Crafting in the shadow of Mount Etna

Bonjiorno.....greetings from Sicily. We have excellent wi-fi in our hotel so I decided to do something really different and post from over here! I also wanted to try taking some photos with my tablet and see if I could upload them successfully. Unusually for us we are not hiring a car but enjoying walks in town and reading and relaxing on our gorgeous balcony.

Welcome to my balcony

Our beautiful hotel looks out to Mount Etna and this is our view everyday from any part of the hotel as all balconies, the pool and dining room face the same way. Our hotel is high up in the back hills of Taormina and the location is breathtaking and so peaceful. You can see that there is still a little peak of snow at the top of Etna.

On Tuesday we took the bus up to Castelmola which we can see from the right hand side of our balcony. Here it is below, high up on that rock face in the distance.

We sat at the highest point in the shade of the castle and I decided to try my hand at sketching the slightly higher view of Etna. It was a very hot day and when we got back to our room in the afternoon we had time for a quiet relax before getting ready for dinner. I had taken a few crafting supplies away with me and decided to use my sketch to make one of my "moments". I had taken some card away for my travel journal but realised I had no suitable backing card. I decided to make my own but then realised I had only 1...yes 1 stamp with me, no archival ink and only 1 mini vintage photo distress ink pad. In true Tim style I embraced imperfection and made do with what I had. This really is crafting with a view isn't it.

 So this is what I did; I added colour to my pencil sketch using Inktense pencils and some water.

I used my 4 distress markers to colour my flower Crafty Individuals stamp and make my backing card. To give a slightly water coloured effect I then gave a few flicks of water and as I had no heat gun I lay the card in the hot sunshine to dry.

I clubbed together the few paper scraps and some hessian I had and was delighted that I could actually come up with something presentable. Here is my finished Moment sitting on our balcony.

Below is a close up of my little water colour....yes I know that I am not an artist but when I look at it I can take myself back to that moment of sitting in the shade sketching Etna and her surroundings in the sunshine.  As these photos have been taken on my tablet you might be also able to double click on each photo to enlarge the details?

I created a tag using an index card on which I had written "Etna" and added some very relevant remnant rubs. It just shows that with just a few crafty supplies it is possible to come up with something usable.
 These are non edited photos, so very much a Moment for me. No cropping,sharpening or even watermarking. Crafting back to basics - I wonder if anyone else on holiday has tried this before? A real celebration of simple crafting. I am even going to link it to some fun challenges.

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

Artistic stamper summer is on its way 

Rubber dance sunny sand/yellow/ ocean green/blue colours

Take it make it texture texture my texture is the hessian I have used.

Noor! here comes summer

We love to create anything goes/mixed media

That craft place anything goes

A Vintage Journey celebrations my celebration is my wonderful Moment on holiday in Sicily and my back to basics crafting!

And just to show you that even at night our balcony still has such a gorgeous view!

It is 37c this afternoon and time to head down here.....you'll find us under the brolly by the steps :0)

Thanks for the fun comments you are leaving, I have enjoyed reading them all. I would also like to warmly welcome even more new followers who have joined my creative journey at Jane's Journal. It is lovely to see  you here...in Sicily for the moment, but back home very soon.

Bye for now,

Jane x