Waving from Rhodes

Hello! Sunny greetings from Rhodes.

I have found a little bit of Internet access and decided to see if I could post from our apartment in Rhodes. This is the magical view from our balcony.

And here is the beach where we have been  relaxing.

We are having a wonderful time and as I did when we went to Sicily earlier this year I took a few crafting bits away with me.

I am very limited with what supplies I take but that's always part of the fun. I never plan what to make. I sat on the beach on Saturday and inspired by my sea view from my sun lounger and my friend Joanne Fink I doodled and zentangled the word waves and the date.

On the plane journey I also doodled and came up with this Zenspiration piece.

My table flap on the plane became my crafting table.

I always collect holiday ephemera. .tickets, restaurant cards where we eat etc so I decided to try to make a Moment using one of my doodles as the focal.The problem was I didn't have a large piece of backing card with me. Hmmmm the shops yielded nothing but that was not going to stop me. I had a light bulb moment. .use part of a cardboard box. The local shop looked at me a little sideways but gave me an empty bottled water box. Perfect. I cut off a side piece and used the rest of my box as my holiday crafting centre..lol.

I only own 3 mini distress inks which I had with me so it was Hobson's choice with my colours. I distressed the box side by ripping off some pieces , added the inks with my blending tool and some stamping with the one small set of  Tim stamps I had with me. I added some water circles using bottle tops from our milk and water .

I stamped a quote under the box advert....very apt.

It was great fun..even my Hb picked up pieces for me I could add. I only had a Pritt stick with me so everything had to be paper based. I had brought a couple of  sea themed die cuts with me so I made use of them. I even fussy cut out the sea images from a piece of paper that wrapped up a bookmark I bought.  I saw its potential and said to the shop owner not to worry about using sellotape. ..but he proudly used lots to make it perfect for me! I quickly peeled it off when I got back to our room.

Nothing like fussy cutting from your sun lounger. .I am sure a lady who walked by gave me a knowing nod.

I decided to use my waves piece as the focal. I added the business cards from the 4 wonderful restaurants we ate at. I had a play with the layout trying to add some texture and depth.

So here it is.....my Rhodes holiday Moment, which I will put up on my studio when I get home and whenever I look at it I will be transported back to our little patch of paradise.

Here are some close ups. The butterfly and date was cut out from our tickets for the butterfly valley. The leaf I stuck it to was from the bag containing bakery produce we bought. The little piece of raffia was tied around our welcome gift in our room. I also added some remnant rub words.

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

Pixie's snippets playground 196
A vintage journey home sweet home this is my home sweet home for now, we have been here so many times it certainly feels like our second home. I used lots of Tim techniques to make my background.
Rubber Dance celebration my colours are from the June 2015 board
Allsorts numbers I have the date on my focal and clock faces
Crafty friends name that tune  name that tune mine has to be summer breeze by the Isley Brother's
That Craft Place anything goes mixed media mixed media anything goes
Country View numbers I have used the date of my focal and there are numbers on my clock faces.
The Craft Barn  the sea but no beach....I have used shells anchors etc.
Artistic inspiration anything goes
Crafting from the heart anything goes
We love to create anything mixed media goes

Thanks for popping by....and sharing my holiday.

This is my Moment, in its place looking out to sea.

Waving to you all from Rhodes.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Slashed canvas and sunshine

I had a fun crafty Sunday at the Craft Barn a couple of weeks ago. Darcy of PaperArtsy ran the workshop and we were kept busy for the whole day with lots of lovely techniques to add to our slashed canvas we made.

First we made decorated the inside as this would be the outside part of our canvas once it was slashed. We used fresco paints for everything.
We made an inside panel ready for our little garden scene.

Then we decorated the outside and left it to dry for the lunch break.

 Drying off at lunch time, the lull before the storm.....

Darcy is a great teacher and a very sweet person. She bought lots of samples of her work to show too including her fab new Christmas stamps

After lunch it was non stop until we looked up at the clock and it was 4 o'clock. My Hb was kind enough to drive me and pick me up as I am still not able to drive but my wrist is getting much better.

and then the finishing including slashing the canvas.

and lots of fussy cutting

I finished mine off at home and added a couple of my own tweaks...below is my finished slashed canvas which has pride of place in the dining room up next to the the bloom and grow canvas I made with Brenda earlier this year.

and a couple of close ups.

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

The Artistic Stamper things with wings

Pixie's snippets playground 195  I used snippets of book pages for my little punched daisies and tulips.
The Mirror Crack'd tic tac toc/art shrine I have chose the right vertical line; 3d or 2d, canvas, textures
Simon says stamp Wednesday no designer paper


If Mr Blogger behaved this is actually a scheduled post and I am a long way away at the moment...................................

enjoying some Mythos and watching the sun set with my beloved Hb on holiday............................................there is a little interest access so I am going to try a crafting with a view post in the next few days.  Fingers crossed I can post it. 

Sending sunshine.....................and some peace and quiet

Jane x

Daisy in the studio, make and take Number 1

I shared my conker treasure hunt with you in my last post and mentioned that Daisy had been into my studio when she stayed with us at the weekend.  I am back today to share some photos.
She wanted to take a peep into Nanna's little studio and was fascinated by my desk and the things on there. She visited a couple of times and on Sunday she asked for the key and headed down the garden path. I asked her if she wanted to make something and was thrilled when she said yes. She wiggled up into my seat and said she wanted to make a card each for Mummy and Daddy.

