Now I am 6 and a giveaway

Wow.....6 years of my life have flashed past and I find that today that I am celebrating my 6th anniversary of my little blog. There are some of you out there who have been with me since my very first blog post in 2010 and many more have you have joined me on my creative journey.

There are just 2 words I can say at time like this...

THANK YOU

I so appreciate your support. I know that many of you are silent readers so I will wave to you and thank you for reading Jane's Journal. Lots of you take the time to leave comments, one special lady (yes you know who you are V) has left a comment on every single post I have ever written...barring when she is on holiday. I have made so many blogging friends over the years and some I have even had the joy of meeting up with in the flesh. This is such a great world to be a part of and I have found nothing but kindness, friendship and generosity here. 

THANK YOU

I am still the same happy blogger as I was when I set off on this journey 6 years ago. I have written 671 posts...that's a lot of words and photos.  My creative journey has wandered along many paths and I am still as keen to learn new techniques as I was all those years ago. I have shared thousands of photos, as you know my camera goes everywhere with me, capturing many moments in my life. Mother Nature is also a huge inspiration for me. I really enjoy sharing my photos and I know from the sweet emails and comments I receive that they inspire you too.

THANK YOU

So I have decided to hold a very special giveaway today. I an offering 3 pieces of my one of kind handmade jewellery to one lucky winner who's name I will pull out of my sun hat in 2 weeks time. I wanted to make something really bright and summery for you. 

So below is my photo of what you can win, which will be on my sidebar after today's post.

Below is a close up of the bracelet, made of freshwater pearls, shell and mother of pearl. All the fittings are sterling silver.

 The bag charm has 2 one of a kind glass lampwork beads.

 The dichroic (fused glass) earrings have sterling silver stud  fittings.

They will be presented in pretty organza bags. You can keep them or gift them to a friend. One lucky person will win all 3 pieces. I will post world wide.

I dislike any rules when offering a thank you giveaway so anyone can enter by simply leaving a comment on this post that they would like to be included in the draw.

However I always like to offer a couple of extra chances to my loyal followers and readers so;

If you are a follower, (you are welcome to join today) you can have an extra entry...please leave a 2nd comment saying so.

If you share this photo in a post, with a link back to here on your own blog or if you post the photo in your side bar, with a link back to this page, you can have a 3rd entry.
Just pop back with another comment and let me know.

I don't do the fancy link up thingy, it's just names in a hat for me!

My giveaway closes at 4 pm (British summer time) on Monday 8th August.

Good luck!

So my card today could be nothing other than a thank you card could it? I stamped and coloured one of Tim's flowers and used lots of layers of die cuts to create something delicate yet vintage......the sentiment is LOTV.

 There is some flower embossing too using a Visible Image rose stamp.

 and some faux stitching with my white pen.

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

Anything  but  cute summertime fun
Little Claire's 3/3 anything goes
ABC L for lots of layers
Pixie's snippets playground #239 I have used lots of snippets of card...my frames and my glitter card hearts
Uniko flowers
Try it on Tuesday make us smile
Crafty cardmakers summer
Simon says stamp Monday add some texure
Penny Black and More Any stamp

And as my post title is taken from one of my favourite book of poetry and because at heart I really do not think I will ever grow up I will end with this sweet poem

The End (taken from Now We are Six by A.A.Milne)

When I was One,
I had just begun.

When I was Two 
I was nearly new.

When I was three,
I was hardly Me.

When I was Four,
I was not much more,

When I was Five,
I was just alive.

But now that I am Six, I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.


Thanks for visiting today and as always for taking the time to read Jane's Journal and leaving your kind comments. I  won't be stopping blogging now that I am Six and I am certainly not clever..LOL! However if you can keep young at heart and you will never, ever feel old.

Here's to many more happy years of blogging. Cheers to you all.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

March celebrations

March is a time for lots of celebrations for my family this year. Mother's day is this Sunday, 20th is my darling daughter's 29th birthday, my brother's birthday is on 22nd and it is my parent's Diamond Wedding (yes 60 years!) on 26th  This also means lots of excuses for card making and creating.

