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

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