Who said that summer is over?

Wow it has been the most amazing few days in the South of England where temperatures have got to 24c most days this week. I went down to babysit for my daughter on Tuesday and stayed over. On Wednesday after dropping Daisy off at school we walked to one of her super local cafes by the coast. This one is called Breezes and is like a marine version of Dotty's Teahouse. I loved it.
This was the back room, there is even outside seating in cabins too.

 We parked up sleeping Jack

and enjoyed an hour of girlie catch up

followed by a walk back to my DDs house in the sunshine

 How about that for a view (it's the Isle of Wight you can see in the distance).

Such a lovely way to spend a few precious hours.

My project today just had to reflect the delightful nautical theme of the cafe, the seaside and our hour of precious Mum and daughter time. I used the Visible Image Dare to swim stamp set, capture the moments sentiment and their fibres stencil. It is a simple small canvas  made with distress inks with the perfect words.

Here are a couple of close ups. I added glitter and glossy accents to one of the jelly fish.

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

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes
Addicted to stamps and more 3/3 anything goes
Fashionable stamping 3/3 quote away
As you like it 1/3 favourite season mine is summer as I do adore the long sunny day and the feel of warm sun on my skin. (But don't mention the C word as I love that too!)
Lil patch of crafty friends 3/3 anything goes
Crafty Catz 1/3 anything goes
The alphabet challenge N for nature

The sun came out again today and the weekend looks set fine too. Just looking out at the sunshine is in itself a very precious moment.

Just to give you all a heads up...there is a sentiment sale over at Visible Image and all the individual sentiments, including the one I used today, are 50%...yes 50% off! Just follow the link by clicking here.

Enjoy your weekend too.

Back on Monday,

Bye for now,

Jane x

The conker hunt 2018

On Sunday it was our annual family conker hunt. The weather all day Saturday and Sunday morning was rain, rain and more rain and if we could we probably would have tried to reschedule. But armed with wet weather waterproofs we walked down to our local park and could not believe that as we arrived the clouds started to part and out came the sunshine!

Daisy had her basket and was keen to get going.

She was not disappointed.  just look, the ground was completely covered with conker treasure.

Lots were still in their shells as they had been blown down by the strong winds the day before.  Daisy gleefully pulled them out, doubles like below, are especially treasured.

Bear came too and kept herding us up and keeping an eye on us all, including Jack

who had his own little bucket this year.

He delighted in putting his own conker treasures in it.

helped by his Daddy.

So many beauties to find. 

What a wonderful family time we enjoyed and the sunshine was so unexpected. I think the Conker god was smiling down on us 😏

My card today was inspired by the autumnal colours and is a new birthday card just taken down to Dotty's Teahouse to sell.  I used my Visible Image time tunnel stencil and also their elemental stamp to create an inky sheet which I die cut with my Tim Holtz world die and then mounted on some embossed brown card. The little birthday tag is an old Lili of the Valley stamp. The stars are Tim's and the starburst in an old Noor die.

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

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes
The house that stamps built 1/3 anything goes
Creative moments 1/3 anything goes
The male room 1/3 the great outdoors
Addicted to stamps and more 1/3 anything goes
Die cutting divas 1/3 fall colours my world and stars die is Tim Holtz and the star cascade is Noor.
Crafty sentiments 1/3 anything goes
Lil patch of crafty friends 1/3 anything goes
Sparkles monthly 1/3 dies or punches

I have just got back from the south coast as I was baby sitting Daisy and Jack yesterday. This glorious weather persists and today is wall to wall blue skies and sunshine...just look at this as we had a walk along the beach this morning. My daughter and I walked Daisy to school and then enjoyed a coffee, chat and walk which little Jack snoozed away in his pushchair.

Oh my it was just glorious.

Sending sunshine your way if you need some.
Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

The Daydreamer

Good morning it's time for my Monday DT make for Visible Image and today I am showcasing another from the brilliant new October stamp release. Release date is getting near but you can pre order here today to guarantee your set. 

Here is the lovely Daydreamer

I love the "comic strip/cartoon" feel to this set and I decided to try to capture this in my sample.

 I stamped out the sentiments in a couple of different coloured inks and decided to go with grey, black and red. 

Some I stamped directly onto the card, some I cut out and overlaid. I used 1 red version of each sentiment to stand out. I then distressed the edges and matted it onto red card.

I coloured my Daydreamer in greys using Zig watercolour pens and fussy cut her out. She is a very easy shape to cut, no thin edges to her!

I added glossy accents to her glasses. I also coloured the speech bubble red which I also added glossy accents to.

So here she is;

Here are some close ups

You can see her Glossy Accents glasses more clearly below

and the speech bubble

and one last shot.

I matted up the card resemble a photo by setting her just outside a "photo frame" complete with photo corners. She is lost in her thoughts there but she has some very positive ideas, my kind of girl.

Daydreamer is just one of the amazing 6 new stamp sets, and 3 new stencils. There really is something for everyone in this new release.

 You can see them all over on the website here and remember that they can be pre-ordered now for guaranteed delivery from 5 October. 

All the Visible Image links can be found here;

Visible Image group page on Facebook. Our friendly Group is here ...it would be lovely to see you. There is a monthly challenge for you to share your creations made with Visible Image stamps. One randomly chosen winner each month wins a £40 coupon to spend on the website. The theme for September is anything goes so it's a really easy one

The main Visible Image Facebook page is here; where you can find all the latest information and news including giveaways...open world wide.

And the shop web site is here; where all their gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased. 

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

Penny Black and More 2/3 make it feminine

Creative fingers 1/3 anything goes
Craft Stamper take it make it 2/3 Anything goes

Thanks for stopping by and for your kind comments you take the time to leave me.

Back soon, 

Bye for now,

Jane x

The butterfly valley revisited 2018

Every year when we holiday in Rhodes we hire a car. One of the reasons is to visit a couple of restaurants we love which are a little out of the way. The other is to make an annual visit to the butterfly valley. 

We were a little earlier visiting this year and there were more butterflies than we see later in the month. It is also such a pleasant walk up through the valley and a shield from the hot sunshine. 

They are on every surface in the valley, trees,leaves, rocks and anywhere in between. 

We also love spotting the lizards and freshwater crabs which live there.

It really is a place to sit and be mindful in...bliss.

My card also features butterflies.

I created an oxide background using Tim Holz inks and one of his floral stencils.

I then added some more stamping using his Lady Rose stamp set and one of his sticker quotes and finished off with my favourite Visible Image butterflies.

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

Stamping sensations 3/3 something beginning with B mine is butterfly and beautiful (in the quote)

Fashionable stamping 3/3 quote away

The butterfly challenge 2/3  the letter A I have gone with apricot and layers

Happy little stampers watercolour 2/3 anything goes/butterflies
Stamps and stencils it's been a while/ anything goes
Cute card Thursday 1/3 monochrome

Penny Black and More 1/3 make it feminine

Whenever life gets hectic I just close my eyes and can transport myself back to that day in the butterfly valley, they were indeed beautiful moments.

Thanks for stopping by and have a super weekend. We will be collecting more beautiful moments with our kids and grandkids as we are off on a conker hunt on Sunday. I hope you can find some beautiful moments (and conkers!!) too. 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Wisley in September

On Monday I met my dear blogging and crafting buddy Brenda at Wisely Royal Horticultural gardens in Surrey. We have seen these lovely gardens in spring, summer and now autumn this year and have so enjoyed seeing the changing seasons.

We have also been so incredibly lucky with the weather. Just look at those blue skies!

We enjoyed visitng the greenhouses

where so many of the exotic plants were in flower

We even spotted a late butterfly as we walked around the grounds.

We also noticed that the autumnal colours are making themselves noticed, depsite the 27c temperateure my car registered on the drive home.

It was such a lovely day. 

My card today is a sunny butterfly card up for sale at Dotty's Teahouse in Carshalton using Visible Image stmaps.

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

Stamping sensations 2/3 something beginning with B mine is butterfly.
Fashionable stamping 2/3 quote away
Pile it on 1/3 think big or 1 layer mine is a big sentiment
Pixie's snippets playground #335 I used a snippet of card to make my butterfly with.
The butterfly challenge the letter A I have gone with apricot

Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to leave your very kind comments. The wind seems to be really picking up today so stay safe it you are in the UK!

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x