Monthly Archives: May 2020

Guest Designer at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog

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Hello Everyone, I’m so pleased and honoured to be Guest Designer today for the Tickled Pink challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog.

The challenge is being hosted by Maggi who wants you to be “Tickled Pink!” and asks you to “design a vintage or shabby chic project using the color pink. You may use other colors as accents, but, pink must be predominant. There are many shades of pink ranging from fuschia to soft baby pink so let your pink imagination go wild!”.

I had fun creating a page for this challenge as pink isn’t a colour I use that much. I took inspiration from the beautiful pink peonies that are currently flowering in my garden – I hope you like it!

The background is a collage of torn pieces of: a dictionary page detailing the word “peony”; old sheet music; recycled white tissue paper that I scrunched up and stained with pink ink; and three peonies from some Botanicals Collage Paper by Tim Holtz.

I coloured the three peonies pink using a mixture of Festive Berries Distress Ink and White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray by mixing the inks together and painting the colour onto the reverse of the Collage Paper.

I can’t take credit for the beautiful pink and peach colouration though, as the ink colours separated when the ink re-activated with the glue that was used to stick them in place (grin!). It was a lovely surprise and looks so pretty.

Next I applied some Specimen rub-on transfers from Tim Holtz over the background and then I splattered the page with black and white acrylic paints.

Then I added more Tim Holtz products; the die cut flowers are from a Field Note Ephemera Set and I created some shadows around their edges so that they stood out more by applying and smudging some of the Black Faber-Castell marker with my finger before sticking them down; I chose the “28”, “5” and “20” Countdown Brads to depict today’s date 28th May 2020; and the wording “Beautiful Moments” is a Quote Chip which finished the page.

Here are the beautiful peonies that have been flowering in our garden as you can see they are quite a vibrant pink rather than the pale pink that I decided to use on my page.

They have such large flower heads and look so rich and vibrant (grin!).

Thanks so much to The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog  for having me as Guest Designer! I hope that you are inspired by the Tickled Pink challenge too and are able to join in the fun!

Stay safe and keep well! x

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

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like it The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog , 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 Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month my peony page.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

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

Heuchera

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At Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Cut It Out.

Like me, you could use die cuts that you make and colour yourself or pre-made die cuts and stickers or you could simply fussy cut something out, the choice is yours!

My page today was inspired by some beautiful heuchera flowers that are flowering in my garden at the moment (grin!).

I started covering the page with Botancial Collage Paper from Tim Holtz using a glue stick and then I covered it with white gesso to push the images back. When dry, I applied some Earl Grey, Caramel, Kiwi and Lime Faber-Castell Gelatos over the top, by scribbling them onto the page and smudging the colour with a wet finger. I then toned down the colours and added some darker shading by applying some Iced Coffee and Iced Chai Faber-Castell Gelatos to the page. Next I added some Ranger Texture Paste through a brick design stencil from Craft Sensations and left it to dry. The brick design is coloured using Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and the Iced Coffee Faber-Castell Gelato. I stencilled a trellis pattern using Black Soot Distress Ink and a Moroccan stencil from Creative Expressions, then I used a baby wipe to remove some of the colour allowing white patches of the collage paper to show through which added depth and contrast to the background. The page is also splattered with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and then black and also white acrylic paint.

I used a Wildflower #2 Tim Holtz thinlet set to die cut the flowers from some linen textured cardstock and coloured the flower petals by painting on some Abandoned Coral Distress Spray Stain using a paintbrush. The leaves and stems are coloured using Olive Green and Forest Green Winsor & Newton Promarkers and they are stuck to the page using a Zig Memory glue pen. To finish, I added a pretty die cut butterfly from a Field Notes Ephemera Pack by Tim Holtz and the “Heuchera” wording which are letter stickers from Kaisercraft.

My Design Teamies have been busy fussy cutting and die cutting to create some amazing Cut It Out inspiration for you over at Try it on Tuesday too, so please pop over and take a look.

Here are the heuchera flowers that are in bloom in our flower bed, they are so delicate with tiny flower heads.

They look very striking with their coral colour especially when they catch the sunlight!

These plants come in all sorts of leaf and flowers colours, to find out more about them check out this Heuchera link.

You may already be aware that I have been completing a series of flower art journal pages inspired by my garden. If you are interested you can see the other pages here:

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing a new batch of Raspberry Gin that we made, it tastes so fruity and is ideal for drinking whist sitting in the garden on a hot sunny day – Happy T Day!

You can find the Raspberry Gin recipe here and I think Halle asked about the amount of sugar added – this is just for taste so you can add as much or as little as you like (grin!).

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

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:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month with my Heuchera flowered page.

I’m so happy to be able to join the #119 – Picture Inpiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the pretty flowers on my page. Thanks so much for my win too, how exciting!

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

  • Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Botanical #TH93705)
  • Pritt Stick
  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Faber-Castell Gelatos (Earl grey, Caramel, Kiwi, Lime, Iced Coffee, Iced Chai)
  • Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
  • Ranger Texture Paste
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge, Black Soot)
  • Creative Expressions That Special Touch Of Mica Mask (Moroccan)
  • DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
  • Art Discount Acrylic (White)
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Wildflowers #2 661808)
  • Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CRO240/GE)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain (Abandoned Coral)
  • Winsor & Newton Promarker (Olive Greeb Y724, Forest Green G356)
  • Zig Memory System 2-way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
  • Tim Holtz idea-ology Ephemera Pack (Field Notes #TH94051)
  • Stix2 Glue Dots
  • Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Mix & Match – Alpha SS252)

Welsh Poppy

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Today I have another page celebrating the flowers found in my garden. This time we have the Welsh poppy which are flowering so beautifully at the moment (grin!).

I started by stamping the poppy heads from a Tim Holtz Flower Garden stamp set using black Versafine Ink. Then I added some white gesso to the background using a palette knife, leaving the gesso thick in places; I left it to dry overnight. Next I painted Sap Green, Hooker’s Green and Burnt Sienna Kuretake watercolour paints over the background by applying water to the page first and then painting on the colours and letting them blend together. I added more detail to the background including: the numbers using a stencil from Craft Sensations and Black Soot Distress Ink; the text which was stamped using a Script stamp from Kaisercraft and the same Black Soot ink; and also a Solar & Lunar stamp from Finnabair using Cottage Ivy Memento Ink.

The poppy heads are coloured and shaded using Yellow and Gold Spectrum Aqua markers and also Canary, Honeycomb and Lime Green Winsor & Newton Promarkers. Then I stamped the stems and leaves using the same Flower Garden stamp set and black Archival Ink. They are shaded using Olive Green and Forest Green Winsor & Newton Promarkers.

I added some Mini Squares using a stencil from Creative Expressions and some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. The “Welsh Poppy” wording was created using letter stickers from Kaisercraft and the huge bee was from a Field Notes Ephemera Pack by Tim Holtz which finished the page.

If you are interested you can see the other pages that were inspired by two of my spring flowering plants in my garden here:

Like my page there are two shades of Welsh poppies in our garden, here are the golden orange ones …

… and these are the yellow ones, aren’t they beautiful (grin!).

Hoping that you are staying safe and well! x

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 Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month with my Welsh Poppy page.

I’m so happy to be able to join the #119 – Picture Inpiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the green and yellow colour palette, poppy flowers and Mini Squares scattering the background. Thanks so much for my win too, how exciting!

I’m joining in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their We’re All A-Buzz challenge as I added a huge bee on my page.

I’m also joining the Oh, Man! challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the masculine styled background of my page.

Don’t forget that you still have time to join our Beautiful Blooms Challenge this month over at A Vintage Journey; my art journal page would be perfect for this challenge and I hope you will join in the fun too – it would be lovely to see you there!

