August brings the sheaths of corn

There is a very slight nip in the air in the mornings heralding the feeling that summer is starting to come to a close. However during the days we are still having beautiful warm sunshine. 

The new varieties of begonia I bought are still flourishing and providing gorgeous shades of yellow in my hanging basket.

My gazania shine out..such sunny flowers.

I even caught a busy bee at work

I used these colours as the inspiration for the August page I made for my art journal using the words from the Months Poem by Sara Coleridge.

August brings the sheaths of corn,

Then the harvest home is borne.

I chose several yellow and orange distress inks and made an inky background, just roughly blending some of the lighter colours.

I added  some leaf stencilling and some rays of sunshine.

I choose an assortment of stamps to choose from. 

I needed to add a tractor to my page and as I have no tractor stamps at all I improvised.

I stamped the vintage Tim Holtz car.

 and die cut some cogs...you will see how I made these into a tractor all is revealed in my final photo

I stamped my Paper Artsy girl as my focal to represent my "Harvest home"

I die cut some foliage and arranged it so that she was hiding in the field. I then masked her off adding a small edge to give her a halo effect.

I then added some brown spray inks and a touch of gold liquid acrylic ink to finish off.

 Here is my finished page.

A few close  ups...first my tractor...well I think it just passes as one 😉

and my harvest home

 this is such a great stamp...my harvest home is peeping out from my field of corn.

My page was made for the following challenges

The Craft Barn month challenge August (complete with tractor 😉)
Craft Stamper take it make it 3/3 August anything goes
Frilly and Funkie 1/3 on the cutting edge
Dies R us anything goes
We love to create 2/2 anything creative/mixed media
Stamps and stencils technique school
Fashionable stamping 2/3 use your inks anyway you like
Stamping sensations 3/3 anything goes 
Emerald Creek Dares 2/3 anything goes
Happy little stampers 1/3  anything goes with dies

I hope you have enjoyed a productive week? I have been very busy in my studio working on some designs for Visible Image for their next Create and Craft TV appearance. These shows are on Friday and Saturday 8/9 September. There are also some top secret brand new things to share.....some sneak peeks will be coming very soon....be prepared to be amazed and delighted! There are also some brand new gorgeous Christmas stamps being released in September. Mrs Christmas here is a very happy bunny 😊

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave me. They are so appreciated.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Last of the harvest

I have enjoyed a weekend sorting out my garden. I even had to cut the lawn as it is still growing. This is everything tidied up this afternoon. There is still a lot of colour out there despite it nearly being November.

My tiny garden is still giving me some last harvests. Today I picked the very last tomatoes but my chilies are still bearing fruit. Long may this mild autumn weather last. This was how my baby chilli plants arrived in April through the post.

 I planted them up

 and labelled them (edit; in response to Helen's comment/ question) and kept them on my window sill indoors until mid May. I then stood them out on my patio in the garden.

 and all through the summer they fruited their little hearts out

 and they are still out there doing so even now.

 My Hb keeps cropping and drying them out and they last us right through until next year...mmmm

It is wonderful to taste them in the depth of winter, it reminds us of the long hot sunny days of summer.
It's great to have memories of summer when the nights are cold and dark.

And on the subject of memories for my challenge piece today I wanted to show you the Memories box I made recently when I attended my great and super talented  blogging friend Brenda's workshop a few weeks ago. I had to finish it when I got home.

 It opens out like this

and inside is a secret box to hold some special memories

a couple of close ups of the details of the stamping and extras I added for decoration.

This is the back

and lastly a top view .
 I wonder if I should put a couple of my chilies in here.....I'm joking but it would be a safe place for some of my summer memories

I really enjoyed making it despite all the cutting and measuring involved. I never excelled at maths and this gave my brain a good work out. It was a super ink filled day. Below is a fun photo of us all.....(that's me front far right stroking the caretaker's dog and trying to look at the camera at the same time..is that multitasking I wonder?)

I would like to enter my Memory Box into the following challenges;

Party Time Tuesday anything goes
The Artistic Stamper Memories
Rhedd's Creative Spirit Halloween or not!
Simon Says Stamp Monday anything goes
Sweet stampin anything but a card
Fashionable Stamping Weather forecast mine is summer sunshine!

The clocks went back last night and by just gone 5pm tonight it was already dark......winter approaches. Keep snug and carry on crafting,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x