Daffodils for St David's day and Mother's day

 Hello all and welcome to my fortnightly blogged design team make for Visible Image. Their new February release has really taken the crafting world by storm and shhhh there is more to come later in March 😀

Mother's day in the UK is on 19th March and as today is St David's day I thought it would work perfectly to share a step by step of my Mother's day sample I made using the gorgeous Golden daffodils set 

with an aperture made using the Broken mesh layering die. 

Right from the first day I designed some samples using the gorgeous layering dies I discovered that the apertures left when die cutting the shape are as useful as the die cuts themselves. I have shared lots of makes over the last year using all 3 of them. 

This is what I got up to;

 I used the Broken mesh die to cut an aperture in a piece of 4 3/4 by 6 3/4" turquoise card.

I stamped the sentiment at the bottom in black and clear heat embossed.

I found a piece of left over Brushos card from my stash

and stamped the daffodils .

I lined this up behind the aperture and cut to size.

I repeat stamped just the daffodil heads and the single daffodil in the set onto some yellow inky mop up card and cut them out, adding some gold pen detailing and glossy accents. You can see this in the final photos. 

I stuck the heads over the stamped ones and added 3 single daffodils, 1 at the top and 2 at the bottom of the card. I added some gold sequins as a finishing touch.

I then adhered the finished panel to a 5X7" white card blank. 

Here is my finished card

with a couple of close ups

and 1 final shot;

All the Visible Image links are listed below;

The Visible Image Group page is over on Facebook. Our friendly Group is here ...it would be lovely to see you join us.  You will be warmly welcomed and see lots of inspiration from the DT and customers to inspire your own creativity. 

 I also organize a monthly artist trading card swap in the group.  We celebrated a whole year of swapping in May 2022. Whether you are a new stamper or a seasoned one you are most welcome to join us. Over 115 members, worldwide, have taken part since it started. It's been such fun and it's so lovely to receive a unique piece of art from your partner in the post. The details and sign up for each swap are posted in the group on the 23rd of the month if you would like to join us.  There is no "monthly" commitment, just join in when you have the time and if you live in the UK can you choose to post to the UK only if that suits you best.

The main Visible Image Facebook business page is here

Visible Image also has its own You Tube channel here where you can see videos and Lives to give you lots of inspiration and ideas. 

Their Instagram page can be found here 

Pinterest here

and their website is here. 

 You will also find me on Instagram here; @jane.tyrrell where I share many more samples than I have the time to blog.

Finally a little heads up before I go that in 11days time I am delighted be demoing all things Visible Image again for Country View Crafts, one of Visible Image's UK stockists. We will be at the Crafterama "Crafting at Ally Pally show" at Alexandra Palace in London. If you came last March it would be so lovely to see you again. If not why not put the date in your diary? The show is running the weekend of Saturday and Sunday 11th and 12th March. We had such fun last year.  I will have all the new release with me plus more. Susan will have a fab stock of Visible Image stamps, stencils and the layering dies on the stand.  

Here is a photo from last year's show;

I have made badges again from artist trading coins...this time using the Golden daffodils set with That lovin' feline...look out for me wearing this one!

I will be offering a little crafting giveaway again. Someone will win one of my artist trading coins in a randomly selected draw, so do stop by and say hello.

Bye for now

Jane x

New daffodils from Visible Image

Hi friends, have you seen there is a brand new Visible Image stamp release? It is available for pre order now and is being released on 26th June. I got my hands on the stamps on Friday to make some samples and I have been blown away by how gorgeous they are. There are 6 new A6 sets and every one is fab. I am popping in today as I just had to share my first sample as it features my favoruite flower, the daffodil.

It is one of 3 lovely flowers in the new 

Flower art set

 

I used it with a fab existing background stamps called
Fibonacci

I decided to make myself a canvas to hang in my studio and wanted a very organic/vintage feel.

This is what I got up to.
I took some corrugated card and ripped it back and also found an old Dusty Attic chipboard frame in my stash which I won many moons ago. 

I used distress paints on the chipboard
and finished off with gold Stickles which you will see at the end. 

 I also die cut some hessian to add a focal frame underneath

 I coloured the cardboard with distress paints and added highlights with Tarnished Brass distress paint.

Out came my trusty  "A tale of two cities" book for some book page flowers and I used an inky off cut for the leaves and the centres of the daffodils.

I also added Glossy Accents to the trumpet of the flower head.

Here is my finished canvas, the words which come in this set work so well with the images too.  Daffodils are indeed such beautiful yet delicate flowers.

 Some close ups

and one last shot.

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

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 of the samples we have been making with the new release in the flesh!

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.

I have LOTS more samples to share over the coming weeks and do keep an eye out on social media where mine and my teamies samples are being shared.

Remember release date is NEXT Monday, when they will be available in your local stockist.

Thanks so much for stopping by.


Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Spring time, Mindful Moments 1

Hello blogging friends, wow what a change has happened in the space of a few days. The covid 19 pandemic is now ramping up here in the UK and life for now is being put on hold. Social distancing is and should be the normal. My husband is working from home, which is fine but the rest of our family face difficulties as so many households do. My daughter is on the front line as an NHS GP and faces some very tough months ahead. My parents are in their late 80s and we have to safeguard them as a priority. Our communication is via watts app video for now. Hopefully when the weather improves we can sit out in the garden at a distance. The most important thing is to try to protect our most vulnerable and to ride the waves ahead. Please do take all the advice we have been given seriously to try to flatten out the wave which is coming. 

I have always written Jane's Journal with a very positive vibe and I have always chosen not to put my my personal trials and tribulations (which we all have) here so I am not going to start now. Even before this situation there is always enough bad news around without adding to it.  I like my readers to be able stop for a few minutes, see some cheerful photos and one of my creative makes, and hopefully leave with a smile. Just a mindful moment. These things will pass, we just need time. In no way am I trying to minimize the seriousness of the coming weeks and months, I am just trying to catch a breath in the madness.  I will continue to blog right through to the other side but I will try my absolute hardest to put a positive spin on life here. Jane's Journal is 10 years old this summer and my stats show that lots of people do still read my blog and I hope it might just give one tiny glimmer of normality through Mother Nature to anyone who reads it. Thank you all always for your support, especially those readers who are always here and you know well who you are 😍

I plan, between my usual card makes, Design Team  posts etc to publish occasional mindfulness posts. I am going to call them Mindful Moments and number them, today's is number 1. They will not necessarily be weekly but every post will be 1 step closer to the end of all this. One day I will come back, read and reflect on them and they will serve as a good reminder to be grateful for normal life. 

So here we go with a springtime mindful moment;

There are 2 very special reasons for smiling today; it is the first day of spring and my darling daughter's 34th birthday.

I have been out for my walk and spotted lots of signs of spring in the local area.

The weeping willow is coming into leaf and looks gorgeous in its lime green hues. The daffodils are nodding in the breeze

and at the ponds my dino ducks still come to see me.

 Hello Jane

can I bring a friend?

And yes they all got some food from me. 

In my back garden my acers are coming into leaf

and my magnolia is in flower.

The sun came out, always a bonus too. 

and also spending some time in my garden is my son's gorgeous dog Bear. He has been very poorly but is now on the road to recovery and is going to be between both our homes to convalesce.

My card today is one of spring time calm, using my Mindful Moments Visible Image stamp set and one of their new stencils called drizzle.

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

Not just cards 3/3 anything goes

Creative fingers 1/3 anything goes

Crafty catz 1/3 anything goes

Simon says stamp Wednesday whatever the weather

Addicted to stamps 1/3 anything goes

Through the dark room door 1/3 anything goes

Crafty sentiments 1/3 spring is coming

To finish off  my first Mindful Moments post I wanted to share this thought to celebrate the first day of spring and my gorgeous girl's birthday.

Some old fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine

are hard to beat

(Laura Ingalls Wilder)

Remember we are now 1 day nearer the end of all this madness. Take those walks outside and choose calm. 

So happy birthday to my darling daughter, she knows the song well that her Hb, Daisy and Jack will be singing to her today as she blows out her birthday candles........ha ha ..

Keep safe, keep mindful and keep washing those hands. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

With love, Jane x

A pot of golden daffodils

The daffodils are starting to pop up everywhere and  I spotted these over in the park last weekend.

 There are whole drifts of buds..the first few are showing their gorgeous faces.

In my own front garden I have some Tete a tete in bloom but I don't like to cut my own flowers so I bought a pot from Mark's and Spencer's for just £1.50 and sat it on my kitchen windowsill.  Over the last 2 weeks first, up came the stalks,

then the buds

and then a couple of days ago all these gorgeous blooms appeared.

All in time for my sweet son's birthday tomorrow. 

I can't share his card for now so I will share something else I made using greens and yellow which I made for Dotty's teahouse. Friendship cards sell very well there and this is my most recent make. It's also a lovely one to dedicate to you, my lovely blogging friends.

The sentiment is an old Lili of the Valley one which I won years ago and is one I love.

I stamped and embossed it onto a distress ink background which I added some Tim Holz rose stenciling to. A few die cuts, a brad in the centre of the flower and a few sequins finished everything off.

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

Happy little stampers watercolour challenge 3/3 anything goes

Fashionable Stamping 2/3 one for the girls
Simon says stamp Wednesday make your own background

Have a lovely weekend. We are looking forward to all getting together to celebrate my son's birthday. It's always lovely to have everyone under the same roof for a few precious hours. There will be lots of fun and laughter and no doubt a game or 2. Enjoy your weekend and thanks so much for stopping by.

I will be back bright and breezy on Monday with my Visible Image DT post.

Bye for now,

Jane x

Snowdrops and daffodils....

Yes I have seen my first snowdrops in flower as I walked to Dotty's Teahouse earlier this week. The ones in my front garden are still not quite in flower so I squealed inside when I spied these.

There are lots of clumps under the trees in park .

Someone else was watching me looking at them too.

They were a little rain damaged and muddy but they always such beautiful sweet delicate flowers.

On the home front I have a constant blooming of my favourite daffodils

and the pot I only bought last week is almost sending up its flower stalks.

So with all these snowdrops and daffodils the only thing we are still  waiting for is of course..................................butterflies and bees. Now to understand that you would need to be a least my age and remember the song Dana sang for the 1970 euro-vision song contest....😉
And if you are not that old...check out the link below

1970...just check out the fashions!! and yes I used to have a hair slide just like hers. The song is only 3 minutes long and I guarantee it will make you smile all day.

and if you want to see how Dana fares 40 years on check out this version.

2010 version I think she has aged really well.

In its time this was just a sweet innocent song and I adored it. I can never see snowdrops and daffodils without that little tune playing in my head.

Today's card is not floral as I just wanted to share the Valentine's card I made for my Hb....he doesn't often read my blog but just in case he did I had to keep it a secret until today.

 The ticket stamps are Tim Holtz which I embossed with black.  The die cuts are all MB and the Valentine sentiment stamp, which I embossed in red, is ancient from my stash. 

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

                                                                      Noor have a heart
                                                               

Ribbon Girl  2/3 any card

                                   Uniko anything goes I have also gone for the optional love twist.


                                                             
   

Paper creator love is in the air  

A Vintage journey words that are special I think that the definition of Valentine on my heart is perfect for this occasion....a person chosen as one's sweetheart on Valentine's day; one who is loved. My Hb certainly is.

Creative Moments anything goes

Craft stamper take it make it anything stamped goes

Emerald Creek Dares rock the red

Deep Ocean hearts

Happy Little stampers anything goes with a die

Allsorts 1/3 hearts and/or flowers

Pile it On 1/3 Hearts on fire

Let's Craft and Create 2/3 love is in the air

Penny Black and More favourite stamp the sentiment stamp I used in the centre of my card is my absolute favourite Valentine stamp. I've had it for years, I have no idea of the maker and I use it every Valentine's  day.

I hope I brought a smile to your Thursday or brought back fond and very innocent memories of the 1970s to you with Dana's song. Enjoy the end of the week and the snowdrops..... and daffodils.

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x