Inspirational Osborne House

I am playing catch up again with some promised photos from our late summer trip to the Isle of Wight. We decided to pay a visit to Osborne House the holiday retreat built in 1845 by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. I have visited the house and gardens in the past and this is one of my top stately homes in the world to visit...seriously. It should be on that bucket list! We realised it would not be practical to go round the house itself on this occasion but the grounds there are really stunning. Everywhere outside was also buggy friendly, perfect for Daisy.

 The House is more like an Italian Palace and is a perfect backdrop for photos of the gardens which are so well tended,

The fountain below is now dry but still leads the view towards the coast where Queen Victoria even had her own private beach

 Views back to Portsmouth on the mainland

 I love the rich golden colours which had been used for the flower beds.

and there was even a pop of purple and red  amongst the golds

 Her private beach is now open to the public and we enjoyed eating an ice cream there and smiled at her bathing machine. This used to be hauled out to sea by horses so that the Queen would not be seen getting into the sea and inadvertently revealing any ankle flesh!

There is even a replica Swiss chalet which Prince Albert had built as a giant wendy house for their children. They enjoyed cooking and gardening here, what lucky children they were.

In the garden we spied these growing...............

 yes pumpkins!

By now I am sure these are quite a size and will be ready just in time for Halloween. 

As I sorted through these photos the colour gave me some autumnal inspiration....reds, golds, browns, purples......such richness which we are beginning to see  all around us now. I hope to take an autumn walk tomorrow to find my autumn treasures...conkers.

My card challenge creation today is inspired by the colours of Osborne and the pumpkin. I rarely use these colours in my work but at this time of year they are so uplifting. There are also some lovely autumnal themed challenges around which I wanted to take part in.

I made this card for my dear Dad's birthday, which was yesterday. I used lots of Tim Holtz Distress inks to create a "master sheet" of autumnal colours. I first cut a backing piece to which I added some Vintage photo DI through Tim's honeycomb stencil. I also embossed another piece of the card with a Sizzix folder and blended more DIs onto this. 

The leaves are cut using a sweet Memory Box die. I edged them all with Walnut Stain DI. I also cut a couple of gold leaves, a birthday sentiment and mounted my card on the same gold cardstock. My Dad loves his garden so the wheelbarrow and the tree branch all added to the feel of his card.

Here is a close up of the falling leaves.

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

A Vintage Journey  The colours of autumn
A Creative Romance in the garden
Crafty Catz birthday
Simon Says Wednesday anything goes
Pan Pastel UK  embossing

Creative Inspirations autumn colours

Bearly Mine autumnal colours

Penny Black and More autumnal colours

Little Claire's birthday card

Our Creative Corner Inspirational photo I was inspired by the rich  autumnal feel of all the photos as well as the golden sunlight shining through the green leaves. I tried to get a feel of the sunshine shining through in the centre of my card.

Thanks always for your visits and kind comments you take the time to leave.

I was looking for some autumnal quotes and found this sweet little poem written by George Elliot which I wanted to share before I go;

Come said the leaves to the wind one day,

Come O'er the meadows and we will play.

Put on your dresses of scarlet and gold,

For summer is gone and the days grow old.     

Have a lovely autumnal weekend. It's time to start scrunching through those fallen leaves when we go out to walk and to marvel at all the fruits Mother Nature has ripened to feed the wildlife through the coming months. I shall take my camera and try to capture a few. 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x