Be your own kind of beautiful

Today I was inspired by a seahorse mosaic that you can find in St. Anne’s on the Sea where I live; I always love seeing artwork when I’m out and about and this dancing seahorse is one of my favourites!

I started by covering the page with Salty Ocean Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad directly onto a blending mat, spritzing with water and pressing the mat onto the paper a number of times to build up splashes of ink to depict seawater.

Then I applied Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain through a circular stencil from Inkylicious and also blotted the stencil onto the page to mop up the excess Stain. Next I used a mosaic dot stamp using both Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink; firstly through the circle stencil to add more details to the large circles that I stencilled and then to the rest of the background so it looked like bubbles of water. I outlined each of the stencilled circles by stamping white acrylic paint using a plastic tube and then smudged the white gesso over the circle. When the paint was dry I coloured it with the Platinum Planet ink using my finger. I added more bubbles by stamping some dot stamps from Paperbabe Stamps using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink and then I splattered the page with some white acrylic paint which finished the background. The foliage is tissue paper which I die cut using Tim Holtz thinlets and my Big Shot machine which I then stuck to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium; I wasn’t to careful how I stuck them down as I wanted them to look like they were floating and moving in the water.

My dancing seahorse is fussy cut from a colouring book and coloured using Gold, Yellow, Sunset and Amber Spectrum Aqua markers to match the seahorse colours of the mosaic. Then I used a blending tool to blot Rusty Hinge Distress Ink onto the seahorse to add texture and give it more of a 3D look. It is stuck in place using matte gel medium, detailed using some black Derwent Graphik markers and a white Uniball pen for its eye. The words “Be your own beautiful self” are cut from a 3×4” card by Kaisercraft, stuck in place and outlined with a black marker pen. To finish, I added some silver and blue sequins to the background to add some sparkle.

This is the pretty seahorse mosaic and the words say “Golden sun rise on our sands moonlight pass us by. As seahorse dance among the waves. Our sandgrown spirit flies”. I particularly like the words as it mentions being “sandgrown” which applies only to the Flyde coast area where I live and literally means someone born by the seaside; I happen to be a Sandgrown’un too (grin!).

This is the other beautiful mosaic, this time of a pretty mermaid and the verse reads “We dream fondly of seas. Her waves lap softly on our shore. While mermaids songs drift onwards. Our peace to breathe once more”.

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

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 Erika aka BioArtGal and her Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids and Patterns challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my circle patterns on my background.

I’m also happy to join in the Under the Sea challenge over at Country View Challenges with my seahorse art journal page.

I’m joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my dancing seahorse too.

I’m pleased to be able to join in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog for their Anything Mixed Media Goes with my mixed media art journal page which included inks, paints, papers and sequins.

Don’t forget that you still have until over a week to join our Hot, Hot, Hot! Challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, maybe you can use hot colours like those I used for my seahorse; it would be lovely to see you there!

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Shabby Shutters, Rusty Hinge)
• Inkylicious Stencil (Sun & Moons)
• Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Cracked Pistachio)
• Docrafts Papermania Mini Cards & Stamp Set (Capsule Geometric Krafts PMA105308)
• Tsukineko Brilliance Pigment Ink (Platinum Planet)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Birthday Wishes)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz (Garden Greens 661206, Wildflower Stems #2 664164)
• Recycled dark and light green tissue paper
• Animal Kingdom Suduko & Doodle Book
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Gold, Yellow, Sunset, Amber)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm, 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Kaisercraft 3×4” Cards (Life’s Treasures CM108)
• Poundland (Assorted Sequins)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Advertisements

Have the happiest of days!

Today we have a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday called Hot, Hot, Hot!

You may choose to use hot colours like me or maybe your creation may include a hot drink or even a hot destination; you can interpret it anyway you chose as long as it’s Hot, Hot, Hot!

For more inspiration please pop over to our blog where you will find some amazing inspiration from my Design Teamies too!

For my hot coloured page, I started by creating a background of orange and yellow Liquitex acrylic paints. When dry I applied some red Liquitex acrylic using a sponge through a retro stencil from Creative Expressions. Next I added some modelling paste using a palette knife through a circular mini stencil also from Creative Expressions and left it to dry. They are painted using a white Uni Posca paint pen so they stood out more. I stamped a Worn Rings stamp from Gummiapan using Love Letter Memento Ink and covered them with some of the orange and yellow paint so they faded into the background more. I also stencilled some dots using Fired Brick Distress Ink, blotting them with a baby wipe so the colour was less intense. Then I splattered the whole page using white acrylic paint. The yellow circle that says “Have the happiest of days!” is from a birthday card from my dearest friends which I’ve wanted to use for while and seemed perfect for this page; I fussy cut it out, stuck it in place using a glue stick and outlined it using the white Uni Posca paint pen. I also added a yellow butterfly which I fussy cut from an old nature book and some yellow flowers adding some orange rhinestone to their centres which finished the page.

