Loving Life

I always find that I have a huge selection of tissue paper and paper leftover from creating other art journal pages, which I have either coloured or stamped. So in an attempt to tidy up a little (it hasn’t helped much – grin!), I decided to use some of them to create today’s page. I was also inspired by some challenge blogs too and as such, I hope you like the resulting page as much as I do!

I selected a black, white and yellow colour scheme for this page and collaged leftover pieces of white paper and tissue paper that had been stamped, whilst creating other pages, using black Archival Ink. Like all the collaged pieces they are stuck on the page using a glue stick. These stamped images included: grass and fern fronds from a Carabelle Studio stamp set; postage marks and bees from Hampton Art; postage marks from The Works; Vintage Circles from Woodware Craft Collection; blossoms from Stampendous; “kindness” wording from Docrafts; “discover” wording from Royal & Langnickel; script from Kaisercraft; and also a dragonfly from Eco Green Crafts. I arranged them on the page with some paper coloured with Yellow Colourcraft Brusho powders which were remnants of another journal page. Once the collage was complete, I covered the page with a layer of Liquitex Matte Gel Medium which allowed me to outline all the paper pieces using a black Uni Pin marker smudging the ink with my finger.

I added a pretty “yellow wagtail” bird that I fussy cut from my old nature book; he is stood on some torn pieces of black and white washi tape. I then added more pieces of the washi tape to the page background as well.

Next I stuck a yellow skeleton leaf onto the page along with a small glittery yellow flower which I embellished with a black gemstone in the centre. The yellow and white wording is from a Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet and they read “loving life” and “our story starts here”; they are both edged with a black Uni Pin marker and I stamped some small hearts onto them using black Archival Ink. I also stamped the hearts onto two small squares of leftover yellow sticker to make two small heart embellishments for my page. The black and white “love” wording is created using circular button letter stickers and the “love with all your heart” and “and so the adventure begins” wording are from a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker set; they are all outlined using the black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I splattered the page with black, white and yellow acrylic paint.

My page reminds me to love life and appreciate the simple things like the pretty yellow flowers that we have in our garden at the moment. You may remember that we replanted our flower beds last year and as such we added these miniature daffodils which seem to be a bit early flowering (grin!) – aren’t they adorable!

We were also surprised to see these pretty crocus in our flower bed too, we didn’t even know they there (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 Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the yellow I added.

I’m joining the Love is in the Air challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my Loving Life page.

Over at Country View Challenges their challenge is Black & White Plus One, so I’m happy to join this challenge to with my black, white and yellow page.

As I used black, white and yellow to create this page, I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Black, White + One Other Colour challenge.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Heart It!, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with all the stamped elements, love and hearts.

As the lovely Tracey is Guest Designing over at Frilly and Funkie, I’m also happy to be join the Frilly and Funkie Challenge which is Let Me Count The Ways, as I used three stamped Vintage Circles and three colours (black, white and yellow) 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:

• Leftover tissue paper and papers stamped using various stamp sets and Jet Black Ranger Archival Ink
• Leftover white paper coloured with Yellow Colourcraft Brusho Colour
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow Medium)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Hallmark Cards Stamp Set  (Unknown – Heart)
• Old book – The Illustrated Book of Nature
• Michael’s (Washi Tape)
• Nature’s Touch of Art (Skeleton Leaves Yellow)
• Poundland (Accessories Pack 60911, Design Gems 175751)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS738)
• Home Bargains (Love Letters 22738)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Set (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick
• Ranger Glossy Accents

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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

Sweet Winter Season

It’s been very cold and frosty this week, we even had a light sprinkling of snow, so I thought I’d create a page to capture the pretty frozen landscape.

I started by covering the centre of the page with Pébéo white gesso and then I added some Silver Metallic acrylic paint around the edges, gradually blending the gesso and acrylic into each other where they met. Next I arranged some images, wording, flowers and leaves from a Sweet Winter Season decoupage book and die cut some branches using Garden Greens Thinlets by Tim Holtz from some pink and brown paper using my Big Shot machine. They are all layered and arranged onto the page using double-sided tape or a Zig glue pen. I also die cut some snowflakes from grey/pink paper using two different die sets and stuck them onto the background along with silver snowflake relief stickers. I used some of the smaller snowflake relief stickers to decorate a few of the decoupage pieces, then to finish I added some tiny clear gemstones to add a bit of extra sparkle.

With it being so cold out, our bird feeder has been working overtime. We have had an array of birds visiting including a pair of Coal Tits; they have a distinctive grey back, black cap, and white patch at the back of their neck with beautiful creamy peachy coloured breast-feathers.

Coal Tits look similar to this Chickadee that we saw in the US when we visited last year. I have included a squirrel on my page but luckily we don’t have them raiding our bird feeder, unlike our friends in America who get chipmunks as well as red and grey squirrels on their feeders.

This little guy with his pretty grey and brown feathers is a Dunnock and reminds me of the little bird on my page; we see him in our garden on a daily basis feeding underneath our bird feeders.

Of course I wanted to also show you our resident Robin, although this isn’t the best of photos he still looks so sweet (grin!).

Challenges

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

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge 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:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Poundland Metallic Acrylic Paint (Silver)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush marker (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206)
• Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (falling Snowflakes 1792e)
• The Works Cutting Dies (Snowflake Garland)
• The Works 3D Decoupage Book (Sweet Winter Season)
• Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CRO701/16PL1)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Endless Love CRO206/A)
• Crelando Relief Stickers (IAN289011)
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Tea & Biscuit Club Arundel

Today we are celebrating a shop in Arundel called The Tea & Biscuit Club which we visited last month when staying with family. We have been enjoying some “Christmas Pudding” tea that we bought to enjoy over the winter season so I decided to create this art journal page to capture our happy memories!

I started by covering the page with some Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and as we visited Arundel during winter, I choose some fir tree and berry branches to decorate the background. These were from a Branches stamp set by Inkadinkadoo and I stamped them using Cottage Ivy and Toffee Crunch Memento Ink and also Peeled Paint Distress Ink. I added the large round shop logo to the page, which was recycled from the paper bag that we received when we purchased our tea. Then I arranged some pretty flowers and tags which are Anthology Collectable die cuts from Kaisercraft; the flowers look similar to the flowers from the tea plant. I also added some stars and a square winter scene from a decoupage set as we visited the shop at winter time; they are all edged with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck in place using double-sided tape.

The Tea and Biscuit Club is a speciality tea shop in Arundel which is located on the High Street.

It is very welcoming and sells many teas and accessories.

It has teas from around the world with over 60 blends of black, green, white, herbal and fruit infusions. They blend the tea themselves and you can choose which tea you want from the jars they have on the counter – they all smell delicious!

We wanted a tea to drink over Christmas and during the winter month with cinnamon and orange flavours, so we chose their “Christmas Pudding” tea. This is a Christmas spiced black tea with a zesty fruit infusion creating a very festive aromatic blend – it tastes yummy!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my drink related page and photos and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

By the way, the “biscuit” referred to in the shop name is a British biscuit and is similar to an American cookie.  In case you are wondering, the term “biscuit” can be applied to two different products:

• In the UK, a biscuit is typically hard, flat and unleavened, it is crunchy and may be topped with chocolate or have currants in it and is often served with a hot drink like tea, in fact you often dunk a biscuit in your cup of tea.
• In the US, however, a biscuit is typically a soft, leavened savoury quick bread, a bit like a British scone (in texture) and might be served with bacon and eggs on it or smothered in gravy and you tend to have it for breakfast.

So in summary, a British biscuit is an American cookie and an American biscuit is a British scone and the American scone is something else entirely (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 Alison/Craftytrog and her Geometric Shapes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the circular, square and star shapes that I included on my page.

As this page captures the winter season, I’m joining the Cold and Frosty Colours challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

I’m happy to join the Put Your Stamp On It challenge over at A Vintage Journey as I was inspired by happy memories of this tea shop in Arundel to create my Art Journaling Style page; this included using some stamps.

To create this page I recycled the label from the paper bag that we received when we purchased our tea, so I’m pleased to join the Recycle Something challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge too.

I’m also joining the lovely Wen and her Simply Neutrals Tuesday party over at Apple Apricot with my neutral coloured 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:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy, Toffee Crunch)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Inkadinkadoo Stamp Set (Branches 65-32007)
• Recycled label from gift bag
• Kaisercraft Collectables (Anthology C7938)
• The Works 3D Decoupage Book (Sweet Winter Season)
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Smiles and Goals

At the start of the New Year I like to look back at what we have achieved and also set new goals for the year, so I don’t forget this year I’ve captured them on this art journal page – I hope you like it!

My background was created using three different colours of Liquitex acrylic paints; these were Christmas Green, Vivid Lime Green and Bright Aqua Green. My first layer of paint was a mixture of Christmas Green and Aqua Green, I covered the whole page using a paintbrush. Then I added patches of all three paints to the page, blending the paints together at the edges so they merged together. Next I used a different stencil to apply each of the paints with a sponge; a diamond stencil for the Christmas Green, a circle stencil for the Lime Green and a hexagon stencil for the Aqua Green. Then I stamped a Script stamp by Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink over the page and added splatters of white DecoArt acrylic paint. I die cut some black card with a geometric design on it, that I had recycled from some cookie packaging, using Tim Holtz Sizzix Wildflower thinlets and stuck them to the page using a Zig Memory System glue pen. Then I stamped some little butterflies onto the page and also onto some white card stock using black Archival Ink. I fussy cut the butterflies out of the card stock and then stuck them over the butterflies that I had stamped on the page. The two sentiment cards are cut from a 12x12in design paper by Kaisercraft; the sentiments seemed perfect as they depict looking back at achievements for 2018 and looking forward at goals for 2019; which I wrote on the reverse of each card. As I wanted them to be easily removed so I could look at the information I had written on the reverse, they are attached to the page using some photo corners which I coloured black using a Faber-Castell Big Brush marker (grin!).

Looking back, I have lots to be thankful for during 2018 which includes celebrating significant milestones like my birthday and our Wedding Anniversary, getting things done like our garden renovations, making new friends and meeting up with old friends like on our trip to America.

2018 has been a really special year for me with regards to blogging too as I was lucky enough to join the amazing Design Team at Try it on Tuesday, as well as hosting and guest designing at different Blog Challenges and making some wonderful new friends along the way –  I had so much fun, and if you are interested you can find all my blogging awards and achievements here. A big thank you to everyone involved in making 2018 so special!

I definitely found the sentiment “I’ll look back on this & smile” to be true!

I’m sure 2019 will be as much fun and as always I’ll be sharing these moments with you on my blog throughout the year as I capture them on my art journal pages, so I’m looking forward to fulfilling the sentiment “Smile, Laugh, Love, Live, Grow, Happy Today”.

Wishing you all the very best for 2019 too!

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 and the Geometric Shapes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the different geometric shapes that can be found stencilled in the background and within the papers I used to create this page.

As it’s a new start to the year, I’m pleased to be able to join a new challenge blog today; over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog, their theme is Anything Goes + optional twist of Sentiment As Main Focus so I’m joining in the fun with my art journal page (grin!).

I’m happy to join the Put Your Stamp On It challenge over at A Vintage Journey as I used stamps in the background and for the pretty butterflies on this page; I was inspired by the New Year to capture my goals and create my Art Journaling style page.

I’m pleased to join the “New” (Fresh Start) challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as my page was created to capture Smiles of 2018 and my New Year Goals for the coming year (grin!).

I’m joining in the Let’s Party! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as my page celebrates past achievements and looks forward to 2019!

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Something New challenge as I used new design paper from Kaisercraft to create this page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Anything Goes, so I’m pleased to join this challenge too as my page fits their criteria of matching the theme and including stamping 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 (Christmas Green)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Vintage Diamonds CEMSDIAM)
• Circle Stencil
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlets (Wildflowers 66190)
• Crafter’s Companion Signature Collection by Sara Davies stamp set (Just for You – Butterfly Lullaby S-BL-ST-JUS)
• Recycled Card – Cookie packaging
• White Card Stock
• Kaisercraft Hello Today Collection (New P1665)
• Poundland (Fairy Stickers 29236)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)

Happy New Year 2019

Wishing you a very Happy New Year; may your year be filled with peace, love, and happiness!

To start my sparkly New Year page, I painted some gold metallic acrylic paint around the edges of the page and blended it into the centre with some Pébéo white gesso. I then layered the background by stamping some snowflakes with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink using a Woodware Collection stamp and then stencilling Festive Berries Distress Ink with a blending tool. The stencil is a Decorative Flowers stencil which I won over at That’s Crafty Challenge Blog – thank you! I stamped more snowflakes from a BoBunny stamp set using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which I also used to edge the page and then I added another layer of white gesso using a palette knife. I used the same Decorative flower stencil to add some Pébéo modelling paste and once dry I painted some Titanium White Liquitex Ink over the top. I stencilled more Festive Berries ink and stamped snowflakes again, this time using Potter’s Clay Memento Ink to get a clearer image which finished the background. Next I die cut the wording from grey design paper using a Docrafts die set and my Big Shot machine.

I used the same grey paper to back some bell and star-shaped outline stickers and cut them out; they are stuck to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. I suspended some of them from silver strands which are outline border stickers and also a red ribbon and bow which are recycled from an old Christmas card. I decorated the page with silver glittery stars and more silver outline stickers including some scrollwork, small stars and holly. To finish, I added more sparkle to the wording using silver Stickles and to the holly berries making them red to match the ribbon and bow using Christmas Red Stickles.

As T Stands for Tuesday, maybe you would like to celebrate the New Year with us by trying some of our homebrewed pumpkin beer. As you can see we have plenty for everyone – Cheers and Happy T Day!

Wishing you all the very best for 2019!

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 and her Geometric Shapes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with all the star shapes that I included on my page.

I’m happy to join the Star Light Star Bright challenge over at A Vintage Journey as I had fun adding all the sparkly stars; I was inspired by the New Year to create this Art Journalling style page.

I’m joining in the Party Time! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as my page celebrates the New Year!

Over at That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog their theme is Anything Goes so I’m pleased to also join this challenge.

As I included stamping on this page, I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at The Artistic Stamper – Happy New Year!

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes! challenge with my New Year’s page 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:

• Poundland Metallic Acrylic Paint (Gold)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Festive Berries, Rusty Hinge)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Potter’s Clay)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 233 B)
• Liquitex Ink! (Titanium White)
• That’s Crafty! 8x8in Stencil (Decorative Flower – TC8039)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Snowflakes FRS027)
• BoBunny Clear Stamps (Snow Day #13705563)
• Clear Impressions (Woodland Christmas) – free with magazine
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503284)
• Poundland Design Pad (Purple Paradise CRO701/PL3)
• Crelando Relief Sticker Set (IAN289011)
• Silver Border Outline Stickers (© DD6572)
• The Works (Christmas Glitter Stickers)
• Ranger Stickles (Silver, Christmas Red)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Stix2 double-sided tape

‘Tis the Season to Sparkle

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! We had a lovely time and I was delighted to be able to spend some time in my craft room again now that my Dad is recovering well at home after his recent heart surgery.

I enjoyed creating this page which was inspired by a number of my favourite challenge blogs to capture ‘Tis the Season to Sparkle!

The background started with some Paris Dusk Memento ink that was leftover on my blending mat; it’s applied to the page using a blending brush and also by watering the ink down and then applying it using a paintbrush. As I wanted to use the white sticker sheet surrounding some outline sticker designs that I had used recently, I added pieces of this to the background too.  Next I used up some leftover snowflakes that I had die cut from decoupage paper using a Tonic Studios die set; they are stuck in place using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. I applied Salty Ocean and Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink using a stencil to add stars to the background, and then I splattered the page with gold metallic and white DecoArt acrylic paint. The collage pieces are from a 3D decoupage book set which I layered together after edging them all with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker; they are stuck into place using either double-sided tape, double-sided foam tap or glue dots. The glittery paper and ‘Tis the Season to Sparkle star is a recycled Christmas card from last year; I cut star shapes out of the glittery card and used them to back some of the stars throughout the page. To finish, I edged the page with some Scattered Straw Distress Ink.

I love the sentiment ‘Tis the Season to Sparkle and the stars and sparkle remind me of the Christmas cake that I made this year; I imprinted stars on the icing and decorated it pretty pine trees which are also made from icing and covered in edible sparkle (grin!).

Challenges

Bleubeard and Elizabeth who blog at Altered Book Lover are hosting My Favorite Season, or ‘Tis the Season challenge over at Art Journal Journey, so I’m pleased to join them with my ‘Tis the Season to Sparkle page. Sorry I haven’t joined in the fun as much this month, life just got in the way but when I saw the sentiment I thought it would be the perfect fit for your challenge (grin!).

I’m so happy to be able to join the Star Light Star Bright challenge over at A Vintage Journey; I was inspired to create my starry art journal page to capture the sparkle of the winter season in a Shabby Chic style.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Christmas challenge over at Country View Challenges as the Christmas season is definitely the time to sparkle.

I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Party Time! challenge as my page celebrates the season.

Tis’ the season to sparkle relates to the Christmas season so I’m also pleased to join Stamps and Stencils and their It’s got to be Christmas! 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:

• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Paris Dusk)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Salty Ocean, Cracked Pistachio, Scattered Straw)
• Poundland Metallic Acrylic Paint (Gold)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Cold Grey 233)
• Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (Falling Snowflakes 1792e)
• Star Stencil
• Poundworld DécoTime (Patch Paper DS9454)
• The Works (3D Decoupage Book)
• Recycled Christmas Card
• Crelando Relief Stickers (IAN289011)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Stix2 double-sided tape and mini glue dots
• The Range double-sided foam tape