My own Man in the Moon

It's no secret that my Mum and I really love the image of "The Man in the Moon". I have written and shared a few moon posts here in the past.

When my Hb and I were on holiday in Rhodes last month we were lucky to find that it coincided with a full moon. The night sky is so beautiful there, so much less light pollution that the stars are visible, as well as some of the planets. My hubby is quite knowledgeable about these things and pointed out several of constellations and planets. We were able to see Venus and Jupiter clearly.

The nights around the full moon were all beautifully clear and I really enjoyed seeing it from our restaurant tables as it's always warm enough to enjoy every meal outside. Here are a few shots.

At the beginning of the evening it was a red moon...so beautiful. My photos are not perfect as I didn't use a tripod, my camera is just hand held and that takes some doing!

It was also amazing to see the moon still in the sky in the morning and I snapped these photos from our balcony at 6.30am

 Soooo beautiful

Over the last few days I have been trying to find a good man in the moon digi or stamp but really none were suitable.  So inspired by the challenge over at PaperArtsy which is "faces" I took a really brave decision and decided to draw a few of my own Man in the moon faces.

I never claim be an artist so my drawings are rather primitive but I came up with these. I  drew one on crumpled tissue paper which I stuck onto a circle die cut and a couple I drew directly onto the card. I used a silver pen for one and micron for the others.

 My Sukura glaze pens are such fun to use.

I added some distress ink to given them some dimension

I chose my favourite moon face and decided to try making it into a Christmas card.

I created an inky background with shades of blue distress ink by swooshing my card through the inks until I had created a dark blue night sky.

I also stamped some stars on my background.

Below is my finished card and I really like the vintage/retro feel of it. My very own Man in the Moon Christmas card.  This really epitomizes my childhood Christmas cards for me. I used to also love the German advent calendars which often had smiley man in the moon images.

 The sleigh die is Cheery Lynn and I attached some bells

The star die is by Noor.

I plan to use the other faces for other projects so you will see them again at some point.

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

PaperArtsy Faces. I was very inspired by the butterfly post by Julie Anne Lee where she used a face on a butterfly.
Country View add some texture
Sparkles Christmas distress it
Christmas card challenge photo inspiration
Crafty Hazelnut For a child
Cheery Lynn Vintage
We love to create #21
Allsorts all sentimental, use a sentiment
Pixie's Crafty workshop #199
Craft Stamper Take it make it process;ink,stitch, paint,collage, print paper I have used ink, collage paper as well as stamping my star background and my sentiment.

Thanks for visiting me today and also for the really kind messages you left on my Zenspirations post on Friday.   It's the start of another week already and at the end of this week the clocks go back...gosh how quickly that has come around.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Zenspirational colouring book delight

Those of you who have been following Jane's Journal for some time will know that I am a girl who loves to try new ideas, trends, designs etc with my crafting. I could not possible just churn out repeated projects as I would get bored senseless. I don't think I have a "style" (you may disagree?), as I dabble with every media and designer out there; from Tim Holtz, Wendy Vecchi, Barbara Grey, PaperArtsy, Visible Image right through to Lavinia, Penny Black and the cuteness of Lili of the Valley, to name just a few.

 There is so much talent out in the crafting world to be inspired by and in the last 6 months there is a wonderful person called Joanne Fink who has really been a bright light for me. If you are new to Joanne's work I seriously suggest you look at her blog Zenspirations, here. She has such talent. Her calligraphy is wonderful and the "dangles" (as she calls them) just add to her amazing work. She also has some brilliant videos on You Tube.

I have used calligraphy in my work before and after looking at her blog and videos I was encouraged to start adding it to some of my journal pages. You will have seen all these art journal pieces I made during this spring and summer which I shared in my blog. Here's a little collage of them.

In May I also came across Joanne's blog and started following it. The week before we were going off on holiday to Sicily I read that she was asking for people to colour her pages and be part of her new venture with her books. It was only a few days before we went away but I really wanted to join in.  I spent a couple of days coming up with a design and colours for one of her pages. I used Promarkers and markers and this is what I made.

 Below is the original before I coloured it. Joanne leaves her designs as an open canvas, her books are so much more that just colouring books. They encourage you to make each design your own.

I emailed her my design, went off on holiday and forgot all about it until our flight home....

We were standing in the boarding gate queue at the airport in Sicily waiting to board the plane to fly home. As there was free wi-fi I checked my emails and found an email from her saying that she would like to include my work in her next book! I certainly did a little happy dance in the boarding lounge. My Hb is so very patient with me and he was delighted too ;0)

Since then I have been eagerly awaiting the books publication on 1st October.

On Thursday I received my happy mail from the USA............

 .........yes my own copies had arrived.

 and inside...have you spotted me here in the bottom corner of the page ;0)

I did another happy dance as it really is so thrilling to see your work in print. Below is another design from the new book I coloured. This one is not in the book but I still like it. I even added some gems to it.

The excitement does not end there as Joanne has a new book coming out on 1 November and yes I have another colouring page in there too. I will post here once I get my own copy and I can share it with you. Would you believe that the colouring I did for the newest book was done whilst we were on holiday in Rhodes in September. I was super limited by my supplies and only took one copy of the design away. so if I made a mistake that was it.  The deadline was tight for this piece and I only managed to complete one but I was pleased how it turned out.

Colouring books are huge both here and in the USA. Joanne's  books are only available in the UK on line via Amazon.co.uk  at the moment but in the USA they are really going places and are on line and in book shops. I think Walmart have plans for stocking them in the run up to Christmas. If you see a copy..take a peep, say hello to my swan and be Zenspired.

There is a now huge Facebook Zenspirations "club" of happy colourists of which I am delighted to be a part of. Joanne only started it a few months ago and now we have over 1,700 members who regularly post their beautiful work.  I wish I had more time to devote to colouring but I still also love all my other forms of crafting and there are just not enough hours in my leisure time to do more.

In honour of this happy mail and as a thank you to Joanne, who is such a sweet person I drew and coloured this little piece.

I just used a little piece of mixed media card which I swished through a couple of blue distress inks to give a watercolour background. I drew the frames free hand using a black Micron pen and coloured using my Sakura glaze pens. I love these pens they look like glass when they have dried. I wrote the words and drew the little flower too. I added lots of doodles and pattering. A real Jane's Journal one off.

 Here's a little close up showing off that glossy glaze.

I think bloom and grow has to be a perfect sentiment for me...........and I hope I have many more years ahead of doing so.

Thank you Joanne for your encouragement and support of my work.

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

Country View  add some texture
We love 2 create anything creative/mixed media

Pixie's snippets playground #198 I used a snippet of mixed media card to create my watercolour background.
Simon says stamp Monday wonderful watercolour I used inks to make my watercolour background.
Allsorts getting sentimental, use a sentiment
The Craft Barn light my light for my final entry is the light reflected in the amazing glassy glaze of my pens, I also think my piece looks like a stained glass window letting the light through.

Thanks to everyone who visits me here too and supports my work with you kind comments. They are so appreciated. Have a lovely weekend.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Kicking off the Funkie Junkie's 12 tags of Christmas 2015

When I was sitting on the beach in Rhodes a few weeks back I saw a blog post come up in my reader which made my heart skip a beat......Linda of The Funkie Junkie blog starting off her 12 tags of Christmas. It was so funny sitting there in 32o of sunshine reading about Christmas.

I love this challenge, it's a bit like Strictly Come Dancing....it counts me right down to Christmas week. For those of you who are new to Linda's challenge you can read all the rules of it here. In a nutshell you use her weekly tag for inspiration and you can create anything crafty and as long as all 12 projects are completed by 22 Dec. You also have a chance to win one of her generous prizes. I was lucky enough to win $25 dollars last year  to spend in her wonderful on line boutique which sponsors the challenge. Do have a look here at her shop, her stock is enormous and her prices really keen.

I choose to use the challenge to create 12 of my Christmas cards. You can see her week one tag here. I was inspired by the gold embossed background and by the poinsettia die cut she featured.
 I am still able to work in my beloved studio at the moment, as the weeks go by it will get too cold,but for now I am perfectly comfy out there. I tend to make my Funkie Junkie card after work on a Monday...it's a little routine I really enjoy during the approach to Christmas. She's already onto tag 3 so I am playing a bit of catch up but I will get there.

I made a lovely stencilled focal for my card using Wendy Vecchi's gorgeous gold embossing paste and Tim's poinsettia stencil.

 Look at the sheen once it dries. I then stamped my Visible image poinsettia stamp onto some red Christmas paper and fussy cut it out.

I then coloured up the white card with festive green and red distress inks

As Linda said it's a shame to always cover up these lovely backgrounds so I also kept the backing to my focal quite simple. I just added a green and gold backing paper. I also added a stamped and die cut sentiment, a holly die cut and a button and twine to finish my card.

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

The Funkie Junkie's 12 tags of Christmas 2015 #1
Papertake Weekly 2 by 2 I used 2 different types of poinsettia, a stencil and a stamp.
Emerald Faeries buttons and bows
Fashionable stamping changing seasons 2/3
Country View  add some texture
We love 2 create anything creative/mixed media

Pixie's snippets playground #198 I used a snippet of mixed media card to emboss on and snippets for my holly die cut and my sentiment.
Creative Inspirations Clean and simple or fussy and fancy mine is very much the fancy end!
Sparkles Christmas distress it
Winter Wonderland Christmas flowers
Christmas card challenge anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut vintage or shabby chic mine is very much vintage, I love this retro Merry Christmas stamp

I have one of those rare days at home today so I am planning some crafting fun in my studio. I have so many ideas buzzing around! I also recently received such a gorgeous package from my uber talented blogging friend Mia after winning her giveaway

 Such gorgeous colours, I love them!

...so if I have chilly hands my fingerless gloves will be perfect. Thanks my dear so much, they are so beautiful.

Back soon, off down to my beloved Studio..............

Bye for now,

Jane x