Friday 1 August 2014

Trees in their summer glory

On Tuesday my daughter, Daisy met at Winkworth Arboretum  near Godalming in Surrey. This is a National Trust property which I have visited in the past. Any time of the year the trees there are stunning. Our day was a hot sunny day and the trees and lake were glorious glinting in the July sunshine.



 We spent the day chatting and wandering in the shade of the trees. We also enjoyed a delicious ladies' lunch in the cafe and had an ice cream on the picnic blanket before we left. The colours of the foliage everywhere was stunning.





We saw ducks, fish and lots of bees and butterflies...and yes more dragonflies.



It was a glorious day and we also went hunting for the Plant of the Month, which we did find...I will come back to that another post.

The next day after work I was studying Day 5 of my Tim Holtz Chemistry 101 course, which I am really enjoying on line. The theme was Distressed Stains and one technique is stamping with picket fence. I also wanted to made something for the current A Vintage Journey theme which is to use Distress stains so I thought I would have a go at making "Mini Moment" using a tag using the wonderful trees I had seen at Winkworth for inspiration. There are also some lovely summer themed challenges that I wanted to take part in.

Well my slight problem is that I own the grand total of 3 Distress stains!  They are bundled sage, squeezed lemonade and Picket fence. Undeterred I thought these would actually be perfect for what I had in mind.
I thought I could use Tim's stamping with picket fence technique too.
I swished on the 2 colours to represent the tress and the sunshine...I wanted to sunshine to be glinting trough the trees. I then dried my tag and repeated the process to built up a couple more layers of stain.
 I then blended on some wild honey DI and a little spritz and flicking for some watermarks...just like the lake at Winkworth.
Next I put a word stamp onto a block and stamped using Picket fence
 I really loved this effect
I added an Imagination crafts tree stencil using the bundled sage distress stain again. I didn't want a perfect tree shape just the suggestion of the branches whispering in the sunshine. I really liked the way this came out.

I then wanted to add some simple butterflies, but as I wanted a crisp image I stamped them with Archival ink. I distressed the edges and added some Walnut stain.

So here is my Mini  Moment
which is also one of my homework pieces from Creative Chemistry 101, lesson 5. It just shows that you don't need all the colours of Distress Stains to still get a fun result. I really like the way the "sun" is glinting through the tree stencil and the butterflies look as if they have found some shade lower down.


and someone else who had fun in the sun was my precious Daisy Jane, can you see her new teeth ;0)
Do you think I love this little treasure just a little bit..........;0)

I would like to enter my mini moment into the following challenges;

A Vintage Journey Just stain it I used my stains for creating the background, stamping the text and also for the trees stencil.
Imagination crafts summer holiday or create a scene I used their tree stencil on my mini Moment
Our creative corner summertime
Artistic stamper anything goes
Addicted to stamps anything goes
Divas by Design anything goes
Simon Says stamp Wednesdays anything goes
Sweet Stampin take flight
Crafty boots summer holidays
Pan Pastel UK summer fun
Little Claire's summer time
Creative Romance fun in the sun
Bearly Mine anything goes

Here we are already in August, it's been a super summer so far and I have so enjoyed spending precious time with my girlies. We are trying to make the best of my daughter's last 6 weeks of maternity leave.

Thanks for visiting me and remember that my giveaway runs until 9 August..all the details are here
Enjoy the weekend,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

34 comments:

  1. Haven't your stains got brilliant names! Love your tag Jane and the colours match your day out among trees beautifully.
    And yes I do think you love that little one just a bit! ;)
    Happy weekend my friend,
    V x

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  2. This is a fabulous project. I love the way you have built up each stage to show is how you created this. Thank you for sharing with is at ATSM

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  3. love the depth of colour you get on your creations I really do need to do more of my own backgrounds and stamping, got the bits just need to find the time to play :)
    photo's are gorgeous as always
    hugs Kate xx

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  4. Lovely project, thank you for calling in at Sweet Stampin'. Debbiex

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  5. Hello dear Jane,

    I must say you captured the beautiful, summer day with the trees and sunshine perfectly in your tag! I still can't believe how many steps there are before your pieces are created, and it is always ever so fascinating to see them. And that lovely little Miss sunshine with the new teeth - my heart is melting!

    Happy weekend!

