Remember

I’ve been wanting to join a couple of blog challenges, so I created this art journal page which turned out to be quite cathartic in the end; with my friend passing, this journal pages serves to capture wording to prompt me to look at things differently – I hope you like it!

I also wanted to thank you all for your kind thoughts and comments regarding my dear friend, it is very much appreciated!

To start, I covered the page in Snow Cone, Lime and Boysenberry Faber-Castell Gelatos by scribbling the gelatos onto the page and smudging the colour with my finger which I wet with water. Once dry, I stencilled dots by removing the gelato colour through the stencil using a baby wipe and also added a flower design by applying white pigment ink through the stencil. Then I stamped some chevrons and arrows from a Kaisercraft stamp set using black Archival Ink. The feathers are wall stickers which I edged with black Faber-Castell marker and stuck to the page. I then splattered the whole page with black acrylic paint. Next I stuck a silver dreamcatcher and three silver arrows onto the page and embellished them with green gems. I added some Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz which prompts me to “remember” the good times, to “just breathe”, to “be brave”, to “stay strong” and to “love you”; the top and bottom edge are outlined with a black marker pen. I also arranged some clear teardrop gemstones in lines down the page and to finish, I embellished the feathers with a silver disc from an old necklace.

I thought the T Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday, may like this cute otter that was etched onto a glass containing my pint of Otter Ale (grin) – cheers and Happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m happy to join in the Blue and Green challenge over at Country View Challenges with my page as they are my favourite colours.

I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps too.

With the splatters of paint and splodges from the stencilling, my page also serves as a reminder that you still have another week to join our Splatters and Splodges challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, it would be lovely to see you there!

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:

• Faber-Castell Gelato (Snow Cone, Lime, Boysenberry)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• That’s Crafty! 8x8ins Stencil (Decorative Flower – TC8039)
• Docrafts Artiste Pigment Ink (White)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Mister Fox CS173)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Main Street Wall Creations Jumbo Stickers (Watercolor Feathers SKU261499)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Docrafts Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• The Range (Dreamcatchers Stickers CR1237)
• B&M Craft Pack (Turquoise)
• Graham & Brown (Adhesive Jewels)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Handwriting Pen (Black)
• Old necklace
• Ranger Glossy Accents

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Splatters and Splodges

It’s time for a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday so today we are launching our Splatters and Splodges Challenge which lasts for the next two weeks.

This is a fun challenge and I really enjoyed stencilling and stamping the splatters and splodges on my page (grin!).

I started by covering the page with white acrylic paint, then I used a mini stencil from Creative Expressions to add layers of splatters and splodges using Festive Berries, Seedless Preserves and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink with a blending tool. I stencilled these Distress Ink colours a couple of times to add more depth to the page. Then I splattered the page with the same Distress Inks by stamping the pad onto an acrylic block, adding water and flicking the diluted ink onto the page using a paintbrush. I added more splatters by stamping a Gummiapan stamp using black Archival Ink. Next I outlined some pretty pink heart toppers with Black Soot Distress Ink and a black Faber-Castell marker and stuck them to the page using a glue stick. To finish, I added three Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers which read “listen to your heart, it will show you the way”, “have an open heart” and “a dream is a wish your heart makes”.

Don’t forget that you can find loads more Splatters and Splodges inspiration from my Design Teamies over at Try it on Tuesday so please pop over to take a look.

After so many of you wanted to make the raspberry gin that I featured last week, I thought I’d share the recipe with you:

• Raspberries (or any fruit of your choice, maybe blueberry, peach, strawberry, rhubarb)
• Granulated Sugar
• Gin (cheap brand such as supermarket own brand as these are not too flavoured)
• I used 400g (14 oz) fruit to 300g (10 oz) sugar in 750ml (25 US fl oz) of gin

Add them all to a Kilner Jar (or similar). You need to ensure the sugar dissolves so make sure you shake the jar throughout the first day, it dissolves pretty quickly. Then put it in a dark place for 4 weeks, I tend to shake the jar every other day to muddle the fruit. It’s tempting to eat the fruit afterwards, perhaps on ice-cream, however, I tried it and it was far too potent! So I ended up forcing it through a sieve to add more flavour to the gin. One last tip – don’t be tempted to do half a recipe like I did as it goes pretty fast.

Have fun making your fruit flavoured gins and as T Stands for Tuesday wishing you a Happy T Day too!

