Make a Rainbow

Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday for the next 2 weeks is Make a Rainbow.

For my art journal page, I created a rainbow coloured background of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet with matching die cut flowers. I hope that you are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

For the rainbow background, I painted Kuretake Watercolour paints in the vertical panels onto the page. I did this by applying water to the page first and then adding Red, Cadmium Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, Sap Green Light, Ultramarine, Indigo and Cobalt Violet watercolour paint over the top. Then I splattered the page using white and also black acrylic paint and when dry, I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer to push back the bright rainbow colours into the background more. The different flowers were die cut using three sets of Wildflower Thinlits from Tim Holtz; they were cut from coloured papers and also white cardstock. I layered the coloured and white flower die cuts together so they were slightly off centre and then I arranged them onto the page using a Zig glue pen. The letters for the “rainbow” wording were created the same way using a Docrafts Alphabet die cut set which finished the page.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful Make a Rainbow creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!).

It’s always magical seeing rainbows and whilst creating this page it reminded me of this one; taken through my craft room window last year.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m saying a big welcome to the T Gang and sharing my cuppa with one of my yummy birthday cupcakes that I made (it’s a sponge cake filled with vanilla buttercream and jam then topped with the icing) – wishing you a very 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:

• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Red, Cadmium Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, Sap Green Light, Ultramarine, Indigo, Cobalt Violet)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Brayer (Small Roller)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Wildflowers #1 66190, Wildflower # 2 661808, Wildflower Stems #3 665221)
• Leon X-Large Coloured Paper Pad
• White Cardstock
• Zig Memory System 2-way Glue Pen – Chisel Tip
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Cut Set (Folk Alphabet)

Challenges As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are: Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – she is greatly missed! I’m so pleased to be able to remember her by joining AJJ with my pages this month which was inspired by rainbow wishes (grin!). MIUCB#48 – Anything Goes + optional No Stamping challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my rainbow page which contains no stamping. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Not a Card challenge with my rainbow art journal page.

Hello Spring

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Hello Spring.

With all the bird activity in our garden, it feels like spring is finally here so my page design includes blue skies, birdsong and nesting birds. I hope you’re inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by adding some drops of Speckled Egg Distress Ink, from a re-inker bottle, and then spreading them over the page using an old plastic gift card. When dry, I applied some white gesso over the top using a brayer and then I splattered the page with the Speckled Egg ink. Next I added the birds, foliage and sheet music which were from some Aviary Collage Paper by Tim Holtz; they were stuck in place using a glue stick. I splattered some black DecoArt acrylic paint over background and left it to dry, and then I stamped a documented stamp from Tim Holtz using Vintage Photo Distress Archival Ink. The large “nest and eggs” panel, the nest image in the top left-hand corner, the row of alphabet letters and the fussy cut letters making up the “Hello Spring” wording were all Poster Cards from Tim Holtz. I edged them all using the Vintage Photo ink and they were stuck in place using double-sided tape. To finish, I added a Clippings sticker from Tim Holtz which reads “The pretty little birds chirped”.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful Hello Spring creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, today we are enjoying our cuppa with some homemade chocolate crispy nests – wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

I always make these chocolate treats this time of year; they are Rice Crispies covered with chocolate, filled with a chocolate fudge icing and topped with mini marshmallows, chocolate covered raisins and mini chocolate eggs – yum!

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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Re-Inker (Speckled Egg)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Aviary #TH93706)
• Pritt Stick
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Documented CMS226)
• Tim Holtz Distress Archival Ink (Vintage Photo)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape and foam tape
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Book (Clippings #TH94030)

Challenges As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are: Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #140 – Anything Goes with my Hello Spring page. LTSCB #143 – Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Spring page. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog and their Spring/Easter Mood Board challenge as I included with the eggs and blue skies on my page. MIUCB #47 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Inlaid Die Cut challenge over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques I used to create this spring page. Easter/Spring challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my Hello Spring art journal page.

Oh, what a beautiful day

Inspired by the warm, sunny days we’ve been enjoying lately, I created this sunshiny page to say “Oh, what a beautiful day!”

This page was created in my mini chipboard art journal using some leftovers, recycling and lots of washi tapes which I don’t seem to use that often.

I started by covering the background with pieces of blue and green washi tapes to create the blue sunshiny sky and green grassy foreground. When it was completely covered, I applied a thin layer of Liquitex matte gel medium to hold all the washi tapes in place and left it to dry.

To mute the background colours, I applied some white gesso over the top using a brayer and when dry, I differentiated between the sky and foreground using a black Faber-Castell marker which I smudged with my finger. Next I drew and cut the flower pieces from some sheet music and stuck them into place, like all the paper elements, using Liquitex matte gel medium. The centre of the flower was created using a couple of beads which were recycled from an old necklace and stuck in place using Ranger Glossy Accents. The hearts were leftovers; they were created using a Falling Hearts Thinlits set from Tim Holtz and some cardstock that was coloured using Fired Brick and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. The wording was a sticker from Kaisercraft and all the paper elements were outlined using a black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I stamped the circles using some recycled cardboard tubes and white DecoArt acrylic paint.

I’m really enjoying creating these smaller journal pages and I love that these chipboard pages are made from recycled paper too. The chipboard makes the pages very sturdy so they stand up beautifully making them easy to display. As T Stands for Tuesday, here’s my drink of cranberry juice mixed with water that I enjoyed whilst crafting – Happy T Day everyone!  

Hoping 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:

• Docrafts Papermania Bare Basics  Chipboard Album (Square 15x15cm)
• Assorted blue and green washi tapes
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo white gesso
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• Sheet Music
• Recycled old necklace
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Leftover hearts (Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Set – Falling Hearts 664415, White cardstock, Distress Ink – Fired Brick, Picked Raspberry)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Golden Grove SS343)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic Paint (White)
• Recycled cardboard tubes

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today, they are: The lovely Sheila’s Single Flower challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the single flower that I created for my mini page (15x15cm). Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #140 – Anything Goes with my mini art journal page. LTSCB #143 – Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my washi tape stamped page. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Whatever the Weather challenge with my beautiful day page.

Pretty in Pink

I’m still having fun recycling and using leftovers to create my art journal pages, so today I’m sharing one that I created using a pretty pink flower image that I recycled from an old magazine.

I started by covering the page with white acrylic paint and then I added the text using my favourite Script stamp by Kaisercraft and black Archival Ink. Next I arranged the recycled flower image and some pieces of black design paper using a glue stick. I applied some white gesso using a brayer to the black paper pieces to push them into the background more. The wording were Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz; they read “there is beauty in simplicity”, “find the beautiful” and “always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder”. To finish, I added the pink gemstones to add some sparkle.

Although this is a different flower, the spiky petals of the flower on my page reminded me of the mesembryanthemum flowers that we have in our garden each year. My family have nicknamed these flowers “pretties” and as we grow them from seed we will start propagating them this month – yay!

Hoping 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:

• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic Paint (White)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Script CS752)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Recycled image from old magazine
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Travel Memories 154898)
• Pébéo white gesso
• Ranger (Mini Brayer Roller)
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Hobbycraft Gem Stones (Rose 5666091006)

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today, they are: The lovely Sheila’s Single Flower challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the single flower image that I added to my page. Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #139 – Picture Inspiration as the flower image on my page resembles the succulent’s shape on their picture. LTSCB #143 – Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my stamped and collaged art journal page. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Recycle challenge as my flower image was recycled from a magazine.

Enjoy the journey

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges where I’m sharing this mini art journal page as my second project for this month’s Silhouettes challenge.

I’m enjoying my new creative journey at Country View Challenges and this page is to celebrate and thank you for all your support and kind comments last month (grin!). I used lots of Tim Holtz products to create this page including the new Wildflower Stems #3 Thinlits set for the delicate flower silhouettes.

 I started by covering the chipboard background with a couple of coats of white gesso and then I created the circles by applying Ranger Crackle Texture Paste through a stencil from a Sun and Moons Template & Stencil set, and then left it to dry overnight. Next I used the corresponding templates and applied Fossilized Amber Distress Ink around the circles and then some Hickory Smoke Distress Ink using a blending tool. To fix the background colours I painted some clear gesso over the top of the inks. When dry, I edged the page using a black Faber-Castell marker smudging the ink with my finger and then I splattered the page using DecoArt black acrylic paint. To continue the grungy look, I applied some Specimen rub-on transfers from Tim Holtz over the background and then I splattered the page with DecoArt white acrylic paint.

