Sleeping trees

After the recent storms the trees are nearly stripped of their glorious autumnal foliage

 but there are still a few showing off their colours

 and some interesting ferns.

After  losing their leaves the silver birch reveal their gorgeous bark.

How wintry does that look?

Only a few weeks ago this avenue of trees was in  full leaf.

 Yes the trees are getting ready for the big sleep.

I managed to get my next Funkie Junkie card under my belt and I also took in a couple of other fun challenges too.
 If you would like to play along with the FJ Christmas challenge please check out Linda's post here which gives all the details of the challenge requirements. The challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique and you could even win one of the prize vouchers if you complete all 12 weeks.

For week #9 I was inspired by the lovely deep green/burnished back ground she made, the foliage stamping, the red and white Baker's twine and the red stamped sentiment.
This is what I got up to.

I made an inky background using various Christmas green coloured distress paints.

I added a little water to get some distressed blending.










 I then added silver metallic distress stain.

I also wanted to add some crackle as AVJ are asking for this in their challenge and I wanted to add some rustic charm to for ATBC as well as a couple of other challenges. I added gold paint to crackle paint and pressed it through my TH foliage stencil.

When it had dried I added some distress ink to highlight the cracks and around the edge of my backing card.
So here is my finished card.

The sentiment is Visible Image which I managed to snap up in their amazing Black Friday sale. I added even more texture with distressed edges, torn corrugated card and a glittered snowflake chippie.

 I do love a bit of crackle ;0)

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

The Funkie Junkie 12 tags of Christmas #9
Pixie's Snippets Playground #257 I used a snippet of card for my sentiment and a tiny snippet of Baker's Twine!
A Vintage Journey cracking up
Anything but Cute rustic glam
That's Crafty All grungy
An inky mess anything mixed media
Time out Christmas with an optional twist of glitter/shimmer I added the twist with my silver metallic distress stain and the glittery snowflake
Winter Wonderland poinsettia or snow is falling I have gone for snow is falling with my embellished snowflake chippie.
Merry Monday 1/3 masculine Christmas card
Christmas card challenge anything goes #50
Addicted to stamps and More anything goes
Moving along with the times anything goes with Christmas

That's another card in the stock box for selling at Dotty's Christmas market which is now only 3 days away .....this  Friday..the details are on my side bar.
I promised another sneak peek...here are some of my bag charms I will be selling.

Strawberries and chocolate are always a good combination 😄

 All the beads I use are handmade glass made by my talented lamp worker friends. All one of a kind and totally unique.

I hope this little owl will fly off my stall to a new home.

Thanks for visiting and for your very kind comments. I must fly as I really need to get my very last bits of stock made.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Still gazing at the stars

Hello, today is my 2nd inspiration piece for our "Stars" challenge over at Country View. You still have 3 more days to get your entries in and all the details can be see here. There is a chance to win a £20 voucher over at Country View Crafts which always has free postage so it's a great win.

We have finally had some wintry weather after our glorious autumn and many of my walks take place now in the dusk. The fowl on the ponds never seem to mind the weather.

For my first piece at the beginning of the challenge I used my Lavinia fairy and some unusual distress ink colours. Today I am sharing a Christmas card, I have used the same colours  but created a much darker piece. This time I have used darker shades as an under wash

and I then used yellow through my star die as well as some star stamping . I also added some Frantage to create snow.

I then stamped on my fairy and added a Tim die cut. I also stickled her wings for extra sparkle and added glossy accents to the moon,

Here is my finished Christmas card

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



Mod Squad 3/3 sparkle it up
Simon says stamp Monday 2/5 Triotastic ..3 of something I used 3 colours of card..black, white and Kraft
Noor UK Winter
Uniko Christmas
Fashionable Stamping 3/3 tis the season
Addicted to stamps and More anything goes
Moving along with the times anything goes with Christmas
Time out Christmas with optional twist of glimmer/shimmer..I have lots of shimmer on my starry card.
Simon Says stamp Monday Christmas to die for my sentiment is die cut

Rudolf DaysNovember

It is my last few days of making for Dotty's Christmas market where I will be selling my handmade cards and jewellery. Please spread the word to friends and family and if you are in the area do pop in and say hi...it would be lovely to see you. The address is 108 Carshalton High Street, Carshalton, Surrey, SM5 3AE and I will be there from 11am.

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

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Getting the stock made

It's just 1 week today until I will be selling my cards and jewellery at Dotty's Teahouse Christmas market .  I have spent weeks beavering away making stock and I am nearly ready.

If you are in the Carshalton area next Friday do pop in and say hi . It would be lovely to see you .  If you have any friends or family please give me a shout out. I will been there from 11am til 9pm..yes a very long day.
I thought that I would share a couple of sneak peeks over my next few posts....the first one today is of the festive earrings I have made. The ear wires are silver plated so that there will be no metal allergies for customers .

There are a couple of non Christmas ones the keen eyed of you might have spotted....the white rabbit from Alice and some bunnies but mostly they are all ready for wearing in the run  up to Christmas. I have been wearing a pair of snowflakes myself.
I will share a photo of some of my bag charms in the coming days.

My card challenge today is a more CAS style for me. I try to create cards to cater for everyone who buys at Dotty's. This card has sold well .  I am having a giveaway at the fair in return for some feedback which will be very useful for info for my future makes.

I used a very old and retired Visible Image stamp which I stamped, clear embossed and then added a little touch of Glamour Dust. The sentiment is LOTV. The dies cuts are Tim H, MB and Marianne.
I would like to enter my card into the following challenges

The Ribbon Girl 3/3 use any image
Mod Squad 2/3 sparkle it up
Simon says stamp Monday 2/5 Triotastic ..3 of something I used 3 colours of card..black, white and Kraft
Noor UK Winter
Uniko Christmas
Fashionable Stamping 2/3 tis the season
Dutch Card lovers one colour
Addicted to stamps and More anything goes
Moving along with the times anything goes with Christmas
Time out Christmas with optional twist of glimmer/shimmer..I think you can just make out all the shimmer from my focal.
Simon Says stamp Monday Christmas to die for

Thanks for popping by today. Enjoy the weekend. We have a very special one coming up...our darling Daisy is coming to stay...and I have a plan for us to write to Father Christmas...ho ho ho!! It is exactly a month today that he will be delivering to all those good boys and girls...have you been good :0)

Back soon ,

Bye for now ,

Jane x

Last days of November

I am trying to catch up with my Funkie Junkie cards. It's been quite a struggle this year as I am so busy making cards for Dotty's Christmas Market. I did manage to get a fair amount of crafty catch up done over the weekend. I also popped out for some walks dodging the rain. November is certainly a month of early darkness, this was at 4pm!

However to cheer me up my amaryllis is sprouting nicely...

For week #8 of Linda's challenge I was inspired by her red inky background, the holly, the vintage Christmas digi and the lamppost. If you would like to play along with this fun Christmas challenge please check out Linda's post here which gives all the details of the challenge requirements. The challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique and you could even win one of the prize vouchers if you complete all 12 weeks.

I used my holly bough stencil and sprinkled through some brushos.

After adding some water I moved the stencil over to repeat.

  next I took another stencil and pounced through some green, red and brown distress inks

and made this cool rather retro festive backing card which I cut up

I used a Graphic fairy digi of my own and a Whimsy lamppost die cut.


Then I put my card together.

and a close up of the inky background and the added snow.

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

The Funkie Junkie's 12 tags of Christmas 2016 #8
Sparkles 3/3 Christmas is coming
Let's craft and create 3/3 winter
Anything but Cute rustic glam
Sparkles 1/3 Holly and Ivy
The Ribbon Girl 2/3 use any image
Cute card Thursday Christmas/holidays
Mod Squad sparkle it up
Simon says stamp Monday Triotastic ..3 of something I used 3 die cut holly leaves and 3 black gems.

My stash of cards is growing nicely but I am still beavering away here. Thanks for visiting me today and for the kind comments that you leave.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Life on the ponds

Thanks for all your lovely comments on swan pairing post. I spotted the reunited the love birds on my  last walk down to Dotty's. The cygnets were probably on the island as I couldn't see them and was in a bit of a hurry to go looking for them.

The swan pair are really sociable and followed me as I walked along the pathway.

Such majestic birds.
We also have a very friendly heron at the ponds and he was up out of the water quite happy to pose for some photos.

I have managed to get my November Tim Tag inspirations card made and decided again to make a Christmas card. Below is his tag and you can read his step by step on his blog here

I made a remnant rub resist background using festive remnant rubs.

 I then used some distress stains, including metallics to create my background. I added some vintage photo ink to the edges and distressed them.

I also stamped, coloured, textured and fussy cut out my my TH snowman using distress pens.

It was then time to assemble my card. I really like this one and I have squirrelled it away for my darling Hb for his Christmas card as I think he might like this one.😊
I added a holly brad, a die cut and a glittered shadow. I don't own any of Tim's thinlet letters so I left my card as it is...and actually I didn't want to cover any of my snowman up.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges

Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016 November
Christmas at sweet stampin 2/2 anything goes
The Ribbon Girl 1/3 use any image
We love 2 create 1/2 anything mixed media
Pixie's snippets Playground #265 I used a snippet of glitter paper for my shadow and a snippet of card for my stamped snowman.
Craft Stamper take it make it 2/2 November anything goes
Penny Black and More 3/3Anything Christmas
Stamping sensations 3/3 Christmas greetings
Uniko Christmas

We had some storms and heavy rain over the weekend but thankfully no real damage around here. I hope everyone else in the UK fared OK? Thanks for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave me, I really enjoy reading them.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x