Tuscany memories

Hi blogging friends. Today I would like to share the memory album I made following our wonderful holiday to Italy in August. We were so lucky to get away and it was a perfect holiday, miles from anywhere and just enjoying good food, sunshine and good company. Sadly our trip annual to Rhodes would have been tomorrow, but that has been cancelled, so I am even more grateful that we got away to Italy. 

We stayed on a wine estate in Tuscany so social distancing was no problem at all. We were miles from anywhere. 

I spent a pleasant hour crafting each day with my obviously limited holiday supplies in the shade with Daisy. We also sat by the pool or in the gorgeous gardens catching up with our family. We had one day out, to the zoo, which was wonderful as it was so quiet. Here are a few photos to share or the villa, pool and gardens.

I wrote an index card each day, took an Instax photo and made a little ATC sized project using inspiration from what I saw each day. I have shared these ATCs on Instagram and if you would like to see them in my feed  you can do so here

When I got home I made a background for each ATC and put everything together. 

I also had Daisy to stay recently and we made some fun shaving foam backgrounds so I used those for my front and back covers. 

Daisy also had made ATCs with me so we put her album together when she stayed. Mine has taken a lot longer to finish as I had some design team commitments in between.

I took a few photos before I bound the album together as they were easier to photograph that way. I used all Tim Holtz products for my album as it was also a reminder of the most amazing crafting summer I had watching his awesome Facebook Lives. I also used the same toadstool on the cover that was on the tag he sent me when I won my demo prize. If you missed that post you can see it here

Here are ATCs mounted on their pages.

I documented the flight and the pool..

...finding dragonflies in the garden and all the busy bees.

 The gardens were so beautiful so my Lady Rose set was most appropriate

and we saw some spectacular bugs too!

and here is the album all finished. I made a ribbon tie.

 There is an index card (obviously not shown) on the reverse of the page each day where I wrote my memories. The little Instax photos are such fun to add.

And one final shot of the cover. It was a wonderful adventure, so many memories all now documented forever. These albums are always such a labour of love to make but so good to look back at. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you are all keeping well and enjoying the last few weeks of the summer. Thanks for the kind comments you take the time to leave me, I really do appreciate them.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Giveaway winner and a taste of Tuscany

Hello friends.  I am back not only with my giveaway winner but also to share some photos of our holiday.  Yes we managed to escape to Italy for a week and got home on Monday. It was such a wonderful week and where we stayed in the middle of a wine estate in Tuscany meant there was no need to socially distance as there was no one around for miles!

As the week progressed it got hotter and hotter so the pool was bliss. 

The grounds provided perfect crafting inspiration.

The only sounds were the bees buzzing and the chirrup of the crickets. 

So back to my winner. All the names and multiples were put into a hat and my Hb pulled out..

drum roll....

I was delighted to see Vivienne's name as she has been a rock and total supporter of my blog since I started writing it 10 years ago. Even though she no longer blogs she still comments on all my blog posts, even if I have 2 in a day at the beginning of the month. Thanks V you really are a deserving winner. I will get your prize posted by the end of the week. 

My creative project today is one of the holiday makes I made in Tuscany. There were so many delightful spots to craft from like the one below.  

While away I decided to make a series of ATCs which I may make a little booklet for when I get the chance. 

You can follow me on Instagram; here or search for me as @jane.tyrrell . Those of you who do will have seen them but this is my challenge entry for today.

All the products are Tim Holtz.

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

Dragonfly dreams 1/3 anything goes
Simon says stamp Monday summer memories
Creative artiste 1/3 anything goes
We love to create 1/3 anything goes

I will share some more photos of our Italian getaway soon, meanwhile is steaming here in the South of England. It reached 37c yesterday during the day here and it was still 28c at 10pm!
Phew! Today it's steaming away but I do think a storm is brewing....

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Oh and a little heads up that I am in print again with a 3 card mixed media feature in the latest edition of Creative stamping magazine. Issue #86 which is on sale now!

I'm back on Friday with a blog post sharing a couple of my makes and 1 made just for sharing here at Jane's Journal!

Sunshine and Sicily

As promised I am back with my first installment of photos from our recent wonderful holiday in Taormina, Sicily. This was our 3rd visit there and we stayed at the same hotel. As you can imagine it was hot hot hot and blue skies and sunshine were the order of the day. At the far end of town is the ancient Greek amphitheatre.
It is wonderful that shows are still held here..just look at that view with Mount Etna in the distance. They were just putting up the staging for the film festival when we were there.

 This is the view looking out and back to the coast and Etna.

And below is looking back up to where our hotel is nestled in the hills. Just imagine how many thousands of people over thousands of years have looked at this view and how the buildings have come and gone over time.

The streets of Taormina are narrow and cars are not allowed.

I can imagine in ancient days that horses must have ferried people around.

My card today is a sample made to show at the Stamperama show at the Newbury Racecourse this  Sunday, 7th July.
I will be demonstrating  for Stampers' Grove again who are on stand 16 using Visible Image stamps and stencils.

As the show is at the Racecourse I thought it would be great fun to use the Stay Wild Visible Image stamp set. I created a very sunny background using a combination of distress oxides and brushos, showing the sea and the sky.

With a couple of close ups

I will of course also be demonstrating using all the brand new Visible Image stamp release too. If you are around do pop by. It would be so good to put faces to names.

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

Creative fingers 1/3 anything goes
Inkspirational 1/3 3 or 5 of anything I have 3 horses
Sweet stampin 1/3 you are my sunshine
Through the craft room door 1/3 anything goes
Crafty sentiments 1/3 bright colours
Simon says stamp make your own background
Love to craft 1/3 anything goes
A bit more time to craft 1/3 anything goes
Happy little stampers 1/3 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Home from sunny Rhodes

I have had a couple of scheduled posts on my blog over the last week as I have been in Rhodes with my Hb. We have been staying at the same apartments for over 10 years now and it is like going home. We seem to have brought the sunshine home as there are blue skies here this morning but rather a temperature drop from 32c yesterday to 20c today!

I will sort out my photos and write a couple of posts over the coming weeks but here are a couple of sunny ones just for now to make you smile. I never get bored looking out from our balcony. 

and the beach is a 1 minute walk away..just bliss.

My card for today is another of the Clean and Simple new stock I have taken down to sell at Dotty's. This one is going up for sale today...using one of my bright happy Visible Image stamps with their fab sentiment too. 

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

Fashionable stamping 1/3 quote away
Dragonfly dreams 2/3 anything goes
Not just cards 1/3 anything goes
Simon says stamp Wednesday pop it up my smilie is on a pop up dot

I will be back very soon,
I am off to Dotty's and then to collect Billy, who has been on his holidays over at my Mum and Dad's.

Thanks for stopping by.

 Keep smiling.

Bye for now,

Jane x

Keeping holiday memories alive

Good morning, it is time for my 2nd design team inspiration post for Country View challenges. The current theme for this month is very apt and is called "Sun, Sea and sand" . We would like to see anything summer or holiday related.   As always you can enter our challenge as many times as you like and combine with any other challenges. Your make can be anything creative! You may even be the lucky random winner of the £20 CVC voucher.

All the details can be found here.

If you missed my first post, sharing my holiday photo journal  you can see it here

Today I am sharing the page I made to add to the holiday journal that Daisy made whilst we were away.

There was so much to inspire us. Daisy and I bought a postcard everyday. I used mine to record the day's highlights. Daisy stuck her's into her journal and then dictated to me what she would like to remember. I wrote this on a record card for her and she often added little illustrations like this one. 

We also took an Instax photo every day

 and some days she added stamping, stencilling or some of the die cuts I had packed.

I decided for my page I would use a stamped postcard as my focal.

I used the brilliant rubber dance one.

I also used another of their stamps from their seaside sets.

I made then more vintage with my distress inks. All the other stamps I used are also Rubber Dance

I decided to make a masterboard.  I started making my inky seaside background, I created a splattered background with my distress ink.

 and added lots of stamping

I also made some die cuts from Tim's amazing new 3D impresslits

as well as other seaside die cuts including some fun Memory box flip flops,

which I then altered with inks. 

I cut a piece of my masterboard and then put my design together,

 I would like to enter the page I made for Daisy's journal into the following challenges;

Rubber dance 1/3 colour palette or nature

Penny Black and More 2/3 I spy something beginning with B My Bs are beach, branch (die), brown , buoy (stamp), borders (for my 2 focal images)and blue

Pile it on 1/3 new technique mine is using these 3d dies for the border and branches. The texture and depth they give is awesome.

Lil patch of crafting friends 2/3 anything goes

Simon says stamp Monday sprinkles and splatters

Happy Little stampers use dies cuts 2/3  anything goes

Happy Little stampers watercolour 1/3 anything goes

Here are some close ups

 Here is the page inside her journal.

With the off cuts and spare elements from the masterboard I made a couple of pages for my own journal too...shown below, fondest memories of such a fabulous holiday. It also links our 2 journals together.

We hope to see lots more lovely entries to our sun, sea and sand challenge over at Country View ..and you may even win the £20 voucher! Here is the link. Good luck.

Thanks for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x