Bee Happy

Today I’m sharing my first attempt at painting with my new Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour paint set. I think I’ll be using them again soon as the vibrancy of the colours is amazing and I love how they blend together to create this summery page.

I also used a new bee stamp set and the “Don’t worry bee happy” sentiment which made me smile as it reminds me of the “Don’t worry, be happy” song. Don’t forget that you still have a week to join the Inspired by a Song challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, it would be great to see you there.

I started by die cutting some flowers out of pages from of my old pocket dictionary using my Big Shot machine.  On the page I stuck both the die cuts and the page they were cut from, so as to get a positive and negative flower image, using Liquitex matte gel medium. I also stuck some pieces of leftover decoupage paper and white leftover tissue paper that were sitting on my craft desk, which already had a floral stamp from Docrafts, a Sheet Music stamp from Woodware, a Vintage-Believe stamp and a Script stamp from Kaisercraft stamped on them using black Archival Ink. When the gel medium was dry, I wet the page with water using a paintbrush and then I added Rose Madder, Sap Green Light, Viridian, Ultrmarine, Turquiose Blue and Colbalt Violet watercolour paints over the top using a paintbrush; it was fun as I learnt how to apply the paints. I concentrated the Rose Madder paint over the flower shapes and added Lemon Yellow to their centres. They are outlined using Black watercolour paint and later with some black Uni Pin markers to add more detail. Next I stencilled a honeycomb pattern using modelling paste and stamped a hexagonalGeometric hexagonal stamp using black Archival Ink. I applied some white gesso to the page using my finger to dull the black stamping and some of the watercolour which added more depth and dimension to the page. The heart was a leftover piece of dictionary page which already had a heart shape punched out of it, I coloured it using the Rose Madder and Lemon Yellow watercolour paints and outlined it as I did the flowers. I also used the top of my spritzer bottle to stamp the small round circles using black Archival Ink and they are painted using Rose Madder, Colbalt Violet and Lemon Yellow watercolour paint. Next I stamped the bees onto some white card three times and also onto the page. For the ones that I stamped on the card, I coloured their body using Lemon Yellow watercolour paint and an extremely diluted Ultramarine Pale watercolour on their wings, then fussy cut the body, head and wings out. I then coloured the legs of the ones that I had stamped on the page using a brown Uni Posca paint pen and stuck the body and wings over the top using a UHU Stic, bending the wings upwards so they looked more 3D. As this page is so bright and cheery, I added the sentiment “Don’t worry bee happy” using black Archival Ink which is from the same stamp set as the bees; this finished the page.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m showing a drink of apple juice and ginger beer again, you may remember it from last week (grin!). Well, following all of the comments from the T Gang I was getting a bit confused until my lovely friend from Drivers and Sundry made me realise that Ginger Beer here in the UK is similar to Ginger Ale in America. They are both non-alcoholic soft drinks although ginger beer is spicier with a more fiery ginger flavour than ginger ale, so as an alternative half apple juice and half ginger ale will work too – Happy T Day!

Also if you look at my glass closely you will see a bee etched upon it, which links back to today’s page (double grin!).

In case you are wondering, this is my box of new Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint; I’m looking forward to using them some more and trying our new techniques 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. As well as Try it on Tuesday, here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover, who is hosting the Count your blessings challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I feel very blessed to be able to create art and share it with others.

I’m joining in the fun over at Moo Mania & More and their theme is Summertime challenge with my summery watercolour page.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday the challenge is Watercolour! so I’m pleased to join this challenge too.

I’m also happy to join the Anything Goes! challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with my Bee Happy stamped art journal page.

With the bees and stamping, I’m also pleased to be able to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their It’s A Bugs Life challenge.

I love my new bee stamp so I’m also joining the Use your ‘current’ favourite stamp challenge over at Stamping Sensations 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:

• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Rose Madder, Sap Green Light, Viridian, Ultrmarine, Turquiose Blue, Colbalt Violet, Lemon Yellow, Black)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm & 0.5mm)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (Brown)
• That’s Crafty Dinky Stencil (Reversed Honeycomb)
• Docrafts Papermania Capsule Clear Stamps (Geometric Mono)
• Dovecraft Premium Clear Stamps (Bee Happy DCSTP129)
• The Oxford Pocket Dictionary
• Leftover decoupage paper
• Leftover stamped white tissue paper
• Cardstock (White)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic

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Dream a little dream of me

Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge is Inspired by a Song. You have two weeks to join in the fun and there is some amazing inspiration from the Design Team, so please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to take a look.

My art journal page is inspired by the song “Dream a little dream of me” and it depicts the first verse:

Stars shining bright above you
Night breezes seem to whisper “I love you”
Birds singing in the sycamore trees
Dream a little dream of me

I started this page by adding the song title “Dream a little dream of me” by drawing some wavy lines with a pencil and adding the letters free hand. Then I drew over the letters with a black Uni Pin marker using a ruler for the straight edges, and when the ink was dry I rubbed off the pencil markings with an eraser. I then painted the page with Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green and Neutral Gray Liquitex acrylic paint, graduating the colour so the lime green was in the centre, then adding aqua green and then grey around the edges. Then I created a star burst effect in the centre of the page by applying Pébéo white gesso thinly using a sponge and a homemade template that I made out of card using a stamp from Sugarloaf Inc.

To depict the first line “Stars shining bright above you” I added lots of stars and sparkle. Firstly by removing some of the paint while it was still wet to create the white stars; I did this using a star stencil by Creative Stencils and baby wipe. I used the same stencil to apply the three Liquitex acrylic paints using a palette knife as they are all heavy body Liquitex paints which gave the stars a 3D effect. I also added lots of shiny dots and more stars with the stencil using silver Stickles.

I added the words “I love you” which are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel to depict the second line of the verse and outlined the letters with a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball gel pen.

For the third line, I stamped the sycamore leaves from a stamp set by Crafter’s Companion using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad and then covered them with silver Papermania embossing powder. I shook and tapped any excess powder off the page and then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder to a glossy finish until it became smooth and dimensional. I also edged the page with the silver embossing powder by dragging the VersaMark Watermark stamp pad over the edges of the page and then repeating the process above. As the heat embossing “resists” the ink I smudged white Uniball gel pen ink with my finger over the embossed leaves to highlight the leaf veins and give the leaves more definition. Then I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush. For my singing birds, I used one of my favourite stamps from Creative Expressions and stamped one of the birds three times onto the page and also onto a piece of Sheet Music. I fussy cut the birds along with some music notes and stuck them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium so they look as though they are singing.

Next I cut some curvy strips of sheet music and stuck them above and under the “Dream a little dream of me” wording using Liquitex matte gel medium. When the gel medium was dry, I edged the wavy lines of sheet music with a black Uni Pin marker. I went over the song title wording with a black Derwent Graphik marker so it stood out more and I highlighted some of the lettering with a white Uni Ball gel pen to give a 3D effect. To finish the page I also used the white gel pen to outline all of the different elements which included: all of the stars to make them shine brightly; the embossed edging and sycamore leaves; the birds and music notes; and also the silver Stickle dots. Adding all this detail with the white gel pen took a long time to complete (grin!).

I had so much fun creating this page as I love this song! There have been many recordings of Dream a little dream of me by different artists and The Mamas & The Papas is my favourite.

Happy Serendipity! – One of my lovely friends at Drivers and Sundry has recently blogged about this song and Cass Elliott from The Mamas and The Papas too, so take a look at her post here.

I also like The Beautiful South version of this song too.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my apple juice and ginger beer (mixed half and half) which I find very refreshing in this hot weather we are having (grin!). I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang too – Happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, 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 Bleubeard & Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover, who is hosting the Count your blessings challenge over at Art Journal Journey as so I’m always enjoy listening to music like art journaling it soothes my soul.

As I used sheet music on my page, I’m pleased to join Moo Mania and More and their Sheet Music challenge.

With the silver embossing I used on my page, I’m also joining the How can you resist? challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my Dream a little dream of me inspired Art Journaling and Mixed Media Style page.

As I made my own background for this art journal page with the acrylic paints, I’m pleased to join the Make your own background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday 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:

• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.3mm)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green, Neutral Gray)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Silver)
• Ranger Stickles (Silver)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Sugarloaf Inc. Anita’s wood mounted stamp
• Creative Stencils Craft Essentials (Stars MAOB0004)
• Crafter’s Companion Signature Collection by Sara Davies (Autumn Morning Rustling Leaves S-AUT-ST-RUS)
• Craft Sensations Clear Stamps (CRO274/16R1)
• Bosworth Violin Studies – Sheet Music
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (kisses & Hugs Silver #ROY790SV)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Earth’s Music

Today I was inspired by nature and my lovely friend Alison from Craftytrog’s Arty Adventures who is undertaking a challenge to create 5 minute journal pages – thank you!

I wanted to use some leftover papers and paints in my craft area so with the drying time of paints and glues and my finishing touches, I cannot claim this is a 5 minute page – my time actually ran out after the stencilling (grin!).  I had so much fun though and it is one of the simplest and quickest pages I have created which makes me happy – see what you think!

For the background I added some leftover book papers that were on my craft desk, it’s from some old books and some of it was die cut from a previous project. I used a UHU Stic to stick it onto the page and then I stamped some clocks from Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink. Next I used Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Red Liquitex acrylic paints and also white and black DecoArt arcylic paints to colour the background; some of which were already in my paint palette. I mixed the paints to create a pale yellow and also an orange colour and applied them to the page using a baby wipe concentrating the yellow near the centre of the page and the orange around the edges. I used up any leftover paint by applying it through a trellis stencil by Creative Expressions with a sponge and then. I die cut some flowers from sheet music using Sizzix Wildflower Thinlets by Tim Holtz and my Big Shot Machine. When the paint was dry I stamped a crackle stamp by BoBunny around the edges of the page using black Archival Ink. I stuck the sheet music flowers in place using Liquitex matte gel medium and once the gel medium was dry, I outlined them with a black Uni Pin marker.  To finish, I added a quote by George Santayana using Letter Labels by Tim Holtz which I thought matched the sheet music flower beautifully, it reads “The earth has music for those who listen”.

I love nature and when I die cut some of the Thinlet wildflowers for this page they reminded me of some of the flowers in my new garden border. This included the Achillea and Rudbeckia …

… and also the poppies; we have quite a few this year and the seed flower heads provide some lovely structure to the border 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 Bleubeard & Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover, who is hosting the Count your blessings challenge over at Art Journal Journey as nature makes me happy and when I look at my garden I feel blessed.

As I enjoyed using the stamps as part of my design, I’m joining the Anything Goes Challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with my art journal page.

I’m joining the Wild Thing challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the wildflowers dies that I added to my art journal page.

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Sheet Music so I’m pleased to join their challenge too.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Make your own Background challenge with the layered book pages, stamping, paint and stencilling that I used to create my background for this art journal page.

I’m also pleased to join the July Link Party #41 over at Cropstop Blog with my art journal page as I included some products from companies that they carry in their store.

Over at Try it on Tuesday the theme is Use Book Paper and there is a few days left to join in the fun, I hope 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:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Provincial CS243)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencils (Ornate Trellis CEMSTRELLIS)
• BoBunny Stamp (Rough it up 12105155)
• Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflowers 66190)
• Book papers – leftovers
• Bosworth Violin Studies – Sheet Music
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology (Label Letters #TH93072)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic

Mr. and Mrs.

Having recently attended my friend’s wedding, I kept some of the table stationary and decorations as I wanted to create a journal page to keep them safe and remember the wonderful time that we had.

The question was how to include the menu, name cards and gift envelopes on my page so I could take them out and look at them in the future … then I remembered a tutorial about making Junk Journal corner pockets that my dear friend Astrid from Astrid’s Artistic Efforts published the other day and viola my problem was solved – here’s my page (grin!).

The background is stamped using three different stamps from Docrafts and three different inks, this included: a rose flower stamp using Dandelion Memento Ink as yellow roses featured in the brides bouquet, grooms lapel and table centrepieces; a rose garland stamp using Summer Sky Memento Ink as the wedding stationary was blue and white; and a music stamp using black Archival Ink as the music at the wedding was amazing with the violinists and also the band in the evening. Then continuing the yellow rose theme, I fussy cut one from an old garden book and stuck it to the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. When the gel medium was dry, I outlined the stem and leaves with a black Uni Pin marker. The lace, which reminds me of the bride’s dress, is fussy cut from some design paper and has a bleached out wood grain background which looks like the old wooden beams of the barn where the wedding was held.

For the corner pocket I used white cardstock and followed Astrid’s tutorial which you can find here; I have to say it worked like a dream – thanks so much! As you can see, I embellished the outer flap of the corner pocket using a Spellbinders die cut to add a pattern and inserted a piece of the wood grain design paper. The die was kindly gifted to me by Astrid too, thank you! I also added a piece of the fussy cut lace and then along the bottom edge I stamped yellow roses from the Docrafts stamp set using the Dandelion Memento Ink again. I finished the corner pocket with a piece of blue satin ribbon which I recycled from a birthday card. I used glue to stick the pocket in place and then added some tiny clear gems to add some sparkle and also the wooden Mr. & Mrs. and heart decorations that were on our table. To finish, I inserted the wedding menu, place markers and gift envelopes into the pocket for safe keeping (grin!).

The flowers were so beautiful at the wedding; this was our table centre piece!

As you can see the pretty yellow roses also featured on the wedding cake which looked and tasted amazing 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 Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I tried a new technique to create the corner pocket for my journal page using Astrid’s tutorial .

Over at Moo Mania & More the theme is Sheet Music so I’m pleased to join their challenge too with my music sheet stamped background.

With all the flowers that I included on my page, I’m joining in the fun over the Allsorts Challenge Blog and their Flowers all over challenge.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my Mr. and Mrs. art journal 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:

• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Dandelion, Summer Sky)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Musicality DCE907112, Floral Icons DCE907123)
• Spellbinders Die Cut Systems Samantha Walker (Botanical & Accents)
• The Oxford Book of Garden Flowers
• Design paper bundle from local Craft Shop
• White cardstock
• Wedding Stationary – menu, name cards, gift envelopes
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Blue satin ribbon – recycled from a birthday card
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic

Agapanthus

Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge which runs for the next two weeks is Use Book Paper, so we would like to see some book, newspaper or magazine print papers of some sort on your creations.

My Design Team teamies have created some amazing inspirational pieces for you too, please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look. I decided to use book pages to create the background for my Agapanthus art journal page – I hope you like it!

I selected some Flora and Fauna pages from a Pear’s Encyclopaedia, cut them into rectangles and collaged them onto the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. Then I stamped some faux stitching around the edges of each collage piece using black Archival Ink and some new stamps by Urban Stamps which the bargain price of £1 each set at a local craft store. I also stamped a small stitched flower and a frame from the same stamp sets using the black ink again. Then I covered some of the page with a thin coating of white gesso using my finger to add a bit of depth. The agapanthus flowers are from a napkin which I separated into a single napkin layer, fussy cut and stuck in place using the Liquitex Matte Gel Medium; I love the way the napkin has melted into the background so that the text and stamping shows through. Next I created the butterflies with another new stamp set, this time from Kaisercraft, by stamping them onto Daler Rowney Mixed Media Paper using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad, covering them with black Papermania embossing powder, shaking off the excess and also tapping the paper to make sure any stray powder was removed. I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder by sweeping the gun over the stamped images, until the embossing powder melted to a glossy finish and became smooth and dimensional. I also covered some antennas, for the butterflies, that I made from wire with the black embossing powder following the same process whilst making sure I did not touch them until they were cooled as using the heat gun meant the metal wire got very hot. The butterflies are coloured using Sherbet Lemon, Sun Yellow, Tangerine, Poppy Red, Fuchsia, Violet and Antique White Derwent Inktense pencils; I picked the colour off the tip of the pencils with a wet paintbrush and then applied the colour to the butterfly wings. To finish, I stamped the sentiment from the same Kaisercraft stamp set, using black Archival Ink, into one of the frames, it reads “You are the reason I smile” and arranged the butterflies with the antennas so that their wings were folded upwards to add dimension to the page; they are stuck in place using glue dots.

As you probably know, we have been sorting out and replanting our flower beds – you can see some photos of our beds here. We have also been visiting local garden centres – Barton Grange has the best displays.

These glass agapanthus inspired my page; they can be found outside the garden centre, aren’t they amazing!

I love the blue agapanthus and bought some for our garden, I planted them into some pots so they are easier to over winter.

The water feature is beautiful too, don’t you think? …

… and inside we saw these pretty butterflies, which made me smile! So of course butterflies and the wording also feature on my page too (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, we popped into Light Ash Farm on the way home for my favourite cup of green tea and a huge piece of Lemon and Poppy Seed cake (yum!) – Happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, 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 Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun using my new stamp sets to create this page.

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Butterflies so I’m pleased to join their challenge too.

Being inspired by agapanthus and butterflies which make me smile, I’m also joining the Get Sentimental challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my Art Journaling and Mixed Media Style page.

Over at Paperbabe Stamps and their challenge is It Flies so I’m happy to join them with the butterflies that I created for my page.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the In The Summer Garden challenge over at Country View Challenges with my Agapanthus 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:

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black PMA4021006)
• Derwent Inktense Pencils (Sherbet Lemon 0100, Sun Yellow 0200, Tangerine 0300, Poppy Red 0400, Fuchsia 0700, Violet 0800, Antique White 2300)
• Docrafts Papermania Urban Stamp (Craft Collections – Pastels PMA907222 and PMA907223)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Ma Cherié CS241)
• Pear’s Cyclopaedia 2007-2008 Edition
• Caspari Napkin (Royal Horticultural Society – Agapanthus)
• Thin metal wire
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Stix 2 Mini Craft Dots

Wedding Card

Today I’m sharing the wedding card that I made for our dear friends who got married last Saturday – I hope you like it!

I started by creating a square card using white cardstock which has a glossy finish on one side, then I cut a square piece of Daler Rowney Mixed Media paper that was slightly smaller so it left a 5mm (3/16”) border when placed on top of the card. Next I stamped some tree branches from a Kaisercraft stamp set and also two lovebirds in a birdcage using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad. I covered them with white Stampendous embossing powder, shook off the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper and also tapped the paper to make sure any stray powder was removed. Then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder by sweeping the gun over the stamped images, taking care not to direct the heat in one area for too long until the embossing powder melted to a glossy finish and became smooth and dimensional. Next I applied three different Distress Inks using a blending tool to give an ombré look, which emphasised the melted embossing powder beautifully. The ink colours I used were Chipped Sapphire at the top of the card, Salty Ocean in the middle and Peacock Feathers at the bottom; I blended the colours together so one colour merged with the next. I then flicked some water onto the paper using my fingers to re-activate the ink then dabbed with a piece of kitchen towel to leave a mottled effect – I love the dreamy look this created. I edged the paper with the Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink using a blending tool and stuck it onto the card using double-sided tape. To finish, I added the sentiment topper and lots of tiny pearls to the tree branches.

For their wedding present we gifted them some money towards their honeymoon, so I created a little card wallet using a card and envelope from the Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection which I stamped using black Archival Ink; the stamps I used for the outside were an alphabet stamp from Dovecraft, a scroll stamp from Penny Black and a heart stamp from Hallmark Cards.

For the inside I used the same scroll and heart stamps and some Destination and Travel stamps from Royal & Langnickel – such fun!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today with my wedding card:

I’m pleased to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Use inks anyway you want challenge as I enjoyed using my Distress Inks with the stamped white embossing to create this card.

As I created an ombré effect with my blue inks, I’m also pleased to in the fun over at Stamps and Stencils and their Ombré challenge.

With the sparkly look I created using the Distress Ink background, white embossing and pearls, I’m also pleased to join Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Add A Little Sparkle challenge.

Over at the That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog, their challenge is Close to Nature so I’m happy to join them with the pretty branches and bird detail on my card.

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 wedding card:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Magnolia Grove CS822)
• Dovecraft Clear Stamps (Birdcage DCCS015)
• White cardstock
• Daler Rowney Mixed Media paper
• Card Topper
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Stix 2 double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

You are my …

We attended our friend’s wedding this weekend and what an amazing time we had! The venue was perfect and the bride and groom looked stunning and it was wonderful to spend time with some of my dearest friends too. So I created a page to celebrate this magical day with one of my favourite quotes by E. E Cummings which reads

“You are my sun, my moon and all of my stars”.

Don’t forget that there is still another week to join the Add a Quote challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, it would be lovely to see you there!

I chose a blue and white colour palette to match the wedding invitation that we received; stamping Chipped Sapphire and Salty Ocean Distress ink pads onto the CD, spritzing with water and pressing the CD onto the page to leave an imprint. I did this several times to build up the intensity of the colour until I was happy. Next I used a star stencil to apply the two Distress Inks, again using a blending tool and then covered them with a thin layer of white gesso to dull the colour and push the star design into the background. I used black Archival Ink and the Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink to add a planet and star constellation stamp from a stamp set called Stargazer by Kaisercraft, layering the images to add more depth and interest. Then I drew around the CD using a black Uni Pin marker outlining the CD imprints and added a sun stamp from the same stamp set using the Chipped Sapphire ink again. Next I added some silver circles and stars which are outline stickers and outlined them all using a black Uni Pin marker, which took quite a while (grin!). The quote by E.E. Cummings is also from the same Stargazer stamp set and is stamped onto some blue design paper using black Archival Ink. I cut it out and edged it with one of the silver outline stickers and stuck it in place using double-sided foam tape. To finish, I added some clear jewel gems in varying sizes to the silver circle and stars to add a little sparkle.

The venue was so pretty with the old barn buildings and pretty gardens! I even cried a tear at the ceremony as it was so beautiful with the vows they had prepared especially for each other and with the fabulous violinists playing romantic music and also the personalised readings – it was truly amazing!

You could tell the bride had planned the wedding well, as there were so many thoughtful details that we discovered throughout the day including sweets “Take a little, eat a lot, enjoy these treats, we tied the knot” …

… flip flops “Here’s a little treat for your dancing feet” and blankets “To have and to hold incase you are cold”.

We decided to enjoy the day and company rather than take too many photos, but as T Stands for Tuesday is celebrating its 5th Anniversary here’s a fun photo of someone’s red wine (grin!). There was quite a drink selection on offer – iced water, gin and elderflower tonic (my choice – yum!), beers (hubby’s choice – yum!), champagne and a selection of white, rosé and red wines. We were also served tea and coffee if you would prefer –  Happy 5th Anniversary T Day wishes!

Maybe you will join me in a little dance around the fountain too (grin!) …

… and in case you are wondering here is my sun, my moon and all of my stars; we had such a wonderful time!

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 Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun using my new Kaisercraft stamp set and also experimenting by using the CD as a stamp.

Inspired by my dearest friends, I’m also joining the Get Sentimental challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my Art Journaling and Mixed Media Style page.

I’m also pleased to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Use inks anyway you want challenge as I used inks and stamping to create this art journal page.

With the silver accents and sparkly gems, I’m also pleased to join Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Add A Little Sparkle 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• CD – old
• Creative Stencils Craft Essentials (Stars MAOB0004)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Stargazer CS327)
• Poundland Design Pad (Pure Frozen CRO701/16P4)
• Starform Outline Stickers (Silver Circles 1144)
• Crelando Relief Sticker Set (12 Sheets IAN289011)
• The Works (Jewel Stickers)
• The Range double-sided foam tape