Back from the hammock............

 Yes I'm back from my Tuscan hideaway.....what an amazing holiday we enjoyed and yes seriously there was even a hammock to relax in and enjoy the views.....

 the countryside was just stunning.

I have 539 photos to sort through so you will be seeing some more posts very soon.

My card to share today is this one........it had to feature a hammock didn't it. Also my niece had a sweet little baby girl...Edith Elizabeth Jean...to be known as Edie whilst we were away. Many congratulations to her and her dear Hb.

I have made lots of baby's cards for Dotty's tea rooms.....and this cute Penny Black Stamp is so popular. As fast as I make one it sells....

My image is coloured with Promarkers and the daisies are Memory Box. The papers are ancient. The sentiments are Clearly Besotted.

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

                           Stamping Sensations anything goes with stamping and ribbon

Try it on Tuesday make us smile

Crafty cardmakers summer

Penny Black and More Any stamp

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

Fancy and fussy a walk in the garden it would be fun to see this hedgie on your walk wouldn't it ;0)

Crafty friends favourite embellishment mine is ribbon

Allsorts a touch of sparkle

Crafty Hazelnut's patterned papers anything goes
C.R.A.F.T summer
Ribbon Girl any image
Artistic Inspirations anything goes

I am back on Monday as it's the first of the month (gulp) and I will be sharing my DT make for Country View. I am also very excited as it's my turn to host the challenge...I have chosen a fun theme too!

Remember my bloggerversary giveaway is still running..too...details are in my sidebar.

Back on Monday,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Now I am 6 and a giveaway

Wow.....6 years of my life have flashed past and I find that today that I am celebrating my 6th anniversary of my little blog. There are some of you out there who have been with me since my very first blog post in 2010 and many more have you have joined me on my creative journey.

There are just 2 words I can say at time like this...

THANK YOU

I so appreciate your support. I know that many of you are silent readers so I will wave to you and thank you for reading Jane's Journal. Lots of you take the time to leave comments, one special lady (yes you know who you are V) has left a comment on every single post I have ever written...barring when she is on holiday. I have made so many blogging friends over the years and some I have even had the joy of meeting up with in the flesh. This is such a great world to be a part of and I have found nothing but kindness, friendship and generosity here. 

THANK YOU

I am still the same happy blogger as I was when I set off on this journey 6 years ago. I have written 671 posts...that's a lot of words and photos.  My creative journey has wandered along many paths and I am still as keen to learn new techniques as I was all those years ago. I have shared thousands of photos, as you know my camera goes everywhere with me, capturing many moments in my life. Mother Nature is also a huge inspiration for me. I really enjoy sharing my photos and I know from the sweet emails and comments I receive that they inspire you too.

THANK YOU

So I have decided to hold a very special giveaway today. I an offering 3 pieces of my one of kind handmade jewellery to one lucky winner who's name I will pull out of my sun hat in 2 weeks time. I wanted to make something really bright and summery for you. 

So below is my photo of what you can win, which will be on my sidebar after today's post.

Below is a close up of the bracelet, made of freshwater pearls, shell and mother of pearl. All the fittings are sterling silver.

 The bag charm has 2 one of a kind glass lampwork beads.

 The dichroic (fused glass) earrings have sterling silver stud  fittings.

They will be presented in pretty organza bags. You can keep them or gift them to a friend. One lucky person will win all 3 pieces. I will post world wide.

I dislike any rules when offering a thank you giveaway so anyone can enter by simply leaving a comment on this post that they would like to be included in the draw.

However I always like to offer a couple of extra chances to my loyal followers and readers so;

If you are a follower, (you are welcome to join today) you can have an extra entry...please leave a 2nd comment saying so.

If you share this photo in a post, with a link back to here on your own blog or if you post the photo in your side bar, with a link back to this page, you can have a 3rd entry.
Just pop back with another comment and let me know.

I don't do the fancy link up thingy, it's just names in a hat for me!

