Dino ducks

Down at the local ponds there is a family of Egyptian geese (or dino ducks as I affectionately call them) who I have watched grow all season. There were orginally 9 babies and now 6 have come to near adult hood. here they are with their Mum and Dad.

They have really got to know me as I take food for them and they come out to greet me.

The chicks cheep and the adults honk their hellos!

I am sure it will not be too many weeks until they migrate for the winter. It has been a total joy watching them grow up.

My card today had to me a new baby card. My latest for sale at Dotty's Teahouse, Carshalton, SM5 2EP. There has been quite a baby boy boom and I have sold lots recently.

This one is a Lili of the Valley simply print image with a hand stamped sentiment. The little birds on the backing paper make me think of my sweet dino babies.

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

A bit more time to craft 1/3 anything goes

Dies R Us Nature I have used a Works circle die around the sentiment and Memory box stitched hearts.

Cute card Thursday 1/3 anything goes

The Cutie pie challenge1/3 celebrations

Happy Little stampers 1/3 anything goes with dies I have used heart dies and one for my sentiment

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Bye for now,

Jane x

First conker of 2019

Although the mornings are much chillier we are still enjoying late summer sunshine both in my garden and down at the local parks.

On my last walk though I spotted something on the floor which made my heart sing...

it was still in it's case but shimmering in the sunshine.

Yes my very first conker of 2019, autumn really is just around the corner.

My card today has the same feel and colours and uses my favourite Visible Image flower stamp, Creative chaos together with one of their older sentiments. The background is brushos.

I added some Glossy accents, just to one of the petals to make it shine...just like my conker.

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

A bit more time to craft 3/3 anything goes

We love 2 create 2/3 anything goes mixed media

Happy Little stampers watercolour anything goes

Simon says stamp Monday use something clear mine is the Glossy Accents.

Stamping sensations 1/3 anything goes with flowers
Simon says stamp Wednesday stamp it
Through the craft room door 1/2 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Bird spotting with Bear

I am really enjoying Bear staying with us and we have been on some long walks. One lovely park near us is Beddington and we took a long stroll over there. He loves sniffing around in the woods.

 We also took a walk around the lake

 and spotted these cuties.

 Yes 8 fluffy goslings with Mum

and some cygnets too.

There was also Joe Crow looking down at us from a tree.

All these birds inspired me to come home and make some Artist trading coins with a spring bird theme.

I had a piece of paint resist card in my stash made with Tim Holtz' Urban tapestry stamps so I made a background by blending some blue and green distress inks onto it. I also added some Broken china ink through my Tim Holtz bark stencil.

 I added some stamping using my treasured Bronte verse from Visible Image, sadly long discontinued but one of my fave script stamps.

 I die cut some of my CL birds and coloured them with distress inks.

I also used the owls and sentiment stamps from Visible Image's Into the Woods. stamp set. I stamped and embossed a nest using one of the stamps from their Organics stamp set.

This is what I put together.

There are 3 as they were made for an Facebook UK swap group that I am a member of.

Number 1

 Number 2

 and number 3

and here they are as a group.

I would like to enter my A T Coins into the following challenges;

Penny black and More 1/3 going round in circles
Through the craft room door 1/2 anything goes
Happy Little stampers watercolour anything goes
Mix it up 1/5 anything goes
Pile it on 1/3 favourite colour mine is definitely blue
Addicted to stamps and more 1/3 make your mark

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Wake up awesome

It's that time of the year when Mother Nature is just about waking up. I am spotting more and more blossom on my walks to Dotty's.

 The fowl are starting to pair up too and I am sure in plants surrounding the ponds nests are being built.

My card today is one with a very positive message because at this time of the year we are all beginning to get a little more energy as the daylight returns. 

I used a distress oxide background. The stamp is Visible Image.

It is up for sale now at Dotty's Teahouse, Carshalton, SM5 2EP

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

Time Out unique I love that I was able to make so many unique flowers from 1 set of stamps.

Emerald Creek dares 3/3 Ordinary day

Creative artiste 3/3 anything mixed media

Happy Little stampers watercolour challenge 2/3 anything goes

A gem of a challenge 2/3 anything goes
We love to create 2/3 anything mixed media

I also made something that I could join in with the birthday celebrations over at my friend Brenda's challenge, A Vintage Journey. They are celebrating  their 5th birthday and want us to make something to celebrate our own crafting journey. In the 5 years since their blog started I have embraced mixed media and love incorporating it in my own art work...Jane's Journal Style of course!

