Zoom crafting with Daisy

Over the last 4 months I have  Zoom crafted at least once a week with my sweet 6 year old granddaughter Daisy. Thank goodness for modern technology. I miss her so much, it's not the same as being with her but it is a good 2nd best. We have made sooo many things that I thought I would share a few here in Jane's Journal.

She has a doll called Sydney which is similar to the American doll sold in the USA, a sort of "grown up doll" and she loves to make things for her. During one of our early zoom session Daisy asked if we could make some "food" for Sydney. Now I am a crafter who never throws things away and a few years ago I bought some fimo type clay for my jewellery class. I got a really good deal at the time on a mixed colours pack so even though I only used 1 packet I kept all the other colours. I realized I could use these to show Daisy using them my end and if I bought her some air dry clay we could work together.

I ordered her some via Amazon which were delivered to her house. I used my ancient packs, they were a little tough to roll out but worked fine.

We have had such fun.  My colours are limited by the ones I had so when I had used some up I had to resort to magical blue cookies and even a pink banana!

Here are some photos I took quickly before I sent my versions to her.

You can see I had to make green cookies, with purple choc chips!!

Green and purple spaghetti bolognase, purple sausages and even blue bread for the sandwiches.

The pizza colours though weren't too bad

I made rubber ducks so that Sydney had similar ones to Daisy and Jack's in their bath.

and then Daisy decided they needed a pond....

so I had to quickly make that.

We have also upcycled tomato tins, made cards and today we will me making some more artist trading cards and coins (ATCs). We have also been doing a Nanna and Daisy lockdown ATC swap. Our themes have ranged from garden, to butterflies and the seaside.

Here are a few that she sent me.

and I thought I would share the latest few I have made for her.
By the way I have been sharing a lots of my crafting makes over on Instagram, I could not possibly write a blog post for every one as there are literally dozens. If you would like to see them you can find me as jane.tyrrell on IG or via this link. I also have the address in my blog side bar.

What I have noticed is what a competent stamper Daisy has become. I can't be with her to stamp so she has been doing this completely unaided, as my crafting genes skipped a generation and her darling Mummy's eyes roll in their sockets when Daisy mentions the word "crafting!"

Below is a Thank you card for her teacher she made, she use her Visible Image Alice stamp which she then coloured. The only help her Mummy gave her was to spell the word "teacher" 

As my daughter is a doctor and both her and her husband Key workers so Daisy has been attending school throughout lock down. They are so grateful to them. I am sure her teacher will be thrilled with this. School finishes this week for everyone.

I am also really hoping that in the next few weeks I will be seeing my grandbabies again...there is a plan we are working on!

My own card challenge share today is one of my makes during lock down.This has been shared on social media but not entered into any challenges or seen on my blog.
Daisy lives at the seaside and we usually go over to the beach to collect shells whenever the weather is good. So that was my inspiration.
I made an alcohol ink background on silver sparkle card

 I altered some die cut acetate shells with alcohol inks.

and made this,
 It's very hard to photograph as the sparkle is so reflective. I love the words, they are from my small talk Tim Holtz stickers book and felt just right for my project.

I will be giving it to my sweet Daisy when I next see her.

I would like my seashells canvas into the following challenges;

Time out 1/3 peaceful
As you like it 1/3 summer or autumn definitely  summer for me as I can go to the beach and be warm!
A bit more time to craft 2/3 anything goes

Crafters' castle 2/3 anything goes

Crafty friends 2/3 anything goes

A gem of a challenge 2/3 anything goes

Try it on Tuesday 1/3 summertime

Crafty sentiments 1/3 anything goes

Through the dark room door 1/2 anything goes

 I want to look back at this post in years to come and try to remember the good things which happened during the Lock down to me. Zoom crafting with Daisy will be one of them.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope that life continues to treat you all as well as it can during this dreadful pandemic.

Stay safe,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

PS Jane's Journal is 10 (gulp) on Sunday and I have a giveaway open to EVERYONE worldwide. You don't have to jump through any hoops to enter, just stop by and leave a comment. All the details of what you can win will be in Sunday's post but here is a sneak peek.

See you on Sunday, Jx

Summer fields for Country View Challenges

Hello and welcome to our 6th challenge of the year from Country View. How the months have raced by. For June we would like to see your "Summer field" inspired projects. The details and my teamies projects for more inspiration can be found here;

During Lockdown our verges have not been trimmed although our parks have been kept pristine so I am not complaining. The weather for the last 10 weeks has been just amazing and I have so enjoyed being out in my garden and the local area. The interesting thing with our street's grass verges is that they have become miniature summer fields to me and inspired my make today.

 One of the very pretty plants to see ,and yes I know it's classed as a weed, are the dandelion heads.

 My little granddaughter loves to blow these.

 and of course my sweet granddaughter is called Daisy.

So much beauty in my grass verge summer fields.
 I remembered that I have a couple of Lavinia dandelion stamps in my stash so I chose a couple to make my card with. Susan does not have my exact one but she does have this one plus lots of lovely Lavinia designs on the website here. 

For some extra fairy magic I decided to ink up the fabulous dragonflies from the Live in the moment Visible image set. 

I made my background with distress spray stains which Susan sells here

I stamped my fairy and the dandelions

 and then added the dragonflies. I also stamped some of the dragonflies onto card and added glossy accents to their wings. Once dry I cut them out.

Here is my finished card.

and a couple of close ups

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

Lavinia world Anything goes

Lil patch of crafting friends 3/3 anything goes

C.R.A.F.T 2/3 decoupage/3D I have made my dragonfly 3d

Addicted to stamps and more 2/3 anything goes

Creative moments 2/3 anything goes

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

Try it on Tuesday 2/3 cut it out my dragonfly is cut out
We love to create 1/3 Anything goes mixed media

Allsorts 1/3 magical worlds

I hope I may have inspired you to join in with our June "summer fields" 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 June challenge can be found here;

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Keep staying safe,

Back soon

Bye for now

Jane x

Being hopeful, Mindful Moments 10

This is my 10th Mindful Moments post and it will be my last as things are beginning to change and improve and we are slowly but surely coming out of Lockdown. By no means is this dreadful Pandemic over but the whole purpose of my Mindful Moments posts was to bring some mindfulness to the very dark place the UK found itself in 10 weeks ago. Back then we had no idea how long we would be there for. Here is my original post if you missed it. It was then the very start of spring and everyone but  key workers had to stay indoors. Now we are rapidly approaching summer. I have been able to see my son outside and will also be visiting my parents sitting 10 feet away in their garden. Although it's not possible to share a hug it's wonderful to catch up "in the flesh". However it seems that it could still be a long time until we see my daughter, her HB and our 2 grandchildren. Jack is only 3 and does not understand social distancing at all and Daisy would find keeping apart (as I would) very emotionally challenging. 

Last night was also the last of our weekly "clapping" for the NHS. This has been a joyful and supportive event for our street but I agree that now is the right time to try to get back to a little normality. What I really hope is that people continue to give the doctors and NHS staff the respect and thanks they have always deserved. Pandemic or no pandemic that have always given 100%. When this terrible illness descended and we were all told to stay indoors, they ran straight out, without ever considering their own personal safety. My doctor daughter also had all her bank holidays until the late May one cancelled and she never once complained. What an incredible job they did and are still doing.

I also hope that society also continues to be thankful for all the other key workers that perhaps previously we took for granted until life changed overnight. Teachers, postpeople, delivery drivers, shop workers, refuse collectors, the list goes on and on.  

So today's post is one where I trying to inspire some hope.

Most of my inspiration over the last 10 weeks has come from my tiny garden and from my daily walks. Mother Nature has never slowed down over these 10 weeks and has carried on blooming and growing. 

I noticed that my ornamental poppies in my front garden came into bloom this week.

Their stunning bold red colour inspired me to use red flowers, like the red in the English flag and hope for the future of our country. 

I noticed red roses in the park

and red geranium.

One of my hanging baskets has a deep red begonia which looks stunning with it's dark green foliage.

So back to my ornamental poppies. My dearest best friend gave me the seeds as part of a birthday present some years back and they just self seed each year. They are real show stoppers as they are enormous. I think the variety is called ladybird, and you can see why. 

I thought that it would be very apt to make my last Mindful moments project using them as my inspiration.

I wanted to make a thank you card for someone who recently painted me the most delightful artwork...and then apologized as she didn't think they were good enough as she has only just taken up painting! Believe me they are so gorgeous and I will treasure them. 

I don't have a poppy flower stamp so I decided to turn my Visible Image Creative Choas set into poppies. 

I also knew the perfect Visible Image sentiments to use too, these are from their "The world needs art" sentiment set. Those I have used on my card are so apt and so true! I made a distress stain inky sprayed background in green like the foliage of my plants. 

Here are some close ups.

I added a little glossy accents to a few petals.

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

Creative artiste 2/3 anything goes

Lil patch of crafting friends 2/3 anything goes
A vintage journey Beautiful blooms

Sweet stampin 1/3 anything but square

C.R.A.F.T 1/3decoupage/3D

Addicted to stamps and more 1/3 anything goes

Creative moments 1/3 anything goes

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

Try it on Tuesday 1/3 cut it out
Stamping sensations say it with flowers

My lockdown crafting gave me such a focus over these last 10 weeks. I am still Zoom crafting with my little Daisy until we can craft together in person. I will continue as always to craft but I hope over the next 10 weeks that life may actually begin to open up a little more too and allow visits and perhaps even a mini holiday in the UK.  

Yes very, very slowly and by taking baby steps we are trying to move the UK forwards. The last thing we want is another peak of the virus.

So here is my last Mindful Moments quote which is actually a very famous short poem called;

Hope is the Thing with Feathers

“Hope” is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea,
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

By: Emily Dickinson

Let's hope we can come through this pandemic with the least possible loss of life. It is certainly  going to change the world and the way we live forever. Let's hope some of those changes are eventually seen as being for the better. One day we will be able to look back at all this as a historical event and my greatest hope is that we can learn lessons from this dreadful disease and that we never again have to live through such dark days. 

Thanks so much for stopping by over the last 10 weeks and reading my Mindful Moments posts.  I really do hope that they gave you a tiny ray of sunshine.

My "normal Jane's Journal" blogging will resume on Monday.

Stay safe, stay hopeful and stay mindful.

Bye for now,

With love,

Jane x