Gardener's helper

We've had someone to stay over....the lovely Bear, my son's dog, as my son is at wedding. I needed to get some gardening done yesterday and so I had a furry helper

I sorted through my existing pots of established plants to weed and feed them and also check what might be coming back after the winter. I was about to empty one of my hanging baskets when I noticed this....no it's not all weed if you look carefully......

next to the weed on the left is a fuchsia which has overwintered!
I emptied out some of the old compost, refilled it and added a new friend, a geranium.

They seem very happy and I will share their flowers when they bloom.
I bought a gorgeous pink which will enjoy a sunny spot

and my pot of violas my Mum bought me in the spring are still smiling away. I just keep dead heading them and they just bloom and bloom...simples!

I also have lovely digitalis (foxgloves) coming into flower. These are in my raised bed and just self seed.....free gardening at its most beautiful.

and as I cleared some pots Bear bought me his eel and squid

and then his duck

He had a great time

So today he is just here for breakfast, the sun is shining and I hope to get some crafting time in my garden studio later this afternoon.
This is Bear enjoying the garden at 8am with his beloved bone

My card today is inspired by the colours of my sweet pots of violas. It is a card I made for my Niece's May birthday

If you remember a while back I had a play with my Inktense pencils to make my daughter's birthday card here
I had a spare Uptown girls image so I got out my purples and pinks and coloured up the image above. You can see it in the photo below on the far right



I fussy cut it out and layered it up on my Spellbinders floral oval die cut.
I added some Cheery Lynn leaves and some polka dot pink ribbon. She was going away for the weekend so I added a "weekend" button. I am sure she enjoyed a glass or 2 of wine on her holiday.

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

A sprinkle of imagination anything goes The products I have used are Inktense pencils and Black Archival ink.
Allsorts Happy Birthday they are celebrating no less than 6 years...a real achievement for a challenge and they were the first challenges I entered.
The craft barn holiday these 2 girls are away on their weekend holiday as shown on the button!
Craft Hazel's patterned papers anything goes
Live and Love Crafts Ice cream photo inspiration I was inspired by the colours of the photo board especially the pink and white striped ones!
Craft stamper take a stamp
Penny Black and more die cuts and punches
Bunny Zoe buttons and bows
Cheery Lynn anything goes



I'm off to finish off some pot cleaning in the garden and then hopefully get some playtime in my studio. Enjoy this holiday weekend and thanks for visiting.

And here is the sunshine now.....bliss and Bear is making the most of it until home time ;0)

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

My spring daughter

Today is my darling daughter's birthday and the first day of spring. What a double celebration. It's the vernal equinox when the number of daylight hours is the same as the same as those of darkness. This means that from tomorrow will will have more daylight than darkness, what a glorious thought. My daughter sent me these gorgeous spring flowers for Mother's day on Sunday and they smell as spring like as they look.

I have been playing with my Inktense pencils for the first time. I made a box for these recently which I showed in this post  . I decided that one of my stamping Bella images would be a great image to use. 

I used a couple of different colourways and I was really pleased with my first dab-lings. You use water with them and they are almost like painting with inks. The effect is of water colouring....I really like them and a little goes a long way. You can see how much colour I got from just outlining the blue dress.

 As always I was overseen by my crafty helper Billy who checked everything with a sniff.

 I fussy cut them all out

I really liked the colours of one on the far left so I chose to use this for her birthday card.

I made a brayered background using acrylic paints as the base card.

I then put my creative hat on and came up with this card. It is very apt for my very sassy daughter who will no doubt be raising a glass of bubbly with her Hb today. 

 The brayered background really gives some great texture

I added a few gems for some bling and some bright sunny ribbon too.
I also made another version of this card for my Etsy shop..you can see it here where it is for sale.

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

Fashionable stamping Springtime 
Country view crafts anything goes
Crafty ribbons anything goes with ribbon
Papertake weekly Happy anything
Little Claire's Springtime
The Ribbon Girl Green
Simon says stamp Wednesday Spring mood board inspiration I was inspired by the yellow ribbon from the chocolate egg and the blues and yellows of the sweet little blue tit
Whimsy stamps use a diecut mine is the lovely Memory box bow
Cute card Thursday spring fever
Fussy and Fancy girlie
Coffee chocolate and cards something yummy to eat or drink
Crafty Catz no designer papers
Art with heart go green
The Artistic stamper spring is coming


Another weekend looms, how quickly the month is flashing by. Next weekend is the last in the month.

Thanks for all your lovely comments and good wishes for our family celebrations, March is certainly a busy month for us. April should be more mellow. The sun is shining this afternoon and it really does feel like spring is finally here.
I would  like to warmly welcome my latest followers, it's great to see you joining me on my creative journey. I hope you enjoy the journey.

Have a crafty weekend,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x