The January blues

Hello blogging friends. I hope you are all keeping well? Here in the UK the pandemic is taking a turn for the worse and cases are rises exponentially . The vaccine is thankfully being rolled out very quickly and let's really hope that this surge can soon be controlled.  My daughter (an NHS doctor) has had her first jab and my parents who are in their late 80s are hoping to be called up very soon. My Hb continues to work from home and I have now moved indoors again from my garden studio to craft so we are cozied up indoors for now with Billy our dear cat.  I get out for my daily walks and most days go to see my sweet dino ducks who never cease to make me smile. 

I thought I would share a few recent photos of the lovely blue skies we have enjoyed recently despite the cold and show some photos taken in the week of my sweet dinos.

and as the sun went down it shone beautifully through the willow tree. 

Dotty's Teahouse, where I sell my cards has now had to shut for any takeaways so I have had some crafting time to experiment, which is always fun.  It's not me but my crafting which has taken on "The blues" for the last week. I take part in a monthly artist trading card and coins swap and this was the theme. I made my cards and coins with the same theme and then my imagination took over and I decided to make a tag with "the blues".

I have already posted these on Instagram where I just celebrated my 1,000 post. If you would like to find me this is the link 

I made some winter blues artist trading cards using Lavinia stamps

a "Blue starry tree" tag with an oxide galaxy background with Tim Holtz dies

and some "Playing the blues" coins using Visible Image stamps

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

Allsorts favourite colour no guess as to mine...blue of course!

Crafty friends 1/3 anything goes

Creative fingers 1/3 anything goes

Cute card Thursday 1/3 anything goes

Stamping sensations 1/3 favourite stamps these Visible Image Jazz it up stamps are one of my very favoruite male sets. 

I have been keeping very busy with my crafting with some secret, for now projects, too which I will share as soon as I can. 

Stay safe, stay indoors and stay positive.  Please take great care. Keep mindful, things will improve in the coming months, we just need to get through these difficult weeks ahead. 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Winter butterflies

Well OK I suppose that's not really true as the butterflies are fast asleep as pupae in our gardens at the moment but that doesn't stop me dreaming of summer does it?

I have been really busy designing last week with the new Visible Image mixed media stamps and I have had a ball creating with them. They have now been released and are all all available to buy on the website here .When I saw this set with the lovely title 

Wings of change

I knew that a winter butterfly card would be just right for me to showcase them on.

I smooshed Wilted Violet, Mermaid lagoon and Pumice stone distress oxides onto watercolour card to made a wintry water colour background. 

First I stamped the butterflies directly on the card, shown above. Next I stamped some on white card and fussy cut them. I then layered them up. You will see that I also added some stitching to the edge of my card and glossy accents to the circles in the metamorphosis sentiment. I also die cut some silver cards using a mixed media die.

Here is my winter butterflies card...they almost look as though their wings are made of ice.

In these photos you should be able to see the icy glittery wings I gave them using a spectrum noir clear glitter pen. To add depth I placed some foam fixers under some of the wings too.

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

Craft stamper take it make it February
The crafty addicts 2/3 anything goes

As you like it 3/3 fave shape or fold and why Mine is a 7X5" card blanks as these are so much easier to display than square ones at Dotty's Tea House where I sell my cards.
We love to create 3/3 anything goes mixed media
Lil patch of crafting friends 3/3 anything goes
Crafters castle 3/3 anything goes
Penny black and More 3/3 anything goes with the option of tags
Addicted to stamps 1/3  anything but a square
Crafty friends 1/3 anything goes
Allsorts 1/3 winter sparkle

All the Visible Image links can be found here;

Visible Image group page on Facebook. Our friendly Group is here ...it would be lovely to see you there. You will see lots of gorgeous makes by the DT and customers to inspire your own creativity.

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 their gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased. 

Next week I am sharing something very different with another set from the new mixed media stamp release....stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by and for your very kind and supportive comments you take the time to leave me.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Wisley Gardens in winter

I haven't had a chance to share the photos from my recent visit to Wisley Gardens so I thought today would be the perfect time. 

