Halloween Eve

Hello today is the eve of Halloween and I have my little Daisy staying with us until Saturday. Until Daisy was born I really had no interest in Halloween at all but since she and now Jack came on the scene I really find this a fun time. We used to dread the doorbell ringing on Halloween, now I wait with excitement ready with my box of sweets for the Trick or Treaters. Daisy will dress up tomorrow night and be my little helper answering the door.

For the last 5 years I have made little treats bags for my big kids and bought  a tiny gift for Daisy and now Jack as they don't really have sweets yet.

I have shared the tags I have made over the last few weeks on my blog so I thought I would show you the finished treats.

My big babies treat bags have these contents.

Daisy and Jack have books.

Our Jack's first word was "tractor" and there are all sorts of tractors and diggers in this wonderful book...he will love this.

I stamped some brown paper (I always do this, so cheap and simple)

using 2 of my Visible Image sets to make my own hand stamped Halloween gift wrap.

and once finished I wrapped the books, adding the tags I had made.

Daisy's

 and Jack's

and here they are with my son's treat bag.

I would like to enter my hand stamped gift wrap into the following challenges;

Moving along with the time 3/3 rich autumn colours
CRAFT 2/3 Halloween/thanksgiving/firework night my paper and tags are for my Halloween treats!
Simon says stamp Wednesday fall/autumn colours

The house that stamps built anything goes
Through the craft room door 1/3 anything goes
Allsorts 3/3 make your own background, no DPs
Shopping our stash 2/3 Halloween
Sweet stampin 2/3 Halloween or black and orange
Addicted to stamps and more 1/3 Halloween photo prompt
Try it on Tuesday 1/3 colours of autumn

Before I close I just wanted to share the last page from this book.

This really is my little Jack down to a tee but he sleeps with his trucks on his bed 😂

Back soon,

Happy Halloween for tomorrow, have fun!

Bye for now,

Jane x

The rustling of leaves

Good morning I am here today with my fortnightly design team post for Visible Image and today I am excited to share my very first make with one of their brand new stamp sets;

Erika's Maple

This is a beautiful set and the moment I saw it I thought of making a wall hanging.  In the last few days I have witnessed the  changing colours of the leaves all around me and these also inspired my make.

On my walks to see my Dino Ducks (Egyptian Geese) I have been amazed to see how every few days the colours turn. If you say "autumn leaves" to someone I am sure most would think of dry brown leaves and indeed I remember them as just being golden and brown as a child. As our autumns are getting later and warmer we are beginning to see the colours which countries like America have always witnessed. Apparently because the leaves stay on the trees longer the sugars are activated by the sun and cause these colour changes. Only when the much colder weather arrives will they fall to the floor.
I took a few photos of my favourites, this is a pin oak.

There is nothing like seeing the leaves against a clear blue sky.

I also loved this autumnal flower display I saw.

So fired with all these colours in my head I started making  some inky backgrounds and got ready to make my leaves. This one was made with distress sprays; candied apple, pine needles, mowed lawn and some splashes of tarnished brass.

I got out my trusty A tale of 2 cities and used some book pages. I added some gold embossing powder to some of the leaves.

I also stamped some onto plain card and added candied apple, gathered twigs and carved pumpkin orange distress ink.

I stamped and die cut the sentiment and added ink.

Finally I splattered on some tarnished brass ink with a brush

For the hanger I die cut some card using my largest circle die then drew round a larger plate and cut that out. I added some ink.

I suspended the sentiment inside using red gold edged thin satin ribbon.

Then I played with the placement of my leaves and put everything together and attached a twine hanger.

Here is my finished wall hanging.

I also photographed it on the back of a white door

with some close ups to show the detail in the leaves

and one last shot

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

Pixie's snippets playground #364
Moving along with the time 2/3 rich autumn colours
Crafty calendar autumn colours/Halloween
CRAFT 1/3 Halloween/thanksgiving/firework night my wallhanging is going to be hung in my studio to remind me of all the wonderful colours of autumn and be thankful for them.
Simon says stamp Wednesday fall/autumn colours

The house that stamps built anything goes
Through the craft room door 1/3 anything goes
Stamping sensations 1/3 Trees/leaves and or autumn
Allsorts 2/3 make your own background, no DPs

Remember that there is still a FREE shipping option on pre release ordering of the new stamps with the code; Autumn but you need to be quick as it ends very soon. Check it out here https://visibleimage.com/product-category/autumn-stamps-release/

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.

This really is a wonderful new release and I am having such fun with them. I will be sharing more of my makes very soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Autumn in Carshalton

Until I wrote that blog title I had no idea anything really rhymed with autumn and now I know that where I live is the way to go!

Everywhere is looking and feeling very autumnal in Carshalton. The clocks go back tonight, the nights are drawing in and Halloween arrives on Thursday. It is also the Halloween special on Strictly come dancing tonight, one of my favourite shows of the year. 

Dotty's is also looking very autumnal with a fun Halloween display and I snapped this photo last week. She is even serving Halloween Afternoon teas which I hilarious and incredibly popular.

Even my cards have turned autumnal.

One card which proved very popular was this Halloween card which I made. It sold in a few hours. 

It was made using stamps by Visible Image, I love this Witch from their Oz collection.

Here is a closer image

The background is distress oxide sprays and the dies are by MB and Cheery Lynn. 

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

Happy little stampers anything goes with dies

The house that stamps built anything goes

Die cuttin divas 1/3 fabulous fall
Through the craft room door 1/3 anything goes
Shopping our stash 1/3 Halloween
Simon says stamp Monday spooky
Creative artiste 1/3 anything goes
Moving along with the times 1/3 rich autumn colours
Sweet stampin 1/3 Halloween or black and orange
Allsorts 1/3 make your own background (no DPs)

Enjoy a wonderful weekend and you know where you will find me this evening...glued to the screen to see the amazing Halloween Strictly spectacular...it will be am-az-ing!!

Thanks for stopping by and for all your comments and support that you give me here.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

It's party time at STAMPlorations

The wonderful STAMPlorations turned 6 in the summer and on Monday the birthday celebrations started.

There are lots of celebratory posts and today I am part of the team who are showcasing  the awesome new
Clear stickers. 
 Here is the link to today's post..
Do also check out the previous days' post over at the website.

There are some really amazing prizes on offer and just by leaving a comment here you will be entered into the draw to be in with a chance to win a $10 gift certificate. 3 lucky commentators will be chosen by random draw from all the comments left on the birthday hop post and those designers taking place.

Someone will also win their $40 wish list too...check it out here

Last but not least there is also a linky party where someone will win a $50 gift code and 3 lucky entrants $15 gift codes. You can link up any birthday or celebration project. This is the link Please do check out the rules over there as you need to include the graphic and it closes on 5th November.

For my first card I used the stickers together with the
Crazy double running stitch die set

the shaker balloons ~3 die

and the cupcake stamp from the birthday bash stamp set

and a sentiment from the birthday word art stickers

The stickers are crystal clear and so easy to use. Simply peel and stick and they work on all paper types and lots of other surfaces too. The set I worked with are called Birthday word art. I added some alcohol inks to Yupo and die cut a focal

Then very easily stuck down the clear sticker

I also cut out some extra frames with the die

and I die cut the balloons using acetate I had coloured with alcohol inks.

Here is my completed birthday card.

For my second card I used the crazy double running stitch rectangle die again and a sentiment from 

Party time

I made a background using alcohol inks and glossy card.

You will also spot that I finished off my card with some of the gorgeous new Shaker blends

flat sequins. 

These are so yummy. They are only $4 a bag and there are lots of colours. My ones here are called golden autumn. 

Here is my 2nd birthday card. 

These brilliant stickers are so useful and stick over lots of surfaces.

This is a link to today's post  again to check out all the details. Do remember to leave a comment here and don't miss out on any of the awesome prizes. All entries close on 5th November. Shery is also throwing in a few surprises too so you need to be in it to win it!!

Remember if you would like to buy these stamps or any products on the website just enter my code STAMPGIRLJANE at the checkout to get 20% off on top of any current discount being offered.This is a direct link to the web site

I would also like to add my thanks and appreciation of Shery and her husband David, owners of STAMPlorations, Happy 6th birthday and thanks for having me as a part of the team for the last 3 years. I love it!

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

STAMPlorations things with wings special

Hello and welcome to a new STAMPlorations special of which I will be a part of for the coming year. This particular event is called "Things with wings".

This feature will be every 2 months on the 3rd Monday of the month and today is its first appearance. All the details are here. I have linked all the products I have used to the website which you can find here

For the October special I decided to make one project using some autumnal images and as most people are now getting into full swing Christmas card making I thought the other project should be Christmas related.
Do grab yourself a cuppa, pull up and seat and join me in my creative process.

The products I worked with for my autumnal card were;
My favourite Trendy birds 2 stamp set

 the gorgeous 

autumn falling stencil 

 a sentiment from the brilliant wanderlust expressions 1

and the lovely perched birds from the  For the birds die set

I sprayed a little faded jeans distress ink onto watercolour paper and added more distress inks through the stencil, overlapping as I went. 

I added a little more green ink and then stamped some of the birds and 2 of the sentiments.

I stamped the wanderlust sentiment separately and die cut it into a square. I also die cut the perched birds.

I then put my design together. Here is my finished card

with a close up

For my Christmas card I used;

Holly background stencil

with the delightful Christmas angel die.

The winter stitched landscape die (which is one of my favourite dies)

and a couple of sentiments from the lovely Homespun Christmas stamp set

Here is my process;

I used distress sprays on card stock

I then applied green glitter paste through the stencil with a palette knife.

I die cut the angel using glitter card and cut down the background using the stitched winter landscape die

I stamped and white embossed the sentiment and put my design together.

You may also notice the gorgeous flat sequins I have used

These are Shery's Shaker blends made for Shaker cards but I love them just as flat sequins stuck onto my cards.

There are lots of colours and I used the sparkly green and mocha swirl mixes. Do check them out they are only $4 a bag too!

As I had a piece of holly background left I made a 2nd version of my card, this time using mirror silver card for the angel. 

Funnily enough I think I prefer this version...what do you think?

If you leave a comment here and/on the store blog you could also be the lucky randomly chosen winner of a $15 gift code to spend on the website. One winner will be chosen from all the comments left on the special October Things with wings posts.

Thanks so much for staying til the end of my post. I will be back with my 2nd Things with wings installment on December 16th. 

Remember if you would like to buy any of the products I have used from the website just enter my code STAMPGIRLJANE at the checkout to get 20% off on top of any current discount being offered.This is a direct link to the web site

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x