Searching for snowdrops

Despite the winter so far being fairly mild I think the snowdrops this year are much later than usual. I went in search for some on a dull and dreary day.

This is my usual spot I find them near the ponds and sure enough I could see the shoots of some clumps.

These ones are not quite in bloom yet,

but just around the corner I was more successful

My first sighting of these dear little bulbs.
On Monday I met my dear friend Brenda at Wisley Gardens and was delighted to see lots more snowdrops there too.

I will share some more of those photos soon.

It makes me thing that spring is not too far away...but of course first we have Valentine's day!

So my card today is another of my 2019 range for Dotty's Tea House.
It's another of my Tim Holtz inspired tissue wrap technique backgrounds with distress paint.
I added lots of Tim Dies and a pop of glittered red hearts to finish off. I thought his paper doll couple looked just right there too.

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

Double D 1/3 looking back in time
Frilly and Funkie 1/3 vintage Valentine's
Shopping our stash 1/3 hearts on fire
A bit more time to craft 1/3 anything goes
Through the craft room door 1/3 anything goes
Crafty Catz 2/3 anything goes
Mix it up 5/5 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by, have you seen any snowdrops yet in flower?

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Snowdrops and daffodils....

Yes I have seen my first snowdrops in flower as I walked to Dotty's Teahouse earlier this week. The ones in my front garden are still not quite in flower so I squealed inside when I spied these.

There are lots of clumps under the trees in park .

Someone else was watching me looking at them too.

They were a little rain damaged and muddy but they always such beautiful sweet delicate flowers.

On the home front I have a constant blooming of my favourite daffodils

and the pot I only bought last week is almost sending up its flower stalks.

So with all these snowdrops and daffodils the only thing we are still  waiting for is of course..................................butterflies and bees. Now to understand that you would need to be a least my age and remember the song Dana sang for the 1970 euro-vision song contest....😉
And if you are not that old...check out the link below

1970...just check out the fashions!! and yes I used to have a hair slide just like hers. The song is only 3 minutes long and I guarantee it will make you smile all day.

and if you want to see how Dana fares 40 years on check out this version.

2010 version I think she has aged really well.

In its time this was just a sweet innocent song and I adored it. I can never see snowdrops and daffodils without that little tune playing in my head.

Today's card is not floral as I just wanted to share the Valentine's card I made for my Hb....he doesn't often read my blog but just in case he did I had to keep it a secret until today.

 The ticket stamps are Tim Holtz which I embossed with black.  The die cuts are all MB and the Valentine sentiment stamp, which I embossed in red, is ancient from my stash. 

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

                                                                      Noor have a heart
                                                               

Ribbon Girl  2/3 any card

                                   Uniko anything goes I have also gone for the optional love twist.


                                                             
   

Paper creator love is in the air  

A Vintage journey words that are special I think that the definition of Valentine on my heart is perfect for this occasion....a person chosen as one's sweetheart on Valentine's day; one who is loved. My Hb certainly is.

Creative Moments anything goes

Craft stamper take it make it anything stamped goes

Emerald Creek Dares rock the red

Deep Ocean hearts

Happy Little stampers anything goes with a die

Allsorts 1/3 hearts and/or flowers

Pile it On 1/3 Hearts on fire

Let's Craft and Create 2/3 love is in the air

Penny Black and More favourite stamp the sentiment stamp I used in the centre of my card is my absolute favourite Valentine stamp. I've had it for years, I have no idea of the maker and I use it every Valentine's  day.

I hope I brought a smile to your Thursday or brought back fond and very innocent memories of the 1970s to you with Dana's song. Enjoy the end of the week and the snowdrops..... and daffodils.

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A very happy Spider day

We had a lovely Valentine's day and I even had a couple of hours for some crafty play. The snowdrops are looking so pretty outside but I noticed that morning as we were going out the absence of spiders' webs.

I honestly love garden spiders and find them fascinating and for most of the year I am able to marvel at the webs they weave. Obviously at this time of the year it is far to cold for them, so they must be tucked away somewhere keeping snug.

I bought my Hb a box of chocolates for a token present but I also thought that in my few hours free I could make a little gift for him. I could also join in the challenge of "paint" over at PaperArtsy as well as a couple of other great challenges I wanted to enter.

My Hb wears a suit to work and all his shirts have removable bones in the collar. To give an idea of size I have put a pound coin in the photo.
The other day he asked me if we had a small jar that he could keep them in as they lie loose in his bedside table and he is forever searching for them.

I decided that not only did I have a little jar but that I could make it into a gift for him. This jar contained olive pate which we bought years ago in Rhodes.It is one of those things which has sat in the cupboard and never seen the light of day again. I emptied out the contents...the sell by date was 2010...LOL. I threw away the lid and washed the jar thoroughly.





Over at PaperArtsy the theme for this fortnight is paint and I watched Leandra's video. I was amazed to hear that it is possible to paint straight onto glass with acrylic paint with no prep at all. I decided to get out the few colours of Fresco paints I own and have a go.

I chose Vanilla as my base and gave the jar 2 coats.

The paints went on really easily and dried quickly. At this point I had no idea at all what I was going to use as decoration..it is so hard to make things for men. I had already used hearts for my Hb's Valentine's card...then I remembered the lovely green of the snowdrops and the lack of spiders from the morning. I remembered that one of his favourite stamps of mine is a sweet spider and spider's web which were the first ever stamps I bought in 1993.


I decided to add some Toad Hall green paint by dabbing it through some hessian as a stencil, my shop bought stencils would have been too fiddly.

I then added my stamping using Archival inks. First I added some random text using Wendy Vecchi's lovely yellow version.

It was very tricky as I had to roll the stamps around the jar but the end result was fun.
Any spider features which were not clear I just neatened up with a black permanent marker. Some only had 4 legs so I made them up to 8! A spider is only a spider if he has 8 isn't he.

So here is the finished spider jar, I glued some hessian to the rim to finish it off. 

My Hb loves it and it was made with love for him on Valentine's day...or should it now be called Spider Day?

I would like to enter my painted/stamped jar into the following challenges;

PaperArtsy paint;Topic 3 I was also inspired by Anneke showing that you only need a couple of colours to made something striking.
Stamping Sensations anything goes
That Craft Place Film inspired yes you guessed it...Spider Man!
Simon Says stamp Wednesday all creatures great and small my spider is tiny ;0)
Rhedd's Creative spirit anything goes
Our Creative Corner tic tac toe I have used the middle horizontal line; paint, stamps, stencil (I used the hessian as mine)
Craft Stamper Take it Make it stenciling I hope to have shown that you can use anything, even hessian as a stencil
The Ribbon Girl Ivory/cream
Art with heart projects to love

I hope you all enjoyed your own Spider(Valentine) days and have a lovely restful Sunday. We're off to Southampton in the next hour to catch up with Daisy and her Mummy and Daddy. Thanks for all you kind visits and comments and can I extend a very warm welcome to my latest followers, it's so good to see you here following my creative journey.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Colour in January and the very first Snowdrop

It has been quite a dull January weather wise. After the spectacular, and I must admit very magical snow we had in December,  it has been just...dull. I have seen some lovely colourful posts by my other blogger friends over the past few weeks friends so I thought a little more colour here would  be perfect for this post.

Last week I visited my favourite garden centre in Kent when I went over to see my parents.

It was lovely to see so much colour on such a dreary day. I spied lots of boxes of violas. I always enjoy growing violas. There are so many colour varieties and they are such plucky little plants which seem to survive through the coldest winters. They actually seem so much more hardy that the so called "winter flowering pansies"- many tend to give up the ghost in really cold weather.

There were also striking varieties of primroses.

There had been a new delivery of my favourite pots.

These terracotta pots, made by Willow Pottery, have the advantage of being frost proof. They bring out new designs on a regular basis and we loved the new cat design of the pot in the middle. My parents bought me a Willow Pottery pot for Christmas with a sweet hedgehog on the rim. I am so looking forward to filling it with some plants when the weather improves.

It was also so cheering to see tubs planted up with my very favourite flower...the dearest daffodil. I particularly like this miniature "tete a tete" variety and have a small pot indoors myself.
But what cheered me up the most that day was when we returned to my parents' home my Mum mentioned that she had found her first Snowdrop in flower in their garden. They are very late this year, my Mum has had Snowdrops in flower before Christmas some years.  I had to go out to photograph it, here it is...

So despite our harshest winter for many years and the Snowdrops very late arrival this year, the first bulbs are even in bloom out in the garden. I have never had much success growing Snowdrops, but when I returned home I had a look outside in my raised bed. I was delighted to find  that my bulbs, although not yet in flower, are coming along nicely! There are green tips beginning to emerge from the very cold soil.

Now I don't need to add who also felt he had to check this out, do I?.............

He does not like to miss out on anything!

Thank you Billy! It appears there are more signs of spring approaching and even the days are getting very slightly lighter now..what bliss.

Remember it's the last few days to enter my giveaway here. There is some colour to win, so don't miss out!

Bye for now,

Jane x