Daisy is very decisive (in a lovely way) about what she wants to do and was adamant that she wanted to use just a very simple flower stamp. I showed her how we needed to tap, tap, tap the stamp onto the ink pad and then stamp onto the paper

She chose lots of different colours. She said "tap, tap, tap" as she inked her stamp and watched how Nanna cleaned the stamp between colours.

I am amazed at her dexterity for a 22 month old.

 She could open the distress pads up too.

 After stamping she wanted to draw so I found some old Marvy pens and again she went through lots of  colours. We said "lid off" and "lid on" as she used each pen.

She wanted me to write Mummy and Daddy for her

 I then asked it she wanted to stick anything on or add and glitter and her reply was "all done". I love her decisiveness, it will take her a long way. And here are her "make and takes" from her weekend at Nanna's together with her conker treasure.

Needless to say my daughter and SIL were thrilled with their cards.

Daisy is too young to enter her sweet cards into a challenge so I have entered one of mine instead but who knows, this might be the start of a love of crafting ...and Nanna would be delighted if it is ;0)

I thought I would share another make with my bister backgrounds I made recently. If you would like to see my bister revisted post you can find it here. This is my card today. I chose something magical as a thank you card. Daisy really is such a joy in our lives.

Here are some close ups to try to show the bright sparkle of the stenciled stars. The stamp is Lavinia.

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

Paperartsy pigment powders
Artistic Stamper Things with wings
 195  I used a snippet of mixed media card to make it with.
Crafty card makers Make it sparkle
Ribbon Girl blue
Love to create #19 anything goes mixed media
Fussy and Fancy fantasy
Emerald Faeries thank you
Bunny Zoe teens and tweens

Edit 5pm Tuesday; My lovely blogging friend Di of Pixie's snippets playground asked if I would add Daisy's cards to the challenge...it will make her their youngest ever player. This will really make Daisy's Mummy and Daddy smile. Thanks Di!

So here we go; I would like to enter Daisy into the following challenge;

Pixie's snippets playground 195  Daisy used snippets of paper from my desk.

Thanks for visiting me today and taking the time to leave your kind comments. I love reading them and perhaps in the future Daisy can come back here and read all about her first crafting with Nanna in Jane's Journal. It certainly was a magical weekend we shared.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A conker treasure hunt with Daisy

Our weekend was just the best...our sweet Daisy came to stay and the weather all weekend was glorious.....warm sunshine and blue skies all day. We even had lunch in the garden both days. On Saturday morning we went out for our conker treasure hunt.

We set off for the park, where Nanna  knows the best conker treasure can be found and took a basket for our spoils. For those of my lovely readers who do not know what conkers are, they are the fruit of the horse chestnut tree.

Sure enough there was plenty of treasure to be found in the grass under the horse chestnut trees.

We showed Daisy that the best and shiniest conkers can be found in their shells and we found some beauties. I still get that childhood feeling of glee when you find a shell containing a huge, brown shiny conker...just magical. I collected conkers with my own children when they were small and smile at the memories of finding conkers in the pockets of my son's school trousers even in his early years of high school.

My Hb helped her gently ease them out of the shells.

.....how blessed I am to share these childhood thrills again for the first time through Daisy's eyes.

My Hb took these photos of us on his phone,,,I love them...Nanna and Daisy on a conker hunt.

We also found a huge horse chestnut leaf, a large worm and blew a few dandelions together in the sunshine.

And before we came home we whiled away some time in the swing park.

When we got home and Daisy had a good sleep. When she woke up......what better thing is there to do with a basket of conkers? We counted them and spent hours putting them in and out the basket in the garden ;0

I plan a Moment of our day when I have some time..but for now my challenge card is a birthday card I made for a dear friend . It sums up the autumn sunshine and my time with my precious granddaughter. Who needs anything more than a park and some time to celebrate  Mother Nature at her very best?

The stamp is by Clarity and the leaf die is Memory box as is the kite die. I made an inky and stenciled background using several distress inks and a stencil.
I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Memory Box terrific trees
Mixed media world anything goes with autumn colours
Our creative corner shades of autumn

Creative Inspirations Your favourite occasion mine is birthday

Whimsy anything goes or Halloween

Crafting from the heart anything goes
Artistic Inspirations anything goes/twist of magic
Simon Says stamp Wednesday die crazy
That's Crafty lovely leaves
Crafty Friends B is for for me it is for Birthday
Creative card crew autumn/fall
Papertake weekly animal magic
Little Claire's autumn
Pixie's snippets playground 195  I used snippets of card for my leaves and for my kites.

I hope the sunshine made an appearance during your weekend too. Try to remember to look up to the trees this week as it is the first day of autumn on Tuesday. There is treasure there for everyone....just remember to open your eyes and take a moment to breathe and savour the joy through the eyes of a child, And if in your part of the world you are heading into spring enjoy the unfolding of the leaves and the beginning of the cycle of new life.

Our darling Daisy has now gone home with her Mummy and Daisy, taking with her the conker treasure and the very first crafting things she has made in Nanna's studio...more about that  in my next post. The house seems so quiet now she has gone...we certainly had the very best of times with her.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x