Springtime

Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday is Springtime.

As usual, you have two weeks to create your art, you can use any medium and digital is always welcome. Don’t forget to check out the wonderful inspiration provided by the Design Team over at the blog too!

Inspired by springtime flowers, I collaged the background of the page using Tim Holtz Collage Paper and some white paper that I had stamped using a lilac stamp; they are stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. As I was experimenting stamping the lilacs using Magenta, Purple, Moss, Bud Green and Chocolate Spectrum Aqua Markers to give a watercolour effect I thought I would use them on this page rather than throw them away. Then using black Versafine Ink, I stamped the “springtime” wording using an alphabet stamp and also added some clocks, both from Docrafts, as well as some bees and butterflies from Hampton Arts. The daffodils are fussy cut from an old flower book and stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. When the gel medium was dry, I outlined them with a black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I coloured the wording using light green, yellow and pink Uni Posca paint pens and then covered each of the letters with Ranger Glossy Accents to give a 3D effect.

Whilst out walking around Glasson Dock for my birthday we saw lots of beautiful daffodils along the roadside.

These daffodils look just like the ones on my page (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing our pot of green tea that we had at a lovely café in Glasson Dock – Happy T Day everyone!

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 Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal  and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as my page links to having springtime fun.

I’m happy to be able to join the Easter and/or Spring challenge over at Country View Challenges with my springtime page.

I’m also joining in the Beautiful Blooms challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the stamped lilacs and pretty daffodils on my page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is New Growth, so I’m pleased to join this challenge too with my springtime 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:

• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Magenta, Purple, Moss, Bud Green, Chocolate)
• Versafine Ink (Onyx Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (Light Green, Pink, Yellow)
• Docrafts Papermanina Tina Higgins wooden stamp (Lilac PMA9061108)
• Docrafts Creative Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Steampunk DCE9071102)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO134)
• Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Vintage cling mounted rubber stamps (Birdsong ICO151)
• Lion White Paper
• Tim Holtz Collage Paper (Halloween #TH93727)
• Oxford Book of Flowers
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

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Wild and Free

With the warmer weather of late we have been having fun in the garden. We have weeded our flower beds and added a mulch of bark and have been watching the spring flowers grow and new foliage shoot up. So I created this happy page to celebrate, using some soft spring colours as well as some fun techniques and the wording “all good things are wild and free” (grin!).

I started by stamping the page with a dot stamp from Woodware Craft Collection using Rose Bud Memento Ink and a flower stamp by Hampton Arts using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink. Then I covered the page with pastel shades of pink, turquoise and orange acrylic paint and also Pébéo white gesso; they are all applied using a brayer to build up layers of colour. Once dry I added the large flower sticker and some leftover letters and frame stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle.

The wording “all good things are wild and free by Henry David Thoreau” and “Just be” which included a sweet little bird are from the same sticker set; the little bird with the flower in his beak reminded me of some Goldfinches that come into our garden to take pieces of a silver leaved plant called Cineraria, not sure why they want it, but it’s fun to watch them (grin!). Then I outlined all of these stickers using a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball gel pen so they stood out more and had fun doodling all the dots using black, white and pink Uni Posca paint pens. To continue the spring theme I added more little birds, flowers and as we are making lots of new discoveries this year in our garden I also added the “Discoveries” wording which are all fabric stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle.

As you may remember we replanted our flower beds last year and here’s what they look like at the moment. The apple trees are sprouting and should be in bloom soon, the bluebells are out in force and the bark mulch looks great – I love it!

We discovered that we had crocus in our garden and along with daffodils they have finished flowering but we do have some tulips starting to bloom that we planted in October last year. This beautiful pink frilly variety reminded me of my page (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal  and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as my page represents having fun gardening.

I’m joining the Polka Dots challenge over at Moo Mania & More with the polka dot stickers and dots on this page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Easter and/or Spring challenge over at Country View Challenges with my spring pastel coloured page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is New Growth, so I’m also joining this challenge too with my springtime flower page.

I’m also pleased to join the Spring Flowers! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday with happy spring flower inspired 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:

• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Rose Bud, Rich Cocoa)
• Script Ready Made Paint (Pastels)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Uni Posca Paint Pens (Black, White, Pink)
• Hampton Art Bella Blvd cling mounted rubber stamps (Sand & Surf ICO226)
• Woodware Craft Collections Francoise Collection Stamp Set (Flower Style FRSWS003)
• Home Bargains (Room Décor Embellishment Art 01194)
• Little Yellow Bicycle (Cardstock Stickers Fresh Verse PD-140, Fabric Favourites PD-220)

Flower Bowl

It was my birthday last week and my hubby surprised me with a trip to the cinema at The Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre. It wasn’t any ordinary cinema either, all the seats are sofas so you can put your feet up, relax and watch a movie just like you do at home – it was amazing!

As flowers feature heavily at The Flower Bowl, my design focuses on them. To start I covered the whole page with a Botanical Collage Paper from Tim Holtz using a glue stick. Once the glue was dry, I coloured the flowers and leaves using Spectrum Aqua markers blending and shading the inks with a wet paintbrush, the colours included: Begonia, Blossom, Jasmine, Peach, Spice, Marigold, Sunflower, Lime and Meadow for the flowers and Bud Green, Moss and Leaf Green for the leaves. Next I fussy cut some flowers from a leaflet and some wallpaper samples, edged them all with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and layered them around the edge of the page using a glue stick. To finish, I cut the wording from a leaflet that I picked up when we visited The Flower Bowl, edged it with the Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck it in place using double-sided tape.

I’m pleased to join the lovely Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal  and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as my page represents the fun that we had at The Flower Bowl.

The Flower Bowl is Lancashire’s newest and probably most unusual leisure venue; it offers a range of activities and has a grass-covered roof.

The reception area is magical with the pretty fairy light trees.

We visited the cinema and saw a comedy called “Fighting with the family” which was based on a true story about wrestling. This cinema has three screens which are named after leading ladies and each one has its own unique style; ours was called Uma Thurman with a plush pink interior. The luxurious, sofa-style seating was so comfortable and both the film and cinema were fabulous!

The attention to detail throughout the complex is outstanding, even the basins in the toilet/restrooms are beautiful ceramic flowers.

As well as the cinema there is also crazy golf, ten-pin bowling and curling. We watched the curling whilst enjoying a chocolate ice cream and a banana milkshake so I’m sharing our drink with the T gang over at T Stands for Tuesday – Happy T Day!

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:

• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Begonia, Blossom, Jasmine, Peach, Spice, Marigold, Sunflower, Lime, Meadow, Bud Green, Moss, Leaf Green)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Tissue Paper (Botancial #TH93705)
• Recycled Leaflets
• Wallpaper Sample
• UHU Stic
• Stix2 double-sided tape

The Spring

I always like to experiment and try out new design ideas when I create my art journal pages, so with a few Blog Challenges in mind I created this neutral coloured page to depict spring – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the page with Neutral Gray and Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint using a paintbrush. Then I layered some paper scraps, sheet music and some pretty script paper together; I ripped some of the edges to give them a grungy look, edged them all using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck them in place using a glue stick. Next I added two pieces of Collage Paper from Tim Holtz and then I splattered the whole page with the Neutral Gray and Parchment Liquitex acrylic paints and also some black DecoArt acrylic paint. To finish, I added the three birds and “The Spring” wording which are fussy cut from a couple of leaflets and also three white embellishments.

It was my birthday last week and I received some wonderful gifts, including the pretty white embellishments that I used on this page. They were a birthday gift off my sister along with some other crafting goodies and old sheet music that I remember her playing when I was young (grin!).

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 happy to join the Neutral Zone challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my Mixed Media Style page.

I’m happy to be able to join the Easter and/or Spring challenge over at Country View Challenges with my spring page.

I’m also joining the lovely Wen and her Simply Neutrals Tuesday party over at Apple Apricot with my neutral coloured page.

As I used more than three mediums (including acrylic paint, TH tissue paper and leaflets), I’m pleased to be join in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog and their Creative Artisite Challenge #48 – Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge.

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:

• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Neutral Gray)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Halloween #TH93727)
• Paper scraps
• Script paper
• Recycled leaflets
• White embellishments
• UHU Stic
• Stix2 double-sided tape and mini glue dots

Embrace beautiful chaos

Our new challenge for the next two weeks at Try it on Tuesday is Use a stencil or two and you’ll find some amazing creations from my Design Teamies over at our blog to inspire you (grin!).

I hope that you’ll join us for this challenge by using one or more stencils to create your artwork; I must admit that I had loads of fun creating this page using four different stencils – see what you think!

To start with, I tore a book page into three pieces and stuck them to the page using a glue stick. I then painted the page with Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green and Neutral Gray Liquitex acrylic paint and left it to dry. Next I used a Tim Holtz stencil to add the Bright Aqua Green acrylic paint using a sponge and then some butterflies and circles using a Mini Specimens stencil from The Crafter’s Workshop and Black Soot Distress Ink. The white dots are Pébéo modelling paste which I applied using a craft knife through a dot stencil. When the modelling paste was dry, I added the three large flowers using a mask by Carabelle Studio and Black Soot ink blending the black ink around the edges of the flower into the background. The “embrace beautiful chaos” wording, which I thought was perfect to summarise the look and feel of this page, is a Small Talk Sticker from Tim Holtz and I outlined it using a black Uni Pin Marker. I also applied some rub-on transfers to the page so the images were broken up and depicted the “embrace beautiful chaos” wording more; they are Special Delivery Remnant Rubs from Tim Holtz. To finish, I added three different coloured gems to each of the centre of the flowers.

Last week I had an early birthday treat and spent a wonderful day in Garstang visiting the local garden centre and looking around the town’s market stalls. We also had lunch and a few pints at my favourite pub and then walked along the canal and river – perfect (grin!). I thought this picture was fun, it was taken at the garden centre and shows the amazing wall on the way out of the food hall, I think it ties nicely into my page with the beautiful and chaotic way items have been embedded into it (grin!).

My favourite of course was the teapot! As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and wishing you all a Happy T Day!

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 Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal  and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I always have fun creating art journal pages and this one was especially fun using all the different stencil techniques.

Over at Moo Mania & More their challenge is Colourful so I’m happy to join them to with the bright colours that I used to create this page.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

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:

• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green, Neutral Gray)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Dot Stencil – unknown
• Tim Holtz Collection Layering Mini Stencil (Set 16 THMST016)
• The Crafter’s Workshop TCW Rebekah Meier Designs 6×6 Stencil (Mini Specimens TCW4545)
• Carabelle Studio Art Mask (2 Flowers)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Special Delivery #TH93188)
• B&M Crafting Goody Bag (Turquoise 321451)

Thank you – Hello Springtime at AJJ

As it’s the end of the month, I’m sharing the last page for the Hello Springtime challenge over at Art Journal Journey which I’ve been hosting this March, so thanks very much to everyone who joined in the fun!

I appreciate all your kind comments and support throughout the month and thoroughly enjoyed visiting your blogs and seeing all your wonderful Hello Springtime artwork so I created this page to remember you all and to say thank you!

I used my garden as inspiration for this page as it is coming to life now springtime’s here, so I decided to create a garden wall with pretty flowers to showcase all the names of the people who joined the Hello Springtime challenge this month at Art Journal Journey (AJJ).

I started by covering the page with a thick layer of Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and sponging a mixture of Christmas Green and Swedish Blue Liquitex acrylic paint over the top. Once the paint was dry, I stencilled a brick design using a mixture of red, yellow and black acrylic paint to create the brown colour and when dry I loosely outlined the bricks with a black Uni Pin marker to give them more definition. Then I used a texture stamp from Tim Holtz using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink to give a grungy look to the areas not covered with the brick design. For the foliage, I stamped Cottage Ivy Memento Ink using a stamp from Kaisercraft. Then I used my Dymo LetraTag label machine to create all the names of the people who joined the challenge this month which took some time as I cut each of them out and then stuck them in place along the brickwork. For the “thank you”, I stamped the banner and thank you using a couple of Hampton Art stamp sets using black Archival Ink onto some card by Docrafts. I fussy cut the banner out and gave it more of a worn look using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and a blending tool. I cut the AJJ logo out, and stuck it and the thank you banner in place using double-sided tape. I also added the “March 2019” and “Hello Springtime” labels that I created using my Dymo machine and then to finish, the sparkly flower embellishments using Ranger Glossy Accents.

I’d also like to that Gerrina who entered my challenge after I photographed my page. I have now added Gerrina’s name to my page too (grin!).

I had so much fun creating all my pages for this challenge and I hope you did too!

I’d like to say a special thanks to Susi and Bleubeard & Elizabeth for asking me to be a guest host, they provided such valuable support and encouragement, thanks so much!

I have also been overwhelmed with everyone’s participation and lovely comments; it has been such a pleasurable experience – thank you all! Jo x

Tomorrow is a new month and brings a new challenge at Art Journal Journey and I can’t wait to see what the new theme is and say hello to our new host – I hope 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:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment, Christmas Green, Swedish Blue, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Magnolia Grove CS822)
• Tim Holtz Collection Stampers Anonymous (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
• Hampton Art cling mounted rubber stamps (7 Gypsies Vintage – Birdsong ICO151, Doodlebug Design Inc – Thankful ICO162)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Dymo LetraTag Label Maker and White paper Labels
• Art Journal Journey logo – computer printed
• Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection Tags (Elements Wood PMA174318)
• The Range (Craft Embellishments CRO824)
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Spring in the Garden

With the sunny days we have been having of late, I have found myself pottering around in the garden. Weeding my flowerbeds, planting seeds and preparing everything for summer, so I created this page to celebrate using some pretty crafting goodies that my dear friends Nan and Eileen sent me – thanks so much!

I applied Begonia, Blossom and Peach Spectrum Aqua markers to the background, by scribbling the individual colour onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page.  Then I covered the edges and middle of the page with some Apricot Liquitex acrylic paint using a baby wipe. Next I added the large “spring” wording which is a rub-on transfer by Royal & Langnickel and created a blue border to the page using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker, a Navy Spectrum Aqua marker and a black Uni Pin marker. To create the tags, I stuck some pretty spring stickers from my friend Nan onto some pink tags which I recycled from some lingerie and also onto some flowery tags by Docrafts. They are edged with the Navy Spectrum Aqua marker and stuck in place using double-sided sticky tape over some white thread. I embellished them with the different coloured pastel enamel dots and three wooden craft flowers. The bird boxes and blue bird are from the same rub-on transfer set and to finish I added the three pieces of washi tape, around the edges of the page, which were gifted me by my friend Eileen.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey with my spring in the garden page – I hope to see you there!

I’m joining in the Play with Paint challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as I had fun applying paint to my page using a baby wipe.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my spring page too.

As I included flowers on this page, it also serves as a reminder for our Say it with Flowers challenge over at Try it on Tuesday where you have until next Tuesday to join in the fun!

I feel blessed to have received such kindness and gifts from both Nan and Eileen:

Here’s the happy mail that I received to welcome spring from the lovely Nan, thank you so much I really enjoyed using the beautiful stickers to create this page – perfect!

Here’s the happy mail that I received to celebrate T Stands for Tuesday 5^th Birthday from the lovely Eileen along with some wonderful crafting goodies too – thank you so much!

Their cards and ATC have pride of place in my craft room – thank you from the bottom of my heart (grin!). It was so wonderful to think of you as I was creating this page too and I hope that you like it as much as me!

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:

• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Begonia, Blossom, Peach, Navy)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Peach)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Recycled Pink Tags
• Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection Tags (Elements Wood PMA174318)
• White thread
• Spring Stickers – thank you Nan!
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Spring is Coming #SUG666)
• The Works (Pastel Enamel Dots, Craft Flowers)
• Washi Tape – thank you Eileen!
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• Ranger Glossy Accents