His and her's hummingbirds

After our record breaking Easter temperatures we are back to more normal late April temperatures. 

I spotted these camellia locally

 and the tulips are in my garden pots are glorious.

We are now in the last few days of April and my Monday design team make for Visible Image is a His and Her's version of a design I made using the hummingbird from the lovely Life is beautiful stamp set.

and also the birthday sentiment from Go to words

I made card for my best friend and my Dad's birthdays using an alcohol ink background on Yupo paper.

My BF loves pink so I got out silver and pink AIs and started dripping them onto my Yupo

until I was happy with the mix.

 I stamped the humming bird across the white space 

I did the same for my Dad's this time using a different colour palette.

I then added my sentiments, a couple of embellishments, matted them up.

Here they are separately.

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

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

Try it on Tuesday 1/3 springtime

Lil patch of crafty friends 1/3 anything goes

A gem of a challenge 1/3 anything goes

Sweet stampers 1/5 birthday/celebrate

All the Visible Image links can be found here;

Visible Image group page on Facebook. Our friendly Group is here ...it would be lovely to see you there. You will see lots of gorgeous makes by the DT and customers to inspire your own creativity.

The main Visible Image Facebook page is here; there are regular giveaways...open world wide.

And the shop web site is here; where all their gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased. 

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the last few days of April and all the lovely spring colours around us. They are so inspiring. 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A spring in my step

It's been lovely having my son's sweet pup to stay (well he's 7 and huge so I suppose that's not really the right description). I love walking so taking him out, when it's not raining, is a pleasure not a chore.

I took him over to one of our local parks and was delighted to see how many signs of spring were visible.

Gorgeous blossom,

drifts of daffodils

It certainly put a spring in our step

and in my own garden my magnolia is just about to burst open its blossom

It's also only a few week's away until my daughter's birthday so my design team Monday Make for Visible Image is her card...shhh keep it secret for now.

I used one of the new fab stencils

Atomic flower

a flower made with the random art of kindness set,

the wonderful hummingbird from life is beautiful

and the birthday sentiment from Go to words

I first made an inky background using distress inks and the stencil. I have made several backgrounds so expect to see the others used too at some point. 

I cut a square from the card and then stamped the flowers into the centres of the stenciled flowers.

I also stamped the same flower onto an alcohol ink scrap and cut it out.

I stamped the hummingbird and painted it using Starlight paints for extra shine.

I then cut it out and put my design together.

Here is my finished card.

with a couple of close ups

and one last shot

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

The house that cards built 2/3 Easter or spring

Crafty catz 2/3 anything goes

Creative moments 2/3 anything goes

A gem of a challenge 3/3 anything goes

We love to create 3/3 anything mixed media

Stamping sensations 2/3 somewhere over the rainbow by blending my distress inks I have all the colours of the rainbow on my card.
Sweet stampin 1/3 anything goes

All the Visible Image links can be found here;

Visible Image group page on Facebook. Our friendly Group is here ...it would be lovely to see you there. You will see lots of gorgeous makes by the DT and customers to inspire your own creativity.

The main Visible Image Facebook page is here; there are weekly stamp giveaways...open world wide.

And the shop web site is here; where all their gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased. 

If you missed seeing the fab Create and Craft Wizard of Oz stamps show on TV you can still watch via this link. It was fun to wave to my cards! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Flying birthday wishes

Happy Monday all....phew what amazing weather we enjoyed over the weekend, it is like being abroad. The temperatures are set to get even higher this week too!

I enjoyed some crafting and gardening time...keeping in the shade after lunch as it got so hot.

There is nothing like al fresco dining and our patio is our outside dining area during the summer. We love to eat out there whenever we can.

Billy likes the shade too.

It is also time for my weekly Visible Image DT make and I can finally share a birthday card I made for someone very special....no guesses as to who it is....

Yes none other than the lovely Mrs Visible Image aka Helen. Helen celebrated her special day last week. I made an alcohol ink background using lots of pinks and purples on Yupo paper. 

I then stamped the fab Hummingbird from the life is beautiful stamp set

I stamped out Helen's name using alphabetical

and also happy birthday from Go to words

I cut out the letters and words and added thin satin ribbons.

I then added them to my card with foam tape for dimension,

Here are some close ups;

and one final shot

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

Creative fingers 2/3 anything goes

Crafty catz 2/3 anything goes +/-embossing

Fussy and fancy 2/3 pretty in pink

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

Creative moments 3/3 anything goes

Penny Black and More 1/3 things with wings

Card Mania 1/5 anything goes

All the Visible Image links can be found here;

Visible Image group page on Facebook. Our friendly Group can be found here ...it would be lovely to see you. You can add work to the "Show and Tell" album where one randomly chosen winner each month wins a £25 coupon to spend on the website.

The main Visible Image Facebook page is here; there are weekly stamp giveaways...open world wide.

And the shop web site is here; where all these gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased. 

You can also follow via:

 Pinterest

Twitter

and

 Instagram

There are 6 new stamp sets and 8 new stencils...all totally amazing and uniquely Visible Image.

 Thanks for stopping by and for your kind comments. Long may this glorious weather continue...even though I am not sure my garden would agree!

Keep cool and carry on crafting.

Bye for now,

Jane x

A beautiful end to April

Good morning, despite the weather taking a down turn, we have reached the very last day April. And what a beautiful April it has been, it started with my birthday at the beginning. We enjoyed a taste of summer in the middle as well as Jack's 1st birthday and special family time together. I also love being  back outside working in my garden studio.

 Mother Nature has woken up and the sun when it shine has real warmth.

 So on this very last day of April I am able to share something very exciting....my very first DT project made using one of the brand new May stamp release sets from Visible Image. I have oooohhhed and ahhhed at this amazing new release and I will be sharing lots of makes with them over the coming weeks. If you would like to see the whole of the release do have a look here. There are 6 fab news stamp sets including some brilliant words set and also 8 gorgeous new stencils. They are all on pre release so if you want to get your order in now they will be delivered to your door immediately after their release on May 11th.

Your local stockests will also be receiving them very soon.

So first of all....drum roll..  I would like you to meet...

 Mr Hummingbird from the wonderful new life is beautiful set.

This gorgeous inky hummingbird is certain to take the stamping world by storm.

For my fist make I wanted a very striking inky background. I took out my alcohol inks, from yellows through to amethyst and added them to Yupo paper using a felt and blending tool.

I wanted a real glow behind him so I kept the centre fairly plain and used yellow and orange hues.

This is a quick snap taken in my studio showing the gradual build up of ink on the Yupo paper.

I kept my design fairly simple as I wanted the background to show off Mr Hummer.

Here he is;

and some close ups.

The words are as they say, just "beautiful". I distressed the edges and added some ink to make them pop.

The little circle accent stamp works so well with the image. I can see me using this a lot on other makes too. 

Here is one last full shot.

***EDIT I have been asked about ink not drying on Yupo paper on the VI friends Facebook page.  Yes it is a real challenge to get any ink to dry..I have tried everything and the one which is most likely to dry is Ranger Archival if you heat set it. However I don't like to take the risk and for this card I used Versafine Black Onyx ink which I then embossed with black embossing powder. This gives a gorgeous sheen too. HOWEVER beware when heating the Yupo as it is not that heat stable. You need to heat quickly and move your heat gun around and even off the paper so as not to risk melting your background. I hope that helps?***

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

The Artistic stamper birds/bees

Love to craft 3/3 anything goes

Lil patch of crafty friends 2/3 anything goes

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

Sweet stamping 1/3 circles

Crafty catz 1/3 anything goes I have also gone with the optional twist of using purples and mauves
Try it on Tuesday Nature's beauty

All the Visible Image links can be found here;

Visible Image group page on Facebook. Our friendly Group can be found here ...it would be lovely to see you. You can add work to the "Show and Tell" album where one randomly chosen winner each month wins a £25 coupon to spend on the website.

The main Visible Image Facebook page is here; there are weekly stamp giveaways...open world wide!

And the shop web site is here; where all these gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased. 

You can also follow via:

 Pinterest

Twitter

and

 Instagram

There is also a Visible Image/MISTI blog hop running at the moment.

 All the details are here but you need to be quick as you need to hop and leave a comment on each of participants blogs by midnight tonight. You might even be the winner of the Visible Image $50 coupon and could then treat yourself to Mr Hummer and lots of other goodies over on the website!. Good luck if you enter....the winners will be revealed on the Visible Image and MISTI blogs tomorrow.

 Thanks so much for stopping by and for all your very kind comments. I would also like to extend a very warm welcome to my newest followers. Enjoy the very last day of April, I am back again in the morning with my first post in May.

Bye for now,

Jane x