Violet Butterfly

Yellow and violet are colours that are prevalent in my garden at the moment with all the pretty spring flowers that are in bloom. So with a number of challenges in mind, I created this journal page using a yellow and violet colour combination, some recycled materials and a lovely new Postcard Butterfly stamp that I just couldn’t wait to use (grin!).

I started by recycling some book pages which I ripped and stuck to my page using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I used a yellow pastel coloured acrylic paint which I diluted further with white gesso and painted over the whole page varying the shade of the colour. Next I mixed some pastel purple acrylic paint with white gesso and stamped it onto the page using some recycled bubble wrap; to do this I wrapped the bubble wrap around an acrylic block which gave a stronger and cleaner stamped finish as I dipped it in the paint and applied it to the page. Next I added some leftover pieces of butterfly decoupage paper using Liquitex matte gel medium and when the gel medium was dry I outlined all the collaged pieces with a black Derwent marker. Then I stamped some Ground Espresso Distress Ink using corrugated cardboard from some packaging in a criss cross pattern and covered the whole page with splatters of white and black DecoArt acrylic paint. I stamped a Butterfly Postcard stamp from Stampendous using black Archival Ink onto a piece of yellow and white paper and also the butterfly image from the same stamp onto some purple paper that I recycled from an old notebook. I fussy cut the images out and along with some yellow leaves, a piece of recycled beige card from some packaging and a spotted purple card leftover from card making, I edged them with the Ground Espresso Distress Ink and a blending tool then stuck them onto the page using glue dots, double-sided tape and foam tape. To add some shine to the purple butterfly wings I covered the black dots with Glossy Accents. Then I added some purple flowers and metal vintage embellishments which I accessorised with some tiny yellow and violet pearls, which finished the page.

We have quite a few yellow flowers in our garden including daffodils and forsythia as well as purple crocus and hyacinths, and both of these colours can be found in these pretty pansies that are in our planters which we can see from our kitchen window.

This variety has quite big flowers, aren’t the colours of this yellow one amazing!

If you are interested, here are some fun facts about pansies:

• The pansy is a member of theViola family.
• Their name comes from the French word, pensée, which means thought or remembrance.
• Pansies are one of the oldest cultivated flowers and are also one of the most popular plants in our gardens.
• In the language of flowers, the pansy represents thoughts of lovers and in the 19th century this flower was used in love potions.
• Pansies are edible and their petals have a mint flavour; they are often added to salads and desserts.
• The flower is used as a natural dye.

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Alison/Craftytrog, who is hosting the Recycle and Collage challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I used stamps recycled from packaging and recycled book pages, packaging and leftovers to create this page!

With the stamped butterfly as my focal image and butterflies being part of the animal kingdom, I’m also happy to be able to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Animals challenge.

With the stamping I used to create this art journal page, I’m also joining in the fun at the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge and their April Challenge: Anything Goes!: (stamping MUST be included).

I’m also joining the Color Wheel! challenge over at the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge as I used a complimentary pair of colours, which are opposite each other on the colour wheel, yellow and violet to create my mixed media art journal page.

I was also inspired by Corrie’s use of book pages on her Design Team creation over at Country View Challenges so I’m also joining their Pimp It Up! (reuse or alter something) challenge.

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

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

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Aldi Script Ready Mixed Paint (Pastels – yellow, purple)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ground Espresso)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Stamps made from bubble wrap and corrugated cardboard recycled from packaging
• Stampendous Cling Rubber Stamps (Butterfly Post CRP147)
• First Edition Deco Maché Decoupage papers (Vintage Butterfly FEDEC112)
• Paper Bundle from local craft shop (Yellow and white circles)
• Recycled purple memo paper
• Recycled beige card from packaging
• Leftover purple dot card from card making
• The Handmade Paper Company (Nature’s Touch of Art)
• Wilko (Flower Embellishments) leftover pieces
• Poundworld DécoTime (Vintage Stickers 54748)
• Trimcraft (Adhesive Pearls SCDOT056)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Wilko (Sticky Dots)
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

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Nature’s Beauty

Our new challenge at Try it on Tuesday is Nature’s Beauty and the Design Team have some amazing inspiration for you, whether it is flowers, plants, animals or scenes of nature.

