Thank You Friend

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

My mixed media page was inspired by birthday cards and goodies from my dearest friends; the dotty paper was a recycled envelope from one of my birthday cards and the gorgeous butterfly was a napkin that was sent to me by my good friend, Tracey.

I started by ripping the dotty envelope into pieces and arranging them onto the page using a glue stick and some matte gel medium. Then I ripped the edges of napkin from around the beautiful butterfly image and applied the butterfly to the page. I arranged the ripped pieces of leftover napkin in-between the dotty paper and stuck them in place using matte gel medium. When dry, I used various colours of Kuretake watercolour paint to match and colour around the napkin pieces. Then I edged the papers and butterfly using a Uni Pin fine line marker smudging the ink with my finger. To finish, I added a Tim Holtz label sticker which reads “Thank You Friend”.

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!

I received some beautiful cards and gifts last month for my birthday; this homemade card and crafting goodies were sent to me by my dear friend Tracey from New Beginnings …Creating in my Corner – thank you so much!

Stay 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 Creative Artiste , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Aimeslee this month, who has chosen Flowers as her theme; so I’m joining in the fun with the flowers of the butterfly image on my page.

Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies so as their May Challenge; I’m joining them with all the blooms and butterflies that my main butterfly image is made up from.

LTSCB#161 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Thank You page.

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Rainbow Colours

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

My rainbow colours were created using a watercolour and sea salt technique; I hope you like it!

I started by adding some columns of Kuretake watercolour paint; the colours I used were Red, Cadmium Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, Sap Green, Turquoise Blue, Cobalt Violet and Rose Madder. While the paint was still wet, I sprinkled some sea salt over the top and left it to dry. When full dry, I brushed the sea salt off the page; the sea salt absorbed the wet paint creating the mottled effect. I stamped the typewriter letters using a Carabelle Studio stamp and black Archival Ink over the top and then added the flowers, which were recycled from a birthday card and stuck in place using double-sided tape. To finish, I added four Small Talk Stickers by Tim Holtz; as rainbows are synonymous with making wishes and luck, I chose the following wording “keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable”, “miracles happen when you believe”, “a dream is a wish you heart makes” and “I feel so lucky”.

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 (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

The beautiful rainbow colours on my page were inspired by my travels to Burano, which is one of the islands in the Venetian Lagoon, that we visited whilst in Venice.

Unlike the muted colours of the architecture in Venice City, there are different restrictions on the colours that you can paint houses in Burano. Bright colours are the norm here and if someone wishes to paint their home, they must send a request to the government, who will respond by making notice of the certain colours permitted for that lot.

Burano is such a beautiful and cheery place; it is known for its small, brightly painted houses and is considered among the ten most colourful places in the world (smile!).

Stay 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 Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from blog Altered Book Lover and her Recycle, reuse, repurpose challenge with the flowers which I recycled from a birthday card.

Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies so as their April challenge blog; I’m joining them with all the blooms on my page.

Making them with you

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

My mixed media page was inspired by a recent trip with my hubby to Venice, Italy (smile!).

I started by using a large 12×12″ stencil (KSTDG02) by Stamperia to add Ranger Texture Paste using a palette knife and then I left it to dry overnight. Next I added washes of Sap Green, Ultramarine and Yellow Ochre Kuretake watercolour paint; I did this by applying water to the page, then adding the watercolour and letting the colours blend. Once dry, I added the Venice image which was recycled from an old calendar and the “The best thing about memories, is making them with you” wording which was from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet.

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!

My page was inspired by the canals and bridges in Venice, so I thought I’d share some of them with you as well as some interesting facts. Following my last post, we are still exploring the Cannaregio district; I love this beautiful view of one of the canals with it’s wrought iron bridge, and aren’t those reflections amazing (smile!).

We were amazed to find canals and bridges around every corner; this bridge in Cannaregio is quite similar to the image on my journal page.

Me and hubby definitely made some lovely memories together in Venice; here we are having walked to the nearby San Polo dictrict.

Venice is such a beautiful place and is well known for its canals and bridges.

There are supposedly 177 canals and 417 bridges in Venice; although we haven’t counted them all ourselves (grin!).

Probably the most famous bridge is the Rialto which connects San Polo to San Marco district (which we will explore in my next post). The Rialto Bridge is over a 1000 years old and you can see it in the background of this selfie that we took one evening.

The Rialto Bridge spans the S-shaped Grand Canal, which you can see here taken from the bridge itself. This is the biggest canal in Venice and splits the city in two. Not surprisingly, the main form of transport in Venice is by boat. As you can see there are lots of different boats on the canal, including gondolas. I was surprised to find out that there are about 350 gondolas in Venice, which on average are 11 meters long and weigh around 600 kilos, and there are about 400 gondolieri.

I hope you enjoyed visiting Venice and looking around Cannaregio and San Polo, join me next time as we explore San Marco (smile!).

Stay 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 Creative Artiste , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from blog Altered Book Lover and her Recycle, reuse, repurpose challenge with my recycled image from an old calendar.

MIUCB #64 – Anything Goes + optional Distressing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my distressed watercolour technique background.

Stencil Fun Challenge and their April Stencil Fun – Anything Goes with optional Pattern challenge the patterned Stamperia stencil that I used for my page.

Hello Spring

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Hello Spring.

My spring page was created by recycling some hexagons from a magazine and is full of butterflies and flowers, as well as some fun bunny rabbits that are hopping about.

I started by cutting out the hexagons from a magazine and then sticking them onto the page using a glue stick. The hopping rabbits were die cut, from some Color Vibe Basics Papers by Simple Stories, using a Bunny Hop Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. Then I added all the flower toppers and also the butterflies and the “hello” wording, which were Vintage Cottage Fields Ephemera by Simple Stories. The “spring” wording was also recycled from the same magazine; it was cut out and stuck in place finishing the page.

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 (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

I promised more photos from our recent trip to Venice, so here’s a little bakery that we found; aren’t those colourful Easter biscuits adorable (smile!).

We found this bakery whilst exploring the Cannaregio district of Venice; it was located in this pretty row of shops alongside a canal.

We had great fun looking around and found that Cannaregio seems to be more of a residential area with local shops and small cafés/bars.

Stay 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 Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from blog Altered Book Lover and her Recycle, reuse, repurpose challenge with my hexagon background which I recycled from a magazine.

Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies so as their April challenge blog; I’m joining them with the blooms and butterflies on my page.

Hello March

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

I would also like to send a warm welcome to the lovely Fiona from http://www.craftystamping.blogspot.com/ who has joined our Design Team; please be sure to visit her blog and show her some love!

My mixed media page is saying “Hello March” and celebrating the pretty crocus that flower this time of year!

I started by covering the background with a couple of cyclopaedia book pages and then covered them with some Villainous Potion Distress Paint applying it like watercolour. When dry, I applied some Yellow Ochre Kuretake Watercolour and I stamped some foliage and a circular filigree stamp using a Magnolia Grove stamp set by Kaisercraft, black Archival Ink and Dusty Concord Distress Archival Ink. Next I added some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a brayer and layered some more of the stamping over the top, to create a distressed grungy look. Then I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint. The crocus were fussy cut from an old garden flower book, edged with a black Faber-Castell marker and stuck in place using a glue stick. I stamped the “Hello March” wording using a Sophisticated Script stamp set by Concord & 9th and black Archival Ink, then to finish I highlighted the letters with a white Uniball gel pen.

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 join you there!

Every year, there is a beautiful display of crocus’ at the church in Poulton-de-Fylde; which is a small town near to where we live.

These little crocus flowers look so amazing and it’s always such a beautiful sight as they cover the church yard in so much colour!

Hope that you’re all 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 Creative Artiste , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Valerie of Bastelmania and her Anything Goes challenge with my Hello March page.

MIUCB #64 – Anything Goes + optional Distressing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my distressed background crocus page.

Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies so as their March challenge blog was launched this month, I’m joining them with my spring blooms.

Let’s Get Messy

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Let’s Get Messy.

I’d also like to send a warm welcome to the lovely Pia and the lovely Viv, who have both joined our Design Team; this is their first challenge with us so be sure to check out their blogs and show them some love!

This messy page was created using leftovers. The background was a piece of card that I used under my journal pages whilst creating them to protect the page underneath; it’s messily covered in paints, stenciling, stamping, texture paste and marker pens. It looks like I also used this card when I created some some ATCs too, as you can see from the black acrylic paint outlines. I added the flowers which I stamped sometime ago onto some white tissue paper and also the stamped typewriter which was already fussy cut out. I also found the red hearts and “Be still and listen” wording in my craft stash, so added them to my design. To finish, I stamped the word love above the typewriter and some tiny framed hearts using black Archival Ink.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from Pia and Viv as well as the rest of my Design Teamies (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

I was so pleased to meet Chris from pearshapedcrafting, one of my design team buddies from Try it on Tuesday, at Lytham Hall a few weeks ago; we had such a lovely time together – thanks so much Chris!

We had fun chatting, exploring and admiring all the beautiful snowdrops.

Of course, as T Stands for Tuesday, I also enjoyed a cuppa too with our lunch; here’s my green tea and a slice of Honeycomb Cheesecake – Happy T Day everyone and many apologies for not being around lately, I’ve had lots of family stuff going on!

Stay 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 Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Erika at her BioArtGal blog and her Seeing Red challenge with the red hearts on my page.

Love and Devotion

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is All You Need is Love.

I started by covering the page with Pébéo white gesso as, when dry, it’s a wonderful base medium for the Faber-Castell Gelatos that were used to colour this page, making them easier to smudge and blend. I used Watermelon and Coconut Gelatos which I scribbled over the background and smudged with my finger and a little water. Next I added the fragments of gold tissue paper that I had previously die cut; they were leftover from another journal page. The love and devotion heart image was fussy cut from an old magazine and once stuck in place, I surrounded it with some blue and cream pearl gemstone clusters which finished the page.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

I’m sharing this romantic Valentine’s dessert served in a pretty white teacup from Lytham Hall café. It’s a chocolate cupcake topped with pink icing, silver sprinkles and dark chocolate! It almost looks too good to eat!

Stay 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 Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

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

Double D Challenges and their Hearts challenge with the Love and Devotion Heart hearts page.

More Than Words challenge and their Love Letters challenge with my Love and Devotion page.

Thankful Everyday

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Winter Blues.

My page today was created with lots of blue scraps that I had in my craft stash which included recycled papers from greeting cards, recycled envelopes, recycled book pages, leftover stamped tissue paper, old calendar pages, recycled foil from sweets and a photo from an old magazine. I simply collaged everything together using a glue stick and some Liquitex matte gel medium after edging them all with a black Faber-Castell marker. To finish, I added some measuring tape designed washi tape, a blue washi tape flower and the “Thankful everyday” sticker from Kaisercraft.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing Winter Blues creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my pretty blue mug of tea with a piece of spiced apple cake made with apples from my garden (smile!) – Happy T Day everyone!

Hope that you’re all 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 Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

LTSCB #159 Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my paper scraps collage page.

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Mia from https://craftartista.blogspot.com/ this month who has chosen Use a Photo; I used pieces of sky and rocks from a photo in a magazine as part of my collage papers which you can see here:

Fairytale of Brew York

Today I have a page to share that I created by recycling a beer can label; we enjoyed this yummy beer over the holidays – Cheers and Happy New Year everyone!

I started by extending the label image over the page using a pencil and then colouring the different sections using Speckled Egg and Rustic Wildness Distress Paint and white acrylic paint. For the sky section, I used was Brushed Brass Distress Paint mixed with white acrylic paint. Next I die cut some fir tree branches, from some green Kraft Cardstock-Classic, using a Holiday Greens Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and some snowflakes using a Paper Snowflakes Mini Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some white cardstock. I stuck everything in place using Liquitex matte gel medium and then splattered the page with white acrylic paint. To finish, I added some stickers from a Christmas Sticker Book by Tim Holtz.

We really enjoyed the beer, which was a Gingerbread Milk Stout – wishing you all Happy New Year and as T Stands for T Day sending you Happy T Day wishes too!

“Fairytale of Brew York takes a warming ginger spin. Rich gingerbread, cinnamon spice and heaps of creamy vanilla combine for this Christmas stout”.

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 be joining the following challenges:

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #31 and their Christmas Anything Goes Challenge as my deer and reindeer matches their photo inspiration and also celebrates a Fairytale in Brew York Christmas.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #48 – Anything Christmas Goes challenge with my Christmassy page.

LTSCB #159 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my recycled beer label page.

All Hearts Come Home for Christmas

Today I’m sharing a page that I created to remember family at Christmas including those who are no longer with us, as the wording says – All hearts come home for Christmas!

The brick background was created using a stencil and Ground Espresso, Brushed Corduroy and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks. Next I added the red door which was a recycled Christmas card and I arranged some leftover glitter paper across the bottom to create the snowy foreground. The snowflakes were die cut from the leftover glitter paper too, using a Paper Snowflakes Mini Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. To finish, I added the wall plaque which reads “All hearts come home for Christmas” from a Tim Holtz Christmas Sticker Book and I added some snow to the top using the glittery paper.

I was pleased to use all the recycled materials as part of the design and with the snowflakes on my page, I’m joining my Snowy Winter challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey.

My closest family members went for a Festive Afternoon Tea on a very cold and icy day. We went to The Villa, which is a gorgeous country home set in it’s own grounds near to where we live.

We went to celebrate and remember a very special loved one, my dear dad who passed away this time last year. He loved Christmas so the setting was perfect with all the beautiful Christmas decorations!

We had our family dog with us, so we sat in the cosy lounge/bar area.

Of course the Festive Afternoon Tea was amazing; this setting is for two people to share and we enjoyed pigs in blankets, salmon and leek tart, a selections of sandwiches and patisseries, mince pies and a mulled spiced fruit scone served with clotted cream and jam – delicious and so very filling (smile!). As T Stands for T Day, you’ll also find tea and coffee and although it’s not pictured we enjoyed some mulled wine too – Happy T Day wishes! .

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

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 able to join the following challenges today:

Stencil Fun Challenge and their December Stencil Fun with optional Holidays with the brick stencil I used to create the background and the Christmas Holidays that are celebrated on this page.

Challenge #130 – Christmas Anything Goes over at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge with my Christmas page.