Dark Side of the Moose

Today’s art journal page pays homage to one of my favourite beers at the Beer Festival earlier this month, which is called Dark Side of the Moose. It’s brewed by Purple Moose Brewery in Wales which I have visited a number of times – such fun!

To start, I positioned some circular templates by Inkylicious onto the page to depict the moons and painted the sky background using some watered down Elderberry Memento Ink using a paintbrush. I left the templates in place so I could also add a heart and circle design stamp by Sugarloaf Inc. using Grape Jelly Memento Ink; to shade around the moons I used the ink that remained on the template after stamping, wiping the ink in a circular motion around the edges whilst the template was still on the page. Then I used the corresponding circular stencils from the Inkylicious template and stencil set to colour the moons; first with Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed Distress Ink and then by adding a Tim Holtz texture stamp using the Elderberry Memento Ink again. The Purple Moose sticker is taken from the hand pump clip which came with the beer from the brewery; the writing surrounding the moose details the name of the beer in both English and Welsh. The moose and trees are die cut using the Merry Moose Thinlets by Tim Holtz from Sizzix and my Big Shot Machine. I used some purple paper for my moose which I shaded with the Elderberry ink and then some brown paper for the trees which I edged with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. They are stuck to the page, like all the paper elements, using a Zig Memory glue pen and I used some ripped pieces of red dot washi tape for the ground beneath them. To finish, the hearts were created using the same red dot washi tape which I stuck to white paper and then cut using a Tonic Studios paper punch.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and sharing my Dark Side of the Moose beer. This is delicious dark ale with a ABV (Alcohol by Volume) of 4.6%, it has a deep malt flavour and a fruity bitterness, and is brewed by Purple Moose Brewery in Porthmadog, Gwynedd, Wales – wishing you all a very happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the yellow moons I added to my art journal page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Heart It!, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with all the stamped and paper punched hearts that I added to my page.

I’m also pleased to join A Vintage Journey and their Heart’s Desire challenge as I was inspired by my love of beer and used stamped and paper punched hearts to create my Art Journaling style page.

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

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

• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Elderberry, Grape Jelly)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed)
• Faber-Castell Craft Stamper Big Brush Pen (Dark Sepia 175 B, Black 199)
• Inkylicious Stencil (Sun & Moons)
• Sugarloaf Inc. Anita’s Wood Mounted Stamp (48721)
• Tim Holtz Collection Stampers Anonymous (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Merry Moose 663103)
• Tonic Studios Paper Punch Accent (Hearts Sider 830E)
• Pump clip – Purple Moose
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Bright Colours CRO730/R)
• Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CRO701/16PL1)
• Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection (Spots & Stripes festive PMA462302)
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Chisel Tip Glue Pen)
• Sizzix Big Shot

Cherish Little Moments

We’ve been having some beautiful sunny days here of late and mild temperatures too, which have reminded me of summertime, I have even sseen my first butterfly on the drive in our front garden. So to celebrate I created this sunshiny yellow page with a butterfly – I hope you like it!

I started by using some stamped white paper which was leftover from other projects. It was stamped using black Archival Ink and the stamps included: a Music Sheet and a Vintage Circles stamp set from Woodware Craft Collection; a Cherish, a Script and also a Doily stamp set from Kaisercraft. The white paper also had some stencilling on it as I had used it to mop up some leftover Black Soot Distress Ink when I was cleaning a stencil using a baby wipe. I ripped the paper into pieces and stuck them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium along with three yellow paper flowers. Between the gaps of the papers and flowers I painted a base colour of Lemon Yellow Kuretake watercolour paint and then I dripped water onto the painted areas and added Black watercolour paint to create a marbling effect, highlighting areas with Yellow Ochre and more of the Lemon Yellow paint.

Once dry, I outlined the yellow flowers using a black Uni Pin marker and stuck some black seed beads into the centre of the flowers using Ranger Glossy Accents. The yellow border strips and wording are from Kaisercraft Sticker Sets and are outlined with a black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I added a black and white 3D butterfly sticker.

This page reminds me of the beautiful rudbeckia …

… that were flowering in our newly planted flower bed at the end of summer last year (grin!).

I added the 3D butterfly to my page as I was so surprised to find a Red Admiral butterfly sitting on our front drive last week, I know we have been having warmer temperatures but it is still February, isn’t it (double grin!).

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 be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with all the yellow that I added to my page.

Over at Country View Challenges their challenge is Black, White and One Other, so I’m happy to join this challenge to with my black, white and yellow page.

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:

• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Lemon Yellow, Black, Yellow Ochre)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.5mm)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Music Sheet JGS111, Vintage Circles FRS665)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Vintage – Cherish CS831, Script CS752, Doily CS297)
• Viva Décor Universal Stencil (Past Times 900270300)
• White paper
• Craft Sensations (Paper Flowers CRO344/R)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Say Aloha SS281, Fiesta! SS284)
• Seed Beads (Black)
• Home Bargains Self-Adhesive Stickers (Beautiful Butterflies 22742)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Creativity

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, so for the next two weeks our challenge is Powder your …

 We are asking that you use powders on your creations; these could be Embossing, Mica, Infusions, Perfect Pearls, Brusho, paint powder or even just images of powders. Please remember to note on your post what ‘powder’ you have used.

There are some amazing creations from my Design Teamies too, please pop over to our blog to check them out. I can’t wait to see how you use powders on your creations too!

I had so much fun using both Brusho and embossing powders to create all the elements on my industrial style art journal page.

I started by using a new technique for the background by stamping a steampunk stamp from Docrafts onto my page using a Versamark Watermark stamp pad. Then I sprinkled Sandstone, Dark Brown, Terracotta and Yellow Ochre Colourcraft Brusho Powders onto the page and used a soft paintbrush to lightly brush the powder over the stamping so the Watermark ink was covered with the Brusho powders.

I then spritzed the page lightly with water a few times and watched the background colours burst to life until the stamping was defined but not totally lost by adding too much water – such a fun technique!

The light bulbs and cogs/gears are Boozybear chipboard pieces which I covered using the Versamark Watermark ink and then some Gold Shellac and Black Papermania embossing powder. I heated the pieces with my heat gun until the embossing powder melted and became glossy and dimensional. For the light bulb backgrounds, I added some Yellow and Yellow Ochre Brusho Powders to a sheet of white paper and spritzed with water. When dry I drew around the light bulbs shapes and cut these shapes out of the paper.

I stuck the yellow backgrounds behind each of the embossed light bulbs using a Zig Memory System glue pen and stuck them and the cogs onto the page using glossy accents. The panel of words is a Tim Holtz Pocket card which I edged using the Versamark ink and embossing powders; it reads “Creativity is seeing things everyone else has seen, and thinking what no one else has ever thought”. I also covered three metal brads with the Gold Shellac and Black embossing powders and added them to the panel to give it more of an industrial look, which finished the page.

As T Stands for Tuesday and to continue the industrial look of my page I’m sharing a photo of me and hubby at the Banded Brewing Tap Room in Biddeford, Maine when we were on holiday last year – Happy T Day!

We had the “Flight of 4 Tasters” and the beers we tried were Oktoberfest, Veridian, Wheat ‘N’ Potatoes and Greenwarden – cheers!

Challenges 

I’m pleased to be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my yellow lightbulbs.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, their theme is Things with Wheels, so I’m pleased to join in the fun with the cogs and gears, that make wheels go round, which I added to my page.

I’m also joining in the Anything Goes – Steampunk/Industrial fun over at Sandee & amilie’s Steampunk Challenge with my industrial style page.

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:

• Tsukineko Versamerk (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Colourcraft Brusho Colours (Sandstone, Dark Brown, Terracotta, Yellow Ochre, Yellow)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Steampunk Background DCE907128)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Gold Shellac, Black)
• Boozybear Chipboard Pieces (Light Bulbs, Cogs & Gears)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Craft Sensations (Brads CRO550/A)
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Loving Life

I always find that I have a huge selection of tissue paper and paper leftover from creating other art journal pages, which I have either coloured or stamped. So in an attempt to tidy up a little (it hasn’t helped much – grin!), I decided to use some of them to create today’s page. I was also inspired by some challenge blogs too and as such, I hope you like the resulting page as much as I do!

I selected a black, white and yellow colour scheme for this page and collaged leftover pieces of white paper and tissue paper that had been stamped, whilst creating other pages, using black Archival Ink. Like all the collaged pieces they are stuck on the page using a glue stick. These stamped images included: grass and fern fronds from a Carabelle Studio stamp set; postage marks and bees from Hampton Art; postage marks from The Works; Vintage Circles from Woodware Craft Collection; blossoms from Stampendous; “kindness” wording from Docrafts; “discover” wording from Royal & Langnickel; script from Kaisercraft; and also a dragonfly from Eco Green Crafts. I arranged them on the page with some paper coloured with Yellow Colourcraft Brusho powders which were remnants of another journal page. Once the collage was complete, I covered the page with a layer of Liquitex Matte Gel Medium which allowed me to outline all the paper pieces using a black Uni Pin marker smudging the ink with my finger.

I added a pretty “yellow wagtail” bird that I fussy cut from my old nature book; he is stood on some torn pieces of black and white washi tape. I then added more pieces of the washi tape to the page background as well.

Next I stuck a yellow skeleton leaf onto the page along with a small glittery yellow flower which I embellished with a black gemstone in the centre. The yellow and white wording is from a Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet and they read “loving life” and “our story starts here”; they are both edged with a black Uni Pin marker and I stamped some small hearts onto them using black Archival Ink. I also stamped the hearts onto two small squares of leftover yellow sticker to make two small heart embellishments for my page. The black and white “love” wording is created using circular button letter stickers and the “love with all your heart” and “and so the adventure begins” wording are from a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker set; they are all outlined using the black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I splattered the page with black, white and yellow acrylic paint.

My page reminds me to love life and appreciate the simple things like the pretty yellow flowers that we have in our garden at the moment. You may remember that we replanted our flower beds last year and as such we added these miniature daffodils which seem to be a bit early flowering (grin!) – aren’t they adorable!

We were also surprised to see these pretty crocus in our flower bed too, we didn’t even know they there (double grin!)

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 be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the yellow I added.

I’m joining the Love is in the Air challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my Loving Life page.

Over at Country View Challenges their challenge is Black & White Plus One, so I’m happy to join this challenge to with my black, white and yellow page.

As I used black, white and yellow to create this page, I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Black, White + One Other Colour challenge.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Heart It!, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with all the stamped elements, love and hearts.

As the lovely Tracey is Guest Designing over at Frilly and Funkie, I’m also happy to be join the Frilly and Funkie Challenge which is Let Me Count The Ways, as I used three stamped Vintage Circles and three colours (black, white and yellow) on my page.

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:

• Leftover tissue paper and papers stamped using various stamp sets and Jet Black Ranger Archival Ink
• Leftover white paper coloured with Yellow Colourcraft Brusho Colour
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow Medium)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Hallmark Cards Stamp Set  (Unknown – Heart)
• Old book – The Illustrated Book of Nature
• Michael’s (Washi Tape)
• Nature’s Touch of Art (Skeleton Leaves Yellow)
• Poundland (Accessories Pack 60911, Design Gems 175751)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS738)
• Home Bargains (Love Letters 22738)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Set (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Beer Festival 2019

As you may remember, every February we volunteer at the Fleetwood Beer Festival, we work behind the bar serving customers and of course trying all the different beers, you can find our favourite ones on my art journal page below (grin!).