My art journal page today is a scene capturing the peacefulness and serenity of dragonflies over water, which for me, encapsulates nature’s beauty.

I started by painting diluted Shabby Shutters and Salty Ocean Distress Ink onto the background by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block and applying it to the page with a paintbrush to create a watercolour effect. Then I used a Distressed Dots stencil from That Special Touch of Mica Masks by Creative Expressions to apply Mowed Lawn and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks using a blending tool. I stamped some foliage using an Eco Green stamp set made from recycled rubber and a Tan Spectrum Aqua Marker. Then I added some Pébéo modelling paste using the Distressed Dot stencil to add more dimension and when the paste was dry, coloured it with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint. I fussy cut the grasses, leaves and iris from a wallpaper sample and stuck them onto the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. To add more detail and definition I doodled outlines on them with a black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball gel pen, then added some shadows using a Slate Spectrum Aqua Marker. The dragonflies are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel and I positioned them so that one is sitting on a leaf and the other is flying off into the distance. I stamped some bees from a Graphic 45 stamp set by Hampton Art using black Archival Ink and coloured them using a yellow Spectrum Aqua marker. To finish, I added two stickers with the words “peaceful” and “serenity” which I thought captured the scene; they are edged with the Tan Spectrum Aqua marker and stuck in place using double-sided tape.

As it is T for Tuesday, I’m sharing the enjoyable time that we had at the local Pavilion Café in Ashton Gardens with our friends. Ashton Gardens is a municipal park which was established in 1874, it is situated in the centre of St. Anne’s on the Sea and is a lovely place to explore with its various display gardens including the most beautiful Rose Garden. The café building is a replica of the former bowling club pavilion known as the Ashton Institute.

This café always has a yummy array of cakes to choose from …

… and there is lovely art displayed on the walls which you can buy if you want to.

As T Stands for Tuesday, maybe you would like a green tea, hot chocolate or glass of water (of course they had coffee too, sorry I forgot to take a photo of our friends selection which included a cappuccino which I know you may prefer – grin!). As well as our drinks we enjoyed a bacon butty and a slice of salted caramel cake – yum! Wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Alison/Craftytrog, who is hosting the Recycle and Collage challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the recycled rubber art stamp set and wallpaper that I collaged to create this page!

With the stamped bees that I included on my nature page, I’m pleased to join The Birds & the Bees challenge over at The Artistic Stamper.

As I used and altered the wallpaper for my page, I’m pleased to join the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Pimp it up! (reuse or alter something) challenge.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Add Some Texture challenge with all the texture I created with the Distress Inks, stencils, modelling paste and wallpaper.

With the circles that I stencilled onto my page, I’m also pleased to join the Going Round in Circles challenge over at That’s Crafty Challenge.

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

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Shabby Shutters, Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn, Chipped Sapphire)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Tan, Slate, Yellow)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Eco Green Crafts Recycled Rubber Stamps (Petal Party #04309)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Distressed Dots)
• Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Cling Mounted Rubber Stamps (Birdsong ICO151))
• Wallpaper sample – recycled
• Royal & Langnickel Tip of the Brush (Insect Collection #TIP1484 Rub-on)
• Little Yellow Bicycle Cardstock Stickers (PD-140)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Notarianni Ice Cream

We always enjoy visiting our favourite ice cream shop, Notarianni’s, for a takeaway tub of ice cream! With birthday celebrations it means that we have an extra special treat of visiting their Ice Cream Parlour for a sundae, so I created a page to celebrate our recent visit and later in the post you can even check out which yummy sundae we had too (grin!).

I started by covering the page with white napkins that I recycled from the Ice Cream parlour that we visited. I layered the napkins using Liquitex matte gel medium to cover the background quite thickly to create texture. Once the gel medium was dry I painted it with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and Pébéo white gesso. As both the paint and gesso were high density I scraped a palette knife over the top to give a smoother finish so it looked like the silky texture of the vanilla ice cream we had. Next I added some gold lacy borders on the left-hand and right-hand sides of the page and arranged some gold circles diagonally across the page, all of which are outline stickers. The green and white stripes are washi tape which I used to cover the edges of the page alongside the lacy borders, to back some of the small circles, and also to create a counter for the ice cream and bottle image to sit on which is edged with some of the gold lace border too. All of the images are fussy cut from a free leaflet from the parlour and depict the Notarianni Ice Cream history through the generations. I always enjoy reading and finding out more about the places and I often hope to recycle this sort of leaflet on my pages. I backed the images onto some white card that I recycled from some clothes packaging and stuck them over the gold circles using glue dots.

The waitress at the Ice Cream Parlour also kindly gave me some Notarianni Ice Cream stickers too, so I mounted them behind some of the gold circles, cut them to shape and added them to my collage. To finish, I used outline letter stickers to add “1928” and for the wording which is their strap-line and always makes me smile, it reads:

“You can have any flavour you like as long as its vanilla!”

Notarianni Ice Cream has a long history and dates back to 1928, as you may have guessed from the name they make Italian Ice Cream and keeping to their family tradition they sell one flavour only which is vanilla. There are a variety of ways to enjoy the ice cream, on a cone, tub, sundae, floats or milkshake and there are so many toppings to chose – sprinkles, nuts, honeycomb, sherbet, chocolate flake, toffee, chocolate or raspberry sauce. If you are interested, here’s the link to Notarianni’s website and menu. It is now run by the third and fourth generations of the family and they have a loyal following from locals and tourists who, like us, return again and again.

They close over winter and on visiting the ice cream parlour we found that it has been remodelled with a super new counter.

This time we chose a Banoffee Sundae which has slices of banana and toffee sauce served with two scoops of vanilla ice cream and is topped with whipped cream, and we also had a chocolate milkshake served in one of their cool milk bottles (grin!).

I’m sure that we will be visiting again soon (double grin!).

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to be able to join the lovely Alison/Craftytrog, who is hosting the Recycle and Collage challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the recycled materials I collaged together to create my art journal page!

As I reused and altered napkins, free leaflets, packaging and stickers to create this page, I’m pleased to join the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Pimp It Up! (reuse or alter something) challenge.

I’m happy to be able to join the Simply Neutrals Tuesday party again over at Apple Apricot with my vanilla ice cream page (grin!).

I’m also happy to join the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Add some Texture challenge with my ice cream textured background.

With the circles I added to my page, I’m pleased to join in the fun over  at That’s Crafty Challenge and their Going Round in Circles challenge.

This page also fits our Recycle Something challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, I hope to see you there!

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

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

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Recyled napkins
• Recycled leaflet
• White card recycled from packaging
• Notarianni Ice Cream stickers
• Anita’s Outline Stickers (Sew Retro Gold ANT810136)
• Starform Outline Stickers (Circles Gold 1144)
• Outline Stickers (Alphabet Gold)
• Docrafts Papermania Patterned Craft Tape (Capsule Collection – Spots and Stripes Festive PMA462302)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• Wilko (Sticky Dots)

Recycle Something

Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday for the next two weeks is Recycle Something and the design team have created some amazing inspirational projects, so please pop over and take a look.  I hope you will join us as I’m looking forward to seeing all of your recycled creations!

I always have lots of different bits and pieces to recycle in my craft stash so I decided to create an art journal page using recycled packaging, a birthday card insert, magazines, postage stamps, tags, a doily and some buttons.

I started by applying some Dark Sepia Big Brush marker by scribbling the ink onto an acrylic block and using a wet stiff-bristled paintbrush to apply it to the page creating faint lines of colour. I added a piece of bordered paper recycled from a birthday card to the right-hand of the page and then for the first layer of collage, I used some pieces of an old music magazine and box packaging which included an international postage document, some brown strapping tape which had threads running through it and brown corrugated cardboard. I tore these items into pieces and like all the collaged items they are edged with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker and stuck them to the page using a UHU Stic. I also used the threads of the brown strapping tape to add texture by fanning them out on the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium to hold them in place. I arranged them with three British postage stamps, from 1973 and 1974, which I recycled from my hubby’s childhood collection; they were already on torn envelopes which I left as part of the collage so they are exactly the same as my hubby left them as a child which makes them even more special to me. Next I added lines of white and black DecoArt acrylic paint using a recycled gift card to add some depth and interest. The second layer of collage consisted of some more of the brown strapping tape and some turquoise speckled paper from a magazine which I cut into rectangles and layered onto the page. Then I covered the whole page with splatters of white and black DecoArt acrylic paint. The letters are cut from various magazines and once the glue had dried I edged them with a black Derwent Graphik pen. I then added recycled tags from some bath towels, clothing and a birthday present; I adorned the tag holes with some recycled metal press studs which still had cotton threads attached and then I stuck them to the page using either double-sided tape or double-sided foam tape. For the central tag, I used a recycled doily that was used to serve some after dinner mints on from a restaurant we went to; it is torn into quarters and stuck to one of the brown tags, and the butterfly and torn brown card with the metal brad is recycled from a birthday gift tag. To finish, I added the buttons which are recycled from the button stash that I have accumulated from different clothing over the years.

Being Easter this weekend we received a couple of lovely Easter eggs from family, so I used them to make these Easter chocolate nests by melting the chocolate eggs and using it to cover Rice Crispy cereal, then filling each of the nests with homemade chocolate fudge icing and some chocolate mini eggs, chocolate covered raisins and tiny marshmallows – so yummy!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our cup of green tea and chocolate nests that we’ve been having for our elevenses and wishing you all a Happy T Day! I apologise in advance as I’ll probably be late visiting you as it’s my birthday today so we have a few celebrations planned, which I’ll be sure to share with you soon (grin!).

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Alison/Craftytrog, who is hosting the Recycle and Collage challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my recycled collage art journal page!

As I reused materials to create this page, I’m pleased to join the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Pimp It Up! (reuse or alter something) challenge.

I’m happy to be able to join the Simply Neutrals Tuesday party again over at Apple Apricot where a splash of colour is acceptable so I do hope my page of neutrals with the blue is ok.

I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

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

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

• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia B 175)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.3mm)
• Recycled Birthday card – paper insert
• Recycled packaging box – document, strapping tape, corrugated box
• Old magazines – music, letters, turquoise splattered paper
• Postage Stamps (British 4.5p from 1973 and two x 6.5p from 1974) – recycled from hubby’s childhood collection
• Recycled Tags – towels, clothing, birthday with butterfly and brad
• Doily recycled from restaurant
• Recycled Metal Press Studs with cotton threads from clothing they were removed from
• Buttons
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Happy Easter

As it is Easter this weekend I was inspired to create an art journal page to wish all of you who celebrate – a very Happy Easter!

I started by applying diluted Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink to the page by stamping the pad onto an acrylic block and picking the ink up with a wet paintbrush. Then I sprinkled on some Leaf Green Colourfast Brusho powder and spritzed it with water to watch the colours burst onto the page. I used a stencil by Dutch Doobadoo Masks to add a dot design using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and a circle design using Mustard Seed Distress Ink. I also added Picked Raspberry Distress Ink using a star stencil from Creative Stencils and then stamped a Script stamp by Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink. Next I edged the page with the Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink and a blending tool and splattered the whole page with white and black DecoArt acrylic paint. The eggs and flowers are made from felt and are stuck to the page using a UHU glue pen and glue dots. I drew lines on the page for the stems and then covered them with either strips of black gems or black border Glitterations stickers. I also added some little black flower stickers and the words “smile” and “fun” which are stickers from Sandylion Sticker Designs and stamped some leaves from Hampton Art using black Archival Ink. To finish, I fussy cut a “Happy Easter” banner which I recycled from an advertising leaflet, backed it with white card, edged it with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck it to the page using double-sided tape.

Continuing the Easter theme, here are some of the little chicks and eggs that are adorning my seasonal window (grin!)

There are about 24 chicks adorning the branches – aren’t they cute!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Happy Easter so I’m pleased to join in the fun and wish you all a Happy Easter!

I’m pleased to be able to join the lovely Rosie from Rosie’s Bastelwelt who is hosting the Spring challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my colourful springtime Easter page.