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all creating splatters and splodges (grin!).

I’m joining in the Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my background of splatters and splodges.

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

I’m joining in the Not A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my art journal page.

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

• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencils (Splattered CEMSSPLAT)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Festive Berries, Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry, Black Soot)
• Gummiapan Stamps (A lot of splats 11050106)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Nit Wit Collection Essentials Toppers (Strawberry Social NWCE-T-SSI)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Small Talk #TH93193)

Celebrate Friendship

Today my page celebrates one of my best friends who sadly passed away last weekend after battling cancer; it’s heart breaking, she was only in her forties and it seems so unfair that she left this world so early. She was a shining light of love, kindness, enthusiasm and positively, which I hoped to have captured on my page!

My friend loved colour so I painted the background using my Kuretake watercolour paint set to create a rainbow effect; by wetting the paper with water and then applying Lemon Yellow, Orange, Cadmium Scarlet, Red, Rose Madder, Colbalt Violet, Turquoise Blue, Ultramarine, Viridian, Sap Green Light and Yellow Ochre paint in stripes vertically on the page letting the paint blend together where they joined. When the paint was dry I used two Carabelle Studios Art Stamps to stamp the letters and also some thistle heads using black Versafine Ink. To finish, I added some appropriate wording which are Kaisercraft stickers; they read “love you”, “forever and always” and “The language of friendship is not in words but meanings by Henry David Thoreau” the latter being mounted onto some pink design paper.

It’s been an emotional week and my garden has helped by keeping me busy, here are my “pretties” (mesembryanthemums) that I grew from seed; I love their multi-coloured flowers which seem appropriate as they only open when the sun is shining!

I would also like to apologise to my blog friends for my lack of visits this past week, I look forward to catching up with you again soon. Thank you, Jo x

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all bright and colourful today.

I’m joining in the Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my watercolour background art journal page.

There is still a few more days to join the Colours of the Rainbow Challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too!

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

• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Lemon Yellow, Orange, Cadmium Scarlet, Red, Rose Madder, Colbalt Violet, Turquoise Blue, Ultramarine, Viridian, Sap Green Light, Yellow Ochre)
• Tsukineko Versafine Ink (Onyx Black)
• Carabelle Studio Art Stamp (Background avec des Lettres SA60233, Dans la nature, il ya … SA60175)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Book (Antiquities SK807)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Bright Colours CRO730/R)
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Happy 6th Anniversary

This page celebrates T Stands for Tuesday’s 6^th Anniversary, where our wonderful hosts Bleubeard and Elizabeth ask us to share a drink related post each week. It’s so much fun meeting up with the T Gang each Tuesday, thanks so much to everyone for making it such a friendly and happy place!

My page was also created to join in our Colours of the Rainbow challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too where you still have until next Tuesday to join in the fun, it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by covering the page with Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain and then stencilling multi-coloured teacups using Distress Ink and a handmade stencil that the lovely Eileen aka The Artful Crafter sent me last year – the design and detail of the teacup is amazing, thank you so much dear friend! The Distress Inks that I used were Festive Berries, Fossilized Amber, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mermaid Lagoon, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Seedless Preserves and Fired Brick. Next I used some Kaisercraft paper and stickers to add: some stripes of colourful patterned paper which I outlined with a black marker pen; die cut teacups using a die from Crafter’s Companion and my Big Shot machine, they are outlined with a black Faber-Castell marker and held in place with some little brads and I also numbered them 1-6, using Tim Holtz Label Letters, to depict each year of T stands for Tuesday 6^th Anniversary; the wording which reads “friends are the sunshine of life” as I am very blessed to have made such wonderful friends and also “These are T Days” which I cut to make the word “T Day” as it originally said “These are the days”. The black teapot, teacups and saucers are outline stickers which I coloured black using a Sharpie marker. To finish, I added some white hearts so they looked like steam floating up from the teacups; they are outline stickers which I outlined with a black marker pen so they stood out more.

My homemade raspberry gin is just the thing to celebrate the 6^th Anniversary at T Stands for Tuesday; our friends told us about making it, all you need to do is soak raspberries (or any fruit of you choice) with some sugar and gin in a Kilner Jar and place it in a dark place for 4 weeks (grin!). It tastes amazing, so delicious! I serve it with either fizzy lime/lemon or fizzy mango drink – yum! Wishing you all a Happy 6th Anniversary this T Day!

