A special Mother's Day

Happy Mothers' day to everyone who either is a Mum, has a Mum or had a Mum. Mum's are very special and I am so very lucky to have my Mum fairly nearby. I am also the proud Mum to my 2 children so I like to take time on this special day to feel very thankful indeed.

I thought I would share some flower love with you all courtesy of my darling girlie.

Today is also the day that I have decided to finally share all the news that I have been hinting about since the new year.

In 2 weeks time I shall be stopping working as a physiotherapist. To cut a very long story short and spare you all the boring details the funding for my post, where I have worked for nearly 24 years, stops from 31 March. This has been grumbling away in the background for the last couple of years. I have worked as an NHS physiotherapist for 33 years so I think I have done more than my time helping people recover from musculoskeletal injuries and conditions. Without getting too political there are so many changes in the NHS, some not so good and I feel that another stage of my life is beckoning.

I have decided to follow a crafting life....I have been in contact with a new Tea Shop opening where I live who are keen to talk to me about selling my cards. I am also going to give a lecture about my jewellery making to the WI in June and I am thinking of starting up my Jewellery parties again. I will also have more time for my family and my garden.

I also decided, for the first time, to respond to a Design Team call a few weeks ago.
I was delighted to find out on Friday that I have been taken on and I am so proud to announce today that I am the newest DT member of

Yes none other than Country View. I buy most of my crafting material from Country View Crafts, who sponsor the challenges. I have been entering their challenges since they first started in 2013 and even appeared as a Guest Designer on a few occasions.
Susan's online shop service is second to none. Her prices are some of the keenest and she offers free UK postage. I think that takes some beating. If you are not familiar with her online shop have a look here.
The Country View challenge blog is  here. They run some great challenges and I would love if you would become a follower over there and join in with the crafty fun.
My first DT post will appear in April for the new challenge. I am so excited and delighted. Thanks Susan.

For my card today I am sharing the card I made my own dear Mum. I used another of my own photos from my childhood. I think they make such fun cards.
The photo is of me around the age of 3 in the garden of our old house.

 The background was made in a similar way to my February Tim tag which you can see here. I  love the effect.

I added a bee charm as  I really was a busy bee as a little girl. I was always making and doing. I was even a member of a little club called The Busy Bees which was a fundraiser for the PDSA, does any one else remember it? I hand dyed the ribbon with Candied apple distress ink...I love this colour.

 I used lots of layers and dies, the black one is spellbinders the gold is Noor.

When I put this photo up it made me do a bit of a double take....is it just me or can you see a bit of my Daisy Jane there?

I would like to enter my Mother's Day card into the following great challenges;

Frilly and Funkie 1/3 layer it up
That's Crafty 2/3 Stencils or masks I used my heart and Gothic TH stencils.
Creative Inspirations 3/3 pretty projects
Our creative corner  3/3 previous challenge I have chosen "love those leftovers" . My black frame and heart were left over from a wedding card I made here
Pixie's snippets Playground #219 I used lots of snippets today, for my  sentiment and my heart and even the black frame was a snippet of card from another project.
Simon says stamp Wednesday  2/5 touchy feely
Fussy and Fancy 1/3 Shabby fun bingo I have gone for the bottom horizontal line; vintage, ribbon, square and my anything goes is a charm.
Crafty Calendar 1/3 Mother's day/special female
Allsorts 1/3 international women's day
Ribbon Girl 1/3 spring/easter/anything goes

So there we are lots of change in my life, something to embrace rather than try to avoid. I finish work on 23 March as I have some leave to take and it is then the Easter holidays. I suppose 24 March will be the first day of the rest of my crafty life?

Thanks for visiting and have a very peaceful Mothers' Day. My Hb and I plan a nice walk or drive later and perhaps we'll find somewhere for tea and cake, a perfect way to celebrate.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Marching into March

My Hb and I enjoyed a lovely, if very chilly walk last Sunday. We walked down part of the River Wandle and enjoyed seeing the wildlife and flowers which are appearing.

Lovely hosts of golden daffodils on the river banks.

The ducks are starting to pair up

and we even spotted some continental bluebells in flower.....they are ridiculously early

I love these riverside cottages which are........

 just around the bend and under the weeping willow. So pretty.

When I got home I decided to get inky and make a money wallet I needed. You can see how much spring is beckoning me.....
I used lots of inks and stencils for my background

and here is my finished piece, tied with ribbon which has hidden in my stash for years!

This is the inside, ready for some Easter cash!

I would like to enter my money wallet into the following challenges;

Our creative corner 1/3 previous challenge I have used "No more shopping sins" I admit that I have had this ribbon (and lots more) in my hoard for years. I must make a note to myself to use ribbon on my project more ;0)
Creative Inspirations 2/3 pretty projects
Rhedd's Creative Spirit March
That's Crafty 1/3 Stencils or masks
The Artistic Stamper 1/3 springtime

As we marching through March I have some very new things happening to me...BIG changes in my life and I am getting very excited about them. More about that soon. I also had some happy news last night that I have been accepted to join a great design team....the first time I have ever applied for a DT too! No names yet but I will share my news as soon as I can.

Things are about to change over here at Jane's Journal...watch this space and thanks for following my crafting journey.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Lunar

I love all things moon related. The latest dictionary letter over at the Craft Barn alphabet challenge is L and as I searched through my antique dictionary I came across the word lunar. Perfect!
I love a full moon and I hoped to take a photo of one on Monday 22nd Feb, but sadly the sky was very overcast that night.
So I decided to dig out some lovely moon photos I took in September. You may have seen these but here goes. They were taken on holiday in Rhodes.

I love the texture on these photos. When I see a full moon here in the UK I often see a "face" on it and I made a few moons with faces for Christmas cards last year.
I had one of them left over, it was a face I didn't like but it had some great textures so I decided to paint it over with Picket Fence crackle paint.

I love those crackles

I have also decided to make some single pages in my art journal....It will fill it up far too quickly if I keep making double pages every time. I added some scrunched up tissue wrap and some texture paste stars through my TH stencil.

I wanted a deep blue starry night sky to put my moon in so I dribbled and dabbed my paints onto my page adding lots of spritzes of water.

I painted some of my stars silver. Sorry about this awful photo, the under cupboard light in my kitchen is not brilliant. It's too cold in my studio to work so I have been working on the kitchen breakfast bar.

I wanted to use a moon quote so I used the Moon one below. This has actually been attributed to several people so I can't be definite who is the owner!

Shoot for the moon, if you miss it you will still land among the stars

Once my night sky background was make it was time to put my creative hat on. This is what I came up with.

 Here is a close up of my moon and the lunar dictionary  definition. I add even more texture with frantage and surrounded the moon with my Noor star die which I also dipped into paint. The little stars are a Lavinia stamp. I used gold acrylic paint. 

I still wanted to keep a touch of the whimsical with my lunar page so I added a Lavinia fairy stamp and die cut a star for her to hold which was sprinkled with gold glamour dust.

I would like to enter my mixed media piece into the following challenges.

The Craft Barn letter L. Mine is L for lunar.                                                                                          

Our creative corner 1/3 previous challenge mine is words, words, words chosen by Candice
Rhedd's Creative Spirit March
Simon says stamp Wednesday  1/5 touchy feely
Whimsy Stamps 1/3 anything goes
Simon says stamp Monday take a leap into the unknown it's the first time I have used picket fence crackle paste and I was not sure if it would ruin my moon...it didn't. I loved the effect.
Creative Inspirations 1/3 pretty projects

Thanks for popping by today and welcome to March.  Spring really is just around the corner now.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x