It's always been you

Hello and welcome to a new week and my Monday Make for Visible Image. Last Thursday was mine and my Hb's 38th wedding anniversary. It was the hottest day of the year and we had a wonderful day out in East Sussex visiting Great Dixter House, a medieval marvel, and gardens and the pretty town of Rye.

The house was built in the mid 15th century by rich land owners to show off their wealth. No indoor photos are allowed but the inside is superb.

It was bought in 1910 by the Lloyd family who created the wonderful garden.

 There is an amazing plant nursery there too but sadly it was far too hot to put anything in the car. It reached 38c that afternoon!

We had such a great day. I will share the photos from Rye another time.
I knew the perfect sentiments to make my Hb's anniverary card would be found in this stamp set;

Have I told you lately

I used alcohol inks on glossy card to create a background

 I dripped the ink and also added some on a felt until I was happy.

I swirled some more inks onto another sheet and die cut some hearts.

2 I stamped with  sentiments.

I found the very first photo ever taken of us (In Richmond Park, July 1979) copied it onto photo paper and cut around it.

I also used the block heart in the set to add some more pattern to my background

and stamped the word soulmates into the corner (I love this typeface).

I then put my design together

I am pleased to be able to say that he really loved it

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

The house that stamps built 1/3 anything goes

Crafty friends 1/3 summer

Creative fingers anything goes

Crafty catz 1/3 anything goes
Love to create 1/3 Anything goes

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. You will see lots of gorgeous makes by the DT and customers to inspire your own creativity.

The main Visible Image Facebook page is here; there are regular giveaways...open world wide.

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

And a big heads up that there is a SUMMER SALE on NOW where some stamps are 30% off, just click on this link. But you need to be quick as there is limited stock and when its gone its gone! Ends 31st July.

Thanks for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Birdworld July 2019

We finally have some welcome rain here in the south east and as I can't get out to do some gardening I thought I would share a few photos from my visit to Birdworld, Hampshire on Wednesday with my DD and grandbabies. It was a very hot day but the children coped really well and we had such fun.

You can buy bird feed and the favourite activity for Daisy and Jack is feeding all the different birds around the park.

The grounds are always so beautifully tended.

The petting area is always a hit

 

We loved watching the birds having a cool bath.

Even the money box is a big hit and yes Nanna always manages to find some coins to feed the penguin.

We smiled at the keeper feeding them, they all lined up and came up one at a time!

I have shared this photo before but this pig had the best idea!

And my daughter took these couple of photos which she sent me....yes I do love my grandbabies just a bit!

It was a magical day, special memories made.

I was inspired to make a bird themed card yesterday for Dotty's Teahouse.

The vintage children image is an old one for mine from Nicecrane (sadly no longer trading). The backing paper is ancient from my stash. The sentiment stamp is by Lili of the Valley and the dies are various; Tim Holtz, Marianne, Memory Box, Cheery Lynn and The Works. 

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

Crafty Hazelnut's patterned paper July

Crafty friends 1/3 summer

Creative fingers anything goes

Crafty catz 1/3 anything goes

Dies R us anything goes dies used; Tim Holtz, Marianne, Memory Box, Cheery Lynn and The Works.

Also a quick heads up that I am over on the Country View Crafts shop blog today showcasing the whole of the June Visible Image release. I am sharing lots of my makes. If you would like to see what I have been up to just follow the link here

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the cooler temperatures if you are in this neck of the woods.

See you on Monday,

Bye for now,

Jane x

The heat is on

Wow the temperatures have certainly hotted up here in the south east of England. Yesterday was 36c and today we could break the all time record of 38.5c....phew!

My garden flowers are loving all this heat and sunshine especially my sunflower..how aptly named.

The bold colours in my pots also reflect the heat of the summer

It registered 38c on my sunny patio when I got home yesterday from a visit to Bird World

I think this pig at Birdworld had the best idea of the day!

It is also wedding season; we have family one in August so I decided to make some new stock of wedding cards for Dotty's Teahouse where my cards are sold. Here is one of them. 