This page is created using recycled materials; this includes some beer packaging that contained one of my hubby’s Christmas presents, our Beer Festival magazine tasting notes and also a Beer Festival flyer. I started by selecting the tasting notes for our favourite beers; as we taste the different beers we always enjoy writing our opinions on the tasting notes provided in the magazine so these are included too (grin!). I arranged them onto the page so they are surrounded by pieces of the black and tan beer packaging and like everything on this page they are stuck down using a glue stick. The “Beer & Cider Festival” wording is also from the Beer Festival magazine and the glass of beer image is from a flyer; they are all stuck onto a piece of recycled card to give them more stability. I cut them out, edged them with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck them in place. Then I coloured and shaded the “Beer & Cider Festival” using a Yellow and also a Gold Spectrum Aqua Marker so it stood out more which finished the page.

The beers listed on my page included:

• Milk Chocolate Stout (Alcohol By Volume or ABV 5%) North Riding Brewery in Scarborough, North Yorkshire – a dark milk chocolate stout. The addition of lactose mutes the bitterness of the hops and dark malts to produce a sweet stout.
• Amber Necker (ABV 3.9%) Pennine Brewery in Well, North Yorkshire – being amber in colour, this is a great session beer with a smooth and creamy texture and a fantastic hoppy aftertaste.
• Dark Side of the Moose (ABV 4.6%) Purple Moose in Porthmadog, Gwynedd – a delicious dark ale with a deep malt flavour and a fruity bitterness.
• Lemon Dream (ABV 4.5%) Salopian Brewery in Shrewsbury, Shropshire – a light gold ale brewed with wheat malt and subtly flavoured with fresh lemons.
• Dark Ruby (ABV 6%) from Sarah Hughes in Sedgley, West Midlands – a dark strong ale with a good balance of fruit and hops, leading to a pleasant, lingering hops and malt finish.
• Don’t Give A Dram (ABV 4.9%) Sonnet 43 Brewery in Coxhoe, Country Durham – Full-Bodied reddish Brown ale with a low hop content and tastes of toffee and caramel. Nourished in former whiskey oak barrels, hence the name.
• Jaipur (ABV 5.9%) Thornbridge Brewery in Bakewell, Derbyshire – Flavoursome IPA packed with citrus hoppiness that’s nicely counterbalanced by malt and underlying sweetness and robust fruit flavours.
• Stay Puft (ABV 5.2%) Tiny Rebel Brewery in Newport, Wales – This marshmallow porter has the classic roasty qualities of a proper dark ale, with a smooth sweetness.
• Guzzler (ABV 3.6%) York Brewery in York, Yorkshire – Refreshing golden ale with dominant hop and fruit flavours developing throughout.

The busiest day was Friday, as you can see the hall was quite packed with people trying the 100+ beers and ciders that we had on offer. If you look carefully you’ll see me in the photo (grin!).

We had lots of fun chatting with customers, listening to the live bands and of course, sampling many of the beers (double grin!).

You can see all the casks of beer where we were serving in the background, this size of cask is known as a “firkin” and holds 9 imperial gallons which is 72 pints. We always like to try the beers that we are selling and write notes so that we can recommend a particular beer to our customers (well that’s my excuse for trying so many and I’m sticking to it) – Cheers!

Challenges

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m joining the T Gang with my beer related post and wishing you all a very Happy T day!

I’m pleased to be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun including yellow on my beer festival art journal page.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge their challenge is Typography, so I’m pleased to be able to join this challenge too as I collaged plenty of letter typed papers on my page.

I’m also pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my Beer Festival art journal page.

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:

• Festival tasting notes magazine
• Beer packaging
• Festival Flyer
• Recycled Card
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Spectrum Aqua Marker (Yellow, Gold)
• Pritt Stick

I love us

I feel very blessed to have married my soulmate and to have spent many happy and fulfilling years together so with Valentine’s fast approaching I created this page for my dear hubby to say “I love us” (grin!).

I started by adding some pieces of old dictionary pages using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium, then I coloured the background using some Cadmium Yellow Liquitex Acyclic paint and some Pébéo white gesso. When the paint was dry, I stencilled a lattice pattern using some Scattered Straw Distress Ink and a blending tool. Then I used the stencil to stamp the lattice pattern using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and also applied some DecoArt white acrylic paint with a sponge through the same stencil. I die cut some wildflowers from paper by Tim Holtz using a Tim Holtz thinlet set with my Big Shot machine and stuck them to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. When the gel medium was dry I outlined them with a black Uni Pin Fine Line marker so they stood out more and then I stuck three pieces of pretty green lace vertically onto the page.

For the heart, I used a wooden heart tag which I covered in Emboss ink and Chunky Silver Stampendous Frantage embossing enamel. I used a heat gun to melt the embossing enamel to a smooth glossy finish and before the enamel had cooled fully, I imprinted it using a Serpentine Background stamp; being careful not to touch the enamel with my fingers as it gets super hot. I also covered the word “Love” which is a wooden embellishment with the same embossing enamel using the Emboss ink.

I tied a piece of green ribbon to the heart tag and arranged it with the “love” embellishment onto the page using Ranger Glossy Accents along with a vintage Tim Holtz Pocket card, a white doily and a metal decorative embellishment. To finish, I added two Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers which are outlined using a black Derwent marker; they say “I’m happiest when I’m with you” and “I love us”.

Me and my hubby are thankful for every day and always enjoy the time we have together, whether we are at home …

… making discoveries on our walks, like this pretty yellow sunflower that magically appeared on the beach front which is just around the corner from our house …

… or out and about like at this local beer festival (grin!).

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 be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my appropriately coloured art journal page.

As this page captures love and romance, I’m joining the Love is in the Air challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

I’m happy to join the Your Hearts Desire challenge over at A Vintage Journey as I was inspired to create this romantic Mixed Media Style page for my hubby which includes hearts.

I’m also pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my romantic art journal page.

Don’t forget that you still have plenty of time to join our Romance challenge at Try it on Tuesday too.

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:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow Medium)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Ground Espresso)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Tsukineko Emboss Embossing Stamp Pad (Clear)
• Stampendous Frantage Embossing Enamel (Chunky Silver)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflowers 661190)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Serpentine Background T-2773)
• The Pocket Oxford Dictionary
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Paper Stash (Halloween #TH93712)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Dovecrafts Premium Paper Doilies (Painted Blooms DCDLS010)
• Docrafts Papermania Adhesive Lace Trim (Botanicals PMA358334)
• The Works (Chalkboard Tags, 5 Embellishments, Wooden Craft Words)
• Thin Satin Ribbon (Green)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Romance

Over at Try it on Tuesday for the next two weeks our challenge is Romance. With it being February and Valentine’s Day soon, I hope that you are in the mood for Romance too, it would be great to see you there!

My Design Teamies have created some amazing pieces to inspire you so please pop over to our blog and take a look. Today my page is a vintage gothic style, designed with romantic hearts and a wire garland of red roses (grin!).

I started by covering the page with scraps of teabag, brown tissue paper and also white tissue paper which I had stamped whilst designing previous pages using either black or red ink; I often find stamping some images on tissue paper helps me position them on my pages easier and decide on the design before I stamp them directly onto the page. Then I stamped some lovely lace filigree hearts by Penny Black using black Archival Ink and I added some pieces of red and also black washi tape both of which had a rose design on them, and also some pieces of black decorative lace border tape. Next I covered the page with Pébéo white gesso and once dry I applied some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink, as well as Dark Sepia and Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush markers around the edges of the page using my finger to blend out the colour. I scribbled some Iced Rosé, Iced Currant and Iced Chai Faber-Castell Gelatos over the edges of the page too and then smudged the colour using my finger again which I wet with a baby wipe. Then I added some more white gesso to tone down the colours to give a worn and distressed look and stamped a Script stamp by Kaisercraft using Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and also Black Archival Ink. The word “Romance” is die cut from some pretty textured paper from a Halloween paper pad by Tim Holtz using a Docrafts alphabet Die set and my Big Shot machine. I edged the wording with a Black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker so it stood out more from the background and then cut two strips off either side of the die cut paper and arranged them all on the left-hand side of the page using a glue stick.

