Keeping up with my 12 cards of Christmas

Good morning and for those of you in the UK, I hope you enjoyed your extra hour in bed? 

I had some inky playtime in the week and I have managed to get my 5th Funkie Junkie Christmas card under my belt, making for a few other fun challenges too.

We had a lovely day yesterday and took Daisy to the New Forest, I will share some photos soon but this is the glorious countryside we enjoyed and we met some of the wonderful New Forest ponies.

We spotted some awesome toadstalls too and Daisy had such fun exploring outside with us.

 So back to my card.

If you would like to play along with Linda's challenge you can see all the rules here. There are some great prizes for the winners too. The challenge is generously sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique Linda shares a tag each week and you just have to take something from it and make something Christmas themed. I have always chosen to make cards and it's a great way to make 12 very unique cards for Christmas.

You can also combine it with any other challenges...so that is just what I did.

This is her card for week 4 here
I decided to use her idea of post mark stamps, vintage Santa red, gingham ribbon and glossy greenery for my inspiration.

This is what I got up to;

I recently acquired some more D'Oxide colours in my DT package from Susan of Country View Crafts and I wanted to play with 2 of my new colours. I also used my Tim Holtz vintage Santa stamp as it has post card written on the side and adds to the "post" theme of my card

 These are my old Lili of the Valley post mark stamps

This is my background I made, the new Oxide colours are amazing! I stamped lots of my post mark stamps on top.

It was time to put on my creative hat and put together my card.

 Here it is.

This will be heading down to Dotty's Tearooms for sale soon.

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

The Funkie Junkie 12 tags of Christmas #5

Christmas at sweet stampin 2/3 anything goes

Happy little stampers anything goes with dies October

Happy little stamps water colour challenge October

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday anything goes

I also wanted to share some exciting news....I have been in print again...

Check out the latest edition (Issue 49) of Creative Stamping...

 On page 47 is my card made for Visible Image stamps..I can only give a sneak peek at the moment but at some point I will be able to give a full reveal. 2 of my teamies Pauline and Veerle also have project for our Face It! Autumnal feature.

It's so exciting to be in print again.

I am back tomorrow with my latest DT post for Visible Image and to give you a heads up a certain pussy cat called Billy might be writing it for me..tee hee 😻

Thanks so much for stopping by and for the kind comments you take the time to leave. Enjoy a mellow Sunday, we have a Strictly date on the sofa later to catch up with last night's Halloween spectacular.

See you in the morning,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Knowle

It was windy yesterday but the promised storms luckily seem to have passed us by here in the south and I am pleased to still be able to craft outside. The temperatures has dropped a little but no frost as yet. I have not had a chance to share a full post of my recent lovely visit to Knowle with my parents so I thought I would share some photos today. This gorgeous house is now owned by the National Trust but part of it is still lived in by the owners the Sackville-West family.

It is nestled away in Sevenoaks, Kent and is approached through the deer park where Henry V111 once hunted. We didn't spot any on our visit but they were out there somewhere. 

We did spot a few on the walls though 😁

 No photography is allowed in the house but I climbed to the top of the gate house 

via this very narrow circular staircase

 I emerged from the top 

and was rewarded with these stunning views.

If you are ever in that part of Kent this gorgeous house should be on your bucket list. It is well worth a visit and the lunches there are really good too.

I had some playtime in the week and I am pleased to report that my 4th card for the Funkie Junkie 12 tags of Christmas challenge is now under my belt.

If you would like to play along you can see all the rules here. There are some great prizes for the winners too. The challenge is generously sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique Linda shares a tag each week and you just have to take something from it and make something Christmas themed. I have always chosen to make cards and it's a great way to make 12 very unique cards for Christmas.

You can also combine it with any other challenges...so that is just what I did.

Linda's inspiration tag for week 4 is here. I liked her black silhouettes and the holly in the background. She also used the vintage carol sheet which I have used on my Christmas cards for years. I took these elements for the inspiration for my own make.

I  made a neutral inky background

 and then stencilled on holly leaves with my Tim stencil.

 I used black die cuts for my silhouettes. My Knowle visit also inspired me to use some deer die cuts again and I included Tim's holly leaves.

Here is my finished card

and a close up

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

The Funkie Junkie 12 tags of Christmas #4
Creative Moments 3/3 anything goes
ABC Christmas 2/3 U for unlimited ie anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge 1/3 anything goes #257
Christmas at sweet stampin 1/3 anything goes

The sun is out here so we plan some outside jobs here. Thanks for stopping by. I am back in the morning with my weekly dose of Visible Image inspiration.

Bye for now,

Jane x

A third post in a day!

I sometimes have to publish 2 posts in a day when I have DT posts which clash but it is a first for me to publish 3!
So after a busy morning sorting out my garden and potting up some bulbs I was able to finish my 3rd card for the Funkie Junkie Challenge and get up to date!
This was my nice tidy garden this afternoon.

If you would like to play along you can see all the rules here. There are some great prizes for the winners too. You could win a voucher to spend in the The Funkie Junkie Boutique  who is sponsoring the challenge. Linda shares a tag each week and you just have to take something from it and make anything Christmas themed. I have always chosen to make cards and it's a great way for me to make 12 very unique cards for Christmas.

Here  is Linda's inspirational tag for week 3.

I decided to use the bold red and white colour scheme and ornaments as my inspiration. This is what I got up to. I used Tim Holtz's stencil and my Candied Apple distress ink to make a background which I cut into a square. 

I die cut some ornaments and added Treasure gold to them and also added some ribbons to complete my card.

So there we are I am now up to date. If you want to see my cards 1 and 2 they are here and here

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

The Funkie Junkie 12 tags of Christmas week 3
ABC Christmas U unlimited, V vibrant I went for V vibrant
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas challenge #355

Thank you so much if you popped in 3 times ...we are eating dinner soon and will be watching Strictly on catch up. The standard of the dancing this year is just awesome!

I will be back again on Monday with my weekly Visible Image DT project.

Some one else was keeping an eye on my today in the garden.....

yes my sweet Billy

Enjoy your evening and the rest of the weekend. Tomorrow is looking like a glorious warm day here. We might take Bear up to Banstead Woods. 

Bye for now,

Jane x

Bulb planting

This is my second post today. You can see my first one here. As I mentioned I managed to do some gardening this morning and I planted up some bulbs.

I topped the pots with some little violas which will give me some winter colour until my flowers emerge next spring.

I am back with my week 2 Funkie Junkie card....if you missed week one you can see it here.

If you would like to play along you can see all the rules here. There are some great prizes for the winners too. You could win a voucher to spend in the The Funkie Junkie Boutique  who is sponsoring the challenge. Linda shares a tag each week and you just have to take something from it and make anything Christmas themed. I have always chosen to make cards and it's a great way for me to make 12 very unique cards for Christmas.

You can see  Linda's 2nd inspirational tag here
I decide to use the lovely vintage Santa image, stars and the colour scheme as inspiration for my card. I added my stars to my background with embossing paste. I then made an inky background blending distress inks and then adding a spritz of water.

I stamped one of my favourite Tim Holtz  Father Christmas stamps and gave it some aging with distress inks and distressed the edges too.

Here is my finished card complete with book pages and a sentiment.

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

The Funkie Junkie week 2

Craft Stamper take it make it October

Let's craft and create 3/3 anything goes
Sweet stamping sparkle and shine
Happy little stampers watercolour challenge October extra twist gold
ABC Christmas U unlimited, V vibrant I went for U unlimited ie anything goes
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas challenge #355

So yes I have 1 more to catch up with and I will be back very soon with number 3.

Back in a mo!

Jane x

Catching up with the Funkie Junkie

I have been so busy with my DT work that I have not had a chance for any play time. Today however I was able to rectify that as I had a few hours this afternoon after I had cleared up the garden for some me crafting time. There are some fun challenges around at the moment and one of them is the 12 tags of Christmas, my favourite Christmas challenge which Linda of runs. I have entered this challenge for the last 3 years and I really didn't want to miss out; she will be already onto  week 4 on Monday. So I decided to play catch up this afternoon and finish the first 3 projects. I had already made some bases on Friday afternoon so it was just a case of putting my designs together.

If you would like to play along you can see all the rules here. There are some great prizes for the winners too. The challenge is generously sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique Linda shares a tag each week and you just have to take something from it and make something Christmas themed. I have always chosen to make cards and it's a great way to make 12 very unique cards for Christmas. 

This is her inspiration for week 1

I chose to go with the deer theme...I had a fab day out with my parents on Thursday and went to Knowle in Kent where Henry V111 had his deer park.

 The house there is amazing too. 

So this is what I got up to, I cut an opening in a die cut square to create a scene. and added some inky card.

My little scene included trees, a leaping deer and of course some snow! I stamped the sentiment.

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

The Funkie Junkie week 1

Ribbon Girl  3/3 any card

Let's craft and create 2/3 anything goes
Sweet stamping sparkle and shine

Happy little stampers Anything goes with dies
ABC Christmas U unlimited, V vibrant I went for V for vibrant
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas challenge #355

I apologise in advance to my close blogging buddies who visit every post here but I am going to quickly write up my card 2 and 3 and be back with both posts during the evening!

Back very soon!

Jane x

Holly wreaths

I met my daughter in Gunwhalf Quays, Portsmouth, yesterday to get our Christmas shopping well under way. We had a very successful shop and she also brought with her my holly wreaths which are made by her local florist.
I always like 2 wreathes, 1 for the front door

and one for my studio

I love the natural elements they used and especially the Kraft coloured ribbon. I needed a quick card to get up to date with the Funkie Junkie Challenge and also for some of my other fun challenges I love to enter. I decided to use some "left overs" from my #6 FJ card; a kraft blank which had some embossing paste already on it using my TH knits stencil and a left over gingerbread man I had made for my #6 FJ card.
No process photos I'm afraid as time was limited.

The sentiments are LOTV. The dies are a mix of MB, Spellbinders and J Sheen.. The gingerbread man is a really ancient wooden stamp of mine. I white embossed him and then added a pop of red with my gingham ribbon.

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

The Funkie Junkie 12 tags of Christmas #10 I was inspired by Linda's neutral colours, embossed snowflakes and her pop of red. If you would like to play along with this fun Christmas challenge please check out Linda's post here which gives all the details of the challenge requirements. The challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique and you could even win one of the prize vouchers if you complete all 12 weeks.

The Ribbon Girl 1/3 December card challenge anything goes

Emerald Creek Dares 3/3  winter wishes

Simon Says stamp Ice inspiration

Winter Wonderland 3/3 frame it or night scene my gingerbread man is framed by my focal die.

Crafty Boots unltd Christmas

Let's craft and create 2/3 Christmas
Crafty ribbons Christmas
Happy Little Stampers untld anything goes with dies
Paper Creator 2/3 Christmas
WOW embossing powders December, winter
Fussy and Fancy 1/3  Christmas in tones or pastels

Thanks so much for stopping by and for the kind comments you leave at such a busy time of the year for everyone. Take care.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Sleeping trees

After the recent storms the trees are nearly stripped of their glorious autumnal foliage

 but there are still a few showing off their colours

 and some interesting ferns.

After  losing their leaves the silver birch reveal their gorgeous bark.

How wintry does that look?

Only a few weeks ago this avenue of trees was in  full leaf.

 Yes the trees are getting ready for the big sleep.

I managed to get my next Funkie Junkie card under my belt and I also took in a couple of other fun challenges too.
 If you would like to play along with the FJ Christmas challenge please check out Linda's post here which gives all the details of the challenge requirements. The challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique and you could even win one of the prize vouchers if you complete all 12 weeks.

For week #9 I was inspired by the lovely deep green/burnished back ground she made, the foliage stamping, the red and white Baker's twine and the red stamped sentiment.
This is what I got up to.

I made an inky background using various Christmas green coloured distress paints.

I added a little water to get some distressed blending.










 I then added silver metallic distress stain.

I also wanted to add some crackle as AVJ are asking for this in their challenge and I wanted to add some rustic charm to for ATBC as well as a couple of other challenges. I added gold paint to crackle paint and pressed it through my TH foliage stencil.

When it had dried I added some distress ink to highlight the cracks and around the edge of my backing card.
So here is my finished card.

The sentiment is Visible Image which I managed to snap up in their amazing Black Friday sale. I added even more texture with distressed edges, torn corrugated card and a glittered snowflake chippie.

 I do love a bit of crackle ;0)

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

The Funkie Junkie 12 tags of Christmas #9
Pixie's Snippets Playground #257 I used a snippet of card for my sentiment and a tiny snippet of Baker's Twine!
A Vintage Journey cracking up
Anything but Cute rustic glam
That's Crafty All grungy
An inky mess anything mixed media
Time out Christmas with an optional twist of glitter/shimmer I added the twist with my silver metallic distress stain and the glittery snowflake
Winter Wonderland poinsettia or snow is falling I have gone for snow is falling with my embellished snowflake chippie.
Merry Monday 1/3 masculine Christmas card
Christmas card challenge anything goes #50
Addicted to stamps and More anything goes
Moving along with the times anything goes with Christmas

That's another card in the stock box for selling at Dotty's Christmas market which is now only 3 days away .....this  Friday..the details are on my side bar.
I promised another sneak peek...here are some of my bag charms I will be selling.

Strawberries and chocolate are always a good combination 😄

 All the beads I use are handmade glass made by my talented lamp worker friends. All one of a kind and totally unique.

I hope this little owl will fly off my stall to a new home.

Thanks for visiting and for your very kind comments. I must fly as I really need to get my very last bits of stock made.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x