Happy Halloween

Tonight is the night....for things to go bump in the night.....or in our case we are enjoying a day with our daughter and family with a walk to the coast if the weather behaves.

I have taken my goodies, including the Spell book I made Daisy. I have shown you this before but in case you missed it the post is  here

I have also found some fun party wear for our lunch and dinner

I have added these chocolate goodies to the their bags

and even found some fun crackers!

and of course some Screme eggs ;0)

I  made some hand stamped wrapping paper to wrap up Daisy's spell book using these spooky stamps and ink colours.

and here is the parcel all tied up.

and a close up....you will have seen my tag last month, a Bider (spider)for my little darling, who has gone down with Chicken Pox bless here ;0(

I would like to enter my hand made wrapping paper into the following challenges;


The Craft Barn  3/3 Halloween
Rubber dance autumn colour inspiration
Pile it On  2/3 cute and/or spooky
Simon Says stamp Wednesday anything goes
Crafty Boots autumn and Halloween
Papertake weekly take your pick I have chosen Halloween hues
Simon Says stamp Monday throwback I have used the challenge Witch Kraft from August 2014 here
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/?p=1847

This is the last of my Halloween creation for 2015.  I will be back with some more autumnal themed pieces and of course lots of Christmas ones too. The countdown to Christmas really does start now.

Don't get too scared tonight.......mwhaahaaaaa, haaahahahah.......................BOO!

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

The Funkie Junkie's 12 tags of Christmas 2015 #3

For those of you who are new to Linda's challenge you can read all the rules of it here. In a nutshell you use her weekly tag for inspiration and you can create anything crafty and as long as all 12 projects are completed by 22 Dec. You also have a chance to win one of her generous prizes. I was lucky enough to win $25 dollars last year to spend in her wonderful on line boutique which sponsors the challenge. Do have a look here at her shop, her stock is enormous and her prices really keen.

I choose to use the challenge to create 12 special Christmas cards.

You can see Linda's #3  tag here. I was inspired to use the stencil version of the holiday knit die she used. I bought this stencil after Christmas last year and it has yet to be inked up. Instead of her red and gold colours I went for red and kraft. I was also inspired to use a reindeer on mine too and put a wreath around his neck. I also wanted to feature some gold on my card so I decided on some embossing and a gold edge.

So this is what I got up to in my studio.

My favourite red ink and a blender

 I wanted to try to see if I could repeat the design across my card so I stuck it in place.

 I checked my progress...

and was pleased with the outcome. You will spot there is one area which didn't repeat correctly but I knew that would be covered so it didn't really matter. Perhaps I could have got away with not even saying it! Can you spot it?

 I triple gold embossed a die cut snowflake

Die cut a deer and inked him up and added some festive sparkle. I added a little wreath and a bell.I also made a stamped sentiment and distressed the edges for a vintage feel

 I also edged the border using a gold Krylon pen.

 I also die cut a tree out of corrugated packaging and inked it.

So I put on my creative hat and this is what I came up with,

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

The Funkie Junkie 12 tags of Christmas 2015 #3
Country View  add some texture
Whimsy stamps 2/3 fall colours or Christmas
Christmas card challenges #47
We love to Create #22 #22
That Craft Place 1/3  anything goes mixed media
Scappy Mo's Rudolph Days anything goes
Simon Says stamp Wednesday anything goes
Pixie's snippets playground 3/3  #200 I used snippets of card and packaging and a tiny snippet of foilage for my card.
Simon says stamp Monday Throwback I have used the challenge Holiday cards from Dec 2014 here
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/?p=2246

I will be back on Saturday to share the last of my Halloween makes. Thanks so much for all your visits, it's always lovely to see you here.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Halloween approaches

Only a few days to go before Halloween....... and there is plenty of fun inspiration in  the shops.

 I spied some gorgeous chocolate creation in Harrods recently.

I have found some yummy goodies of my own

don't you love those corny jokes!

I still have a couple more Halloween creations to share so here is one for today. Another of my tags holloween tags for my "babies" treat bags. I got out some spooky coloured  Distress inks

 and blended them together.

 I added some stenciling and Tim Halloween stamps which I embossed as well as a fun die but spider and ghost. This one is for my daughter and we do love spiders..as does Daisy who calls them Biders...bless.

 and finished off with a remnant rub spider..

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

Dies R Us Ghoul friends
Country View add some texture I've added Frantage and black and grey embossing powder for mine.
Noor UK Halloween/autumn
Little Claire's 3/3 favourite stamp this is my favourite Halloween stamp
Frilly and Funkie 10 2/3 Something Wicked
Pixie's snippets playground 2/3  #200 I snippets of black card for my spooky die cuts
The Craft Barn  2/3 Halloween
Papertake weekly take your pick I have chosen Halloween hues
Deep Ocean 1/3  Halloween
Simon Says stamp Monday Throwback I have used the October 2013 challenge spooky from here; http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/?p=543

Thanks for visiting me and taking the time to leave your comments.  I'll be back with some more spooky fun later this week as we race towards the end of October. I also have my #3 Funkie Junkie Christmas card to share.

Today is half term from my silversmithing class so I am catching up with my darling daughter and Daisy. A long ladies's lunch and afternoon tea too if we can fit it in.

 I would like to extend a very warm welcome to my newest followers...thank you for joining my creative journey here at Jane's Journal.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Autumnal crafting fun

We had such fun again recently when my daughter, SIL and Daisy came up to visit a couple of weeks ago. I have not yet had a chance to share these fun photos.
We had Bear to stay as well so you can imagine it was busy! My daughter and SIL went to see a show in London and Daisy and Bear stayed with us.
Just look at the difference in their sizes!

