Winter Blues

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Winter Blues, where we are asking you to use the colour blue.

This was the perfect challenge for me as blue happens to be my favourite colour (grin!). I hope you like my wintry blue journal page and are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by colouring the background using After Midnight Dylusions Spray Ink and Speckled Egg Distress Ink. When dry, I covered the page with Pébéo clear gesso; this stopped the inks reactivating and bleeding into the next layers of media that I added. Next I splattered the page with white acrylic paint and left it to dry. For the snowflakes, I die cut them using a Paper Snowflakes Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some blue and white mottled paper from Craft Sensations. They were arranged around the edges of the page using Liquitex matte gel medium.

The pretty winter scene of the hares was a recycled Christmas card and the quote was from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet. I thought the quote was perfect to combat those winter blues; it’s by Ralph Waldo Emerson and reads “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year”.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the amazing Winter Blues creations from my Design Teamies too (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my new Assam Tea. This is a loose leaf tea and has a delicately rich and malty flavour – Happy T Day!

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.

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

• Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray (After Midnight)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Speckled Egg)
• Pébéo Clear Gesso
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Paper Snowflakes Mini 661599)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Recycled Christmas Card
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Wandering Ivy SS352)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge this month as I blue is my favourite colour. I’m so pleased to join the Squares Challenge at Country View Challenges with the square Christmas card on my page. I’m happy to join The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog and their Put A Good Word In challenge with the uplifting quote that I used on my page. I’m also joining the Layer It Up challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the snowflakes, image and quote that I layered on my page. I’m pleased to join the LTSCB #141 – Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my blue wintry page too.

Grateful Heart

I had fun creating this journal page to join some of my favourite challenge blogs and the words I included resonated with me and seemed perfect for the New Year – “start each day with a grateful heart”.

On my craft desk, I always have a piece of paper that I use to test stamp images, inks and markers before using them on my pages, so for today’s page I recycled one of them. I ripped the paper into different shapes and stuck them randomly onto my page using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I painted some Pébéo white gesso and Cadmium Yellow Acrylic paint around them using a paintbrush. When dry, I edged them with a Cold Grey and then a Black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker smudging the ink with my finger. Next I added some shadows and contrast around the paper pieces using a Gold Champagne Faber-Castell Gelato and also a Gold Daler-Rowney Acrylic marker; applying each of them and then smudging the colour with my finger. Then I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

For the heart, I created a stencil by drawing a heart onto some paper and cutting it out. Then I stamped the square postage sheet design through it onto some white card, using a Woodware stamp and some black Archival Ink. I cut the heart out and added some colour using a Gold Champagne Faber-Castell Gelato. Before sticking it down, I outlined the heart shape on the page using a black marker so it stood out more.

To finish, I added the flowers and wording which were from a sticker sheet from Kaisercraft.

Here’s a canvas sign that I have in my craft room, I love the sentiments it contains and the top one “have a grateful heart” reminded me on my page (grin!).  I fell in love with this sign as soon as I saw it and the words are a wonderful reminder of how live life to the full!

Hope that 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.

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

• White paper – Carabelle Studio Art Stamp (SA60175), Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black), Concord & 9^th Clear Stamps (Sophisticated Script), Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Color (Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Gold Champagne)
• Daler-Rowney Acrylic Paint Marker (Gold)
• White paper and cardstock
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Postage Sheets FRS076)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Golden Grove SS343)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge this month as I created this page to join some of my favourite challenges including AJJ! I’m so pleased to join the Squares Challenge at Country View Challenges with the postage stamp squares making up the heart on my page. I’m also pleased to be able to join Paperbabe Stamps too and their #135 – Picture Inspiration challenge as the colours and design of my page were inspired by the ladies clothing. I’m happy to join The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog and their Put A Good Word In challenge with the positive quote I used on my page. I’m also joining the Layer It Up challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the layers of papers, colours, heart and flowers on my page design. I’m pleased to join the LTSCB #141 – Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Grateful Heart page too. Don’t forget that there is still time to join our Uplifting or Positive Quote challenge over at Try it on Tuesday; it would be lovely to see you there!

Celebrating the New Year

I created this page to welcome the New Year with fireworks lighting up the sky and a row of very pretty houses (grin!). I hope that 2021 is a better year for everyone and as the words say “may love and laughter light your days and warm your heart”.

I started by painting the background with purple and silver acrylic paints to create my night sky, making sure the brush strokes were pulled from the edges to the centre of the page so it looked like explosions of light.

Next I stencilled the fireworks using a Creative Expressions stencil and Ranger Texture Paste. The wording was from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet and I die cut the “2021” using a Folk Alphabet die set from Docrafts.

To finish, I fussy cut the houses from an old Christmas card and arranged them onto the page using double-sided tape.

These houses are so beautifully drawn and wonderfully detailed. The front doors reminded me of my family’s tradition of welcoming the New Year; on New Year’s Eve at the stroke of midnight one of us knocks on the front door and when invited in, enters the house carrying a piece of coal which is said to bring good luck for the coming year (grin!).

This tradition stems from when, on the stroke of midnight people opened the back door (to let the old year out) and asked the first dark haired man to be seen, to come through the front door carrying salt, coal and bread. This meant that the following year everyone in the house will have enough to eat (bread), enough money (salt) and be warm enough (coal).

Do you have any New Year traditions?

Wishing you all the very best for 2021 – Happy New Year!
Stay safe! 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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic (Dioxazine Purple)
• Poundland Metallic Acrylic (Silver)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Fireworks)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Old Christmas Card
• White Cardstock
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU 503286)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Pen & Ink SS360)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as they provide me with inspiration 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 Erika from BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge this month as I love to celebrate the New Year and recycled one of my favourite Christmas cards to create this page. I’m joining the Celebrate challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I’m celebrating the New Year with my page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Squares challenge with all the squares detailed on the houses especially the windows. I’m pleased to be able to join Paperbabe Stamps too and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my 2021 page. I’m pleased to join the Sparkle and Shine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too with all the shine from the silver metallic paint in the background and sparkle from the glittery snow on the houses.

Tis the season to be … fluffy

As you probably know by now I love robins so I just couldn’t resist using this beautiful robin image, it reminded me of the fun saying “tis the season to be …fluffy”.

I coloured the page using an Earl Grey Faber-Castell Gelato to match the grey background of the robin image. The Gelato was scribbled onto the background and smudged with my finger which I had wet with a little water. The robin image was fussy cut from an old magazine that a dear friend gifted me for art journaling. Once stuck in place using a glue stick, I trimmed the image to fit the page. I arranged some of the trimmed pieces of leaves around the edges of page creating my wintry scene. For the wording I used some silver glitter stickers and then to finish, I splattered the page with both white and metallic silver acrylic paints.

As T Stands for Tuesday and to wish you all a Happy T Day, I’m sharing another fluffy robin that is on my winter mug.

If you’re wondering why robins sometimes look fluffy, it’s because on chilly days they puff out their feathers to keep warm. This puffing fluffs out their down feathers, giving some insulation to help the robin maintain its body temperature. So when winter’s here – “tis the season to be …fluffy (grin!).

Over Christmas we’ve also been enjoying this chocolate Yule Log from a local bakery, it was so very yummy! Not too sweet and covered in a thick layer of chocolate, and if you look closely…

…there’s even a little robin on the top (double grin!).

I hope you’ve had a safe and happy Christmas. Wishing you all the very best for 2021!

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

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

• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Earl Grey)
• Old magazine
• Pritt Stick
• The Range (Alphabet Stickers – Silver Glitter)
• Poundland Metallic Acrylic (Silver)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as they provide me with inspiration 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 Tracey over at Art Journal Journey and her Meaning of challenge this month as I created this page to celebrate the winter season and fluffy robins. I’m joining the Celebrate challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I’m celebrating the winter season with my fluffy robin page. I’m pleased to be able to join the fun LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my fluffy robin sitting in his winter wonderland. I’m also pleased to join the Sparkle and Shine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too with all the sparkle from the glitter letters and silver metallic paint on my page. I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my “tis the season to be … fluffy” robin page. I’m happy to join the MIUCB #44 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Clean and Simple challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques for my simply constructed page too.

Christmas Wishes

I created today’s art journal page to send you Christmas wishes – wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas filled with peace and love!

I started by covering the page with Pébéo white gesso and then I spread some clear glitter glue over the top using a palette knife. All the festive images were cut from old magazines and stuck in place using a glue stick.  I splattered white acrylic paint around the edges of the images and left it to dry.

The black circles were stamped onto some white tissue paper using a Snow Day stamp set from BoBunny, some black Archival Ink and black Papermania Embossing Powder; they were stuck down using a glue stick. I added some texture over the white background around the images by applying Ranger Texture Paste though a Sparkle stencil from Tim Holtz; I love the white on white effect that this created. When dry, I finished the page by adding the “Christmas Wishes” wording which was recycled from an old Christmas card.

One of our Christmas traditions is to treat ourselves to a Festive Feast sandwich from our local deli in town; it’s filled with stuffing, turkey, bacon, sausage, cranberry sauce and mayonnaise (grin!).

They make sandwiches to takeaway so we bought the sandwich home to enjoy with one of the beers from our homemade advent calendar. This Belgian IPA had a fruity finish and tasted of coriander and orange peel, and both the beer and the sandwich were very yummy (double grin!).

This past week, we’ve loved all of the beers that we have tried from our advent calendar so as T Stands for Tuesday, I thought I’d share some of the other beers with you and say a big hello to the T Gang – cheers and Happy T day!

This one is specially brewed for Aldi by Brewdog Brewery and there is an interesting story behind this beer. It started with Aldi supermarket selling a copy of Brewdog’s flagship beer, so Brewdog then made a beer called YALDI IPA and launched it on Twitter (Brewdog is in Scotland and “yaldi” is apparently slang for happiness). Aldi replied on Twitter to Brewdog saying “would have gone with ALD IPA, send us a crate and we’ll talk”. Apparently the customer enquiries went through the roof after their conversation on Twitter, so they got together and Aldi now sell this beer as a special edition; it’s marketed as their “own label IPA”.

Erika will be pleased that we have tried this Push Pineapple beer too; I was looking forward to trying this one myself and it didn’t disappoint! This is a Pineapple Milkshake IPA; it is called “milkshake” as it contains lactose which gives a creamier mouth feel and makes the beer sweeter as brewer’s yeast can’t ferment it. Lactose is traditionally used in stouts to give them a sweeter and creamer taste. This beer had a lovely pineapple flavoured finish too – so delicious (grin!).

Wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas!

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

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

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Glitter Glue (Clear)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Old magazines
• Pritt Stick
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Mixed Media Stencil (Sparkle THS132)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Recycled white tissue paper
• BoBunny Stamp Set (Snow Day)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black)
• Recycled Christmas Card Topper
• X-Press It! double-sided foam tape

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as they provide me with inspiration 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 Tracey over at Art Journal Journey and her Meaning of challenge this month as I created this page to send you happy Christmas wishes. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Christmas page. I’m also pleased to join the Celebrate challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I’m celebrating Christmas with this page. I’m happy to join the MIUCB #44 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Clean and Simple challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques I used to create the clean and simple white on white background. I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmas Wishes page. I’m also pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas page too.

Merry Christmoose Card

I can never resist using my favourite Merry Moose Thinlits set at Christmastime; this time he’s on a Christmas card so I can share some “Christmoose” joy with my friends (grin!).

To start, I cut a panel of mixed media paper to fit my greetings card and positioned a circular template from an Inkylicious template and stencil set to mask out the moon. Then I stamped the pretty snowflakes using a Frozen Fractals stamp set from Simon Says Stamp; they were stamped using Versamark Watermark ink and then covered in white Stampendous embossing powder. Next I positioned a hand cut paper template to mask out the foreground. and then I painted the panel using a mixture of Ultramarine Pale, Ultramarine and Turquoise Blue colours Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour paints. When dry, I removed both of the templates and added some colour to the snowflakes in the foreground using the watercolour paints again. I coloured the moon with some Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink and added some texture using a white gel pen and also by stamping some grey dots using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and an Urban Tapestry stamp from Tim Holtz. Then I splattered the whole panel with white acrylic paint.

The tree and moose were die cut using the Merry Moose Thinlets by Tim Holtz and my Big Shot Machine. The tree was cut from some paper that I had used to mop up brown inks and the snow was cut from some white linen textured cardstock. For the Merry Moose, I used some linen card stock which I coloured using Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Inks. His antlers were coloured using Antique Linen Distress Ink and I edged all the pieces with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell maker. His harness was die cut from some blue glitter paper and white cardstock which I had coloured with the Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink. To finish, I added the “Merry Christmas” wording which was from a Christmas sticker book from Tim Holtz; it’s edged using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker before sticking it in place.

I love moose and there are quite a few moose on our Holiday Tree which is decorated with ornaments that we purchased whilst on holiday/vacation. We always enjoy looking at this tree and reminiscing of times gone by; all the decorations hold such happy memories (grin!).

As you can see, these ornaments are from Maine; the wording on this one makes me smile – Merry Christmoose everyone (double grin!).

Stay safe and keep well!

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

Here is a list of the materials that were used to create this card:

• Simon Says Stamp Clear Stamp Set (Frozen Fractals SSS101694)
• Tsukineko Versamark Watermark Ink Pad
• Stampendous Embossing Powder Basics (Detail White Opaque DP100)
• Inkylicious Stencil and Template Set (Sun & Moons)
• Recycled paper
• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Ultramarine Pale, Ultramarine, Turquoise Blue)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Stamp Set (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Antique Linen, Chipped Sapphire)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Tim Holtz Alterations Sizzix Thinlets (Merry Moose 663103)
• Recycled paper used to mop up brown inks
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Card Stock with Linen Texture)
• Poundland (Glitter Paper Sheets)
• Zig Memory System Chisel Tip Glue Pen
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Book (Christmas #TH93999)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as they provide me with inspiration and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today: I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Christmoose card. I’m also pleased to join the Christmas Critters challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Merry Moose Christmas card. I’m happy to join the # 119 Non-Traditional Christmas Colours challenge over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with the colours that I used on this card. With my frosty wintery landscape, I’m also pleased to join the Ice Cold challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmoose card. I’m also pleased to join in the LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland challenge over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my Merry Moose walking in his winter wonderland card. I’m so happy to join in the fun over at the Rudolph Days Challenge where Anything Goes, as long as it’s Christmas with my Merry Moose Christmas card too. Don’t forget there is still another week to join our Christmas Sparkle challenge at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be lovely to see you there!

Let it Snow Polar Bear card

It was fun creating this polar bear Christmas card and I used some of my favourite die cuts and techniques to create this snowy wonderland. It looked so cold that I dressed the polar bear in a red scarf to keep him warm (grin!).

I started by creating a master board for the background by applying a thick layer of Navy, Swedish Blue and white acrylic paints onto a piece of mixed media paper and then placing some scrunched up cling film (plastic food wrap) over the top. I moved the cling film around to disperse the paints and then I left it to dry. When I peeled the cling film off it left some wonderful patterns and texture which formed my snowy winter wonderland background. I used a Snowflake stencil from Ranger to stencil some snowflakes over the master board using Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink too.

Next I cut a panel from the master board to fit the greetings card. Then I cut some snowflakes from white tissue paper using a Tonic Studios die cut set and stuck them onto the card using Liquitex matte gel medium. I love how the tissue paper and gel medium made the snowflakes look transparent.

The polar bear was created using a Theodore Thinlits set from Tim Holtz which is one of my favourites. The pieces were cut from white card stock, white and cream linen textured card stock and black card stock, edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker and then layered together. His ears were coloured with a Putty Promarker and I created his scarf using a piece of red felt. To finish, I added some silver glitter stickers which reads “Let it snow”.

This card reminded me of this beautiful little polar bear Christmas decoration which also lights up and changes colour (grin!).

I hope that you’re all stay safe and well!

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 card:

• Daler-Rowney Mixed Media Paper
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Navy, Swedish Blue)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Cling film
• Ranger Dylusions by Dyan Reaveley Stencil (Snowflake – Large DYS63742)
• Tsukineko Brilliance Ink (Platinum Planet)
• White Tissue Paper
• Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (Falling Snowflakes 1792e)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Linen Textured Cardstock)
• White Cardstock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Theodore 664410)
• Winsor & Newton Promarker (Putty 0618)
• Pritt Stick
• Red Felt
• Stix2 glue dots
• Poundland (Christmas Glitter Stickers)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as they provide me with inspiration 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 LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland challenge over at the Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my polar bear walking in his snowy winter wonderland. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my polar bear Christmas card. I’m also pleased to join the Let It Snow challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Let it Snow Christmas card. I’m happy to join the # 119 Non-Traditional Christmas Colours challenge over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with the blues, white and red colours that I used to create this polar bear card too. As I used a couple of my favourite techniques to create the snowy background for this card, I’m also pleased to join the Favourite Technique challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I’m also pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my fun polar bear Christmas card too. I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmas card.

