Soar

Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Feathered Friends.

For this challenge, I had fun using my new Scribbly Birds in Flight stamp set by Dina Wakley. My three birds are soaring high in the sky looking down on the lush green countryside filled with pretty flowers.

To start, I stamped the three birds in flight using a stamp set by Dina Wakley and black Archival Ink. Then I painted the sky around the birds using Ultramarine Pale watercolour paints; I also used these Kuretake Watercolours to colour everything on my page except the birds. When dry, I painted the mountains and the countryside foreground using Sap Green, Dark Sap Green, Hooker’s Green and Burnt Sienna paint, blending and layering the colours together. The flowers were created using a Flower Field Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and were die cut from some mixed media paper. I coloured them using the Sap Green Light, Dark Sap and Hooker’s Green paint and when they had dried, I painted the flowers using Cadmium Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, Rose Madder, Colbalt Violet, Red, Ultramarine paint; they were stuck into place using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium.

For the birds, I wanted to try a new technique using clear gesso and marker pens so I covered the birds with a layer of clear gesso and left it to dry. This allowed me to smudge and blend the marker inks by applying the marker colour over the gesso and then smudging it with my finger; the markers were Tri-Blend Spectrum Noir and the colours were Burnt Orange Blend, Gold Brown Blend, Earth Brown Blend and Gold Yellow Blend. I finished the birds by adding eyes and more feather detail with a black Uni Pin Fine Line marker and a white Uniball gel pen. To finish, I added the quote which I stamped onto a Pocket Card by Tim Holtz using an alphabet stamp set from Dovecraft and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. Once stamped, I cut out the wording to fit the page design and stuck them in place using double-sided tape. The quote I used is by William Blake and reads “No bird soars to high, if it soars with his own wings”.

I hope that you are inspired to join our Feathered Friends challenge too, for more amazing inspiration from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies please pop over to Try it on Tuesday.

This page was inspired by the English countryside and reminded me of our walks in the Forest Of Bowland, which is an “area of outstanding natural beauty” located near to the Lake District.

On this particular walk, we passed through beautiful countryside and farmland, woodlands and lakes making our way to a summit called Nicky Nook.

From the summit there are spectacular views across Lancashire; our house is located somewhere on the left-hand side of this picture faraway in the distance by the sea (grin!).

As T Stands for T Day I’m sharing our refreshing iced water that we always enjoy on our walks – Happy T Day everyone!

Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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:

• Dina Wakley Media Cling Rubber Stamps (Scribbly Birds In Flight MDR47636)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Ultramarine Pale No:61, Sap Green Light No:51, Sap Green No:53, Hooker’s Green No:52, Burnt Sienna No:46, Cadmium Scarlet No:31, Lemon Yellow No:40, Rose Madder No:34, Cobalt Violet No:139, Red No:32, Ultramarine No:64)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Dies (Flower Field 665369)
• Daler-Rowney Mixed Media Paper
• Pébéo Clear Gesso
• Tri-Blend Spectrum Noir Markers (Burnt Orange Blend, Gold Brown Blend, Earth Borwn Blend, Gold Yellow Blend)
• UniPin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Ground Espresso)
• X-Press It! Double-sided tape

Challenges As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Alison from Words & Pictures; she has chosen Summer Countryside as her theme so I’m joining her with my summery countryside page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #149 – Anything Goes with my summery art journal page. LTCCB #60 – July Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my birds in flight summer page.

Be happy, be you

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

I always love to use mixed media to create my art journal pages and this month’s celebrates summer.

I started by sticking the orchid flower napkin pieces onto the page using a glue stick. Then I coloured the remaining white areas of the page using some Gold, Light Green and Hooker’s Green Liquitex acrylic paint. When dry, I used a Flutter stamp from Kaisercraft to add the trellis pattern using Cottage Ivy and Pistachio Memento Inks and also black Archival Ink. I outlined and defined the flowers using a black fine line marker and I added the two dragonflies which were rub on transfers. I applied some Glistening Gold Lustre Polish by Cosmic Shimmer around the edges of the napkin which added some lovely texture and sparkle. Finally, I splattered the page with some black and also some white acrylic paint using a paintbrush. Then I added the wording which are stickers from Kaisercraft; they read “be happy”, “be you” and “celebrate the little things”.

All you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge. For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

This page reminded me of these amazing orchids that we saw hanging in a garden centre some time ago; so beautiful (grin!).

I hope that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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:

• Orchid Napkin
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Basic Acrylic Color (Gold, Light Green, Hooker’s Green Hue Permanent)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Flutter CS853)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cotage Ivy, Pistachio)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-On Transfers (ROY1643G)
• Cosmic Shimmer Lustre Polish (Glistening Gold)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Say Aloha SS281)

Challenges As well as Creative Artiste, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Alison from Words & Pictures; she has chosen Summer Countryside as her theme so I’m joining with my summer inspired page and the green and gold colours and pretty dragonflies that you find in the countryside. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #147 – Anything Goes with my mini art journal page. LTSCB #147 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my summer inspired mixed media page which includes stamping. Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my page too.

For the man in my life

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is For the man in my life.

I created this masculine page using a recycled magazine image and lots of leftover papers and stamped images. I hope that you like it and are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by adding the pocket watch image which was recycled from an old magazine. Then I collaged lots of leftover papers some of which had been stamped using black Archival Ink; they were all edged with some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink before sticking them in place using a glue stick. Next I stuck some silver border stickers alongside some of the papers to straighten their edges and match the silver of the pocket watch image. Then I added three small Victorian tags and some black brads. To finish, I added some wording which were Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful For the man in my life creations from my Design Teamies too (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday and some of the T Gang have been asking about the beer that we brew, I thought I’d share one of my hubby’s favourite hobbies to wish you all a very Happy T Day!

My hubby tends to brew beer every couple of months and as well as trying out new beers we also have some old favourites, like this pumpkin beer served with sugar and pumpkin spice around the rim of the glass – so yummy!

We brew Pumpkin Beer every October and start by roasting the pumpkin in the oven to make the puree.

The grains (malted barley) are weighed.

Then the water is heated in a Brew Devil which is an all-in-one microbrewery and once at temperature the grains and pumpkin puree are added to the water where they release their sugars.

Once the natural sugars from the grains and pumpkin have been released into the wort (as it is now called) it is drained and then boiled with different hops and spices being added at different times. After the wort has finished boiling the cooler goes in.

When the wort is cool enough it is poured into the fermenting vessel and the yeast is added. Once fermented (around 2 weeks on our beer fridge which keeps it at a consistent temperature) the beer is bottled and left somewhere warm for 2 weeks to carbonate and then somewhere cool for 2 weeks to condition. It is then ready to drink!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

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

• Old magazine
• Pritt Stick
• Leftover papers
• Leftover stamped papers
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge)
• The Works (Victorian Style Tag Stickers)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Silver Borders)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Book (Small Talk #TH93193)

Challenges As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #145 – Anything Goes with my masculine page. Love to Scrap Challenge Blog and their No Rulz 4! theme where their are no rules and you can create anything, so I’m joining in the fun my art journal page. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Masculine challenge with my masculine journal page. MIUCB #50 – Anything Goes + Stamping challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog as I used collage techniques with stamped papers on my page.

Flutterbies

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Butterflies.

My “Flutterbies” page features lots of butterflies which were stamped using a stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps and coloured using Spectrum Aqua markers; I hope you’re inspired to us too, I can’t wait to see your butterfly creations!

