Summer

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday and for the next two weeks our challenge theme is Here Comes Summer.

I had fun creating the summer scenes on this art journal page; I hope you like it too (grin!).

I started by sprinkling the page with some Yellow and Lemon Colourcraft Brusho powders and then I spritzed the powders with water to disperse the colours over the page. I also splattered the two diluted Brushos colours around the edges of the page. For the silhouettes, I used stickers arranging the different elements together to create the summer scenes; for the boy fishing I added the flowers to the pre-cut silhouette and the flower scene was created from scratch using some flower heads, flower centres, foliage and grass stickers taking quite some time to put together. I added a zig-zag sticker along the bottom of each of the scenes and some rub-on transfers for the wording. To finish, I splattered the page with tiny flecks of black DecoArt acrylic paint.

The colours on my page reminded me of these pretty cat mugs that we saw in a local kitchen store; don’t you just love their expressions and the little bird that is perched on the end of their tails (grin!). I’m sharing these with the T Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday as I think Bleubeard and Squiggles will love them too – wishing everyone a very Happy T Day!

I hope that you’re staying well and enjoying your Summer so far!

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

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Mia who has chosen Fish as her theme as there is a little fish that the boy has caught on his fishing line on my page.

I’m pleased to join Paperbabe Stamps and their #170 – Anything Goes challenge with my summer page.

Stars shine

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing this art journal page as inspiration for this month’s Seeing Stars challenge.

I started by covering the page with white gesso and then added a layer of Bronze Distress Paint. When dry, I used a baby wipe to remove some of the Distress Paint giving the background a grungy distressed look. Next I used an AALL & Create Sparkles stamp set to stamp the starbursts using Elderberry Memento Ink and the Bronze Distress Paint. To finish the background, I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint. The owl panel and wording were cut from a Cosmos Stamperia paper pad and I die cut the stars from the paper using a Snowy Stars Thinlits set by Tim Holtz.

I hope you are inspired to join our Seeing Stars challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts.

The owl on my page reminded me of the one we saw on a walk at Glasson Dock; it was such a surprise to see this Little Owl sitting in the tree looking right at us – we were so lucky that day (smile!).

I hope that you’re staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to join Paperbabe Stamps and their #170 – Anything Goes challenge with my starry page.

Seeing Stars

It’s time for our new challenge this month over at Country View Challenges which is being hosted by the lovely Sue whose theme is Seeing Stars; we would like to see stars as the main focus of your projects please.

For my page I used some lovely AALL & Create stamps to create this starry page.

I started by covering the chipboard page with black DecoArt acrylic paint and left it to dry, then I added some white acrylic paint over the top allowing the black paint to show through a little. Next I stamped the stars using Peeled Paint, Barn Door and Fossilized Amber Ranger Distress Archival Inks and then I covered them in complimentary WOW! embossing powders. I used the same stamp set to add the numbers using black Archival Ink and also splattered the page with the Inks and some of the black acrylic paint. To finish, I added the wording “Shine like the stars” and “Shine brightly” which were from a Metallic Sticker Book by Tim Holtz.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

Here’s the stamp set, ink pads, embossing powders and sticker book that I used to create my page; the shimmer and shine looks amazing close up (smile!).

I hope you’ll join us, it would be lovely to see you there and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the Country View Crafts shop! Before you enter, please read the rules!

Wishing you a happy June and I hope that you’re staying safe and well! x

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

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #168 – Anything Goes challenge with my freesia page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes theme with my starry page.

Butterflies

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

I had so much fun creating this butterfly page using the huge Perspective Butterfly Thinlits Die by Tim Holtz – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the page using Mustard Seed and Scattered Straw Distress Inks and then I stencilled a Herringbone stencil by Paperbabe Stamps using Black Soot Distress Ink. Next I added the script and numbers to the background using an Etcetera Stamp Set by Tim Holtz and black Archival Ink, and then I applied some white acrylic paint through a hexagon stencil by Creative Expressions. The butterflies were die cut from some white cardstock using the Perspective Butterfly Thinlits Die from Tim Holtz. I coloured them using the Mustard Seed Distress Ink and Villainous Potion Distress Paint and when dry, they were stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. To finish, I added the wording “Be gentle with yourself” which was from a Sentiments Sticker Book by Finnabair.

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

My friend very kindly gifted me this delicious Ginger, Turmeric and Lemon Tea which I’m sharing today as T Stands for Tuesday – Happy T Day everyone!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #167 – Anything Goes challenge with my butterfly page.

MIUCB #59 Anything Goes + Optional 3-D Project over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different techniques that I used to create this mixed media page

Texture challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the texture that I created using the stencils in the background and Distress Inks and Paints on my butterflies.

Not A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my colourful butterfly art journal page.

Do small things with great love

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Use a Stencil.

I had fun using three different stencils on this page for both the background and main flower images.

I started by covering the page with Colbalt Blue, Cadmium Yellow Dark Hue and Bright Aqua Green Liquitex acrylic paints and left it to dry. I didn’t like the yellow so I covered it with the Colbalt Blue and Aqua Green paints, if you look closely you’ll just see some of the yellow peeking through. Next I used a Fun ISO stencil from Paperbabes Stamps and a Carabelle Studio Mask to stencil and stamp the patterns over the top using the blue and green paints again. When dry I added the white flowers using white acrylic paint and a Jofy PaperArsty Flower Stencil and Mask set. To finish, I added the wording which was cut from a Kaisercraft 12×12 paper sheet.

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

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a yummy beer from Brewdog Brewery called Hazy Jane which is an IPA with a 5% ABV and is described as “This is a full-tilt fruit machine of an IPA packs all the flavour but less of the alcohol. Notes of pineapple, mango, stone-fruit, and a hint of tangerine to mix it up. Brewed with oats and wheat and left unfiltered for a smooth juicy hit” – Happy T Day everyone!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #166 – Anything Goes challenge with my stencilled page.

A Study in Contrasts over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the contrast between the bright white flowers and blue/green background.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes theme with my art journal page.

MIUCB #59 Anything Goes + optional 3-D project over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the stencilling techniques that I used to create this page.

My Sweetheart

It’s time for our new challenge this month over at Country View Challenges which is being hosted by the lovely Rachel whose theme is Cats and/or Dogs.

For my page I used some beautiful cat images from the Lady Vagabond paper pad by Stamperia.

I started by covering the chipboard background using a Silver Metallics Acrylic by DecoArt and when dry, I dragged a black Archival Ink pad and a Rusty Hinge Distress Ink pad over the top to create the worn metal background. Next I cut out the different pieces of Stamperia paper, edged them with the Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and them collaged them onto the page. I applied some Ranger Glossy Accents to highlight the rivets on the papers and make them look more 3-D. Then to finish, I added the “My Sweetheart” wording which was from a Clippings Sticker Book by Tim Holtz.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I love how this page turned out and here are some of the materials that I used.

I hope you’ll join us, it would be lovely to see you there and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the Country View Crafts shop! Before you enter, please read the rules!

Wishing you a Happy May and I hope that you’re staying safe and well! x

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

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #166 – Anything Goes challenge with my freesia page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes theme with my spring coloured flowers page.

MIUCB #59 Anything Goes + optional 3-D project over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the mixed media page and techniques that I used to create the worn metal background.

Painting the Roses Red

To join a few challenges including our I Can Hear Music challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, I created this fun “Painting the Roses Red” page using my new Alice Through The Looking Glass papers from Stamperia – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the background with some grey and silver acrylic paints, smudging them onto the page using a baby wipe. Then I layered some decoupage paper and design papers over the top using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium.

The framed images were cut from the Alice Through The Looking Glass papers by Stamperia, decorated with some washi tape roses and mushroom stickers and then layered together on the page. To finish, I added the wording which were letter stickers by Docrafts.

Do you remember this fun song from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland?

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this Lancaster Red beer and wishing the T Gang a very Happy T Day and sending E very happy birthday wishes! If you look closely at the bottom of the pump clip, you can see the Red Rose of Lancaster which is a heraldic badge dating back to medieval times and is often see here in Lancashire as it’s our county flower.

