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

Blooming lovely, Visible Image's brand new stamps preview

Today is a very special day as I am absolutely delighted to be able to share my first Design Team sample made with 2 of the brand new Visible Image stamp sets which are being previewed all this week.

The new stamps are being launched in the USA at Creativation which Helen and Mark,  aka Mr and Mrs Visible Image, are attending for the very first time in 10 days time. They will be flying the flag for their awesome brand which I have the joy of being able to design for. The new stamps will be available to pre order from 12th January.  I will give all the details at the end of this post.

Over the last month I have secretly been beavering away working on some of the new designs and I have made several projects with them. I will be sharing them all over the coming weeks.

Every day this week Helen will be sharing more of the new release over on the Visible Image blog here. They will also be shared on their Facebook page here so don't miss out...why not like their page, click "get notifications" and you will be amongst the first to be able to see all the amazing work my fellow design team members have created for you. You will be blown away by just how unique this new range of stamps are. 

So just to tease you a little more, before I share my first sample, I have a few photos of my sweet hyacinth which started to bloom over the Christmas holiday. Each year I like to grow a bulb in my special bulb holder. I add water and watch first the roots appear..and later the flower starts to bloom...

 and grow.

Now you may wonder what on earth all this has to do with the new Visible Image release.......well it certainly does because the first stamp set that I am showcasing is called..

Bloom and Grow.....an amazing and totally unique stamp baby set

together with the second new set called Organics

...a large A5 set which has so many uses. I can see trees branches, twigs, the sky, the seas, seaweed, frost, ink splats and drips....the list is endless.

Amazing aren't they and so original!

These 2 sets work perfectly together and I decided to make my very own bloom and growing flower baby card.

I've been so busy that I have not got many process photos on file so here is my step by step in words.....First I took some Kraft card and added some walnut stain and antique linen distress oxides, using the wrinkle free technique. Once dry I stamped the fingerprint in red Versafine Claire ink and then added the love stamp from bloom and grow to make the stalk. I then used Organics to stamp some more foliage using a mixture of Distress oxides and Versafine inks.

I then added lots of lovely frantage to give some sparkle and texture... and make a very "organic" card. 

I stamped and embossed the baby and the sentiment and added them to finish off my card.

Here it is..

Just look at the details of the baby.... I love the little flower inside ...such a fab finishing design touch by Mark. I highlighted this one in white but in other projects I have also coloured it in...the choices are endless.

Here are a couple of close ups;

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

Fashionable stamping 3/3 celebrate
Frilly and Funkie 1/3  3 is not a crowd I cut the sentiment from the set into 3 parts before adding them to my card.
Simon Says stamp Monday something new mine are my stamps
The Artistic stamper 2/3 anything goes
Happy Little stampers water colour challenge anything goes
As you like it 2/3 anything goes
Craft Stamper take it make it January anything goes

Simon says stamp Wednesday something new mine are my stamps

Allsorts 1/3 Something new my new stamps!
Penny Black and More 1/3 something new  these brand new, never seen before stamps!

Remember that we are sharing all the new stamp designs every day this week over on the Visible Image blog here so do pop over to see the amazing creations my fellow design teamies have made.
Prepare to be wowed by this awesome new release. Mark Alexander has, as always, designed the most original, unique stamps, unlike any others you will see in the stamping market. They are a total joy to design with and so versatile. All you need is your imagination!

 I am so proud that my some of my work will be travelling all the way to the USA to be displayed.

You can also check out Visible Image via these links;

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!

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

I will be back on Thursday sharing another card sample I made using another set from the new release.....I can't give you a sneak peek but I will give a very, very cryptic clue to my card......I will digging out a couple of my old paperbacks to photograph too.......tee hee!

The new stamps are available to pre order on the Visible Image web site here from 12 January and will also be available to buy from all you favourite Visible Image retailers, world wide, very soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Keep snug, it's turned very chilly here.

Bye for now,

Jane x

New life on the ponds

I really love my walks down to Dotty's. I take my new card creations to sell and it involves no transport costs and no air miles! Every season is so different at the ponds and over the last few weeks I have been watching all the nest sitting by the ducks and moorhens. Mr and Mrs Swan are nowhere to be seen but no doubt will be back at some point, with or without their brood.

I said good morning to Mr Heron...who was basking in the sunshine...

Last week I noticed that one of the coot nests was empty.

I then heard that family cheeping of a Mother coot keeping her brood close to her .....and I spotted these sweeties.

How cute they are with their little red heads. 

I also walked over to the other pond and found some slightly older chicks with their Mum swimming in the sunshine.

As I took some photos I spotted something in the rushes....Oh wow a Mummy Moorhen with her babies. They are much more shy that coots.

As I walked home I witnessed the newest family feeding their babies...

The weather has been just amazing and I find my walks make me appreciate life and enable me to recharge my batteries and find great peace with Mother Nature. I am blessed and Mother Nature has a good way of reminding me.

