Strawberry Pimm's O'Clock

Although as I typed  this post yesterday afternoon the rain was coming down in sheets, we have enjoyed some good sunny days in August. It's just easy to forget them when there is enough rain out there to build an arc!

I decided to write a sunshine filled post to remind us that we still have another month of summer left. I wanted to share with you a new variety of my favourite summer tipple which I noticed on the shelves of the supermarket recently. Pimm's bring out some new editions from time to time but I did not want to buy a whole bottle. I then noticed some in cans, ready made with lemonade. There was no excuse now not to try it.  Obviously this found its way into my bag.

 Mmm Pimm's with strawberry and a hint of mint ( and no I am not sponsored by them at all....I wish I was!)

 There is nothing quite like a cold Pimm's on a hot day. I added ice, cucumber, a slice of lemon and a strawberry. We sat at our new garden table looking out into our tiny garden of delight and listened to the bees buzzing around as we relaxed and savoured the warmth of the sunshine. My Hb is not really a Pimm's fan.....he toasted the sunshine with a G&T.

My opinion on this variety.....it's very pleasant but to me nothing beats the original. However being able to buy this special edition in cans means that you don't have to buy a whole bottle just to have an occasional change. That's a win win in my books.

My card challenge today is also red/summer based and is a card I made for a 40th birthday.

I used one of my Nicecrane digi images. This one is from the Henderson's flowers selection I love this selection.
These are the others available


Here are a couple of close ups of my card

I made the background with distress inks and then embossed my Visible Image rose stamps using glitter embossing powder. 

I altered a bronze flower charm with paints.

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

Artistic stamper anything goes

Anything but cute making magic again I was inspired by all the gorgeous shimmering textures in the photos. I also think my flower with the heart brad looks like something from a fairy tale like Snow White...or is that just in my mad head?

Mixed  media world gorgeous textures

Country View Crafts summertime

Allsorts Roses

Crafty cardmakers No patterned paper

Papertake weekly take your pick I have chosen vintage/distressed

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

Pixie's Snippet Playground week 191 here I used a snippet of ribbon on my card, I didn't have enough for a bow but still thought it added some shimmer to my card.

Fingers crossed that this biblical rain moves on in time for the upcoming bank holiday. We are meeting friends for a trip to a National Trust Property on Sunday and it would be lovely to stroll around the grounds as well as visiting the house.

Thanks for visiting and I would like to extend a very warm welcome to my  newest followers. I really hope you enjoy following my creative journey here at Jane's Journal. I hope that today's post has reminded us that there is lots of sunshine around us.....even if it's not shining from the sky just at this moment.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Summer and strawberries

Nothing epitomises summer more than soft fruits: Amongst my favourites are strawberries and raspberries.My daughter loves fresh strawberries and grows her own. This month I am guest designing for Tracy who owns Noor Designs  UK. Please pop over and leave me some love there. Also take a peep at her website and there is also a great something old/something new challenge going on for the month of July. You could win a £20 Noor voucher. She has some gorgeous stock and lots of mixed media products too...right up my street!  I will be showcasing some of the great products she sells over the next 5 weeks here and on her blog on a Monday.

My first project for Tracey involved strawberries. I knew just where I could get some perfect strawberry photos as my daughter grows some beauties.

We had a lovely sunny day in Southampton on Saturday and when my daughter needed some strawberries to put in our Pimm's and pudding Daisy came out to the garden to help Nanna pick some.

They grown perfectly in a raised container on straw (of course!) and we removed the netting that keeps the birds from helping themselves to this ripe juicy treasures.

I think Daisy ate more than she picked but there were plenty to go round.

My GD post today showcases the brilliant Dutch Doobadoo card art strawberry. I found myself some strawberry paper amongst my digi stash and some green card for the leaf. This sweet gift box is very simple to make. Just trace around the shape, make the score lines and cut out and make the holes.

There is just one piece to stick. I threaded through some twine and job done.

I added a little die cut tag which I embellished with my ancient strawberry stamp and some words.

I would like to enter my strawberry gift box into the following fun challenges.

Penny Black and more  add a sentiment

Natalie and Amy summertime

Addicted to stamps anything goes

Die cut divas summer and patriotism I don't think there is anything more English than summer and strawberries.

The Artistic stamper tags


Thanks for visiting and I hope that you are enjoying some of the delicious soft fruits which are around at the moment. They taste so much better when they are either home grown or grown locally.
We enjoyed ours in Pimm's and for pudding.....mmmm

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

(If you would like your own strawberry just click below and yes Tracy mails internationally too).

Card Art Strawberry Set (2pcs)

InLinkz.com

A paper anniversary

My daughter and son-in-law recently celebrated their first wedding anniversary. It is incredible how quickly that year has flown by. I shared many posts with you during the pre wedding build up last year of all  the jewellery I created, the card etc. I had lots of "bit and pieces" of memorabilia from both the build up to and the actual wedding day. I had a whole bag full and was not sure what to do with it until one day another of those light bulb moments occurred in my little brain. I would put them all together in an album. I decided to create a "Smash"album which I could give to them as a present for their  first wedding anniversary as that is traditionally a "paper" anniversary.

For those of you not in the know a Smash album is a sort of scrap book but with the advantage that the pages inside are all  themed. The idea is to "Smash" in everything and add to it as you go along.I bought the Wedding version and ordered some copies of the photos I took at the wedding so that I could create a memory album that could be treasured and perhaps even shown to their children one day.

It took me a long time to work out an order for the album and eventually I decided to start the album with photos of when they first met, their engagement, the buying of the dress, the hen party  etc and I would end it with photos of the actual day, 28 July 2012. I used all the little bits and pieces I had kept; ribbons, receipts, menus etc etc.

I had a trial laying out of everything and then I stuck everything in. I cut lots of themed die cuts and I also added some text in my own handwriting as I thought that would make it very personal.


Here are just a few of the many pages I made;

This page is their engagement showing the cake I made and the silver pendant.  I had kept a piece of the ribbon from the cake so I added that.

 This is the wedding jewellery I made for my girlie, her bridesmaids and me.

The dress fitting and the receipts .

Our fun cheesecake testing day and hair practice in the May, on a very hot sunny day.

Their wedding card; I had kept some of the embellishments which I stuck in around the photos

The day before the wedding when we had the day together, just Mum and Daughter in a beautiful hotel in Midhurst, near to the wedding venue. This was the morning of the wedding.

The moment she arrived....a moment that still makes my eyes prickle ;0)

and joyful celebrations for the newly weds

I had kept the ribbon and the pins from her beautiful bouquet as she gave me her flowers. I carefully fixed them in place in the album.

I also decided that I would make some special wrapping paper and a tag to present it in. My daughter adores strawberries so this was the theme, as was their strawberry anniversary card which I have shown you all previously. I hand stamped the paper.  Brown paper is always the perfect medium for this and gives a really great hand made effect. I use it a lot for wrapping very special parcels and the hand stamped images made it really one of a kind. It is also so much cheaper than gift wrap....a £1 roll wraps many many pressies.

I also made a little strawberry gift tag to match and my made with love 1st anniversary present was complete.

and here it is all wrapped up. My daughter and son-in-law absolutely loved it and I got such a sweet teary text from my girlie on the morning of her wedding anniversary...it went down a treat and is much loved ;0)

I would like to enter my tag (and even my smash book and wrapping paper if they qualify ;0) into the following challenges;

Crafting for all Seasons tags
Whimsy Clean and simple
Papertake weekly flower power
Emma's Cards floral
Rhedd and Rosie use red
Divas by design use some twine
Pile it On No designer paper
Papercrafting Journey anything goes
Make it Monday Linky party
Heck of a challenge summer holidays
A little bit crafty summer sun

It is the bank holiday weekend here in the UK, the last one before Christmas no less (123 days to go). Enjoy it and I hope you get some crafting time as well as time to relax. We finally got a real soaking of rain this morning to water my very parched lawn.  We are planning some quiet time at home but on Tuesday I am off to a card class run by my blogging friend Brenda Brown in Hampshire. I am hoping to learn some more about distress inks, which she is the Queen of. As it is near to my daughter (76 days until our grandbaby is due ;0) I shall be carrying on afterwards to visit her and my son-in-law. My Hb is taking the train down after work and we will enjoy an evening meal with them both before driving home. I also have Wednesday off work for our monthly ladies' lunch/mother and daughter day which I am really looking forward to, a real double day bonus in my eyes. Take care everyone and thanks as always for visiting me here and reading my Journal.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

More glorious sunshine

This late but long summer has been glorious and this week the temperatures are rising again to 26c by Friday. This morning, as it's my day off, I trotted down to the high street to have my hair cut and this was my beloved ponds at 9.30 am.

Doesn't sunshine just make everything look perfect? My heart skips a little beat when I sit for a moment by the ponds as it brings back so many memories of summer days when my children were small. We visited the ponds most days and they spent many happy hours in the amazing play park there. I also thought that in a few years time I will be able to retrace those memories with my grandbaby who is due in no less than 80 days time ;0)

My garden produce continues to provide lots of tasty treats and my tomatoes have been made so beautifully sweet by the long sunny days. I love just pulling a fruit off the plant, a quick wash under the tap and then the joy of a still warm snack.

I also grew a couple of unusual plants this year. The first I would like to share with you are the cucamelons. They are a range of seeds from Sutton's and  I bought these in the spring. I started them off in my little indoors propagator in the sunshine of our back bedroom. They taste of cucumber with a very slight sweet twist and I think will be perfect for Pimms this weekend, it is a bank holiday here in the UK.

Here they are back in May being planted out in my hanging basket

Last month

 and today

I have been able to spend the this afternoon with Billy in my garden studio cracking on with some jewellery making and some card commissions. I have also been deadheading my pots which are still producing amazing blooms. I'm not sure you can really call this helping ?

My card today has a garden theme and features the red and green from my tomatos. I have used my Magnolia yummy Strawberry Kisses Tilda stamp. This card is for sale here in myEtsy shop

 I have added my usual recipe of glossy accents to the strawberries to make them even more delicious looking. I coloured my image with Promarkers and highlighted with Prismacolor pencils. The die cuts are Cheery Lynn small butterflies are a MS punch. The tags I made are by LOTV, part of my Pretty Vintage win. I have tied a dragonfly charm with some twine and added gems in red and green at the sides. The flower I made with prima petals with a Card Candi for the centre. I have just bought some new Craftworks card candi and this is one of the new packets. 

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

Papertake Weekly flower power
Top Tip Tuesday use things with your initials My initials are JT. Now J is incredibly difficult but I thought I would push my luck and suggest Juicy strawberry  jewels (jems) for J and  for T I have used Tags, Tilda stamp, Tibetan charm and Twine
Ribbon Girl Red
Emma's cards Floral
Penny Black and More In the garden
Passion for Promarkers Fave colour combo mine is red/green
A little bit crafty summer sun
Cutie Pies Anything goes
Ohh La La Inspired by a song Whenever I use this stamp I start humming The Beatles "Strawberry Fields"
Crafty Ribbons 3 of something I have made 3 tags
Stamping Sensations Wings and things and a touch of vintage
Marvellous Magnolia anything goes
Loves Rubber stamps round or square cards
Craft Room Challenge Use something new the new is my new dragon fly charm, the card candi and the vintage tags stamps
Make it Monday Linky party #154
Bunny Zoe Bingo I have used the far right vertical line; Tag, gems, charm
Rhedd and Rosie's challenge use red

I hope every one in the UK is making the most of this glorious weather. It's work for me tomorrow but I am really looking forward to the long bank holiday weekend, let's hope the weather can last until then. Enjoy the week and your crafting. Welcome to my newest followers and I hope you enjoy following my creative journey and thank you to everyone who stops by here and leaves such sweet comments. It's the start of the Great British Bake Off on TV tonight...I watch very little TV but this is one of my must sees ;0)

Back soon,


Bye for now,

Jane x