Let the adventure begin

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which for the next two weeks is Small Things.

For my small things, I created a page in my mini art journal adding some small sticker pieces as part of my design.

I started by covering the chipboard page with Pébéo white gesso using a brayer and left it to dry. Then I added the daisies that were recycled from a brown paper shopping bag. The “Let the adventure begin” wording, green borders, postage stamps, butterflies and tile pieces were all stickers from Kaisercraft.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing small inspired creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies.

My page was also created with holidays in mind, as my hubby and I have just returned from our travels; hence the postage stamps saying “love” and “you & me”, and the two butterflies representing me and my hubby.

But where did we go? Do you recognise this town at all? My page has a white distressed background a bit like the white marble this area is known for. It also features a recycled bag from our travels and I’m hoping my design is stylish and has a nature vibe, like the area that inspired it.

More clues: we went to a crescent-shaped strip of Mediterranean coastline straddling between the south of France and Tuscany, defined by its rugged cliffs, turquoise coves, pastel seaside towns and every town seems to have a castle and a church (smile!).

Yes, we went to the Italian Riviera, which is synonymous with Italy’s Liguria region. I hope you’ll join us on on travels over my next blog posts, as my page says “Let the adventures begin”.

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.

Philharmonic – Viennese Whirl

It’s the first Friday of the month (and wow, I can’t believe that it’s May already), so it’s time for our new challenge at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, which as always is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by a night out to see the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra last month (smile!).

I started this page by covering the background with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and some Salvaged Patina Distress Paint. Then I used a couple of Creative Expressions stencils to firstly remove some of the Distress paint using a baby wipe, then to lightly apply some Black Soot Distress Ink and finally to add some Pébéo Texture Paste. I splattered the page with white acrylic paint and I added some sheet music using a glue stick and then I splattered the page using black acrylic paint. When dry, I edged the sheet music pieces using a black Uni Pin marker. The instruments and wording were cut from the recycled programme from the concert.

For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. All you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our mixed media challenge; I hope you are inspired to join us, it would be lovely to see you there!

We had a lovely evening at the Philharmonic – Viennese Whirl concert, the music was wonderful (smile!); they played Johann Strauss II Emperor Waltz, Berg Violin Concerto, Johann Strauss II Blue Danube, and Beethoven Symphony No.7 in A Major.

Johann Strauss II is one of my favourites; if you are interested, you can check out the links and listen to excerpts of the two Johann Strauss II pieces here, Emperor’s Waltz and Blue Danube.

Stay safe and well! x

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

Fairy

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which for the next two weeks is Fantasy.

My fantasy page features a very pretty fairy from the Sleeping Beauty papers by Stamperia.

For my background, I painted Stormy Sky, Pine Needles and Tattered Rose Distress Paints onto my page and left it to dry. Then I stamped a Fragments stamp by Tim Holtz, layering the stamp all over the page using Faded Jeans and Vintage Photo Distress Archival Ink and then White Moonlight Brilliance Ink. I edged the paper pieces from a Sleeping Beauty Stamperia paper pad using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker and then I stuck them in place using a glue stick. To finish, I added some pretty leaves and flowers by Little Birdie.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies.

I’m hoping fairies might be living amongst the flowers in my garden – spring has definitely sprung and our garden border is looking so beautiful this year (smile!).

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.

Sisters

This page was inspired by my sister; we go to Aqua Aerobics every week together where you’ll find us singing along to the songs and giggling (a lot – smile!).

Purple is my sister’s favourite colour, so I started by painting a purple wash around the edges of the page; gradually pulling the colour into the centre so that the purple faded out in the centre. Then to make the centre brighter, I added some white acrylic paint blending it with the purple using a baby wipe. Next I used a stencil, around the edges of the page, to add some Ranger Texture paste which I had coloured using DecoArt Glamour Dust Purple Passion Glitter Paint, and then I left it to dry. The wording was a Kaisercraft sticker and reads “Giggles, secrets, sometimes tears, sisters and friends, through the years”. I added some little hearts that were cut from the sticker cardstock using a heart shaped punch. Finally I arranged the paper flowers and assorted gems, which my sister gifted me one Christmas (thank you!).

There’s still another week to join our Inspired By A Song challenge over at Try it on Tuesday; me and my sister always enjoy singing and “Sisters” is a favourite of ours.

Of course, the Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye lip-synced version is fab and so much fun (smile!); both are from the same film, White Christmas.

As part of my birthday present this year, my sister kindly treated me to some Purple Moose beers; here we have Elderflower Ale (Pale Ale), Chocolate Moose (Chocolate and Vanilla Porter), High Hops (Tropical IPA), Antlered IPA (India Pale Ale) and Navigator (Red IPA).

My gift included this amazing glass, if you look closely it has lots of little white mooses all over it – yay! As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my glass and beers with the T Gang – cheers and Happy T Day!

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.

Blues Brothers

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which for the next two weeks is Inspired By A Song.

I took my inspiration from my hubby who loves The Blues Brothers; I hope you like it!

I started by adding the Blues Brothers image, which was a photo that I took of a mural in Spain; I printed the image, and then I stuck it onto the page using a glue stick. I used a Slimline Sunburst Stencil/Mask by Marianne Designs to apply Prize Ribbon Distress Ink, and I extended the blue sunburst lines to cover my page using some pieces of card as a mask. Next, I coloured the Blues Brothers images using a Black Faber-Castell marker, so they stood out more. Then I used the card pieces again, as a mask, to stamp two different music note stamps by Docrafts using black Archival Ink; this took quite a bit of time but I love the results (smile!).

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies.

This is my hubby’s favourite song from the movie “Everybody needs someone to love” and makes me remember, fond memories of a trip to Florida when we visited Universal Studios; the Blues Brothers turned up sirens blazing and came into the diner where we were having lunch and walked all over the tables and threw ketchup packets – they made us smile, such fun!

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 joining the lovely Valerie and her Geometric Forms challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my sunburst.

Let’s get lost (in Venice)

It’s the first Friday of the month, so it’s time for our new challenge at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, which as always is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by a trip to Venice last month (smile!).

For the background, I applied Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint over the page and then I smooshed and stencilled some Salvaged Patina Distress Paint over the top. When dry, I used the same stencil to apply some more of the Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint. Next I distressed different postcards and Venice design papers, from an Around The World Stamperia pad, using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker. I arranged them onto the page with some photo images, which were recycled from a free Venice map. To finish, I added the fabric leaves, fabric bunting and “Memories like these …”,  “Adventure”, and “Let’s get lost” stickers; everything was by Little Yellow Bicycle.

For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. All you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our mixed media challenge; I hope you are inspired to join us, it would be lovely to see you there!

Accademia was one of the areas that we explored and this is one of the views from the Accademia Bridge over the Grand Canal; the domed Basilica you can see is the Santa Maria della Salute which is also featured on my page (top photo image).

The flower shop, as we exited the bridge, was so very pretty (did you spot the lion in the centre of the photo on the pillar above the shop – smile).

We also had fun exploring the Garden District of Castello, with all the greenery I added the fabric leaves on my page. We enjoyed walking along the lagoon promenade through the green areas, parks and over the bridges.

Castello is where we discovered the Arsenale di Venezia, which I featured on my Venezia post last Friday, and this pretty bridge was very close by.

It’s very easy to get lost in Venice as it can be quite disorienting with the narrow streets and limited views. However with such beautiful scenery and architecture around every corner, who cares (smile!).

I hope you’re 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 joining the lovely Valerie and her Geometric Forms challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my rectangle images and paper pieces on my page.

Life is so good

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which for the next two weeks is Rainbow Colours.

I took my inspiration from our travels again; this time from some beautifully coloured and patterned steps that we discovered in Mijas, Spain.

For my page, I coloured the background with Stormy Sky Distress Paint and some white acrylic paint. Then I used the same white paint to create the clouds. Next I selected design papers to represent the rainbow colours and used a compass protractor cutting tool to cut them out; using the tool meant that they fitted together perfectly to form my rainbow. To finish, I added the “Life is so good” wording which was a Kaisercraft sticker.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies.

My inspiration for my rainbow design were these colourful tiled steps that we saw when we visited Mijas, on the Costa del Sol, in Spain last year.

It was such a beautiful village with the typical Andalusian white-washed houses, located on a mountainside.

We enjoyed exploring the pretty meandering streets, shops and climbing up to the viewpoint which looked over the village and out to sea.

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 joining the lovely Valerie and her Geometric Forms challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my mathematical compass protractor cut rainbow (smile!).

You make me smile

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which for the next two weeks is Use A Stencil.

As well as having some stencilling fun, I couldn’t resist recycling and using some cute leftovers to create this sunshiny page (smile!).

I started the page by recycling a yellow napkin for the sky and a flowery piece of tissue paper for the foreground; sticking them in place using a glue stick. Next I stencilled the sun and sunrays using a Slimline Sunburst Marianne Design mask stencil and some Mustard Seed Distress Ink. The little fox and tree were cut from some old design papers and stuck in place using double sided tape. To finish, I added the wording which was a Kaisercraft sticker and reads “You make me smile”.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies.

Here’s something else that made me smile, this sunny crochet topper can be found on one of our local post boxes – isn’t it fab!

They often have different toppers on the post box and last year one of them was actually stolen, so now they have a policeman keeping watch to make sure it doesn’t happen again (smile!).

Challenges

I’m joining the lovely Chris and her On All Fours challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my cute fox – I hope you like it!

Cherry Blossom

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which for the next two weeks is Spring.

My Spring page is full of cherry blossom – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the page with water and then adding Red Madder Kuretake watercolour, so it pooled on the page, and then I left it to dry. Next I stamped the blossoms using a Stampendous stamp and Picked Raspberry Distress Archival Ink. The Cherry Blossom image was recycled from an old calendar and contains a Buddha quote which reads “Learn to let go. That’s the key to happiness”.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies.

Cherry blossom always reminds me of my dear friend who lives in Maine, America. With all the Maine related T Day posts last week, you had me thinking of my dearest friend, so here’s a blast from the past from when she visited us here in the UK, we just couldn’t resist having fun (smile!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the T Gang and share a yummy Belgian Cherry Wheatbeer that we enjoyed recently – cheers and Happy T Day!

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.

Hello Happy

It’s the first Friday of the month,  so it’s time for our new challenge at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, which as always is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I had fun creating this springtime mixed media page as it seems that spring is on its way with all the daffodils and blossoms flowering at the moment.

I started this page by embossing the background using a Fragments stamp set by Tim Holtz, a VersaMark Watercolour stamp pad and some bronze embossing powder. Then I covered the page with Brushed Bronze Distress Paint and when dry, I applied some black metallic wax and Salvaged Patina Distress Paint to create some contrast. Next I arranged lots of ephemera and stickers by Simple Stories, Kaisercraft and Tim Holtz. Then to finish, I splattered the page with white and black acrylic paints and the Salvaged Patina Distress Paint. 

For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. All you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our mixed media challenge; I hope you are inspired to join us, it would be lovely to see you there!

These are the daffodils flowering in our garden at the moment, which I seem to think don’t normally appear until March. Do you think that spring flowers seems to flowering early this year?

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

Four Seasons Challenge – Spring Season March 2024 Challenge