This weekend we harvested the apples from our garden; we picked 18 braeburn apples off one tree which was wonderful as we only planted this apple tree last year.

I used some of them to make my homemade spiced apple cake with salted caramel frosting – yum!

As T Stands for Tuesday, here’s a cup of Hot Cinnamon tea with a piece of the cake which I just couldn’t resist (grin!) – Happy T Day and have the happiest of days!

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

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blog,s 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 Erika aka BioArtGal and her Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids and Patterns challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my patterned background.

I’m also joining the Use a Stamp challenge over at Moo Mania & More with all the stamps I used on this page.

I’m happy to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my hot art journal page.

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

• Liquitex Basic Acrylic Color (Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, Naphthol Crimson)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Mask (Retro Christmas)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Eclipse Circles)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Gummiapan Stamp (Worn Rings 11050601)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Love Letter)
• Dot Stencil
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Fired Brick)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Recycled Birthday Card
• The Illustrated Book of Nature
• The Works (Mini Paper Flower Embellishments, Rhinestone Flower Stickers)
• Pritt Stick
• Stix 2 glue dots

Thank you for your part in my journey

I recently won some goodies at Paperbabe Stamps so I thought I would create this page to celebrate. I used some of the stencils, stamps and even the packaging that I received from taking part in their challenges – thank you so much!

I started by painting the background with pink, blue and orange DecoArt Glamour Dust glitter paints. When the paint was dry, I used a blending tool to add Black Soot, Mermaid Lagoon and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink through a mixed media stencil from Paperbabe Stamps. Next I stamped some butterflies, hearts and bubbles from a couple of stamp sets from Paperbabe Stamps, so that they flowed vertically down the page, using black Archival Ink. Then I splattered the page with white DecoArt acrylic paint and dried it with my heat gun. I added a couple of circular stickers and business cards which I layered on top of some round shapes that were die cut from some pink polka dot patterned paper. The stickers and business cards were included as part of the packaging from Paperbabe Stamps; I love the wording “I thank you for your part in my Journey” and the images of the beautiful faces which are examples of what you can create using some of the Paperbabe Stamps templates and stamps.

Here are the goodies that I won recently, I used the Iso Fun stencil for this page and I’m also looking forward to using the alphabet stamp set soon – yay! I’d like to say a big thank you to Kim from Paperbabe Stamps for the goodies and also thanks to all of her design team for their inspiration!

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 Erika aka BioArtGal and her Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids and Patterns challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my patterned background and polka-dot paper.

I’m pleased to be able to join Challenge #101 – Sketch over at Paperbabe Stamps with my art journal page; the layers of die cut circles and business card represent the circle and the sentiment the logo. Thanks so much for all the wonderful crafting goodies!

I’m also joining the Use a Stamp challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my page.

I’m joining in the Stamp It challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with all the stamps that I used on my page.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at the Creative Artiste Challenge and their Challenge #53 – Anything Mixed Media Goes as I included paints, inks, stickers and papers on my 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:

• DecoArt Glamour Dust Glitter Paint (Celebration Pink, Sapphire Blue, Tiger Orange)
• Paperbabe Stamps Mixed Media Stencils (Iso Fun)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot, Mermaid Lagoon, Picked Raspberry)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Butterfly Pieridae, Birthday Wishes)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Paper Block, Cutting Dies)
• Spellbinders Die Set
• Stickers recycled from Packaging – Paperbabe Stamps
• Business Cards recycled from Packaging – Paperbabe Stamps
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• Pritt Stick

Untie the ribbons

Our new challenge over at A Vintage Journey is Box It Up, which is being hosted by Julia. Here’s what it is all about:

“This month our theme is boxes! Perhaps you will make a trunk or suitcase, some kind of package to hold a gift, or maybe make a card or journal page showing presents. Just remember to ensure that you create in one of our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk”.

I thought this motivational quote suited Julia’s challenge perfectly, so I included it on my art journal page along with the gift box which I had fun creating for this page too (grin!).

To create the background I completely covered the page with some yellow Liquitex acrylic paint and once the paint was dry added pieces of script and sheet music Collage Papers from Tim Holtz and some tape measure design decoupage paper from Viva Gade using Liquitex matte gel medium. I added a little more of the yellow paints over the top of the tissue paper to intensify the colour and also applied some white gesso around the edges of the page using my finger. Then I diluted Dark Sepia, Sanguine and Cold Grey Faber-Castell markers by scribbling them onto a blending mat and spritzing with water and applied them with my finger over the white gesso which gave the page a lovely translucent glow. Then I added some Gold Champagne Faber-Castell Gelato and Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to the edge of the page smudging them with my finger.