We also had a wonderful occasion to celebrate on Saturday as my darling daughter found out that she has passed her final exams. She just has her portfolio and a couple of other formalities to complete and will be a fully qualified GP on Christmas Eve this year. We are so proud that after 11 years of  medical training and hard work this has come to fruition and also that she has managed to fit in having our Darling Daisy too. What an achievement.

We had a lovely day with them and popped the cork of a bottle of bubbly in the evening. Daisy had a lovely day doing lots of walking...still still insists on holding one finger but walks so far. Here she is in her shooooos ;0)

 She adores dogs and we met lots on our walk.

She wore her new jacket and looked so grown up.

I thought my card today should be for Mother's day as I think both my Mum and my darling daughter are such wonderful Mum's. It's not the card I made for my Mum as I have already shown that one
here.

I decided that I would show the one I have made for my Etsy shop. It is inspired by my Darling Daisy in her little blue jacket.  I have just added the sentiment "Mum" so it is suitable for both Mother's Day or for a Mum's birthday. It's very sparkly in real life.

 The stamp and sentiment are Lili of the Valley and I have coloured her using my Promarkers and added some highlights with Prismacolor pencils.

 The lovely glittered butterfly is by Noor! as is the lattice doily

This card is for sale in my Etsy shop here. I have been trying to update my shop and I have added a few other newbies there too including this sewing themed bag charm. A gift for your Mum, sister or friend perhaps?

and a garden themed one too which is available here 

 The beads are all one of a kind artisan created handmade lampwork glass and they make really pretty little gifts. They come in an organza bag.

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

Fashionable stamping spring time
Cupcake Inspirations sparkle inspiration, 300th challenge celebrations many congrats to them!
Natalie and Amy  Flowers
Country View Crafts anything goes
CraftyHazelnut's Patterned papers anything goes
The Artistic stamper Spring is coming
Inspiration Journal Spring blooms
Simon says stamp Monday B if for mine is for blossom and butterfly
Crafty Sentiments spring colours
Simon says Wednesdays special lady/girlie
Stamp and Create Is it Spring yet?
Crafty Cardmakers for a special woman
Allsorts spring is in the air
Creative Inspirations something old my stamp is around 4 years old
Papertake weekly anything goes


Thanks for visiting today, it's always good to see you here.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

I am 4

Yes it is true.....today Jane's Journal turns 4....where on earth have those 4 years gone! I have made so many wonderful blogging friendships and to celebrate I am having a giveaway with 2  rather special prizes as a thank you to everyone who visits me here. I thought something  very summery would be appropriate.
I gave a little sneak peek on Monday so now it is time to reveal all.

Yes I have wired up one of my very precious artisan made lampwork glass shells to made a pretty summer pendant. It has a handmade sterling silver fitting and a genuine sparkling Sworovski bicone crystal on top. It will come on an 18" sterling silver chain.

The 2nd person out of the hat will receive this summer themed bag charm which also has 2 very special unique artisan lampwork glass beads and several fun summer themed charms.

Everyone is welcome to enter my giveaway, I never have any restrictions as I know there are many people who follow by email or just pop by and silently read.  I will post world wide. 

To enter; just  leave a comment on this post, that you would like to be a winner, you will receive 1 entry.  However I really love to give my faithful blogging friends who visit me and comment on every single post (yes you all know who you all are and I thank you so much for always stopping by here, some from day 1 and some more recently) a few extra entries. So if you are a follower (you a welcome to join me today as well) you will get a 2nd entry. Finally if you put the photo at the top of this post showing the details of my giveaway  into your blog sidebar, or you mention my giveaway in a post, I will give you a 3rd entry.

Just come back and leave a separate comment for each of the entries you are entitled to. You have 2 weeks to do this in.

My giveaway will close at 4pm (BST) on 9 August. 

I will put all the entries into a hat and my Hb will pull out 2 winners names soon after the closing time. Please make sure you come back after 9 August to see if you are a lucky winner. 

I have been adding some summer themed jewellery to my Etsy shop and if you cannot wait until my bloggerversary ends these pieces are for sale.

This lovely beach themed pendant is available Here

And this pair of etched glass shell earrings here

Also a similar summer themed bag charm is available here

We are off today to the family BBQ to celebrate my daughter and SIL's 2nd wedding anniversary. My Hb and I had a lovely day celebrating our 33rd yesterday with a trip to London. We enjoyed our lunch in Brown's and then pottered around the shops.

