And autumn came....

Well here we are...autumn has arrived and we are also rapidly waving goodbye to September.  I enjoyed some very pleasant and sunny days earlier this week and I decided it was time to make my monthly calendar page for my art journal in my sunny studio.

The lines from the Month's poem by Sara Coleridge for September read;

Warm September brings the fruit,

sportsmen then begin to shoot.

I looked around my garden, which is still colourful, and saw that the leaves of my potted acers are turning pretty shades of greens, red and orange.

My begonia are still going strong too

 and I spotted this fellow busy at work.

I honestly love spiders and for a few moments I stood and watched him as he spun his web...going round and round....so clever....I never cease to marvel at the structure of a web and how fine it is.

 I decided that the focal of my page, for the "fruit" in the poem would be a lovely vintage apples digi from the Graphics Fairy and that my colours would be inspired by my autumnal garden.

I die cut a frame using my new Noor die I bought cheaply at Ally Pally and got out my inks.

 I sprayed an inly background inspired by the colours of the acer leaves in my garden.

 and then added some more inks through my Tim mini leaf stencil

 I then got out my Visible Image tree stamp (sadly discontinued at present)

and added some branches...gradually adding green and orange archival ink 

until I finished my background...I got rather engrossed at this point so I didn't take any more photos... but I also die cut and textured lots of leaves and a tree.

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

Here it is.

and some close ups, I really went to town with my colours and textures with my die cut leaves.

and one last shot.

My art journal page was made for the following challenges;

Memory Box autumn leaves

The Craft Barn 12 month challenge  September

Creative Artiste mixed media

Fussy and fancy fall colours

Allsorts feels like autumn

The Ribbon Girl 1/3 any image

Cuttlebug mania Golden harvest

C.R.A.F.T autumn/halloween/thanksgiving

Frilly and Funkie 1/3 to everything there is a season

Now I must get my skates on as I have a date with someone rather special.......Tim Holtz...yes seriously. I am soooo excited. I am in  Harrogate attending Tim's UK Creative Chemistry workshop at 9am. I booked myself into a nearby hotel last night..... I have a 2 minute walk from my hotel. 

I will take my trusty camera and yes I will take lots of photos to share. 

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the gorgeous colours of autumn.

Bye for now,

Jane x

Travel essentials for September

Happy September everyone.Our lodger, Bear and I have enjoyed lots of long walks. The sunny weather has been so helpful when looking after a rather large dog!

 Being the first of the month it's time for my first DT piece for our new challenge over at Country View. The theme for September is "Travel". I decided to make vintage travel themed cards...one for a man and one for a woman. It's a very open theme and I hope lots of you will be inspired to join in the fun which runs until 30 September. You can enter any craft, any genre, any other challenges and as many time as you like. It's my kind of challenge. Here is the link.

I made a master board to use as the backing for both cards. For continuity with the travel theme I made it look a bit like a map.

I used PaperArtsy Fresco acrylics and brayered on my colours.

I sorted lots of travel themed stamps from my stash which I added, using different colours of archival ink.

Below is my finished master board which I then cut up for two 7X5" cards (with a few snippets left over, which were perfect to use for other cards).

Today I am sharing my man's card. I looked through my stamp stash and chose a stamp very apt for travel...a camera....a travel essential in my book. I love this Visible Image stamp. I heat embossed it in black and then fussy cut it out.

I used an embossing folder to add some "tyre" texture to some metallic blue card which I then die cut twice to make a frame for the camera.

I then added my focal and a Clearly Besotted stamped sentiment.

Here  is my finished card

I would also love to link up with the following challenges;

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes
Simon says stamp work it Wednesdays 1/3 stamping
Allsorts 3/3 use at least 2 dies I used a stitched die and then die cut inside it using a Labels die. The CB stamped sentiment is also die cut

I will be using the other 7X5" piece of master board for my "female" 2nd  DT version. I will be sharing this on 29 September.

Thanks for visiting me here today and for all your kind comments. Let's hope this lovely spell of sunshine last a little longer and we enjoy an "Indian summer". Fingers crossed.

I have another post coming up tomorrow as I have some very exiting news to share with you all...stay tuned.....

Bye for now,

Jane x