Late summer sunshine

Good morning, we are actually enjoying some late summer sunshine in the South of England but the evenings are drawing in and the sun is less high in the sky each day. The sunsets seem deeper and more intense at this time of the year .

I have used this as inspiration for my Monday Design Team make for Visible Image. 

I got out some alcohol ink and yupo and made this background.

I worked with 2 stamp sets; Live in the moment

and Into the woods

I stamped the large and medium dragonflies onto card and added some pink and red Wink of Stella for some sparkle. I cut out just the wings.

I also stamped all the dragonflies onto my card base 

I then added 2 layers of into the woods, one on acetate to add depth to my card. I also added the extra wings.

Some close ups

One last shot

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

Lil patch of crafty friends 3/3 anything goes
The ribbon girl 3/3 anything goes
Crafty Card makers 1/3  all creatures great and small

Simon says stamp Monday stamp on it

Simon says stamp Wednesday stamp on it

Lil patch of crafty friends 2/3 anything goes

Crafteezee anything goes
Dragonfly dreams 1/3 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. 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 their gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased. 

Thanks for stopping by today, remember to try to "live in the moment" as life really does flash by and we need to savour being in the here and now.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Flying birthday wishes

Happy Monday all....phew what amazing weather we enjoyed over the weekend, it is like being abroad. The temperatures are set to get even higher this week too!

I enjoyed some crafting and gardening time...keeping in the shade after lunch as it got so hot.

There is nothing like al fresco dining and our patio is our outside dining area during the summer. We love to eat out there whenever we can.

Billy likes the shade too.

It is also time for my weekly Visible Image DT make and I can finally share a birthday card I made for someone very special....no guesses as to who it is....

Yes none other than the lovely Mrs Visible Image aka Helen. Helen celebrated her special day last week. I made an alcohol ink background using lots of pinks and purples on Yupo paper. 

I then stamped the fab Hummingbird from the life is beautiful stamp set

I stamped out Helen's name using alphabetical

and also happy birthday from Go to words

I cut out the letters and words and added thin satin ribbons.

I then added them to my card with foam tape for dimension,

Here are some close ups;

and one final shot

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

Creative fingers 2/3 anything goes

Crafty catz 2/3 anything goes +/-embossing

Fussy and fancy 2/3 pretty in pink

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

Creative moments 3/3 anything goes

Penny Black and More 1/3 things with wings

Card Mania 1/5 anything 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.

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 for stopping by and for your kind comments. Long may this glorious weather continue...even though I am not sure my garden would agree!

Keep cool and carry on crafting.

Bye for now,

Jane x

Smile, it's May!

Good morning. Today we have reached May 1st and Mother Nature is in full flow around me. I adore this time of the year. Everything is bursting open 

 the trees are nearly back in full leaf

 and the blossom is everywhere

Of course it also means it's time for a new challenge over at Country View Challenges. For this month the theme is "Be humorous" Now that is open to so many interpretations, from adding a funny quote, words, image etc etc. As always you can enter our challenge as many times as you like and combine with any other challenges. Your make can be anything creative! You may even be the lucky random winner of the £20 CVC voucher.

All the details can be found here

I decided that a new baby card would be very appropriate for this time of the year. First I took out a sheet of yupo paper and I added some blue alcohol inks. Sorry about the poor photo but it was taken late in the evening in my studio!

I have a fun baby quote stamp (long discontinued) which I use a lot (and sell a lot) on my cards for selling at Dotty's tea house. I thinks it really does make people smile.
I also used Tim's crescent moon and stars Bigz die and die cut a moon and stars from snippets of white card. I added grey distress inks to the stars plus a wink of Stella for some sparkle when dry.

I did the same with the moon but blended in some chipped sapphire too.

This is what I put together.

It is a sentiment which always raises a chuckle and is perfect for new baby cards.

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

Pixie's snippets playground #325 
Lil patch of crafty friends 3/3 anything goes
Crafty catz 2/3 anything goes
Simon says stamp Monday time out my entry depicts night time when the moon shines and the stars are out.


We would love to see you enter our "Humour" challenge this month over at Country View. All the details can be found here

I hope you all have a wonderful month ahead, "May time, play time" is what I always sung a primary school!

Now as the theme over at Country View Challenges for this month is humour I just had to share some really corny baby jokes;

How do you get a baby astronaut to sleep?
You rock-it

Eddie; "My Mum's having a new baby"
Sarah; "Why, what's wrong with the old one?"

What are baby witches called?
Halloweenies.

Now come on I bet that did at least raise the corner of your mouth into part of a smile 😂 Enjoy a great May.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A beautiful end to April

Good morning, despite the weather taking a down turn, we have reached the very last day April. And what a beautiful April it has been, it started with my birthday at the beginning. We enjoyed a taste of summer in the middle as well as Jack's 1st birthday and special family time together. I also love being  back outside working in my garden studio.

 Mother Nature has woken up and the sun when it shine has real warmth.

 So on this very last day of April I am able to share something very exciting....my very first DT project made using one of the brand new May stamp release sets from Visible Image. I have oooohhhed and ahhhed at this amazing new release and I will be sharing lots of makes with them over the coming weeks. If you would like to see the whole of the release do have a look here. There are 6 fab news stamp sets including some brilliant words set and also 8 gorgeous new stencils. They are all on pre release so if you want to get your order in now they will be delivered to your door immediately after their release on May 11th.

Your local stockests will also be receiving them very soon.

So first of all....drum roll..  I would like you to meet...

 Mr Hummingbird from the wonderful new life is beautiful set.

This gorgeous inky hummingbird is certain to take the stamping world by storm.

For my fist make I wanted a very striking inky background. I took out my alcohol inks, from yellows through to amethyst and added them to Yupo paper using a felt and blending tool.

I wanted a real glow behind him so I kept the centre fairly plain and used yellow and orange hues.

This is a quick snap taken in my studio showing the gradual build up of ink on the Yupo paper.

I kept my design fairly simple as I wanted the background to show off Mr Hummer.

Here he is;

and some close ups.

The words are as they say, just "beautiful". I distressed the edges and added some ink to make them pop.

The little circle accent stamp works so well with the image. I can see me using this a lot on other makes too. 

Here is one last full shot.

***EDIT I have been asked about ink not drying on Yupo paper on the VI friends Facebook page.  Yes it is a real challenge to get any ink to dry..I have tried everything and the one which is most likely to dry is Ranger Archival if you heat set it. However I don't like to take the risk and for this card I used Versafine Black Onyx ink which I then embossed with black embossing powder. This gives a gorgeous sheen too. HOWEVER beware when heating the Yupo as it is not that heat stable. You need to heat quickly and move your heat gun around and even off the paper so as not to risk melting your background. I hope that helps?***

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

The Artistic stamper birds/bees

Love to craft 3/3 anything goes

Lil patch of crafty friends 2/3 anything goes

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes

Sweet stamping 1/3 circles

Crafty catz 1/3 anything goes I have also gone with the optional twist of using purples and mauves
Try it on Tuesday Nature's beauty

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 is also a Visible Image/MISTI blog hop running at the moment.

 All the details are here but you need to be quick as you need to hop and leave a comment on each of participants blogs by midnight tonight. You might even be the winner of the Visible Image $50 coupon and could then treat yourself to Mr Hummer and lots of other goodies over on the website!. Good luck if you enter....the winners will be revealed on the Visible Image and MISTI blogs tomorrow.

 Thanks so much for stopping by and for all your very kind comments. I would also like to extend a very warm welcome to my newest followers. Enjoy the very last day of April, I am back again in the morning with my first post in May.

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