Simplicity

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Keep It Simple.

I kept it simple with a stencil background, a beautiful Stamperia image and a word stamp.

The background was created by using a Rose Stamperia stencil like a stamp, rubbing a Saltwater Taffy Distress Ink pad onto the stencil and spritzing with water. Then I placed the stencil onto the page and pressed lightly to transfer the ink; this was repeated a couple of times to fill the page. The pretty image was from a Sir Vagabond in Japan paper pad by Stamperia and I simply stuck it in place using glue tape and then edged it with some black Glitterations border outline stickers. To finish, I used black Archival Ink and an old stamp to add the wording, which reads “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.

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 the geisha girl image that I used on this page and the simple design seems very fitting to showcase it (smile!). My page reminded me of this beautiful cross-stitch that my mum created, I’m in awe of her talent and patience as she has created many of these cross stitch pictures. It is quite a contrast to my page as it is so very detailed; breathtakingly so!

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:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Aimeslee this month, who has chosen Flowers as her theme; so I’m joining in the fun with the stencilled roses and all the flowers contained in the image that I used on my page.

Stencil Fun Challenge and their May Stencil Fun – Anything Goes with optional Flowers challenge as I had fun using the stencil on this simply designed page.

Advertisement

Faith in every flower

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Use A Stencil.

I had fun using four stencils to create this page, I hope you like it (smile!).

For my bright and cheery stencilled page, I started by covering the background with Mermaid Lagoon and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks. I blended some Seedless Grape Distress Ink along the edges of colours blending them together. I used the same three Distress Inks to stencil the dots, squares and crosses over the top. Next I applied some Ranger Texture Paste through a flower stencil and left it to dry. To finish, I added a sticker which reads “Faith in every flower”.

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!

Like my page, our flower bed is looking very bright and cheery with all the colourful flowers that are currently in bloom (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:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Aimeslee this month, who has chosen Flowers as her theme; so I’m joining in the fun with the stenciled flowers on my page.

Stencil Fun Challenge and their May Stencil Fun – Anything Goes with optional Flowers challenge as I had fun using all the stencils to create this page.

Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog and their Challenge #69 – Anything Goes with my flowery art journal page.

Rainbow Colours

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Rainbow Colours.

My rainbow colours were created using a watercolour and sea salt technique; I hope you like it!

I started by adding some columns of Kuretake watercolour paint; the colours I used were Red, Cadmium Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, Sap Green, Turquoise Blue, Cobalt Violet and Rose Madder. While the paint was still wet, I sprinkled some sea salt over the top and left it to dry. When full dry, I brushed the sea salt off the page; the sea salt absorbed the wet paint creating the mottled effect. I stamped the typewriter letters using a Carabelle Studio stamp and black Archival Ink over the top and then added the flowers, which were recycled from a birthday card and stuck in place using double-sided tape. To finish, I added four Small Talk Stickers by Tim Holtz; as rainbows are synonymous with making wishes and luck, I chose the following wording “keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable”, “miracles happen when you believe”, “a dream is a wish you heart makes” and “I feel so lucky”.

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!

The beautiful rainbow colours on my page were inspired by my travels to Burano, which is one of the islands in the Venetian Lagoon, that we visited whilst in Venice.

Unlike the muted colours of the architecture in Venice City, there are different restrictions on the colours that you can paint houses in Burano. Bright colours are the norm here and if someone wishes to paint their home, they must send a request to the government, who will respond by making notice of the certain colours permitted for that lot.

Burano is such a beautiful and cheery place; it is known for its small, brightly painted houses and is considered among the ten most colourful places in the world (smile!).

Stay 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:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from blog Altered Book Lover and her Recycle, reuse, repurpose challenge with the flowers which I recycled from a birthday card.

Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies so as their April challenge blog; I’m joining them with all the blooms on my page.

Making them with you

It’s the first Friday of April, 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 a recent trip with my hubby to Venice, Italy (smile!).

I started by using a large 12×12″ stencil (KSTDG02) by Stamperia to add Ranger Texture Paste using a palette knife and then I left it to dry overnight. Next I added washes of Sap Green, Ultramarine and Yellow Ochre Kuretake watercolour paint; I did this by applying water to the page, then adding the watercolour and letting the colours blend. Once dry, I added the Venice image which was recycled from an old calendar and the “The best thing about memories, is making them with you” 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!

My page was inspired by the canals and bridges in Venice, so I thought I’d share some of them with you as well as some interesting facts. Following my last post, we are still exploring the Cannaregio district; I love this beautiful view of one of the canals with it’s wrought iron bridge, and aren’t those reflections amazing (smile!).

