When the leaves turn red

Due to the Indian summer we enjoyed well into late October the leaves on the trees have turned the most amazing colours this years..so much red and yellow. Some of the trees seem almost to glow. 

I am loving the weather at the moment and I'm finding it so inspiring. 

 I came home to make my latest Dotty's card and decided to make a very clean and simple one focusing on the beauty of the leaves. I also appreciate that not everyone is surrounded by such beauty and also that life really does get tough sometimes. 

The sentiment stamp is by Visible Image, the leaf die cuts are MFT and are cut from inky mop up card. Sometimes a card as simple as this is enough to say it all. I just added the 3 leaves for some dimension. 

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

Less is more dimension

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

The artistic stamper 2/3 square it I have made a square card.

The Ribbon girl 3/3 anything goes

Since we have had our first frosts the leaves are now falling like confetti from the sky. How inspiring Mother Nature is. 

Thanks for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave me.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Beddington lake back in all it's glory

Beddington Park is another very beautiful park local to me. Last year it received some Lottery Funding to dredge and improve the lake  and for many months the lake has been out of action. I decided to take an extended walk there at the weekend to see the outcome of all the work.

Wow it really does look stunning again.

This is how parts of it looked in the spring. The saddest thing was that all the wildlife had left

I was delighted to see the wildlife have returned.

There trees were showing off their autumnal foliage 

The gorgeous willows reach down to touch the surface of the water.

It is such a beautiful spot.

They have also rebuilt the heritage rockery area, I will share that in another post.

All these wonderful colours inspired my latest  Halloween tag.

I used Carved pumpkin, Cracked pistachio and Seedless preserves distress inks and Tim Holtz' pumpkin stencil to make the background. 

The pumpkin and spider stamps are also Tim's by Stampers Anonymous. The die cuts are a mix of Cheery Lynn, Memory box, Sizzix  and MFT and the paper snippet is Graphic 45.

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

Stamps and stencils 3/3 Spooky fun and or autumnal twist
Simon says stamp Monday halloween/spooky

A vintage journey 3/3 autumn splendour

Memory Box halloween or candy themed my spider's web is a MB die.

Try it on Tuesday 1/3 Trick or treat it's Halloween

Addicted to stamps 2/3 autumn colours

Dies R us 2/3 anything fall I have used several dies; Cheery Lynn and MFT leaves, Memory box spider's web and a Sizzix bat
Dragonfly dreams 1/3 autumnal colours
Pile it on 1/3 black /purple/orange/fantasy

I think this is likely to be the last week of our Indian Summer, rumour has it that an arctic blast is on its way next week!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Gathering in

On Monday, as I walked down to Dotty's Teahouse where I sell my cards, I noticed that the squirrels were very busy burying the acorns and any other seeds they could find.

There is certainly an abundant harvest for them to gather in.

 Some of the oak trees in the park must be very old...such wonderful specimens.

I love the light in the mornings at this time of the year

and it was so pleasantly warm too.

My card today is one I took down to sell in Dotty's. If you are ever around the Carshalton area you will find a warm welcome there.

The stamped sentiment is Visible Image and is a very popular one at Dotty's. I have made a seasonal collection featuring my hand die cut, stamped and altered leaves. You can also see my latest cards in Dotty's if you search for #cardsbyjanefordottys. 

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

Simon says stamp Monday stamp on it

Simon says stamp Wednesday stamp on it

Lil patch of crafty friends 2/3 anything goes

The ribbon girl 2/3 anything goes

Crafteezee anything goes
Happy little stampers CAS wild

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

Let's hope all the wildlife have a mellow winter ahead and that they, and us gather in wisely.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

An ode to autumn 2017

Now that we have reached December autumn is fading fast and winter really is just around the corner. Darkness arrives by late afternoon and the temperature is dropping like a stone.

Autumn 2017 really has been quite exceptional here in the south of England. Warmer that normal temperatures and lots of sunshine kept the leaves on the trees and turned them into every fiery shade of gold, red and orange you could imagine. These have really fuelled my crafting muse and I thought I would share some of my favourite autumnal nature photos as a last ode to autumn.

Today is also my Monday inspiration for Visible Image and I decided to make an autumn sprite to say goodbye to this season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. 

I used distress oxide inks and the wonderful Face it! stamp set.

 I added masking fluid to keep her eyes white and then built up the inks using the wrinkle free technique.

I then used the Stencil to create her face by blending some more inks.

I removed the masking fluid and coloured her eyes and lips. I added some die cut cobwebs

 and leaves which were stamped with script from the Scripted Streets set. I gave some extra crackle too.

I also added details to her face from the Create it set. 

The sentiment is from the Imperfection is beauty set.

Meet my autumn sprite...

she is saying a fond farewell to autumn 2017.

I would like to enter her into the following challenges

Creative Artiste 1/3 anything goes mixed media
Craft Stamper Take it make it anything goes
Emerald Creek Dares anything goes
Noor UK anything goes
Simon says stampWednesday 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

 Instagram

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave me, especially at this very busy time of the year....are you ready?

My naughty elf has been up to mischief again....

I caught him drinking gin at 10am yesterday!

Our tree is up and Billy is busy typing his post for you.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x