Crows and conkers

Following on from my 2019 conker treasure hunt post I thought I would share some more of my crafting inspiration from that day. If you missed that post you can find it here

As well as the conker treasure hunt we also went to see my family of Dino ducks (Egyptian geese) who I have fed and followed since they hatched earlier this year.

You may remember that I also made some backgrounds for some artist trading coins.

On Monday I used them to make some dino duck inspired coins. I used my lovely new Lavinia crows and made these. I would like to give a heads up that Country View Crafts (who I design for) are now an official stockist of Lavinia stamps. They always offer completely FREE UK POSTAGE with no minimum spend! The crow stamp set I used for my coins are available here

I made 6, 3 for my group swap 2 for Daisy and 1 for me. I posted Daisy's to her and she should be receiving them today. 

A couple of close ups (these are 2 1/2" in diameter).

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

Addicted to stamps and more anything goes
Crafting by Design 2/3  anything goes
Fab n Funky 2/3 autumn colours
Creative Inspirations 2/3 masculine or fall/autumn
The house that stamps built 2/3 circles
Through the craft room door 2/3 anything goes
Crafter's Castle 1/3 anything goes/fall
Crafty Calander 1/3 anything goes/fall
A vintage journey Inky wings
Craft Stamper take it make it 1/3 anything goes

We did lots of crafting last weekend and I am delighted to say that Jack loves to be involved sometimes too,

when you can drag him away from his beloved trains...this is a bit blurry but shows him looking at his aeroplane ATC badge I made him!

Today I visited the dinos and did some crafting..but I had no little buddies to do it with this time..
we will be seeing them again next weekend so not long to wait.

Thanks for popping by and have a lovely weekend. We are huge Strictly fans and can't wait to see the Movie night show tonight on TV, it is always such a spectacle.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

The 2019 Conker treasure hunt

Last weekend out darling grandbabies came to stay while their Mummy and Daddy went to a wedding. It was the perfect timing as the local horse chestnut trees were raining down conkers for our annual conker treasure hunt. My non UK blog readers often ask what conkers are. They are the fruit of the horse chestnut tree and are the stuff of all our childhoods. Everyone smiles when they see a shiny conker on the ground and even my Mum at 85 will stop and pick up the first one of the season. However as I have been before they are not edible at all, unlike their sweet chestnut relative.

Daisy has been on our conker treasure hunt most years but this was a first for Jack. They had their baskets to gather their finds.

We call it "treasure" when you find an unopened case containing a conker. You never know if you will find a single round conker in there or 2 "cheese cutters". Daisy even found one case with 3 inside.

Jack actually said "wow" as we opened this one.

Treasure!

Expert Daisy showed Jack how to avoid the prickles as you open the case.

There were  thousands on the floor.

We had the best fun.

This is their haul which I will scatter at the park at the end of our road for the squirrels to eat soon.

How much joy can such a simple free activity generate, we made some wonderful memories of a very special day.

I decided that I really wanted to make a "Moment" for my album and some Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) Daisy loves my ATCS and coins, I offered to send one of each of my collections I make to her from now on. She thought it was a wonderful idea and I bought her an A4 file and some sheets of protective card holders. She has asked me to post them to her, this sounds like a really fun thing for us both.

So on Monday, when the house was very quiet again, I got out my distress inks to make some backgrounds, inspired by the colours of that day.

I made 2 sheets of watercolour backgrounds, 1 for my Moment and 1 for my Artist trading cards.

I used my very organic Ink swirls Visible Image stencil and added some more of the same inks.

 I left 1 sheet whole and I cut some of the 2nd sheet into ATC size. 

For my Moment I wanted to try to give the impression of the conkers and autumnal trees and colours without distracting from my photos. I used my Visible Image "the ripple effect" set of background stamps as I wanted to create the memory of the trees and the conkers we collected.I also used , Into the woods for the trees and sentiment.  The ripple effect  represented the tree trunks and the circles the conkers. Some I gave a shine to using glossy accents, just like the shiny conkers we found.

Here is my Moment.

with a couple of close ups;

and one last shot

and these are the ATCs

3 are for a Facebook swap group I belong to, 1 is for Daisy and 1 is for me.

A couple of close ups;

When I look at my Moment and ATCs in my album I will be able to revisit a special day with Daisy and Jack and some wonderful memories.
I think the sentiments were perfect to sum up that day. Family/roots/strength/memories, what can be more important?

I would like to enter my Moment into the following challenges;
Cute card Thursday anything goes
Addicted to stamps and more anything goes
Crafting by Design anything goes

I would like to enter my ATCs into the following challenges;
Fab n Funky 1/3 autumn colours
Creative Inspirations 1/3 masculine or fall/autumn
The house that stamps built 1/3 circles
Through the craft room door 1/3 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by, the mornings and evenings have a real nip in the air now. Even with the sunny days mixed in with the rain we had this week, autumn has most certainly arrived.

Have a lovely upcoming weekend,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

First conker of 2019

Although the mornings are much chillier we are still enjoying late summer sunshine both in my garden and down at the local parks.

On my last walk though I spotted something on the floor which made my heart sing...

it was still in it's case but shimmering in the sunshine.

Yes my very first conker of 2019, autumn really is just around the corner.

My card today has the same feel and colours and uses my favourite Visible Image flower stamp, Creative chaos together with one of their older sentiments. The background is brushos.

I added some Glossy accents, just to one of the petals to make it shine...just like my conker.

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

A bit more time to craft 3/3 anything goes

We love 2 create 2/3 anything goes mixed media

Happy Little stampers watercolour anything goes

Simon says stamp Monday use something clear mine is the Glossy Accents.

Stamping sensations 1/3 anything goes with flowers
Simon says stamp Wednesday stamp it
Through the craft room door 1/2 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Bye for now,

Jane x

The conker hunt 2018

On Sunday it was our annual family conker hunt. The weather all day Saturday and Sunday morning was rain, rain and more rain and if we could we probably would have tried to reschedule. But armed with wet weather waterproofs we walked down to our local park and could not believe that as we arrived the clouds started to part and out came the sunshine!

Daisy had her basket and was keen to get going.

She was not disappointed.  just look, the ground was completely covered with conker treasure.

Lots were still in their shells as they had been blown down by the strong winds the day before.  Daisy gleefully pulled them out, doubles like below, are especially treasured.

Bear came too and kept herding us up and keeping an eye on us all, including Jack

who had his own little bucket this year.

He delighted in putting his own conker treasures in it.

helped by his Daddy.

So many beauties to find. 

What a wonderful family time we enjoyed and the sunshine was so unexpected. I think the Conker god was smiling down on us 😏

My card today was inspired by the autumnal colours and is a new birthday card just taken down to Dotty's Teahouse to sell.  I used my Visible Image time tunnel stencil and also their elemental stamp to create an inky sheet which I die cut with my Tim Holtz world die and then mounted on some embossed brown card. The little birthday tag is an old Lili of the Valley stamp. The stars are Tim's and the starburst in an old Noor die.

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

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes
The house that stamps built 1/3 anything goes
Creative moments 1/3 anything goes
The male room 1/3 the great outdoors
Addicted to stamps and more 1/3 anything goes
Die cutting divas 1/3 fall colours my world and stars die is Tim Holtz and the star cascade is Noor.
Crafty sentiments 1/3 anything goes
Lil patch of crafty friends 1/3 anything goes
Sparkles monthly 1/3 dies or punches

I have just got back from the south coast as I was baby sitting Daisy and Jack yesterday. This glorious weather persists and today is wall to wall blue skies and sunshine...just look at this as we had a walk along the beach this morning. My daughter and I walked Daisy to school and then enjoyed a coffee, chat and walk which little Jack snoozed away in his pushchair.

Oh my it was just glorious.

Sending sunshine your way if you need some.
Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x