Challenges 

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all celebrating T Day’s 6^th Anniversary (grin!).

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Add A Number challenge with the numbers that I added to the teacups.

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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Cracked Pistachio)
• Teacup Stencil handmade by the lovely Eileen aka The Artful Crafter; you can see all the goodies that she sent me here – thanks very much, so kind!
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Festive Berries, Fossilized Amber, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mermaid Lagoon, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Seedless Preserves, Fired Brick)
• Kaisercraft Design Paper (Fiesta! Collection – Siesta P1859, Fly Free Collection – Confidante P1896)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS284)
• Handwriting Pen (Black)
• Crafter’s Companion Die Set (Vintage Tea Party – Toppling Teacups S-VTP-MD-TOPT)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Craft Sensations (Brads CRO550/A)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Label Letters #TH93072)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Alice in Wonderland ANT810116)
• Craftime Designer Vinyls (B/W Boy & Girl PBDV02)
• Pritt Stick
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Sun, Sand, Surf

We love living by the sea and feel very blessed that our house is only 2-3 minutes walk from the beach, so today’s page is inspired by the Sun, Sand and Surf (grin!).

I started by adding Pébéo modelling paste using a Fossil stencil and then to represent the colours of the sun, sand and sea, I applied Yellow, Fawn and Aquamarine Spectrum Aqua Markers by scribbling them onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block or dripping the ink onto the page. Then I fussy cut the compass, anchor and lighthouse from some design paper and glued them in place, like all of the paper elements, using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. Once dry I outlined them using black Derwent Graphik markers to add more definition and make them stand out from the background more. Next I die cut the letters using a Docrafts die set and my Big Shot machine using design paper by American Crafts and I outlined them using the same Derwent Graphik markers again. I also used the American Crafts Design Paper to frame the postage stamp which I choose as it matched the page colours beautifully; it’s from my hubby’s childhood postage stamp collection that he kindly gifted to me for my art journaling (grin!). I stamped some little bubbles from a stamp set by Paperbabe Stamps using Teal Zeal Memento Ink. To finish, I added some compass stickers and two strips of blue ribbon to the top and bottom of the page.

We often walk or take a tandem ride along the beach front; even in the height of summer on our particular beach, as you can see in the background, there is plenty of space for everyone (the tide often goes out 3km / 1.8miles) …

… and even when the tide is in the views are still stunning, I always pinch myself as I feel blessed to live in such a beautiful place (grin!).

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all going to the beach.

I’m joining the Summer Holidays challenge over at Moo Mania & More my beach art journal page.

I’m joining in the Life On The Ocean Waves challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my Sun, Sand, Surf page.

I’m pleased to be able to join Creative Artiste Challenge Blog for their #51 Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge with all the mixed media I used to create this art journal page.

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

• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• That’s Crafty! Dinky Stencil (Fossil)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Yellow, Fawn, Aquamarine)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Vintage Travels CRO378/18R)
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU03286)
• American Crafts Papers (DIY Shop 366665)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm & 0.1mm)
• Postage Stamp (St. Vincent 1975) from Hubby’s childhood collection
• Paperbabe Stamps stamp set (Oriental Zen)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Teal Zeal)
• Poundland Fun Stickers (Sailor SKU136785)
• Poundworld (Adhesive Ribbon U-80933)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Be the brightest colour

For the next two weeks, our new challenge at Try it on Tuesday is Colours of the Rainbow.

I had fun creating this colourful page as not only did I use a new set of acrylic paints, but the paint colours and stencils that I used were chosen by my hubby. As you can see he likes bold and bright contrasting colours and he chose birds, leaves, mosaic and brickwork stencils.

I started by adding the Cerulean Blue, Yellow Oxide, Primary Red and Light Green acrylic paints, that my hubby had chosen, using a dry brush technique where a clean dry brush is used to spread each of the colours; I did this so that the colours would not blend together as some of the colours chosen are on opposite sides of the colour wheel so if blended together they would produce a brown or grey so I didn’t want them to blend by adding water. Then I applied the same paints again using a sponge through the four stencils that my hubby had chosen: Cerulean Blue through a birds stencil; Yellow Oxide through a mosaic stencil; Primary Red through a brick stencil and finally Light Green through a leaf stencil. Next I stamped some postage marks from Prima Marketing and some numbers from Inkidinkado using black Archival Ink. To add some depth and contrast I applied some white acrylic paint to the page with my finger and when dry, I stamped more of the postage marks and numbers over the top. The flowers are stamped onto a dictionary page using some Hampton Art stamps sets and black Archival Ink, fussy cut and stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. I added the stems to the flowers using a Hampton Art Border stamp set and the black Archival Ink again. The wording is from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet finishes the page and reads “Be the brightest colour in the box”; I thought it linked well to my new set of paints.

There are some amazing creations from my Design Teamies too, please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to check them out. We would love to see your rainbow colour creations of the next two weeks, it would be lovely to see you there!

Here’s my new paint set, there are 36 colours to use so I’m sure I’ll be using them again soon (grin!).

As T Stands for T Day, I’m sharing these colourful teapots from the Blackbird Café which you may remember from a previous post – Happy T day!

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all colourful with my new set of paints.

I’m pleased to be able to join Creative Artiste Challenge Blog for their #51 Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge with all the mixed media I used to create this art journal page.

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

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Colour (Cerulean Blue, Yellow Oxide, Primary Red, Light Green)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Tim Holtz Collection Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Mosaic #THS084)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Take a leaf)
• Prima Marketing Clear Stamps (Rossi Belle #587499)
• Inkadinkado Cling Stamps (Typographic 65-32008)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Hampton Art Bella Blvd cling mounted rubber stamps (Sand & Surf ICO226)
• Hampton Art Doodlebug Designs Inc. cling mounted rubber stamps (Thankful ICO162, Borders ICO160)
• Dictionary pages
• Kaisercraft Sticker Set (Fiesta! SS284)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Precious Metal at A Vintage Journey

Our new challenge over at A Vintage Journey being hosted by Amanda is Precious Metal who has kindly provided the following description:

“For this challenge we would like to see some kind of precious metal feature in your project. Think gold, silver, brass, copper, aluminium, steel….. It could be in the form of embellishments, cardstock, paint, gilding wax, foil, gold leaf or rub ons. Just remember to ensure that you create in one of our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.”

For Amanda’s wonderful Precious Metal challenge I created an art journal page using copper and silver embossing powders. I had lots of fun heat embossing them onto stencilled modelling paste, stamped letters, chipboard pieces and a die cut butterfly – I hope you like it!

I started by stencilling modelling paste using a Specimens stencil and then covered it with copper and silver embossing powder, heating it with a heat gun until it became glossy and 3D. To create more of a grungy look I lightly dragged a Watermark stamp pad over the page and then I covered it using the copper and silver embossing powders heating the powder with my heat gun again. Then to colour the background I applied Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain and also Forest Moss and Twisted Citron Distress Ink which I diluted with water by stamping the ink pad on a blending mat, applying water and applying it to the page using a paint brush.

Next I applied some rub-on transfers to the page so that the images were broken to look like thoughts swirling around the page; they are Special Delivery transfers from Tim Holtz. I stamped some letters from a Tim Holtz stamp set onto tissue paper using black Archival Ink and heat embossed it with copper embossing powder. I cut the letters out and stuck them onto the page using gel medium and then splattered the page using black and white acrylic paint.

I used the copper and silver embossing powder again to edge the wording “Thoughts and Theories” which is a Chip Quote from Tim Holtz, to cover some wooden circular chipboard pieces and also to add silver to a die cut butterfly from the Tim Holtz Botanical collection.

The chipboard pieces are stuck to the page using Ranger Glossy Accents and to finish I stuck the butterfly in place using double-sided tape to stick down the centre and then double-sided foam tape to elevate its wings.

My art journal page reminds me of one of the signs that hangs in my craft room. There are lots of similarities to my page with the green colour palette, circular swirls, similar meaning of the words and pretty copper bell; it’s also made of metal and is very precious to me as I bought it for my craft room when we visited our dear friends in Maine, America last year (grin!).

For more inspiration, please pop over to see the amazing creations from my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey too, it would be lovely to see you there!

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all art journaling.

I’m joining in the Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge too.

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

• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• TCW 6×6” Stencil (Mini Specimens TCW4545)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Copper, Silver)
• Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Cracked Pistachio)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Forest Moss, Twisted Citron)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Special Delivery #TH93188)
• Leftover Letraset Rub-ons
• White Tissue Paper
• Tim Holtz Collection Stampers Anonymous (Documented CMS226)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Boozybear Chipboard pieces
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Quote Chips #TH93563)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Layers (Botancial #TH93554)
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape