Things to love about February

There are lots of reasons why I love February.....

 The sun is getting higher in the sky making the hours of daylight longer every single day...

and there is some definite warmth when the sun shines.

 Nests are beginning to appear in the bare trees....but wait a minute

the trees are not so bare now,  buds are starting to appear

 with the promise of new life contained within.

New growth is starting everywhere with gorgeous vibrant greens

 and the alpine plants in my garden are in flower,

as well as some crocuses.

Even Old Choc is sprouting out some new green growth

but one place that is still too cold for the moment is my beloved Studio which still has the blinds down and no one is home......perhaps another 6 weeks and I can venture out....roll on spring.

But two of the best things I love about February are two celebrations, my son's birthday on the 24th and of course Valentine's Day on Saturday. I am proud to admit that I am a soppy romantic and yes my Hb and I send and receive cards and token gifts and enjoy the day together. It is also 35 years ago on Saturday since we got engaged...wow where did that time go?

My card challenge for today is the Valentine Card I will be giving him on Saturday morning. together with some heart truffles.

I decided to try some stamping on hessian...a new thing for me and I rather liked the effect. I used the free stamp from the February Craft Stamper magazine.

I also added some heart stenciling using acrylic paint through my Tim Holtz heart stencil.
The base of my focal used corrugated card, distress inks and stains, book pages for texture and the tiny hearts left over from my Feb TH tag

and shhh, here is the final card

with a close up of the focal and my sentiment xox

I made another of my crunchy distress glitter hearts using my Cheery Lynn heart die, the inter linked hearts are by Memory box.

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

Craft Stamper take it make it stencilling
Mixed Media Think Pink I have some pink ink on my focal shown above, not too much as this is a male card but just enough to show some love ;0)
Natalie and Amy all about the love
Art with Heart projects to love
Our Creative Corner tic tac toe I have used the middle horizontal line; Paints (white acrylic) stamps (Clearly Besotted sentiments) and stencils (TH heart)
That Craft Place anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Mondays red or pink I like to use both
Papertake weekly hearts and/or flowers
Stamping sensations anything goes
Penny Black and More Anything goes
Jellypark love is in the air
Emerald Faeries all you need is love
The Artistic stamper love
Stamp and Create all you need is love
Party time Tuesdays anything goes
Inspiration Journal at Inspiration Emporium love is in the air
Artistic Inspirations anything goes with an option of a heart
Sweet stamping add a heart
Allsorts love is all around
Bunny Zoe for the girls
Fussy and Fancy it's all about love
Country View Drips and drops I have lots of drips and drops within my focal

I hope you are all loving February too and that you are seeing a few signs of Mother Nature waking up. If not I hope my sunny photos give a peep of things to come.

Happy Valentine's Day on Saturday everyone and can I send you a little love even if you can't or don't participate in the celebrations xox

Enjoy the upcoming weekend, we are seeing darling Daisy and her Mummy and Daddy on Sunday, she is growing so quickly and has even started using crayons and feeding herself with a spoon....and yes we are loving seeing her grow into such a sweet little person.

She even copies her Daddy and Nanna playing the piano

Don't you just love the hair slide ;0)

And finally a quote I love from George Herbert;

"A gentle heart is tied with an easy thread"

Go gently through the rest of February.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x