They are very hard to photograph but I used a gelli prints background made using my Art Rebel Visible Image stamps and some Tim Holtz paper dolls.
Happy Birthday A Vintage Journey! Thank you for all your wonderful inspiration and thanks to Brenda for being such an amazing friend and artist.
This is the link

I am back on Saturday with my 2nd DT post for Country View. I am off to catch up with my dearest best friend Karen today...we will put the world to right over lunch..I definitely woke up feeling awesome today!

Bye for now,

Jane x

Phew what a scorcher

I always have to smile at the headlines of the tabloid newspapers when we get a period of hot sunny weather. In the 1970s "phew what a scorcher" was a real favourite. 

Well the forecasters got it right and we have had a week, and more to come, of gorgeous hot sunny weather.

There is nothing quite like an azure blue sky with not a cloud to be seen is there?

I spotted that the ducklings are growing quickly down at the ponds.

 When I was walking down to Dotty's I was stopped in my tracks as I saw that one of the fields had been painted up ready for a school sports day

I was reminded standing there that when I was at school we all took part in races on Sport's Day and found out that you could win or lose...and no one died! These days it's all about team work to ensure that no one loses but I think in the real world we should be teaching our children that both winning and losing is what happens in real life. The younger we realise that the better, in my books. Yes teamwork is important but I think it is sad that we seem to think we are protecting children in some way by not allowing winning and losing in some form.

I was a sprinter at school and standing on the line took me back to those sunny school sports days at primary school. Fond memories...on your marks, get set........GO!

My card today was inspired by all this gorgeous sunshine and heat. I used some hot distress colours to make a CAS card for Dotty's using one of the fab new Visible Image quotes. 

I couldn't agree more with these words, good friends are priceless aren't they.

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

Time out 3/3 warm

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

Lil patch of crafty friends 3/3 anything goes
Creative moments 1/3 anything goes
Addicted to CAS 1/2 girl power
Cute card Thursday 1/3 CAS

This heatwave is set to see out the end of June and into July...for once we are enjoying a flaming June here in the UK. Thanks for stopping by and for your kind comments.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Blooming and growing

Now that we are in June Mother Nature is still busy out there blooming and growing. Flora and fauna are showing off their new growth and new life all around me. The moorhens are on their nests down at the ponds

whilst partners go off in search of food.

I saw goslings at Wisley..so fluffy!

My pots are blooming and growing beautifully

and my tomato plants have flowers already.

It is also time for my weekly Visible Image inspiration and to revel in natures glory I thought I would use the awesome baby bloom stencil to make a baby congratulations card.

The sentiment is from the lovely go to words set. There are all the sentiments you ever need here in this set using a really fab type face.

I wanted to create a rather ethereal backgrond, an almost out of this world one and just accent the beautiful flower the baby contains as a little pop of colour. These were the oxides I used for my background.

I blended them onto some card.

and then placed on the baby stencil and added more of the blue and green inks. I added red ink to the top of the flower.

I outlined the image with white pen and added a mix of glossy accents and glitter to the flower head as my pop of colour.

I then stamped the word congratulations. 

Here it is all matted up and ready for the amazing celebrations that a new baby brings.

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

Shopping our weekly stash 1/3 grad or congratulations card
Craft stamper take it make it 1/3 anything goes
Allsorts baby baby
Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes
Crafty catz anything goes

All the Visible Image links can be found here;

Visible Image group page on Facebook. Our friendly Group can be found here ...it would be lovely to see you. You can add work to the "Show and Tell" album where one randomly chosen winner each month wins a £25 coupon to spend on the website.

The main Visible Image Facebook page is here; there are weekly stamp giveaways...open world wide! There is an 11,000 followers celebration running at the moment, you could win a £100 coupon to spend on their website! 

And the shop web site is here; where all these gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased. 

You can also follow via:

 Pinterest

Twitter

and

 Instagram

There are 6 new stamp sets and 8 new stencils...all totally amazing and uniquely Visible Image.

Thanks for stopping by today and for all your kind comments. Enjoy watching everything bloom and grow around you.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x