Tuesday 16 June 2015

Isola Bella, a Sicilian jewel

Hello....I am back from my Sicilian adventures. What a brilliant holiday we had and I had such fun posting whilst I was away. Thanks for all your kind comments on my last post, I had such fun making my Moment whilst crafting in the shadow of Mount Etna. It really did stretch me to make something with such limited crafting supplies. I have lots of photos to sort through and I have lots of crafting inspiration from Sicily so I will probably share them in stages over the coming weeks rather than just use them all in the next couple of posts.

For today I thought I would just share some photos of the beautiful Isola Bella, this tiny island sits like a jewel in the glimmering sea at Taormina mare. We took the cable car down to the mare area and to this delightful spot and spent a couple of hours just pottering around and admiring the views.
You walk onto the island via this narrow strip of sand. Well we had to paddle across as the tide was slightly higher!

Isola Bella has an old folly on it which has been turned into a tiny museum. The island was in private hands until 1990 but has now been turned into a nature reserve and is managed by the world wide fund for nature.
It was a steaming hot day and we found some shade too.
These were some of the gorgeous view from Isola Bella







 I made a little sketch of some of the plant life which I will share soon but for my card challenges today I decided to make a tag to remember our wonderful day. This is the first thing I have made since I got home so I wanted to get inky.....I have had withdrawal symptoms whilst I have been away! Amongst the countless loads of washing I have done I nipped in and out of my studio to create it. I made this for my husband to remind him of our trip to the Isola Bella. I wanted to try to recreate the blue/green colour of the sea on that glorious day,

I got out my waves texture fade and embossed a tag
 I chose lots of sea coloured distress inks and started blending away
and then added some seaweed via a stencil

 I die cut some sea creatures and shells using Kraft card and put my tag together.

Here it is; the seahorses are Cheery Lynn. The words are my own printed on Kraft card on the computer. The happy word die is Britannia.
 I added some Marine blue frantage for some sparkle, just like the shimmer of the sea.

 and you can see I used my favourite Designs by Ryn bubble stamp.


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

Cheery Lynn Keep it Krafty, use Kraft card
Anything but cute make it masculine
Crafty cardmakers and more for a man or boy
The artistic stamper summer is on its way
Noor! Here comes summer
Craft my life anything goes but no cards
Stamp and create summer fun
Mixed media world masculine/father's day
Sparkles vintage or shabby chic..my tag is vintage
We love to create anything goes/mixed media
That craft place anything goes
A Vintage Journey celebrations my celebration is of a happy holiday! My Hb is going to keep this as a book mark to remember sitting on the beautiful Isola Bella

It's always good to be home especially when a relaxing holiday has so recharged your batteries. It makes you count your blessings and appreciate the good things in life. Thanks so much for your blogging friendship and sharing my creativity here at Jane's Journal.

It's back to work for me tomorrow and the weather is looking good. I have lots to look forward to over the coming weeks.  I hope you are also looking forward to a good summer.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x


29 comments:

  1. Welcome back my dear, lovely to see you back in blogland!
    What a beautiful place, it looks wonderful, no surprise that you had a brilliant time.
    I love your pretty marine tag....a lasting reminder.
    Enjoy your week my friend,
    V x

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  2. What amazing photos!!! I want to go traveling now... Thanks for adding your ocean inspired tag to my challenge :)

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  3. It certainly looks like you had a wonderful holiday in a very Picturesque place with your beautiful photographs. Love your tag, such a great background against your Kraft die cut Seahorses.
    Thanks for joining in the challenges at Cheery Lynn Designs, A Vintage Journey and That Craft Place. Good luck in them all.
    Julie x

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  4. WOW! Jane this is stunning, love the colour you created in the background, this is definitely a keepsake and what a wonderful reminder of a beautiful holiday, looks a fabulous place.

    Love & Hugs

    Jacquie J xxx
    http://jewelscardcraft.blogspot.co.uk/

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  5. Welcome back Jane, such lovely photos of a gorgeous spot! Adore your tag, it certainly captures the day!
    xoRobi

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  6. stunning tag Jane and oh so beautiful photographs - brings back some lovely memories to me. Big hugs rachel x

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  7. Jane, Your tag is just delightful. The colors and textures are so lovely and what a great way to celebrate a nice trip. Thanks for sharing with us at A Vintage Journey.

