Still snowing on my blog in August

Wow what amazing weather we are enjoying again and it might be the hottest August bank holiday on record today. Temperatures are predicted to reach 32c. I hope you have enjoyed a great bank holiday weekend if you are in the UK and that today finishes it off perfectly. We spent Saturday on the beach at the south coast with our daughter and family. It was splendid.
We took our grandbabies to the beach for a paddle and shell collecting so that Mum and Dad could do some clearing ready for their building works.
There is nothing quite like grandparent time...

Well my Monday make could not be a greater contrast to the current weather as I am still sharing some samples using the new Visible Image Christmas stamps.

Today I am showcasing 2 sets.

Snowman Jack 

and 

Christmas backgrounds

This is what I got up to.
 I made a background on watercolour paper using Brushos and added some yellow Pixie powder for some sparkle.

Once dry I stampedt and red embossed the words stamp.

I also made a background using Sleigh blue Infusions.

I then cut the backgrounds to size and cut out an oval from the top layer using an old Marianne die.

Next I stamped snowman Jack and gave him a little colour with watercolour pens. I stamped his hat and scarf on paper for paper piecing.

Here he is

such a handsome chap!

I also stamped and cut out some of the sentiments from his set.

Here is my finished card

and a couple of close ups

and one final shot

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

Lil patch of crafting friends 3/3 anything goes
Rudolph's days  anything goes 1/1
Crafty hazelnut's Christmas challenge  anything goes
Christmas at sweet stampin 2/2  anything goes/snowpeople
Christmas cards all year round 1/3 add a tree

All the new release are available here now.

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.

 Thanks for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

More texture in August

Hello I am back with my 2nd project as inspiration for the current "texture" challenge over at Country View. You can see all the details via this link. For this make I tried to create my texture using some "alternative" texture methods including dry embossing.

First I made 2 alcohol ink backgrounds on glossy card stock. Susan has lots of colours of the inks I use for sale on the website here

I used the first for the background and the 2nd for die cutting some stitched hearts.

I die cut a world die (an old Tim Holtz). The card had been coloured with Brushos. 

I also got out my pack of Paper Dolls and chose an image. I embossed some blue card with an old bubbles folder.

I stamped one of the sentiments for the Visible Image "Have I told you" sentiment set which Susan has on the website here

There are lots of lovely sentiments in this set and I chose the one below.

I added more texture to the bubbles by rubbing some gilding wax onto the raised areas. 

Then it was time to put together my card design.

here is is. I added some large glitter dome gems for extra texture too.

with a couple of close ups to see the textured glitter balls.

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

Pixie's snippets playground #359
Cute card Thursday 3/3 add a quote

A bit more time to craft 3/3 anything goes

Creative fingers 3/3 anything goes
Love to craft 3/3 anything goes

Lil patch of crafting friends 2/3 anything goes

I hope I might have inspired you to take up our texture challenge for August and join us.

You can enter our 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 August challenge can be found here.

 Thanks for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Town and country Christmas Eve

Good morning, it's time for my Monday Visible Image design team make and I am sharing the 2nd of my Christmas samples using the awesome new Christmas stamps which were released on Saturday. They have been so popular and I have so enjoyed making my samples. 

Today's makes (yes I made 2 in the end) uses 2 wonderful sets

Christmas Eve

and 

sentimental Christmas

I wanted to showcase both the wonderful houses silhouette and the pine trees stamps.  I decided that making 2 cards would do this best.

So first up is how I made my "town" card. I stamped with black Versafine and clear embossed the sleigh and the search the skies sentiment from the 2nd set. I stamped the moon around Santa using Versafine Clair morning mist ( a grey ink). I then sprinkled on some "In the Navy" PaperArtsy Infusions and added some water until I was happy with the background. I then dried it off.

I repeat stamped the houses across the bottom of the background in Versafine Clair Morning mist first, then Paradise then Nocturne overlapping each layer. 

I added the little stars using gold ink. I also added some Frantage.

 This is my finished Town Christmas eve card.

with a close up showing the Frantage.

For the country version I used the same techniques but on a very different background made using the below ingredients. 

I embossed the stars in white glitter and the trees I repeat stamped using the same Versafine Clair colours as my town card. I used the same sentiment as it goes so well with Santa in his sleigh.

I added the large star in gold to this card which is in the Sentimental Christmas set.