We were amazed to find canals and bridges around every corner; this bridge in Cannaregio is quite similar to the image on my journal page.

Me and hubby definitely made some lovely memories together in Venice; here we are having walked to the nearby San Polo dictrict.

Venice is such a beautiful place and is well known for its canals and bridges.

There are supposedly 177 canals and 417 bridges in Venice; although we haven’t counted them all ourselves (grin!).

Probably the most famous bridge is the Rialto which connects San Polo to San Marco district (which we will explore in my next post). The Rialto Bridge is over a 1000 years old and you can see it in the background of this selfie that we took one evening.

The Rialto Bridge spans the S-shaped Grand Canal, which you can see here taken from the bridge itself. This is the biggest canal in Venice and splits the city in two. Not surprisingly, the main form of transport in Venice is by boat. As you can see there are lots of different boats on the canal, including gondolas. I was surprised to find out that there are about 350 gondolas in Venice, which on average are 11 meters long and weigh around 600 kilos, and there are about 400 gondolieri.

I hope you enjoyed visiting Venice and looking around Cannaregio and San Polo, join me next time as we explore San Marco (smile!).

Stay 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 Creative Artiste , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from blog Altered Book Lover and her Recycle, reuse, repurpose challenge with my recycled image from an old calendar.

MIUCB #64 – Anything Goes + optional Distressing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my distressed watercolour technique background.

Stencil Fun Challenge and their April Stencil Fun – Anything Goes with optional Pattern challenge the patterned Stamperia stencil that I used for my page.

Hello Spring

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Hello Spring.

My spring page was created by recycling some hexagons from a magazine and is full of butterflies and flowers, as well as some fun bunny rabbits that are hopping about.

I started by cutting out the hexagons from a magazine and then sticking them onto the page using a glue stick. The hopping rabbits were die cut, from some Color Vibe Basics Papers by Simple Stories, using a Bunny Hop Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. Then I added all the flower toppers and also the butterflies and the “hello” wording, which were Vintage Cottage Fields Ephemera by Simple Stories. The “spring” wording was also recycled from the same magazine; it was cut out and stuck in place finishing the page.

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 promised more photos from our recent trip to Venice, so here’s a little bakery that we found; aren’t those colourful Easter biscuits adorable (smile!).

We found this bakery whilst exploring the Cannaregio district of Venice; it was located in this pretty row of shops alongside a canal.

We had great fun looking around and found that Cannaregio seems to be more of a residential area with local shops and small cafés/bars.

Stay 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:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from blog Altered Book Lover and her Recycle, reuse, repurpose challenge with my hexagon background which I recycled from a magazine.

Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies so as their April challenge blog; I’m joining them with the blooms and butterflies on my page.

Sweet Wishes

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Oh So Sweet!

I created a page for some very sweet animals who are having a fun, using a Woodland Celebrations Sizzix Thinlits set by Olivia Rose.

I started by stencilling the background using Mowed Lawn and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Inks to create the clouds and foreground, using a Slimline Sunburst stencil set by Marianne Designs. Then I die cut the bunting and the cute animals with their balloons using the Woodland Celebration Sizzix Thinlits set by Olivia Rose from different coloured Linen Textured cardstock. I layered all the pieces together and stuck them onto the page using a glue tape pen by Crafter’s Companion. The flowers were die cut from the same linen cardstock using a Flowers in Umbrella Sizzix Thinlits set by Olivia Rose. To finish, I added the “Sweet Wishes” wording which was die cut using a Creative Expressions die by Sue Wilson and layered onto a black die cut circle which I decorated with some of the bunting.

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 hope that you are staying safe and well!

Many apologies that I haven’t been visiting you and your blogs lately; life is rather hectic at the moment.

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:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Valerie of Bastelmania and her Anything Goes challenge with my sweet art journal page.

Stencil Fun Challenge and their March Stencil Fun – Anything Goes (as long as you use a stencil) with optional Clean and Simple challenge the stencil I used to create this page.

LTSCB#160 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Sweet Wishes page.

Go Green

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Go Green; please use the colour green and/or recycle.

I’d also like to send a warm welcome to the lovely Helen, who has re-joined our Design Team – yay! Please be sure to check out her blog and show her some love!

I started by covering the page with Light Green, Deep Green, and Phthalocyanine Green Liquitex Basics acrylic paints blending the colours together with a paint brush. When dry, I stamped a Mister Fox stamp set by Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink and a Tiny Dot stamp by Kaisercraft using Moonlight White Brilliance Ink. The flowers were cut, from white cardstock using a Large Stems Sizzix Bigz die set by Tim Holtz. They were stuck in place alongside the wording, “Take time to do what makes your soul happy,” which was a sticker from Kaisercraft. To finish, I added some white Glitterations dot stickers.

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 hope that you are staying safe and well!

Many apologies that I haven’t been visiting you and your blogs lately; I have a lot going on with family at the moment!

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:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Valerie of Bastelmania and her Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page.

MIUCB #64 – Anything Goes + optional Distressing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my distressed green background page.

Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies so as their March challenge blog was launched this month, I’m joining them with the white blooms on my page.

Double D Challenge and their Everything is Coming up Green challenge with my green art journal page.

Hello March

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

I would also like to send a warm welcome to the lovely Fiona from http://www.craftystamping.blogspot.com/ who has joined our Design Team; please be sure to visit her blog and show her some love!

My mixed media page is saying “Hello March” and celebrating the pretty crocus that flower this time of year!

I started by covering the background with a couple of cyclopaedia book pages and then covered them with some Villainous Potion Distress Paint applying it like watercolour. When dry, I applied some Yellow Ochre Kuretake Watercolour and I stamped some foliage and a circular filigree stamp using a Magnolia Grove stamp set by Kaisercraft, black Archival Ink and Dusty Concord Distress Archival Ink. Next I added some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a brayer and layered some more of the stamping over the top, to create a distressed grungy look. Then I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint. The crocus were fussy cut from an old garden flower book, edged with a black Faber-Castell marker and stuck in place using a glue stick. I stamped the “Hello March” wording using a Sophisticated Script stamp set by Concord & 9th and black Archival Ink, then to finish I highlighted the letters with a white Uniball gel pen.

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 join you there!

Every year, there is a beautiful display of crocus’ at the church in Poulton-de-Fylde; which is a small town near to where we live.

These little crocus flowers look so amazing and it’s always such a beautiful sight as they cover the church yard in so much colour!

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.

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Valerie of Bastelmania and her Anything Goes challenge with my Hello March page.

MIUCB #64 – Anything Goes + optional Distressing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my distressed background crocus page.

Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies so as their March challenge blog was launched this month, I’m joining them with my spring blooms.

Let’s Get Messy

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Let’s Get Messy.

I’d also like to send a warm welcome to the lovely Pia and the lovely Viv, who have both joined our Design Team; this is their first challenge with us so be sure to check out their blogs and show them some love!

This messy page was created using leftovers. The background was a piece of card that I used under my journal pages whilst creating them to protect the page underneath; it’s messily covered in paints, stenciling, stamping, texture paste and marker pens. It looks like I also used this card when I created some some ATCs too, as you can see from the black acrylic paint outlines. I added the flowers which I stamped sometime ago onto some white tissue paper and also the stamped typewriter which was already fussy cut out. I also found the red hearts and “Be still and listen” wording in my craft stash, so added them to my design. To finish, I stamped the word love above the typewriter and some tiny framed hearts using black Archival Ink.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from Pia and Viv as well as 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 was so pleased to meet Chris from pearshapedcrafting, one of my design team buddies from Try it on Tuesday, at Lytham Hall a few weeks ago; we had such a lovely time together – thanks so much Chris!

We had fun chatting, exploring and admiring all the beautiful snowdrops.

Of course, as T Stands for Tuesday, I also enjoyed a cuppa too with our lunch; here’s my green tea and a slice of Honeycomb Cheesecake – Happy T Day everyone and many apologies for not being around lately, I’ve had lots of family stuff going on!

Stay 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:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Erika at her BioArtGal blog and her Seeing Red challenge with the red hearts on my page.

Be Calm, Be Strong

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Men Only.

This journal page was created using Sir Vagabond in Japan papers and Backgrounds papers by Stamperia. I started by cutting a piece of blue paper, from the Sir Vagabond in Japan – Backgrounds paper pad, to fit the page. Then I layered some leftover Japanese written plaque paper pieces and the Japanese warrior over the top; he was fussy cut from the Sir Vagabond in Japan pad. The circular dragon was a topper from Hunkydory Crafts and the words “Be Calm, Be Strong” were from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet. To finish, I added the pretty gold flowers which were outline stickers.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing papercraft projects from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us. Please be sure to check out the rules here.

I always find it hard to create masculine pages, but I had so much fun using these Stamperia papers to create this page and I love how it turned out; I hope you like it 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 Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Erika at her BioArtGal blog and she has chosen Seeing Red as her challenge; my Japanese warrior is wearing red.

Challenge #67 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog with my papercraft page.