I started by stamping the butterfly wings onto the page using black Archival Ink and a Butterfly Peiredae stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps masking some of the butterfly wings to create the different layers. Then I coloured the smaller butterflies using a Scarlet Spectrum Aqua marker and the larger butterflies using Yellow and Sunflower Spectrum Aqua markers; first by applying the ink using a paintbrush and then using the marker to intensify the colour. I used the black Archival Ink and the Paperbabe Stamps stamp set again to add the body and antenna to each of the butterflies. Then I splattered the page with the Scarlet and Yellow Spectrum Aqua markers and also some black DecoArt acrylic paint. Next I coloured some white cardstock using the Yellow and Sunflower Aqua markers and die cut the letters for the “Flutterbies” wording using an X-Cut die set from Docrafts. The letters were edged using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker before sticking them in place using a glue stick, which finished the page.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look at the amazing butterfly creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies; it would be lovely to see you there (grin!).

The colours on my page were inspired by the summer wreath which I made; if you look closely you can see a pink feather butterfly attached at the top (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our homemade milkshakes – there is either banana or peach to chose from and they are both very yummy – Happy T Day!

Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

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

• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Butterfly Peiredae)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Pen (Scarlet, Yellow, Sunflower)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Cut Set (Folk Alphabet)
• White cardstock
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• Pritt Stick

Challenges As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat this month and her Language theme as “Flutterbies” is used by children as an alternative word for butterflies. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #144 – Anything Goes with my butterfly art journal page stamped using the Butterfly Peiredae stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps. LTSCB#145 – Anything Goes over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my butterfly page. Frame It challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the thin black frame that I added to my page. MIUCB#49 Anything Goes + Layering over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the layered butterflies that I stamped on this page. Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my butterfly page.

Invisible crown

“Always wear your invisible crown” is such a powerful message; to me it means to maintain self confidence, believe in yourself and be aware of your own self worth. I also like the idea of wearing an invisible crown (grin!) … a symbolic meaning of strength, courage, and respect.

I included this wording on today’s grungy page with some other related positive affirmations – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the page with strips of decoupage papers using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso and Bright Aqua Green Liquitex acrylic paint over the top using a brayer. When dry, I stencilled some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink onto the page using a Shabby Harlequin stencil from Creative Expressions. I used black Archival Ink to stamp the birds and keys using a Craft Sensations stamp set and the birdcages, crowns and “always wear your invisible crown” wording using a Kaisercraft stamp set. Then I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt and white acrylic paint. The words, filigree diamond shapes and pink flowers were stickers from Kaisercraft which I edged using a black Faber-Castell marker before sticking them in place. To finish, I added a black oval frame to emphasis the central stamped wording.

With summer on its way, I’ve been making raspberry gin again and as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my gin (and Sprite) with the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

If you are interested, here’s the recipe:

• 400 g (14oz) Raspberries – or any fruit of your choice, maybe pineapple, blueberry, peach, strawberry, rhubarb
• 300g (10oz) Granulated Sugar – you can vary this depending on your taste
• 750 mll (25 US fl oz) Gin – a cheap brand such as supermarket own brand as these are not too flavoured

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

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

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

• Poundworld (Patch Paper DS9454)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Bright Aqua Green)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Shabby Harlequin)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Craft Sensations Clear Stamps (CRO274/19A)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Oh So Lovely CS2111)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Arcylic (Black)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• The Works (Frame Stickers)

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat this month and her Language theme with the empowering meaning behind the quote I added to my page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #144 – Anything Goes with my art journal page. LTSCB#145 – Anything Goes over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my empowering Invisible Crown page. Stecnil It challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the stencilling on my page. Don’t forget that you still have another week to join our Make it Feminine challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too!

Birds & Bees

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges where I’m sharing a mixed media page for this month’s The Birds and The Bees challenge.

 I created this spring scene using lots of new crafting goodies, including a Sizzix Floral Layers Thinlits for the blossom and a Pink Ink Designs Beehive Buzz stamp and die set for the bees. I also used my new Tim Holtz Typewriter Embossing Folder for the wording which was on my birthday list thanks to the lovely Tracey who used it on one of her journal covers – thank you for the inspiration!

Like the birds in my garden, the birds and bees on my page are enjoying spring with the blue skies and pretty blossoms.

I started by covering the background with Speckled Egg and Twisted Citron Distress Paint using a Brayer and then some white gesso. When dry, I added the birds and sheet music which were from some Aviary Collage Paper by Tim Holtz and were stuck in place using a glue stick.

Next I coloured some mixed media paper for the die cut flowers and leaves; for the blossoms I used Abandoned Coral Distress Ink Spray and White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray, for the stamens Fossilized Amber Distress Ink and for the leaves Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress Ink. I cut them out using the Sizzix Floral Layers Thinlits set, layered the die cut pieces together, edged them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and arranged them onto the page using gel medium.

I stamped the bees onto the page and also onto some mixed media paper using black Archival Ink and the Beehive Buzz set from Pink Ink Designs. They were coloured using Fossilized Amber and Vintage Photo Distress Inks, die cut using the Beehive Buzz dies and then stuck in place using glue dots.

The wording was created using the Typewriter Embossing Folder from Tim Holtz. I embossed the letters onto some card and cut them out to make small panels. Then I coloured the card around each of the letters using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker and stuck them in place using glue dots which finished the page.

I hope that you are enjoying The Birds and The Bees challenge over at Country View Challenges too; it would be lovely to see you there! Don’t forget that when you link to this challenge that Birds and/or Bees need to be the main focus of your design in order to have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts website (grin!).

With the sunny days we’ve been having it’s becoming very busy on the beachfront, so we have been mindful to walk more in land; this has allowed us to appreciate all the pretty spring blossoms in people’s gardens – Happy Spring everyone!

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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 mini art journal page:

• 664359 -Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 10PK – Floral Layers
• Pink Ink Designs – Stamp & Die Set – A Cut Above – Beehive Buzz
• 664760 – Sizzix Texture Fades Embossing Folder – Typewriter By Tim Holtz
• Ranger – Tim Holtz® -Distress Paint – Speckled Egg
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Paint Dabber – Twisted Citron
• Ranger Dylusions Ink Sprays – White Linen
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Fossilized Amber
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Mowed Lawn
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Forest Moss
• 660200 Sizzix Big Shot Machine Only (White & Gray)
• Ranger Archival Ink Pad, Jet Black – 90mm X 62mm
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink Spray (Abandoned Coral)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Aviary #TH93706)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia )
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Pritt Stick
• Mixed Media Paper
• Stix2 glue dots
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are: Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – she is greatly missed! I’m so pleased to be able to remember her by joining AJJ with my page which was inspired by springtime birds and bees. LTSCB#144 – Spring Forward challenge over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my springtime page. Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #141 – Anything Goes with my birds and bees page. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Layer It challenge with the layers of colour, collage paper and die cuts on this page. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog and their Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page too.

Past Birthday Treats

As it was my birthday over Easter weekend and we can’t celebrate like we normally do, I decided to relive memories of past birthdays by creating this page.

You may recognise some of them from previous posts; I had so much fun looking back and remembering these birthday treats (grin!)

As my birthday is in April which is known for April showers and spring blossom, I chose a colour scheme of grey, blue and pink and created my background to look like a mixture of light and dark clouds. I did this by covering the background with Kingfisher, Peacock Blue, Charcoal and Blossom Spectrum Aqua markers; I gradually built up the layers of colour by scribbling the Aqua markers onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and then pressing the block onto the page. Using black Archival Ink, I stamped the circles using a Docrafts stamp set and then the wording using some alphabet stamp sets from Dovecraft. I coloured the stamped leaves, buttons and hearts using the same Spectrum Aqua Markers blending them like watercolour. The butterfly and wording were recycled from an old birthday card, it reads:

“Wishes as bright as butterfly’s wings for laughter and sunshine and wonderful things,
Wishes for quiet and calm, peaceful hours for memories as sweet as meadow flowers,
These are the wishes, wished just for you … for happiness today and all the year through”.

To finish, I added some embellishments relevant to each of the birthday treats:

• As we usually go to the cinema for my birthday, I included the film “Beauty and the Beast” and added a glittery heart.
• We always enjoy walking somewhere local and Cockerham Sands was particularly memorable; as it’s by the sea I added the fish and starfish beads.
• A meal with our dearest friends is a must, so The Gurkha restaurant which specialises in Nepalese and other Asian cuisine was added along with a pretty flower made from oriental fabric.
• Notarianni is an ice cream parlour that we always enjoy visiting so this was accompanied by sticker of an ice cream.
• We often have a fun time exploring different places, so I added Liverpool which is a great destination for a “Happy Birthday!”
• A trip to a local café such as The Blackbird Café with its pretty birdcage décor which I captured by adding the glass embellishment.
• I added a tree to depict our visit to a sculpture called The Singing Ringing Tree. I was surprised that I have never featured the Singing Ringing Tree on one of my posts before which we visited a couple of years ago, so I’ll be creating a page and sharing this with you later this month  (stay tuned – grin!).
• Of course I couldn’t create a page without Coco’s Soul Food and for this I added a tropical wooden flower.

As some of you will know we normally have a week of birthday celebrations and I had fun looking back at previous birthday photos; these beautiful views were taken at Cockerham Sands.

Here we are having a wonderful time in Liverpool …

… and of course some of the lovely food we have enjoyed too; from left to right there’s Notarianni Ice cream Parlour, The Blackbird Café and Coco’s Soul Food.

I still very much enjoyed my birthday this year as we’ve had some beautiful sunny days, which meant we could still enjoy catching up with our dear friends over a takeaway and some bubbly in their garden (grin!). Of course we spent time with little Ellie too which is always a delight – yay!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this yummy pink prosecco which was a lovely surprise from my dear friends, thank you so much – cheers and Happy T Day everyone!

I hope that you’re staying safe and well. x

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:

• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Kingfisher, Peacock Blue, Charcoal, Blossom)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Docrafts Papermania 4×4 Clear Stamp (Bellissima Christmas PMA907942)
• Dovecraft Upper and Lower Case Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Recycled Birthday Card
• X-Press It! double-sided foam tape
• The Works (Hearts, Sea Life Beads, Glass Embellishments, Craft Flowers)
• Twilleys of Stamford Crafties (Chinese Flowers Cerise 2912/160)
• Wilko Foam Stickers
• Craft for Occasions (Happy Birthday C2090)
• Poundland (3D Glitter Embellishments – Tree)
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are: Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – she will be greatly missed! I’m so pleased to be able to remember her by joining AJJ with my page which was inspired by past birthdays. Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #141 – Anything Goes with my birthday page. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Layer It challenge with the layers of colour and recycled birthday card on this page. LTSCB#144 – Spring Forward challenge over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my spring birthday page. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog and their Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page. LTCCB #57 – April Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my mixed media page.

Bee Extraordinary

It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for April which is The Birds and The Bees.

Please ensure that birds and/or bees are the main focus of your projects when you join this challenge which is being hosted this month by the lovely Sue.

This page was created in my mini art journal, so I started by covering the chipboard page with a coat of white gesso and then I stamped the beehive image using black Archival Ink and a Beehive Buzz stamp and die set from Pink Ink Designs. Next I added the hexagonal pattern to the background using Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo Distress Ink and an old hexagon stamp. Then I used an Interlocking Circles stencil from Creative Expressions as a stamp by covering it with Black Soot Distress Ink, spritzing it with water and then pressing the stencil onto the page. When dry, I used some black Archival Ink and the hexagon stamp again around the edges of the page to frame it. The beehive was coloured and shaded using a blue Tri-Blend marker and some Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo Distress Ink which I applied like watercolour.

I stamped the bees onto some mixed media paper and then I used the Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Salty Ocean Distress Inks again to colour them. They were die cut using the dies from the Beehive Buzz set and then stuck in place using glue dots.

I added three blue dome stickers and used the stamp and die set to create the “Bee Extraordinary” wording which finished the page.

I hope that you will join The Birds and The Bees challenge over at Country View Challenges too; it would be lovely to see you there, and if you do join us then you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts website too (grin!).

This beehive page brought back memories of some colourful beehives that we saw whilst on holiday in Skiathos, Greece.

We saw them whilst out walking along a cliff top trail; they were overlooking the sea and had this beautiful view!

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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 mini art journal page:

• Pink Ink Designs – Stamp & Die Set – A Cut Above – Beehive Buzz
• Ranger Archival Ink Pad, Jet Black – 90mm X 62mm
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Mustard Seed
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil – Interlocking Circles
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Black Soot
• Ranger Roller – Small Brayer 2 1/4
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Salty Ocean
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Spiced Marmalade, Vintage Photo)
• Docrafts Papermania (Mini Chipboard Album 15x15cm)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Hexagon Clear Stamp
• Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend (True Blue Blend)
• Mixed Media Paper
• Stix2 Glue Dots
• Dome Stickers

Challenges I’m so pleased to be able to join Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month. It’s so heart breaking that she won’t be joining us as she passed away last month shortly after her heart surgery – she will be greatly missed and I’m so pleased to be able to remember her throughout the month by joining AJJ! My page was inspired by bees and beehives, and I’m sure Eileen would have loved the positive wording “Bee Extraordinary” too!

May all your wishes come true

It’s time for our first challenge of the year over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, this is a monthly challenge and as always the theme is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I had fun creating this mixed media page using my favourite Frost Fairy stamp from Paperbabe Stamps; she seems to be casting a spell – may all your wishes come true!

I started by applying black DecoArt acrylic paint to the edges of the page and blending it towards the centre. When dry, I applied the gold stars over the top using Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad, a Sparkles stencil by Tim Holtz and Gold Ranger embossing powder. The centre of the page was coloured using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the wording was created using foam letter stickers.

The Frost Fairy from Paperbabe Stamps was stamped using black Archival Ink onto some mixed media paper. Then I coloured her using Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers; the dress was coloured using Green Turquoise Blend, the ribbon using Yellow Gold Blend, her hair using Dark Red Blend, her skin using a Fair Skin Blend marker, her lips using Pale Pink Blend, her eyes using True Blue Blend and her wings using Iced Grey Blend. I also added more detail using a black Uni Pin fine line marker and white Uniball gel pen. Then I cut her out and added the Gold Ranger embossing powder using a Versamark Watermark Pen to create the stars. She was stuck in place using a glue stick which finished the page.

All you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge. For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

I was reminded of this beautiful glass angel that we bought when we visited Prague, there is room to place a tealight behind her and being made from glass she looks so delicate and pretty (grin!).

I hope that you are all staying safe and well! x

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

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

• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Sparkles THS132)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Ranger Embossing Powder (Gold)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (MLD Frost Fairy)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Noir TriBlend Markers (Green Turquoise Blend, Yellow Gold Blend, Dark Red Blend, Fair Skin Blend, Pale Pink Blend, True Blue Blend, Iced Grey Blend)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Pen)
• Pritt Stick
• Simply Creative Alphabet & Number Stickers (Glitter SCSTK025)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the golden stars that I included on my page. I’m pleased to be able to join the Groundhog Day over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I couldn’t resist using my Frost Fairy stamp and TriBlends again (you may remember on my Believe page that I created last month) and of course the background may look familiar too, it’s from an ATC that I created in December, I just had to create it on a bigger scale (grin!). I’m also pleased to join the #136 – Patterns challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the pattern of stencilled stars on my page. I’m also joining MIUCB #46 – Anything Goes + Fancy Fold over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different techniques I used; I’m still perfecting my colouring and blending techniques using the TriBlend markers.

First Signs of Spring at Country View Challenges

I’m so excited and honoured to have joined the wonderfully talented Design Team over at Country View Challenges . It’s such an inspirational blog and being part of this team is a dream come true – thanks so much for your warm and friendly welcome!

At Country View Challenges our challenge for February is First Signs of Spring, which is being hosted this month by the lovely Miriam.

I love celebrating the different seasons and creating this blossom and birdsong art journal page was so uplifting (grin!).

When I thought of birdsong, I knew that I had to use these beautiful images from my new Forest Paper Pad by Stamperia; this included the forest panel on the left hand side of the page, the pretty bird tag and the square nest image. They were cut out and edged with a Dark Sepia marker and/or some Black Soot Distress Ink. To make them look more Spring-like, I added additional colours by painting Distress Inks over parts of the images; it’s important not to add too much water when doing this otherwise you could ruin the image. I used Mowed Lawn and Twisted Citron ink to add more vibrancy to the green areas of the forest panel and to the bird’s feathers, and also to add green leaves to the bare trees and colour the leaves on the nest image. I painted some Mustard Seed ink to add more vibrancy to the yellow feathers of the bird and also to add some colour to the nest. Then finally I painted the eggs using Speckled Egg ink and left them all to dry.

For the background, I coloured the page with splashes and drips of Hickory Smoke, Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress Ink. I did this by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page.

Then I brayered some white gesso over the top to push the colours into the background more and then splattered the page with white acrylic paint. I stencilled dots vertically down the page using a Halftone Layering Stencil from Tim Holtz and Ranger Crackle Paste; this is the first time I have used this paste and it was so easy to apply with a palette knife – I love the results (grin!).  

Next I stuck the Stamperia paper pieces in place using double-sided tape. Then I created the blossoms and leaves using Tim Holtz Thinlits and some white linen card stock which I had coloured using Distress Inks. The blossoms were coloured with Mustard Seed and Fossilised Amber ink and die cut using a Tattered Florals Thinlit set. The leaves using Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron and Forest Moss Distress Ink and cut using a Garden Greens Thinlits set. After shaping the flower petals and adding a gold pearl to the centre of each flower, I arranged them onto the page using glue dots. To finish, I added the “blossom” and “birdsong” wording which was created from some Field Notes Ephemera by Tim Holtz, an alphabet stamp set and black Archival Ink.

For more inspiration you’ll find some amazing First Signs of Spring creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you are inspired to join us too, and if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use at Country View Crafts (grin!).

The birds in our garden have been very active of late. We’ve even seen the Great Tits that are on my page, but we have noticed that this pair of Coal Tits visit our bird feeders more frequently.

This made me smile, can you think of a good caption for this photo? Maybe the bird is saying “Hello, is anyone there?” or “It’s really dark in here” (grin!).

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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:

• Stamperia – Cristina Radovan – Forest 12×12 Inch Paper Pack
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Mowed Lawn
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Forest Moss
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Black Soot
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Twisted Citron
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Mustard Seed
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Fossilized Amber
• Ranger – Tim Holtz® – Distress Ink Pad – Speckled Egg
• Ranger Roller – Small Brayer 2 1/4
• THS144 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencil – Halftone
• Ranger Texture Paste Opaque Crackle 3.9 Fl Oz (116 Ml)
• 659765 Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit (White & Gray)
• TH94051 Tim Holtz® Idea-Ology™ – Ephemera Field Notes
• Ranger Archival Ink Pad, Jet Black – 90mm X 62mm
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175B)
• Stix2 double-sided tape and glue dots
• Creative Expressions (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Textured Finish)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Garden Greens  661206, Mini Tattered Floral 661806)
• Pearl Gemstones
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the #136 – Patterns challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the stencilled lines of dots that are on my page. I’m joining MIUCB #46 – Anything Goes + Fancy Fold over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different techniques I used, including the fun way that I coloured the paper images so they became more Spring-like. I’m also happy to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page too. I also pleased to be able to join in the fun at Love to Craft Challenge Blog and enter my spring blossom and birdsong page in their LTCCB #55 – February Anything Goes challenge.