I also cut out a heart shape from the Tim Holtz paper and I added some more lace filigree hearts using the Penny Black stamp and back Archival Ink and stuck the paper heart in place using a glue stick. The left-hand side of the paper columns and heart are edged using a black Derwent Inktense pencil and then I arranged some rose garland wire over the top using Ranger Glossy Accents to stick it in place. To finish, I threaded some of the wire through a metal key and added it to my page.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this romantic Valentine’s dessert from Lytham Hall; it is so pretty with the white teacup which is filled with a chocolate cupcake and topped with pink icing and the dark chocolate wording! It almost looks too good to eat – Happy T day!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, 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:

As I included hearts as part of my design, I’m happy to join the Your Hearts Desire challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my romance inspired Vintage and Mixed Media Style page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Heart It! so I’m pleased to join this challenge too with the stamped and paper hearts on my page.

As my page is black, white and red I’m also joining the Black & White Plus One challenge over at Country View Challenges.

I’m also joining in the Add Some Red challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the red roses that I added to my page.

I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my romantic art journal page too.

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:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge)
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Iced Rosé, Iced Currant, Iced Chai)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B, Sanguine 188 B, Black 199)
• Derwent Inktense Pencil (Black 2200)
• Penny Black Stamp Set (Clearly In Love 30-009)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503286)
• Leftover pieces of stamped teabags and tissue paper
• Tim Holtz paper Stash (Halloween #TH93712)
• The Range (Rose Garland, Key Embellishments)
• Michael’s (Washi  Tape x 2)
• Poundland (Decorative Border Tape 77513)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Pritt Stick

Sweet Winter Season

It’s been very cold and frosty this week, we even had a light sprinkling of snow, so I thought I’d create a page to capture the pretty frozen landscape.

I started by covering the centre of the page with Pébéo white gesso and then I added some Silver Metallic acrylic paint around the edges, gradually blending the gesso and acrylic into each other where they met. Next I arranged some images, wording, flowers and leaves from a Sweet Winter Season decoupage book and die cut some branches using Garden Greens Thinlets by Tim Holtz from some pink and brown paper using my Big Shot machine. They are all layered and arranged onto the page using double-sided tape or a Zig glue pen. I also die cut some snowflakes from grey/pink paper using two different die sets and stuck them onto the background along with silver snowflake relief stickers. I used some of the smaller snowflake relief stickers to decorate a few of the decoupage pieces, then to finish I added some tiny clear gemstones to add a bit of extra sparkle.

With it being so cold out, our bird feeder has been working overtime. We have had an array of birds visiting including a pair of Coal Tits; they have a distinctive grey back, black cap, and white patch at the back of their neck with beautiful creamy peachy coloured breast-feathers.

Coal Tits look similar to this Chickadee that we saw in the US when we visited last year. I have included a squirrel on my page but luckily we don’t have them raiding our bird feeder, unlike our friends in America who get chipmunks as well as red and grey squirrels on their feeders.

This little guy with his pretty grey and brown feathers is a Dunnock and reminds me of the little bird on my page; we see him in our garden on a daily basis feeding underneath our bird feeders.

Of course I wanted to also show you our resident Robin, although this isn’t the best of photos he still looks so sweet (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my wintry art journal page.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

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:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Poundland Metallic Acrylic Paint (Silver)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush marker (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206)
• Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (falling Snowflakes 1792e)
• The Works Cutting Dies (Snowflake Garland)
• The Works 3D Decoupage Book (Sweet Winter Season)
• Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CRO701/16PL1)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Endless Love CRO206/A)
• Crelando Relief Stickers (IAN289011)
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 double-sided tape