Late August summer sunshine

Wow! The weather really has perked up to give us a very hot farewell to August. For a change the weather over the bank holiday was glorious and today it is even hotter. I have made myself a cuppa and this is my current view in my garden from my chair.

However I went for a walk earlier and I noticed a lot of signs that autumn is just around the corner

some of the trees are getting their golden hues

and berries are ripening on the trees

and guess what I spied

 I'll zoom in.......

yes the conkers are ripening...oh my! ( I did a little skip when I saw them ;0)
However in my garden it is still summer and 32c  in the shade at the moment..

did you spot someone photo bombing....

yes the lovely Bear has come to stay for the week.

My card today is one to keep cool with on a hot summer's day. It is another wedding one, this time a lots of layers white on white card, which I took down to Dotty's to sell. I used my Samistamps digi image which I coloured with Promarkers and fussy cut out. I added glitter to the flowers and setniment. The dies are a mix of Memory box, Joy and Tattered Lace and I also used some pearl card which I embossed for extra depth. The sentiment in LOTV.

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

Allsorts 2/3 use at least 2 dies I lost count with the number I used!

I love Promarkers use a die cut

Sparkles monthly 2/3 lots of layers

Passion for Promarkers make us smile

Let's Craft and Create 2/3 wedding/anniversary

Uniko inspired by a song mine is White wedding by Billy Idol.

Happy Little stampers anything goes with dies

I've cooled down a little and now it's time to head back out to the garden and my studio...I have the windows open wide and luckily it is in shade after early morning.  Enjoy the sunshine and if you don't have any I'll send some your way as we have plenty, with more to come. Thanks so much for popping by and for the sweet comments you take the time to leave. 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Late summer flowers

My pots are still showing off their gorgeous blooms even though we are fast approaching September. The weather this week has been just glorious.

and my tomatoes have ripened beautifully. They are soooo sweet.

 There is nothing like picking to eating in 5 seconds...no air miles here.

My card today has to be floral and is a very simple Country Feel summer wedding card I made for Dotty's. I used a Kraft card blank. The stamp is a digital one by Sami Stamps which I won years ago. I coloured her with Promarkers and fussy cut her out...even the eyelashes! The die is a Tattered Lace won a friend gave me and the sentiment is LOTV. The paper are ancient from my stash.

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

Pixie's snippets Playground #249 I have used snippets of card, paper and even ribbon today.

Allsorts use at least 2 dies I have used a stitched oval and rose corner.

I love Promarkers use a die cut

Passion for Promarkers go digital

A bit more time to craft anything goes

Crafty Hazelnut's patterned paper August

Let's Craft and Create wedding/anniversary

Crafty Calander summer fun

Uniko inspired by a song mine is Kiss from a Rose by Seal

The weather has turned quite cloudy today but it's still very mild. We are off to pick up our Daisy who is coming to stay until tomorrow lunchtime...I asked her what she would like to do this afternoon. Can you guess her response....yes.....it was "Stamping". I think we'll be heading down to the studio this afternoon! 

Enjoy the bank holiday tomorrow, those of you in the UK.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane 

Happiness is a Hill

On Tuesday I met my daughter and Daisy at Claremont in Surrey. This beautiful National Trust garden has a huge central lake with lots of ornamental fowl. It was the most glorious day....wall to wall sunshine and the clearest deepest blue sky I have seen for a long time.

Daisy loved feeding the ducks with her bag of food we bought.

We also spotted lots of dragonflies on and around the lake. I edited this photo in black and white so that you could see the amazing blue colour in the grass.

There is also a super hill...and of course Daisy loved running up and down it

 Stopping and picking daisies for her Mummy

After lunch, exhausted from all her running she very conveniently snoozed in her buggy whilst my DD and I sat on a picnic mat, admired the view, ate ice cream and chatted...for over an hour....just bliss. Happiness really is a hill!

There are some challenges I would like to enter before the end of August including the Craft Barn dictionary challenge where the letter is H.
I wanted to use some of the photos of Daisy running down the hill. So I decided to create a hilly distress inked background with sunshine and blue skies in my art journal.

 I then created hills with my distress inks.

I got out several of my Visible Image stamps to add to the background

Sorry I only took 1 photo when I had added the grass as I got so engrossed in my work.

So here is my finished "Moment" for my art journal..............

On the right is my hill dictionary definition...I put it on a hill ;0)

I tried to give the impression of Daisy running down the hill and getting closer by die cutting 3 photos of her,

 I love the photo of Daisy below bringing a daisy to her darling Mummy....precious moments indeed.

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

The Craft Barn dictionary challenge H I know that Jane says no dragonflies need to be included but my Moment needed one as we saw so many of them! 

Uniko inspired by a song no prizes for mine...of course it was "The hills are alive" from The sound of music! I kept humming this as I created!

Happy Little Stampers anything goes with a die

Crafty Calendar summer fun

The Craft Barn weekly challenge blue

Fussy and Fancy 1/3 let's fly away

Creative Corner soooo sweet

Crafty Boots anything but a card

It's been another glorious day today, wall to wall sunshine and more blue skies. I really hope that it lasts for the bank holiday weekend.

Thanks for visiting me today and for all the kind comments you take the time to leave me. Enjoy the long weekend for those of you in the UK...dare I say..it's the last bank holiday before Christmas ;0)

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Floral storytelling

Recently I visited a beautiful floral exhibition at a garden centre near my parents. We often go for lunch there and they put on regular floral displays.  This summer the theme was storytelling. I took some photos to share as I thought the colours and flowers they used were spectacular.

These were my favourites.

There was a certain rabbit called Peter.

The girl with a red cape and a very scary grandmother.

 The 3 bears and the blond one!

 And a hatchet job from Jack

It was great fun and the flowers were spectacular. Here are a few of my favourite flowers in the displays.

The theme is changing to Autumn Fire next month.....the year is really flying past.

My card today is also one which tells a story....of sweet baby boys. Yes it's another I made for Dotty's. A very summery version using my favourite Penny Black stamp. I coloured it with my Promarkers.  The sentiment is Clearly Besotted and the papers are First Edition. The flowers are Cheery Lynn,

I would like to enter it into the following challanges.

Stamping sensations 3/3 anything goes
Penny Black and More 3/3 anything goes
Allsorts fabulous florals
Penny Black and More favourite technique mine is stamping and colouring
Happy Little Stampers anything goes with a die
Crafty Calendar summer fun
The Craft Barn weekly challenge blue
Crafty Hazelnut's patterned paper challenge August

Summer is firmly in place today. The heat is on and we may reach 30c here in the south. I am meeting up with my daughter and Daisy for a day out so this fabulous weather is well timed.

Enjoy your day and sending you some sunshine if you are missing it.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016 August, Jane's Journal card style

It's number 8 of 12 today and Tim has combined 2 techniques again on his August tag...brayerd inks and frameworks.
This is Tim's tag.

I decided to use make a male card version.

I really enjoyed the brayered distress stains and made a cool background.

I don't have any frameworks dies but I used my Spellbinders frame die which I have had for years and works just as well.

I die cut a piece of grungeboard and some extra textures to use to replace the tile pieces.  I added some stamping and colour to my frames. I gave my new world die an airing and die cut it in black card.

Then it was time to put on my creative hat..............and here is Jane's Journal's card version of Tim's tag. The car is stamped, embossed and fussy cut out. I added a birthday sentiment as this one has gone down to Dotty's.

and a close up

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

Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016 August.
Sparkles Monthly 2/3 lots of layers
Mod Squad the die's the thing
Simon says stamps Wednesday make for the border  I have made a framelets type border for the top and bottom of my card.
Pixies's snippets playground #243 I used snippets of lots of material for my frame inserts and a snippet of card for my globe.
Happy Little Stampers anything goes with dies
Stamping Sensations 2/3 anything goes
Penny Black and More 2/3 anything goes
The Craft Barn weekly challenge blue
Live and Love Crafts Birthday/anniversary

My daughter and SIL hosted the annual family BBQ yesterday at their house...it was blustery but boy did we all have such a fun time. Enjoy your Sunday evening.


Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x