Beddington lake back in all it's glory

Beddington Park is another very beautiful park local to me. Last year it received some Lottery Funding to dredge and improve the lake  and for many months the lake has been out of action. I decided to take an extended walk there at the weekend to see the outcome of all the work.

Wow it really does look stunning again.

This is how parts of it looked in the spring. The saddest thing was that all the wildlife had left

I was delighted to see the wildlife have returned.

There trees were showing off their autumnal foliage 

The gorgeous willows reach down to touch the surface of the water.

It is such a beautiful spot.

They have also rebuilt the heritage rockery area, I will share that in another post.

All these wonderful colours inspired my latest  Halloween tag.

I used Carved pumpkin, Cracked pistachio and Seedless preserves distress inks and Tim Holtz' pumpkin stencil to make the background. 

The pumpkin and spider stamps are also Tim's by Stampers Anonymous. The die cuts are a mix of Cheery Lynn, Memory box, Sizzix  and MFT and the paper snippet is Graphic 45.

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

Stamps and stencils 3/3 Spooky fun and or autumnal twist
Simon says stamp Monday halloween/spooky

A vintage journey 3/3 autumn splendour

Memory Box halloween or candy themed my spider's web is a MB die.

Try it on Tuesday 1/3 Trick or treat it's Halloween

Addicted to stamps 2/3 autumn colours

Dies R us 2/3 anything fall I have used several dies; Cheery Lynn and MFT leaves, Memory box spider's web and a Sizzix bat
Dragonfly dreams 1/3 autumnal colours
Pile it on 1/3 black /purple/orange/fantasy

I think this is likely to be the last week of our Indian Summer, rumour has it that an arctic blast is on its way next week!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Grow strong

Good morning, I'm back from a week away in Majorca and after I have ploughed through the washing I will download my photos and share some posts very soon. I took over 200...here is one for a taster of our daily Pine Walk.

In the meantime it's time for my Monday DT make for Visible Image and today I am using stamps from the

so much stronger set

and the single tree from the

into the woods set.

I made an alcohol ink background, using glossy card stock, gradually adding drops until I was happy.

I then stamped the tree and embossed it with Seth Apter's baked texture embossing powder..I love these powders as they have "bits" in which give a very different effect.

I then stamped and black embossed the sentiment and also some leaves from the super 

Create it set

This sentiment works so well with the tree stamp.

I then matted and layered up my card 

and one more close up

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

Creative Artiste 2/3 anything mixed media
Penny Black and More 2/3 in the garden
That's crafty 2/3 a summer's day
Lil patch of crafty friends 1/3 anything goes
Addicted to stamps and More 1/3 anything goes
Crafty Catz 1/3  anything goes
A bit more time to craft 1/3anything goes

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. 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! There is an 11,000 followers celebration running at the moment, you could win a £100 coupon to spend on their website! 

And the shop web site is here; where all these gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased. 

You can also follow via:

 Pinterest

Twitter

and

 Instagram

There are 6 new stamp sets and 8 new stencils...all totally amazing and uniquely Visible Image.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for your very kind comments which you take the time to leave. I would also like to warmly welcome my newest followers, it's great to see you join me on my creative journey.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Into the woods in May

Good morning even though it's a bank holiday I am delighted to be here with my weekly dose of Visible Image design team inspiration. This weekend we have had record breaking temperatures and it's going to hit 28c here this afternoon. I am loving it. We went to find some shade yesterday in our local woods.
I took some photos for today's post as I am using the brilliant new into the woods stamp set.
This was the view as we went into the woods

The new leaves are all a glorious lime green as they are still so new and tender.

I love looking through at all the different levels of trees.

From saplings to mighty fully mature oaks.

The brand new Visible Image into the woods stamp set is absolutely perfect for recreating these magical scenes.

I decided that as I wanted to use all the stamps in the set for my first creation I would set my scene at night time...just imagine... the time when the sun is just going down and the shadows lengthen.
I blended my Distress oxides, I used squeezed lemonade, broken china and lucky clover, onto some heavy weight smooth card stock.

I added a little spritz of water for the stars.
I then stamped some shadows using my Versafine Claire ink and the background stamp.

  Here we go...the shadows lengthen and the day is nearly done...up in the sky you might just see the stars starting to twinkle.

I then stamped the big tree and also the foreground trees stamp using darker ink (shown in my completed card photo..further on.)

 I also stamped, embossed and cut out the words I wanted to use.

I finished off my card with the little owl stamps.

So let's further set the scene.......imagine that the daytime bird song has be replaced by the hooting of owls...and everyone has gone home from the woods. It is the turn of the creatures of the night to re claim the woods until morning.....

Here is my finished card.

The little owl stamps are just delightful. Here are a couple of close ups.

and one last shot

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

Penny Black and More 1/3 anything goes
Stamping sensations 1/3 close to nature
Crafty catz 1/3 anything goes
Lil patch of crafty friends 1/3 anything goes
Crafty Calender 1/3 Things with wings
Cute card Thursday 1/3 anything goes
Simon says stamp Wednesday animal magic

I absolutely love this stamp set, there are so many possibilities ..when we visited the woods on Sunday we also found carpets of bluebells

but that's another story and another creation which I will share soon.

The new stamps and stencils release can be ordered on pre release now
here 

and they will be delivered to you immediately after 11 May, so don't miss out.

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. 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 these gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased. 

You can also follow via:

 Pinterest

Twitter

and

 Instagram

There are 6 new stamp sets and 8 new stencils...all totally amazing and uniquely Visible Image.



Thanks so much for taking a trip into the woods (and my imagination)with me today. Enjoy this awesome bank holiday Monday and I will be back very soon. Thanks as always for the kind comments you take the time to leave me.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A is for.........

Thank you so much for the wonderful supportive messages you left on my last post on the grand opening of Dotty's Tearoom and my card selling adventure. I have passed your good wishes on to Rebecca and I am delighted to say that I have had some early sales. If you would like to read about this here is the link.

Yes the alphabet challenge continues and we have the letter A this fortnight to play with over at the Craft Barn challenge. Luckily no dreaded twists this time like pink or dragonflies, just plain and simple A. I also like to combine these pages with other fun challenges running.

My walks and photos over the last week or so have shown Mother Nature at her very best. I have shared blossom, Hawthorn and new green sap rising in the leaves. I do adore the changing trees and their leaves.
Here are a few photos from the ponds, the green leaves are so full of vitality at this time of the year.

As I went through my vintage dictionary looking for an A to play with.... this word stuck out to me as perfect.

Yes I would create my own arboretum in my art journal! I wrote a post a couple of years ago about Winkworth Arboretum, if you are interested you can read it via the link here.

I went down to my garden studio and found that the only trees stamps I own are by Clarity. All my other tree stamps are Pine Trees for my Christmas cards. The Clarity trees are single and I needed a whole arboretum full so I stamped them in groups onto tissue paper using green and brown archival inks and then tore them out.

I wanted a focal for my page and decided a poem or quote would work well and I  found this lovely poem on the Internet.

I have always felt the living presence of trees

The forest that calls to me as deeply as I breathe,

As though the woods were marrow of my bone

As though I myself were a tree,

A breathing, reaching arc of the larger canopy

Beside a brook bubbling to foam

Like the one deep in these woods,

That calls that whispers home.

Michael S. Glaser

I added texture paste to my page through some TH stencils.

I used lots of different acrylics to build up my background, layering and layering.......


until I was happy.







and then I stuck on my trees to create my arboretum.

Leaves were made from snippets of inky card and some left over hessian paper from die cutting the frame for my poem.

Then it was time to put on my creative hat.

And here is Jane's Journal's arboretum.

with a few close ups

Complete with crackled TH die cut tree

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

The Craft Barn alphabet challenge A
Pixie's snippets playground #230
The Artistic stamper collage
Anything but Cute celebrate your style as everyone knows I love making AJ pages, so here is another of them!
Fussy and Fancy  1/3 dies and/or punches
Bunny Zoe lovely layers
Deep Ocean shabby chic/vintage
ABC H is for heavy embellies
We love to create 1/2 11 anything creative/ mixed media
The Craft Barn weekly challenge 2 different papers I have used tissue paper for my leaves and snippets of inky paper to die cut my leaves.

We have our darling Daisy staying with us this weekend whilst her Mummy and Daddy are at a wedding in Edinburgh....she such a delight and yes wanted to head straight to Nanna's studio when she arrived. The only bit I dislike is her dawn chorus at 6.00am on a Sunday morning! Bless.
She LOVES taking photos and my Hb took this hilarious shot of her taking a photo of me...

her artwork has been very colourful...she's been playing with bister and brushos in my studio.

 Giving it a quick spritz of water

 I'll share the finished piece when it's done. She is staying today and off home tomorrow after lunch.

Thanks as always for your kind visits and for the sweet comments you take the time to leave me. I would also like to give a warm welcome to my newest followers, it is lovely to see you join me on my creative journey.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x