Blues Brothers

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which for the next two weeks is Inspired By A Song.

I took my inspiration from my hubby who loves The Blues Brothers; I hope you like it!

I started by adding the Blues Brothers image, which was a photo that I took of a mural in Spain; I printed the image, and then I stuck it onto the page using a glue stick. I used a Slimline Sunburst Stencil/Mask by Marianne Designs to apply Prize Ribbon Distress Ink, and I extended the blue sunburst lines to cover my page using some pieces of card as a mask. Next, I coloured the Blues Brothers images using a Black Faber-Castell marker, so they stood out more. Then I used the card pieces again, as a mask, to stamp two different music note stamps by Docrafts using black Archival Ink; this took quite a bit of time but I love the results (smile!).

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies.

This is my hubby’s favourite song from the movie “Everybody needs someone to love” and makes me remember, fond memories of a trip to Florida when we visited Universal Studios; the Blues Brothers turned up sirens blazing and came into the diner where we were having lunch and walked all over the tables and threw ketchup packets – they made us smile, such fun!

Hoping that you all stay safe and well! x

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

Challenges

I’m joining the lovely Valerie and her Geometric Forms challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my sunburst.

Light the way

For today’s page, we are travelling back to Prague to look at the most beautiful chandelier in St. Nicholas church.

I started by covering the page with pieces of music sheet and old dictionary pages, then I applied some white gesso using a brayer and left it to dry. I stamped the script text using black Archival Ink and an Etcetera stamp set by Tim Holtz. Next, I stencilled the stars using Faded Jeans Distress Archival Ink and I also applied some of the ink around the edges of the page. Then, I used an ornate baroque style stencil to apply some Ranger Texture Paste , which I mixed with Iridescent Bright Gold Liquitex Acrylic Ink before applying it to the page. I also coloured some of the background using this gold paste by applying it with my finger. When dry, I used a Daler-Rowney gold metallic acrylic paint marker and black UniPin fine line marker to add some contrast to the stencilled gold paste. I added the metallic word stickers by Tim Holtz, which read “Enjoy today”, “Collect beautiful moments”, “Light the way” and “Find joy in the ordinary.” I splattered the page using the Gold Liquitex Acrylic Ink, and then to finish, I added the chandelier image, highlighting the candles using the gold metallic marker.

St. Nicholas Church is a late-Gothic and Baroque church located in Prague’s Old Town it was built between 1732-1737.

It has the most magnificent chandelier of antique crystals, which is 4.5m in diameter and weighs 1.5 tons.

This is one of the views from the front steps of St. Nicholas church; the Old Town Square where you’ll find an amazing Christmas market and buildings of various architectural styles. The Gothic church in the centre is Church of Our Lady before Týn and is a well-known landmark.

We headed to the Christmas market after visiting St. Nicholas church, where we enjoyed a cinnamon crepe and a hot chocolate – yum! As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m saying a big hello and welcome to the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Vicki Parson from stampedsmiles.com and her Light challenge with my Light the way page.

With Love

It’s the first Friday of February and we are pleased to be back all refreshed after our annual break with our new challenge at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, which as always is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I fell in love with a beautiful tag, that my mum attached to one of my Christmas presents, so I recycled it on this mixed media page – I hope you like it too (smile).

I started by colouring my chipboard page with Salvaged Patina, Tumbled Glass Distress Paints adding patches of light using Brushed Pewter Distress Paint and stamping Moonlight White Brilliance Ink using an Etcetera stamp from Tim Holtz . Next I cut out lots of foliage, from Tim Holtz Kraft cardstock, using a Festive Bouquet Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. I arranged the tag and foliage onto the page using glue tape. To finish, I added a chipboard snowflake, which I covered in Wow! sparkly embossing powder and then I cut it in half before adding the two pieces to the page.

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

As this page reminds me of winter festivities, I’m sharing this photo taken in Prague that we found whilst exploring. This square is in the old town, and the restaurant seating was so pretty with all the lights and winter foliage. There is even a beautiful Christmas tree; you’ll find lots of Christmas trees in Prague, just turn a corner and you’ll find another square with another tree on display (smile!).

Of course, we couldn’t resist taking a selfie of us with those twinkly Christmas tree lights in the background (double smile!).

Stay safe and well! x

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

Challenges

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Vicki Parson from stampedsmiles.com and her Keeping It Light challenge.

Mix It Up Challenge – MIUCB #69 Anything Goes + optional Mixed Media

Once upon a Christmas time

It’s Creative Artiste’s #100th Challenge! so we are celebrating with a special challenge theme of Anything Mixed Media Goes with the option of Christmas and if you enter, you even have a chance to win this prize (which will go to our winner).

I always love to recycle items on my pages, so this beautiful gift card wallet was perfect for my special mixed media page celebrating 100 challenges at Creative Artiste.

I created a wintery scene to match the gift card wallet by adding some watered-down beige paint over the top three-quarters of the page and then applying some white gesso over the bottom quarter of the page. Next I secondary stamped grey trees and foliage, in the background, using a couple of free stamps and some black Archival Ink. The fir trees were stamped multiple times using different green inks, which included Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness and Pine Needles Distress Ink; I love the way the white gesso acted as a resist, with the ink, to give a snowy effect. The little robins were stamped and coloured with Spectrum Tri-Blend markers, fussy cut out and stuck in place. I added the “joy to the world” wording, which was a Kaisercraft sticker and then to finish, I splattered the whole page with some heavy density white acrylic paint.

Of course, there was a reason why I used the gift card wallet as part of my design and that was to store a card that I created recording that – Once Upon a Christmas Time Creative Artiste reached 100 challenges (smile!).

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

I hope you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Creative Artiste, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

Mix It Up Challenge Blog – MIUCB #68: Nov 1 – Dec 15 — Anything Goes + optional Stamping (rubber/clear – no digis)

Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog – MLCCB #53 Anything Christmas Goes

I’d send you a blizzard

Robins are my favourite bird, and are synonymous with winter which is just around the corner. So when my hubby kindly bought me a gift with robins and this wonderful quote, I knew I had to use both on my page – I hope you like it!

I started by creating a masterboard from mixed media paper by first stamping the robin image using black Archival Ink and black Ranger Embossing powder. Next, I stamped the pretty snowflakes using the Simon Says Stamp Frozen Fractals stamp set and Versamark Watermark ink which I covered with white Stampendous embossing powder. For each of the embossing powders, I shook and tapped any excess powder off the page and then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder until it became smooth and dimensional with a glossy finish. I positioned a circular template onto the page to depict the sun and then I painted the different elements using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolour paint set: for the sky background, I flooded the page with water first and then applied Ultramarine Pale, Ultramarine and Turquoise Blue colours using my paintbrush, gradually shading and blending the paints; for the robin image, I used Red, Lemon Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Black, Sap Green Light, Sap Green, Hooker’s Green and Viridian paints; and for the sun I removed the sun template and applied some watered-down Lemon Yellow paint. Then I ripped the masterboard into pieces and arranged them onto my chipboard page using a glue stick. To finish, I added the wording which was stamped onto white cardstock using black Archival Ink.

Here’s the pretty plaque that my hubby gifted me, it take pride of place on my dresser so I see it every day (smile!).

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

Challenges

Art Journal Journey which I’m pleased to be hosting this month and the challenge theme that I’ve chosen is Nature, with my wintery robin page.

MIUCB #68: Nov 1 – Dec 15 — Anything Goes + optional Stamping (rubber/clear – no digis)

Take a chance

I love to recycle and use up leftovers from previous projects on my pages, so here’s such a page to inspire you to join our Nature challenge over at Art Journal Journey, which I’m happy to be hosting this month. I hope you’ll join us there!

For my grungy background, I recycled some paper kitchen towel which I’d used to mop up Distress Inks; they were layered onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. Next I added the two butterflies and lots of die cut foliage and flowers that were in my craft stash; as far as I remember, the butterflies were stamped using a Paperbabes Stamp set using black Archival Ink onto some ink stained tissue paper, and the flowers and foliage were die cut using a Wildflower Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from yellow and brown tissue paper, and also from some black/white cardstock that was recycled from some cookie packaging. I added the wording “Take a chance don’t ever look back” which was a Kaisercraft sticker. Then to finish, I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint.

This page was inspired by these colourful flowers that we saw whilst walking to Riva from Torbole in Lake Garda, Italy.

I love Red Hot Pokers and these looked picture perfect with Riva and the mountains in the background.

Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you’ll join us over at Art Journal Journey.

Happy Journaling! Hugs, Jo x

Challenges

MIUCB #68: Nov 1 – Dec 15 — Anything Goes + optional Stamping (rubber/clear – no digis)

Triple B Challenge Blog – Birds, Butterflies & Blooms – November Challenge

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – Grunge It Up

With love

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which for the next two weeks is Sparkle All The Way.

I love the embossed sparkle of the flowers on this page; it was created using a flower stamp from Paperbabes Stamp and some black Archival Ink which I covered with Cosmic Shimmer Brilliant Sparkle Embossing Powder – Black Mirage. As this was a single flower stamp, I made a template and stamped it multiple times on the page layering the flowers together.

When heated with a heat gun, the sparkle is amazing (smile!). Next I coloured the background with Kuretake watercolour paints by adding water with a paintbrush and then the paint creating a cloudy effect. The flowers were also coloured using Cadmium Scarlet and Lemon Yellow Kuretake paints, using the same technique of applying the water then the paint. The wording was a sticker from Kaisercraft and to finish, I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

I love autumn, so the sparkly flowers on my page were coloured in autumn splendour like this year’s autumnal and Halloween window display. It’s so beautiful and it seems to have grown over the years – yay!

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – Anything Goes

Happy Halloween

It’s October so our new challenge for the next two weeks over at Try it on Tuesday, is Halloween.

For the background, I covered my chipboard page with Villainous Poison Distress Paint and white acrylic paint. When dry, I stamped a cobweb design by Molly Blooms and a star stamp by Lavinia using Moonlight White Brilliance Ink by Archival. Next I arranged two black cobweb stickers onto the page and outlined them using a white Uniball gel pen. The pumpkins were die cut from Kraft Cardstock – Basics by Tim Holtz and some other Linen Textured cardstock using a Pumpkin Duo Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz; the pieces were edged with Black Soot Distress Ink before piecing them together using a Crafter’s Companion Glue Tape/Dot Pen. To finish, I added a piece of Happy Halloween washi tape and outlined it using the white gel pen.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

One of my dear family sent me a photo of the new Halloween Post Box topper in their village; isn’t it spooky and amazing (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge and their October Anything Halloween challenge with my Happy Halloween page.

Smallest Things

It’s the first Friday of October, so it’s time for a new challenge over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, which as always is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by family visiting in September.

I started by covering the page with white gesso, keeping my brush strokes vertically across the page. When dry, I applied a wash of Black Soot Distress Ink to create a distressed background with the gesso acting as a resist. Next I stamped some black Archival Ink using a fragments stamp set by Tim Holtz and then I splattered the page with black acrylic paint. I tore the flowered papers, edged them with a black Faber-Castell marker and I also die cut the script wording from the same papers. I arranged them all onto the page using a glue stick and matte gel medium. To finish, I added the “sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in our hearts” wording, which was from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet.

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

The papers I used for this page were gifted me earlier this year by the same family member (M) who gifted me this beautiful bouquet of flowers when they visited, which in turn …

… inspired the colours and flowers on my page – thank you so much M!

We had such a lovely week together and visited a number of places local to us. We laughed as we took what we called “a mini cruise” (literally 3.5 mins on a ferry) to visit Knott End – such fun!

We had a lovely lunch at The Bourne Arms pub, where I forgot to take a photo of my yummy Cannelloni but remembered to take one of my dessert which was a Knickerbocker Glory!

Stay safe and well! x

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

Challenges

MIUCB #67 Anything Goes + optional Make Your Own Background over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the background that I created and techniques that I used.

No place like home

There’s “no place like home” and I’m so glad to be back here in Blogland; I missed you all!

My page today is for our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Autumn and features some beautiful autumnal colours – Happy October everyone!

I started by stamping Dandelion, Rich Cocoa, Potter’s Clay and Toffee Crunch Memento Inks over the background using a square patchwork stamp by Urban stamps. I added a zig zag stitch stamp, which was from the same stamp set, between the squares using black Archival Ink. Then I covered the page using white gesso using a brayer to tone down the colours a little. Next I die cut some flowers and foliage from some Tim Holtz Kraft Cardstock – Classic using a Funky Nature Sizzix Thinlits set and I arranged them on the page with some die cut pieces from a Ephemera set by Simple Stories. To finish, I added a button along side the wording “No place like home”.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

I haven’t been blogging for a couple of months, life just got in the way and the time off helped me realise that my priorities and commitments have changed. As I haven’t really shared any life events with you for a while, here are some of my happy highlights so far this year:

Holiday in Torbole, Lake Garda, Italy

Family Birthday Celebrations (not mine nor my hubby’s).

Spending time and visiting with Family and Friends – this was a yummy meal that we enjoyed at our local Greek restaurant with our dear friends.

Although I haven’t been blogging, I have been getting creative so there will be more art journal pages and photos posted if you’re interested to see what I’ve been up too.

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

MIUCB #67 Anything Goes + optional Make Your Own Background over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the background that I created and techniques that I used.