More love in February

We are racing through February. There is so much going on at the ponds with the lovely wildlife. Just look at the love between the swans which I witnessed at dusk last week.

I am here with my 2nd project to hopefully inspire you to join our "anything but cute" February theme over at Country View. Remember that February is a short month so you only have another week to enter and possibly win the £20 crafting voucher to stock up on all the fab new products that have been arriving on the Country View craft website.

For my 2nd card I still kept to the love theme of my first card but this time made a general "love" rather than a Valentine's.
I made myself a metallic background using aluminium tape

and a knitting embossing folder. I used my heart Tim Holtz Bigz die and cut out and removed all the hearts. These will be useful for other projects.

I matted this up on black card

and dded some gilding wax

I then used another of the Tim Holtz hand stamps which I had spare from my first project. I fussy cut it out.

 I infilled a couple of the hearts with red die cuts and one with a little white heart die cut and a sentiment to finish off my card. 

We have seen some lovely anything but cute projects from the entries so far and would love to see even more. All the details for the challenge are here

I would like to join in with the following challenges;

Pixie's snippets playground #320

Crafty catz 2/3 anything goes

Creative fingers 1/3 anything goes

Get creative 1/3 anything goes/use ribbon

Creative Artiste 3/3 anything goes mixed media

Rubber dance stamps 2/3 colour board or hearts I went with the hearts theme

Crafty Calendar 1/3 2 or more layers

That's crafty 2/3 I heart you

Simon says stamp Wednesday add a die cut

Thanks for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave me, I really appreciate every single one. A warm welcome too for my newest followers, it's lovely to see you on board my creative journey here. 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Return of our swans

I was delighted on one of my recent walks down to Dotty's to see that our swans have returned to the ponds. There are 2 pairs this time and I manged to get some photos. It is always lovely to see these magnificent birds there.

Welcome home!

The sweet "dino" birds are back too

Everywhere looks very autumnal with the leaves beginning to fall

 so many colours by the waterfall

I am sharing another of my Halloween tags as the big day is nearly here.
I cut a black tag and used Oxides to make a ghostly background..which of course I then covered up..LOL..using my mixed media die cut.

and like the swans washing my witch has been washing her outfit and hanging it out to dry 😼

Yes I used the fun Cheery Lynn die cut again.

I highlighted the clothes with red glitter and also hung a skeleton charm from the line. I also embossed the edge of the tag with blood  red embossing powder.

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

Allsorts 2/3 Halloween
A vintage journey crazy for autumn colour
Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

Emerald Creek Dares Freaky fun

Frilly and Funkie 1/3 trick or treat my trick is that hidden under my die and panel is that ghostly inky background.....booooo! 

Can I also remind you that my samples are back on the TV tonight at 7pm and tomorrow at 9am with Visible Image stamps. I have booked my seat on my sofa! Tuesday's show was awesome and the next 2 shows are looking fab.

Thanks for all your support.

Enjoy the weekend ahead and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

The Swan Lake and ballet memories

I met my daughter and Jack a couple of weeks ago at the 10th Hole, a delightful tea house in Southsea. I have shared some photos from previous visits before, it's a great place and very popular.

 Of course we needed to catch up first over a cuppa.  After our delicious lunch we walked to the boating lake via the Rose Garden.

The boats on the lake are most unusual...yes they're swans and ducks.

And swimming right next to them were....real swans!

There was also a whole group right next to where we sat who pruned and preened themselves.

 It was fun to sit so close and watch them.

 We enjoyed a very pleasant few hours, just sitting, chatting and watching the world go by and joked that the lake should be renamed Swan Lake. Such a great day.

 Now today is my inspiration day for Visible Image and "Swan Lake" got me thinking and reminiscing about ballet. My daughter, in her time was quite a ballet dancer and even had the chance to dance a couple of sessions at the Royal Ballet's White Lodge in Richmond as a teenager. Even as a junior doctor she tried to get to a ballet lesson whenever she could. Her young children and busy life as a GP mean that disappearing off to ballet is not possible for now.  I am sure in the future though she will get back to her dancing. My Mum also used to take her regularly to see ballet shows in London,from a very early age right up until she moved out of London.  I have also been to the ballet many times with my Mum. We have seen all the major ballets including Swan Lake.  Most recently I even managed to drag my Hb along.

So I knew just which stamps to use for today's post...

Yes the brilliant Born to perform stamp set

I have made previous cards using the dancer so this time I thought I would use some of the words as a focal sentiment and also the great add ons which come with this set. The little ballet shoes are really fun to work with. I stamped and embossed 3 sets of shoes, 1 in red and 2 in black

which I then fussy cut out. 

There is a great mix of words you can use in this set. I decided to use the words below. I stamped on some the stars and die cut out my focal.

Then I put on my creative hat to put together my card.
Here it is;

I added a Noor star diecut using black card and filled in one of the stars with red glitter for some bling. I also added red brads to the stamped stars and ribbons to the shoes . I used some of my home printed music paper.This card brings back memories of the hours I spent when my girlie was a teenager sewing ribbons into her new satin ballet shoes.
Here is a close up the sweet shoes.