I enjoyed using stamping and stencilling to create this page so I’m also happy to join the Stencils & Masks challenge over at The Artistic Stamper.

I’m also joining the Use a stencil and Three Mediums challenge over at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge as I used stencils and at least three mediums which included Distress Inks, Brushos and Acrylic paints to create my Happy Easter page.

I’m also joining the Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday challenge as I used a fun inking technique layering the different Distress Inks using stencils and a blending tool to create my colourful Easter art journal page.

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

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Spiced Marmalade, Peacock Feathers, Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry)
• Colourcraft Brusho Colours (Leaf Green)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Dutch Doobadoo Dutch Mask Art A5 (Geometric Tiles)
• Creative Stencils Craft Essentials (MAOB0004 – Stars)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Script CS752)
• Hampton Art Bella Blvd cling mounted rubber stamps (Surf & Turf ICO226
• Advertising leaflet
• White card
• Poundland (Design Gems 175751)
• Docrafts Papermania Glitterations Stickers (Black Border ANT8181015)
• Sandylion Sticker Designs Kelly Panacci (Stitches & Borders KSCB102)
• Aldi (Easter Collection Bonnet Accessories 25099751)
• Home Bargains (Decorative Sticks 38352)
• Wilko (Sticky Dots)
• UHU Glue Pen
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Pretty Snowdrops

The snowdrops flowering in our garden always make me think of spring so in order to remember one of the first flowers of the year and also the beautiful displays we have seen at Lytham Hall of late, I was inspired to create this snowdrop art journal page.

I started this page by covering it with squares of decoupage paper using Liquitex matte gel medium. Once dry I edged the squares with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and smudged it with my finger. Then I stamped some postage marks and text using black Archival Ink and covered the whole page with green paint that I had mixed from Liquitex Christmas Green acrylic paint with some black and white DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic paints. Once the paint was dry I rubbed and removed some of the paint using a baby wipe to give the page a worn look and then covered the whole page with PVA Glue to brighten the green colour and give it a glossy finish. Next I added some Pébéo white gesso with my finger and stencilled a doily image by Craft Sensations using a Bud Green Spectrum Aqua marker. I stamped a doily image using white DecoArt acrylic paint by applying the paint to the stamp using a brayer making sure that I washed the stamp immediately afterwards so the paint did not ruin the stamp by drying onto it. Then I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush. With the background complete, I added a white lace border on the left hand side of the page which is an outline sticker, a pretty circular bird sticker from Docrafts and some black button letters which spell out the word “Snowdrop”. I die cut some brown paper which I recycled from a notebook using a Spellbinders die set and my Big Shot die cutting machine and arranged them onto the page with: a white doily by Dovecraft which is stuck down using a UHU Stic; a snowdrop image that I fussy cut from an old book of garden flowers and stuck into place using a Zig Memory System glue pen; text from the same book about snowdrops which I mounted on white and black card using double-sided tape; and finally a “S” alphabet letter sticker again mounted on white and black card.

If you are interested, here’s a close up of the text I included on my page.

This is one of the small clumps of snowdrops in our back garden before the snow came this week (grin!).

We went to see the snowdrop displays again at Lytham Hall this year, which have now almost finished and although they didn’t seem to be as bountiful this year the displays were still very beautiful. Here I am on a cold sunny day last week amongst the pretty snowdrops. I’m well wrapped up against the cold, do you like my new winter hat with its two bobbles or pom poms (grin!).

You may remember the amazing displays of snowdrops at Lytham Hall that I posted last year, so if you would like to see more of these pretty snowdrops please take a look my post here.

I so enjoyed reading the different stories associated with how the snowdrop flower came to be that I thought I would share a couple of them with you:

• Garden of Eden: When Eve was cast out of the Garden of Eden, continuous snow covered the earth leaving it cold and barren. The angel, who appeared to comfort Eve, caught a snowflake and breathed upon it. The snowflake fluttered to the earth and gave birth to the snowdrop which later came to symbolize hope and rebirth.
• German Legend: With the creation of snow, God tasked it with visiting the flowers of the earth to gather colours. Seeing that the gentle snowdrop was a kind and generous soul, the snow agreed to allow the snowdrop to bloom first every spring in exchange for her colour. So white snowdrops can be seen flowering amongst the snow each spring.

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Rosie from Rosie’s Bastelwelt who is hosting the Spring challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my snowdrop page!

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Think of Spring so I’m pleased to join this challenge too!

I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their In My Garden challenge with this snowdrop art journal page.

I’m also joining the Use a stencil and Three Mediums challenge over at The Mixed Media Challenge as I used a doily stencil and at least three mediums which included Spectrum Aqua marker, acrylic paints and Memento Ink to create my page.

I’m also pleased to be able to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page.

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

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

• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Christmas Green)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Cottage Green)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Bud Green)
• Prima Marketing Clear Stamps (Rossi Belle 587499)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Script CS752)
• Dovecraft Curiosity Corner Clear Stamps (A5 Lace & Doile DCCS009)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Spellbinders Die Set (Unknown)
• Viva Gade Decoupage Paper (Skagen 25561)
• Trimcraft (Decoupage Papers SCDEC064)
• Recycled brown paper from old notebook
• Oxford Book of Garden Flowers
• White card
• Dovecraft Paper Doilies (Painted Blooms DCDLS010)
• Docrafts Papermania Label Stickers (Botanicals PMA157234)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Delicate Lace Borders ANT8101510)
• Home Bargains (Love Letters 22738)
• PSX Designs for Creativity Stickers (Florentine Alphabet Green SR6042)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Everbuild 501 Universal PVA Bond
• UHU Stic
• Docraft Stick It! double-sided tape

Watching the Sunset

As you may be aware we love walking along our local beach and on one late afternoon we saw the most spectacular sunset. The colours of the clouds were so amazing that I was inspired to use the yellows and different shades of pink to create today’s page.

For the background I used Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed Distress Inks; first by applying the ink pad to an acrylic block, diluting with water and applying the diluted ink to the page with a blending tool and then by using the blending tool to add the ink directly from the ink pad to build up areas of colour in cloud like patterns. Then I dripped water onto the page which reactivated the ink so I could remove it with a piece of kitchen towel. I used the same Distress Inks to stamp a circle and heart stamp design from Sugarloaf Inc. Next I created a circle stencil and stamped a splatter stamp, from Gummiapan, through it using black Archival Ink. Then using the same black ink I added a dot stamp by Art Impressions and a series of images from an Urban Stamp set which included small hearts, the word love and zigzag faux stitching. I also splattered black and white DecoArt acrylic paint over the page using a paintbrush. I added a glittery pink heart foam sticker as it was quite romantic watching the sun go down, and also a polka dot yellow bird as we often see birds on our walks along the beach. Then to finish, I added some wooden flowers which are stuck into place using Glossy Accents and finally some rhinestone flower stickers.

Here’s the sunset that inspired my page, isn’t it stunning! The beauty of the sunset was captivating; it looked so magical that it didn’t look real. I snapped this picture using my phone and we stayed quite a while, despite the cold, watching the sun go down (grin!).

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join Rike from rike’s art who is hosting the Animals A-Z challenge over at Art Journal Journey, as B is for Bird on my sunset page!

With the stamping I used to create this art journal page, I’m pleased to join the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge and their February Challenge: Anything Goes!: (stamping MUST be included).

As I created my art journal page with love to remember the romantic sunset we watched, I’m also joining the Valentine’s challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

I’m also joining the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge and their Photo Inspiration challenge as I used the LOVE, pink colour, hearts and fabric influence from the heart designs on my page.

I’m also pleased to join the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which is It Must Be Love, with my romantic sunset inspired page.

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

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Sugarloaf Inc. Anita’s wood-mounted stamp (26645)
• Gummiapan Stamp (A lot of Splats 11050106)
• Docrafts Papermania Urban Stamp (Craft Collections – Pastels PMA907223)
• Woodware Craft Collection Francoise Collection Stamp Set (Flower Style Wood Set FRSWS003)
• Home Bargains (Foam Sticker Shapes 57884)
• Craft  for Occasions (C2026)
• White card
• The Works (Craft Flowers)
• The Works (Rhinestone Flower Stickers)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• UHU Stic