I love catching up with my dear blogging friend Brenda as we share a real love of gardening and so enjoy our seasonal visits to Wisley Gardens in Surrey. Our latest visit was in January and I must admit I thought there would not little colour around. How delighted I was to be so wrong. There were lovely colours everywhere.

Outside we saw the Witch hazel in bloom

 and this amazing tree, not sure of its name though.

Early daffs were in bloom

and even iris were poking up out of the undergrowth.

In the green houses the colours were so vibrant and the flower shapes so unusual.

So all these lovely colours inspired my latest Valentine's card which is heading down to Dotty's Tea House today.
I used some vibrant distress inks and the stamps are by Visible Image. I die cut some hearts and finished off with some sequins.

A couple of close ups.

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

The crafty addicts 1/3 anything goes
Double D 1/3 hearts
Creative inspirations 1/3 with love
Addicted to stamps and more 1/3 make your mark

As you like it 2/3 fave shape or fold and why Mine is a 7X5" card blanks as these are so much easier to display than square ones at Dotty's Tea House where I sell my cards.
Stamping sensations 2/3 all things bright and beautiful
We love to create 2/3 anything goes mixed media
Lil patch of crafting friends 2/3 anything goes
Crafters castle 2/3 anything goes
Penny black and More 2/3 anything goes with the option of tags
Fashionable stamping 2/3 anything goes

Thanks for stopping by and for your very kind and supportive comments you have been leaving me, they are really appreciated.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A single winter flower

Good morning....it has been so very chilly for the last new days...on Thursday night the temperature went down to -6c which for the south of England is very chilly. However we have still had lots of glorious sunshine in my garden and during my local walks.

It is time for me to share another first today...my first Design Team share for Visible Image using their brand new awesome mixed media stamps. These are so on trend and every single on of the 6 sets in the release have so much to offer our creativity.

This is the set I have worked with for my Monday make today. It is just brilliant.

It's called Creative Chaos and is for sale as a pre order on the website here ready for it's release this Friday, 4th February.
All the sunshine made me reach for my sunny palette. 

 The sun was streaming in on the day I made it I was so inspired to use happy yellow and orange  distress inks, despite the frost on the ground.

I also got out my much used Tale of 2 cities and used some pages to stamp the larger flower onto.

I fussy cut out one of the image. I also stamped the image onto the card front and added some edging using the fab DNA stamp.

This is my finished card.

with a close up of the gorgeous flower stamp.

These are the distress inks I worked with.

When I design my cards I often work on a sample first which I use to test out placement etc...most are kept for a reference and not mounted up. However when I was making my flower card I actually rather liked the sample version too so I thought that I would also share it to show how well these stamps work in any colourway.

I am working on the butterfly set at the moment and will hopefully have some samples to share very soon.

This is the link to all the new February release stamps and stencils. Do check them out, they are totally amazing and will feed your creativity. I have so many ideas for every single one of them.

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

CRAFT 1/3 anything goes

As you like it 1/3 fave shape or fold and why Mine is a 7X5" card blanks as these are so much easier to display than square ones at Dotty's Tea House where I sell my cards.
Stamping sensations 1/3 all things bright and beautiful
We love to create 1/3 anything goes mixed media
Pixie's snippets playground #345
Lil patch of crafting friends 1/3 anything goes
Crafters castle 1/3 anything goes
Penny black and More 1/3 anything goes with the option of tags
Fashionable stamping 2/3 anything goes

All the Visible Image links can be found here;

Visible Image group page on Facebook. Our friendly Group is here ...it would be lovely to see you there. You will see lots of gorgeous makes by the DT and customers to inspire your own creativity.

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 their gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased. 

Thanks for stopping by and for your very kind and supportive comments you have been leaving me, they are really appreciated.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A thank you blog hop for Di

Good morning, what a wild week is has been so far weather wise. We have had sleet, sun, rain, wind and more here. I have not been able to test my new camera out very much but I did take these photos the other day on my twice weekly walk to Dotty's Tea House, with my latest cards, via the ponds.

I've had a couple of questions regarding my camera...it is just a newer version of the cameras I have used for the last 10 years or so. It's a Panasonic DMC-TZ80 Lumix with a fab Leica lens. I have not edited any of the above photos. The only photos are edit here on my blog are my cards etc. I just don't have the time. So to answer another question I regularly get asked; No I do not use Photoshop etc for these shots, they are literally downloaded and added here. I just use Ipiccy to crop and watermark my card and artwork photos.

So back to the main theme of my post today. The lovely Di from Pixie's crafty workshop has run a fab challenge called Pixie's snippets Playground for the last 7 years. The current one is here and Darnell, a fellow playground playmate, has organized a thank you blog hop to help celebrate such a momentous occasion. I first "met" Di about 3 years ago and I have loved getting to know her through our blogging. Her challenge is to use up snippets of anything on our projects. She devotes so much time to the challenges and offers prizes paid for out of her own pocket. Thanks Di for your blogging friendship, kindness and generosity. Do pop on over and say hello to Di, she would love for you to join in the fun and games. This is the link to her blog.  Just say that Jane's Journal sent you 😃, she will welcome you with open arms.

Darnell suggested that we all post a snippets card on our blogs as part of a blog hop to celebrate this lovely occasion and to thank Di for all her hard work over the last 7 years. That is such an achievement, well done and thank you lovely lady. 

  

This is my card I am linking up made with all the snippets from a card I made here for STAMPlorations using their lovely stamps. So it is most definitely a snippets card! I used some book pages and a Noor die cut. The background is spray inks.

You can see the cards everyone else has made for Di over here on Darnell's blog here.. 

I would also like to link up my card with the following challenges.

Crafty Catz 2/3 anything goes
Allsorts 2/3 friends

Cute card Thursday 1/3 critters
Crafty friends 1/3 animals/birds

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take to leave me, especially when life is so busy!

I am back on Friday when unbelievable I have no less than 3 posts to publish. Yes a bit of a clash but plenty of Design Team work to share for Country View Challenges, STAMPlorations and a Blog hop for the Turner Syndrome awareness group..Stay tuned!

Bye for now,

Jane x

Jack Frost

Brr it was bitterly cold yesterday. I was lucky enough to have a day at home making some designs with the brand new Visible Image Wizard of Oz stamps which are available for pre order tomorrow. 

When I got up first thing the garden had obviously been visited by Jack frost.

I love the way the frost wraps itself around everything. I have been playing with my new camera and took these shots.

My hellebore is just about to bloom but for yesterday it was held rigid by the frost. 

Even my perky violas had taken a nose dive

but they will recover, they are such hardy plants.

I also loved the icy pattern on the leaves of my digitalis.

I am off down to Dotty's this morming and it is due to be a little warmer as is the weekend.

So today I think to warm us up cake and a smiling cat should feature on my card. It's a new Wonderland birthday one using my Visible Image Cheshire cat stamp set. I coloured him with Zig markers.The papers are ancient, the tea cup is Marianne and the music and butterfly dies are by The Works. I have stamped and embossed the fish bone from the Cheshire cat stamp set onto the cup.

I would like to enter it into the following challenges.

Sweet stampin 2/3 bright and cheerful

Artistic Inspirations 1/3 anything goes

Pile it on land or water animals

Crafty Hazelnut's patterned paper challenge January

Cute card Thursdays 1/3 critters
The house that stamps built 1/3 anything goes

It will be up for sale at Dotty's Tea House Carshalton High Street, SM5 2AE by lunchtime. 

Enjoy your weekend, it is supposed to warm up a little. I hope so as we plan to take friends who are visiting for a long local walk at some point. We might even end up in Dotty's for tea and cake at the end of it. 

I am back bright and breezy on Monday with my very first Wizard of Oz sample, stay tuned.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for your kind comments.

Bye for now,

Jane x