I used some glittery die cuts and a stamped sentiment. 

a little close up of the stamped Lili of the Valley sentiment which I accented with gold pen. 

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

Addicted to stamps and More anything goes
Die cut Divas July anything goes
Crafting by designs 1/3 anything goes
Creative fingers 1/3 anything goes

Today is also rather special as it mine and my darling Hb's 38th Wedding anniversary. We will be celebrating and raising a glass of something bubbly.  We will find some shade as we celebrate. I will share the card I made for my Hb on Monday.

If you have this heat where you are keep cool.

Cheers!

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

More blues and greens for Country View

Hello I am back with my 2nd project as inspiration for the current blues and greens challenge over at Country View. You can see all the details via this link here.

I always love making backgrounds so I got out my box of Paperartsy Infusions which Susan sells over at the Country View Website here. I have lots of the colours and I love the walnut in them which give little brown overtures too. 

After my very elaborate mermaid card which you can see here I decided to go quite clean and simple for my 2nd card. I made my background using Slime (don't you just love those names) for the green part of the challenge

and A bit jaded for the blue

A sprinkled  them onto some watercolour card, added a little sprint of water and they did their magic to make my background.

Once dry I stamped a Visible Image sentiment and also a bird stamp and die by STAMPlorations to finish it off. 

Here it is 

with a close up of the Infusions background.

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

Happy little stampers anything goes
Simon says stamp Wednesday make your own background
Crafty Catz 2/3 anything goes
A inky mess 3/3 anything goes

You can enter our July "Blue and green " challenge as many times as you like and combine with other challenges. There is also a £20 crafting voucher up for grabs to the lucky randomly selected winner to spend over on the Country View Crafts on line store. Remember that UK postage and packing is absolutely FREE! All the details for the July challenge can be found here.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Keeping mindful in July

Good morning July is turning out to be a lovely sunny month again this year. Yes we had some welcome rain here in the south at the end of the week but the sun was back the weekend and it's hotting up again. 

My Monday Make showcases the  Mindful Moments stamp set. I decided to be use the summer sunshine and enjoyment of sandy beach holidays for my inspiration.
What is better than the sun shining at the seaside?

We will be back here in September and I can sit and be mindful of the blessings I have in my life.

Our beloved Rhodes.

This is the fab set which has lots of great accesory stamps and sentiments to use both for cards, tags. mixed media and journalling.

  I also used one of the sentiments from the 

Look forward with hope stamp set

I used PaperArtsy infusions to create my background and then stamped the sentiment.

 I added some mustard seed Oxide ink to tone things down a little

 and stamped the sun into the corner. 

 I used the oxide to colour the centre of the sun

I die cut an ornate frame in gold

Next I stamped the main image and some of the flowers onto acetate coloured with alcohol inks and cut them out. 

 I also stamped "let go" onto yellow vellum

Then it was time to put everything together.

Here is my finished card.

with some close ups.

and one final shot.

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

Pixie's snippets playground #357

Happy little stampers anything goes
Simon says stamp Wednesday make your own background
Crafty Catz 1/3 anything goes
The Funkie Junkie boutique blog 1/3 It's heating up
A inky mess 1/3 anything goes

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. You will see lots of gorgeous makes by the DT and customers to inspire your own creativity.

The main Visible Image Facebook page is here; there are regular giveaways...open world wide.

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

And a big heads up that there is a SUMMER SALE on NOW where some stamps are 30% off, just click on this link. But you need to be quick as there is limited stock and when its gone its gone! Ends 31st July.

I would also like to give a little shout out for my latest work which has been published by Making Cards Magazine. I was asked by Visible Image to make some cards using their Random art of kindness stamp set and I also used the atomic flower stencil. I was delighted to see that one of my cards is the feature card on the front cover of the August edition of the magazine. I called this card my "Pot of kindness".

Inside is a double page step by step of how I made 2 cards for my "Garden of Hope". 

This edition is out now I really smiled when I saw it on the shelves of W H Smiths on Friday 😊

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x