Steam Locomotive

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing this Steam Locomotive journal page for this month’s Vehicles challenge.

I created this page using a steam locomotive image from a Voyages Fantastiques pad by Stamperia; as the image didn’t quite fit the page, I added some paper remnants to the edges and then extended the horizontal lines using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker. Next, I had lots of fun colouring the steam train, (like watercolour), using Peeled Patina, Vintage Photo, Weathered Wood and Hickory Smoke Distress Inks and to finish, a gold and a white Uni Ball gel pen. As I was colouring the steam at the top of the page, I extended the design onto the additional paper, using the Distress Inks and a black Faber-Castell fine line marker. I also coloured the sleepers and the foreground using Ground Espresso Distress Ink. To finish, I fussy cut the clock and the wording from the same Voyages Fantastiques pad by Stamperia, added them to the page and edged them using a black marker; the wording reads “There is nothing like a dream to create the future”.

I hope you are inspired to join our Vehicles challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts.

Today I have a special treat courtesy of my dear friend, K, who is an exceptional photographer. She kindly sent me photos of probably the most famous steam locomotive, The Flying Scotsman, which she captured here appearing through the steam; isn’t it a stunning photo!

The Flying Scotsman still makes an appearance throughout the UK, and happens to be 100 years old this year – how amazing (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

LTSCB#74 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my Steam Locomotive page.

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Time Machine

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing my second art journal page for this month’s Time challenge.

For my Time Machine page, I started by covering the background with some design papers; the border on the left-hand side and clock panel on the right were from a Voyages Fantastique Paper Pad by Stamperia. The clock panel was ripped and then edged, like all the paper pieces, using Ground Espresso Distress Ink. I fussy cut the “Time Machine” image and clocks from the same Stamperia Pad and used some leftover Pocket Card pieces by Tim Holtz for the numbers and background ledger. They were arranged onto the page with a tag which I created using a Tag Collection Sizzix Framelits set by Tim Holtz. The tag was coloured using Ground Espresso, Tea Dye and Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink; I did this by applying the ink to an acrylic block, spritzing with water and then pressing the block onto the tag. I added a gold brad to the tag and some gold highlights using a gel pen and to finish, I applied some Ranger Glossy Accents around the brad and to the clogs and edges of the clock faces.

I hope you are inspired to join our Time challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts.

Here are the papers that I collaged together to create this page. I hope you will join us too, it would be lovely to see you there (smile!).

Stay safe and well and thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

MIUCB #63 – Anything Goes + optional no stamping over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my Time Machine page which was created with no stamping.

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

Today I’m sharing another page over at Art Journal Journey for the challenge theme Snowy Winter; like me all you need to do is add snowflakes or include snow to your page.

I started by covering the chipboard page with a used baby wipe that was stained blue using mop-up inks from previous projects; like all the paper elements it was stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. The blue snowflakes were created from blue tissue paper using a Paper Snowflakes Mini Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz; they melted into the background beautifully. The deer was cut from some white cardstock using a Reindeer Bigz Die by Tim Holtz; it and was coloured using Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy and Vintage Photo Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Pitt Pen. When stuck in place I added his nose which was a red mini pom-pom. I added some glittery foam snowflake stickers and some white glittery stars which were created using a Snowy Stars Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and covered in Clear Sparkle Embossing Powder Glitter by Wow!. To finish, I added the “up in the clear sky” wording which was from a Tim Holtz Christmas Sticker Book.

I hope that you are inspired to join in the fun this month too! I’m really looking forward to visiting you and seeing all your wonderful Snowy Winter creations (smile!).

As T Stands for Tuesday and to continue the Rudolph theme, I thought I’d share this fun mug that we saw whilst out shopping – Happy T Day everyone!

Hoping that you’re all staying safe and sending you best wishes this holiday season! Hugs Jo x

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

Challenges

As well as Art Journal Journey, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Challenge #65 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog with my Rudolph Reindeer page.

Christmas Reindeer

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays!

I am so delighted to be hosting Art Journal Journey this month and the challenge theme that I have chosen is Snowy Winter; like me all you need to do is add snowflakes or snow to your page.

For my Christmas Reindeer page, I started by stamping lots of snowflakes onto some cream paper by Docrafts using Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink and I arranged it so it covered the right-hand side and left-hand side of the page. For the reindeer panel, I tore the edges of a piece of the Docrafts paper and used a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker and some Vintage Photo Distress Ink to colour the edges. I stuck this paper onto a piece of white cardstock and adhered the reindeer and sleigh ephemera along with some gold snowflake outline stickers, a gold “Merry Christmas” foam sticker and the “dashing through the snow” and “let it snow” wording which were from a Christmas Sticker Book by Tim Holtz. Then to finish, I stuck the panel onto the page framing it with two gold filigree border outline stickers.

I hope that you are inspired to join in the fun this month too! I’m really looking forward to visiting you and seeing all your wonderful Snowy Winter creations (smile!).

This reindeer reminds me of Sven from the animated feature film Frozen, who is very lovable (smile!). If you haven’t seen the film here are some of Sven’s best moments from Frozen and Frozen II.

Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well this Christmastime – enjoy! Hugs Jo x

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

Challenges

As well as Art Journal Journey, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #30 and their Christmas Anything Goes Challenge as my gold and neutral page matches their photo inspiration and celebrates Christmas.

December Anything Goes Winter Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge with my winter reindeer page.

Challenge #65 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog with my reindeer page.

Gnome for Christmas

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Gnome Home For The Holidays.

I had so much fun creating this colourful Christmas Gnome page, I hope you like it too (smile!).

I started by drawing the top of the toadstool onto to some red and white dot Christmas paper and cutting it out. Then I created the fronds and bottom of the toadstool out of white cardstock, which I coloured in a Brown Grey TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker and a black UniPen fine line marker. I also drew the door, fussy cut it out and coloured it using a Dark Brown Blend TriBlend marker and a black UniPen marker to create the wood effect and a Gold Spectrum Aqua Marker for the door handle. For the snow on the toadstool roof and in the foreground, I cut the shapes from some white cardstock and then I added some detail using a Ice Grey Blend TriBlend marker. I covered the chipboard page using some blue snowflake cardstock before sticking everything in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. The glittery Christmas trees on the right-hand and left-hand side of the page were layered together from a sticker pack. I stamped the cute Gnome using a Woodware Crafts stamp set and I coloured him using Alpine Green Blend, Dark Red Blend, Ice Grey Blend, Brown Grey Blend and Pale Pink Blend TriBlend markers and a also Yellow marker for the pom pom on his hat. To finish, I added the “Merry Christmas” wording which I framed with two gold coloured star gems.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing projects from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

I love Christmas and saw these cute gnomes whilst visiting a garden centre with family last week, they reminded me of my page.

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which I’m having fun hosting this month; I chose the challenge theme Snowy Winter so like me all you need to do is add snowflakes and/or snow on your pages. I hope to see you there!

Paperbabe Stamps and their #182 – Anything Goes challenge with my Gnome page.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #29 where Anything Christmas Goes with my Gnome for Christmas page.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes challenge with my fun Gnome for Christmas page.

Hello Winter

It’s a new month so we are launching our December challenge today over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, and as always the theme is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

Whilst tidying up, I found this adorable robin image that I had saved from an old calendar and just couldn’t resist creating a page with it straight away; I even abandoned another page that I was creating, oh and also the tidying up (grin!).

I started by covering the background using white acrylic and Speckled Egg Distress Paint. Then I die cut lots of holly and fir branches using a Holiday Greens Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some green coloured cardstock; I added more colour to them using a Dark Green Blend TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker. The cones were die cut using a Funky Festive Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some brown Kraft cardstock – Classic by Tim Holtz. The holly berries were die cut using an old Festive Holly set and the wording using a Sizzix Doodle Alphabet and Letters set; they were all cut from orange paper which I later coloured using Orange and Sunflower Spectrum Aqua markers. I fussy cut the robin and stuck him in place, then I die cut the snowflakes from the remaining calendar paper. All of the foliage and snowflake pieces were arranged onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium and to finish, I splattered the whole page using white acrylic paint.

I love robins and have quite a few beautiful metal robins in my garden; one Christmas my dearest friend in America bought us this pretty red robin sitting in a heart – isn’t it delightful (smile!).

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well, and wishing you a Happy December!

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

Challenges

As well as Creative Artiste , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey and the Snowy Winter challenge that I’m hosting this month as their are snowflakes on my wintery scene.

LTSCB #158 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Hello Winter page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #182 – Anything Goes challenge with my winter page.

December Anything Goes Winter Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge with my Hello Winter page.

Challenge #64 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog with my Winter page.

Be Thankful

Today I’m sharing a thankful journal page and wishing all of you that are celebrating this week – a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I started by covering the chipboard page with some scraps of neutral coloured papers; I cut the papers into triangles before collaging them onto the page and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top using my finger. I added the framed wording “when I count my blessings I count you twice” which was a sticker from Kaisercraft and the “Be thankful” wording which was washi tape. Next I added two flowers from a Tim Holtz Ephemera pack and two die cut autumnal leaves that were coloured using Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. To finish, I added two little chipboard owls.

For our wedding anniversary last month, we went to a new local Chinese restaurant called “Blessings House” and had the most amazing time (smile!).

The beautiful picture on the wall is cross stitch and was sewn by one of the restaurant’s family – it was very detailed and must have taken ages to create!

We had the lunch buffet with starters and soup; our choices were Sweetcorn and Crabmeat soup and one of each of the starters which were Curry Samosas, Spring Rolls, Salt and Pepper Chicken, Spare Ribs, Chicken Satay, Prawn Toast and Seaweed.

We shared our mains of Chicken in Satay Sauce, Sweet and Sour Pork and Chicken with Mushrooms – it was all so yummy and very filling!

I forgot to take photos of our drinks at the restaurant, so as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a couple of pints that we enjoyed at the pub around the corner on our way home (smile!) – Happy T Day everyone!

I hope you’re all 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 following challenges:

The lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from https://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/ who is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Collage Fodder, Food & Drink or Both so I’m joining her with my collage fodder page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #181 – Anything Goes challenge with my thankful page.

LTSCB#158 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Be Thankful page; I used lots of scraps to create this one.

November Anything Goes Fall Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge with my autumnal thankful page.

Merry Moose Wonderland

I’m so delighted to be hosting this month’s challenge over at Sparkles Monthly Challenges choosing #158 – Die Cuts and/or Punches as my theme.

I love nothing better than using die cuts for my papercraft projects and I used quite a few die cuts for this page including one of my favourites – the Merry Moose Sizzix Thinlits by Tim Holtz.

It looks like Merry Moose is looking forward to Christmas this year while walking through a winter wonderland; I hope you’ll join in the fun too, it would be lovely to see you there (smile!).

I started by covering the chipboard page with a layer of Speckled Egg Distress Paint and left it to dry. Then I used lots of Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits to create the scene; this included a Branched Birch Thinlits Set which was cut from some white linen cardstock, a Woodlands Thinlits set for the fir trees cut from some green foil corrugated cardstock, a Merry Moose Thinlits set from some cream linen cardstock and a Winter Wardrobe Thinlits set for his bow from white linen cardstock. I layered the trees together using double-sided tape and I cut out the snowy foreground from some of the white linen cardstock. The Merry Moose was coloured using Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso and Antique Linen Distress Ink and his bow using a Dark Red Blend TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker. The two little robins, flying across the page, were stamped using a Picket Fence Studios stamp set and black Archival Ink; they were coloured using a Earth Brown Blend and the Dark Red Blend TriBlend Spectrum Noir markers and then fussy cut out. To finish, I added the “walking in a winter wonderland” wording which was a die cut sticker from a Christmas Sticker Book by Tim Holtz.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenges, and for more inspiration please check out the amazing Die Cuts and/or Punches projects from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

Here are all the Thinlits sets I used to create my Merry Moose Wonderland page.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a couple of pints of Dark Side of the Moose beer; it’s from Purple Moose brewery in Porthmadog, Wales and we enjoyed it last week at one of our local pubs – Cheers and Happy T Day everyone!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #180 – Anything Goes challenge with my Merry Moose page.

MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes over at Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog with my Merry Moose Wonderland page.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #27 where Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas Merry Moose page.

Winter Village

Today I’m sharing a page that I created with two beautiful stamps, one of the Winter Village scene and the other of Santa’s sleigh, that I won over at Stamped Smiles. I was so thrilled to win and receive this special gift, especially as Vicki kindly sent them to me all the way from America – thank you so much!

I started by using an Airbrush Pen Set to spray purple, green, magenta and black felt tip pens onto a piece of mixed media paper. When fully dry, I ripped the mixed media paper into pieces and collaged the darker pieces onto the top of a chipboard page using a glue stick; creating the night sky. I coloured the white torn edges of the paper using the Airbrush Pen Set and then covered them with some Black Mirage Cosmic Shimmer Brilliant Sparkle Embossing Powder. I collaged the lighter coloured paper pieces to create the foreground stamping the houses and trees over the top using the Winter Village stamp, VersaMark Watermark ink pad and some Detailed White Stampendous embossing powder.

I stamped Santa’s sleigh using the VersaMark Ink Pad and the white Stampendous embossing powder. To finish, I added a small dot of Red Ranger Stickles to Rudolph the reindeer which gave him a very shiny nose (smile!).

Here are the stamps that Vicki kindly sent me along with a very pretty card; the Winter Village stamp is gorgeous and goes so beautifully with the surprise Santa’s sleigh stamp – thanks so much! They were both such fun to use and I’m sure I’ll be using them again soon.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

The lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from https://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/ who is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Collage Fodder, Food & Drink or Both so I’m joining her with my collaged page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #180 – Anything Goes challenge with my Winter Village page.

MIUCB #61 – Anything Goes + Optional Open Technique over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my Christmassy page using a collage technique.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes challenge with my Winter Village Santa page.

Mischievous Cats

Today I’m sharing my fourth page using a napkin from the napkin swap over at T Stands for Tuesday. I used a pretty scalloped edge napkin full of autumnal colours and I decided to pair it with some Mischievous cats from Tim Holtz; I hope you like it (smile!).

I started by cutting the round napkin into quarters and tearing some of the napkin to create individual flowers, and then I collaged all the napkin pieces onto the page using a glue stick. The pretty cats were cut from some black Kraft cardstock – Classic by Tim Holtz using my new Mischievous Cats Sizzix Thinlits set, also by Tim Holtz. I layered them together and added them to the page with a sticker by Kaisercraft that reads “being together is the best gift of all”. To finish, I added some green, gold and blue gemstones to the cats for their eyes – aren’t they adorable!

Creating pages using the napkins from the T Day napkin swap is so much fun! If you’re interested you can find them here:

1. Bee Wellington Boots – Bee napkin from Erika
2. Time for Tea – Alice napkin from Lisca
3. Autumn Greetings – Autumnal napkin from Chris
4. Mischievous Cats – Scalloped napkin which I believe was from Elle (I thought you may like the cats, smile!) – this post

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my Bad Kitty beer that I had at our local beer festival which was held in October this year instead of February. Me and my hubby always volunteer at this festival and we had lots of fun meeting people, serving and chatting to customers and of course trying all the beers.

Bad Kitty is from Brass Castle Brewery in Yorkshire; it’s a Vanilla Porter with a 5.5% ABV described as a “chewy chocolate-vanilla dream of a porter” and was very yummy! I thought it was the “purr-fect” accompaniment to my page this T Day as I know Bleubeard and Elizabeth like Porters and the brewery says “Bad Kitty earned its name from the antics of the two original brewhouse cats, who delighted in mischievously supervising proceedings”.

Cheers and Happy T Day! 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 following challenges:

The lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from https://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/ who is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Collage Fodder, Food & Drink or Both so I’m joining her with my napkin collaged page (smile!).

Paperbabe Stamps and their #180 – Anything Goes challenge with my fun page.

LTSCB#158 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Mischievous Cats page.

November Anything Goes Fall Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge with my autumnal coloured page.