I created the gift box from some spotty paper and drew the lines onto it using the Dark Sepia Big Brush marker, shaded it using Caramel Faber-Castell Gelato and added shadows using the Cold Grey Big Brush marker. Next I used a star stencil to apply modelling paste with a palette knife and left it to dry; the stars were then painted using a white Uni Posca paint pen and Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint. The words are letter stickers from Docrafts which I covered with matte gel medium to hold them securely in place. I did the same with the flowers which are stickers from Kaisercraft. Finally, I added some strips of red organza ribbon to the box using double-sided tape and finished it with a bow.

I enjoy collecting positive and motivational quotes for my art journal pages and had fun creating this page with the gift box and ribbon to depict the words I added; it was based on the quote “Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons” by Ruth Ann Schabacker.

For more inspiration, please pop over to see the amazing creations from my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey too, it would be lovely to see you there!

I also have quite a few motivational quotes displayed around my home too, here’s one that greets me every morning, it hangs on the mirror in my bedroom …

… and this one hangs in my craft room (grin!).

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 the lovely Erika aka BioArtGal and her Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids and Patterns challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my polka-dot gift box.

I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #101 – Sketch; I flipped the sketch to the left so the circle is represented by the gift box on my page and the logo by the sentiment I used.

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

• Liquitex Acrylic Color (Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Oxide, Parchment)
• Tim Holtz Collage Papers (Halloween #TH93727, Botanicals #TH93705)
• Viva Gade Decoupage Paper (Helsinki 25586)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Big Brush marker (Dark Sepia 175 B, Cold Grey IV 233, Sanguine 188 B)
• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Gold Champagne, Caramel)
• Star Stencil
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (White)
• Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CRO701/16PL1)
• Docrafts Papermania A4 Ultimate Die-Cut & Paper Pack (Folk Christmas PMA160933)
• Kaisercrfat Sticker Sheet (The Looking Glass SS206)
• Recycled Red Organza Ribbon
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Remember

I’ve been wanting to join a couple of blog challenges, so I created this art journal page which turned out to be quite cathartic in the end; with my friend passing, this journal pages serves to capture wording to prompt me to look at things differently – I hope you like it!

I also wanted to thank you all for your kind thoughts and comments regarding my dear friend, it is very much appreciated!

To start, I covered the page in Snow Cone, Lime and Boysenberry Faber-Castell Gelatos by scribbling the gelatos onto the page and smudging the colour with my finger which I wet with water. Once dry, I stencilled dots by removing the gelato colour through the stencil using a baby wipe and also added a flower design by applying white pigment ink through the stencil. Then I stamped some chevrons and arrows from a Kaisercraft stamp set using black Archival Ink. The feathers are wall stickers which I edged with black Faber-Castell marker and stuck to the page. I then splattered the whole page with black acrylic paint. Next I stuck a silver dreamcatcher and three silver arrows onto the page and embellished them with green gems. I added some Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz which prompts me to “remember” the good times, to “just breathe”, to “be brave”, to “stay strong” and to “love you”; the top and bottom edge are outlined with a black marker pen. I also arranged some clear teardrop gemstones in lines down the page and to finish, I embellished the feathers with a silver disc from an old necklace.

I thought the T Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday, may like this cute otter that was etched onto a glass containing my pint of Otter Ale (grin) – cheers and Happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m happy to join in the Blue and Green challenge over at Country View Challenges with my page as they are my favourite colours.

I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps too.

With the splatters of paint and splodges from the stencilling, my page also serves as a reminder that you still have another week to join our Splatters and Splodges challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, it would be lovely 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:

• Faber-Castell Gelato (Snow Cone, Lime, Boysenberry)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• That’s Crafty! 8x8ins Stencil (Decorative Flower – TC8039)
• Docrafts Artiste Pigment Ink (White)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Mister Fox CS173)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Main Street Wall Creations Jumbo Stickers (Watercolor Feathers SKU261499)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Docrafts Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• The Range (Dreamcatchers Stickers CR1237)
• B&M Craft Pack (Turquoise)
• Graham & Brown (Adhesive Jewels)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Handwriting Pen (Black)
• Old necklace
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Splatters and Splodges

It’s time for a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday so today we are launching our Splatters and Splodges Challenge which lasts for the next two weeks.

This is a fun challenge and I really enjoyed stencilling and stamping the splatters and splodges on my page (grin!).

I started by covering the page with white acrylic paint, then I used a mini stencil from Creative Expressions to add layers of splatters and splodges using Festive Berries, Seedless Preserves and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink with a blending tool. I stencilled these Distress Ink colours a couple of times to add more depth to the page. Then I splattered the page with the same Distress Inks by stamping the pad onto an acrylic block, adding water and flicking the diluted ink onto the page using a paintbrush. I added more splatters by stamping a Gummiapan stamp using black Archival Ink. Next I outlined some pretty pink heart toppers with Black Soot Distress Ink and a black Faber-Castell marker and stuck them to the page using a glue stick. To finish, I added three Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers which read “listen to your heart, it will show you the way”, “have an open heart” and “a dream is a wish your heart makes”.

Don’t forget that you can find loads more Splatters and Splodges inspiration from my Design Teamies over at Try it on Tuesday so please pop over to take a look.

After so many of you wanted to make the raspberry gin that I featured last week, I thought I’d share the recipe with you:

• Raspberries (or any fruit of your choice, maybe blueberry, peach, strawberry, rhubarb)
• Granulated Sugar
• Gin (cheap brand such as supermarket own brand as these are not too flavoured)
• I used 400g (14 oz) fruit to 300g (10 oz) sugar in 750ml (25 US fl oz) of gin

Add them all to a Kilner Jar (or similar). You need to ensure the sugar dissolves so make sure you shake the jar throughout the first day, it dissolves pretty quickly. Then put it in a dark place for 4 weeks, I tend to shake the jar every other day to muddle the fruit. It’s tempting to eat the fruit afterwards, perhaps on ice-cream, however, I tried it and it was far too potent! So I ended up forcing it through a sieve to add more flavour to the gin. One last tip – don’t be tempted to do half a recipe like I did as it goes pretty fast.

Have fun making your fruit flavoured gins and as T Stands for Tuesday wishing you a Happy T Day too!

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 the lovely Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all creating splatters and splodges (grin!).

I’m joining in the Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my background of splatters and splodges.

I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my art journal page.

I’m joining in the Not A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my art journal page.

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

• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencils (Splattered CEMSSPLAT)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Festive Berries, Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry, Black Soot)
• Gummiapan Stamps (A lot of splats 11050106)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Nit Wit Collection Essentials Toppers (Strawberry Social NWCE-T-SSI)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Small Talk #TH93193)

Be the brightest colour

For the next two weeks, our new challenge at Try it on Tuesday is Colours of the Rainbow.

I had fun creating this colourful page as not only did I use a new set of acrylic paints, but the paint colours and stencils that I used were chosen by my hubby. As you can see he likes bold and bright contrasting colours and he chose birds, leaves, mosaic and brickwork stencils.

I started by adding the Cerulean Blue, Yellow Oxide, Primary Red and Light Green acrylic paints, that my hubby had chosen, using a dry brush technique where a clean dry brush is used to spread each of the colours; I did this so that the colours would not blend together as some of the colours chosen are on opposite sides of the colour wheel so if blended together they would produce a brown or grey so I didn’t want them to blend by adding water. Then I applied the same paints again using a sponge through the four stencils that my hubby had chosen: Cerulean Blue through a birds stencil; Yellow Oxide through a mosaic stencil; Primary Red through a brick stencil and finally Light Green through a leaf stencil. Next I stamped some postage marks from Prima Marketing and some numbers from Inkidinkado using black Archival Ink. To add some depth and contrast I applied some white acrylic paint to the page with my finger and when dry, I stamped more of the postage marks and numbers over the top. The flowers are stamped onto a dictionary page using some Hampton Art stamps sets and black Archival Ink, fussy cut and stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. I added the stems to the flowers using a Hampton Art Border stamp set and the black Archival Ink again. The wording is from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet finishes the page and reads “Be the brightest colour in the box”; I thought it linked well to my new set of paints.

There are some amazing creations from my Design Teamies too, please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to check them out. We would love to see your rainbow colour creations of the next two weeks, it would be lovely to see you there!

Here’s my new paint set, there are 36 colours to use so I’m sure I’ll be using them again soon (grin!).

As T Stands for T Day, I’m sharing these colourful teapots from the Blackbird Café which you may remember from a previous post – Happy T day!

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 the lovely Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all colourful with my new set of paints.

I’m pleased to be able to join Creative Artiste Challenge Blog for their #51 Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge with all the mixed media I used to create this art journal page.

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

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Colour (Cerulean Blue, Yellow Oxide, Primary Red, Light Green)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Tim Holtz Collection Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Mosaic #THS084)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Take a leaf)
• Prima Marketing Clear Stamps (Rossi Belle #587499)
• Inkadinkado Cling Stamps (Typographic 65-32008)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Hampton Art Bella Blvd cling mounted rubber stamps (Sand & Surf ICO226)
• Hampton Art Doodlebug Designs Inc. cling mounted rubber stamps (Thankful ICO162, Borders ICO160)
• Dictionary pages
• Kaisercraft Sticker Set (Fiesta! SS284)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium