Wednesday 27 November 2019

Raindrops at Wisley

I visited Wisley RHS gardens again recently with my dear blogging friend Brenda. We try to meet up every few months and we both love to see the changing seasons at this wonderful Surrey gem.
We are usually lucky with the weather but this time it was pretty drizzly however the word pretty really does fit what Mother Nature showed us that day.

Just look at the beauty of these raindrops suspended from the shrubs and plants.



 The loss of leaves also exposed the gorgeous lichens on the branches of the trees and shrubs. 
 and revealed wonderful twisted shapes.
I took lots of photos and I will share some more next week. 

So my card today is a very autumnal one made for Dotty's. 
 I used a Lili of the Valley simply print digi and stamped the sentiments adding some autumnal die cuts which I cut from some inky leftovers. 

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

Try it on Tuesday 1/3 Inspired by a song or Christmas carol mine just has to be Singing in the rain!
Crafty cardmakers 1/3 no patterned paper
Pixie's snippets playground #366
Cutie pie challenge add an animal
Lil patch of crafty friends 1/3 anything goes
A bit more time top craft 1/3 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the week,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x




Monday 25 November 2019

A hoot for Christmas

In exactly 1 month today it will be Christmas day! I spotted this awesome hamper of Christmas china on my travels. Mmmm Christmas dinner......
2 weeks have flown by and it is time for my fortnightly design team post for Visible Image.
 I know I am not supposed to have a favourite from the new release but I really do love the 

Today I wanted to show how awesome he looks on a Christmas card. I also teamed him up with some Christmas leaves using Erika's Maple
  and a sentiment from Go to Christmas words (sold out for this year on the Visible Image website but still available from lots of stockists). 
This is what I got up to;
I sprayed some pewter distress ink and and pumice stone distress oxide sprays onto black card and die cut some trees using white glitter card.
 I stamped the owl, coloured him in using Zig watercolour pens and cut him out. I added Glossy accents to his eyes and beak (which you can see in the final photos). I stamped and embossed some of the medium size leaves from Erika's maple onto inky mop up card from my stash and cut them out.
 I die cut silver and white stars and stamped Merry Christmas and cut it out. 
I then added these elements to the background. 
To finish off my card I added my owl, using sticky foam pads under the tips of his wings to give him some extra dimension.
Here he is. 
with some close ups


and one last shot
I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge anything goes
Penny Black and more 3/3 Christmas
Addicted to stamps 2/3 anything goes
Try it on Tuesday 2/3 Cold, cold, cold
Unicorn challenge 2/3 Christmas/winter
Christmas at sweet stampin 1/3 trees
Simon says stamp Wednesday Starry starry night
Dragonfly dreams Christmas/winter
The Funkie Junkie boutique blog Lovely leaves
Addicted to stamps and more 1/3 Holiday

All the Visible Image links can be found here;

Visible Image group page on FacebookOur 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.

REMEMBER their Black Friday sale is ON NOW with up to 70% off stamps and stencils. Just click the link here

This really is a wonderful new release (there are even savings on this release in the sale) and I know a lot of people are also hoping they have been on Santa's nice list this year 😉

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Friday 22 November 2019

Chillier autumn days

Brrr it was so much colder this week. We had our first really frosty nights and out came my long winter coat.
I still go up to feed my dino ducks (Egyptian geese) a few times a week and they always seem pleased to see me. Several feed from my hand now and I find a group (gaggle?) of between 7 to 17 birds there at any one time.
This crow got in on the act on Monday and often the Canada geese try to muscle in.
But I am very careful to ensure my special ones all get something to eat
You will notice this one above is ringed and I call her Ringo. I'm pretty sure the smaller ones are all females, they also shout less. There is also a larger male who is also ringed and I call him George..ha ha yes I have the Beatles in mind.

My card today is an autumnal one for sale at Dotty's Teahouse, Carshalton, Surrey.
I used an autumnal backing paper from my stash and some die cut inky leaves and a cup and saucer. There is nothing like sharing a cuppa with a friend is there? 
 The stamped quote is one of my favourite but long discontinued Lili of the Valley quote stamps.
I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

Creative moments 1/3 anything goes
Crafty catz 1/3 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by. 
Have a lovely weekend and keep warm.