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

  • Tim Holtz Collection Sampers Anonymous (Flower Garden CMS215)
  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Sap Green No:53, Hokker’s Green No:52, Burnt Sienna No:46)
  • Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Art 154892)
  • Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Script CS752)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot, Rusty Hinge)
  • Prima Marketing Finnabair Clear Stamp (Solar & Lunar 966997)
  • Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
  • Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Yellow, Gold)
  • Winsor & Newton Promarker (Canary Y367, Honeycomb C547, Lime Green G178, Olive Green Y724, Forest Green G356)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Creative Expressions Mini Stencils (Mini Squares CEMSSQUARE)
  • Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Mix & Match – Alpha SS252)
  • Tim Holtz idea-ology Ephemera Pack (Field Notes #TH94051)
  • Stix2 Glue Dots

Ceylon Tea

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We bought some new Ceylon Tea recently so I thought I’d have some fun and create an art journal page with the packaging that was sitting on my craft desk (grin!).

I started by mixing some yellow, red and black acrylic paints to create a medium tea colour and then applied it to the page using an old gift card. I used a wet paintbrush to move the colour around to cover the page giving it a grungy look. On the lighter painted areas of the page, I stamped a crackle effect using a BoBunny stamp and Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Next I added some black flowers, oriental shapes and leaves which are rub-on transfers from Kaisercraft. I die cut the tea packaging using circular, square and flower shape doily die cuts and then I arranged them onto the page using double-sided foam tape and a glue stick. I stencilled a criss-cross lattice pattern using Ranger Texture Paste and then I splattered the page with white and also black acrylic paint. When dry, I coloured the criss-cross shapes with a white Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which finished the page. 

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m having a cup of Ceylon Tea today and joining the T Gang – Happy T Day everyone!

Ceylon tea is a popular type of black tea that is also known as Sri Lankan tea as it is produced on the island of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon. This particular blend is rich amber in colour and has a zesty aroma with a fresh and bold flavour which makes it a refreshing and energising cuppa any time of the day. It’s suggested to have the following health benefits too:

  • Weight loss by increasing your metabolism, which may help increase energy and help your body burn fat.
  • Boosting your immune system being rich in antioxidants, which may increase white blood cells, boost the immune system, and help the body fight disease-causing viruses and harmful bacteria.
  • Ceylon tea contains potassium which relaxes the tension in your blood vessels and arteries.
  • Reducing blood glucose levels which may help prevent the spikes and drops that can be dangerous for people with diabetes.
  • Skin elasticity as some of the antioxidants in Ceylon tea are linked to reducing collagen loss in the skin.

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

Hoping that you’re all stay safe and well! x

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month with flowers I included on this page.

I’m pleased to join in the Tea Party challenge over at Country View Challenges with my Ceylon Tea art journal page.

I’m joining in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their We’re All A Buzz challenge with my Ceylon Tea page as this tea energises you, giving you a buzz (grin!).

Don’t forget that you still have time to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog too, it would be lovely to see you there!

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

  • Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Red Medium Hue, Cadmium Yellow Medium)
  • DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
  • BoBunny Stamp (Rough It Up Item# 12105155)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
  • Kaisercraft Rub-ons (Lush Collection – Black & White RB867)
  • Tea box packaging
  • The Works Cutting Dies (Circles 211766, Squares 211759, Circular Doily 251335)
  • X-Press It! double-sided foam tape
  • Pritt Stick
  • Art Discount Acrylic (White)
  • Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
  • Ranger Texture Paste
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (White 101)

Colour me beautiful

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Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Lovely Ladies.

We are asking that your page is not just feminine but also features a female image too. I used stamps to add the female images to the background of my page and fussy cut some old magazine images for the two lovely ladies – don’t you just love that hat!

For the background, I applied Antique Linen Distress Ink and Angel Pink Memento Ink to the page by applying the ink pads directly to the paper and pulling them vertically down the page to create stripes. Then I used a wet paintbrush to soften and blend the inks a little. Once dry, I stamped the cameos, perfume bottles and filigree over the background with a Kaisercraft stamp set using black Archival Ink. Next I applied some white gesso using my finger over some of the stamped images to push them back and add some depth to the design. My two lovely ladies and wording were fussy cut from some old magazines and stuck in place using a glue stick. I edged the wording with some black Glitterations border stickers and then stuck some striped black and white ribbon under the images. To finish, I added two large clear gemstones to the ends of the ribbon and three pretty pink acrylic daisy flowers.

I hope that you are inspired to join us too, for more inspiration my Design Teamies have created some Lovely Ladies creations for you over at Try it on Tuesday, so please pop over and take a look (grin!).

I’m also pleased to join the lovely Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month with pink flowers on this page.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I think the glamorous ladies on my page might enjoy a Poinsettia which is a cocktail made from Cranberry Juice, Orange Liqueur and Prosecco. Here we are serving them in a posh champagne glass – cheers and Happy T Day!

Hoping that you all stay safe and well! x

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 Ink (Antique Linen)
  • Tsukineko Memento Ink (Angel Pink)
  • Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (75 Cents CS864)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Old Magazines
  • Pritt Stick
  • Docrafts Papermania Glitterations (Black Borders ANT8181015)
  • Craft Sensations (Self-Adhesive Deco Ribbons CRO244/16R)
  • Poundworld DecoTime Scrapbook Accessories (Gems Art#54745)
  • Stix2 Glue Dots
  • Home Bargains Crafty Things (Acrylic Daisy Stickers 50650)

Friends touch your heart

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Catching up with friends is always fun and I’ve been finding myself spending a lot more time chatting to friends since the lockdown.

I’m very grateful for all my friends including those here in Blogland, so with this in mind I created this page – stay safe and keep well everyone!

I started by using a button embossing folder and my Sizzix Bigshot to add buttons to some white cardstock. Then I used my new set of Faber-Castell Soft Pastels to add the Violet and Rose Carmine colours; I did this by rubbing each pastel lightly across the top of the embossed surface, rubbing lightly with my finger and then spritzing lightly with water. When dry I cut the button cardstock and also some flowery design paper from Create & Craft into squares, then I stuck them both onto the page using a glue stick to create a patchwork background. Next I added a pretty card topper which is from the same Create & Craft set and the wording which is a sticker from Kaisercraft; it reads “A friend reaches for your hand and touches your heart”. To finish, I added some flowers and leaves from Little Birdie using Ranger Glossy Accents.

Here is my new box of pastels and you may have noticed that they are sat on the white cardstock that I embossed with the buttons before it was coloured (grin!). I can’t wait to use them again so if you have any suggestions for techniques using soft pastels please let me know in the comments below – thanks!

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

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 Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month with the flowers on my page.

I’m joining the Sew Sweet challenge over at the Frilly & Funkie Challenge Blog with the button embossed cardstock, patchwork background and dress.

I’m also happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my tulip page.

Don’t forget that you still have time to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge over at Creative Artiste, it would be lovely to see you there! Creative Artiste Challenge Blog.

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

  • White Cardstock
  • Darice Embossing Essentials (Buttons Assorted Embossing Folder)
  • Faber-Castell Mini Soft Pastels (12 82 24 – Violet 138, Rose Carmine 124)
  • Create & Craft (Birthday Celebrations Background Paper and Topper)
  • Pritt Stick
  • Stix2 Double-Sided Tape
  • Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Cherry Tree Lane SS329)
  • Little Birdie Flowers (SKU 213719)
  • Ranger Glossy Accents

Unbirthday Tea Party

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I thought I’d have some fun creating an Alice in Wonderland page to celebrate our three hundred and sixty four unbirthdays – a very merry unbirthday to you!

I started by ripping an Alice in Wonderland Paper Tissue into pieces and then sticking the different characters and flowers onto the page using a glue stick and some Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry, I added the club, spade, heart and diamond playing card images using a stamp set from Studio G and black Archival Ink. Next I added the wording which reads “A very merry unbirthday … with another cup of tea” and is taken from the song in the Disney animation of “Alice in Wonderland”. The letters are from Docrafts and once arranged I covered them with some Liquitex matte gel medium to hold them securely in place. To finish, I added some gold glitter enamel dots.

This song always makes me smile, here are some of the lyrics too:

A very merry unbirthday
To me … To who? … To me … Oh you!
A very merry unbirthday to you
Who me? … Yes, you! … Oh, me!
Let’s all congratulate us with another cup of tea
A very merry unbirthday to you!    

As we are having an unbirthday tea party today, I baked a Victoria Sponge and filled it with homemade Bramble Jelly and lightly whipped cream to celebrate – yum (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m also sharing my post with the T Gang (did you notice the Mad Hatter on my page is holding a teacup) and wishing you all a Very Merry Unbirthday T Day; don’t forget to help yourself to a slice of cake (double grin!).

Hoping that you all stay safe and well! x

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 Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month with the flowers on my page.

I’m pleased to join in the Tea Party challenge over at Country View Challenges with Unbirthday Tea Party page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my unbirthday page.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

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

  • Caspari Paper Pocket Tissues (Alice in wonderland in a winter garden)
  • Pritt Stick
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Studio G Clear Stamps (VS4911 Series 11)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Docrafts A4 Ultimate Die-Cut & paper Pack (Folk Christmas PMA160933)
  • Dovecraft Premium (Festive Wonder Glitter Enamel Dots DCDOT036X18)

Tulips

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It’s a new month so we are launching our May challenge over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, and as always the theme is:

Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I was inspired by the beautiful tulips in my garden and had fun playing around with mixed media to create this Tulip art journal page. I hope you’ll join in the fun too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by ripping and fussy cutting a tulip napkin and then I stuck the pieces into place using a glue stick. I painted around the napkin pieces with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and while the paint was still wet I added some Vivid Green Liquitex acrylic paint using a palette knife so it matched the napkin background. When the paint was dry, I stamped a Script stamp from Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink and also a crackle texture stamp from BoBunny using Pistachio Memento Ink over the painted areas.

Then I added some Ranger Texture Paste using a heart stencil that I created with a Falling Hearts Thinlet set from Tim Holtz and when dry, the hearts were coloured using Red Violet, Crimson and Magenta Spectrum Aqua markers. Next I added the “Tulips” wording using letter stickers from Kaisercraft and also a pretty blue butterfly from an Ephemera Pack by Tim Holtz.

To finish, I added some shadow to the tulips with a Charcoal grey Derwent Inktense pencil and then emphasised the tulip petals using a black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball gel pen.

I hope that you are inspired to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge! For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too.

This year the tulips in our garden have been beautiful.

I love all the colours and structure that they have added to our flower border.

We plan to add more tulip bulbs every year; we planted these striped tulips a few years ago …

… and these gorgeous purple tulips are the ones that we planted in November last year (grin!).

Hoping that you all stay safe and keep well! x

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 Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month with the Interlocking Circles on this page.

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

I’m also happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my tulip page.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

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

  • Tulip Napkin
  • Pritt Stick
  • Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
  • Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green)
  • Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Script CS752)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • BoBunny Stamp (Rough It Up 12105155)
  • Tsukineko Memento Ink (Pistachio)
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Falling Hearts 664415)
  • Ranger Texture paste
  • Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Red Violet, Crimson, Magenta)
  • Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Mix & Match – Alpha SS252)
  • Tim Holtz idea-ology Ephemera Pack (Field Notes #TH94051)
  • Stix2 Glue Dots
  • Derwent Inktense Pencil (Charcoal Grey 2100)
  • Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.2mm)
  • Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)