Dashing through the snow

Our new challenge for the next two weeks over at Try it on Tuesday is Christmas Sparkle.

For my page I used some glittery paper pieces that I had die cut snowflakes from; they were leftover from this year’s Christmas cards. I just couldn’t throw them away and with all the sparkle they seemed to fit this challenge perfectly (grin!).

For the background, I painted the page with Cadmium Red and Alizarin Crimson Liquitex acrylic paint. When dry, I stuck the remnant glitter die cut pieces onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium to form a frame around the edges of the page. Then I splattered the page using white acrylic paint and left it to dry.

The larger snowflakes were cut from the same glitter paper using a Mini Paper Snowflakes Thinlits set from Tim Holtz and the smaller snowflakes using a Christmas metal die.

To finish, I added the “Dashing through the snow” winter scene which was recycled from a Christmas card; it is stuck in place using double-sided tape.

For more inspiration check out the amazing Christmas Sparkle creations from my Design Teamies over at Try it on Tuesday. I hope that you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

To celebrate the festive season, my hubby had the fabulous idea of creating our own beer advent calendar. As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing our selection of beers; we haven’t tried any of these before and we plan to share one can or bottle of beer each day with our meal to see if we like them. I’ll be sure to share which ones we have tried next week – cheers and Happy T Day!

I hope 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.

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

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic Paint (Cadmium Red Medium Hue)
• Liquitex Basics Acrylic (Alizarin Crimson)
• Die cut off cuts – Glitter wallpaper
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Paper Snowflakes Mini 661599)
• Deer metal die
• Recycled Christmas Card
• X-Press It! double-sided tape

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as they provide me with inspiration 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 Tracey over at Art Journal Journey and her Meaning of challenge this month as I love art journaling and Christmastime. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Dashing through the snow art journal page. I’m also happy to join the MIUCB #44 – Anything Goes + Clean and Simple over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques I used to create my snowy page and this is a simple page design for me too (grin!). I’m also pleased to join the Fun With Dies challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the die cut pieces I used to create this page. I’m also pleased to join the Love To Scrap and their LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland with my dashing through the snow page.

Merry Little Christmas Au Revoir at A Vintage Journey

Over at A Vintage Journey our challenge this month is Merry Little Christmas which is sadly our very last challenge. It’s been an honour and a pleasure to be part of such a wonderful team and blog – thank you so much for all your inspiration and support over the years!

We have come together to create small ATC creations to share some Christmas cheer and also to say “au revoir”. So if you would like to participate in our challenge one last time please create an ATC project depicting a Merry Little Christmas and/or Au Revoir theme; we hope to see you there!

Creating ATCs is a first for me, who’d have thought that I’d have so much fun creating these mini artworks (grin!). Here are my Merry Little Christmas ATCs that I created to wish you all happiness this Christmas!

Using some old playing cards as my base, I started by covering them with scraps of Botanicals or Halloween Collage paper from Tim Holtz using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer and when dry, I added Vintage Photo Distress Ink with a blending tool.

I applied another layer of white gesso over the top and then added some holly leaves and berries. The holly leaves were die cut using a Holiday Greens Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some white paper which I had coloured using Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles Distress Ink. The berries were also die cut from some white paper which had been coloured with Festive Berries Distress Ink. When they were stuck in place using matte gel medium, I splattered the ATC with some white acrylic paint.

The stars are stencilled using a Sparkle stencil from Tim Holtz and VersaMark Watermark ink which I covered with gold Ranger embossing powder. I also edged the ATC with the embossing powder before heating everything with a heat gun. The glittery snowflakes were cut using a Mini Paper Snowflakes Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some glittery paper. To finish, I added the wording from a Christmas sticker book by Tim Holtz.

Here’s my Au Revior ATC which I created to celebrate A Vintage Journey; including all the amazing participants of our challenges and my fellow Creative Guides. The quote “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” (Dr. Seuss) that I included seemed appropriate as it’s so bittersweet to see A Vintage Journey end.

