Still warm enough for swimming in the sea

Good morning it is time for my 2nd DT project for Country View Challenges for our current "Under the sea" challenge. I thought it would also be a good opportunity to share the first of my photos from our recent week in Rhodes where where we spend days on the beach in glorious sunshine.

Our balcony looked out the sea and we had just a minute's stroll down the steps to the sandy beach.

and the crystal clear sea.

I love the play of the light during the day, this is late afternoon

 and even at night it is just as beautiful as the sun sets.

I love swimming in the sea and walking the beach, always on the look out for mermaid of course! Now sadly I didn't spot any but I thought it would be a great idea to try to recreate what that might look like with by making a mermaid card.

I used my I used my Visible Image Mythical mermaid stamp set. 

First I added some distress inks, Fossilized amber, Lucky clover, Tea dye and Mermaid lagoon ( of course!) to watercolour paper. 

Then I used the waves stamp in the set and randomly stamped it across my card, just like the waves on the beach.

 I then stamped using the bubbles stamp. 

I stamped, coloured and cut out my mermaid and 3 of her dolphin friends (you get all these in this gorgeous  stamp set). 

I also stamped some of the shells and the star fish too. The little crab in the set I stamped directly, isn't he cute!

 I also used some die cuts including Tim Holtz' old ornate frame and put my card together.

A few close up photos. You can see I added glossy accents to some of the bubbles.

There is also a really wonderful sentiment in the set....

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

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

Pixie's snippets playground #361
A gem of a challenge 2/2 anything goes
Allsorts 2/3 anything goes +/- a twist
Take it make it craft stamper 2/3 anything goes
Addicted to stamps 2/3 for a lady/girl
Through the craft room door 1/3 anything goes
Papercraft challenges 1/3 no designer paper

I hope I might have inspired you to take up our Under the sea challenge for September and join us. There are still 10 days left.

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 September challenge can be found here.

The weather here is still glorious and we spent an awesome day on the beach on Sunday at the south coast with our babies. It looks like it is getting even hotter over the next few days..bliss.

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Beach blues and greens

It's time for my 2nd inspiration card for our "Blues and Greens" challenge this month over at Country View Craft. For my first card  here I made a card for my Dad and today I am sharing the female one I made. At this time of the year I still think of the seaside blues and greens from happy family holidays...

  I decided to use a great Rubber Dance beach stamp for my focal and make a sealife frame.

I simply stamped and embossed it on an inky background.
I used my Tim ornate frame and added lots of textures and colour. I over heated the acryllic inks on purpose to get them to blister I added some Treasure Gold to give some extra interest.

 I really liked this effect.

I used blue and green distress inks to create my base card and added some Oxide stenciling. I used some of the stamps from the Dare to swim Visible Image stamp set to create an under the waves scene.

I die cut some sea themed elements and put on my creative hat.

Here is my finished blues and greens card.

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

Dies R us anything goes
Happy little stampers 2/3  anything goes with dies
Simon Says work it Wednesday 1/3 Favourite stamps
Addicted to stamps and more 1/3 anything goes
Frilly and Funkie 2/3 on the cutting edge
Deep Ocean 1/3 fave colour combo
Simon says stamp Wednesday add a sentiment
That's Crafty 2/3 only cards
Penny Black and More 2/3 all creatures great and small
Rubber Dance embossing as well as the stamped and embossed image I also added Frantage embossing powder to the frame.

You still have just over a week to enter our "blues and greens" August challenge over at Country View....you could be the lucky winner of a £20 shop voucher if you join the fun. Here is the link

Thanks for stopping by today.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

The shell seeker

This year on Rhodes we had a room on the other side of the block but still had a wonderful view out to sea. We were greeted by this gorgeous view as we opened the curtains each morning. Sometimes we caught sight of the local fisherman taking his boat out and for a couple of days this boat was moored there. The beach is just a stones throw away.

I love the deep shades of blue at sunrise. We love to wander down to the beach especially early morning when everyone else is still asleep.

Some mornings the waves are rolling in and on other mornings or later in the day the sea is as still as a mill pond. We love to wiggle our toes and leave footsteps in the sand

We always spent a few days of our holiday on the beach. I can never sit still for long so I go seeking shells or pieces of sea glass. There are not many to be found here but when I do find one it is like finding a little piece of treasure.

Our beach days were spent gently relaxing and reading between some walks .  We tend to eat earlier in the evening and after a shower and dressing in our fresh cool clothes we would stroll to our  favourite restaurant which over looks the same beach. It is wonderful to watch the sun go down as we sip our cool pre meal drinks. The shadows lengthen and the sun starts its final descent.

There is nothing like the inner peace that the sounds of the sea and the colours in the sky at sunrise and sunset can induce.

When I came home I decided to make a Moment to put in my journal. I embossed a sheet of water colour paper with my shell folder and sprayed some Dylusions inks to make a watery background. I wanted this to be in the centre of my Moment.

I wanted to join the Craft Stamper inking on tissue paper challenge so I used my new Visible Image sentiment, which I recently won, and carefully applied it to the centre of the shell with Matt Medium. I love the way it merges with the embossing like a wave on the sea.  I added my embossed panel to a piece of stamping card. 

