Tuesday, January 31, 2012

City Crafter "You've Got Mail"

Hey there sweet friends ... 
Thanks so much for your kindness and concern ... I'm feeling in a better mood and the hospital have finally given me a pair of crutches to help... See, it's the simple things that make a gal happy!

So here we are with another new challenge at City Crafter ... hosted for us by the lovely Cheryl ... 
This week Cheryl wants us to create a project that includes an envelope ... hence the title You've Got Mail
...And I am thrilled to tell you that our Guest Designer this week is my sweet friend Jacira ... Please hop over and give her a big welcome ... Also our generous sponsor this week is Pixie Dust Paperie...
So on to my card .... I made this for a friends' birthday


Those papers I have had for the longest time ... so I am not sure where they are from I think they may be K&Co .... and the lovely envelope was cut on my Silhouette Cameo ... can you tell I am loving this machine?


Flowers are from my stash and the beautiful vellum butterfly is from the set Ira sent me ... how I love these ...
Such a lovely ... easy challenge ... Take a minute to check out the rest of the creations from the team and then why not come and join us ... We love to see your creations and you are what it's all about!

Have a wonderful day 

Till soon

~ Ros ~



Sunday, January 29, 2012

Jingle belles week 3

Hi ... How are you?
I'm having a bad day today ... Just struggling with the pain in my foot ... I hate to complain .. hey there are people so much worse off than me ... I just think lack of sleep and 4 months of constant pain is getting to me today ... I will at least have some news on the 15th Feb ... but 17days seems such a long time away right now ... 
I'm not even happy with my card for this weeks challenge at Jingle Belles ... Am I miserable or what?
This week's challenge is to take our inspiration from the Jingle Belles blog header ... so beautifully designed by the clever and talented Miss Lauren ... So here's my card


glittered coated


 You can see I chose to go with the pretty bells ....

Now before I go off and pop some pills in the vain hope that they may help... I just want to say a big Thank You to the gals over at Papercraft Star for picking my book clock Here as the Super Nova winner ... Thanks to Jan of The House Across the Bay  for the beautiful images ... and if you've never visited her Etsy store .. click on the link ... there are some lovely images here.

Have yourselves a lovely Sunday 
Till soon

~ Ros ~

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Altered Diary

Hello...
Are you one of those people who tend to get diaries given to you for gifts? I don't know why ... but I always seem to get a few... and between you and me ... I never use them ... Unlike my Mum who would write in her diary everyday ... 
I try to keep a note of all I need to do etc., on my computer and on those big wall calendars ...
Well, last year my sweet SIL gave me a lovely diary from M&S ... it is so pretty that I didn't want to throw it away ... so I altered it ... I should have photographed it first I know ... 

I took the 'innards' out and cut the bottom half off ... that part had the year on ... 


This is the actual cover ... all I added to this was the trim 
I made a little box base to fit and put in some dividers and Voila!


Now I have a little sewing kit ...


All I needed to add was some paper, lace a pretty doily and some ribbon to hold it shut
Cute huh? 

I also got some happy mail yesterday - a birthday present from my lovely friend Kirsty ... 


Look how lovely this is wrapped! And inside is her beautiful card and this cute little purse



Beautiful!


And the sweetest kitty! Surrounded by tiny little butterflies ...

Thank You Kirsty!

And I can tell you that I saw a consultant last night about my swollen sore foot ... He seems to think I do have a fracture even though it does not show on the x ray ... so I am having an MRI scan next week ... Yipee! Finally something is getting done .. I wont have any results until the 15th Feb ... but I've waited 4 months now so I think I can cope for another 2 weeks ... 
Now I have to get my project for Thursday club organised ... I can't let them down ... sore foot or not!

Have a wonderful day

~ Ros ~








Tuesday, January 24, 2012

City Crafter Sketch Challenge

I can't believe how quick Tuesday comes around ... But here we are with a brand new challenge at City Crafter ... chosen and hosted for us by our lovely Linda  ...  this week is a sketch challenge and Linda has given us a great sketch to work with ...


Once again we are fortunate to have Lizzie Droege as our Guest Designer and Pixie Dust Paperie as our wonderful sponsors ...

It's my hubby birthday in a couple of weeks so I made this card for him ... he doesn't check my blog so it won't spoil the surprise 


I used the new Portobello Road papers from PaperMania ... not too girly ... and that lovely heart peg came from Stella ... My DH loves aeroplanes ... so I added this little charm ... This is the first time I managed to machine stitch around a circle without making a mess ...


 ... and just so you can see that I kept to the sketch ... here's the card without the 'Love You' tag on ...


Don't forget to pop over to the blog to check out the rest of the DT projects this week ... and if you have the time ... we'd love for you to play along with us ...

Till soon ... keep safe

~ Ros ~






Monday, January 23, 2012

Quick card



Hi there ...
I hope you all had a lovely weekend ... and a good start to the week ...
Normally I would be at Pilates on Monday mornings but I haven't been for ages due to my foot problem ... which is no better ... But I caught up with my Pilates buddies for lunch today ... My friend Joyce has a birthday on Wednesday so that was the excuse to meet up ... I can't show you her card yet ... (it's also for one of my DT projects) ... but it suddenly dawned on me that her wedding anniversary is the very same day as her birthday so I had to make a quick card last night ... Thank goodness for my Silhouette! 
This came together quite quickly


The card was cut on the Silhouette ... a burst of hearts ... all I needed to do was add some backing paper and embellish it ... Her favourite colour is blue so I used Eline's Huis paper ... one of the last pieces of a pad sent to me last year by my sweet friend Stella ... and then some ribbon and lots of liquid pearls


The stamp is from one of my favourite sets by WaltzingMouse
I know the pin looks a little dangerous ... but don't worry ... I always add an end to them ... I find those little earring backs work perfectly and the pin can then be taken off the card and used.

That's all for today ... 
Thank you so much for all your lovely comments ... I'll be back tomorrow for the new challenge at CCCB  ... I hope you can join me ...

Have a lovely day

~ Ros ~




Saturday, January 21, 2012

Just my imagination.....


It's cold and windy here and the last few days we've been having our radiators replaced ... So what's a girl to do to keep warm but turn her thoughts to Spring time and let her imagination run wild ... If you have time to spare, come with me ... into my imagination and see what transpired


A Spring time clock ... made from an old book 
Guess it fits the Anything Goes challenge ...


.. And Crop Stop  challenge is looking for something vintage, distressed or Shabby Chic ...




I used my Spell Binders to cut those frames and distressed one with Antique linen stain
So it also fits the challenge at Papercrafts Star 


But it just started out as a folded book to take along to my forthcoming talk at the WI ... and took a slight diversion ... I did half the book and adhered it to cardboard ... sprinkled it with glitter and for some reason a clock popped into my head ... So using a broken chain and some redundant Christmas ornaments as pendulums ...


It just developed from there ... adding flowers and leaves


and a gorgeous butterfly from Ira ... the clock face I found on the web and added a brad to the centre ... 
I know there are lots of photos ... I thought I would have trouble taking them because this is quite big ... but I found this beautiful over the door hanger yesterday which really helped ... see how pretty it is 


I hope you are having a warm and lovely weekend ... 
Thanks for joining me today ...

Till soon

~ Ros ~



Thursday, January 19, 2012

Little Album

I had a call last week from a lady at the WI (Womens Institute) ... asking if I would do a talk for them and perhaps have them create a little something ... Wow! Seems one of my friends mentioned my book houses ... So the talk I will be giving in April will be about books ... creating them ... and the many ways to use unwanted books ... after which I shall get each of them to make one of these


As I sold a lot of these last year .. I need to get cracking and make some more to show together with a few other things ... so yesterday I made a little album which will be going to my sweet SIL ... using a little book I picked up for a £1 ...
One of the things I thought I'd show them, is how you can transform this sweet little book ...


into a keepsake when the children have no more use of it


I warn you now that there are quite a few photos


Of course this album is all about Sophia ... and I used Prima's Jack and Jill papers throughout .. mine was a 6x6 pad I had but the large papers are available at Pixie Dust Paperie too



There are some MF embellishments here too and bits and bobs from my stash


Some of these embellies I have had for ages ... so nice to be able to use them up


She's growing up fast ...


... and is quite a dare devil!


... even with her tongue out she's cute! And I added a little envelope for my SIL to put her own notes in 


How I love to look at fat little books... Yep, this will definitely look more interesting on a coffee table ...

Before I go I just want to show you some "happy birthday mail" I got yesterday from lovely Linda Robinson


Such a beautiful card and just look at that fabric wrapping!


What gorgeous gifts! I LOVE them!

Thanks so much Linda ... You are a treasure!

Well that's all for today ... Thanks for stopping by ... Have a beautiful day

~ Ros ~











Tuesday, January 17, 2012

City Crafter Week 92

"Pretty Inside and Out"

That's the challenge this week at City Crafter ... hosted by our lovely Kirsty ... The challenge is to make a card - as pretty on the inside as the outside ... 
Our Guest Designer this week is Lizzie Droege ... not just a talented crafter ... but her love of all things pink, pretty and pastel ... make her blog one of the prettiest around ... Well worth a visit!

Ok, so on to my card 


Sweet Prima papers, a die cut frame with some distress ink on the edges ... some pretty lace, rhinestones , flower and yes black leaves ... 


And that gorgeous vellum butterfly was from a set my friend  Ira sent me ... 

And this is the inside ...


Not overly decorated ... I like the cleanness of this ... again prima papers and those pretty corner pieces were also a gift from the lovely Ira



So, are you going to join the challenge this week? ... I'd love to see your creations ... I do hope you'll hop over to the blog and take a peek at the lovely creations from Lizzie and the rest of the DT

Have a wonderful day ... 
Till soon

~ Ros ~










Monday, January 16, 2012

Jingle Belles week 2

Hi there ...
I've had a busy weekend ... how about you? 
My DH doesn't do things by halves here ... when he gets it into his head to decorate ... he can't stick to one room ... we have to do at least 3 things at once ... so I have had to come up with colours, papers and paint ... and I can't tell you how many stores I've visited looking for a suite to sit on ... and it's sooo cold here.
So in between all this ... doctors appointments and trying to keep up with my DT projects ... I finally got to make my card for this weeks' challenge at Jingle Belles Rock ... My sweet friend Kirsty is guesting this week and has given us a sketch challenge ... and she is also giving away one of the lovely Pixie Dust Paperie kits! Head over to Jingle Belles blog for all the details ...


I confess I am struggling to get into Christmas cards again ... I kind of just want to leave Christmas behind and head towards Spring ... 
Anyway here's my card ...


I cut an aperture using a Spell Binders die and backed it with some scrap paper from the last of my MF Christmas paper ... The branch and birdie were cut on my Silhouette and I glittered the branch and leaves


I think I need to invest in a new camera ... my photos always seem blurry ...

On another note ... my sweet Aunt rang to see if I was still happy to go on our cruise after seeing the Costa Concordia tragedy ... I've seen this ship quite a few times when I have been in Palma ... my heart goes out to everyone affected by this ... But I am still determined to go to Norway ... What will be will be... 
I need to dash ... I hope you all have a lovely day ... I'll be back tomorrow 

Thanks for stopping by today

~ Ros ~




Friday, January 13, 2012

Friday the 13th


Yesterday was a kind of sweet and sour day ... It was my birthday ... but also one of those days when wonder if you've landed in another dimension ... when nothing is as you planned and very quickly everything starts going downhill ... It was the one morning I didn't read my 365 day devotional ... I should have ... because when I read it I would have know it was going to be one of 'those' days 

Quote from January 12

Let me prepare you for the day that stretches out before you. I know exactly what this day will contain whereas you only have a vague idea ....... 
.......... I will not show you the road ahead but I will equip you for the journey ....

Perhaps the cat (now legally adopted by us, I might add) howling from 6am to 7:30 should have alerted me ... then again it should have been when I walked down the stairs admiring my newly decorated walls ... only to see huge great marks on the paper ... But, No - I remained optimistic ... these things could (and would) be fixed ... It's my birthday ... All will be well ... And my friends were coming today ...

 Have you ever put washing in your machine only to find someone left a tissue in a pocket and everything is covered in fibres? Well that was the next thing to happen ... except it wasn't a tissue ... is was a throw ... and all the washing was covered in a trillion fibres ... At this point I was beginning to think I'd slept a day ... surely this was Friday 13th?... 
But it was seeing the only room in the house - where I had planned to sit and chat with my friends, put up my cards and display my flowers ... had been painted ... Yep, painted ... by my husband... It was then  that a great big lump rose in my throat ...

But things picked up ... My so apologetic DH fixed up the room for my guests ... and everyone and I do mean everyone ... decorators included ... turned up at the same time!!??
So yes lots of things went wrong'(I'm not even going to get on the subject of my hospital appointment ... nor how a container of sugar ended up on my floor) ...
But then lots of good things happened too ... I had a visit from friends from the old neighbourhood ... and my old work friend too ... I had lovely bouquets of flowers


Fabulous cards ... including this gorgeous handmade card from Cindy all the way from New Orleans


and these beauties from Stella


together with some prettily wrapped packages



ok ... there was another one but I was impatient and opened it before I thought to take a picture ... so here are the contents


Just look at the gorgeous bracelet 


And as well as all this ... CCCB put a post on especially for me and my lovely DT colleagues made me beautiful cards ...

"Thank You"

To all of you ... 
To all of you who left messages on Facebook ... all of you who sent e-cards ... all of you who emailed and to all of you who left comments and birthday wishes ... you are the nicest most thoughtful people on the planet and I really appreciate your friendship

Have a Wonderful Day


~ Ros ~