Celebrating Spring

Welcome to the first day of Spring and the vernal equinox. It is that wonderful time of the year when there are equal hours of daylight and darkness. This Winter has felt so long and dreary and I really do welcome this very special time of the year.

Lots of my outdoor daffodils, despite the recent inclement weather, are in full bloom and they make me smile every time I look out of my kitchen window.

But there is an even better celebration today for me as it is my daughter's birthday. At 7.25pm this evening, 27 years ago she fought her way into this world. I had a look for some old photos and I thought I would share a couple that my Hb scanned for her wedding last July. The best man did a wonderful montage of the bride and groom through the years. It brought back wonderful memories.

Here is the midwife weighing her at a few days old...look at that tiny foot ;0) She weighed 7lb 11oz at birth

On holiday in 1987

Summer 1990 concentrating hard on making her sand castle.

Primary school days in 1993

and 1997 with her dear Bro. Well these photos made me smile but what made me smile even more is that she and her Hb have finally  managed to acquire the rights to all their official wedding photos. It took a little negotiating but now they not only have an album of beautiful photos but we also have a whole CD of photos to look at.




I can finally share a few of their "Official photos"

So much glorious colour.

My card for today is her birthday card, made with lots of love xxx

I made her a stepper card and used my fab Penny Black stamp, La soiree. This stamp was the very first prize I ever won from entering card challenges. It really epitomizes my daughter...the shoes, the dress and bag say it all ;0) I coloured my stamp with my trusty Promarkers and I used Labels 17 Spellbinders to cut her out.
The DPs are ancient, they are the end part of a sheet I had with this lovely foil so I thought it perfect for her card. I tied little ribbon bows onto the bag charms. I used the same ribbon to "tie" the ballooons together.

I die cut foil champagne bottles to which I added ribbons and little Lili of the Valley tags and put them in the side of the stepper: you can just see them peeping out. I have also used my lovely Memory Box bow die.
The birthday sentiment is LOTV and I added a lovely red mulberry rose too.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;
Totally Gorjuss Something old #175 my old is my stamp and my papers
A and T Emerald Faeries Bling #41
Bunny Zoe Girlie
Pretty Little Ribbons Happy Birthday #20
Natalie and Amy Die cuts #7
Make it Monday Linky Party #132
Allsorts 1-2-3 #198 I have 1 stamp, 2 different papers (one on the front, the 2nd paper is on the "step" each side and has red roses and stripes on) and my 3 different embellishments are charms, ribbons and gems
Bearly Mine anything goes #78
I love Promarkers anything goes


I hope my girlie has a wonderful day today. We will be seeing her on Saturday for a post birthday lunch.
Welcome Spring and Happy Birthday to my very Special Girl xxx

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Four Peas in a Pod

After a very wet Saturday with some much needed rain the sun has returned and we are back to glorious blue skies and sunshine in the south of England. Today is a little overcast but the sun is already peeping through. Spring flowers are basking in the sun outdoors. Cherry blossom is bursting out everywhere.

The buds on my magnolia in the garden are nearly full to bursting but not yet open. However I spied the magnolia below on my way home from work which is in full flower already.

How glorious is that sight...it makes my heart skip a beat. I know that the magnolia flower is short lived but it certainly shares a lot of pleasure in a very short time.

I also spotted a gorgeous hot pink camellia in full flower.













I know that Spring has sprung today as not only is it the Vernal Equinox (when there are equal number of daylight hours and darkness) but also it is my darling daughter's birthday. She has been busy working nights for the last 4 days but lucky her rota (she is a doctor) has worked out that she has today off. I have been waiting to share with you something I made for her in my silversmithing  class...

Yes 4 Peas in a Pod! Now there is a story behind this. I started silversmithing about 9 years ago and at the time my daughter said that the one thing she would love me to make for her was a peas in a pod pendant. She has always liked that imagery and until now I have never had the skills to make it. But finally I have. The pod was made by using a metal fold forming technique. I will publish a post showing this in the future as I have also made some earrings using this method and it is fun to see the process. I made "tendrils" for the pod using silver wire and I soldered a wire leader into the centre to thread 4 freshwater pearl "peas" onto. The 4 represents the four of our family.

