Spread your wings

It’s a new month so we are launching our July challenge over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, and as always the theme is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I was inspired by summer damselflies and had fun playing around with lots of mixed media to create this art journal page.

I started by applying Twisted Citron and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink to the page using a blending tool and then spritzed with water so that the inks blended and dispersed over the page. When dry I applied some of the Twisted Citron Ink through a Shedded stencil by Andy Skinner and also wiped a baby wipe through the stencil to remove some of the ink.

I stamped some Vintage Circles using a stamp set from Woodware Craft Collection with Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink and also some fern leaves using a Tim Holtz stamp set and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink. The black circles are stencilled using a Dutch Doobadoo stencil and Black Soot Distress Ink. I stamped the damselfly stamp which was free with a magazine using black Archival Ink so they look like they are flying around the page and then I splattered the page with Carbon Black Liquitex Ink. The wording “don’t forget to fly”, “with brave wings she flies” and “use your wings” are all Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz.

The central “Until you spread your wings you’ll never know how far you’ll fly!” wording was created using a couple of Kaisercraft Journal Cards which I cut to size, dyed with Twisted Citron and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink and embellished with a black metal dragonfly brad. Then I edged them with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and layered everything together with some pretty flowers and leaves which finished the page.

I hope that you are inspired to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge too! For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too – it would be lovely to see you there!

Here is the pretty blue damselfly that inspired this page. They are very similar to dragonflies but the easiest way tell them apart is when they are at rest like this one; damselflies fold their wings up and hold them together across the top of their backs whereas dragonflies hold their wings out perpendicular to their bodies when resting, like an airplane. This is a Common Blue Damselfly; it is fairly common throughout the UK and is seen from May through to September.

If you’re interested here are some more differences between damselflies and dragonflies (which made me think that the free stamp I used is a damselfly – grin!):

• Damselflies have much smaller eyes than dragonflies and their eyes always have a gap between them whereas dragonflies wrap around the head from the side to the front of the face.
• Damselflies have narrow bodies like twigs, whereas dragonflies have bulkier bodies giving it a shorter, thicker appearance.
• Both dragonflies and damselflies have two sets of wings, damselflies have wings that are the same size and shape and dragonflies have hind wings that are larger than the front set of wings.

Hoping that you are all staying safe and keep 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 join the lovely Erika from her blog BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her When It’s Hot challenge this month with my damselfly page as they appear when it’s hot.

I’m joining the Cattywampus challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the askew journal cards.

Art journaling always makes me happy as it helps me breathe and I love to capture memories on my pages, so I’m entering the Do What Makes You Happy challenge over at Country View Challenges too.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Bright & Cheerful challenge.

I’m also happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page.

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Twisted Citron, Mermaid Lagoon, Mowed lawn, Black Soot)
• DecoArt Andy Skinner Mixed Media Stencil (Shedded)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Vintage Circles FRS665)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Leaf Prints CMS273)
• Dutch Doobadoo Mask Art A5 (Geometric Tiles)
• Free Stamp with magazine – The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady (Dragonfly)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Liquitex Ink! (Carbon Black)
• Kaisercraft Captured Moments Journal Cards (Life’s Treasure CM108)
• Metal Brad (Dragonfly – Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Artist Pitt Pen (Black 199)
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• Little Birdie Flowers (Boutique Elements SKU213179)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)

Journey, Destination and Adventure

This week we have had family staying over, so we have been on journeys, travelled to destinations and had a few adventures along the way too (grin!). So I created this page to remember their visit and capture our time together; the background depicts the ripples of the water at high tide on our walks, the car reminds me of our outing to a local car show, the natural colours and pretty flower serves as a reminder of all the nature we saw on our walks as we walked their dog three times a day, and then the maps, clocks, compass and postage stamps to remember our days out and adventures exploring new places.

I started by applying Pébéo white gesso with a brayer and then I added dots of black DecoArt acrylic paint and also Bright Aqua Green Heavy Body Liquitex paint over the top and used the brayer to create the wonderful texture. When the paint was dry, I stencilled a large clock on the right-hand side of the page using black Archival Ink and a blending tool. I stamped some Vintage Circles from Woodware Craft Collection using black Archival Ink and then I applied Rusty Hinge and Ground Espresso Distress Ink through a stencil by Andy Skinner using a blending tool. The white circles are stamped using a cardboard tube and white DecoArt acrylic paint, I used the Andy Skinner stencil and Distress Inks again to pattern the inside of the circles and defined the edges more using a white Uniball gel pen and a black Uni Pin marker. Next I added three pieces of washi tape horizontally across the page and then stamped lots of different images using black Archival Ink onto some paper from American Crafts. The stamped images included: some postage stamps, lace and a clock from Kaisercraft; a car stamp from Tim Holtz which I cut up to produce the car, bingo sheet, map and ruler; a patterned circle from Kaisercraft; a compass by Graphic 45 from Hampton Art; a hand pointing the way from a Steampunk stamp set from Docrafts; and some numbers from a Collage Number stamp from Gummpanian Stamps. I fussy cut all the stamped pieces out, edged them with Rusty Hinge and Ground Espresso Distress Ink and then a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. They are stuck to the page using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium. Once the glue was dry, I edged them with a black Uni Pin marker and added white detail to both the images and stamping in the background using a Uniball gel pen. Next I cut a wildflower out of white cardstock using a die cut by Tim Holtz from Sizzix and my big shot machine, stuck it in place and outlined it using a black Uni Pin marker. I added two Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz idea-ology collection which read “the journey is the destination” and also “and so the adventure begins”, again they are outlined using a black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I added some Pébéo white gesso using a palette knife through a Vintage Diamond stencil from Creative Expressions.

Last Sunday we went to a Vintage Car Show with our visitors. It is a local show and was held on the green by the beach just round the corner from our house. We saw some beautiful cars including this one which is an Austin and looks a bit like the one on my page (grin!).

There were so many different cars there and we liked this one which was originally from Canada.

Or maybe this is more to your liking, it’s a Wolseley and I’m not sure my hubby would fit in it (grin!).

Some cars are Vintage now, even though I remember them whilst growing up … does that mean I’m getting old (double grin!). VW Beetles for example and we often see this gold one driving around town and look at the kettle and mugs, just right for T Stands for Tuesday!

Then we have local car clubs like this Land Rover Club which I thought Yvonne from Meggy’s way may like (triple grin!).

It turned into quite the adventure as we also saw the high tide which we don’t see that often and some kitesurfers right next to the beach.

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 Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Journey, Destination and Adventure art journal page.

As this page includes circles, I’m also joining the Circles challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

As I included circles on this page, I’m also joining the Going Round & Round challenge over at The Artistic Stamper too.

I used 3 different stencils on this art journal page, so I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and there Use More Than One Stencil challenge.

Over at Country View Challenges their challenge is Planes, Trains & Automobiles so I’m pleased to join them with the car and journey art journal page.

With the quote and all the stamping I used to create this page I’m also joining Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Quote Away challenge.

As I used quite a few Tim Holtz products to create this page I thought of A Vintage Journey, so I’m pleased to join their Back To Nature challenge this month as I was inspired by the nature we saw on our walks so included the natural colours and pretty flower on my Art Journaling and Vintage style 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:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Bright Aqua Green)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge, Ground Espresso)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.1mm, 0.8mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• DecoArt Andy Skinner Mixed Media Stencils (Shedded ANDY08)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Vintage Circles FRS665)
• Cardboard tube – stamp
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Magnolia Grove CS822, Provincial CS243)
• Tim Holtz Components Collection (COM013CAR)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO135)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Steampunk DCE907125)
• Gummpanian Stamp (Collage Numbers 14030103)
• Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz (Wildflowers 661190)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Vintage Diamond CEMSDIAM)
• American Crafts Papers (DIY Store 366665)
• White Cardstock
• Poundland (Washi Tapes 156456-GE16)
• The Works (3 Washi Tapes)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick