Friendship

I’m so excited to be seeing some of my dearest friends this month so this page is inspired by spending happy summer days with friends!

I started by applying Begonia, Jasmine and Aquamarine Spectrum Aqua Markers to create a summery coloured background; I did this by scribbling them onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water, pressing the block and dripping the ink onto the page and then spritzing the page with some more water. I love the way the colours blended to give a dreamy look. Thinking of summer roses and sunshine, next I stencilled a rose image using Old Paper Distress Ink with a blending tool and then I stamped a pretty circular stamp from Kaisercraft using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink. I added some flower stickers to the top and bottom edge of the page which are from a Secret Garden sticker set by Kaisercraft. The pretty lady is from a card topper set by Create & Craft, which is die cut into two pieces making a frame and a central panel; I stuck the frame onto the page using double-sided tape and the central panel using double-sided foam tape to add some dimension. Then I added some of the Kaisercraft flower stickers again around the sides of the frame. The sentiments and butterflies are also by Kaisercraft from a sticker set called Fly Free. I outlined the sentiments with a white Uniball gel pen and they read “A beautiful friendship”, “Good friends are like stars”, “Friends are the sunshine of life” and “Friendship”. To finish, I added some tiny pearls to the bow on the lady’s dress and also to the flower stickers.

I chose this pretty lady image for my page as this year I have also made some Birthday cards for my friends using this topper; mounting the images onto some card, adding some pearl embellishments and stamping the “Birthday Wishes” sentiment.

Roses also feature on my page as they remind me of summer and when my friends come to stay; they always bring roses with them – I love these ones, they are such a beautiful colour!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun using my Spectrum Aqua Markers (I haven’t used them in a while) and new Kaisercraft goodies.

Inspired by my dearest friends, I’m also joining the Get Sentimental challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my Mixed Media and Art Journaling Style page.

With the butterflies I added to my page I’m also joining in the fun at Moo Mania and More for their theme Butterflies.

As there is nothing better than spending time with friends on a summer’s day, so I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Summer Fun! challenge with my summery art journal page.

I’m also pleased to join the July Link Party #41 over at Cropstop Blog with my art journal page as I included some products from companies that they carry in their store.

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Begonia, Jasmine, Aquamarine)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Old Paper)
• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Rich Cocoa)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Magnolia Grove CS822)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Set (Secret Garden SS283, Fly Free SS289)
• Create & Craft (Birthday Celebrations Paper Craft Topper)
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Stix 2 double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape