Dancing Dragonflies

With the hot sunny days we have been enjoying of late, my page captures light and shade with colourful dragonflies dancing over the water.

I always love to experiment and try different techniques so I had a play around with acrylic paints and stamping to create the background which was fun, therefore my page also serves as a reminder of our 10^th Birthday Party at Try it on Tuesday where I hope that you will join in the celebrations and share the art you love to create too!

I started by painting the background with Swedish Blue, Navy, Christmas Green and Cadmium Yellow Liquitex acrylic paint horizontally across the page using a paintbrush. Then I had fun applying the paints again using a scrunched up baby wipe, dabbing the paint onto the page to create light and shade. I stamped some background foliage at the top and bottom of the page which included a reed stamp from Gumpanian using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink, a foliage stamp from Eco Green Crafts using Peeled Paint Distress Ink, and leaves from Simon Says Stamp using Pine Needles and Twisted Citron Distress Ink. To add extra depth, I die cut some Tim Holtz thinlets out of a black patterned paper stock; they are edged with Black Soot Distress Ink and a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck into place in the foreground using a Zig Memory System glue pen. Next I added all the dragonflies which are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel and some small gems to add a little sparkle which finished the page.

Today we are revisiting the Tolkien Trail on a sunshiny day; this walk is called the Toilkien Trail as J.R.R Tolkien stayed in the area whilst writing The Lord of the Rings. It’s a lovely walk with beautiful views of the English countryside and it is said that the author was influenced by  the landscape around Stonyhurst College where he wrote his book. For example a number of names which occur in ‘The Lord of The Rings’ are similar to those found locally including Shire Lane (in Hurst Green) and River Shirebourn (similar to the family name which built Stonyhurst).

J.R.R. Tolkien was renowned for his love of nature and wooded landscapes and this walk takes you though some beautiful woodland. Here we are walking down over one of the many bridges that we encountered along the way …

… and I think Gollum may live under this bridge (grin!).

We walked along the river a few times on the walk, it was so magical and I can just imagine dragonflies dancing over the water during summer too (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 the lovely Erika from the blog BioArtGal  and her In the Sky/In the Air challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Dancing Dragonflies page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Opposites challenge over at Country View Challenges with the “light” and “shade” depicted on my art journal page.

I’m happy to join in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog and their Creative Artiste’s #49th Challenge: Anything Mixed Media Goes with my mixed media art journal page (which included acrylic, inks, papers, markers and rub-ons).

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

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

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Swedish Blue, Navy, Christmas Green, Cadmium Yellow Medium)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, Twisted Citron, Black Soot)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Rich Cocoa)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Gummiapan Stamp (Reed Plant 14091107)
• Simon Says Stamp Clear Stamp Set (Leaves And Scribbles SSS101445)
• Eco Green Crafts Recycled Rubber Stamps (Petal Party)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206 , Wildflowers 661190)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (ROY1643G)
• The Works (Rhinestone Flowers)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

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I love us

I feel very blessed to have married my soulmate and to have spent many happy and fulfilling years together so with Valentine’s fast approaching I created this page for my dear hubby to say “I love us” (grin!).

I started by adding some pieces of old dictionary pages using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium, then I coloured the background using some Cadmium Yellow Liquitex Acyclic paint and some Pébéo white gesso. When the paint was dry, I stencilled a lattice pattern using some Scattered Straw Distress Ink and a blending tool. Then I used the stencil to stamp the lattice pattern using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and also applied some DecoArt white acrylic paint with a sponge through the same stencil. I die cut some wildflowers from paper by Tim Holtz using a Tim Holtz thinlet set with my Big Shot machine and stuck them to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. When the gel medium was dry I outlined them with a black Uni Pin Fine Line marker so they stood out more and then I stuck three pieces of pretty green lace vertically onto the page.

