Showing posts with label Christmas2020. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas2020. Show all posts

Thursday, 24 December 2020

The day before Christmas, 2020

Christmas 2020

It was the day before Christmas and all through Jane's house

Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.

But Billy was sleeping on his green chair


Oblivious to all and to all unaware

That Christmas this year is so very strange

And in fact 2020 has been re arranged.


A different Christmas, no family table

No crackers to pull or jokes to enable.

But wait what's that noise, can he hear tinkling bells

and perhaps in the distance a few ho ho yells?


Oh Daisy oh Jack please do not fear,

Santa will of course still come this year.

We will wait until spring or whenever it's fine

We'll bring our presents, crackers and wine

And celebrate then with all our good cheer,

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good year. 

I don't really know how else I could write my Christmas eve blog! If I didn't laugh I think I would cry.

We know that these restrictions are very necessary but having not seen our kids for 2 months Christmas day was going to be so very special. A little beacon of light in all this darkness. But needs must, we will get through this and look forward safer times next year.

 Please stay safe all my lovely blogging friends. Celebrate the day in which ever way you can. I shall raise my glass to you from our very quiet Christmas table.

Here is a fun virtual Christmas card to you all from Billy. He hasn't quite got the idea about stockings hanging on mantlepieces not trees but this year I will forgive him anything!

Merry Christmas!
I will see you on the other side!

Hugs,

 Jane (and Billy) x

I would also like to join in with these lovely challenges;

Pixie's Snippets playground #393

Simon says stamp Monday celebrate

Simon says stamp Wednesday sparkle and shine

ABC Christmas Y and Z my favourite things in this card are of course...cats!

Winter Wonderland end of year challenge

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas #521 

Allsorts sparkle and shine

Crimbo Crackers anything goes

Tuesday, 15 December 2020

More sparkle and shine for the December STAMPlorations challenge

 Christmas really is fast approaching now.... just 9 days now.  I am back with my 2nd design team inspiration card for our December theme and photo prompt challenge over at STAMPlorations. 

I now have affiliate links in my STAMP posts which simply means that if you click on any of the links here and buy something from the STAMP store I will receive a small commission at no cost whatsoever to you 😊I also offer a very special extra treat if you use my code, details at the end of this post.

You can enter up to a maximum of 3 entries. There are awesome prizes up for grabs; A $20 prize code for the winner, as well as $7 prize codes awarded to 3 randomly selected entries. Please remember to add our challenge logo to your post if you would like to be in with a chance of winning. All the details and our 2nd inspiration projects are here.

I worked with the following awesome products and have added live links to them in my post. Remember if you also use my unique code STAMPGIRLJANE at the check out you can get an additional 20% off on top of any existing discounts! Shery ships internationally at very low cost too.

You can work with the theme, the photo prompt or both as I always love to do. I used;

Oh my stars  stencil

Christmas in the heart

the smallest die in the Crazy wonky rectangle nesting dies set

 and 

 Christmas reindeer 

with the coordinating Christmas reindeer dies 

This is what I got up to. I made another of my shaving foam reinker backgrounds using the Oh my stars  stencil. This is a really old technique and you can find videos etc by the plenty on the internet. I then added a little distress ink

I stamped the lovely Christmas in the heart and white embossed it onto the smallest panel cut by the 
 Crazy wonky rectangle nesting dies set. I die cut the  Christmas reindeer from inky mop up card using the coordinating Christmas reindeer dies . Then it was time to put everything together using a few festive die cuts from my stash.
Here is my card
Those reindeer are just the cutest aren't they!
I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Chocolate baroque anything goes  
ABC Christmas Y and Z I'm going with Y for my fave things..which are these cute reindeer!
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas #520

I hope I may have inspired you to join our December challenge. Remember all the details can be found here 

Before I close do remember that if you order more than $15 of product from the website (after discounts and before shipping) and quote my unique code STAMPGIRLJANE at checkout not only can you get 20% off your order you can also choose a product for FREE up to the value of $7! Here is a link to the website.
Have a very Merry Stamplorations Christmas,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Wednesday, 9 December 2020

Billy and the trees 2020

 Well hello everyone it's Billy here because yes you guessed it's that time of the year when trees walk inside the house. The last time I wrote for Jane's Journal was way back in the summer when it was so hot. If you missed that post you can catch it here.

Well all that summer sunshine has gone and it has turned really chilly here. I am spending more time on my green chair where I can watch the world go by. So this is what happened this year.

There was a knock on the door and a man appeared wearing a mask...what is it with all these masks this year? I noticed Jane and her Hb seem to wear them when they go out. Are the humans all trying to look like masked crusaders or something? Anyone would think there is some dreaded illness out there? 


So back to the knock on the door, there was lots of rustling and then
yes it was a new Christmas tree who told me his name was Dave. I was pleased to meet him and asked why he was wearing a hair net, were hairdressers still shut? He smiled and winked at me and at that point he was brought into the dining room. What is it with human....I know they have had such a strange year, but are even trees not allowed outside now and must self isolate?


Well at this point I heard a whistle from the garden and Baby choc was calling me and told me that he too was about to be walked indoors so I quickly got out of the way.
I chatted to Baby choc as he was carried in, he has grown lots since last Christmas. Look at all those new green shoots.
Dave was in first and was quickly relieved of his hair net.

First on were those rows of lights that come out of the loft every year. I am always scared when they open the loft hatch as my dreaded carry basket lives up there and you know what that usually means...yes the V-E-T...but phew it stayed there which must mean I am safe for now. 
Dave and I had a great time chatting and I warned him that on Christmas Eve we would be joined by the Big Man in the red suit and that the reindeer he brings will make a heck of a noise on the roof but not to be worried. 
He started looking really grand and very twinkly, just as all good Dave's should be I guess.
Out came all those shiny baubles from years back and on they went. Dave was standing up very tall and proud as they were all placed carefully on him. A couple of times I saw him twitching a bit as he was a little ticklish, especially under his lower branches. 
I know this is Jane's favourite, it dates from 1968 and her Mum bought her and her brother one that Christmas. She has a real "thing" about moons doesn't she.

It took over2 hours to hang all the baubles and then it was Baby Chocs turn. Jane puts lots of her oldies here, from her parents 1950s ones.

 to ones owned by her grandparents. 
So eventually everything was done and my how handsome Dave and Baby Choc both looked.
I am really enjoying chatting to this pair every night. 
We try to put the world to right and we hope that by this time next year the humans will have managed to sort out their virus problems. 2020 has been very tough for them. Mind you I am not complaining as I have never had so much company from Jane and her Hb. Working from home seems pretty good for me, my food is very prompt and on tap all day, all I do is meow and they provide.

Recently Jane bought a new set of cat stamps by a man called Tim Holtz (I wonder if he knows Dave) and cutting out things, I think she calls them dies. She has even named some of the cats...she calls the one below Billy after me. She has shared these cards on Instagram, if you want to see them you can follow her here
But in case you haven't seen them 
this apparently is me...hmmmm
and another pose, yes I do need a candle if it's dark, just to make sure I can see properly of course. 
and this is her old cat Cilla up to mischief. First she tried catching the robin but burnt her  paws on the lantern
so then she borrowed a set of wings. Whatever next, doesn't she know that cats can't fly? As you can guess the robin just laughed at her antics and flew off just as she landed.
Below is a new card Jane has not shared yet. She has also called this stamp Cilla as she feels it is another "pose" of the  stamp above. Now Cilla really has not got the hang of decorating a Christmas tree has she.
Even I know that mittens go on paws, most definitely NOT on trees or tails. Heavens above whatever next....

Jane says she would like to enter this into a couple of challenges, she doesn't often get a chance to do this these days!

Pixie's snippets playground #392
Simon says stamp Wednesday favourite technique I know that blending and then adding some water to oxide backgrounds is a real favoruite of Jane's techniques. She says it's simple and effective. I wonder if my paws would manage it?
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge #519
ABC Christmas x and y my favourite things are obviously these Tim Holtz cat stamps and dies!
Die cut divas anything goes
Cute card Thursday anything goes
Chocolate Baroque anything goes

Well that's it for another year from me. My paws get very tired with all this typing. No doubt I will be back next summer when Jane has her mad summer day when she makes something for Christmas on one of the hottest days of the year. Thanks for reading to the end and wishing you a very happy Tree Christmas. 

After all this hard work I am going to take things easy now.
Purrs....and zzzzzzzz

Billy xx

(Jane says she will be back soon).

Monday, 7 December 2020

A merry Visible Image Christmas

Hello it's time for my fortnightly design team post for Visible Image. Today I am sharing a Christmas card as this is my last DT post for this year. 
Everywhere is looking very festive...I so love this time of the year. We managed to get up to the garden centre to buy our tree and I loved seeing lots of decorations up for sale. 




For my Christmas card I worked with one of the 2020 Christmas stamp sets 
and a sweet sentiment from their 2019 Christmas release.

I do love a "chalkboard" background on Christmas cards and use them a lot. This is how I made it.
I used white pigment ink on black card and repeat stamped all over. 


I stamped the holly once more in black ink onto white card and cut it out. I coloured the berries and then added glossy accents for some shine.
I then stamped the sentiment and cut it out using a heart shaped die. Once the glossy accents had dried I put my card together.
Here it is;
with a close up

and one last shot.

 All the Visible Image links are listed below

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. Do check out the Facebook LIVES and videos where you will be able to see lots more samples and ideas. 

Their Instagram page can be found here

Pinterest here

And once again the shop web site is here; where all their gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased.
Thanks for stopping by today.

A little heads up before I go, there is a fantastic competition over on Visible Image friends Facebook page. There are 5 X £25 vouchers up for grabs for sharing your Christmas 2020 Visible Image cards. The winners will be drawn randomly. Don't miss out and if you are not a member just request to! This is the link  here It is open worldwide.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x