Christmas 41 and 42

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in your world...hugs.

Mother Nature conspires against us! I was due to meet with a lovely Blogger at Attenborough Nature Reserve yesterday morning for coffee and the rain was coming down by the bucketload and it was very windy so we postponed, this morning it is fine and dry, albeit a tad grey. Oh well Sally, let us hope it is kinder in the Spring!

At least I got three cards made instead LOL.

Speaking of cards, the two I have lined up to share today were very awkward to photograph due to them consisting of mainly silver mirri card, so I had to do them at awkward angles cuz you can see me in them nearly as clear as a mirror, that's my red dressing gown and hand on the left!

 Whilst looking for something else, I came across this Crafts Too embossing folder and I just happened to have some silver mirri card on my worktable for the card below, so I had to try it and I was surprised how clearly it embossed without taking the surface off.

I layered it onto black card from my scrap box then onto the basecard which was A4 folded and cut to 7x5.

It is so long since I discarded the sentiment stamp packaging that I can't remember where it was from!

 Basecard is same as above but cut to fit into 6x6 envelope.

Own teardrop tress cut on my old Cricut from MME glittery card.

Own stitched square also cut on the same old Cricut and layered onto pewter textured card from PDA.

Stars cut with Lea'bilities dies.

Both are very simple cards, still catching up with those filched by my Grand-daughter :o)

Jackie xx

Cow Parsley seedhead and some photographs

Good morning everyone, I do hope all is well in your world...hugs

I had a wonderful day at Mercia Marina Sunday and the weather was very kind although fairly cold. I was there for their last Bandstand Busk of the season, and my daughter was singing so that was an added bonus. They have these sessions once a month during the summer and they are great. They put a bucket out for donation and were able to present a cheque for £400 to The Uttoxeter Lions for their Prostrate Cancer Screening programme.

On to my card for today. 

I took this photograph at Attenborough Nature Reserve a about month ago and yes, the sky really was that colourless at the time. If you look closely you can even see a few seed falling!

Matted onto a scrap of brown paper from the bits box.

Basecard is my usual white linencard from The Range, folded and cut to 7x5, then stamped with Penny Black Queen Anne's Lace which I thought morrored my photograph very well.

Sentiment stamped with Woodware.

Flatbacked pearls coloured with Copic marker pen.

Here's a photograph or three from Sunday Afternoon. The sun was very strong and from the wrong angle so these are the best I could do!

 A few of the musicians, including my daughter Susan ( in the middle), had a jam session at the end of the day. Here they are singing Mustang Sally.

 

 Moore and Moore Beer, the Bandstand Busk event organisers

Susan accompanied by John Beer playing the bones.

If you love live music from local bands/soloists, checkout Mercia Marina's FB page watch out for the Bandstand Busks next year, they are great fun :o)

Jackie xx

Anniversay card fro friends plus Autumn is here

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in your world. Sending hugs to all who need or want them!

This post is picture heavy so you need to settle down with a cuppa and relax :o)

I had a lovely stroll at Attenborough Nature Reserve yesterday morning and the sign of Autumn were all around, it is my favourite time of the year!

 Anyhow, I digress, her is my card for the day and a few photographs that I took yesterday.

Own photograph taken earlier this year at Straw's Ponds, Ilkeston, printed onto my usual white linencard then cut with Xcut large circle.

Basecard cut from MME card with Spellbinders Grand Nestie.

Swans cut with Marianne dies.

Computer generated sentiment cut with SU punches.

Dragonflies cut with Xcut punch.

Leaves cut with Memory Box die.

 

And now a few photographs showing the signs of Autumn.

 

 And a few others taken on my stroll.

 

 Peek-a-boo

 Tern or gull, I am not sure!

 

 And finally, this shows what the lakes are, they are all gravel pits and extraction is still taking place. It just shows that a lot of beauty can come from gravel extraction, we just have to be patient as it takes years to show :o)

Jackie xx

Commissioned set of 6

Good morning everyone, yet another dry one although a bit hazy. I hope all is well in your world...hugs

My friend said "make me a few cards please, with different sentiments" so here they are.

She loves my one layer photograph cards so that is what I made for her! She also bought a few others from my box :o)

Stop Press! Please note, it is a Speckled Wood Butterfly, NOT a moth!

 These middle two are made up with two photographs merged, unlike the rest which are single photographs.

All cards are made with white linencard from The Range, folded and cut to 7x5.

All are my own photographs of course. The flutterby was one I took some years ago at Osbourne's Pond, which is at one end of Shipley Park, and the rest were taken at Attenborough Nature Reserve a few weeks ago.

I used several different fonts for the sentiments.

The flutterby was tubed by my very good friend PatEssex (Docrafts) and the rest were feathered by me in PSP7.

Jackie xx

12x12 scrapbook page

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in your world...hugs

Brilliant sunshine out there, don't know if it's set to last yet!

It has been a long while (18months or more) since a did any scrapping, but I wanted to do something with a few of my recent swan photographs, so here it is!

Plain background is DCWV from stash, I didn't want anything to detract from the elegant swans, so I just chalked lightly around the pics to add a bit of depth.

Swan photographs taken at various places including Attenborough Nature Reserve and Straw's Bridge ponds, Ilkeston.

Printed onto my usual white linencard.

All dies used are Di-namics stitched, can you tell I love them LOL.

I used Sparty Pants font for the text :o)
Jackie xx

OMG, two posts in one day!

I just realised I hadn't posted these pics yet from my visit to Attenborough Nature Reserve earlier in the week :o)

These are just a few of the 80+ that I took on the day :o)

Jackie xx

Crocosmia birthday

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in you world. Here's some hugs if you need or want them {{{{{hugs}}}}}

I cannot believe that my week off work is 3/4 gone!!!!!

Yesterday after lunch I went to Attenborough Nature Reserve, probably my favourite place within about a 10 mile radious of where I live. It was my first visit there this year and it did not disappoint. It was so windy that it nearly blew me over on my way into to visitor centre for a hot chocolate, but it was so refreshing, definitely blew the cobwebs off LOL. For the first time in all my years of taking photographs, I managed to catch a couple of swans doing their heart thing, it was so lovely sipping hot chocolate and watching them, after I had taken photographs, of course! There was a pair of great crested grebes too, and I was hoping they would do their dance, but they didn't BooHoo!

Anyway, on to my card for today which features a crocosmia that I photographed many moons ago but can't remember where!

All card used is my usual white linencard from The Range.

Base cardis from an A4 sheet folded and cut to fit into a 6x6 envelope.

Wavy birders are the Spellbinder offcuts from an earlier card.

Photograph cut with Die-namics stitched circle die.

Pearls from stash.

Unfortunately I was at the wrong angle to get the full effect of the heart shape, this is the best one that I managed!

Jackie xx

A couple more of my old photographs

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in your world...hugs.

Whatever happened to March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb? With the gales blowing at the moment it is hardly lamb like!!!!!

I have been looking through some of my old photographs and came across these two which I took at Attenborough Nature Reseve in 2009. I used to love doing tryptiches so I decided to have a go, and these two are the finished items. I quite like this format so I may make a few more of them.

I didn't want to detract from the photographs with embellishments!

Base cards are my usual white linencard, folded and cut to 7x5.

I printed the photographs onto the same white card, then cut them into 3 and mounted onto black Papermania textured card, then layered them onto the card bases with sticky foam back pads to lift them.

Clear stickybacked gems coloured with Copic pen.

Haven't decided yet whether they are to go inmy my box or my hospital box :o)

Jackie xx

Easter 7

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well or getting there...hugs

It's hard to tell what it's like outside yet, not light enough, but it seems quite mild!

My card for today is very simple indeed, being printed straight onto the base card.

My own photograph, of course. This is Attenborough Parish Church, Notts. 

Several generations of my ancestors were hatched, matched and despatched here. 

I took the photograph looking across one of the lakes at Attenborough Nature Reserve and conditions were perfect for the lovely reflection.

Feathered in PSP and printed onto white linencard from The Range.

The cross was cut with Spellbinders using gold textured card :o)

Jackie xx