I also added some grunge paste though a stencil to represent the sea spray and lots of die cut shells and a crab which I brushed with gesso to cover the original card colours.

I also stamped some more sea sentiments (by Crafty Individuals)  onto tissue and added these to my journal piece. I also printed  myself some personal chit chat words on Kraft card.

It was then time to put on my creative hat and put together my ideas. Here are some close ups;

 I made the sky with blended distress inks. My glowing sun was sprayed with and then highlighted with Rusty Hinge DI. I love the shine from this. The "rays" are archival ink applied though a Tim Holtz stencil. I wanted the deep coloured "rays" to represent the sun setting and the lengthening shadows it creates.

I used yellow acrylic paints to daub the shells and crab and blue acrylic paint to the edge of the sea. I spritzed some water to allow the colours to blend together in a watery swirl, just like the sea on Rhodes. I distressed the edges of my Moment and applied Vintage Photo DI.

and here is my finished piece..............

I have tried to capture all the times of the day at the beach in my Moment, together with some of the changing colours.

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

Visible Image Make it sparkle it is difficult to see but in real life my sun, the waves and the coloured grunge paste have a gorgeous sparkle to them
Craft Stamper Take it Make it Challenge stamping on tissue paper edit;oops missed the deadline by 12 hours!
Pan Pastels embossing
A little bit crafty Distress it
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday anything goes

We did have a wonderful week away and I love my new Visible Image stamp.....it is so apt. We all need to remember that life is for now and "These are the Moments". My Moment is now in Jane's Journal and when I look at it it makes me breath and inhale slowly and remember those special times; shell seeking, being warmed by the sun's rays, hearing the waves of the blue Aegean Sea  rolling in and watching the sun set with my darling Hb....just bliss.

I will be back with some more photos from our late summer break in the coming weeks. Here in the South we are still enjoying balmy early autumn afternoons although there is a nip in the air in the mornings and certainly the darkness is encroaching into the evenings earlier and earlier. I have a day at home today and I am going to enjoy some Studio time with Billy and I have started to get out my autumn palette of colours. I do love the light of summer but I also welcome the changing seasons and autumn is a magical time.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

From summer to autumn in a day

Hello everyone, I'm back from a fantastic week away on the sunny island of Rhodes where the late summer sun is still blazing away. This was the view we woke up to every morning. We could sip our morning cup of tea on our balcony and gaze out to the blue Aegean sea.

We left temperatures there in the 30s to find the high of today at home is going to be..gulp..16c. At least at the moment the sun has broken through and I am able to get some of my mountains of washing dried outside. Seriously though it is great to be back, there is no place like home and I am looking forward to autumn, it is such a pretty season, the colours are glorious.

We spent alternate days on the beach and sightseeing. I am such a fidget that I could never spend a whole week lying on the beach. I do love the beach though and I have a fascination for watching the waves rolling in. Our beach were we stay has a narrow part where we like to lie on our sun loungers and the waves almost tickle your toes.

On our beach days I regularly took a stroll, there are not really shells to find but there is always some form of wildlife to spot

Hello Mr Crab

There are so many fishes to see; all sizes and shapes. The funniest are the plaice which lie flat on the sea floor and watch you. They shuffle further into the sand if they think you have spotted them. The sea is so clear and warm, it is like swimming in an aquarium. I like to snorkel to see the bigger fish further out and I found my Hb had taken a couple of snaps.

After a lazy day on the beach it was time to shower and head out to our favourite cliff top restaurant. There we could watch the sun go down, whilst enjoying a cool glass of Mythos.

Just bliss. I will try to sort through the many photos I have taken and I will be back soon with a return visit to the wonderful butterfly valley as well as a visit to Rhodes town and ancient Kamiros.

Today's card challenge is inspired by all the blue skies, sea and sunshine we enjoyed. It is a tag and wrapping paper set I made for my Hb.

 Here is the tag in close up

For the tag I used TH Distress inks to create the background and then added a Marianne die cut butterfly. The tags are LOTV and the other leaf die cuts are also Marianne. I added pastel chalk to the Memory box cloud.
For the paper I used TH distress inks for the Whimsy Vintage seed packets stamp set.

The sentiment on the paper says it all

I would like to enter my tag and/or paper into the following challenges;

Simon says Stamp celebrate there is also a hop over there. The products that I have used here which are available in there shop are Tim Holtz distress inks ( I have used vintage photo for the sentiment above and several colours in my tag, the Marshmallow cloud die by Memory Box is also available over there.
Artistic Inspiration anything goes
Divas by Design anything goes
Whimsy Stamps Challenge masculine
Make it Monday Linky party #158
Charizma Card challenges favourite colour combo this blue and green is one of my all time faves and I use it a lot!
A Creative Romance dies/punches
Oldie but a Goodie dies/punches my butterfly and leaf dies are all more than 6 months old
Crafty Cardmakers Winged things
Sparkle Monthly Challenge Fairies and/or butterflies

I hope everyone is well and keeping busy? Time is flying by as my darling grandbaby is due in now less than 50 days, not long now. And for those of you who, like me, count down the days; it's only 97 days til Christmas....LOLOLOL!

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x