Tuscany memories

Hi blogging friends. Today I would like to share the memory album I made following our wonderful holiday to Italy in August. We were so lucky to get away and it was a perfect holiday, miles from anywhere and just enjoying good food, sunshine and good company. Sadly our trip annual to Rhodes would have been tomorrow, but that has been cancelled, so I am even more grateful that we got away to Italy. 

We stayed on a wine estate in Tuscany so social distancing was no problem at all. We were miles from anywhere. 

I spent a pleasant hour crafting each day with my obviously limited holiday supplies in the shade with Daisy. We also sat by the pool or in the gorgeous gardens catching up with our family. We had one day out, to the zoo, which was wonderful as it was so quiet. Here are a few photos to share or the villa, pool and gardens.

I wrote an index card each day, took an Instax photo and made a little ATC sized project using inspiration from what I saw each day. I have shared these ATCs on Instagram and if you would like to see them in my feed  you can do so here

When I got home I made a background for each ATC and put everything together. 

I also had Daisy to stay recently and we made some fun shaving foam backgrounds so I used those for my front and back covers. 

Daisy also had made ATCs with me so we put her album together when she stayed. Mine has taken a lot longer to finish as I had some design team commitments in between.

I took a few photos before I bound the album together as they were easier to photograph that way. I used all Tim Holtz products for my album as it was also a reminder of the most amazing crafting summer I had watching his awesome Facebook Lives. I also used the same toadstool on the cover that was on the tag he sent me when I won my demo prize. If you missed that post you can see it here

Here are ATCs mounted on their pages.

I documented the flight and the pool..

...finding dragonflies in the garden and all the busy bees.

 The gardens were so beautiful so my Lady Rose set was most appropriate

and we saw some spectacular bugs too!

and here is the album all finished. I made a ribbon tie.

 There is an index card (obviously not shown) on the reverse of the page each day where I wrote my memories. The little Instax photos are such fun to add.

And one final shot of the cover. It was a wonderful adventure, so many memories all now documented forever. These albums are always such a labour of love to make but so good to look back at. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you are all keeping well and enjoying the last few weeks of the summer. Thanks for the kind comments you take the time to leave me, I really do appreciate them.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Giveaway winner and a taste of Tuscany

Hello friends.  I am back not only with my giveaway winner but also to share some photos of our holiday.  Yes we managed to escape to Italy for a week and got home on Monday. It was such a wonderful week and where we stayed in the middle of a wine estate in Tuscany meant there was no need to socially distance as there was no one around for miles!

As the week progressed it got hotter and hotter so the pool was bliss. 

The grounds provided perfect crafting inspiration.

The only sounds were the bees buzzing and the chirrup of the crickets. 

So back to my winner. All the names and multiples were put into a hat and my Hb pulled out..

drum roll....

I was delighted to see Vivienne's name as she has been a rock and total supporter of my blog since I started writing it 10 years ago. Even though she no longer blogs she still comments on all my blog posts, even if I have 2 in a day at the beginning of the month. Thanks V you really are a deserving winner. I will get your prize posted by the end of the week. 

My creative project today is one of the holiday makes I made in Tuscany. There were so many delightful spots to craft from like the one below.  

While away I decided to make a series of ATCs which I may make a little booklet for when I get the chance. 

You can follow me on Instagram; here or search for me as @jane.tyrrell . Those of you who do will have seen them but this is my challenge entry for today.

All the products are Tim Holtz.

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

Dragonfly dreams 1/3 anything goes
Simon says stamp Monday summer memories
Creative artiste 1/3 anything goes
We love to create 1/3 anything goes

I will share some more photos of our Italian getaway soon, meanwhile is steaming here in the South of England. It reached 37c yesterday during the day here and it was still 28c at 10pm!
Phew! Today it's steaming away but I do think a storm is brewing....