My giveaway closes at 4 pm (British summer time) on Monday 8th August.

Good luck!

So my card today could be nothing other than a thank you card could it? I stamped and coloured one of Tim's flowers and used lots of layers of die cuts to create something delicate yet vintage......the sentiment is LOTV.

 There is some flower embossing too using a Visible Image rose stamp.

 and some faux stitching with my white pen.

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

Anything  but  cute summertime fun
Little Claire's 3/3 anything goes
ABC L for lots of layers
Pixie's snippets playground #239 I have used lots of snippets of card...my frames and my glitter card hearts
Uniko flowers
Try it on Tuesday make us smile
Crafty cardmakers summer
Simon says stamp Monday add some texure
Penny Black and More Any stamp

And as my post title is taken from one of my favourite book of poetry and because at heart I really do not think I will ever grow up I will end with this sweet poem

The End (taken from Now We are Six by A.A.Milne)

When I was One,
I had just begun.

When I was Two 
I was nearly new.

When I was three,
I was hardly Me.

When I was Four,
I was not much more,

When I was Five,
I was just alive.

But now that I am Six, I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.


Thanks for visiting today and as always for taking the time to read Jane's Journal and leaving your kind comments. I  won't be stopping blogging now that I am Six and I am certainly not clever..LOL! However if you can keep young at heart and you will never, ever feel old.

Here's to many more happy years of blogging. Cheers to you all.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Bliss

Ciao, I am posting from my holiday in Tuscany. I hadn't planned to do this, as I have scheduled some posts whilst I  am away, but my great friend Joanne Fink is celebrating her 1st anniversary on Facebook of her Zenspirations, Create, color, pattern, Play! Group. As one of its founding members I just had to be a part of the celebrations.  I have been lucky enough to have my work published in 3 of her colouring books. Joanne is the most generous of artists and I have also enrolled on her new calligraphy on line course too. I am so glad I met her via blogging....she has such a pure heart and I am proud to call her a friend.

Daisy and I are creating scrapbook journals here in Tuscany, so I have a few crafting supplies with me. Luckily I put a few tags in my bag too.

I wanted to create something using one word to sum up my holiday, family and also  the inspiration Joanne has given......I looked around the idyllic setting I am sharing at the moment with my Hb, darling daughter, SIL and Daisy.

I created a simple sunny background for my tag using some distress inks and some floral stamping.

My darling Daisy held this up, mid background, for you to see..

and then the word came to me......bliss.....yes pure bliss.

I got out my sakura pens and added my word and some zentangles.
Here is what I made;

I can't really show the details of the sakura glaze pens but they really look like glass hearts. You can see my floral stamping in close up below.

Below is the tag my sweet Daisy made, complete with zoo stickers ;0) . My photo was not taken in my photo tent but on a table....

 right here by the pool..and that's where I am heading now.

I would like to enter this into the 1st anniversary celebrations over on the Zenspirations FB group and also to the following fun challenges;

Anything but cute summertime fun
Allsorts anything but a card
Colour crazy anything goes
Craft stamper take it make it anything goes
An inky mess Challenge 1
Uniko flowers
Try it on Tuesday make us smile

Thanks for joining me on my truly blissful holiday....I have lots of photos and posts planned for when I return. My giveaway post is still scheduled so don't miss it on Tuesday.

Back soon,

Bye for now, or should I say, " arrivedierchi !"

Jane x

Revisting the 10th hole

One of my favourite tea houses (apart from Dotty's of course) is The 10th Hole at Southsea. My daughter lives nearby and we recently enjoyed another visit.

 It's a gorgeous retro building

and serves tea in real teapots with bottles of milk.

 After lunch we shared a piece of clotted cream and strawberry cake....mmm

Later Daisy had her sun cream put on  for fun in the swing park.

 We also enjoyed a walk in the gorgeous rose gardens....the scent on the air was glorious.

 and we enjoyed a walk by the sea.