Hoping that you’re staying safe and well! x

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Alison the Craftytrog is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Play it again Sam so I’m joining her with my Painting the Roses Red page.

A Study in Contrast challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my contrasting colours of black and white to the red.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #166 – Anything Goes challenge with my page.

Spring is in the Air

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing my second page as inspiration for this month’s Spring is Coming challenge.

I started by painting the page using Sapphire Blue Glitter Dust DecoArt paint and when dry I applied some Rustic Wilderness and Twisted Citron Distress Paint to the foreground and to create the tree shapes. Next I used a Tall Pines Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and white cardstock to create the trees and then I painted them using the Distress Paints; they were stuck in place using matte gel medium and I added some highlights using a white gel pen. Next I doodled all the pretty spring flowers using purple, white and yellow Uni Posca paint pens which took quite bit of time as there were so many layers of colour and lots of flowers (smile!). The adorable deer family was die cut from some leftover cardstock which was coloured using Vintage Photo and Tea Dye Distress Inks using Darling Deer Thinlits set by Tim Holtz; their white dots were added using a white gel pen and some clear Ranger embossing powder. The wording “Spring is in the air” was recycled and finished the page.

I hope you are inspired to join our Spring is Coming challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts.

This deer is a rusty metal stake in my garden, isn’t he spectacular – we were kindly gifted it last Christmas (smile!).

I hope that you’re staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely  Alison the Craftytrog is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Play it again Sam and she is asking for pages inspired by your favourite movie or song.
As I love musicals the deer on my page reminded me of the lyric “Do, a deer, a female deer” which you may remember is from the song “Do-Re-Mi” from the Sound of Music. I used to sing this all the time when I was younger and can even still remember all words (grin!) – can you? (If not check out the video below).

Easter/Spring challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my spring page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #164 – Anything Goes challenge with my spring page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes theme with my spring colours page.

Enjoy the simple life

It’s a new month so we are launching our April challenge today over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog which is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by spring and some new Simple Stories materials that I got as an early birthday present (grin!).

I started by covering the background with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and when dry I used a Moroccan stencil by Creative Expressions to apply some Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the top. I removed some of the ink using a baby wipe and then I applied some Brushed Sage Distress Ink through the stencil too. Next I added the pretty spring paper which was free from a magazine and based on designs from The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. I edged it using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker smudging the ink with my finger. Next I arranged and layered all the different paper pieces together; some of which were leftovers, some were fussy cut from Kaisercraft papers and the main images with the words “Enjoy the simple life” and “My heart” were chipboard pieces from Simple Stories. To finish, I splattered the page with some black DecoArt acrylic paint.

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

Simple Stories is a new brand to me and I was lucky enough to be treated to some chipboard and die cut pieces as well as some papers for my birthday; they’re all so gorgeous and I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of them soon (grin!).

I 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.

Challenges

As well as Creative Artiste, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #164 – Anything Goes challenge with my spring page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes theme with my spring coloured flowers page.

Blossom and Flowers

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Say It With Flowers.

This inspired me to create an art journal page full of spring flowers and quotes.

I started by recycling a birthday card envelope, that had a pretty pink tulip design on the inside, to create my background. Then I coloured the rest of the page with creamy yellow acrylic which I mixed using Parchment and Cadmium Yellow Liquitex paints. When dry, I arranged some tape measure pieces around the page along with a tulip washi tape sticker and some gorgeous flower designed quotes, postage stamps and border stickers which were from a Floral Shoppe Graphic 45 Sticker sheet. To finish the page, I added three yellow pearl gems.

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

As T Stands for Tuesday, here’s my friend’s cappuccino and Earl Grey tea, isn’t that tea cup and saucer adorable with all those gorgeous flowers (smile!) – Happy T Day everyone!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Valerie of Bastelmania is hosting Art Journal Journey and has chosen Spring with my spring blossom and flower page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #163 – Anything Goes challenge with my flower page.

Bright And Cheerful over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my bright and cheerful spring flower page.

Use Your Favourite Things over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge as the pretty Graphic 45 stickers are amongst my favourite things, so much so I couldn’t bring myself to use them for years (smile!).