Crackling campfire in my studio

Autumn arrived on Tuesday and since then the temperatures dipped and we have had some very welcome rain. I promised I would share some more photos of our Staycation trips we enjoyed a few weeks back. This also fits in well with showing the inspiration for my set of tags I made with the awesome new distress ink colour, crackling campfire. I shared the first one on Sunday (click) here if you missed it.

As well as Hever castle we enjoyed another visit to Wisley and to Polesden Lacey, a National Trust property in Surrey. At Wisley there is also a sculpture exhibition of the 4 seasons, by Philip Hass, an American film maker and sculptor. These are huge pieces and such fun.

The greenhouses have reopened and are looking splendid. It's so good to see the orchids and tropical plants again.

At Polesden Lacey the downstairs of the house is open as well as the glorious gardens. A house has stood on this spot since 1336. Over the years it was added to and in 1906 it was extensively remodeled by the heiress Margaret Greville, who entertained society and royalty there at weekends. Her hospitality was legendary and the Queen Mother spent her honeymoon here in 1923.

It's such fun peeping through the door and looking back to life in the 1920s. Apparently this house was going to be left to the Queen Mother but as history took another turn with the abdication she could not accept it and it was left to the nation instead. 

So back to my makes. I challenged myself to use all the forms of the gorgeous new Crackling campfire distress colour on each tag. This is the richest colour you can imagine and really surpassed my expectionations. Tim Holtz really is the master of all things inky. 

Some of you may have seen the following as I have shared them on Instagram. You can see them (click) here as well as my latest makes 

Below are the 2 I have not yet shared here on my blog. First up is my owl in the tree. I used the old wrinkle free technique to make the background with some text stamping. I added some glaze to the tree and I thought the tiny talk stickers were perfect! The owl is stamped in oxide. All the stamps and stencils I have used are by Tim. 

Finally here is my vase of autumn flowers. I stamped in paint on a spray background for this one. The dies are again all Tim's. There is also some glaze on the 3D die which I cut up and added to the vases. 

And here are my 3 tags together.

I also decided to update my letter board in my studio from Speckled egg to Crackling campfire and display my newest tags. 

and yes there in another awesome pin badge too.

So now as I sit in my studio making I can remember all the colours of late summer and early autumn. I can imagine a crackling campfire blazing too!

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

The house that stamps built 1/3 anything goes

Shopping our stash make a mess, inks, sprays etc

Through the craftroom door 1/3 anything goes

Crafty sentiments 1/3 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave here. 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x