This is the view of the other side of the pendant. I bought a chain and put her gift  into a box for her to open with her other birthday presents this morning at her home. I hope she likes it...I certainly had fun making it and felt an achievement having come up with a workable design after all these years.









I can also now share with you the special spring Birthday card I made for her.

I made an easel card, well her brother had one so I cannot treat my children differently can I? I used one of my favourite Lili of the Valley Stamps called Dandelion Clock.

Here she is in close up, she is a really sweet stamp to colour. I used my Promarkers and highlighted her with my Prismacolor pencils and added some sparkle to her wings and dandelion using Glamour Dust glitter. I went to town with all the details..Martha Stewart punched butterflies, ribbon, buttons and gorgeous mulberry paper flowers...

Quite a bouquet here!

This is the inside complete with a sunbeam across it...

and this is a rather wonky side view showing you how the card stands up by itself. Although these cards take a long time to make they are worth it. A real spring birthday card for my spring daughter.

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

Penny Black Allsorts Spring time
Pretty Little Ribbons #8 Spring Colours
Cupcake Craftroom Spring Bouquet
Ladybug Crafts Ink Anything Goes
Joanna Sheen Spring is in the air
Lili's Little fairies Butterflies and fairies
Papercrafting Journey #5 Pretty pastels
Really Reasonable Ribbon Spring with ribbon #44
Emerald Faerie Garden  Easel card
Totally Gorjuss Spring #123




Wishing everyone a very Happy Spring..we are there at last..and the days are now getting longer than the nights. What a wonderful thought.
 Happy Birthday to my darling Milly :0) and have a wonderful day.
Welcome Spring, you have been missed.

Bye for now,

Jane x

♥♥♥ My Spring Daughter ♥♥♥

Hello and welcome to the official start of spring, or as it is also known, the vernal equinox. This is so called as the day and night are roughly equal, 12 hours each. It is the beginning of the wonderful increased hours of daylight and continues right up until the longest day in June. After the harshest, longest winter I can remember for many years it is sooooo welcome.

 I do love this time of year as there is a promise of change in nature. Birds start nesting, plants budding and the sun shows real warmth in its rays. I will be able to get out in my beloved little garden again. In Latin vernal=spring, equinox=equal night. (My dear Hb is a fountain of all things Latin, he studied Latin at school and is still really good at translating). It is always amusing on our holidays in Italy as I can speak a little Italian and order food etc and he translates all the inscriptions on the ancient monuments! He would be rubbish though at asking directions unless we bumped into someone 2,000 years old.

This year the exact time of the start of the vernal equinox is today, Sunday, 20th March at 7.21pm. And guess what -  this is almost the exact time of the birth of my darling daughter. She was born on 20th March 1986 at 7.25pm....I really do have a spring daughter this year.

We celebrated her birthday early with us on Thursday evening as she has been whisked off for a surprise birthday weekend by her Fiance to London...she is enjoying a 5* time and having a ball!  We had a lovely evening out with her ...eating of course..joined by her brother and his girlfriend and me and my Hb. I thought your would like to see her card I made which she will open  today.

I commissioned my talented New Yorker artist Vita to paint me one of her  "Teapot Princess" ACEOs. There is a pun here...until a couple of years ago my daughter did not drink tea or coffee. As a doctor she realised this does actually limit her socially, especially when dealing with some situations. There is nothing better that discussing something over a cup of tea. Once she started drinking it she soon became the top tea drinker in the family. I even bought her a teapot for Christmas. I love Vita's painting, it really sums up my daughter and has such a spring feel to it. I was able to match the colours too with the papers I used.

Here is a close up. I asked for an "English" rounded tea pot and a Princess with dark hair.
Also of interest my daughter's middle name is Sarah which means Princess so it is very apt indeed. Her first name, Emily means industrious and she is indeed one very industrious princess, she was born wanting to be busy and has fitted so much into her life already. Once she has finished with her card she can take off the little painting and either frame it or use it as a book mark. I love the little cup with the hearts on too.








 


This  photo shows a little more detail of the card. I used teapot and heart themed backing papers and made some interesting lacy patterns with my trusty punches.
I also bought some Mulberry paper flowers which I made into a little arrangement on the left - you can just see them here and also in the first photo.

So Happy Birthday  Milly ♥♥♥ and welcome spring; you have been missed!

spring in the park - yahoooooo!!

Bye for now,

Jane x