Everyday is a New Beginning

Now spring has arrived, the evenings are getting lighter, we have had more sunshine and blue skies, spring flowers are blooming, there are new shoots on trees and new plants are sprouting up from the ground.

So my page today is celebrating these new beginnings to say Hello Springtime over at Art Journal Journey where I’m guest host this month. I’ve been amazed by all your support and wonderful creations, thanks so much!

I started this page by stencilling a clock face on brown cardboard that I recycled from some packaging using Pébéo modelling paste and left it to dry. Then I die cut some trellis with a pretty flower design out of some recycled paper using my Big Shot machine and stuck it in place using Liquitex matte gel medium so that it filled the centre diagonal of the page. I cut the clock face out of the cardboard and stuck it to the page along with some cardboard number stickers that I had, and then I covered everything with Pébéo white gesso. When the page was dry, I stuck a piece of pretty design paper which I had torn in half to the top left and bottom right hand corners of the page using a glue stick; they are edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which I smudged with my finger. Next I applied Fig, Snow Cone, Caramel, Coconut and Earl Grey Faber-Castell Gelatos to the trellis-work to highlight the texture and pattern. The numbers stickers and clock face are both coloured using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which I applied and then smudged with my finger. I also used the same four Faber-Castell Gelato colours to highlight the numer stickers and modelling paste. The clock face numbers are coloured using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and I applied some of the Coconut Faber-Castell Gelato over the top to give them a worn look. Next I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt acrylic paint and then to finish, I added some paper flowers, a pretty blue butterfly and a sticker from Kaisercraft which reads “Everyday is a new beginning”.

My springtime colours were inspired by the beautiful glass domed roof at the Marine Hall where the Fleetwood Beer Festival is held. The Marine Hall sits on the sea front and the building dates back to the 1930s so has an art deco heritage which includes this beautiful glass domed roof.

The Festival Beer Bar is situated right under this dome and I actually had to lie on the floor in the centre of the two bars to take this picture, luckily no one saw me as I was well hidden by the bars (grin!).

Challenges 

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Art Journal Journey, 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 also very happy to be able to join the Letters and/or Numbers challenge over at Country View Challenges as I had fun adding the numbers and letters to this page.

I’m also joining the Embrace The Journey challenge over at A Vintage Journey where they are celebrating their 5^th Birthday as my Mixed Media Style page depicts the journey of springtime where “Everyday is a new beginning” – Happy Birthday!

I’m joining in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog and their Creative Artiste’s #47th Challenge – Anything Mixed Media Goes with all the different mediums (listed below) that I used to create this 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:

• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Fig, Snow Cone, Caramel, Coconut, Earl Grey)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• The Works M & C Boutique (Cutting Dies)
• Recycled brown cardboard packaging
• Recycled paper
• The Works Design Pad (Vintage Love CRO707/TW25
• Leftover cardboard numbers from a Hobbycraft  Alphabet Letters set
• Poundland (Gem Florettes 117128, Accessories Pack 60911)
• The Works (Make Your Own 3D Butterflies – Assorted)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick