Riley and the Roses

Some guys just gotta be the centre of attention! This is my little pal Riley when he was a year old. Over the years our two children have taken so many photos of this dog that now- point a camera at him and he automatically rolls over on his back and poses like he is Burt Reynolds on a Cosmopolitan photo shoot!

We had a lovely cat called Sophie, sadly no longer with us, but she used to do the same and purr and look adorable. We used to joke about that, saying that when we would go out, she would teach the dog to do it, because he sure does look like her when he does it - even if he cannot purr like her!

Isaphan Damask Rose

Mme Alfred Carriere being elegant and demure!

Mme Alfred Carriere shows off her bountiful Spring Skirt!

Mme Alfred Carriere with pink noses from the cold!

A simple sign with a small bud and an open rose - the first of the season?

Actually - the first rose in my garden to bloom every year is an old beauty of a rambler called Mme Alfred Carriere- a most gorgeous rose with gorgeous scent and shaggy creamy white petals which tint to pink when the weather is colder. On warmer days it is soft white with touches of soft buttery yellow - not like this at all! It has three strong flushes of flower every year and is the first out and the last in,and it grows like a weed - but what a wonderful weed it is!

The second rose usually out every late spring, early summer is often one called Isaphan - a most lovely pink Damask rose with beautiful dainty flowers and sweet scent! I grow it along a fence and it is growing like a climber! Even though it only blooms once, it blooms for a long period and so lovely to behold! I will pop some photos of them on here for you to see!

Vintage Chic Signs and Such

Vintage Chic Anythings!!

I have been meaning to add new products to my shop front store - Nosy Rosie Designs -on the Not On the High Street site for ages, and have found that a challenge, but I am feeling smug now that I have finally managed to get some pictures which I could make square and that don't look really bad!

They have either been too dark, or there has been something in the background that doesn't work, or I have cut off a corner, or they are blurry or I haven't enough background to crop them to a square shape, but now that I have bought a new Pentax DSLR, and been taking Photoshop lessons at the college I teach at part time, and with a sunny day (finally!!!) I have managed a couple of shots which are usable!

Don't get me wrong here - I won't be winning any awards for my skills as a photographer by any means, but I am beginning to realise what an amazing tool this Photoshop really is. I can still only do the basics, but those basics have helped clean up the things that are not so good and that in itself is "oh-so good!"

So - new signs to add to the ones that are already there and these ones are in colours which have a fresh feeling - like a fresh spring day with a gentle breeze and wispy white clouds! (Well that's how I feel about them!)

I could not resist a lovely Heritage Sky Blue paint by Dulux the perfect shade of vintage duck egg blue which so Ooh La La!! On cream it is divine and with pink it is bright and uplifting!

You can tell I am a colour freak by my sheer joy of colour! More than anything - colours inspire me - I keep several folders of inspiring magazine cuttings not only for their content - but in most cases for their colour schemes!

I have several more photos to edit which will come as I figure out how to fix them! I took some shots of more vintage chic rose signs against a window with an uninteresting and distracting background view out the window and now I need to work on my layers skills, so I can cut out the bad view and insert a nice view! Cheating? Yeah but..........a gal's gotta do what a gals gotta do when I need a decent piccie!

Gather Ye Rosebuds!

Everything is Coming up Roses

Ok - here we are - already it is April and we seem to be no nearer to the lovely and inspiring season which is Spring in England. I love spring here! The beautiful bulbs with their bright and cheerful colours and heavenly scent!

I grew up in Northern Canada and the thing I most recall about spring there is slush!!! Walking through enormous puddles of slush - half melted snow and ice - wearing me knee high wellies (rubber boots)!

It is so different to be in England in the Spring!

However.............we are having such a cold spring here - very few bulbs are up now, there is a nip in the air unusual for this time of year and the past few days have seen parts of the UK where people are having to deal with more snow than we usually get in the winter.

I feel like we are missing out on Spring, so I have been painting roses lately - roll on summer if we are to be cheated out of spring!

All my signs lately have found roses sneaking into the white bits to brighten up my days!

I should be painting tulips and dafodils, but for the moment it is roses, roses, all the way!

Fingers crossed that we do get summer but if not, I will be painting more of them!