The silhouette flowers were die cut using Wildflower Stems #3 Thinlits set from some textured polka dot paper from Tim Holtz. I coloured them using a black Faber-Castell marker and then I stuck them in place using gel medium.

To finish, I added the wording which was a Quote Chip from Tim Holtz. 

I hope that you are enjoying our Silhouettes challenge over at Country View Challenges too; it would be lovely to see you there, and if you do join us then you may have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts website too (grin!).

This is the view from our house; it was taken when the moon was particularly low in the sky and it reminded me of my page (grin!).

I’m also joining the T Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday with my cuppa which I’m enjoying a Coffee Renoir; this is choux pastry filled with pastry cream and whipped cream, and covered in coffee icing – so yummy!

Hoping that you are 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 mini art journal page:

• 665221 – Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 5PK – Wildflower Stems #3 By Tim Holtz
• 659765 Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit (White & Gray)
• Ranger Texture Paste Opaque Crackle 3.9 Fl Oz (116 Ml)
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Fossilized Amber
• TH94047 Tim Holtz® Idea-Ology™ – Remnant Rubs Specimen
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke)
• Circle Masks alternative for Suns and Moon Template & Stencil Set
• Docrafts Papermania (Mini Chipboard Album 15x15cm)
• Pébéo White and Clear Gesso
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• DecoArt Acrylic (Black, White)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Quote Chips #TH93563)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the Beautiful Blossoms challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with all my silhouette flowers page. I’m joining the Anything Goes challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog with my vintage silhouette page. I’m also joining the Art Journal challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge too with my mini art journal page. I’m also joining the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their MIUCB #47 – Anything Goes + Inlaid Die Cut challenge with the background techniques I used to create this page.

Just Breathe

This year we have been spring cleaning and decluttering all the rooms in our house. So I’ve been left with sorting through some old magazines to select any images that I want to recycle on my art journal pages. This page was created using a couple of those images and some leftover bits and pieces sitting on my craft desk.

I started by painting the background with a thin layer of Burnt Sienna Liquitex Acrylic paint and left it to dry. Then I stamped some crackle texture over the top using a BoBunny stamp and some Vintage Photo Distress Archival Ink. Next I arranged the magazine images onto the page with some leftover papers that were sitting on my craft desk; they were all edged using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and then stuck down using a glue stick and some Liquitex matte gel medium. To finish, I added some metal discs which were recycled from an old necklace and also the wording which was from a Finnabair sticker book and reads “The quieter you become, the more you hear” and “Just breathe”; I thought these words related perfectly to the way that I’ve been feeling as a result of decluttering our rooms.

So here’s the pile of leftovers that were sitting on my craft desk from previous projects and the recycled images from the magazine that inspired this page. As you can see I didn’t use everything shown; it seems my pile of leftovers never seems to get smaller, does that happen to you too? (grin!).

Like art journaling, it’s been very cathartic decluttering the house and although the rooms are tidy and organised, I still have this pile of magazines to sort through; this is about half of what I had originally (double grin!).

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:

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint (Burnt Sienna)
• BoBunny Clear Stamps (Rough It Up #12105155)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Vintage Photo)
• Leftovers paper pieces (Stamperia – Forest Papers, Sheet Music, American Crafts Paper – DIY Shop, The Works Paperstack – Vintage Experience, die cut flower – Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Wildflower Stems #3)
• Recycled magazine images
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ground Espresso)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Recycled necklace
• Finnabair Sticker Sheets (Sentiments #964849)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the recycled metal discs from an old necklace that I used as part of my design. I’m so happy to join the Mostly Neutrals challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog with the neutral colours, images and papers that I used to create this page. I’m pleased to join the Anything But A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my art journal page. I’m happy to join Paperbabe Stamps and their #138 – Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page too. I’m also pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Just Breathe art journal page too. I’m also joining in the fun over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog and their LTCCB#55 – February Anything Goes challenge with the recycled and leftovers designed art journal page.