As you can see Daisy adores drawing, she also love to be read to and I was delighted that she remembered her recent trip and asked to go down to my studio. One of her favoruite stories at the moment is Stick Man by Julia Donaldson. I decided we could make a stick man of her own.

I  had a quick think and grabbed a trusty kitchen roll tube (luckily I am saving these to make my Christmas crackers so I had some in the cupboard). I remembered I had some "eyes" in my cupboard so I dug them out. Daisy love felt pens and so that tin came out too.

 I had been working on some autumnal projects so there were some die cut leaves on my desk so Daisy glued some of those on too. I helped her stick on the eyes and she added the leaves...one for his nose...how cute is that. I also helped her draw a bit smiley red mouth. She did put some glue on for a third eye but changed her mind!

 I cut her out 2 strips of paper for arms and showed her how to ink some fingers and she did the same,

 Hello stick man....

Daisy would like to enter her Stick Man into 

Pixie's snippet's  playground #200

She used lots of snippets from her Nanna's Studio ;0)

I am  thrilled that Daisy seems to be joining her Nanna in a love of crafting and she's not even 2 until 11th November.  My daughter said that she had not seen her sit with so much concentration for a long period of time.

My card challenge entry  is a Halloween tag. I used some autumnal/ Halloween coloured distress ink and made an inky background. 

Here is it under construction

I used one of my Nicecrane Holloween image. These are such fun images and are available here

I added some die cut pumpkins one of which I crackled .I stamped a big spider and sentiments from my Tim Halloween set of stamps. I also added some Remnant rubs and a fun skeleton charm and a saw brad which I have had in my stash for ages and never found a use for!

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

Country View  add some texture
We love 2 create anything creative/mixed media
Noor Designs Halloween/autumn
Our creative corner Horror
Rubber dance autumn colour inspiration
Simon says stamp Wednesday wrap it up My tag is just right to "wrap" up a parcel
Frilly and Funkie 1/3 something wicked
Cheery Lynn anything goes. My toothy pumpkin is  CL die
Cute card Thursday anything goes
The Craft Barn  1/3 Halloween

Thanks for visiting me today. We enjoyed a visit down to see my DD, SIL and Daisy yesterday and had such a lovely time. We went for a walk in the New Forest and you will never guess what we saw.......that I will save for another blog post ;0)

It was a bonus to have the extra hour in bed this morning but boy will we notice the darkness this evening...winter really is looming now and it is just 2 months today until we will be eating Christmas dinner and opening our Christmas pressies!

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

The Funkie Junkie's 12 tags of Christmas 2015, tag #2

Wow I cannot believe that we are nearly at the end of October...I am getting a bit behind with my Funkie Junkie tags so here is a quick post from me of my version of Linda's Number 2 tag which you can see here. I loved playing with my gold embossing paste with my last card so as it was still on my desk it was shouting at me to use it again.

For those of you who are new to Linda's challenge you can read all the rules of it here. In a nutshell you use her weekly tag for inspiration and you can create anything crafty and as long as all 12 projects are completed by 22 Dec. You also have a chance to win one of her generous prizes. I was lucky enough to win $25 dollars last year  to spend in her wonderful on line boutique which sponsors the challenge. Do have a look here at her shop, her stock is enormous and her prices really keen.

I choose to use the challenge to create 12 special Christmas cards.

I was inspired to use the gold embossing paste in the same rays stencil that Linda used. I wanted to continue the gold theme she used for my card and use different stars as she did.  Instead of a thinlet tree die cut I used one which has been sitting in my stash for years...I have no idea who the maker is and if someone can elighten me I will edit this.

I edged my black card with a gold pen and use a wooden and a die cut star.

 I stamped a snowy backround with my VI speckle background stamp and white opaque ink.

 Here is my finished card complete with gold prancing deer and plenty of bling!

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

The Funkie Junkie's 12 tags of Christmas 2015 #2
Country View  add some texture
We love to create #21
Pixie's Crafty workshop3/3 #199
Whimsy stamps 1/3 fall colours or Christmas

Christmas card challenge anything goes #46

I have put this card up for sale in my Etsy shop here

Thanks for stopping by today. Enjoy your weekend......and if you're in the UK remember to turn the clocks back on Saturday night.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Bulb planting

Yes it's that time of the year when we need to think about planting our spring bulbs. This is my selection for this year.

I emptied a couple of my pots at the weekend

 which had finished flowering

I gave them a good scrub with some washing up liquid

A good rinse and they were ready to pot up.

I love tucking in my bulbs, the compost is like a blanket to keep them snug as they quietly grow away over the next 4 months.

Here is one of my posts in place. I shall keep an eye out for when I start to see any new shoots of life. 

My card challenge today is flower inspired and is the second card I recently made using more papers from the wonderful Crafters Companion paper pad I won.  I emailed this to them to share on their Facebook page. I also added a tiny version of my favourite Nicecrane floral digi images which is  available here

I added a glittery pink (gulp yes I did!) backing card and some various die cuts and finished of with some faux stitching and some glitter. There is even a little butterfly spreading it's wings. The tags are LOTV.

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

Country View  add some texture
We love 2 create anything creative/mixed media
Crafty boots pink
Live and love crafts pink 10c
Allsorts 3/3 all sentimental, use a sentiment
Pixie's Crafty workshop 2/3 #199 I used lots of snippets of the paper I had left over from my first card and snippets of card for my die cuts.
Crafty sentiments pink
Creative Inspirations 1/3 anything goes or use a sketch

I am trying to get up to date with my Funkie Junkie challenges so I will be back on Friday to share #2 with you. Thanks for visiting me and thanks for the great comment you left on my Man in The Moon post on Monday. I'm glad you liked him as I loved making that card.

Back very soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x