A new life

Hello friends, I promised I would return with some more photos of my darling new grandson born a week ago. Our Jack William is just gorgeous and although no bigger than his sister Daisy's dolly he is feeding well and in just 1 week brought so much joy to our family.

Here are a few of my favourite photos of my darling Jack;
His first hold by big sister...just look at the joy and tenderness on her face

We went shopping together to buy his giraffe and some clothes...how grown up my darling Daisy looks here...💖

She gave her pressies to her new baby bro

and when we got home she put her own dolly in her new Moses basket (I made this for her own Mummy when her baby bro was born 28 years ago).

How tiny Jack is in his Moses basket (this is the same basket his Mummy and Uncle slept their early days in ).

My very precious boy

Oh my...how much love our grandchildren bring us.

So of course my card today is the one I made for Jack's birthday...it really was his birthday wasn't it.

Yes I just had to make one of my "special" accordion cards for him, just like I did for Daisy.
I used my favourite Penny Black hedgie rubber stamp for the main focal, which I coloured with Promarkers.

I added glossy accents to the daisies, teddy, bows and butterfly. The tag is Lili of the Valley. The papers are First Edition.

The little clothes line with pegs on your left is from a  Lili of the Valley baby stamp set. I paper pieced it and added Pinflair underneath to make them look as thought they are flapping in the wind (the photo does not do this justice). The snug baby and baby in bath (on your right) are buttons and the die cuts are all Memory Box.

Below is one last shot of the cute Hedgie

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

Penny Black and  More 1/3 spring
Penny Black Saturday 1/3 spring or Easter
I love Promarkers anything goes I have used ProMarkers and FlexMarkers to colour my hedgie.
Sweet Stampin 2/3 I wish I could fly...I imagine that's what this hedgie dreaming of is his hammock, shown by the birds on my pattered paper too.

The ribbon girl 3/3 use any image

As you like it 3/3 favourite colour and why These are my favourite blues and greens, I think this combo works so well for baby boy cards. 

Allsorts I spy something beginning with B my B's are; baby, butterfly, blue, bath, bubbles, buttons, babygro, bundle of love, bows and birds! A full house I think. 

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

Simon says stamp  work it Wednesday 2/3 April showers bring May flowers

Deep Ocean spring

Noor UK flowers

I am back on Monday with not one but two DT posts as it is the first of the Month for Country View and another Marvellous Monday for some inspiration for Visible Image. I can also give you a heads up that Visible Image are starting up a monthly themed challenge over on Facebook..pop back on Monday when I will reveal all. 

Have a wonderful bank holiday weekend. We are hoping to catch up with our children again. Thanks for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave me. I love reading every single one of them.

Bye for now,

Jane x

Blossoming well

I do love seeing the wonderful blossom growing at this time of the year. It really is quite spectacular especially when seen with a background of clear blue skies.

 I have taken snaps of some of the local blossom around me...it's like confetti on trees!

My card today takes uses the inspiration of this beautiful confetti blossom and is one of a series of wedding cards I have made recently for Dotty's Teahouse.  They have proved very popular indeed and have been flying out.

I have found that it does not pay me to sell cards where I hand colour intricate stamps. I love my Lili of the Valley rubber stamps and I still do colour some in for special family cards but as they can take me over an hour to colour a single image it is not practical for making these as cards to sell. However I recently noticed that Lili of the Valley are selling lots of their designs in a format called Simply Print. They are coloured digital images which you "Simply print at home".  I decided to buy one of their gorgeous wedding images. They are brilliant.

Here is one of my white on white creations using one. I embossed a white background and added lots of gorgeous white die cuts. I finished off with a hand stamped sentiment and some sequins. This one sold with a day of me taking it into the shop!

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

The ribbon girl 3/3 use any image
Artistic Inspirations 3/3 anything goes
Lil patch of crafty friends 3/3 anything goes
Noor UK  flowers
Card Mania April showers brings May flowers

I hope that you are enjoying the gorgeous blossom too...it's everywhere...just remember to look up when you are outside! It's turned very chilly again for the last few days too so don't be tempted to put any tender plants out just yet.
Thanks for all your kind wishes re our darling little Jack...he's doing well. Here he is this morning as we stayed last night.

He's blossoming too 😍

 I will be back with some more photos very soon...and his card I have made for his Birthday 😊


Bye for now,

Jane x

A most eventful weekend

Hello everyone and it's Monday which means that it is time for some more inspiration from me for Visible Image. Did you see the show on Create and Craft TV on Saturday? It was awesome and again most of the sets sold out! It was such fun seeing my cards there amongst our talented team's work. If you missed the show it is available on the website for 7 days via this link However today really is the most marvellous Monday as I can finally share some even more exciting news with you....

 Can you guess....I have been busy knitting for the past few months.....

Yes our darling Grandbaby arrived on Friday...

Meet Jack William

The sweetest darling baby brother for Daisy Jane. How blessed we are. He was a couple of weeks early and is tiny...just 5lb 13oz but just perfect and we all adore him!

What a weekend of excitement!

My card today is one that was made as a sample for Saturday's Show and I waved to it on TV.
I used 2 sets; the Scripted Streets set available here

I love this set...the script stamp makes is an amazing background script, you can use it for everything.
The map is also such fun.

 I also used some words and the awesome paper planes from the Destination unknown set

This is what I got up to.
 I repeat stamped the map onto thin card.

I used some Decoart media paints on another sheet of card to give a medieval feel to the background and repeat stamped the script.

I then die cut the background using a mixed media die to make a leaded glass effect.

I tore up some of maps and scrunched them up to make creases. I

I then opened them up again, added some inks to age them,  and stuck 3 maps to some black card.

When we were on holiday in Italy last summer I bought this sealing wax set in an art shop in Sienna and I knew now was the perfect time to use it .

I also stamped and embossed some words and paper planes from the Destination unknown set, put on my creative hat and came up with my card.
You can see that I used my black card as a base for my "window"and stuck the maps on top. I then added my trellis mixed media window sheet so that the maps are sandwiched between the layers.

Here are some side close ups to try to show the 3D effect.

I love my wax seal...it even has my initial on it and I will certainly be using it again very soon.

and one final shot

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

A vintage journey the magic of 3 I have used 3 word bands
Artistic Inspirations 2/3 anything goes
Crafting from the heart 2/3 anything goes
Simon says stamp Monday  splash it on I have used the wrinkle free technique or "swooshing"which a lot of peep seem to be calling it, for creating my cat fur!
As you like it 1/3 favourite colour and why I love shades of brown, they give such a vintage feel to this type of card.
Sweet Stampin 1/3 I wish I could fly

Thanks so much for stopping by on this truly Marvellous Monday.

Visible Image will be back on Create and Craft in June and we have plenty more inspiration for you in the meantime over on Facebook;

Our friendly Group can be

found here where every day our DT bring you a new inspiring project. 

The main Visible Image page is here; there are weekly stamp giveaways...open world wide!

And the main Visible Image web site is here; where all these gorgeous stamps can be found. So if you missed out on buying your favourites on Saturday's Create and Craft TV show, you can still buy them today!

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Growing

I love growing chillies and over the years I have tried several different ways. I have decided the best way is to buy small plants in March as it gives such a head start on growing them from seeds.
I bought these on line 3 weeks ago and they arrived in the post...

 I use dymo labels when potting them up...

into a vermiculite and multi purpose compost.

 I keep them on my sunny kitchen window sill

 and here they are this week...growing so quickly. The Zimbabwe variety already has lovely purple flowers. I will put them out on my sunny patio mid May.

My card today also uses stamps from a stamp company who are also growing very quickly. Yes the awesome Visible Image. They are on Create and Craft TV again tomorrow at 10am. Mark has some brilliant demos planned so do tune in to see what he is up to and you may even catch a glance at one of my samples.The show is on at 10am (GMT) on Sky 674,Virgin 748 or Freeview 23 or you can watch it via the Create and craft Website here
The curious cats  stamps sold out immediately during the last show in February so they, as well as some other amazing sets, are being taken back tomorrow. Here is another of my Curious Cats I made as a sample for the show.

I made the background with Distress inks and added Glossy Accents to his eyes. The nose has to be pink, just like my own darling Billy's is 😻
The paw prints and the sentiment are all in this set...and a peep inside...

 I think that cat has got paint on his paws 😼

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

The ribbon girl 2/3 use any image
Artistic Inspirations 2/3 anything goes
Crafting from the heart 2/3 anything goes
Lil patch of crafty friends 2/3 anything goes
Crafty friends 2/3 animals or birds
Simon says stamp Monday  splash it on I have used the wrinkle free technique or "swooshing"which a lot of peep seem to be calling it, for creating my cat fur!
As you like it 1/3 favourite colour and why I love green, especially for cats eyes.They look very mystical. I have also used green matting card so that his green eyes really shine out from my card.

It's nearly the weekend yet again, enjoy yours. I have quite an eventful day today and also weekend.... I have set my recorder just in case I am not in front of the TV at 10 am on Saturday to see Visible Image on TV!

I'll fill you in very soon. I will be back on Monday.

Bye for now,

Jane x

Spring 2017 at Dotty's Teahouse

Last Thursday I took my parents down to Dotty's where we enjoyed a lovely lunch. They loved the tearooms and its wonderful vintage feel.
The window was dressed all ready for Easter.

Inside was busy and there is always such a great atmosphere. Rebecca and her staff were busting around serving everyone with a smile.

After my sandwiches I just had to try a piece of delicious moist carrot cake...

well it would be rude not to wouldn't it 😉

I could see from our table that my cards I sell there were neat and tidy. There has been a rush on my wedding and new baby boy cards recently so I stocked those up with a couple of new designs.

 If you are ever near Carshalton in Surrey do pop in. Dotty's is at 108 High Street, SM5 3AE and is open most days.

So my card for challenges today is a new baby one. Our own new grandbaby is due very soon now. We do not know the sex and today's card is for a new baby boy from the shelves of Dotty's Tea House.

I have used a digi from Lili of the Valley. The backing paper is First Edition. Dies are by Memory Box , The Works and Cheery Lynn.

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

The ribbon girl 1/3 use any image
Simon Says stamp Wednesday 3/5 spring colour inspiration
Crafty calendar April showers/ spring
Crafty friends animals or birds
The Cutie Pies challenge bunnies or chicks
Artistic Inspirations 1/3 anything goes
Crafting from the heart 1/3 anything goes
Lil patch of crafty friends 1/3 anything goes
Sparkles Monthly 1/3 fave colour combo I use blues and green so much!
Noor flowers

Thanks for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave me. They are much appreciated.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x