Miss You

Today’s page was created in memory of my dearest friend; I found myself thinking of her as it was her birthday this week. She passed away two year’s ago after battling ovarian cancer, she was a shining light and I miss her very much!

I started by painting some gold metallic paint over the background and then I stamped a Serpentine stamp from Art Impressions using the same paint and some Black Soot Distress Ink. I recycled one of the papers that I had tested inks and stamps on; this time the paper had black and gold stamping on it so I cut it into pieces and stuck them into place using a glue stick.

I edged paper pieces and also the page using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker smudging the ink with my finger which was fun. All the different words were added using rub-on transfers and I arranged some gold sparkly flower and circle Glitterations stickers which added some lovely texture and finished the page.  

Thinking of my dear friend bought back so many happy memories; here she is, on the far left, the year before she passed when we were celebrating our friend’s wedding (grin!).

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:

• Poundland Metallic Acrylic Paint (Gold)
• Art Impressions Wood Mounted Stamp (Serpentine Background T2773)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
• Old paper pieces with gold and black stamping
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• UHU Stic
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Spring Sentiments #ROY506, Motivate Sentiments #ROY510)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Tiny Text #TH93695)
• Docrafts Papermania Glitterations (Gold Flowers ANT8181020, Gold Circle Frames ANT8181028)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the gold elements on this page. I’m joining the LTSCB #142 – Love is … remembering dearest friends so I’m joining the Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Miss You art journal page. I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Add Some Texture challenge with the texture from stamping the acrylic paint and Glitterations stickers. I’m also pleased to join the Favourite Technique challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, as collage and edging the paper pieces by smudging ink with my finger are some of my favourite techniques. I’m happy to join Paperbabe Stamps and their #138 – Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page too.

It’s cold, let’s cuddle

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Oh So Cute.

These really cute owls were recycled from a Christmas card and with all the cold weather we’ve been having of late they are sat in a snowy wonderland. I thought the wording was cute too, it reads “It’s cold, let’s cuddle”.

I hope you’ll join us with your cute creations too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by colouring the background using Bluebird Wendy Vecchi Blendable Ink from Ranger. When dry, I splattered the page with white acrylic paint and left it to dry.

It’s one of my goals this year to recycle and use up any leftovers from previous pages, so I was pleased to recycle these cute owls which were fussy cut from the Christmas card and stuck into place using a glue stick. I arranged them with some white foliage die cuts that were leftover from last year’s Happy January page. The foliage was decorated using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker, a silver metallic pen, some Icicle Stickles from Ranger and also some Inkylicious Fluffy Puffy Stuff which added the lovely texture. The Fluffy Puffy Stuff was a fun product to use as it’s applied and then heated with a heat gun which turns it all puffy and 3-dimensional. The snowflakes were leftover too, having been previously die cut from different patterned papers and white cardstock; they were arranged onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium.

For more Oh So Cute inspiration, please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies (grin!).

So far this month, it’s been cold and we’ve had quite a few snow flurries; I was surprised one morning to find it snowing so I took this photo out of my craft room window – brrrr!

As T Stands for Tuesday and it’s cold outside, I’m sharing our hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows, and also some yummy lebkuchen – 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.

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

• Ranger Wendy Vecchi Blendable Ink (Bluebird)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Recycled Christmas Card
• Pritt Stick
• Leftover foliage pieces – Sizzix Thinlits Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206, Holiday Greens 658759, Woodlands 660978), White cardstock, Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233), Script Metallic Pen (Silver), Ranger Stickles (Icicles), Inkylicious (Fluffy Puffy Stuff)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Leftover Snowflakes – Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Paper Snowflakes Mini 661599), Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (falling Snowflakes 1792e), The Works (Cutting Dies – Snowflake Garland), Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE), White Cardstock, Poundland Design Paper Pad (Purple Swirls)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Challenges I’m pleased to join the Add Some Texture challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the snowy 3D texture on my page. I’m joining LTCCB #55 – February Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my cute page. I’m also joining in the fun over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog and their LTSCB #145 – Love is … all about cuddling your partner when it’s cold as I’ve depicted here on this cute owl page.