To create this mixed media ATC, I started by covering an old playing card firstly with white gesso and then with black DecoArt acrylic paint. I used the Sparkles stencil by Tim Holtz, VersaMark Watermark ink and gold Ranger Embossing powder again. Then I added one of the badges from A Vintage Journey, that I had printed and distressed using some Vintage Photo Distress Ink, to top and tail my ATC design. The Dr. Seuss quote was created using a label machine and the red hearts were cut from some cardstock using a Falling Hearts Thinlits set from Tim Holtz. To finish, I added some the white wording which were from a Small Talk Remnant Rubs set by Tim Holtz.

I hope you are inspired to join in the Merry Little Christmas and/or Au Revoir challenge themes and for more inspiration you’ll find some amazing ATCs and beautiful heartfelt words from my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey too.

I have really enjoyed my time at A Vintage Journey, from joining in the challenges to becoming a Creative Guide something that I always wished for. I have made some wonderful friends along the way, thank you for being part of my creative journey – it’s been a blast! x

Of course I seem to have been singing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” all month too and my favourite version has to be by Judy Garland from the musical Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) – the lyrics seem very pertinent for this year too.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

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

Here is a list of all the materials used to create these ATCs:

• Old playing cards
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Botanical #TH93705, Halloween #TH93712)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, Festive Berries)
• Recycled white paper
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Holiday Greens 658759, Paper Snowflakes Mini 661599, Falling Hearts 664415)
• The Range (5×5 Dies Holly)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Sparkles THS132)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Ranger Embossing Powder (Gold)
• Glitter wallpaper
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Christmas Sticker Book #TH93999)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• A Vintage Journey Badge – computer printed
• Dymo LetraTag Label Maker and Labels
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CRO241/GE)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Tiny Text #TH93695)

Challenges I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Christmas ATCs. I’m pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my Merry Little Christmas ATCs. I’m pleased to be able to join the A Time to be Grateful over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I am thankful to have been part of such a fabulous challenge blog and team. I’m also pleased to join the Fun With Dies challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with all the Tim Holtz Thinlets sets that I used to created my ATCs.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

There is still another week to join our Winter Wonderland challenge at Try it on Tuesday so I thought I’d create this wintry page to join in the fun; it was inspired by our travels to Prague at Christmastime (grin!).

I started by sticking a magazine image of a couple walking in a winter wonderland onto the page and then I covered the remainder of the page with black acrylic paint leaving a frame of white around the image. Next I dragged some of the black paint towards the image using a flat paintbrush to marry the black and white areas together. I stamped some white acrylic paint over the black background using a piece of scrunched up tissue paper and when dry, I added the wording which was created using some white letter stickers. The snowflakes were cut from some recycled white tissue paper, an old magazine page and some white card stock using a Tonic Studios die set. I layered them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium and then to finish I splattered the page using white acrylic paint.

We often visit the Christmas markets in Prague this time of year and as we are staying home this year, I find myself very thankful for all the wonderful memories we have of our time there.

Prague is a magical place especially when it snows and here I am enjoying the snowfall whilst listening to Christmas carols by the tree on the previous photo.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing another of my favourites … Kozel dark beer and don’t you just love this sign; Kozel happens to mean “male goat” in Czech (grin!) – Happy T day!

What could be better than walking in a winter wonderland with Michael Bublé too (double grin!).

Hoping that you all stay safe and well!

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:

• Old magazine page
• Pritt Stick
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Recycled white tissue page
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Simply Creative Alphabet & Number Stickers (White Glitter SCSTK025)
• White Cardstock
• Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (Falling Snowflakes 1792e)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as they provide me with inspiration 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 Tracey over at Art Journal Journey and her Meaning of challenge this month as this page reminds me of Christmas and Prague. I’m pleased to join LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland challenge over at the Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with the snowy winter wonderland that I created on this page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with winter wonderland page. I’m pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my winter Christmastime page. I’m also joining the # 119 Non-Traditional Christmas Colours challenge over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with my black and white Christmas winter wonderland page. I’m pleased to be able to join the A Time to be Grateful over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as we are always thankful to visit Prague especially when it snows as we love nothing better than walking in a winter wonderland. I’m also pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my winter page too.