Mermaids and gin

No I'm not being sent mad by our scorching heatwave (well not yet). My son recently bought my Hb a bottle of gin (yes we are gin lovers in this family) and I was thrilled to see that it was called Mermaid Gin and was made on the good old Isle of Wight. And no I have affiliate links this this company at all, I wish I did! The gin was great but the bottle was even better...take a look at this

the label has a cut out and the mermaid is viewed through the bottle, which is why my image is a little blurred

It's not only a gorgeous bottle but delicious gin too!

So of course I had to make something mermaid related and I dug out an old Stampendous stamp which I took to Majorca with Daisy on our recent holiday. These are a couple of the lovely pages she made in her holiday journal..not bad for a 4 1/2 year old!

I decided that for my card today I would make a distress inky background and then paint mermaid with my lovely Stardust paints. I kept it quite CAS as I wanted the mermaid to look translucent, so that the distress inks flowed through her,  just like the one on the Mermaid Gin bottle.
This is the card I made;

It's hard to see the sparkle from paints, this shows it a little better.

She is up for sale now at Dotty's Teahouse, Carshalton, SM5 2AE

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

A bit more time to craft 1/3 anything goes
Studio 75 2/3 summertime
Crafteezee summer
Crafty calendar 2/3 totally girlie
Simon says stamp Wednesday use a die and/or a punch my seashells are dies by Marianne
Simon says stamp Monday add a little sparkle


Today we have some cloud, which is a good respite from the heatwave, but no sign of any rain and next week again is getting even hotter. This is now a repeat of the summer of 1976...I wonder if we will beat any records?

I am back on Monday with such a exciting card..... Visible Image are launching their Alice In Wonderland  collection on pre release and I will be sharing the first of my samples...here is a very sneaky peek

but there is a Facebook Live tonight where you can see him in all his glory. Just click the link here

 Have a lovely weekend, keep cool and carry on enjoying the summer. 

Bye for now,

Jane x

My Pisces daughter

It's my daughter's birthday tomorrow and she has strict instructions not to read my blog today as I am sharing the birthday card I made for her for my weekly Visible Image Design Team inspiration .

She recently moved to the seaside and although the weather has not yet warmed enough for playing on the beach we can't wait until we can.

The views are so beautiful at any time of the day. These photos were taken last year.

and there is a local tea shop for tea and cake

There is nothing better than gazing out across the sea.

The photo I took below shows my DD and Daisy wrapped up warmly 2 weekends ago.

I knew that her first birthday card in her new home should feature the sea in some form. I also wanted to link in the Pisces theme as she was born the last "day" for Pisces.

She love mermaids and seahorses, as I do and I although Visible Image have a fab new seahorse stamp but not a mermaid I had an idea.....

I would use my "Katie" from the Tomorrow doesn't exist set and turn her into a mermaid..yes seriously..bear with me!

These were the other stamp sets I used;

Make a wish from Own it set

Pisces from the zodiac sets

Universal 

the seahorse

the wings from the angels are near set

and the strobes stencil

So this is what I came up with...

The background was created using salty ocean, broken china and fossilized amber distress oxides, using the wrinkle free technique. I added some sun rays using the rays stencil and gold ink.

I stamped the seahorse and added some white highlights and to make him even more magical I added a wing from the angels are near set. This I gold embossed on black card and fussy cut out.  I love the way the gold rays from the stencil shine through him.

To add some sparkle  and "magic" I used glitter gold embossing powder and stamps from the universal set.

To make my "mermaid" I stamped "Katie" from the Live like tomorrow doesn't exist set but positioned the stamp so that the leg didn't appear. I embossed her in white with a pinch of gold powder too.

I was also able to just use the date from the Pisces set as this is my girl's actual birth date, 20 March.

I stamped and fussy cut lots of fish and had them swimming in and out of the swirls and also between my "mermaid's" hands.

A couple more close ups...

and one last shot

So a very happy birthday tomorrow to my darling girlie. I hope she likes her special seaside Pisces card.

It's supposed to be the first day of spring tomorrow too...hmmm I think Mother Nature got a bit confused at the weekend!

Yes the Beast came back with yet more snow!

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

Penny black and More 2/3 feature a creature

The Artistic stamper 2/3 stencils and masks

Get Creative 2/3 fantasy

Creative artiste 1/3 anything mixed media

Craft stamper take it make it March anything stamping goes

Cute card Thursday 1/3 celebrate

Sweet stampin 1/3 use up your paper scraps I certainly used lots making my little fish!

You can check out Visible Image via these links;

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

Thanks for stopping by and for all your very kind comments you take the time to leave me. Let's hope this mini beast from the East moves on soon. Happy 1st day of Spring tomorrow.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

My final GD post for I love Promarkers

How quickly June flew by as here we are at my final week as the Guest Designer for the I love Promarkers Challenge Blog. I have really enjoyed my 4 week stint and I hope you have enjoyed seeing my 4 creations. Today's theme over at the challenge is to use a Blue and Pink combo. I love this colour combination and use it a lot. I am not a pink girl so I rarely make a pink on pink card but with other colours it looks great.
 I am still in holiday inspired mode so I have featured shells and sea themed embellies.

Here it is

The stamp is called Little Mermaid 2. Isn't she a cutie and I love the little seahorse too ;0)  You will notice that I am using another sentment from my crafty Lili of the Valley win. These are the grungy wishes.
I coloured her up with my Promarkers. I found the "netting" in my stash, it is actually used to tie up wedding favours...I have no idea where I got it from. It was not from my daughters wedding last year. It's amazing what you find sometimes ;0)
I have used pink and blue Baker's twine.
You will also spot another of my Craftwork Cards candi hand made flowers here too amongst the shells.
The dies are Spellbinders for the image and the others are all Cheery Lynn.

The shells I collected from Kaminia beach on Kephalonia from our recent holiday....I  can show you where...

Yes it was bliss ;0)









I would like to enter my little mermaid card into the following challenges; ( I will link these up later as I am at work when this challenge/ post goes live)

Lili of the Valley add a sentiment
Pan Pastels Lots of layers
Country View Crafts die cuts
Bunny Zoe Things with wings
A little bit crafty something sweet
Deep Ocean welcome summer
Natalie and Amy Fantasy
Stamping for the weekend anything goes
Party Time Tuesdays anything goes
Creative Inspirations Anything goes

 I would also like to mention that the Ribbon Girls are hosting another of their generous giveaways here.  Do pop on over and join the fun.



I thought I would also show a little montage of the 4 cards I made as Guest Designer for I Love Promarkers.....

Do you have a favourite?

I have amazed to have been been offered yet another Guest Design spot for July.  I am very touched that people think my cards are worthy of this. This time I am flying across the pond to join the girls of the Loves Rubberstamps Challenge Blog. I will be posting my cards for them on Tuesdays throughout July. And don't worry I will be back with my Turtles post from holiday at the weekend ;0) Life has just been so hectic since I got back from my holiday.

So my card is a thank you card, firstly to Karen of  I Love Promarkers, secondly to LOTV for my amazing prize and last but not least to everyone who visits me here and takes the time to comment.

Thank you -  it means a lot.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

I'm in(to) chains

I am back with another update from my silversmithing class. Boy am I having fun making chains! As silver is so expensive now our teacher suggested that we practiced our chain maille and chain making techniques using aluminium jump rings. Not only are these relatively inexpensive but they come in a multitude of colours too. I ordered some and this is what came in the post.

For our first efforts we were shown the basic chain maille link and I decided that I would use plain and the black links, it also makes it easier when learning the technique to use 2 different colours.
Our teacher gave a demo and then provided us with a handout and it was time to get out the pliers and have a play.

It was a case of making up sets of 5 links called chainlinks and then joining them and believe me this was incredibly fiddly! In medieval times they would have linked hundreds of these up to make protection under armour. It must have take so long.

The following photos show me making up my links.

Once I had assembed the links it was time to join each of these links together into a chain and this was when it got even fiddlier!















Very slowly a length of chain started to appear

Now at this stage I sent a photo to my sister in law who then asked if my brother could commission this as a bracelet for her birthday. I was delighted to do so and after a few weeks I had finished the bracelet. I even managed to get a matching black aluminium clasp for it. As always jewellery is so tricky to photograph and this is prettier in the flesh but here is my Ta daa moment ......

It does not look very good here but on the wrist it really hangs well and also is super light. I tried taking a photo of it on my wrist but did not succeed. I have also started making one in the silver and blue. We have also been making a box chain and a Persian chain and they are also coming along really well. I will show you those soon. Our next project is to make a piece of  Mokume Gane, the Japanese technique which fuses metals into a wood grain effect. It looks very interesting, have a peep here. Obviously due to cost we are only making a small piece but it may be enough to make into a pendant. We will be fusing copper, silver and brass sheet together. Our teacher really does set some wonderful projects.

My card today is the card I made for my sister in law. For the first time I inked up one of the mermaid Lili of the Valley stamps which I bought with some of my winnings from their blog. As you know I love mermaids and I just love these stamps. I think they are one of my absolute favourites. I have 2 of their new mermaid stamps and this one is the single mermaid.

Isn't she a cutie and she colours up beautifully.

Here she is in close up. I coloured her with my Promakers as always. I framed her in my gorgeous Spellbinders floral oval frame die cut.
I used lots of sea themed embellies including die cut shells, an anchor charm and lace to resemble netting.

I also used LOTV sentiments and some Baker's twine. I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Natalie and Amy Something old/something new #6 my old is my LOTV sentiment and the new is this fab LOTV mermaid stamp.
Stampin for the weekend Something metal my metal is the anchor charm
ABC Card Challenge G is for going dotty
Allsorts #192 Let's get cute
Totally Gorjuss Anything goes with lace #169
Papertake Weekly anything goes
A+T emerald faeries love #40
Ladybug Crafts Ink Girlie
I love Promarkers Happy Birthday#154
Bunny Zoe anything goes



I have take a day off work today to meet up "halfway" with my darling daughter for ladies lunch and a spot of retail therapy. She finished the last of her hospital medicine placements yesterday, this forms the first part of her GP training.  Tomorrow she starts 18 months of GP based training. This means that in 18 months she will be a fully qualified GP. Yahoo! It is such a long training and contrary to what the press would have your believe our junior doctors really do give their pound of flesh with their work. They are such a dedicated bunch and work long hard shifts. She is at last saying goodbye to 12 day shifts, nights and 14 hour days. Her friends who have decided to do hospital based specialties will still have these to do. Medicine really is a vocation and thank goodness there are people out there ready to dedicate their working lives to looking after our physical and mental health.

Well I must be off as I need to drive to Guildford for our lunch date. Welcome to February everyone, I have even noticed in the last few days that it is not getting dark now until 5pm. The daylight is lengthening at last. Thanks for visiting my little nook in Blogland. For those of you in the UK it looks like another icy blast is heading our way again so keep snug as you craft.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x