May all your wishes come true

It’s time for our first challenge of the year over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, this is a monthly challenge and as always the theme is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I had fun creating this mixed media page using my favourite Frost Fairy stamp from Paperbabe Stamps; she seems to be casting a spell – may all your wishes come true!

I started by applying black DecoArt acrylic paint to the edges of the page and blending it towards the centre. When dry, I applied the gold stars over the top using Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad, a Sparkles stencil by Tim Holtz and Gold Ranger embossing powder. The centre of the page was coloured using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the wording was created using foam letter stickers.

The Frost Fairy from Paperbabe Stamps was stamped using black Archival Ink onto some mixed media paper. Then I coloured her using Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers; the dress was coloured using Green Turquoise Blend, the ribbon using Yellow Gold Blend, her hair using Dark Red Blend, her skin using a Fair Skin Blend marker, her lips using Pale Pink Blend, her eyes using True Blue Blend and her wings using Iced Grey Blend. I also added more detail using a black Uni Pin fine line marker and white Uniball gel pen. Then I cut her out and added the Gold Ranger embossing powder using a Versamark Watermark Pen to create the stars. She was stuck in place using a glue stick which finished the page.

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

I was reminded of this beautiful glass angel that we bought when we visited Prague, there is room to place a tealight behind her and being made from glass she looks so delicate and pretty (grin!).

I hope that you are 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 all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Sparkles THS132)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Ranger Embossing Powder (Gold)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (MLD Frost Fairy)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Noir TriBlend Markers (Green Turquoise Blend, Yellow Gold Blend, Dark Red Blend, Fair Skin Blend, Pale Pink Blend, True Blue Blend, Iced Grey Blend)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Pen)
• Pritt Stick
• Simply Creative Alphabet & Number Stickers (Glitter SCSTK025)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the golden stars that I included on my page. I’m pleased to be able to join the Groundhog Day over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I couldn’t resist using my Frost Fairy stamp and TriBlends again (you may remember on my Believe page that I created last month) and of course the background may look familiar too, it’s from an ATC that I created in December, I just had to create it on a bigger scale (grin!). I’m also pleased to join the #136 – Patterns challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the pattern of stencilled stars on my page. I’m also joining MIUCB #46 – Anything Goes + Fancy Fold over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different techniques I used; I’m still perfecting my colouring and blending techniques using the TriBlend markers.

Frosty Winter

As we live by the sea we don’t get many frosty mornings, but we have seen both frost and snow this month which inspired this frosty winter page.  

I started by recycling a piece of kitchen towel which I had used to mop up blue inks by tearing it into pieces and sticking them in place using some Liquitex matte gel medium; I used the wet gel medium to reactivate the inks which gave some of the white areas a slight bluish tinge. Next I arranged the pretty blue flower images and wording which were from a Paper Collection by Craft Sensations; the wording reads “A beautiful thing is never perfect”.

I continued the frosty theme by adding some glittery silver snowflakes, some Silver Ranger Stickles and also some round blue gems using Ranger Glossy Accents which finished the page.

As we walked along the promenade by the beach, we were surprised to still see a thick frost still lingering in the shadows behind the wall. The jagged edges inspired me to arrange the square corners of the images/wording diagonally across the page.

The flower and plant images that I included on my page were inspired by the frosty silhouette of the palm tree that we found on the slate in our front garden one morning – so amazing (grin!).

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:

• Recycled kitchen towel that was used to mop up Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray (After Midnight), Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Speckled Egg) , DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Docrafts Create Christmas Glitterations (Snowflakes – Silver PMA818917)
• Hobbycraft Decorative Embellishments (Blue Round Gems)
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge this month as seeing the snow and frost is always one of my favourite things I’m so pleased to join the Squares Challenge at Country View Challenges with the square of wording on my page. I’m happy to join The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog and their So Delicate challenge with the delicate wispy edges of the kitchen roll background and pretty snowflakes. I’m also joining the Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the frosty background I created. I’m pleased to join the MITCB #45 – Anything Goes + Bleaching challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my frosty page too. I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their We’re On A Roll challenge with the round blue gems on my page. Don’t forget that you still have over a week to join our Winter Blues challenge at Try it on Tuesday too; it would be lovely to see you there!