Monday 21 August 2017

The Swan Lake and ballet memories

I met my daughter and Jack a couple of weeks ago at the 10th Hole, a delightful tea house in Southsea. I have shared some photos from previous visits before, it's a great place and very popular.

 Of course we needed to catch up first over a cuppa.  After our delicious lunch we walked to the boating lake via the Rose Garden.



The boats on the lake are most unusual...yes they're swans and ducks.

And swimming right next to them were....real swans!
There was also a whole group right next to where we sat who pruned and preened themselves.

 It was fun to sit so close and watch them.


 We enjoyed a very pleasant few hours, just sitting, chatting and watching the world go by and joked that the lake should be renamed Swan Lake. Such a great day.

 Now today is my inspiration day for Visible Image and "Swan Lake" got me thinking and reminiscing about ballet. My daughter, in her time was quite a ballet dancer and even had the chance to dance a couple of sessions at the Royal Ballet's White Lodge in Richmond as a teenager. Even as a junior doctor she tried to get to a ballet lesson whenever she could. Her young children and busy life as a GP mean that disappearing off to ballet is not possible for now.  I am sure in the future though she will get back to her dancing. My Mum also used to take her regularly to see ballet shows in London,from a very early age right up until she moved out of London.  I have also been to the ballet many times with my Mum. We have seen all the major ballets including Swan Lake.  Most recently I even managed to drag my Hb along.

So I knew just which stamps to use for today's post...

Yes the brilliant Born to perform stamp set

I have made previous cards using the dancer so this time I thought I would use some of the words as a focal sentiment and also the great add ons which come with this set. The little ballet shoes are really fun to work with. I stamped and embossed 3 sets of shoes, 1 in red and 2 in black
which I then fussy cut out. 
There is a great mix of words you can use in this set. I decided to use the words below. I stamped on some the stars and die cut out my focal.

Then I put on my creative hat to put together my card.
Here it is;
I added a Noor star diecut using black card and filled in one of the stars with red glitter for some bling. I also added red brads to the stamped stars and ribbons to the shoes . I used some of my home printed music paper.This card brings back memories of the hours I spent when my girlie was a teenager sewing ribbons into her new satin ballet shoes.
Here is a close up the sweet shoes.
I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Dies R us anything goes
Pixie's snippets playground #295/6
Happy little stampers 1/3  anything goes with dies
Simon says stamp Wednesday add a sentiment
That's Crafty 1/3 only cards
Really reasonable ribbon 1/3 anything goes
Rubber dance 1/3 embossing

All the Visible Image links can be found here;

Visible Image group page on FacebookOur friendly Group can be found here ...it would be lovely to see you there. You can add work to the "Show and Tell" album where one randomly chosen winner each month wins a £25 coupon to spend on the website. Our monthly themed challenge is on summer break and will return in September. 

The main Visible Image Facebook page is here; there are weekly stamp giveaways...open world wide!

And the shop web site is here; where all these gorgeous stamps can be purchased. 

You can also follow via:


I will be a bit awol for the next few days as a VIP is staying with us until Wednesday......my darling Daisy arrived yesterday and we will be busy crafting, collecting acorns, walking to the park, taking the train up to London, out to dinner..the list is endless.

What a lucky Nanna I am.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

21 comments:

  1. Some beautiful photos of a day out and the card it inspired is great too

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  2. Beautiful pictures of shared memories and a wonderful card. Have the best of days with your VIP and Thank you for sharing over at That's Crafty and joining in with the *Only Cards* Blog Challenge. Best Wishes Tracey.

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  3. Love those words on todays card Jane......I do dance like no ones watching and usually (thankfully) no one is, although sometimes A is and she does like to join in!
    Enjoy your little poppet, I have mine during the day on Wed, Thurs and Fri this week! I need to get rid of this cold though and get my energy levels up! :)
    Have a great week my dear and lots of fun,
    V x

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  4. Love the black and red for your card, super design. Have fun with Daisy.
    Julie x

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  5. Being an ex-dancer I can truly appreciate your creation! Great job! Awesome photos you've shared with us today Jane ... thanks! Thanks so much for playing in our ‘Anything using Dies’ challenge at Dies R Us! Please come back again soon!

    Darlene (DRU Blog Leader)
    DIES R US CHALLENGE BLOG
    DAR’S CRAFTY CREATIONS Please come for a visit.

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  6. Such beautiful roses - thanks for sharing your day out by the Swan Lake - love the link through to your lovely ballet shoe card!
    Alison x

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  7. What a gorgeous card Jane! It was such fun seeing the lake - I lived in Southsea for a short while as a teenager just before being shipped off to boarding school. Have to confess that the fairground held the most attraction - of course it was strictly off limits but a group of us used to sneak off together anyhow!

    Your card sums up the 'Swan Lake' theme perfectly! The shoes are perfect and the words you used are so true - Penny Black do a stamp with the rest of the saying on as well and it's one of my favourites!

    And it's true, the ballet holds a lot more attraction for me these days than the fairground would :) I used to take a sweet little girl to ballet perfomances at the beautiful Theatre Royal in Newcastle, She was a friend's daughter and really adored those 'grown-up'outings. But, it was such a long time ago that fashions were much more formal and one time I wore a black crushed velvet skirt which swung around mid-calf length beautifully. My mistake was to team it with a white silk shirt style blouse and a black velvet kitten bow at the neck. I lost count of the number of females who asked me the way to the loo during the intervals! And, some were quite abusive and sniffy when I couldn't help - in between stifling my laughter and swearing I'd never wear that outfit to the theatre or a restaurant again! Happy days. That little girl is now a teacher, married with two adorable daughters of her own - and still laughs about that particular ballet trip! Happy days!

    Hugs

    Di xx

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  8. That is a gorgeous card and I love that sentiment. I was in ballet class and got to toe shoes, but them mom left my dad and that was the end of it. Sad! Have fun with your darling Daisy!! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  9. Found you on Bloglovin' ;) now I can catch up :D another beautiful card and love those roses. We have swans at the river such beautiful birds that return year after year to raise their babies, I love watching them :D

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  10. Wonderful design.Thanks so much for sharing it with us at Dies R Us Challenge Blog, We hope to see more of your creations.
    Kathy
    DRU DT

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  11. WOW!!! Love this so much! Thank you for joining us in the Rubber Dance challenge!!! xx Susanne.

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  12. I love this card Jane, such a beautiful design and what a great day out, the swans obviously feel very safe with their larger counterparts around lol xxx

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  13. Oh,Jane...this is fabulous. I love that saying, and your card is just awesome! Thanks so much for joining our Anything Goes challenge. We hope that you will join us again soon. I'm SO glad you chose to play along.
    Blessings to you,
    Karen Letchworth
    Really Reasonable Ribbon

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  14. What a fabulous card, love the ballet shoes. I remember the boating lake at Southsea, we couldn't afford holidays when I was little except for day trips to Southsea or Clarence Pier.
    Thank you for joining us at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.
    Luv
    Debby

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  15. This is a beautiful card, Jane. And I loved the Pictures of the roses and the swans. Swans are so elegant animals, no wonder you were inspired by them on your beautiful day out.
    Thank you for joining the Rubber Dance Challenge.
    Hugs, Anita x

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  16. As always, Jane, you've presented us with a thoroughly enjoyable post and photos! I just adore your snippets card with that beautiful sediment and those sweet beribboned ballet shoes in red and black! Clever design! I know you will enjoy every moment with your Daisy!! Hugs, Darnell

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  17. Love this card, Jane,

    Here auntie&niece do dance quite often like no one's watching (hopefully), and enjoy it so! And oh your day with swans, those pictures are fantastic!

    Happy weekend my friend!

    Yours,
    Mia

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  18. Your card is stunning! I only dropped by to see your card, but enjoyed the whole of your lovely post! Jo x

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  19. love the contrast of colors in your card, very beautiful
    Thanks for joining us at HLS
    Barb Housner (DT)

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  20. Hi Jane. I loved reading about the ballet. I've never had the opportunity to go but I imagine that it would be quite magical. I really love the combination of the red with black and white on this card - very classical (like the ballet!).
    Thanks for joining us at Rubber Dance.
    Dot x

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  21. Love the ballet shoes on your card!
    Thank you for sharing with Happy Little Stampers!
    Susan
    Calling All Crafters! – My personal Blog!

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Jane x