plumbed in a new tap so all is good there. As for my knee, lets just say I am getting nowhere... The system has completely broken down as far as GP's go. It's no wonder people are clogging the A&E and Walk In centres... I give up.

Other than that I have been trying to get to grips with a new computer. I had my iMac for over 12 years and it served me well but it was getting so slow so I decided to treat myself to a new one. Unfortunately the programs I was so familiar with have all gone along with normal size USB's so I am hoping that my card today looks okay. I had to buy a hub to plug my camera into so I could download and then fathom out where it went to etc...

So... A card for the challenge at the CAS Mix Up

I do love their challenges and this is another I hadn't tried. There are different techniques shared on the blog - I tried a few till I found one that suited me and finally a card

I used rose leaves, painted them with watercolours, lay them onto my card and smoothed them down with a piece of kitchen roll and waited a few seconds before peeling them off. I should point out that the stronger the value of the paint, the better the result and I think using plain smooth card was better than watercolour paper or card.

I die cut a stencil for the background,  painted in part of a tree and added some fallen berries

The sentiment from Uniko has been stamped and embossed.

I'm off to do some baking now... Well, I have done an exercise class and I've lost weight so I deserve a treat. Lemon meringue it is then...

Have a lovely day/evening

Till next time

~ Ros ~

All's Well that Ends Well

 Hello there...

Well yesterday started off badly. My knee had given me pain during the night and I got up to find that my bathroom tap (faucet) had literally fallen off. I only had the en suite remodelled 5 years ago and there have been so many problems with it that the repair guys are like family.

I was left to deal with the matter as DH went into the city for his appointment at the MGUS clinic - Turned out he had got the dates wrong and his appointment is actually for today....Yeah, not a good start to the day.

However, it ended really well. I pulled out my paints (that always calms me) with no particular plan or idea other than just watching the colours collide and ended up with 4 unexpected paintings.

It all started with this one...

 

My mood determined the colours of blues and black which I randomly painted on the diagonal and that's when I had the idea to use a wet paintbrush to drag the paint form shapes. As you know, if the cardstock gets too wet it can pill but that was to my advantage to give me texture as trees appeared, which I then outlined with my fine liner.

Oh I had to try that again but this time I used my fingers to move the paint around too and I had a moonlight forest with a little house I could hide away in...

I was having so much fun I continued...

The colours got lighter as did my mood and I couldn't resist adding little doors to those trees and then I was smiling, wondering who else lived in that forest until finally...

Gold dust was falling down and what started as a bad day ended a good day. 

I still don't have a tap and I'm miffed about that but I do have my paints...

Have a good day friends

~ Ros ~

Little wonky Houses

Good morning friends...

The sun is just putting in an appearance after a night of heavy rain and high winds which have left a ton of leaves around...

Today I have a couple of my paintings to share - Anyone who follows me will know I have a penchant for little houses. I love those little driftwood ones up on Pinterest and I have something similar on my mantle

Aren't they sweet? The shells are lights by the way. Anyway I had a desire to paint some myself

...Cos I love the sea

 I even pulled out a cover plate and used part of the die cut on the bottom of the card

Some old Rubons were perfect for the sentiment and whilst looking for them I discovered a bottle of Puffy Stuff, well why not...

Then again a little place not so close to the sea would be just as good, a solitary place to paint and sketch all day and maybe a little sewing too

And I added some of the negative bits from that coverplate to the top of the card. One thing I still love are my frame dies, though I don't know what this one is, probably a set from Aliexpress.

I think I may even do some Christmassy houses... Oh wait did I just say the "C" word...

Have a lovely day and thanks again for your visit and your kind comments

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Lovely Days

 Hello....

I hope this finds you all well. I went for an x-ray this week, my knee has been troubling me for months and whilst they suspect it is arthritis, it hasn't been right since my fall last Christmas so it needs checking. We are still not able to have face to face appointments with a doctor sadly, and phone consults take weeks so not much I can do. When I'm at my exercise class my knee creaks like an old door - Talking of which, it must have been in my head when I did this...

I hope my knee doesn't look as bad as this door on the x-ray Lol!

But we're in Autumn, a beautiful season and so far it's been a warm one which is good considering the energy crisis - Yes our company went bust so we are waiting to hear what happens next. In the meantime I'm enjoying the season and made this next card with that in mind

That's the thing when I pick up my pencil, I can't seem to stop

 Apart from my sentiment stamps, it seems all the rest are being used less and less...

Have yourselves a lovely day and enjoy your weekend

~ Ros ~

It's All Black and White

 Hello friends!

I hope you are enjoying September, the weather here has been lovely. The mornings have a crisp autumnal feel but then the sun arrives, apologising for the awful August we endured.

Truthfully I haven't picked up my craft supplies in ages. My last posts were both scheduled for my GD spot and then I just got caught up doing other things, but not yesterday...

Yesterday afternoon I spent a few hours with my sketch book doodling away and then I made 4 cards which are quite different from the norm as all I used were a fine liner pen and an ordinary pencil. See what you think...

 

Often my shading gets lost in painting or copic colouring, using just a pencil helps me to learn

They kinda look strange, black and white - Like I converted them but I can assure you it's just pencil

Well of course there had to be mushrooms... My repertoire is not that vast Lol! 

And my last one? You guessed it right?

Aww, I had to have a cat, mine are always close by.

Every time I do something I learn a little more. For example I have a rough time doing ears on animals but the cat you see here started off with just the eyes and nose and I worked outwards doing the fur. I was going to leave it at just the eyes and nose but once I got the resemblance of a face the ears just 'fitted'.

I'd love to know what you think...

Thanks so much for your visit, enjoy your day/ evening. I've just done a flexercise class and I'm aching all over Lol!

Till next time

~ Ros ~