When a box of mints became a box of pencils.........

I was delighted to have won the mixed media challenge over at Rhedd's Creative spirit in January. It was for my Maze Moment and if you would like to see that project this is the link to it.

My prize is to be their guest designer for March's challenge which goes live on Saturday. Please do pop on over to their great challenge blog here.  If this is your first visit to Jane's Journal I would like to give you a very warm welcome. Pull up a chair, grab a cuppa and have a little browse around my blogland space.

I decided to try something new for me as their GD today...to alter a box. I had kept this mint box from Christmas as I thought it might be useful.

 I needed a box to put my new Inktense pencils into. My Hb bought me a set for Christmas. They came just in a simple plastic wallet as they are a set put together by LOTV.

 My empty box of Bendicks mints was the perfect size. I did a bit of research on the internet and through trial and error my plan and box came to life.
I started by painting the box with a coat of gesso and then added strips of book pages to start to get some texture.

I also added some texture paste through some TH stencils

followed by some distress and acrylic paints using stencils and bottle tops. I wanted to a cream/linen coloured background.

I kept building up the layers of paint and I also covered the inside with tissue wrap

I added some stamping using tissue paper. I kept to a "writing" theme so used a typewriter, pen and ink bottle TH stamp.

This was quite a lengthy process with lots of drying time ....

and here is my finished box.

the inside of the lid

and a side view

I added just a few pops of green here and there.

I would like to enter my altered box into the following challenges;

Simon Say stamp work it Wednesday
Artist Trading Post alphabet soup
Simon Says Stamp Monday no rules
Country View Crafts drips and drops
Simon Says stamp Wednesdays anything goes
As you like it favourite project that's not a card and why? This is my favourite as not only do I like the end project but it feels fabulous, so much texture and it is providing a useful home for my pencils.


Thanks Sandie over at Rhedd's for inviting me to Guest for you today, it's been pleasure and I have tried something new for me and got a useful pencil box from the result.

Thanks for all your birthday wishes you left for my son's birthday on Tuesday, We had a fab evening and he loved his lemon birthday cake.
Here it is;

and even his dog Bear approved ;0)

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Last days of February

With just 28 days in February there are only 5 days left of this month. Although I am amazed at the speed the days race by it does mean we are almost into the month of spring. I am still seeing lots pre spring growth around me and the extra light is bliss.

My beloved ponds are coming alive and the ducks and birds are beginning to nest build and pair up.

We are getting some gorgeous blue skies between the showers.

and I have spotted catkins on the branches.
We also have a special celebration tomorrow as my baby boy is 26. I have just got home from work and I have been busy.....yes it's cake baking time

It's in the oven as I type

and unlike most of the family he likes a lemon cake, so I have added plenty of lemon rind.

I can now juice my bald lemons to the butter cream filling. I must admit I prefer lemon sponge too. We are just having a quiet dinner party with him and Bear tomorrow evening. It's always difficult with mid week birthdays isn't it. On Sunday we will be catching up with the rest of the family at his.

My card today is not his birthday card, as I showed that a while ago. It is a tag I made him, not for his birthday as that is all sorted, but for Easter. I am trying to be super organised as I had some craft time at the weekend and took the opportunity to get ahead.

My tag started off with some Tim Holtz distress ink blending and flicking some water for texture

I added some script stamping and a tree stamp to make a spring scene. As always lots of my background got covered and in fact none of the blue was visible as my textured birdie had come to roost there. My lovely tree stamp is by Visible Image

The numbers 4 and 15 at the side stand for April 2015 ie Easter. The others are just fun but I did also include my lucky number 3 

I bought some new frantage at the weekend as a local craft shop has 50% off. I love this green enamel. 

The leaves are Cheery Lynn, and Marianne.

I made it with some fun challenges in mind and I would like to enter the following;

A Vintage Journey special numbers
Artist Trading Post alphabet soup
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday add a little texture
Simon Says Stamp Monday no rules
Cheery Lynn anything goes
Papertake Weekly bingo my line is the middle horizontal ; die cut, free (twine) glitter (frantage)
Noor! UK spring
Country View Crafts drips and drops
Vintage stamping  bring on those spring colours
Sparkles Monthly one for the boys

OK the cake is nearly baked and I have the lemon butter icing to make next. I am back on Thursday with a Guest Design spot for Rhedd's creative spirit challenge which I won with my Maze Moment last month...a little heads up.... I have altered a Bendick's Mint box and it did turn out rather fun! Do come back and take a peep if you have the time. Thanks for visiting today and enjoy the last few days of February.

Bye for now,

Jane x

These shoes were made for walking

We had a lovely day in Southampton last Sunday catching up with Daisy and her Mummy and Daddy. We are all great walkers in our family and after lunch we decided to take a walk along the coastal path to Lee-On-The-Solent.
My daughter knew of a Tea shop there where we could enjoy afternoon tea. This was the view as we passed Hillhead en route. We could see that the clouds were beginning to break up revealing the blue sky and sunshine.

 We passed the beach huts and some were even opened up for the day.

It took about 30 minutes to walk to Lee-On-The-Solent and we found the tea shop tucked away in a side street. It's called The Tea Party and I highly recommend it if you are even in this neck of the woods.

The decor is very Cath Kidston style which suits my daughter and I perfectly.

We were served tea in a teapot..the best way, and had china cups and saucers. The home made cakes were awesome.

 I had passionfruit cake and it was so moist..mmmm

Daisy slept all this time in her buggy so the 4 of us adults caught up on lots of chatter around the table whilst sipping tea and enjoying the cake. When we left a few hours later the sun was so bright it was like a spring day. At this point Daisy woke up and we got her out of her buggy to enjoy the seaside view.

We had put on our walking shoes and Daisy had on her sweet blue first walking shoes. She was still needing to hold onto one finger to walk on Sunday. As she was awake she wanted to have a little walk and we, very slowly, made our way along the beach path with everyone smiling as she walked with us. She really is such a cutie. We even bumped into 2 of our daughter and SIL's friends and Daisy pointed to her shoes and said "shoooo" proudly to them in the sweetest voice.
Here are some snaps of my precious girlie and her shoes or shoooo in Daisy language.

Daisy has the sweetest nature, I just adore her.

Now all this walking in such tiny shoes took some time and eventually we had to pop her back into the pushchair and get back as the sun began to set. The sunset that afternoon was glorious but it got so cold as the darkness arrived.

It really was a glorious day. Such precious family time that we treasure. On Tuesday we heard that Daisy has just started taking her first solo steps....incredible, she's now mobile and there will be no stopping her....bless.

Today I had my planned inky day and I decided that I would make a Moment of our wonderful day on Sunday for Jane's Journal. I wanted to incorporate everything I saw into it so I sat down with some ideas and this is what happened.

I wanted to create an inky background with sunshine, the sea and Daisy...

First I blended some inks and then added some water drops to give a sea feel to it. I added some sun rays through a stencil with archival ink and lots of grey hearts, as Daisy's sweet T shirt had a big grey heart on it.

I added some extra stamping and you may notice that I have bought a date stamp, I stamped the date into the background too.

I decided  to use the grey heart from Daisy's tea shirt as a feature so I cut one out free hand and painted it with acrylics. I wanted it to have a wood effect like wooden sea breakers we passed.

I cut out some sweet flowers and threaded them up with twine.

So then it was time to put on my creative hat and put together my Moment.
This is what I made..

 You may recognize that the words are from Daisy's T shirt, All for You, and I also added a little red ribbon. I think I achieved the "wood" effect of the sea breakers from the beach by not fully mixing the black and white acrylics together and brushing them on coarsely with thick brush strokes.

 The little flowers with the twine represent her very first walking shoes...I am sure they will be kept safely and put away when she grows out of them.

 I thought this Tim Holtz sentiment was perfect,,,,we certainly did pause, breath and enjoy our time together on Sunday.

 Sweet Daisy's

I added a piece of film ribbon as I thought my Moment was like a photo of every moment of our day rolled into my single artistic representation.

and it is attached at each end by a sunny yellow heart.

My  Moment will  be put into my Journal and when I look at it it will bring back all the memories of that sunny Sunday. Those shoes really were made for walking.

I would like to enter my Moment into the following challenges;

Artist Trading Post alphabet soup

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday add some texture

We do doobadoo hearts and flowers

Noor! UK spring

Frilly and Funkie winter blooms 

Country View Crafts drips and drops

Live and love crafts hearts

Flonzcraft bring on those spring colours

Simon Says stamp Monday a piece of paradise

Papertake weekly bingo my line is diagonally from top left to bottom right; ribbon, free (stamps) blooms

The weather is looking very wet and windy here for the next few days so I doubt there were be many visitors to the beach this weekend. I will end my post today with something else to make you smile.......................this was me trying to take the photos today of my Moment in my light box....hmmmm

 No guesses who these paws belong to....

OK Billy we're not forgetting you.......;0)

I would like to warmly welcome my newest followers and to thank my regulars who stop by to say hello. It's always lovely to see you here. Thanks for all your encouraging comments, I am really enjoying my creative play and remember there is inspiration out there everywhere, even in your granddaughter's T shirt and first walking shoes! Enjoy the upcoming weekend. 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x