A Parisian tryst

As you all well know I really enjoy entering card challenges. I find they spark my creativity.My crafting time is limited and I love to have a project to work on.  One of my favourite card challenges is the recently started A Vintage Journey, run by my friend Brenda who I have met in real life at one of her workshops and I will be attending another one very soon.  This challenge blog is so inspiring and when I saw their latest challenge "A little bit French" I just had to join in the fun. When I think of France I immediately think of Paris and this was where my imagination lead me.

Some of the design team had made up little stories to go with their creations and I thought it would be really fun to create a little story of my own......so here we go, settle yourself down and I will create this little scene...

The year was 1928, the date was 25th July and Florence and Arthur had just married at their local church, in Dulwich, London.

They had such a happy sunny day celebrating surrounded by friends and family. Everyone loved dressing in their finest clothes. Florence look just beautiful in her satin suit and hat. Arthur stood  proudly by her side,wearing a flower in his button hole.

At 7pm it was time to leave the garden reception to take the overnight train to the destination of their honeymoon............none other than the eternal city of love, Paris. Their friends and family showered them with rice as they gaily ran off to catch the local train to St. Pancras............

The clock at St Pancras was ticking towards 10pm as they reached their platform. They hurried along, with Arthur carrying their luggage, to  board the train. At last they reached their carriage and climbed aboard.

They were alone for the first time, newly married and in love and on their way. It was the first time that Florence had been away from London, Arthur on the other hand had served in the war and knew of France as a soldier. Florence was so excited to be spending her honeymoon abroad and her packed her finest clothes for the occasion. She was still wearing her going away suit as they settled down into their cabin. The whistle blew and Florence gripped her husband's hand lovingly...they were off....destination Paris.

Over the following  days the newly weds  took in all the sights that this glorious city has to offer. Their hotel was directly opposite  Luxembourg Parc where they spent many happy hours strolling in the sunshine hand in hand. Arthur smiled lovingly at his young wife as she tried her schoolgirl French, not very successfully!

 At time the sun was so strong that they needed to shield themselves with parasols.

Florence was excited to travel on the metro around this wonderful city

 They visited Versailles and after passing through the golden gates

their jaws dropped in astonishment at the opulence of the Palace and the Hall of Mirrors.

They wandered outside and saw the breathtaking gardens

  and they saw the fountains of Versailles sing.

At the end of their day at Versailles Arthur  turned to Florence and told her that he had one very special place to take her...to the summit of the Tour Eiffel. This would be on their last day before returning home to their new life in London.

The next day they woke early and did indeed take that trip. The lift took them up each level and eventually they made it to the summit of the tower. Florence gasped at the view below them. Arthur took her hand and and there they made a toast and pledged  a vow...............

 To eternal love....................

THE END

I hope your enjoyed that little story as it does actually have some truth in it.  The wedding photo is of my own grandparents who were indeed Florence and Arthur who did  marry on 25 July 1928. They however did not travel to Paris for their honeymoon, in fact I have no idea where they went but I am sure it was wonderful.  The photos of Paris are from my own trip there with my darling husband to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary....on 25 July 2011. Yes it is seriously true, we were married the same day as my Nan and Grandad...but we married in 1981. I just edited my photographs from our trip and with a sepia tone and if you don't believe me............... here we are 3 years ago in Paris ;0)

My own grandparents Florence and Arthur sadly did not see 30 years of marriage as my granddad sadly passed away on 24 July 1946 just the day before their 18th Wedding Anniversary. My own dad was just 13.  One thing though which is totally true...they did have eternal love; my Nan never ceased loving my granddad until the day she died. She was a truly devoted wife.

So my creation I have made for this challenge is a tag which has elements of "A Parisian tryst".

I own several wonderful photos of my grandparents and I have seen Tim Holtz introduce his "Found relatives" vintage photos.I realised that I could create my own ones using real photos of my own family. I even have some of my great grandmother and my great great grandmother. I just edited them and printed them out on photo paper.
I decided I really wanted a sepia colour for my tag to resemble a vintage postcard which Florence could have sent from Paris. I swished it through some antique linen and vintage photo distress inks

I added some texture with a stencil

. I then got out my Lili of the Valley Pretty Vintage stamps as I have some lovely Parisian stamps and added some background stamping using Archival ink.

The photo I used is of my Nan and using some artistic licence and I have imagined this could have been Florence sitting in the sunshine of Luxembourg Parc in a deckchair. I made a frame to surround it with a spellbinders die..

I added a clock remnant rub to represent the clock at St. Pancras Railway station.

I made some vintage Parisian tags using my LOTV stamps and used a pearl brad to link them. I could imagine Florence wearing pearls as she explore the city hand in hand with Arthur.

The French words are most appropriate as they mean "Eternal love" and "A vintage journey".

To finish off my Parisian Tryst tag I decided that there was only one thing to use...............French lace.

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

A Vintage Journey A little bit French
Pan Pastel Pretty shabby chic
Country View Challenges New beginnings the new beginning here is the married life of Florence and Arthur.
Stamping Sensations dies and punches
Vintage stamping challenges anything goes
Fashionable Stamping favourite technique mine is the one I have used here, the wrinkle free distress ink technique.
Simon says stamp Monday challenge Journey
Sentimental Sundays Vintage/steampunk
Craft Hoarders Anonymous Pick a stamp, any stamp my stamp is the  Lili of the Valley Paris tag stamp which I have had since last June and has not seen ink until now ;0)
Fussy and Fancy All about Travel
The Artistic stamper embossing and texture  I have embossed the little picture frame although a lot of it is covered. I also embossed the tags to give them some extra texture.

