My Tuscany memories preserved forever

Thanks so much for all your support and lovely comments you left for my Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 103 over the last 2 weeks. I'm glad I did it "live" but it really was full on and I was pleased to have the time to finish off my holiday Journal from our recent trip to Tuscany.  I bought a Pink Pig sketchbook for this purpose and if you missed that post you can read about it here.

Daisy, despite only being 2 3/4 years old, is an avid crafter and I also bought her a little cheapie scrapbook to work in as I knew she would like to follow Nanna.  She loved it and we spend many moments putting them together at our glorious villa. I love this photo...so much concentration in one darling little girl.

We made backgrounds using Paperartsy infusions, stencils and stamps.
This was the idyllic terrace where we sat and crafted.

I also took my Instax camera and took lots of instant photos for us both.  I also used my regular camera and printed out some photos when I got home.

Each day I wrote an index card for Daisy and one for myself with a short summary of our day. For her cards she chatted about what we had done and then she agreed what she wanted me to write.
Here are some pages from my darling girls journal.
This is her little journal I bought (from Wilkinson's for just £3)

Here is one of her backgrounds she created. Impressive for a 2 year old I think!

and here are some of her sweet pages...she made these herself...I just stuck things in for her. I love the way she added her own "writing" after mine...she repeats the words as she add those squiggles, bless her.

Although I didn't have much time to sit and paint I did have 2 sessions when I got out my travel watercolour set and had my first try at "proper"painting.  I decided to try to paint the view from where we crafted. It was so idyllic and the only sound to be heard was the buzzing of the bees.

Below is my finished painting...please be gentle....I don't have any art training at all but I tried to get some shade and tones despite the limited palette of colours and time. I used some separate watercolour paper as I didn't want to risk ruining my journal with any spillage. I then mounted it in my journal when I got home.

So here is my completed holiday journal...I stuck some ribbon under some card on the inside covers so that I can tie it together. My added ephemera made it bulky.
The quality of the papers from Pink Pig is excellent and it really took the inks and water media really well.

Here are some of the pages from my journal

Little instax photos from our wedding anniversary celebrations in San Gimignano.

and remember the "Bliss" tag I created and blogged about whilst away. If you missed it have a look here first ........
Well here is it in my journal

The page below is special as Daisy picked up the doily from under a dish served to us at a restaurant we ate at. She gave it to me to "put in my scrapbook". She has the makings of a real crafter in her, seeing inspiration and useful ephemera everywhere.

It's a wonderful memory of our trip.

I would like to enter my holiday journal into the following challenges.

Anything but cute inspiration photo I was inspired by all photos, especially the flowers and created a very "vintage garden" themed Tuscan journal.
A Vintage Journal stencil it..I used lots!
Paperartsy patterns all my backgrounds were created using different patterns of stencils and stamps. Each double page is unique.
Snippets Playground 242 I have used soo many snippets to decorate my journal.
We love to create 1/2 anything creative/mixed media
Pile it on Make 3/3 your own background
Rhedd's Creative Spirit August
Stamplorations August mixed media stencil Sunday I used so many stencils in my journal!

I also added that wonderful Dr Zeuss quote in the back of  mine and Daisy's journal.

Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment.....
Until it becomes a memory.

How true that is and how many treasured memories I hold of our wonderful holiday we shared with Daisy and Co.
I just wanted to share 2 final photos from our Tuscany adventure...

 Do you think I love my sweet granddaughter.....just a bit ;0) What a lucky Nanna I am.

We've had a very chilled weekend as we babysat my furry grandson..the lovely Bear, my son's dog. He watched me craft too in my garden studio. I have been working on my Z piece for the latest letter in the dictionary challenge...it's a fun one!

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

My holiday journal, Sicily June 2015

Hello today I am Guest Designer over at Country View. I was delighted to be invited by Chris a couple of months ago and when I was told the challenge theme was to be "On your travels" I thought that I would make a holiday journal for my recent holiday in Sicily. If you are a first time visitor here you may like to see this post I posted when I was away...I really was crafting in the shadow of Mount Etna. Please pop over to the Country View challenge blog and joint the fun. The theme of "On your travels" runs until the 31st July and one lucky entrant wins a 20 pound voucher to spend online at Country View Crafts online shop.

 I decided to make my own journal rather than use a bought one. I have already shared a couple of post as to how my pages were created. I crafted in the the shadow of Etna here made a seaside tag here and did some sketching here if you have missed these posts.

Here it the cover. It is mountboard underneath and wrapped in gorgeous Italian paper which I bought in town.

I used lots of dies, made some embossed tickets and a tag and added the lettering myself using a white pen.

Before I started my journal I first decided what shape and size I wanted it to be. I wanted my pages unbound so that I could fit extras in without worrying about whether it would still close. I decided that cutting an A4 sheet of card in half was a really simple option so that was the size of my pages.I bought myself a cropodile to make holes and used 3 book rings to hold my journal together. I actually bought larger ring binders in the end.  The final ones I used are 2" diameter.  I made myself several inky pages for my journal before I went away.

Here are a few of the blank pages.

 I did not take a lot of kit away with me but I did take a pencil case with pens/Inktense pencils and ordinary pencils with which I could doodle and index cards to jot things down on and use for little sketches.

 I also decided to buy a postcard every day so that I could keep a record of what we did each day.Obviously I could not finish my journal whilst away as I needed to print off my photos when I got home (they were all taken on my phone as sadly I lost my camera on day 4. A long story but I was able to replace it this Thursday through the insurance so all good). I may even invest in one of those little instant Fuji Instax mini cameras which take credit card sized photos one day?
I always love collecting ephemera when I am on holiday so I found lots of items to use.......maps, serviettes, tickets, stamps, bottle tops and all sorts.
I did make several pages whilst away and when I got home it was time to make a front and back cover and start to put everything together.

I bought this gorgeous wrapping paper in a stationary shop...it just shouted Italian to me and was thick and sturdy. I knew I wanted to use it for my covers. I used mount board for the covers and glued the paper in place.

So I am sure you want to see my finished piece.
I obviously cannot share every page, plus I will spare my bare chested Hb's photos here. These are a few samples from inside.

Yes my doodling featured too, the woman on the plane next to me did rather look sideways wondering what on earth I was doing but it's a great way to pass the time on a flight. You may recognise the insignia above as Tui....we flew with this air line from Gatwick.

The tonic water top is from our Gin and tonic and there are some tops from the local Italian beers too which my Hb flattened for me. 

I created lots of little envelopes for tickets and small bits.

I bought a watercolour from a street artist which I cut to size and added a little handmade envelope with the info inside. Small brown envelopes are easy to stamp and decorate.I made tab from hessiam and added some 

You will have seen some of my little sketches in my other posts but this is one more

I loved making this. Ever since I was a tiny girl I have made holiday scrapbooks where I stuck in all sorts of ephemera. This is just a big girl's arty version. It was a real labour of love but worth every minute.

If anyone would like any other info please email me, I am quite happy to answer any questions. One of the best decisions I made was to write a postcard or letter every day. It's really hard to remember what you did when you get home. Also the little sketches made there were really fun and when I look at them I get transported back to that moment. I must admit my darling Hb was a star and was quite happy to wait whilst I got out my pencils and made my little sketches. He even had a go at a couple himself. We really did have a wonderful holiday. Roll on the next one.

I would like to enter my holiday journal into the following challenges;

Art Journal post and postage
Addicted to stamps anything goes
A vintage journey destinations
Die cut Divas summer and patriotism
Noor! UK something old something new my old are my seahorse dies, my new is my Italian paper I used for my cover.
Vintage stamping travel
That Craft Place mixed media
Stamping sensations feature a creature I feature lots of creatures in my journal but crabs and seahorses crop up frequently.
The Artistic stamper tags there are lots of different tags throughout my journal including on the cover.


Thanks for visiting. I have a second guest design post for Noor! UK here today, just click the link here if you would like to see what I have created for Tracy.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Fabriano; paper of the Italian Masters

One last post I would like to share with you from my recent holiday in Sicily is how we found a wonderful art shop in the back streets of Taormina. It sold  Fabriano paper which is made in Italy. I had never heard of Fabriano but it has been making paper since 1264......yes seriously and it made all the papers which Michelangelo and the other great Italian masters used. Many bank notes are printed on it too. It celebrated its 750th anniversary last year.

The main street in Taormina is so pretty and has a plaza half way along

with some very interesting lamp posts.

We walked into town most days and went off down the side streets one day where we found the shop

I found a gorgeous wallet of paper (a special limited edition for the 750th anniversary last year) and my Hb bought a stunning leather pencil case. There is now only 1 last pack left in the shop ! I was so lucky to have found it.

 The papers are just exquisite and some are water marked.I love stroking it...fellow paper lovers will know just what I mean.

What was an amazing coincidence is that I bought a small water colour to add to my travel journal from a local artist and it was painted on Fabriano paper!

and this is the same view as captured by the street artist.

I decided when I got home that I would make 2" Moments" for my journal using a piece of my very precious Fabriano paper. I cut the page in half and added some bister powders in 2 different colourways; I inked the backs too as that is where I would be attaching my holiday ephemera.

I added some texture paste through a couple of TH stencils and a little abandoned coral and vintage photo DI and some simple stamping using my Visible Image stamps. I also flicked some brown fountain pen ink on them.

Here is the pink version

and the blue one, to which I simply added some Vintage photo DI

Here is the pink version in my travel journal

I used the backs of my Moments to attach my ephemera, including that from the Fabriano shop.

I will be revealing my finished travel journal next Monday...I have actually got 2 GD posts going up on the same day! One will be my journal for Country View.

I would like to enter my pink Moment (or both if I am allowed to) into the following great challenges;

PaperArtsy stencils
Stamp and Create patterns
Penny black and more add a sentiment
Stamps and stencils happy holidays
Noor!UK something old/something new my old are my VI stamps, my new is my wonderful Fabriano paper.
Country View on your travels
Love 2 create anything mixed media
That craft place anything goes mixed media
Frilly and Funkie something to say
A vintage journey destinations

Also just another little hint that my bloggerversary is now only 18 days away and I am having a giveaway of my hand made jewellery. If you missed my shout out post you can find it here

Thanks for visiting me and for taking the time to leave a comment. I really enjoy reading every single one of them. A warm welcome to my newest followers, it's great to see you joining me here at Jane's Journal.

 Wimbledon is really hotting up and I am enjoying seeing the recent matches on TV. I am looking forward to the finals at the weekend.....can Andy do it again or will Federer or Djokovic be crowned champion? It's certainly exciting viewing.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x