Lunch in the London sky

Last Tuesday my Hb and I celebrated our 36th Wedding anniversary in London. We booked a table in the Fenchurch restuarant at the top of the Walkie Talkie building in the Sky Garden. Neither of us knew anyone who has eaten there so it was a fingers' crossed booking but boy were we delighted by what we found.
As promised I have sorted out my many photos and I am back to share them. This is a very photo heavy post so grab a cuppa.........
The building is so impressive as it looms up into the London sky. I love the old with the new...there are some wonderful new buildings in London.
Here she is climbing high.........

As my regular readers know London, the city where I was born and now live in the suburbs of,  is my favourite city in the whole world. My Hb works just a few minutes walk from the Walkie Talkie building but even on a day off loves to be there.

The lift whisked us up 32 floors to the sky garden and this view unfolded as we exited.
Wow!

We had IMO the best seat in the restaurant...perhaps us mentioning that we were celebrating our 36th wedding anniversary might have helped?

The gin menu (and the food) was superb

After our wonderful lunch we wandered around the Sky garden and took in the 365o view of London, looking beautiful beneath us

For those of you not familiar with the London skyline yes that's the Shard on the opposite side of the river on the far right and the bridge is Tower Bridge. HMS Belfast in in view too on the Thames.

Ifyou look at the 6th panel from the left below you can see the Tower of London.

We then took the lift back down and walked out into the sunshine. We enjoyed an hour just wandering and admiring the old with the new. My Hb is a great guide..spending every day there 😁 Below is the beautiful Victorian Leadenhall Market.

We gazed up at the Monument

and spotted the Sky Garden (top of the photo)from below.

My Hb also showed me the Lloyds Building, sometimes known as the inside out building as all the utiities are on the outside, including the lifts. It reminded me of cybermen in Doctor Who!

and here is the Gherkin, popping up behind a 12th century church. How cool is that... such a mix of the old and the new.

We decided to take a No 15 bus back to the station as it was such a hot day..and guess what came along...yes seriously an old route master bus. The No 15 route still runs some of the old buses as part of its fleet. If you read my blog regularly this will make you smile after our visit to Brooklands recently. If not do have a read here

We climbed the stairs

and yes sat on the back seat!

What a trip down memory lane this was and it really finished off our day perfectly.

To remember our wonderful day I wanted to make a Moment for Jane's Journal and I made a tag....I have written up a full step by step over on the Country View Crafts website today which you can read here if you are interested. I wanted it be a summary of our love story through time..yes I know that I am a hopeless romantic and include touches of the old London we saw.

I thought the sentiments I used summed up our day perfectly.

I wanted to mix the old with the new on my Moment ..my new oxide inks and my Paper dolls and my old Tim Holtz stamps...his love letter is the background stamping. I would like to enter my tag into the following challenges;

Noor UK anything goes

Frilly and Funkie read any good books recently? My tag is inspired by a recent love story I read; The Time Travellers wife, I like to think that we could time travel and my Hb and I could "meet" at all sorts of time of our lives ;0) 

The artistic stamper 1/3 anything goes

Die cut Divas 1/4 anything goes The little house behind the couple is a Sixxiz die cut

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my creative journey, it's always fun to see you all here. My giveaway is still running, details in my side bar.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Tuscany and an inspired landscape piece for Creative Chemistry 103 homework

Class is not out until Friday over at Tim's online class...we are still submitting homework until tomorrow. I thought I would share some more of my Tuscany holiday photos, which got put on hold, whilst I have been working through Creative Chemistry 103.

I have already shared some photos from Sienna, a gorgeous city, so today I thought I would share a few more places we visited.

Pienza is a small, walled medieval city where the surrounding country side is so typically Tuscan.

The streets are narrow and full of wonderful shops hidden away in the walls.

The surrounding countryside is wonderful

We enjoyed our wedding anniversary lunch in San Gimignano, which we have visited in the past. It is much larger than Pienza and very beautiful. There is also award winning ice cream maker who sells there...their ice cream is beyond delicious.

Looking back through these photos and working with alcohol inks inspired this, my favourite piece of homework so far.....I made this card.... I can't share Tim's techniques but I used alcohol inks, Yupo and a straw to create a landscape...such fun. I mounted it on Kraft and added a sentiment....very apt I think!

 and here is a side view.

Who would have thought I could create a landscape!
I would also like to link my card up to the following challenges;

That's Crafty 2/3 zesty zing
Pile it on  2/3 Make your own background
Craft Heaven Shop Challenge 2/3 #14 anything goes
Simon says work it Wednesday include the colour Peridot  I achieved this with my mix of greens inks in the left hand side of my card.

I still have my travel journal from Tuscany to finish...it has been quite a labour of love and I have been busy restocking Dotty's too with my cards.

I plan to draw my giveaway winner today and make my final piece of homework for Creative Chemistry 103. Thanks so much for sticking with me and coming back to see what I have made each day. I really appreciate your comments.

Back tomorrow.

Bye for now,

Jane x

Excitement on the last day of March

Unbelievably we have arrived at the end of March. My parents celebrated their 61st Wedding anniversary at the weekend. I recently enjoyed lunch at the garden centre with them and as always we had a wonder around afterwards to see what new flowers are on display.

Just look at these beauties.

 These are called ballerina primroses and they are so pretty with their gorgeous frilled edges.

Plus lots of other bold colours

and other gorgeous blooms too.

 As they have received my anniversary card I can now share it on my blog. We always enjoy tea and cake and I thought I would use my Crafty Individuals time for tea stamp, for their card.  First I made a vintage background. I never tire of the combination of stencilling and texture paste to which I added gold embossing powder. I also stencilled some hearts. 

I stamped my image onto a book page and coloured it with distress inks.

The gold embossing powder gives it such a shimmer.

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

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday 1/5 anything goes
Stamps and Stencils Spring is in the air 
Artistic Inspiration  2/ 3 anything goes
Crafting from the heart 2/3 anything goes
Creative Inspirations 1/3 anything goes

I am getting very excited now as tomorrow is cause for a triple celebration; firstly my debut Design Team post for Country View Challenges goes live....and to find out what else I'm celebrating you'll have to pop by and see ;0) Now there's a tease. My post goes live at 6.30 am. If you're up that early why not have a read over your morning cuppa...if note I really hope you can join me at some point during the day.

Back in the morning.

Bye for now,

Jane x