My card today is another wedding/anniversary themed card, a gold and white creation. I enjoy making these, they have such a cool elegant feel. This is very welcome after the heat wave we have been enjoying...it was 32c+ most afternoons this week.

The sentiment is computer generated. I have embossed the background. The heart and butterflies are Cheery Lynn.

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

ABC P is for Pearls 
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday  embossing I have used dry embossing of the background
Party Time Tuesday anything goes
Crafty Ribbons anything goes with ribbon
Cheery Lynn gold and/or silver I have a gold edge on my ribbon and silver pearls
Love to create bright and sunny
Fussy and Fancy words
Crafty Catz anything goes
We do doobadoo Celebrations

Thank you all  for making this a very special day for me. Here's to the next year of blogging friendship. No one quite realises how special blogging is unless they are a part of it.....and I love being a part of it.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

To the Beach

How exciting that we now have a new King-to-be, born yesterday afternoon on the hottest day since 2006. Many congratulations to Kate and William and welcome to the as yet un named Prince of Cambridge. The world's press had been camped outside the hospital and it was so joyful to see the news announced live on TV last night just before 9pm. It makes the arrival of my darling grandbaby in November feel even closer. I can't wait.

The girls over at the Ribbon girls have even hosted a great blue giveaway for the Royal baby, take a peep here

Unbelievably this is my penultimate card as GD for the ladies of  Loves Rubberstamps. This week the challenge is called "How Charming" in other words you need to use a charm on your project. Do pop over to join the fun. As you all know that is never difficult for me as I have lots and lots of charms as I use them to make my bag charms with. I decided that I wanted to make another of the amazing accordion cards again and inspired by the summer weather and wanting to use some of my pretty holiday shells I set to work on my latest piece.
Here it is;

and here are a couple of close ups

The stamp is a Whimsy Wee stamp called Goldie. She is such a sweet mermaid. I coloured her with my Promarkers and highlighted with Prismacolor pencils.  I fussy cut her out and have used Glossy Accents to make her bubble appear real. The Smile sentiment is from my Lili of the Valley Pretty Vintage sets. You will spot 2 charms here, an anchor and a sweet little sea horse. I have also used for the first time some Stampendous Frantage embossing enamel...OMGoodness I am in love, this is such fun to use. I really thought it worked well as "sand". I made another Craftwork Card Candi flower too and there are more of my sweet holiday shells here.  I had such fun making this card.

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

Heck of a Challenge The Sea

Country View Crafts Summer sizzler

Rhedd and Rosie's Challenge anything goes

Visible Image Inspired by a song my song is that fab summer beach song "Under the boardwalk" by The Drifters...I now can't stop humming it ;0)

Crafting with Dragonflies unusual folds you can see my tutorial  for this on my blog post here entitled Happiness is...

Simon Says Stamp By the Sea

Charizma Cards Girlie

Penny Black and More Dies/punches

Stamping Sensations Summer Colours

Make it Monday Linky challenge #150

Continuing the theme of using charms I thought I would  show you some of my recent bag charm commissions....I have also got a seaside themed bag charm for sale here in my Etsy shop using a mermaid charm.

and here is a whole bunch of others...I thought they looked fun together. If you would like any particular themed bag charm made for yourself or as a pressie do email me, I can cover most requests. The beads I use are one of a kind handmade artisan glass lampwork beads. Each bag charm is totally unique. They cost £6.75 each, postage is extra depending on your location. I post worldwide. 

The sun has continued to shine every day and this is the longest heat wave we have had since 2006. My daughter lives near the sea and I thought I would share a couple of photos from our recent visit.

 She's just like her Mum, fascinated by shells...

There's nothing quite like a visit to the seaside is there ;0)

And if you wondered what Billy is getting up to in this heat

Yes he is "flat out!" ;0)

Do pop back here on Thursday as I have a jewellery giveaway planned...celebrations ahead ;0)

Bye for now,

Jane x

200 posts, 100 followers; Join me for a virtual cup of tea and a giveaway

There can be nothing quite as quintessentially English as Afternoon Tea. I can not imagine not drinking tea and I spend many hours discussing all sorts of things over a cuppa. I believe you can put the world to right over one too. One of my most memorable presents my husband treated me to a few years ago was afternoon tea at Claridges. It was just exquisite. And more recently as part of my daughter's hen weekend in July we had a wonderful Afternoon Tea at the Dorchester. Tea really is a great pick me up.

