A guardian angel

Good morning, well the sun seems to have  returned and my pots in my garden and my lawn are loving it. The bees are enjoying themselves immensely when the sun does shine between the showers.

 and my acers look very healthy. 

It's time for my Monday design team make for Visible Image and I am continuing to share my first samples with the brand new stamp release. The release went live on Saturday and you can now buy them on line or at your local stockist. Today it is the turn of the amazing 

Guardian angel set

As you well know I am a crafter who rarely creates anything spooky this side of Halloween so I want to show today that this set can have a very "light" side to it, simply by making the wings lighter and using the 3 gorgeous bird stamp which come in the set

I started with a background using a real "mix of media!"

Once dry I cut it to size, stamped the angel in black, masked his chest and then stamped and white glitter embossed the wings.

I stamped the sentiments and the gorgeous birds and added some colouring to the image.

I also stamped and white glitter embossed some of the bubbles, adding Glossy Accents for some shine and depth.

Here is my guardian angel.

With a couple of close ups;

and 1 final shot.

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

Lil patch of crafting friends 3/3 anything goes
Sparkles 3/3 no patterned paper
A bit more time to craft 3/3 anything goes
Addicted to stamps and more 1/3 anything goes
Creative moments 1/3 anything goes
A gem of a challenge 1/2 anything goes
Crafter's castle 1/3 anything goes

The new stamps are now on general release from the web site or from your local stockist.

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 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.

And the shop web site is here; where all their gorgeous stamps and stencils can be purchased.

So there is my version of the "Guardian angel", nothing "dark" about him at all...just a rich glow of life and protection. 

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

9 more advent calendar doors to open

I love my vintage advent calendars and have quite a selection to choose from each year. I still buy all the children big and small, advent calendars and no they don't feature chocolate!

This is the one I am using this year. I forgot to take photos of the kids ones this time!

It hangs by the side of bed and I see it sparkling in the darkness when I wake each morning.

The pictures inside the doors are so pretty.

Such sweet vintage angels.

I shall be opening my Number 15 up this morning.

I thought my card today should feature an angel. It's another vintage style Christmas card I made and is for sale down at Dotty's Teahouse, Carshalton

High St, SM5 2AE

I made an inky blue background using distress inks and then added an embossed blue panel. The lovely angel digi is from Graphic Fairy. The die cuts are by Tim Holtz, Memory Box and J Sheen. 

The silent night stamped sentiment is an old one from Lili of the Valley.

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

That's Crafty 1/3 anything goes

Crafty Calendar 2/3 It's Christmas time

Fussy and Fancy 1/3 Christmas

Cute Card Thursday 1/3 embossing I have embossed the pale blue sheet of card under the angel

Moving along with the time 1/3 anything Christmas

Crafty Catz 1/3 anything goes

Allsorts 1/3 Christmas trees

Card mania 4/5 Christmas

Have a great weekend. I hope you are getting those Christmas odds and ends sorted out. There are just 10 days until the Big Day. Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by here today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave me. 

I'm back again on Monday with my final DT post for 2018 for STAMPlorations.

Bye for now,

Jane x

Christmas is on its way

On Friday I met my dear Mum in London for our annual Christmas trip to Harrods. We have been going every year for over 20 years. Over the years the Christmas department has changed and indeed shrunk but we still love to go. The windows always look spectacular

I'll share some more photos soon, and which ornament I added to my collection this year.

I'm sharing for my Monday DT make for Visible Image and as we are fast approaching the time to finish getting our Christmas cards made today's make is one using 3 sets from their fab Christmas collection. We have an "add some sparkle" challenge over on the Facebook page so I thought I would go to town with the sparkle today.

I used the smaller angel and the star from the angels  stamp set

together with the snowflakes from

Snow is falling

and the peace sentiment and star from the peace, hope and love set 

I went for a relatively simple design on plain black card stock as I think these gorgeous images just speak for themselves. I used silver ink first to stamp the snowflakes. When dry I white embossed the stars. Afterwards I used some ultra sparkly WOW gold glitter embossing powder to really make the angel stand out.

I also white embossed the peace sentiment.

Here is my finished card

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

CRAFT 1/3 Christmas
Cute card Thursday 1/3 stars
Simon says stamp Monday all that glitters is gold
Stamping sensations 1/3 Getting ready for Christmas
Christmas at sweet stampin 1/3 anything goes
Crafty Hazlenut's Christmas challenge 1/3 #412 anything goes
Sweet stampin 1/3 anything that shines
Fussy and fancy 1/3 anything goes
Crafty catz 1/3 anything goes
Artistic inspirations 1/3 anything goes
Winter wonderland what do you like to do at Christmas?....me, reflect on the year and hope that hope that the snow falls!

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 new challenge album where one randomly chosen winner each month wins a £40 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. 

Remember to add your "sparkle projects" to the FB album here The challenge

ends on 30  November. It will be great to see them all and you might even be the randomly selected winner of a £40 voucher to spend on the website...now that would be like Christmas coming early wouldn't it!

I hope that all your Christmas preparations are going to plan...there are only 36 days to go...are you ready 😂🎅😄?
Thanks for stopping by today and for the kind comments you take the time to leave me, especially at this very busy time of year.

Back soon

Bye for now,

Jane x

Friends are angels

Good morning it's time for my Monday Design Team make for Visible Image and today I used stamps from the fab 

So much stronger set. There are so many lovely sentiments to use in this set. It has been incredibly popular and having sold out it is now back in stock.

I also wanted to show how well these words work with existing sets. I teamed it up with wings from the 

angels are near set

I made a distress oxide background by adding the inks to my craft mat with water and picking them up. 

I stamped and glitter gold embossed a pair of wings which I then fussy cut out.

I cut the background down into a square 

and black embossed my words, I picked out the "angels" and embossed that part in glitter gold powder, the same as the wings, to make it pop.

I added my wings using foam pads to raise the edges and give some dimension.

I then matted and layered my card.

Here are a couple of close ups to try to show the shine of the gold...

 and one last shot

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

Craft stamper take it make it 3/3 anything goes

Stamping sensations 2/3 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! There is an 11,000 followers celebration running at the moment, you could win a £100 coupon to spend on their website! 

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 so much for stopping by today and for the kind comments you leave me. Our friends really are our angels on earth for us...I love mine very much. 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A Christmas card for those who find Christmas tough

Monday has spun round again and it's time for my Visible Image DT inspiration. Today I am focusing on the gorgeous new Christmas stamp release and designing with 2 sets;

The very poignant Christmas memories stamp

which I thought went perfectly with the left hand (arms crossed) angel image from the angels set and the angel word.

As you all know I am Mrs Christmas and adore everything about it. However I do understand that for some people this can be a very difficult time of the year. Particularly when they have recently lost someone they love. That first Christmas afterwards, I know from my own experience, is very tough. I sell my cards at Dotty's Tearooms in our local high street and I thought this card would be a helpful extra to sell there this year.

My design also uses the strobes stencil (these are all back in stock on the Visible Image main website). I think it makes a great sun/star burst and used it in the background of my card.

So this is what I made.

I kept my colour very upbeat and simple.

I gold embossed the angel word and added some gold to the border.

I blended distress inks through the stencil. I wanted the angel to be more of a shadow and I achieved this by using a gold metallic ink. The sentiment is stamped and embossed.

Here she is in close up, irl she has a shimmery gold effect.

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 there. 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

 Instagram

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

Simon says stamp Wednesday 3/5 anything goes

Deep Ocean goodbye summer

Ribbon Girl 1/3 October any card

Winter Wonderland 1/3 anything goes

Christmas at sweet stampin 1/3 anything goes

Christmas card challenges #22

Thanks so much for visiting me here today. It is only 84 days until the big day and I am getting myself into Christmas card making mode now that the evenings are getting darker. 

Time to light those candles......

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x