My card today is a baby card...for a Christening.. which I was commissioned to make.I sell a lot of baby cards in Dotty's . I used a Lili of the Valley Simply Print image. The lady asked me to just add an initial..something I have never been asked to do before..for the baby, who was called Florence. The papers are ancient from my stash and the sentiment is a hand stamped Lili of the Valley fave.

I would like to enter it into the following challenges.

The ribbon girl 1/3  use any image
Let's Craft and Create 1/3 girls girls girls
Noor summer
Deep Ocean die cuts, chipboards and/or punches
Try it on Tuesday 1/3 letters numbers or both I have the letter F on my card

Simon Says stamp Wednesday use patterned paper
Crafty Hazelnut patterned paper challenge June
Simon says work it Wednesday's 1/3 summer icons I think there is nothing more iconic in the  summer than a hammock, roses and bunting..all on 1 card!
Shopping our stash think pink

Thanks for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave me. I was thrilled to see how much love there was for Billy's summer garden I shared in my last post and the monolith I made, thanks so much!  Enjoy the rest of your week.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Thank yous

I really love our blogging community, everyone is kind and thoughtful. I have had so many messages, emails and cards to congratulate me and my family on the birth of our darling grandson Jack, who was born on 21st April. He is now 3 weeks old and although still so tiny (he was only 5lb 13oz at birth) he is putting on weight. When weighed a week ago he was 6lb 1oz so Mummy is doing really well with her feeding.

I know everyone has been asking how he is so here are a couple of photos from last Thursday and Friday when I went down to stay.

 Our darling Daisy is so grown up and is the most loving and caring big sister

 to her sweet little baby bro

We have a great friend who has lived in our road for over 30 years. She came to the rescue to look after our cat Billy at very short notice when we were going up and down to Southampton just before and after Jack was born. As a thank you I bought her a bottle of wine. I thought the baby feet logo was most appropriate and the wine is a gold medal winner.

As you can imagine time was pretty short at that time to make a thank you card so I made her a thank you gift tag instead.

It went down very well 😋
I have a full step by step of how I created this over on the Country View shop blog today if you would like to see. Here is the link . I used the wonderful distress oxides and some stencilling and added a stamped thank you.

I would like to enter my gift tag into the following challenges;

Dies R us 1/3 shaped cards/projects
A bit more time to craft 1/3 anything goes
Artistic Inspirations 1/3 anything goes
Crafting from the heart 1/3 anything goes

Thank you everyone for your blogging friendship, I appreciate your good wishes very much indeed.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A new life

Hello friends, I promised I would return with some more photos of my darling new grandson born a week ago. Our Jack William is just gorgeous and although no bigger than his sister Daisy's dolly he is feeding well and in just 1 week brought so much joy to our family.

Here are a few of my favourite photos of my darling Jack;
His first hold by big sister...just look at the joy and tenderness on her face

We went shopping together to buy his giraffe and some clothes...how grown up my darling Daisy looks here...💖

She gave her pressies to her new baby bro

and when we got home she put her own dolly in her new Moses basket (I made this for her own Mummy when her baby bro was born 28 years ago).

How tiny Jack is in his Moses basket (this is the same basket his Mummy and Uncle slept their early days in ).

My very precious boy

Oh my...how much love our grandchildren bring us.

So of course my card today is the one I made for Jack's birthday...it really was his birthday wasn't it.

Yes I just had to make one of my "special" accordion cards for him, just like I did for Daisy.
I used my favourite Penny Black hedgie rubber stamp for the main focal, which I coloured with Promarkers.

I added glossy accents to the daisies, teddy, bows and butterfly. The tag is Lili of the Valley. The papers are First Edition.

The little clothes line with pegs on your left is from a  Lili of the Valley baby stamp set. I paper pieced it and added Pinflair underneath to make them look as thought they are flapping in the wind (the photo does not do this justice). The snug baby and baby in bath (on your right) are buttons and the die cuts are all Memory Box.

Below is one last shot of the cute Hedgie

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

Penny Black and  More 1/3 spring
Penny Black Saturday 1/3 spring or Easter
I love Promarkers anything goes I have used ProMarkers and FlexMarkers to colour my hedgie.
Sweet Stampin 2/3 I wish I could fly...I imagine that's what this hedgie dreaming of is his hammock, shown by the birds on my pattered paper too.

The ribbon girl 3/3 use any image

As you like it 3/3 favourite colour and why These are my favourite blues and greens, I think this combo works so well for baby boy cards. 

Allsorts I spy something beginning with B my B's are; baby, butterfly, blue, bath, bubbles, buttons, babygro, bundle of love, bows and birds! A full house I think. 

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

Simon says stamp  work it Wednesday 2/3 April showers bring May flowers

Deep Ocean spring

Noor UK flowers

I am back on Monday with not one but two DT posts as it is the first of the Month for Country View and another Marvellous Monday for some inspiration for Visible Image. I can also give you a heads up that Visible Image are starting up a monthly themed challenge over on Facebook..pop back on Monday when I will reveal all. 

Have a wonderful bank holiday weekend. We are hoping to catch up with our children again. Thanks for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave me. I love reading every single one of them.

Bye for now,

Jane x