On my recent trip to Harrods I decided to choose try a new blend.

This is just part of the tea department.
There were hundreds to choose from and I decided to try the No 16 Harrods afternoon special as recommended by the server.

He weighed it out for me and then decanted it into it's own special bag.
I was amazed how many different tea accessories they also sell.

I loved all the tea strainers..these were silver plated and not cheap. They will be added to my ever lengthening wish list ;0)

This is my little bag of tea which came home with me and yes it is delicious.

I make it in my little tea pot and I have a special old Sylvac tea strainer that I have owned since I was 19.

Mmmmmm, that's better. You can see I like my tea quite strong, just a dash of milk and no sugar. I hope you also are able to sit down and join me with a cup of tea too..;0)

Now all these thoughts of Afternoon Tea set my mind thinking that this would be a great range of bag charms to join my recent Alice in Wonderland range. I found some very sweet tea related charms and created one to add to my Etsy Shop here

How cute is that slice of cake and tea pot...

How cute is this tiny tea cup and saucer ;0)

and this was a specially commissioned "English" bag charm I made for a great blogging buddy of mine, I even found a tiny tea spoon charm.













 Now unbelievably this is my 200th post, yes for my "regulars" you have been subjected to that many over the last 2 years and 4 months. I have also just gained my 100th Follower (thanks so much).  I think this deserves a thank you to everyone who visits me here. As well as joining me for a virtual cup of tea I have decided that I will hold a little giveaway and 1 lucky winner will win a bag charm of their choice. It can be one of my new afternoon tea bag charms or or you can choose one of your own. Have a look in the bag charm section of my Etsy shop here. To enter just mention the giveaway in your comment together with a colour/theme request for your winning charm if  you come out of my hat (or teapot). I will draw a winner on 29th November at 5pm (GMT). I will post world wide, if you don't have a blog just email me or convo me via Etsy, everyone is welcome to join in.

My card challenge for today is also a "thank you" Christmas card... dedicated to you all and it is from another very important person who appears in my blog..my dearest Billy

Here he is keeping watch from the roof of my Studio....you may have noticed that I have changed my Blogger Profile photo to this..I just think it's a perfect blend of my crafting with my furry boy. Billy would also  like to say what fun he has had appearing in quite a few of my 200 posts.

OK I know there is a little artistic licence here as the card kitty is more a tabby than Billy but hey I don't often wear pink socks ;0)
The image is coloured with Promarkers and highlighted with Prismacolor pencils. I have used the fun LOTV stamp called Make it Festive. I have added lots of snowy details including backing papers, die cuts and hand punched snow flakes. I know I cropped the very top of the photo off using Picmonkey but I think you can se the design fine.  I also used some pretty lace as well as pearls and gems to add some festive bling. The sentiment is also LOTV.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;
Ladybug Crafts Ink snowflakes
The Crafty Pad It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas #197
My Mum's Craft shop Inspiration from a song my inspiration for my card is the song "Santa Claus is coming to town" as sung by the Crystals in the early 1960s as I think this stamp has a real 60s feel to it and I have gone with some very non traditional colours for my card and given it some 60s bling!
Joanna Sheen Cold and frosty
Penny Black Allsorts any die will do my die is a Marianne circle die cut. I still have to buy my die cuts but Santa is bringing me my own....I can't wait.
The Squirrel and Fox anything goes #31
Stampin with the Dragon so cute
Crafts and Me Circles #111 my circles are my die cut, sentiment and my pearls and gems.
ABC Christmas W for wrapping my kitty seems to be doing more playing than wrapping but those ribbons as such a temptation!
Papertake weekly Ribbon and/or pearls I have added pearls to my card.
Top tip Tuesdays Kids and teens #90
Bearly Mine snowflakes
Creative Card Crew anything goes
Lili's Little Fairies anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge use something more than 6 months old my stamp is from last Christmas
Cute Card Thursday #244 girls only
Make it Monday linky party #116

The march towards Christmas seems to be speeding up with only 33 more sleeps to go now. On Saturday we are going to the Winchester Christmas Fair with our daughter. So much Christmas excitement ahead. I hope some festive spirit reaches all of you too.

Remember to enter my little giveaway you need to mention it in your comment with a choice of bag charm/colours. Thanks again for reading my posts and some of you have actually read ALL 200 of them, you are stars! I do so enjoy our blogging world and friendship. And to my American friends may I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving today.

Thanks for joining me for afternoon tea whatever the time of the day it is for you at the moment ;0)

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane (and Billy) x

Alice In Wonderland

.........Or of course more correctly the title should be  "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". I have a passion for childhood books and also their wonderful illustrations. The original illustrator of Alice was Sir John Tenniel but I have a copy illustrated my one of my favourite illustrators, Arthur Rackman. Recently I was trying to decide on some new ranges of bag charms to sell and I was looking for something which would be typically "English" and one idea that came to mind was indeed Alice in Wonderland.

This is one of my favourite illustrations from the  Rackham version depicting the characters all ready for the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. I also have a collection of miniatures from the now deceased company Hantel who produced wonderful Victorian miniatures from the Alice books.

These all live in a wooden cabinet hand made for me many years ago by my Mother In Law before she died. I really do treasure this cabinet as it was made to measure to hold my Hantel pieces. I have lots of them and this is a few of my Alice collection. They only  measure around  1"tall.

They all have the most marvellous detail. Francis Wilson who developed these pewter models based her designs on the original Tenniel illustrations.

This is some of the range which were available. Sadly Hantel ceased production many years ago but I have many of their lovely miniatures.

This is the front of their catalogue from 1997. So armed with my Alice ideas I tracked down some charms that would suit my theme. I found some lovely artisan one of a kind lampwork glass beads from my stash and then it was time to disappear to my garden studio to play with ideas.
So..here are my first pieces......

Rabbit Herald charm with clock face....."I'm late, I'm late...for a very important date"...;0)

and with a very cute teacup and saucer....

another bead combination with the clock face,,

and the other charms I can use are a sweet teapot and a slice of cake. These have been very popular and to pardon the pun "are going like hot cakes". If you have any specific colour or charm requests just email me. I can make you something one of a kind. These make great gifts and come in a little organza gift bag.

If you want to see what is available in my Etsy shop the link to my bag charms is here

If there are no Alice in Wonderland charms left just convo me via the link on the page.


So with the "Wonderland" theme of my post today my card challenge is a "Winter Wonderland" theme and a recent Christmas creation;

I used one of my beloved Lili of the Valley stamps, Milly Winter Window, as the focal. I also used one of my other fave stamps by Visible Image Stamps to give the shadow of Santa dashing across the sky. I embossed this with holographic embossing powder but the "sparkle" does not really show up in the photos.
I coloured the stamp with Promarkers and Prismacolor pencils and added glamour dust to give more sparkle. I added a lovely festive ribbon. I rather like using contemporary  colours for some of my cards...blues, blacks and silver go well together.
Visible image have just launched a brand new blog challenge so I am excited to join it!

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



Visible Image; First challenge Sparkle
Lili's Little Fairies ;Snow is falling
Really Reasonable Ribbon #59 Winter holiday
Totally Papercrafts #141 Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star
Sparkle Christmas Challenge Contemporary Colours #22
Card Crafters Circle #47 Patterned paper
ABC Christmas V is for Vibrant Colours
I love Promarkers #141 Cute
Divas by Design Feeling Festive #59
My Mum's Craft Shop #82 Bold and Bright
Crafts and Me Bling it up #108
The Paper Shelter Anything Goes #88
Hooked on Craft No red or green #26

It's a gorgeous chilly but sunny morning here so I am heading out to do a quick bit of gardening including planting some garlic and then it's some studio time. This evening we will be glued, as always to Strictly Come Dancing......at the moment M and I are learning the Quick Step and boy is it harder than it looks. I just love how easy the pros make it look. Have a lovely weekend everyone, thanks as always for your lovely visits and comments, it's always great to see you here.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x