Stamps and nature for STAMPlorations

Hello our challenges are back over at STAMPlorations and I am delighted to be sharing my first DT card for the theme and photo prompt March challenge.

Our theme this month is a lovely one;

and don't you just love the photo prompt..it makes me dream of hot sunny days.......ahhhh. Spring is just around the corner so it's not too much of a dream now.

All the details of the challenge can be found here

You can choose to go with the nature theme, go with something from the photo; perhaps the colours or image..or as I always love to challenge myself to do...both! If it is not obvious please just let us know in your post. Please remember to add our challenge logo to your post if you would like to be in with a chance of winning!

I worked with the following awesome products and have added live links to them in my post. Remember if you use my unique code STAMPGIRLJANE at the check out you can get an additional 20% off on top of any existing discounts! Shery ships internationally at very low cost too.

This is what I got up to using these gorgeous STAMP products.

Hello coffee stamp set

Tulips prints stencil

and a sentiment from always time for tea

This is what I got up to;

I took the tulips print stencil

 and sprayed distress oxide though it. I then turn the stencil over and used the excess ink to get another print, so that I had a positive and negative print. 

 I stamped the sentiment in place.

 I decided to use both prints so I made some small images so as not to distract too much from the tulip prints.

Here is my make, this is the negative print of the stencil

and this is the one made with the positive print from the stencil. Don't you just love these adorable little birdies! 

It would be great to see you joining in with the fun and perhaps you might even be one of the winners.  You can go with the theme, the sketch or both, the choice is yours. There are some fab prizes to be won; $15 gift certificate to the winner and $10 for the runner up, chosen by a DT member. There are also $5 gift certificates given to each of 3 randomly drawn players. Once again  this is the link here to the challenge with all the info you need. Good luck!

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

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes
The house that stamps built 2/3 anything goes
Through the craft room room door 2/3 anything goes
A gem of a challenge 2/3 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

More holidays with STAMPlorations

Wow time is racing away and it is now only 10 days til Christmas. I am enjoying using all my cherished Christmas crockery. It makes my cappuccino taste even better.

It is time for some mid month inspiration for our last STAMPlorations challenge of the year for the theme and photo prompt challenge team. The theme is Stamps and Holidays. This can be any holiday eg Easter etc but for me as I am Mrs Christmas this had to be Christmas  for me.  This is the link.

You can choose to go with the holiday theme or chose to go with something from the photo; perhaps the colours, images..or as I always love to challenge myself to do...both! If it is not obvious just let us know on your post.
I used Christmas reindeer

and the brilliant Christmas baubles

Remember that if you use my special code STAMPGIRLJANE at the checkout you can save an extra 20% on top of any current savings!

As always I love to use both the theme and photo prompt.
I stamped and gold embossed 3 bauble and coloured them in. I then cut them out.

I added embossed stamping in the colours of the theme to some plum coloured card. The green embossing powder is a tinsel variety. I also stamped the sentiment in white.

I then attached the baubles adding green twine and ribbons. 

This is my card.

It would be great to see you joining in with the fun and perhaps you might even be one of the winner.  There are some fab prizes to be won; $15 gift certificate to the winner and $10 for the runner up, chosen by a DT member. There are also $5 gift certificates given to each of 3 randomly drawn players. Once again this is the link to follow. to the challenge with all the info you need.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

  I will be back on Monday with my 2nd  "Things with wings" special post for STAMPlorations, there are prizes to be won so don't miss it!

Bye for now,

Jane x

Christmas stamping with STAMPlorations

Hello, I am back with my 2nd design team post of the day, this one is for the lovely STAMPlorations. Our last challenge of the year for the theme and photo prompt challenge is called Stamps and Holidays. This can be any holiday eg Easter etc but for me, as I am Mrs Christmas, this just had to be Christmas.

You can choose to go with the holiday theme or chose to go with something from the photo; perhaps the colours or images..or as I always love to challenge myself to do...both! If it is not obvious just let us know on your post. All the details are here

I used the winter coffee stamp from coffee for all seasons

with the little words from Homespun Christmas

and the snowflakes from Reindeer Christmas

This is what I got up to. 

 I made a background using alcohol inks.

I cut it down and added some stamping using all the 3 sets mentioned above. I embossed in white, green, pink and yellow as per the photo prompt. I also stamped to match the pattern too.

I added some glitter to coffee cup.

I them matted it up using pink card and mounted it onto a white square card blank.
Here it is finished.

It would be great to see you joining in with the fun and perhaps you might even be one of the winner.  You can go with the theme, the sketch or both, the choice is yours. There are some fab prizes to be won; $15 gift certificate to the winner and $10 for the runner up, chosen by a DT member. There are also $5 gift certificates given to each of 3 randomly drawn players. Once again this is the link to the challenge with all the info you need.

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

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

Stamps and birthdays

It is the first Friday and June and of course that means that it is time for a brand new challenge over at STAMPlorations.

The theme for this month is a fun one,

 and a really cool sketch if you would like to try that.

The rules in brief are that you need to use stamping on your projects. You don't have to use STAMPlorations stamps to enter but of course we love it if you do! You can link up 6 times with new blog posts and you need to include the challenge graphic in your post. You can go with the theme, the sketch or both, the choice is yours. There are some fab prizes to be won too! 

This is the link to the challenge with all the info you need.

As always I used the theme and sketch and this is what I got up to.
I made an alcohol ink background using alcohol ink pearls. I then cut some pink and yellow card in the same shape as the sketch.

and stuck them in place

I then stamped one of the cupcakes and sentiment onto an oval die cut from the super fun stamp set
Birthday bash

This is my finished card

with close up of the focal. 

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

Love to craft 3/3 anything goes

Lil patch of crafting friends 3/3 anything goes

Through the craft room door 2/3 anything goes
Stamping sensations 2/3 show us your true colours

Remember if you would like to buy these stamps or any products on the website just enter my code STAMPGIRLJANE at the checkout to get 20% off on top of any current discount being offered.This is a direct link to the web site

It would be great to see you joining in with the fun and perhaps you might even be the winner of the $15 coupon code? Once again this is the link to the challenge with all the info you need.

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A thank you blog hop for Di

Good morning, what a wild week is has been so far weather wise. We have had sleet, sun, rain, wind and more here. I have not been able to test my new camera out very much but I did take these photos the other day on my twice weekly walk to Dotty's Tea House, with my latest cards, via the ponds.

I've had a couple of questions regarding my camera...it is just a newer version of the cameras I have used for the last 10 years or so. It's a Panasonic DMC-TZ80 Lumix with a fab Leica lens. I have not edited any of the above photos. The only photos are edit here on my blog are my cards etc. I just don't have the time. So to answer another question I regularly get asked; No I do not use Photoshop etc for these shots, they are literally downloaded and added here. I just use Ipiccy to crop and watermark my card and artwork photos.

So back to the main theme of my post today. The lovely Di from Pixie's crafty workshop has run a fab challenge called Pixie's snippets Playground for the last 7 years. The current one is here and Darnell, a fellow playground playmate, has organized a thank you blog hop to help celebrate such a momentous occasion. I first "met" Di about 3 years ago and I have loved getting to know her through our blogging. Her challenge is to use up snippets of anything on our projects. She devotes so much time to the challenges and offers prizes paid for out of her own pocket. Thanks Di for your blogging friendship, kindness and generosity. Do pop on over and say hello to Di, she would love for you to join in the fun and games. This is the link to her blog.  Just say that Jane's Journal sent you 😃, she will welcome you with open arms.

Darnell suggested that we all post a snippets card on our blogs as part of a blog hop to celebrate this lovely occasion and to thank Di for all her hard work over the last 7 years. That is such an achievement, well done and thank you lovely lady. 

  

This is my card I am linking up made with all the snippets from a card I made here for STAMPlorations using their lovely stamps. So it is most definitely a snippets card! I used some book pages and a Noor die cut. The background is spray inks.

You can see the cards everyone else has made for Di over here on Darnell's blog here.. 

I would also like to link up my card with the following challenges.

Crafty Catz 2/3 anything goes
Allsorts 2/3 friends

Cute card Thursday 1/3 critters
Crafty friends 1/3 animals/birds

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take to leave me, especially when life is so busy!

I am back on Friday when unbelievable I have no less than 3 posts to publish. Yes a bit of a clash but plenty of Design Team work to share for Country View Challenges, STAMPlorations and a Blog hop for the Turner Syndrome awareness group..Stay tuned!

Bye for now,

Jane x

Jack Frost

Brr it was bitterly cold yesterday. I was lucky enough to have a day at home making some designs with the brand new Visible Image Wizard of Oz stamps which are available for pre order tomorrow. 

When I got up first thing the garden had obviously been visited by Jack frost.

I love the way the frost wraps itself around everything. I have been playing with my new camera and took these shots.

My hellebore is just about to bloom but for yesterday it was held rigid by the frost. 

Even my perky violas had taken a nose dive

but they will recover, they are such hardy plants.

I also loved the icy pattern on the leaves of my digitalis.

I am off down to Dotty's this morming and it is due to be a little warmer as is the weekend.

So today I think to warm us up cake and a smiling cat should feature on my card. It's a new Wonderland birthday one using my Visible Image Cheshire cat stamp set. I coloured him with Zig markers.The papers are ancient, the tea cup is Marianne and the music and butterfly dies are by The Works. I have stamped and embossed the fish bone from the Cheshire cat stamp set onto the cup.

I would like to enter it into the following challenges.

Sweet stampin 2/3 bright and cheerful

Artistic Inspirations 1/3 anything goes

Pile it on land or water animals

Crafty Hazelnut's patterned paper challenge January

Cute card Thursdays 1/3 critters
The house that stamps built 1/3 anything goes

It will be up for sale at Dotty's Tea House Carshalton High Street, SM5 2AE by lunchtime. 

Enjoy your weekend, it is supposed to warm up a little. I hope so as we plan to take friends who are visiting for a long local walk at some point. We might even end up in Dotty's for tea and cake at the end of it. 

I am back bright and breezy on Monday with my very first Wizard of Oz sample, stay tuned.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for your kind comments.

Bye for now,

Jane x