    Yours,
    Mia

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  6. I can see how nature inspired you to create this beautiful tag! And such a cute baby - just precious! Thanks so much for playing with us at ATSM. I hope to see you there next time, too! Hugs, Cornelia DT

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  7. Such a beautiful tag - just perfect for our challenge this week. Thank you for sharing your card and joining in with the fun at Sweet Stampin’ this week and good luck. Hugs Janine xx

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  8. I really enjoyed your day in the country, Jane, and that little sweetie, too! And your tag is gorgeous, too! Thanks for sharing it with us at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge!

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  9. A beautiful tag! Thank you for joining our Take Flight challenge at Sweet Stampin this week and good luck in the prize draw,
    Love Jacky x

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  10. Hi Jane.. what a wonderful garden.. the pretty house on the lake made me swoon! Daisy Jane is as lovable as can be.. yes I see the tiny pearl teeth!! Your tag is another masterpiece! I love seeing your techniques.
    ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  11. Jane, your huggable little Daisy is "worth a wink" (or two)! ;o) Love how beautifully your summer tag turned out! Happy weekend to you!

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  12. Love the lush greenery pictures, a botanist in me is indeed very pleased to look at those. Your tag us awesome too! Thank you for joining us at ATSM.

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  13. Jane, your tag is stunning. I LOVE the way you have achieved to have the sun shining through the trees and the depth to this piece.
    Hope your enjoying your weekend,
    Julie s

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  14. Glad you're enjoying CC101 and getting a lot from it. This mini moment has perfectly captured the look of those summer trees and the warmth of the sun soaked sky. Daisy is an absolute poppet too! Thank you so much for joining us at A Vintage Journey. Jenny x

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  15. I like how your tags came out....nice. and little Daisy Jane is so sweet. I'd love to hug her. I saw dragon flies today as well at a pond where we had our senior picnic...in the shade mostly on a warm summer's day. Thanks for sharing!

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  16. Fabulous tag - oozing summer! Thanks for joining in at Crafty Boots Challenges this time.

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  17. I love how you used just what you had and made it come together so nicely. Very pretty. And what a sweet baby!

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  18. Fabulous photographs Jane and a lovely day out by the sounds of things. Your tag is fab, lovely colours, great techniques and the butterflies make a lovely finishing touch.

    Thank you for playing along with all of us at Crafty Boots Challenges.

    Dionne

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  19. Beautiful tag, love the vibrant colours. Thanks for entering the Panpastel Challenge.

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  20. Thank you for another escape dear Jane!
    I've enjoyed the pictures and your moment is perfect!
    It is always a treat to follow your creative process and see how Nature inspires you. Bravo!

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  21. Your latest tag is completely gorgeous Jane!...I really love the effect you've created and it has to be one of my favourites x
    Such a lovely day you had with your gorgeous girls..the photograph of Daisy Jane is just beautiful...
    Happy 4th Blog Anniversary too!...I'm off to add a link on my blog now for your lovely Giveaway...someone will be very lucky indeed!
    Hope you have a wonderful new week,
    Susan x

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  22. Sometimes your photos look like Ohio :) I'm glad you had a lovely day together. Very pretty tag too!

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  23. Daisy Jane is beeeautiful Jane :-)...stunning pictures and your day is a beauty, adore that streak of light bursting through! Thank you for joining in over at Pan Pastel uk xxx

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  24. What a beautiful tag! thanks for participating in the Artistic Stamper's August challenge, wishing you good luck to win it !

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  25. What stunning photographs. You've captured the colours of nature and then used them for your tag - brilliant!

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  26. Lovely tag. Thanks for joining in with the Imagination Crafts challenge. Chris x

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  27. Fantastic nature photos, and a beautiful nature inspired tag - completely wonderful! Thanks so much for joining us on A Vintage Journey.
    Alison x

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  28. What a wonderful place to be and your tag has captured the magic of it beautifully!

    Thank you for sharing your lovely creation with us at OurCreativeCorner!

    Claudia x

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  29. Stunning tag beautiful inspired by your day out.........beautiful composition. Thank you for joining Little Claire in our latest blog challenge. XxGaynor LCDT

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  30. Absolutely gorgeous tag you made! I like all little details :-))
    Thanks for joining us at Bearly Mine Challenge!
    Hugs, Andreja

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  31. Gorgeous tag in lovely summer colors! Great photo's too!

    Thanks for sharing your creation with us at the OCC blog!

    Groetjes Karin

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  32. Fab mini moment, nice to see how the process works, I do love these posts and how sweet is Daisy! but then you already know that :) Bethx

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  33. Striking card Jane!Thanks for joining us at BMC
    hugs
    laney

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Jane x