Ring out the old ...

Here we are on the edge of 2010 ... For me personally it has been a very eventful year ... one I'm sure I could write a book about ... a journey that has taken me to every conceivable place in my soul ... And here I sit content ... a lot braver, a life fuller, and with lessons learned ... 

Today is always a day of reflection ... and yet also a day of hopeful anticipation ... On this day 8 years ago I found my Mum in a sleep she would never wake from ... I miss her - but I am no longer sad ... I celebrate her ... And I celebrate your friendships ... and want to share a couple of cards that just arrived 

This is from sweet Linda Robinson ... my fellow DT at CCCB ... Isn't that just a beautiful handmade card? "Thank You" Linda ... I love it!

And this beautiful card and precious handmade tag came from Steph ... All the way from Hawaii ... 

"Thank You" so much Steph ...

I can also tell you that the plaque in my previous post was very well received today (sigh of relief) ... both Mother and Daughter were delighted and I can see I will be requested to do a lot more of these! 

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year ... May peace and happiness be your companions throughout the coming year ... Thank you all so very much for your kindness

~ Ros ~

Beeswax disaster

A few months ago I picked up some books in one of our stores ... Melissa Frances and Anna Corba books .. I love to look at them all the time and I was determined to make some of the plaques Anna Corba style ... It had been my intention to make one for each of my family and friends as added Christmas gifts ...  I duly bought the melting pot and beeswax  recommended ... along with the plywood and black acrylic paint ...

However, time got away from me and I didn't get the opportunity ... So, last night I decided to do one as an extra gift for a friend's daughter who celebrates her birthday tomorrow ... I melted the wax (took ages) made the plaque and then made a complete mess of it! Yes, I watched all the videos and thought I had it all in hand, but obviously not ... I definitely need more practice! So here is the second plaque ... sans the beeswax! 

I painted a 5 x 7 piece of plywood in black acrylic ... then used some gorgeous Pink Paislee paper which I stamped in places using the beautiful stamp set from Eline's Huis and printed my photograph onto thin card stock after converting it to black and white ...

... after adhering the photo and smoothing everything with my brayer ... I should have then covered it with the melted beeswax ... but I left this and just punched holes to add some craft wire and  a little embellishing ...

My melting pot has been shoved to the side until I am ready to talk to it again ... patience is a virtue!

Till soon

~ Ros ~

P.S. Thanks so much for all your birthday wishes to Mikey ... so sweet of you and much appreciated

You are my sunshine ....

Hi there ...

 Today is my son's birthday ... it's hard to believe that he came into the world 28 years ago ... I can hardly remember life without him .... He is my sunshine ... my greatest gift ... and without doubt my best creation ... 

Life isn't what we had planned as children ... I was going to marry and have lots of children ... well, at least one of each ... then after 7 years of waiting I was blessed with my one and only

Happy Birthday Mikey ...

City Crafters Challenge Stamp it Out ...

Hi there ... I hope you all enjoyed your celebrations and are looking forward to the New Year ... today of course is week 37 of City Crafter Challenge ... Linda is hosting for us and has challenged us to use stamps ... rubber or clear ... on our card or project. I don't know about you, but faced with a challenge to use something we use regularly without thinking about ... suddenly draws a blank ... for a while I stared at my box of rubber stamps, fumbled through my box of clear stamps ... and finally decided on one of each ...

Our sponsor this week is our dear friend June and she kindly sent us all 

some of her beautiful handmade pins to use on our projects

I stamped the swallowtail butterfly (an Inca rubber stamp) twice, layered it and added blue sparkly stickles to various places and used this lovely pin as the body for the butterfly

I used a lovely border stamp (a gift from Stella) and brown pigment ink to stamp directly  on the Jack and Jill Prima paper ... 

We also have a fantastic Guest Designer this week ... Betik  ... please take a moment to check out her fabulous creations ... you won't be disappointed I can tell you ... I can't wait to see what you all come up with this week ... 

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Boxing Day

Hello my lovely creative blog friends ... Did you enjoy your Christmas Day? My husband, my son and I had a lovely day together ... We woke up to thick freezing fog and Hubby and I attempted to get to church but the fog was so bad and the car was skidding on the icy roads ... we didn't get far and had to turn around and come back. It was disappointing but the roads here even got closed by the Police because of the ice ... so it was the wise thing to do. Dinner was lovely and then a lazy day followed with phone calls and skyping with family ... 
The lovely Clare  kindly passed on a blog award to me today ... 

Part of accepting this award is to:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award. Thanks Clare
2. Share 8 things about yourself
3. Pass it on to 8 bloggers
4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their award

So 8 things about me ....

1. I love to create ... whether it be with papers, materials, plants, food ... I just love to see something come together.

2. I adore animals ... at one time I had 12 cats and kittens ... some sick - all homeless - that I nurtured back to health, had neutered and either kept or re - homed ...and because my son when he was little was of the same ilk ... I have even 'healed' half dead mice, frogs and once a baby blackbird that didn't even have it's feathers yet! (Yep, hourly feeding day and night!)

3. Every week I hold a craft class at the Bridge Chapel (Thursday Club) teaching mentally and physically challenged adults ... I simply adore them!

4. I am the only one of my siblings to have been born here in Liverpool and stayed here in Liverpool ... my brothers are londoners as were my parents ... 

5. I appear on the Peerage.com .... Yep, had famous family connections (well it's a long story!)

6. I once won a scholarship to a drama school here in Liverpool and attended for a few years ... I always wanted to be an actress ...

7. I love Practical Philosophy ... and I'm on a journey of knowledge ... 

8. I adore blogging and being part of a DT and having made so many wonderful blog friends

Now I am going to pass this on to the following people .....

Sylvia 

Keren

Tatanky

Ira

Terrie

Steph

Amy

Joanna

 Enjoy your day ....

Till soon

~ Ros ~

Merry Christmas!!!

Just popping in to wish you all a very Happy Christmas

may the spirit of Christmas grant you peace,

 happiness and love ....

Thank you to everyone who has supported me with their lovely comments ... thank you for the beautiful friendships I've forged

... Sending love and hugs to each and everyone of you...

May your God be with you

~ Ros ~

xxxxx