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

Dies R us anything goes
Pixie's snippets playground #295/6
Happy little stampers 1/3  anything goes with dies
Simon says stamp Wednesday add a sentiment
That's Crafty 1/3 only cards
Really reasonable ribbon 1/3 anything goes
Rubber dance 1/3 embossing

All the Visible Image links can be found here;

Visible Image group page on Facebook. Our friendly Group can be found here ...it would be lovely to see you there. 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. Our monthly themed challenge is on summer break and will return in September. 

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 can be purchased. 

You can also follow via:

 Pinterest

Twitter

 Instagram

I will be a bit awol for the next few days as a VIP is staying with us until Wednesday......my darling Daisy arrived yesterday and we will be busy crafting, collecting acorns, walking to the park, taking the train up to London, out to dinner..the list is endless.

What a lucky Nanna I am.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Dancing with the stars

Good morning. I hope you all enjoyed your weekends and found some time to get creative? We had no big plans so I took the opportunity to get some more new cards made for Dotty's.

I am here today with my next inspiration Design Team piece for Visible Image. I thought I would make something with the "Born to dance" stamp set which featured recently on Create and Craft TV. It is now back in stock on the Visible Image website here.

Do feel free to join us over on Facebook via these links

Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/visibleimage where you can enter our monthly ‘Show & Tell’ challenge!
Facebook PAGE https://www.facebook.com/visibleimage exciting giveaways every week!


And this week on the main Facebook page; bottom link above, there is the chance to win an £80 voucher, yes £80 to spend on Visible Image stamps as we have just celebrated 8,000 Likes. It closes on 15 March. Don't miss out. It's open to everyone, worldwide.

For today's card I went for something quite different and used black,red and white for my colours.
I also chose to try a different posture for my ballet dancer...performing a jump rather than "en pointe". My daughter studied ballet for many years and even as a junior Doctor still attended classes. I am sure that one day she will get back to it when her busy life allows.

I stamped and embossed the words in black and red. I stamped a star border using the large and small stars in this set. I also added a red ribbon to her dress

and here she is once more....my Black Swan perhaps?

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

Ribbon Girl 3/3  March card challenge
Creative Inspirations 1/3 favourite stamp brand and why mine is most definitely Visible Image because their designs are so different to any other stamps on the market and their large bold images stamp perfectly every time.
Penny Black and More 2/3 anything goes
Sweet Stampin 1/3 anything but a birthday
Simon Says stamp Monday make your own background
Simon Says stamp Wednesday for a special lady/girl
Addicted to stamps and More make your mark
Deep Ocean dots and/or stripes my stars are all made up of little dots


....and talking of swans I mentioned in my last post here that Mrs Swan has arrived back on our local pond. She reappeared after quite a few months absence...

I wonder it there might be some cygnets as work in progress...I really hope so...

they are certainly inseparable again.

Thanks for visiting today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave. Have a great week ahead and remember to enter the £80 voucher giveaway over on our Visible Image Facebook page...you never know it might just be your lucky week.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Swanning around with my feathery friend

Down at the ponds I regularly visit the swan pair. I have shown them in some of my previous posts but recently I noticed that Mrs Swan appears to have flown away again. I'm not worried as she has come and gone in the past and even appeared with their 2 nearly fully grown cygnets last year.

What I have noticed is how friendly he has become. Now I say he but of course who am I to know which one has gone on holiday? For the purposes of this post I shall call him a he 😄

He has become quite tame and when you call to him he comes over.

I was also most surprised to hear that he makes a sort of low honking sound....I always thought that swans were mute? He most certainly isn't.

 Far from the old wives' tale about them flapping wings and breaking arms ( have you ever honestly known anyone who that has happened to?)

 he is really friendly.

"Good morning Jane" (or at least  I think he said that to me) "would you like me to pose for some photos."

He even showed me the drops of water on his gorgeous feathers

He took a bow

 and then off he sailed again

I thought his gorgeous feathers deserved to feature on my challenge card...a CAS Valentine's card I have made for Dotty's tearooms, which has sold well. The image is a digi from the Graphic Fairy. The stamped sentiment is an old Simon's Says stamp. The die cuts are Memory Box and Whimsy.

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

Noor have a heart

Memory Box It's all about love;clean and simple the stitched frame and heart are both MB

Simon Says Stamp Monday young at heart

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday cute

Craft Heaven 3/3 love is all around

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

Paper creator love is in the air  

Creative Moments anything goes

Deep Ocean hearts

 Ribbon Girl 1/3 any card

Happy Little stampers anything goes with a die

Allsorts 1/3 hearts and/or flowers

Pile it On 1/3 Hearts on fire

Tomorrow is the Day of Love and yes I am a soppy romantic, I make no apologies for it. I am meeting my Hb when he finishes work, for a meal and we will be also celebrating 37 years of the day we got engaged. Gosh where did those years go...I'm still only 20 something aren't I?  Also in the context of celebrations I thought you would all like to know that my dear friend Karen's Mum is making a slow but steady improvement. She defied all the predictions at the hospital and hung on to life. Such wonderful news. Karen and I would like to thank for you all the lovely good wishes you left on my post last week.

Enjoy the new week ahead, the sunshine is back here this morning after such a cold, dreary weekend's weather. I'm taking some more cards down to Dotty's later and I will say hello to Mr Swan as I pass.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for all you kind, supportive comments.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x