Here it is.

I really love these 2 stamp sets.  There are lots of other sentiments in the Sentimental Christmas set which are beautiful and useful too. I have made a set of 4 cards using them which I will share at some point.

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

Cute card Thursday 2/3 add a quote

Through the craft room door 2/2 anything goes

A bit more time to craft 2/3 anything goes

Creative fingers 2/3 anything goes
Love to craft 2/3 anything goes

Lil patch of crafting friends 1/3 anything goes

ABC Christmas 2/3 p, q, r my R is for reindeer

Christmas at sweet stampin 1/3 anything goes

Crafty hazelnuts Christmas challenge anything goes

Christmas cards all year round add a tree

All the new release are available here now.

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.

 Thanks for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Fruit of my labours

I was a little late planting my tomatoes this year but I am delighted my first fruit have ripened. I grow them outside on my sunny patio and it is such a joy to see this

 and yes they are as sweet as they look.

I grow the variety Gardeners' Delight and eat them straight off the vine like apples...such a tasty snack, no pesticides and no air miles at all.

It has been such a dull day today that I thought I would share some other nice bright garden photos.

My sunflower has 5 large heads

 and the begonia in my pots and baskets still look beautiful.

 Fuchsia are so pretty closed

or open

My card today is the latest for Dotty's Teahouse. I thought I would make something with some blue sky and sunshine, as we are so lacking it today!

I never get bored using the flower from Creative Chaos by Visible Image. It is my favourite floral stamp.

The background is alcohol inks on glossy card and I have added Crackle Accents to the flower for some extra dimension.

The tiny butterflies are alcohol inks on acetate.

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

Creative Artiste 3/3 anything goes

Cute card Thursday 1/3 add a quote

Through the craft room door 1/2 anything goes

A bit more time to craft 1/3 anything goes

Craft stamper take it make it 3/3 anything goes

Creative fingers 1/3 anything goes
Love to craft 1/3 anything goes

I am really hoping the sunshine return soon but in the meantime I shall admire the beauty of my flowers and enjoy eating the fruits of my labours. 

Have a lovely weekend whatever you are up to and if you are in the UK, remember that brolly.

Back on Monday when it will be Christmas Eve here at Jane's Journal...ho ho ho!

Bye for now,

Jane x

Christmas in August

Good morning, yes I know that there are still 135 day until

but at Visible Image HQ the 2019 Christmas stamps are being released on 17th August and today I am sharing my first DT make with them. 

I have made several samples and today's uses stamps mainly from the Christmas chaos set.

 I love the whole concept of a set of mixed media Christmas stamps, very unusual. I decided that for my first make with this set I would make a tag with slightly summery colours. As I was brainstorming my design I  had a little light box idea that I could make a Christmas Eve and Christmas day tag so I ended up using the Santa and sleigh from my favourite set (yes I know I'm not supposed to say that) too. This one is called Christmas Eve

So this is what I got up to.

I sprayed pine needles, ground espresso and vintage photo distress inks onto watercolour card and add some pewter spray too for a touch of silver sparkle. I die cut some tags (I will use the spare for something else). 

I die cut a star out of one and used it on the 2nd. 

The grungy number line makes fab edging and I stamped this in red archival ink.

I'm afraid there aren't many process photos as I have been so busy making I didn't have time to  photograph lots.

I also stamped the parcels from the
Santa Claus set

onto scraps of Christmas backing papers. 

I then began to put my tags together, I used some corrugated card too for adding some dimension to the large tree.

So here they are;

Christmas Eve on the left has Santa out delivering his parcels.

 You can see his footprints through the forest too.

and on Christmas morning the tree is holding some surprises underneath

Excited children will be waking up, rushing to the tree and will be shouting, "He's been!"..(well at least I will!😉)

Here is one last shot.

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

The Artistic stamper 2/3 anything goes

Crafters Castle 3/3 anything goes
Crafty Calendar anything goes
Craft stamper Take it make it 2/3 anything goes
Creative artiste 2/3 anything goes

ABC Christmas P, Q, R mine is R for reindeer.

Christmas cards all year round Add a tree

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.

The 2019 Visible Image Christmas stamp release is currently being show on social media. The stamps are on pre release now and can be ordered on the web site here. And a little heads up is that if you order now you can get FREE WORLDWIDE shipping using the coupon code christmas.

 Thanks for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x