Last days of summer 2020

Well here we are in the final days of summer 2020. Night draws in earlier every day as autumn beckons. There is a definite nip in the air but for the last week or so we have been blessed with some gorgeous sunshine and blue skies day. My Hb and I had a couple of days out during our recent "Staycation", not quite like being in Rhodes but we really did enjoy some great visits and beautiful countryside. We visited Hever Castle, Wisely RHS gardens and Polesdon Lacey and I thought I would share some photos from these visits here on my blog. I have shared some photos already on Instagram, you can follow my journey there via this link. 

First up is our day out at Hever Castle in Kent where there was also the bonus of a craft fair being held in the grounds. Everything was very well managed and socially distanced. There was a one way system and it was good to have space to see everything without the usual pushing crowds you would have had in pre Covid19 times. We were also lucky to be able to upgrade our gardens only tickets to seeing inside the castle, which is an absolute historical gem.

 Hever was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn and also where Henry V111 visited her as he tried to woo her. Some of their love letters are on display as is the final letter she wrote to him as she awaited her execution. Henry certainly did have some extremes of emotions! It's a genuine moated castle complete with drawbridge. 

The castle was built in the 13th century by the Boleyn family. It was saved from ruin by Viscount Astor in the early 1900s. He was the richest man in America and came looking for a new life and home in England.  His fortune was $100 million in the late 1898...quite astonishing. The house, grounds and a "Tudor village" were created and refurbished by a huge workforce into a cozy family home. Photographs were allowed inside but with no flash so apologies for some, which are a little blurry. 

                                       Some  historical elements were retained by Astor.

   In the grounds Astor also recreated an Italian garden complete with authentic Roman marble and even a lake, hand dug out by the extensive work force. 

We really enjoyed our lovely day out and catching with some English history. 

My make today was inspired by our Staycation and the new deliver of the awesome new distress colour Crackling campfire which the postie recently delivered. 

As I did with Speckled egg I challenge myself to made 3 tags using all the products in the range; ie inks, sprays, glaze and paint. Here is my first;

I used all Tim Holtz products including the stamps and stencil.

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

Pixie's snippets playground  #387 I have used lots of snippets of paper to make my field notes tags as well as the dimensional leaf. 

Stamping sensations 1/3 the great outdoors

The Funkie junkie boutique blog staying in the background I used Tim's leaf mini stencil and distress stain spray plus labels made with his field notes set to make my background

I will be sharing my other 2 tags over the coming week or so.

We really did have a great day out. I will share our Wisley trip soon.

Take care,

Stay safe,

Bye for now,

Jane x

September moments

Good morning, it's time for my 2nd design team project for our "Contrasting (or complementary) colours" challenge over at Country View Crafts. All the details can be found here. For my first project I made a card using the purple-yellow contrasting colour pair. If you missed that post you can find it here. My card was a very in your face one and this time I went with the contrasting colour pair of blue-orange. This time however I made a much more gentle blend of the colours as it suited the mood of the stamps I used. The inks I used are distress oxides, salty ocean and wild honey 

I blended them in this way.

Then I placed the Visible Image Lava on top and using a piece of damp kitchen roll took some of the colour out. 

 I used stamps by Visible Images, Live in the moment and Ripples. 

 I stamped using orange blossom archival ink. 

I stamped the dragonflies in black versafine , clear embossed them and added a little glitter to their wings (which you can see in the final photo). 

Here is my finished card

with a close up showing the little hint of glitter in the wings.

I hope I may have inspired you to join in with our September "contrasting colours" challenge. You can use any stamps/products, the choice is yours. 

You can enter our challenge as many times as you like and combine with other challenges. There is also a £20 crafting voucher up for grabs to the lucky randomly selected winner to spend over on the Country View Crafts on line store. Remember that UK postage and packing from CVC is free on all orders over £7.50! Once again all the details for the September  challenge can be found here.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Back from the sunshine

Good morning last night we returned from our beloved Rhodes having spend a glorious week away.

We love to alternate beach days with exploring days. This was my view on our last day...

Yes the sea really was that colour..no filters at all...

and this clear.

We had an idyllic week away and I will share a couple of posts soon.

The average temperature daytime in Rhodes was 33c and we have come back to 18c at home.  Brrr a bit of a shock but then autumn is only 8 days away and the sun is shining this morning.

Today's card is something sunny...to remind me of our holiday. All the stamps I used on my distress ink background are by Visible image; the seahorse is from Create you own calm, the sentiment is from Believe in unicorns and the "mermaid" from Tomorrow doesn't exist(yes I know I have used the jumping Katie stamp but I like to use her in this way sometimes!)

with a close up

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges

Sweet stampin anything nautical
Addicted to stamps and more holiday

A bit more time to craft 2/3 anything goes

Simon says stamp Monday stamp it
Through the craft room door 1/3 anything goes
Simon says work it Wednesday 1/3 celebrate

Thanks so much for stopping by and also for the kind comments you leave me here.  I know how busy life gets and I so appreciate them.

Back soon, I'm off to bring Billy home from his holiday with my Mum and Dad.

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