I hope you enjoyed my little creative journey. This really brought back wonderful memories of celebrating my own Pearl wedding anniversary in Paris in 2011. If you would like to read about it here is the post.

My own Nan would have been so delighted to see her photos used in this way, how technology has advanced in the 25 years since she passed away. It is so pleasant to remember your past and those people who have been so important in your life. When Daisy is old enough I will tell her all about my beloved Nan and I really hope that I can be as wonderful a Nanna to her as my Nan was to me.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A beautiful day, don't let it get away

Yes I had a wonderful crafty day in my Studio on Thursday. It was nothing like as sunny as Tuesday was but it still was mild and it felt so good to be outside in the garden with Billy and Mother Nature. I also brought my trusty radio back down and enjoyed a creative day.

My viburnum  is in full bloom and the scent is intoxicating. The bush is very close to my studio door and all day the delicious perfume wafted in. Billy also loved having me outside and I spied him through the daffodils having a wash.,as I came out of the kitchen door

I was bought some fabulous new crafty stash for my birthday and I was desperate to have a play with some of it.

The first thing I wanted to try was the PanPastel set as I they have been on my crafting wish list for some time. My Hb chose a really great first set. I decided to try making my first landscape.
I got out a piece of paper and had a play.

The blue was sky and the green for grass......

I just popped some yellow in the top and decided it could work as the sun. As I sat there the song "Beautiful Day" by U2 came on the radio. My creativity kicked in and I knew just what to make.....an inspirational tag to remind me of my wonderful recent birthday and also being outside again in my beloved garden and studio. I got out a tag and used the blue, green and brown/red for the landscape. I wanted to add a tree so I used a stencil. This one is from Imagination Crafts. I daubed distress ink through it and then stamped green buds with a tiny flower stamp.

I decided to use the words from the song on my tag. I typed them on my computer and cut them out.

and here is my completed tag with a sunny yellow satin ribbon.

Spring really has sprung now and I found a great quote too whilst I was looking up the words for Beautiful Day.

April is a Promise that May is bound to keep 
(Hal Borland)

Now that sounds pretty good to me.

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

Our Creative Corner With a song in your heart My song of course is Beautiful Day by U2
A little bit crafty birds and the bees
Rhedd and Rosie Tree/wood inspired
Country View Challenges  New beginnings my new beginnings are spring and also the beginning of my crafting back in my garden studio..bliss
Ali Craft Spring
Papertake Weekly anything goes
Love Rubberstamps anything goes
Crafty Ribbons anything goes with ribbon
The Squirrel and Fox all creatures great and small
The Sunday Stamper Nature
Penny Black and More Blossoms and blooms
Crafty Catz springtime
Inky Chicks Butterflies
Little Claire's make a tag
Imagination Crafts anything goes

We have woken up to some overnight rain but it is still very mild and I am looking forward to many, many more beautiful days, whatever the weather. Enjoy your,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

The Sunniest of Birthdays

Oh my I was so spoilt on Tuesday for my birthday. I had gorgeous presents and cards, my whole family were able to come up to a later afternoon tea party and the sun shone from dawn to dusk. How lucky is that? Thank you all also for leaving such kind birthday wishes on my last post too they are so appreciated. I felt very loved. The downstairs of my house is like a florist with vases of beautiful blooms everywhere including my favourites, daffodils.

The garden was so warm that we were able to have tea out there and we even had to get out a sunhat for Daisy

I even found my first tulip in flower in one of my posts 

And of course Billy wanted to be part of the fun

Daisy was even able to wear her newest sundress without tights over even socks.

 

Just look at those sweet toes.

 I had a birthday balloon and a yummy lemon cake

It was the sunniest of days.


My card is also a sunny card birthday card I made recently for a commission. I like to think it is me blowing out the cake...but a rather younger version ;0)

The image is Ladybug Crafts ink, which I have coloured with Promarkers and highlighted with Prismacolor pencils. I have added glitter to the cake icing and candles. The dies are MB and Quickutz for the frame.The sentiment is LOTV which I have added some distress ink to. The papers and the fun handbag charm at the bottom are from my stash. I have finished it off with a gingham ribbon and some gems.

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

Ladybug Crafts Ink birthdays
The Cupboard Trilogy friendship/ friend
Country View Crafts New beginnings my new beginning is the beginning of another year of being older and hopefully wiser following my birthday.
Deep Ocean for a friend
Allsorts use those dies
Crafty Card Makers You've been Framed
Papertake Weekly anything goes
Love Rubberstamps anything goes
Crafty Ribbons anything goes with ribbon
Simon says stamp Wednesday challenge Birthdays

The weather has not been so good for the rest of this week but I think I had enough sunshine on Tuesday to last me a few more days. Enjoy the weekend when we get there and again thanks for all your messages, cards and presents...you are so kind. I have a rare free day today and guess where I am heading...out to my garden studio to have some messy play with some of my crafty birthday presents...woop woop!

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x