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  8. Your tag is beautiful! Thank you for sharing with us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge.

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  9. Hello dear Jane
    What an amazing place!
    I love your tag and I think you're on to something here...
    how about going to a fabulous place every june and leading an artistic retreat?!

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  10. Good job! Your tag is awesome !
    Thanks for joining us at Crafty Cardmakers !
    Good luck
    Vania x

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  11. Wow Jane, I've been scrolling through your pictures for who knows how long know! What a gorgeous spot you were in!! Glad to have you back in blog land! This tag is just inspired! That wavy embossing folder is wonderful and I love the newsprint seahorse! All the blues and greens and those amazing bubbles are really making me crave a good swim in the lake! Just stunning!!

    Thank you so much for joining us at Anything But Cute for our 'Make It Masculine' challenge, your tag is scrumptious! Hugs, Pamellia DT :)

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  12. What a gorgeous tag! (and gorgeous place too) Thank you for sharing it with us at Crafty Cardmakers and More...

    Jackie

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  13. Lovely tag Jane, thank you for joining us at The Artistic Stamper

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  14. Gorgeous colors and texture! Thanks for joining in the challenge at Cheery Lynn Designs this week and good luck in the draw.

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  15. Jane - Your tag is amazing! I love the colors, design, and elements you used. Thanks for joining the Cheery Lynn Designs challenge and good luck!

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  16. Fantastic colours and texture! I love the ocean and anything remotely sea themed so this is perfect.
    Thank you for joining us for the challenge over on the That Craft Place Challenge Blog..
    xxSAMxx TCP Design Team.
    ❤My Blog❤
    ❤That Craft Place Challenge Blog❤
    ❤That Craft Place on Facebook❤

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  17. What a wonderful artsy background you have created on your tag, Jane, perfect for your seahorses. Good luck and thanks for joining in on the fun at Cheery Lynn Designs challenge.

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  18. What a gorgeous make!!! Love the under the sea theme and such a wonderful background!
    Thank you so very much for joining our Make It Masculine challenge at Anything But Cute!
    Samra DT

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  19. Gorgeous project and lovely textures too. Thanks for joining us at That Craft Place, Nicola X

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  20. Gorgeous tag. The wavy embossing is perfect for the sea theme and you have achieved a gorgeous colour palette and added wonderful stenciling and die cuts to complete your theme. Thanks for joining us at Anything But Cute.
    Hugs!
    Cec

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  21. Hello dear Jane,

    What a beautiful place you chose for your holidays, no wonder it inspires you! That blue sea... oh! Your tag is fantastic, I love the little seahorse!

    Have a lovely week, happy creating!

    Yours,
    Mia

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  22. A gorgeorus tag, wonderful work on the layers and final outcome. Amazing techniques used. Thanks for sharing with us at Sparkles Monthly. Caz

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  23. Really love your sea horses and colour scheme thank you so much for entering it into the artistic stamper design team challenge. x

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  24. How WOW is this tag? It's freakin gorgeous - I do love seahorses though ;) This is just so beautiful, thank you very much for entering this over at Anything But Cute xx

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  25. Just love your vintage sepia seahorses against the wonderful wavy ocean background - a terrific tag, Jane. Thanks for joining us on A Vintage Journey.
    Alison xx

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  26. What gorgeous photos Jane...such a stunning place to holiday or better yet..live there. I love your fabulous tag..gorgeous background and love the seahorses and details..

    luv CHRISSYxx

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  27. Your tag is wonderful, Jane! Thank you for sharing it with us at Mixed Media World! Ingrid x

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  28. Great tag - thanks for joining us at Sparkles.

    Helen x

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  29. What a lovely looking Island and the blue sea and sands *sigh* I could happily go there right now. I am sure it seems an age ago, but I hope you are still feeling the benefits of having the time away to recharge. Lovely tag, I do like the texture as a base for it. Bethxx

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