Crackling campfire in my studio

Autumn arrived on Tuesday and since then the temperatures dipped and we have had some very welcome rain. I promised I would share some more photos of our Staycation trips we enjoyed a few weeks back. This also fits in well with showing the inspiration for my set of tags I made with the awesome new distress ink colour, crackling campfire. I shared the first one on Sunday (click) here if you missed it.

As well as Hever castle we enjoyed another visit to Wisley and to Polesden Lacey, a National Trust property in Surrey. At Wisley there is also a sculpture exhibition of the 4 seasons, by Philip Hass, an American film maker and sculptor. These are huge pieces and such fun.

The greenhouses have reopened and are looking splendid. It's so good to see the orchids and tropical plants again.

At Polesden Lacey the downstairs of the house is open as well as the glorious gardens. A house has stood on this spot since 1336. Over the years it was added to and in 1906 it was extensively remodeled by the heiress Margaret Greville, who entertained society and royalty there at weekends. Her hospitality was legendary and the Queen Mother spent her honeymoon here in 1923.

It's such fun peeping through the door and looking back to life in the 1920s. Apparently this house was going to be left to the Queen Mother but as history took another turn with the abdication she could not accept it and it was left to the nation instead. 

So back to my makes. I challenged myself to use all the forms of the gorgeous new Crackling campfire distress colour on each tag. This is the richest colour you can imagine and really surpassed my expectionations. Tim Holtz really is the master of all things inky. 

Some of you may have seen the following as I have shared them on Instagram. You can see them (click) here as well as my latest makes 

Below are the 2 I have not yet shared here on my blog. First up is my owl in the tree. I used the old wrinkle free technique to make the background with some text stamping. I added some glaze to the tree and I thought the tiny talk stickers were perfect! The owl is stamped in oxide. All the stamps and stencils I have used are by Tim. 

Finally here is my vase of autumn flowers. I stamped in paint on a spray background for this one. The dies are again all Tim's. There is also some glaze on the 3D die which I cut up and added to the vases. 

And here are my 3 tags together.

I also decided to update my letter board in my studio from Speckled egg to Crackling campfire and display my newest tags. 

and yes there in another awesome pin badge too.

So now as I sit in my studio making I can remember all the colours of late summer and early autumn. I can imagine a crackling campfire blazing too!

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

The house that stamps built 1/3 anything goes

Shopping our stash make a mess, inks, sprays etc

Through the craftroom door 1/3 anything goes

Crafty sentiments 1/3 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave here. 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Last days of summer 2020

Well here we are in the final days of summer 2020. Night draws in earlier every day as autumn beckons. There is a definite nip in the air but for the last week or so we have been blessed with some gorgeous sunshine and blue skies day. My Hb and I had a couple of days out during our recent "Staycation", not quite like being in Rhodes but we really did enjoy some great visits and beautiful countryside. We visited Hever Castle, Wisely RHS gardens and Polesdon Lacey and I thought I would share some photos from these visits here on my blog. I have shared some photos already on Instagram, you can follow my journey there via this link. 

First up is our day out at Hever Castle in Kent where there was also the bonus of a craft fair being held in the grounds. Everything was very well managed and socially distanced. There was a one way system and it was good to have space to see everything without the usual pushing crowds you would have had in pre Covid19 times. We were also lucky to be able to upgrade our gardens only tickets to seeing inside the castle, which is an absolute historical gem.

 Hever was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn and also where Henry V111 visited her as he tried to woo her. Some of their love letters are on display as is the final letter she wrote to him as she awaited her execution. Henry certainly did have some extremes of emotions! It's a genuine moated castle complete with drawbridge. 

The castle was built in the 13th century by the Boleyn family. It was saved from ruin by Viscount Astor in the early 1900s. He was the richest man in America and came looking for a new life and home in England.  His fortune was $100 million in the late 1898...quite astonishing. The house, grounds and a "Tudor village" were created and refurbished by a huge workforce into a cozy family home. Photographs were allowed inside but with no flash so apologies for some, which are a little blurry. 

                                       Some  historical elements were retained by Astor.

   In the grounds Astor also recreated an Italian garden complete with authentic Roman marble and even a lake, hand dug out by the extensive work force. 

We really enjoyed our lovely day out and catching with some English history. 

My make today was inspired by our Staycation and the new deliver of the awesome new distress colour Crackling campfire which the postie recently delivered. 

As I did with Speckled egg I challenge myself to made 3 tags using all the products in the range; ie inks, sprays, glaze and paint. Here is my first;

I used all Tim Holtz products including the stamps and stencil.

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

Pixie's snippets playground  #387 I have used lots of snippets of paper to make my field notes tags as well as the dimensional leaf. 

Stamping sensations 1/3 the great outdoors

The Funkie junkie boutique blog staying in the background I used Tim's leaf mini stencil and distress stain spray plus labels made with his field notes set to make my background

I will be sharing my other 2 tags over the coming week or so.

We really did have a great day out. I will share our Wisley trip soon.

Take care,

Stay safe,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Visible Image Christmas stamps and stencils release 2020

Good morning it's time for my fortnightly design team post for Visible Image. Today I am delighted to be blogging my first sample using their new Christmas stamps and stencils which are on pre order now on their website for worldwide release this Friday, 18 September. You can check out all the fabulous newbies here This is a perfect range to complement their existing Christmas stamps and they are so affordable at just £5.99 each

For my first make I decided to make a mixed media card. I used;

Scribbled star 

   the sentiment from the 

Iconic Christmas stencil

and the tiny stars from 

 

This is what I got up to;

I made an inky background by pressing these distress inks onto my craft mat, adding some spritzes of water and then dipping in my card, drying between layers.

I applied crackle texture paste through the stencil and left to dry. You will see the crackle in the final photos, the photo below is when it is wet. When the crackle was dry I painted it with gold metallic paint which again you can see in the final photos. 

I stamped the star onto gold card in black Versafine and clear embossed. I then cut out the centre of the star stamp.

I stamped and embossed the star a second time onto the inky background below the stenciled sentiment  and then stuck on the cut out gold star using foam tape to raise it slightly.  Using gold ink I repeat stamped the tiny starts from the O Christmas tree set. 

I then matted it up using blue and black card onto a 7"  square white card blank. Here is my finished card;

with some close ups

and one final shot.

These gorgeous new Christmas stamps and stencils lend themselves to any card making style from mixed media to clean and simple. 

All the Visible Image links are listed below

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 regular giveaways...open world wide. Do check out the Facebook LIVES and videos where you will be able to see lots more samples and ideas. 

Their Instagram page can be found here

Pinterest here

And once again the shop web site is here; where all their gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased.
Thanks so much for stopping by.

There is going to be a Facebook Live sharing all our DT samples later this week, do check out the time/date on the Visible Image Facebook page. You will be able to see all the sparkle and shine which it is so difficult to show using photos! 

Thanks for stopping by today,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x