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Oh and a little heads up that I am in print again with a 3 card mixed media feature in the latest edition of Creative stamping magazine. Issue #86 which is on sale now!

I'm back on Friday with a blog post sharing a couple of my makes and 1 made just for sharing here at Jane's Journal!

My Tuscany memories preserved forever

Thanks so much for all your support and lovely comments you left for my Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 103 over the last 2 weeks. I'm glad I did it "live" but it really was full on and I was pleased to have the time to finish off my holiday Journal from our recent trip to Tuscany.  I bought a Pink Pig sketchbook for this purpose and if you missed that post you can read about it here.

Daisy, despite only being 2 3/4 years old, is an avid crafter and I also bought her a little cheapie scrapbook to work in as I knew she would like to follow Nanna.  She loved it and we spend many moments putting them together at our glorious villa. I love this photo...so much concentration in one darling little girl.

We made backgrounds using Paperartsy infusions, stencils and stamps.
This was the idyllic terrace where we sat and crafted.

I also took my Instax camera and took lots of instant photos for us both.  I also used my regular camera and printed out some photos when I got home.

Each day I wrote an index card for Daisy and one for myself with a short summary of our day. For her cards she chatted about what we had done and then she agreed what she wanted me to write.
Here are some pages from my darling girls journal.
This is her little journal I bought (from Wilkinson's for just £3)

Here is one of her backgrounds she created. Impressive for a 2 year old I think!

and here are some of her sweet pages...she made these herself...I just stuck things in for her. I love the way she added her own "writing" after mine...she repeats the words as she add those squiggles, bless her.

Although I didn't have much time to sit and paint I did have 2 sessions when I got out my travel watercolour set and had my first try at "proper"painting.  I decided to try to paint the view from where we crafted. It was so idyllic and the only sound to be heard was the buzzing of the bees.

Below is my finished painting...please be gentle....I don't have any art training at all but I tried to get some shade and tones despite the limited palette of colours and time. I used some separate watercolour paper as I didn't want to risk ruining my journal with any spillage. I then mounted it in my journal when I got home.

So here is my completed holiday journal...I stuck some ribbon under some card on the inside covers so that I can tie it together. My added ephemera made it bulky.
The quality of the papers from Pink Pig is excellent and it really took the inks and water media really well.

Here are some of the pages from my journal

Little instax photos from our wedding anniversary celebrations in San Gimignano.

and remember the "Bliss" tag I created and blogged about whilst away. If you missed it have a look here first ........
Well here is it in my journal

The page below is special as Daisy picked up the doily from under a dish served to us at a restaurant we ate at. She gave it to me to "put in my scrapbook". She has the makings of a real crafter in her, seeing inspiration and useful ephemera everywhere.

It's a wonderful memory of our trip.

I would like to enter my holiday journal into the following challenges.

Anything but cute inspiration photo I was inspired by all photos, especially the flowers and created a very "vintage garden" themed Tuscan journal.
A Vintage Journal stencil it..I used lots!
Paperartsy patterns all my backgrounds were created using different patterns of stencils and stamps. Each double page is unique.
Snippets Playground 242 I have used soo many snippets to decorate my journal.
We love to create 1/2 anything creative/mixed media
Pile it on Make 3/3 your own background
Rhedd's Creative Spirit August
Stamplorations August mixed media stencil Sunday I used so many stencils in my journal!

I also added that wonderful Dr Zeuss quote in the back of  mine and Daisy's journal.

Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment.....
Until it becomes a memory.

How true that is and how many treasured memories I hold of our wonderful holiday we shared with Daisy and Co.
I just wanted to share 2 final photos from our Tuscany adventure...

 Do you think I love my sweet granddaughter.....just a bit ;0) What a lucky Nanna I am.

We've had a very chilled weekend as we babysat my furry grandson..the lovely Bear, my son's dog. He watched me craft too in my garden studio. I have been working on my Z piece for the latest letter in the dictionary challenge...it's a fun one!

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x