Dreaming of mermaids

 Good morning all and welcome to my fortnightly blogged design team make for Visible Image. We're now into August which is holiday time for lots of people. I love visiting the seaside all year as our daughter and family live at the South Coast.

 As well as kayaking when it's hot and sunny we love to beach comb all year and find shells. My granddaughter and I always joke that perhaps one day we might even spot a mermaid. Yes Daisy and I have very vivid imaginations! So for today's make I thought I would use the brilliant Mythical Mermaid set to make a summery birthday card.

I also used the awesome Torn fishnet die

with a birthday sentiment from  Birthday wishes

and circles from Round in circles as bubbles.

This is what I got up to;

I used the torn fishnet die to die cut a frame in white card and cut it down to 6 1/2" by 4 1/2". I stamped rings from the round in circles using blue ink as bubbles. I also made an inky under sheet slightly smaller than the frame using chipped sapphire and prize ribbon distress stain sprays. 

Using the frame for placement I stamped the mermaid and dolphins in grey and some waves from the mermaid set in blue as shown. 

I coloured the images using distress pencils

and added some white pen details to the waves.

I also stamped the shells and crabs from the set around the frame and stamped and cut out the birthday sentiment as shown. 

I then stuck the background under the aperture . I cut up some of the fishnet die and placed it around the frame as shown.  I matted it onto blue card and then a white 7 X 5" white card blank. The sentiment was raised using foam pads and I finished off with my signature sequins and glossy accents to highlight some of the "bubbles".

Here is my finished card

with a couple of close ups

and 1 final shot;

All the Visible Image links are listed below;

The Visible Image Group page is over on Facebook. Our friendly Group is here ...it would be lovely to see you join us.  You will be warmly welcomed and see lots of inspiration from the DT and customers to inspire your own creativity. 

 I also organize a monthly artist trading card swap in the group.  We celebrated 2 years of swapping in May. Whether you are a new stamper or a seasoned one you are most welcome to join us. Over 140 members, worldwide, have taken part since it started. It's been such fun and it's so lovely to receive a unique piece of art from your partner in the post. The details and sign up for each swap are posted in the group on the 23rd of the month. So the next sign up for September opens on 23rd August, if you would like to join us.  There is no "monthly" commitment, just join in when you have the time and if you live in the UK can you choose to post to the UK only if that suits you best.

The main Visible Image Facebook business page is here

Visible Image also has its own You Tube channel here where you can see videos and Lives to give you lots of inspiration and ideas. 

Their Instagram page can be found here 

Pinterest here

and their website is here. 

 You will also find me on Instagram here; @jane.tyrrell where I share many more samples than I have the time to blog.

Back soon, 

Bye for now,

Jane x

Swimming into September

So here we are three quarters of the way through 2019...how on earth did that happen? Although it is September we still have a few more weeks of summer left and the theme for this month over at Country View challenges is "Under the sea".
There is still time to enjoy photos like this...where I will be in a few weeks time.

I love the sea and as those of you who know me well I would love to be mermaid so I decided to make some mermaid themed  ATCs for this challenge.
My backgrounds were made with Brushos. I cut them to 3 1/2 by 2 1/2"

 and used my Tim Holtz splash stencil to add some depth using mermaid lagoon distress ink (of course!)

I stamped the mermaid from the Visible Image Mythical mermaid set and coloured her with watercolour pens. I cut off her trident (and eventually her arm as I put her at the edge of the card).

I die cut some under the sea images and also used the jelly fish and sentiment from the Visible Image Dare to swim set

I stamped and white embossed the jelly fish and added an acetate with alcohol inks "cap" for extra texture. I used the cut off mermaid tail at the top of this one.

These are the 3 ATCs.

Here they are in close up.

I glued the mermaids's tail I had cut off onto the top of the next ATC.

I would like to enter them into the following challenges;

Pixie's snippets playground #360
Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes
Cute card Thursday 1/3 anything but a card
The house that stamps built 1/3 anything goes
Dies R Us Nature I have used Cheery Lynn's seahorse die
A bit more time to craft 1/3 anything goes
We love 2 create 1/3 anything goes mixed media
Happy Little stampers watercolour anything goes

I hope I might have inspired you to take up our Under the sea challenge for September and join us.

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 is absolutely FREE! All the details for the September challenge can be found here.

I will be back with some more "under the sea" inspiration  for CVC on September 19th using the same gorgeous Mythical mermaid set.

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Bye for now,

Jane x

The Newbury Stamperama stamping show with Stampers Grove

Hello I am back with some photos and a little write up of my recent demo day.  I spent Sunday demonstrating Visible Image stamps for James and Emma Dennison of  Stampers Grove at the Newbury Stamperama stamping show. I used mostly distress oxide inks, alcohol inks, Brushos and Infusions for my backgrounds, all of which they sell. 

James kindly supplied some of the photos I am sharing here with me in action (thanks James).

Here I am at 9.55am just before the doors opened. All set up and raring to go.

I made some limited edition artist trading coins for the day and it just had to be horses didn't it. One I made into my badge, two I gave to James.

Here are some of the samples I shared.

There was a constant stream of friendly visitors.

Before I had a chance to look up it was 1.35pm and time for a late lunch. Outside was the calm, quiet race course and the sunshine...just right to recharge the batteries and my voice! I sat and ate my packed lunch and this was my view.

Then it was back for the last 2 hours.

People were so lovely to chat to and so appreciative of any help and advice. One lovely lady had come all the way from near Worthing. She had seen me demo for James in May at the Worthing show and wanted to see me and  my work again. How kind! Can you guess what was the most commonly asked question? It was which inks to use for which purposes, especially black inks. 

So my card to day for my card challenges is the mermaid card I made as a sample for James. This is my favourite set in the new Visible Image release.

I added ink through the fibres stencil to background I had made with Brushos, which had an oval I die cut out.

I used alcohol inks to make an acetate  watery fill for the oval aperture.

I stamped some waves and then built up my layers. I watercoloured Miss Mermaid and her dolphin pets plus some shells and fussy cut them out. I also added some Glossy Accents to the bubbles.

Here is my finished card

with a couple of close ups..

How cute are the dolphins in this set? I used crackle accents on Miss Mermaid's tail and rubbed some gold gilding paste into the cracks. I added some "seaweed" die cuts.

 One last close up

If you would like to buy this set James has it on his website here

He also has a very extensive catalogue of Visible Image stamps here

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

Penny Black and More 1/3 summer colours

Craft Stamper 2/3 July

Pixie's snippets playground #356 

Allsorts 1/3 summer fun

Crafty sentiments 1/3 add a sentiment

Die cuttin divas 1/3 summer /tropical

Through the craft room door 1/2 anything goes

If you came along on Sunday and stopped by, thank you. It really was a joy to be there. There are a couple of shows in the pipe line for next year where I will be demoing for Stampers Grove again, more details nearer the time. 

James takes Visible Image stamps plus other stamp brands and lots of gorgeous products all around the UK. There is a list of the shows he is appearing at here

When he is not at shows he of course has his online shop; here Do check him out.

Thanks so much to Stamper's Grove for Sunday, I had a blast!

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One final heads before I go that tomorrow, Thursday 11 July, I will be appearing at Dotty's Tea House, Carshalton High Street, where my one of a kind cards are sold. I will be there all day sharing some of my secrets of how I make my cards and at 11am and 2pm I will be doing some live inky demonstrations.

If you are in the area just pop in, I should be set up by 10am.  It would be lovely to see you there and yes Dotty's handmade cakes are legendary and the atmosphere there is so warm and welcoming.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Back soon, I will let you know what went on at Dotty's! 

Bye for now,

Jane x

Blue and green for July

Happy July everyone, summer is really in full swing now. I got home from our Sicily holiday last night where we had a glorious week.

It's time for our next challenge over at Country View and Corrie has chosen the fun theme of blue and green.
I saw plenty of blue and green in the gorgeous sea at Taormina. I will share some more photos soon but here is a taster.

 Corrie would like to see blues and greens as the main colours in your entries. Flesh colours are also allowed (I checked that) as I knew just the set of stamps that I wanted to use. The brand new Mythical Mermaid set from Visible image which you can buy here on the CVC website. Remember that UK postage is FREE so you will not find this set cheaper anywhere on line. 

I made a blue background using blue shades of distress ink on watercolour paper.

 I stamped out all the stamps in the set and coloured them in shades of blue and green. I even  coloured Miss Mermaid's hair blue and green using glitter pens. 

  Don't the dolphins look fun in blue.

 I added some waves to the background and also used some nautical themed dies to die cut greenery and scenery. 

I then put my blue and green mermaid card together.

with a couple of close ups;

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

Creative moments 3/3 anything goes
Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes
Craft catz 1/3 anything goes

You can enter our July "Blue and green " 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 is absolutely FREE! All the details for the July challenge can be found here.

My 2nd dose of inspiration is on the 27th.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I am back again today as it is also time for my Monday Visible Image post.

Bye for now,

Jane x