For the heart, I used a wooden heart tag which I covered in Emboss ink and Chunky Silver Stampendous Frantage embossing enamel. I used a heat gun to melt the embossing enamel to a smooth glossy finish and before the enamel had cooled fully, I imprinted it using a Serpentine Background stamp; being careful not to touch the enamel with my fingers as it gets super hot. I also covered the word “Love” which is a wooden embellishment with the same embossing enamel using the Emboss ink.

I tied a piece of green ribbon to the heart tag and arranged it with the “love” embellishment onto the page using Ranger Glossy Accents along with a vintage Tim Holtz Pocket card, a white doily and a metal decorative embellishment. To finish, I added two Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers which are outlined using a black Derwent marker; they say “I’m happiest when I’m with you” and “I love us”.

Me and my hubby are thankful for every day and always enjoy the time we have together, whether we are at home …

… making discoveries on our walks, like this pretty yellow sunflower that magically appeared on the beach front which is just around the corner from our house …

… or out and about like at this local beer festival (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 Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my appropriately coloured art journal page.

As this page captures love and romance, I’m joining the Love is in the Air challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

I’m happy to join the Your Hearts Desire challenge over at A Vintage Journey as I was inspired to create this romantic Mixed Media Style page for my hubby which includes hearts.

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

Don’t forget that you still have plenty of time to join our Romance challenge at Try it on Tuesday too.

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

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

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow Medium)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Ground Espresso)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Tsukineko Emboss Embossing Stamp Pad (Clear)
• Stampendous Frantage Embossing Enamel (Chunky Silver)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflowers 661190)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Serpentine Background T-2773)
• The Pocket Oxford Dictionary
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Paper Stash (Halloween #TH93712)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Dovecrafts Premium Paper Doilies (Painted Blooms DCDLS010)
• Docrafts Papermania Adhesive Lace Trim (Botanicals PMA358334)
• The Works (Chalkboard Tags, 5 Embellishments, Wooden Craft Words)
• Thin Satin Ribbon (Green)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Chell’s

This journal page is inspired by a new café we discovered over the summer which we now visit regularly, it’s called Chell’s of Lytham. This café is an easy tandem bike ride from our house and sells the most amazing homemade ice-cream and food – yum! It is such an elegant place so I used the gold colour of the signage and also blue which features on their loyalty card, interior and pretty flowers that adorn the tables.

For the background I started with a base coat of grey Windsor & Newton watercolour paint which I applied with a baby wipe. Then I layered some apricot Liquitex Acrylic paint creating horizontal lines of colour. As I found the apricot was a little too bold against the grey, I applied a thin layer of gesso over it using a baby wipe which toned it down nicely, so it just added some warmth to the background. Next I applied a thin wash of Navy Spectrum Aqua marker by scribbling the pen onto an acrylic block, spritzing the block with water and picking up the now diluted ink with a paintbrush. I stamped a Script stamp by Kaisercraft over the background using the same Navy Aqua marker and then I applied some gold shimmer and shine across the horizontal lines of apricot paint and around the edge of the page using a Sunshine lustre rub from Craf-T Products, which I applied with my finger. Next I stamped some tile images from Papermania onto some white tissue paper using Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink, cut them out and stuck them to the page using a UHU Stic. I also applied some white gesso over them using my finger, so they blended into the background more and then I stamped some scroll images from Royal & Langnickel onto the page using the same Distress Ink.

The gold and blue flower images are fussy cut from an old birthday card, edged with a Navy Spectrum Aqua marker and stuck to the page using double-sided foam tape. The pretty gold panels are outline stickers and, along with the stamped tile and scroll images, remind me of Victorian architecture, tiling and wrought ironwork that can be found at the café. To finish, I edged the page with the same Navy Spectrum Aqua marker and added some square gold gemstones and the name of the café using alphabet outline stickers which matched the font on the café signage perfectly (grin!).

This café is situated in Lytham and has a pretty facade overlooking the street. It has an Victorian look to it with the outside seating being covered by a canopy which leads up to the big window shop front with the tiled floor entrance and wrought ironwork.

The interior is lovely too, here’s the counter where you order your food, drink and ice-cream.

They make their own ice-cream here in many different flavours, which are often sold out at the end of the day because it’s so delicious! Our favourite flavour combination is Sticky Toffee Pudding, Cherry and Double Chocolate – yum!

We were introduced to this café by our friends after we had all cycled along the front to Lytham and stopped for refreshments – such fun! On that occasion we had a Chocolate Dream Sundae – double yum! Can you see a face in this photo? (grin!)

The drinks and cakes are delicious too, here are the cappuccino, pot of Earl Grey tea and custard tart that our friends ordered. As you can see the water is served in very pretty glasses too (grin!). As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

As you know I love to join in with the challenges as they help to inspire my design and get creative. So today I’m pleased to join the lovely Yvonne from Meggy’s Way who is hosting the “Colour in my World” challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the blue and gold colours in my page.

I love the gold metallic outline stickers and flowers I used on this page, they add so much shimmer and shine so I’m also pleased to join both the “Metal” Challenge over at Country View Challenge  and  the “Shimmer and Shine” theme over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge again.

Using the double-sided foam tape gives a 3D look to my page so I’m also joining in the fun over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for their “Pop It Up” 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:

• Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colours (Payne’s Gray)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Apricot)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Navy)
• Craf-T Products Luster Rub-ons (Sunshine ASTM D-4236)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Chipped Sapphire)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Papermania Design Objectives wood mounted rubber stamp (PMA10108)
• Royal & Langnickel Clear Choice Stamps (Ornate Scrollwork MIN-CCS123)
• White tissue paper
• Old birthday card
• Elizabeth Craft Designs outline stickers (Gold 0318)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Modern Alphabet Gold ANT8101000)
• Hobbycraft Self-Adhesive Gems (Assorted Squares 5666141000)
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Music at High Tide

We always have fun when we walk along the South Promenade in Blackpool, and the last couple of times we have been lucky to have been there when the tide has been coming in. This is because we get to listen to the Hide Tide Organ, which is a sculpture that has pipes running through the centre and down to the shoreline, so when the tide comes in it makes the most amazing sounds. You can imagine my joy on hearing it so I had to capture this in my journal.

I mixed blue, green, apricot, yellow and parchment acrylic paints to produce the background colours that represent the sea, sky and golden sand, and then applied them to the page with a baby wipe. I kept the paint strokes angled towards the right of the page so it looked like the tide was moving into the shoreline. Next I added strips of music note washi tape to represent the musical sound the tidal organ makes and merged them into the background using paint. Then I splattered white acrylic paint over the page, I did this by applying the paint to an acrylic block adding a little water and flicking the paint from the block with a paintbrush. This represents sea foam and I concentrated my splatters on the left of the page fading out to the right. The seaweed leaves are fussy cut from paper by Kaisercraft from their Rock Pool Collection, they are stuck to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. I painted two wave-shaped paper borders blue and then added wavy detail with a white Uniball gel pen; they were easy to stick to the page as they are self-adhesive. To make my tidal organ sculpture I created a rust effect on a piece of card. Firstly, I stippled modelling paste onto the card to give a rough textured foundation and let it dry thoroughly. I then mixed yellow, red and black acrylic paints to produce brown and orange rusty hues, and then I stippled these colours along with black acrylic over the top of the modelling paste trying not to overwork the colours to avoid them blending together; the idea was to create texture and for it to look patchy like rust. Once the paint had dried I used a template which I had drawn to cut out my sculpture, then I coloured the cut edges with a Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt marker and I stuck it to the page using a UHU Stic. I stamped the words in an undulating pattern using a Docrafts Alphas Folk alphabet set and black Archival Ink. To finish I added a couple of seagulls, which are cut from white paper and stuck down using a UHU Stic; we often see a seagull perched on the top of the sculpture.

I’m so pleased to be able to join Yvonne from Meggy’s way who is hosting this month’s challenge “Out and About” over at Art Journal Journey.

The High Tide Organ is a sculpture which is 15 metres (49 ft 3 in) tall and is described as a “musical manifestation of the sea”; it is one of a few examples of a tidal organ.

“The sculpture was designed by the artists Liam Curtin and John Gooding, and was constructed in concrete, steel, zinc and copper sheet. The harnessing of wave energy, and the sculpting of the concrete and metals is said to produce a unique interpretation of Blackpool’s natural and man-made environments. The instrument is played by the sea at high tide through eight pipes which are attached to the sea wall. These are connected under the promenade to 18 organ pipes within the sculpture. The swell of seawater at high tide pushes air up the sea-wall pipes and causes the organ pipes to sound. The best time to hear the High Tide Organ is two to three hours before or after high tide. On very calm days the organ is silent for part of its cycle. The pitches of the pipes are based on the harmonic series in B flat” (Wikipedia). It makes quite an eerie sound, as you can hear for yourself on this link.

Being by the sea, you would expect this metal structure to rust and it has a lovely texture to it as a result.

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

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

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Swedush Blue, Christmas Green, Ivory Black, Apricot, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Red Medium Hue/Lacquer Red)
• Colvin & Co Artist’s Acrylic (White Titanium)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188 B)
• Docrafts A5 clear stamp set (Alpha Folk DCE907115)
• Kaisercraft Rock Pool Collection paper (Seaweed P834)
• Hobbycraft Paper Borders (White 5895891000)
• Hobbycraft Decorative Tape (Assorted Black & White 5971481007)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste High Density
• Cardboard
• White paper
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic

Music Soothes My Soul

I created this page not long ago and was prompted to share it after a blog-friend (Trista Ree Creates) was asking how music impacts my daily life. I tend to listen to music all the time especially now summer is here and my taste is quite eclectic. You will often hear me humming or recalling a tune to coincide with what I’m doing. My hubby says, (in the nicest possible way), that I know a silly song for every occasion, and he’s probably right, as I find “Music Soothes My Soul”. Therefore, music (of all types) is the inspiration for this page.

I decided to experiment with the background and had heard of stamping using scrunched up tin (aluminium) foil, so I watered down Faber- Castell Big Brush and Spectrum Aqua marker pigments and started stamping. When I had built up the layers of colour I splattered on some black acrylic paint. I love the effect that resulted; it looks like stone or marble, just lovely and gives a very clean and crisp finish (I think the trick here is knowing when to stop!). To compliment the music theme I added three strips of washi tapes to the page. I bought a magazine called The Greatest Musicians from my local charity shop, it has some fantastic old photos of cities, documents and music sheets. So I tore some of the music sheet pages and stuck them using matte gel medium, next I stamped a set of ornate leaf outlines and then the sentiment using Versafine and Archival Ink. A spot of colour was needed and these beautiful little butterflies were just the thing, they were a bargain purchase from The Range (home store) and are actually 3D, so add another dimension. The final step was to add some sparkle with tiny bronze gemstones from Habico. I really like this page as it looks so elegant.

Here’s a close up of one of the butterflies, aren’t they just adorable.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

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

• Faber- Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pens (Sepia 175, Black 199)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist’s Markers (Tan, Slate)
• Liquitex Acrylic paint (Ivory Black)
• Tsukineko Versafine Ink (Onyx Black VF-82)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Hobbycraft decorative tape (Assorted Black and White 5971481007)
• The Works (3 Washi Tapes)
• Crafters Companion Sara Davies photopolymer stamp set (Just for you – Butterfly Lullaby 5-BL-ST-JUS)
• Papermania A-Z clear stamps (Leftovers Alphabet PMA9071102)
• Docrafts A5 clear stamp set (Alphas Pack DCE907115)
• The Range craft stickers (PO/23049)
• Habico self-adhesive gem stones (Festive Assortment PP984)
• The Great Musicians Part 1
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Tin foil