The butterfly valley revisited 2018

Every year when we holiday in Rhodes we hire a car. One of the reasons is to visit a couple of restaurants we love which are a little out of the way. The other is to make an annual visit to the butterfly valley. 

We were a little earlier visiting this year and there were more butterflies than we see later in the month. It is also such a pleasant walk up through the valley and a shield from the hot sunshine. 

They are on every surface in the valley, trees,leaves, rocks and anywhere in between. 

We also love spotting the lizards and freshwater crabs which live there.

It really is a place to sit and be mindful in...bliss.

My card also features butterflies.

I created an oxide background using Tim Holz inks and one of his floral stencils.

I then added some more stamping using his Lady Rose stamp set and one of his sticker quotes and finished off with my favourite Visible Image butterflies.

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

Stamping sensations 3/3 something beginning with B mine is butterfly and beautiful (in the quote)

Fashionable stamping 3/3 quote away

The butterfly challenge 2/3  the letter A I have gone with apricot and layers

Happy little stampers watercolour 2/3 anything goes/butterflies
Stamps and stencils it's been a while/ anything goes
Cute card Thursday 1/3 monochrome

Penny Black and More 1/3 make it feminine

Whenever life gets hectic I just close my eyes and can transport myself back to that day in the butterfly valley, they were indeed beautiful moments.

Thanks for stopping by and have a super weekend. We will be collecting more beautiful moments with our kids and grandkids as we are off on a conker hunt on Sunday. I hope you can find some beautiful moments (and conkers!!) too. 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Wisley in September

On Monday I met my dear blogging and crafting buddy Brenda at Wisely Royal Horticultural gardens in Surrey. We have seen these lovely gardens in spring, summer and now autumn this year and have so enjoyed seeing the changing seasons.

We have also been so incredibly lucky with the weather. Just look at those blue skies!

We enjoyed visitng the greenhouses

where so many of the exotic plants were in flower

We even spotted a late butterfly as we walked around the grounds.

We also noticed that the autumnal colours are making themselves noticed, depsite the 27c temperateure my car registered on the drive home.

It was such a lovely day. 

My card today is a sunny butterfly card up for sale at Dotty's Teahouse in Carshalton using Visible Image stmaps.

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

Stamping sensations 2/3 something beginning with B mine is butterfly.
Fashionable stamping 2/3 quote away
Pile it on 1/3 think big or 1 layer mine is a big sentiment
Pixie's snippets playground #335 I used a snippet of card to make my butterfly with.
The butterfly challenge the letter A I have gone with apricot

Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to leave your very kind comments. The wind seems to be really picking up today so stay safe it you are in the UK!

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Late summer sunshine

Good morning, we are actually enjoying some late summer sunshine in the South of England but the evenings are drawing in and the sun is less high in the sky each day. The sunsets seem deeper and more intense at this time of the year .

I have used this as inspiration for my Monday Design Team make for Visible Image. 

I got out some alcohol ink and yupo and made this background.

I worked with 2 stamp sets; Live in the moment

and Into the woods

I stamped the large and medium dragonflies onto card and added some pink and red Wink of Stella for some sparkle. I cut out just the wings.

I also stamped all the dragonflies onto my card base 

I then added 2 layers of into the woods, one on acetate to add depth to my card. I also added the extra wings.

Some close ups

One last shot

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

Lil patch of crafty friends 3/3 anything goes
The ribbon girl 3/3 anything goes
Crafty Card makers 1/3  all creatures great and small

Simon says stamp Monday stamp on it

Simon says stamp Wednesday stamp on it

Lil patch of crafty friends 2/3 anything goes

Crafteezee anything goes
Dragonfly dreams 1/3 anything goes

All the Visible Image links can be found here;

Visible Image group page on Facebook. Our friendly Group is 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 their gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased. 

Thanks for stopping by today, remember to try to "live in the moment" as life really does flash by and we need to savour being in the here and now.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Last days of August

Hello and I hope those of you who are in the UK are enjoying a restful bank holiday. Dare I say that this is the last one before Christmas! What a wonderful summer it has been this year. Warm, sunny, blue skied filled days, the best I can remember since the Summer of 1976

I have loved spending time this year at the beach, both here and abroad and I still have our holiday in Rhodes to look forward too. There is nothing quite like sun sea and sand is there?

I'm here with my Monday design team make for Visible Image and I thought it was a good time to share a card I made earlier in the year which was in the June edition of Making Cards. Myself, Pauline and Sharon from the DT made projects with a red, white and blue colour scheme and used the
create your calm stamp set.

I made an alcohol ink sea inspired background

I added some blue archival ink through the fibres stencil

I wanted some seaweed for my seahorse to hide in (they are very shy creatures you know 

😊) and added some red seaweed using the Dare to swim stamp set

I stamped and red embossed the seahorse twice and fussy cut one out.

I stamped out the sentiment and added glossy accents to the bubbles to add some dimension. 

I also stamped and white embossed the jelly fish and added glitter and glossy accents to them too. 

and the inside of the card continued the red, white and blue theme too. 

So here is my finished card.

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

Pixie's snippets playground #333
Let's craft and create 3/3 anything goes/lots of layers
TIME out 2/3 be bright
Lil patch of crafting friend's 2/3 anything goes
Let's craft and create 3/3 anything goes
Fussy and fancy 1/3 anything goes
Rubber dance 3/3  nature

All the Visible Image links can be found here;

Visible Image group page on Facebook. Our friendly Group is 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 their gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased. 

September beckons us and the nights are beginning to draw in. I find that my colour palette changes so much with the seasons so expect to see something more autumnal inspired next week.
Thanks so much for stopping by and for all the kind comments that you take the time to leave. Enjoy your bank holiday.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Finding joy in the little things

We had a fab time at Southsea last week and the weather was really kind, sunny but not too hot. We had lunch at the 10th hole again which I have shared with you in the past so I didn't take any new photos.  If you missed it one of my previous posts can be seen via the link here This is a super lunch spot and I highly recommend it if you are in the area. 

Daisy and Jack had a super time in the swing park and I took a couple of fun snaps...just how much joy can a swing bring!

This was Daisy in the same swing park 4 years ago....bless!

Daisy took Jack down the slide too

It's the little things isn't it! You can also see that Jack is wearing his first pair of shoes...yes he is now toddling everywhere...and getting into places you would not believe!

You may remember me sharing photo of the swan boats on our previous visits... ..always tied up..

well on this visit I was delighted to see that people were out having fun in them.

I did offer Daisy a ride but she found the swings far more exciting!

I thought my card today should be just as joyful and fun. It is a new baby card for sale at Dotty's...and no before you ask there is no hidden meaning here with new babies in the family (other than my niece who is expecting number 2 in December). 

I love this Lili of the Valley baby quote stamp and it is a popular sentiment down at Dotty's.

The sweet animal die cuts are a sizzix set I got in one of Country View's sales a while back. The other dies are Cheery Lynn and Joanna Sheen.

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

That's crafty 2/3 animal magic

Penny Black and More 3/3 I spy something beginning with B My Bs are bird, beak, babies (stamp), brad, blue (brad and some of the flowers) 

A bit more time to craft 1/3 anything goes

Lil patch of crafting friends 3/3 anything goes

Time out 1/3 how bright can you be?

It's nearly the weekend again and I hope you take a moment to find some joy in the little things too. 

Thanks for stopping by and as always thanks for your kind comments too.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x