Back on Monday,

Bye for  now,

Jane x

Monday 18 November 2019

Guest designing for Ink Art Designs

Good morning or evening if you are in Australia. The reason I am saying that is today I am guest designing for the lovely Dot who owns the Australian craft business "Ink Art Designs" and she will be 11 hours ahead of me here in the UK.
Ink Art Designs stocks lots of international brands of stamps, including some of my favourites. She recently added some great mixed media inks and products too and is constantly increasing her stock.  She used to be on the Visible Image design team with me which is how I got to know her. Do check her out via the link above.

My favourite brand of stamps Dot stocks is of course Visible Image.  I am using 2 of their new sets called Night Owl and Erika's Maple to make my GD card, which Dot will have in stock very soon. I checked out first that Australia has owls and yes not only do they have owls but maple trees too! If you have not visited my blog before you will not know that I am totally influenced in my crafting by the seasons and Mother Nature. I have a local flock of Dino Ducks (they are called Egyptian Geese really but to me they are like friendly dinosaurs). On one of my walks last week I took these photos and used them for my inspiration for my card.
 2 of the flock

 Lots of leaves are on the ground now that the weather has turned very autumnal.


So these are the 2 stamp sets I used.
Night Owl (these 2 sets are winging their way to Australia as we speak)

and Erika's Maple

This is what I got up to.
First I made an inky background using Infusions
and I added silver ink spray to a scrap of black card to create a night sky.
I die cut a tree aperture and placed the black night sky behind
Next I stamped, coloured with watercolours and fussy cut out the owl
 and also stamped and embossed some of the small leaf from Erika's Maple.
I also stamped a few leaves around the card background
and stamped the sentiment and distressed the edges
Then it was time to put my design together. Here is the finished card;


and one last shot;

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

Unicorn 1/3 winter/Christmas
Dragonfly Dreams 2/3 winter/christmas
Sweet stampin 1/3 all things bright and beautiful
Crafter's Castle 1/3 anything goes
More mixed media 1/3 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by today. If you are a new Australian visitor, a very warm welcome and I hope you enjoyed your visit. This is a direct link to the Visible Image stamps Dot stock "Ink Art Designs" you will be spoilt for choice. I will update the links to Night Owl and Erika's Maple as soon as they have flown into Australia.  

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x


Friday 15 November 2019

Still going round in circles with STAMPlorations

Hello it's time for me to share some more inspiration for our current November STAMPlorations Theme and photo prompt challenge.
For our November challenge this is our theme and photo prompt.
You can go with the circles theme or use the images in the photo prompt or even both, just let us know which you are using if it is not obvious in your post. 
There are not many rules; You must show some stamping on your project.
 You don't have to use STAMPlorations stamps to enter but of course we love it if you do! You can link up to 6 times with new blog posts and you need to include the challenge graphic above in your post. You can go with the theme, the sketch or both, the choice is yours.

I always like to design using the prompt and the theme so this is what I got up to.
The products used are;
Bubbles stencil
Blossom like a butterfly
Make a wish
and a sentiment from
Party time

I  made a background using blue brushos. I used the circle stencil randomly over the card to add some crackle paste. When dry I added more circles using lucky clover distress ink
I stamped then cut out the butterfly from inky mop up card.
 The sentiment was stamped, distressed and then matted onto card.
I then put my design together.
Here is my finished card.
With a couple of close ups;


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

Addicted to stamps and more make your mark
Through the craft room door 2/2 anything goes
Crafty sentiments 2/3 anything goes
Crafty catz 1/3 anything goes/opt birthday
Creative artiste 1/3 anything mixed media
Creative fingers 1/3 anything goes
A bit more time to craft 1/3 anything goes

It would be great to see you joining in with the fun and perhaps you might even be one of the winners.  You can go with the theme, the sketch or both, the choice is yours. There are some fab prizes to be won; $15 gift certificate to the winner, chosen by a DT member and $10 for the runner up. There are also $5 gift certificates given to each of 3 randomly drawn players, this is the link to the challenge with all the info you need. Also remember that if you would like to buy any STAMP products you can always use my code STAMPGIRLJANE at the check out and save an EXTRA 20% of top of any current deals.

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x