My card today features cake in a big way! I went for a one layer CAS style to show off this large fun stamp. The stamp is by Stamping Bella. I added some shading with pencils and white highlights. The sentiment is LOTV

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

Noor anything goes
Penny Black and More anything goes with a stamp
Little Clair's anything goes
Happy Little Stamper anything goes with a die
The ribbon girl 2/3 any image


Thanks for visiting today and for the sweet comments you leave. Remember that I have an exciting giveaway I am offering soon....come back next Tuesday and all will be revealed.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016 July, Jane's Journal's card version

For July Tim is asking us to revisit 2 more of his previous techniques. This is the tag he created.

If you would like to see his process, please look at his blog via the link here

As you know by now I don't have many "male" stamps or dies and after looking through my stash I soon realised that I would not be making anything like Tim's. So as he asked us to,  I took my own artful expedition through my creative imagination and in true Jane's Journal style went off in my own direction and decided to make a Christmas card...as you do!

Out came my Tim Christmas stamps

 I die cut the word believe in some Kraft card and stamped my image onto watercolour paper

 I coloured my image with distress markers and made the error of using picket fence for Santa's beard, hair and the snowman..you will see why later.

 I added some distress glaze

and then made a wash of blue to cover my card.

You will notice that the picket fence did not resist the glaze....probably because it is pigment based but never fear, everything is fixable in my world.

I got out my white acryllic paint and just went over those areas...problem solved.

I then cut a slit in my Kraft card and slid through my image. 

Then it was time to put on my creative hat and add some details.

Here is my finished card.

I added lots of festive embellies and some faux gold stitching. Below is a close up of my "stitching". I think the blue card looks like denim material. 

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

Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016 July
Rubber Dance Christmas in July
Emerald Faeries  2/3 Winter blues
Fussy and fancy Christmas in July
The ribbon girl 2/3any image

Thanks for visiting today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Stormy skies

I was looking though my photo files and realized I had not shared those from a recent visiting to the family in Southampton. Our summer weather has been a real mixed bag this year.  I know we all like clear blue skies and sunshine but I rather like the cloud formations I have also seen.

On this particular Saturday we were  lucky that the rain held off and we were able to enjoy the walk we had planned. We went down to Universal Marina and walked a loop around Sarisbury Green whilst Daisy snoozed in her buggy. As always my camera came with us.

Just look at that sky

We love to walk  along the coastal path.

The tide was out further than I have ever seen it.

and the mud flats were exposed.

We walked a loop around Saribury Green





and of course as with all good walks we ended up with afternoon tea and cake with a view.

And bless her, Daisy only woke up once we had all relaxed and finished out tea and were ready to drive home.

My challenge card today has a retro sea theme to it, just like some of my photos ...using my favourite Nicecrane digi image. This is one I made for Dotty's Teahouse.

I used another piece of my precious sail boat paper from my ancient paper stash. I made some die cut MB sea creatures. The sentiment is LOTV.

Pixies's snippets playground #238
Crafting from the heart  3/3 anything goes
Creative Inspiration 2/3 seaside, sunshine, and summer holidays I have used all 3
Crafty Hazelnut's patterned paper challenge anything goes July
Try it on Tuesdays happy holidays
Little Claire's 1/3 anything goes
Simon says stamp Wednesday create a scene
The ribbon girl any image

Thanks for visiting today and for the sweet comments you leave. I would also like to give you a heads up for an exciting giveaway I am offering soon.

Jane's Journal will be 6 on 26th July..yes 6..where have those years gone? I am giving you a peep today...below is the prize I am offering...all handmade jewellery by me. Someone will win a sea inspired bracelet, a summer bag charm and a pair of sunny dichroic glass stud earrrings.

I would love if you can give this a shout out on your blogs etc in advance. More details coming soon.
The weather has finally taken a turn for the better and we are the enjoying our lunch lunch al fresco today. Happy Sunday.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x