Be Thankful

Today I’m sharing a thankful journal page and wishing all of you that are celebrating this week – a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I started by covering the chipboard page with some scraps of neutral coloured papers; I cut the papers into triangles before collaging them onto the page and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top using my finger. I added the framed wording “when I count my blessings I count you twice” which was a sticker from Kaisercraft and the “Be thankful” wording which was washi tape. Next I added two flowers from a Tim Holtz Ephemera pack and two die cut autumnal leaves that were coloured using Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. To finish, I added two little chipboard owls.

For our wedding anniversary last month, we went to a new local Chinese restaurant called “Blessings House” and had the most amazing time (smile!).

The beautiful picture on the wall is cross stitch and was sewn by one of the restaurant’s family – it was very detailed and must have taken ages to create!

We had the lunch buffet with starters and soup; our choices were Sweetcorn and Crabmeat soup and one of each of the starters which were Curry Samosas, Spring Rolls, Salt and Pepper Chicken, Spare Ribs, Chicken Satay, Prawn Toast and Seaweed.

We shared our mains of Chicken in Satay Sauce, Sweet and Sour Pork and Chicken with Mushrooms – it was all so yummy and very filling!

I forgot to take photos of our drinks at the restaurant, so as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a couple of pints that we enjoyed at the pub around the corner on our way home (smile!) – Happy T Day everyone!

I hope 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.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

The lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from https://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/ who is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Collage Fodder, Food & Drink or Both so I’m joining her with my collage fodder page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #181 – Anything Goes challenge with my thankful page.

LTSCB#158 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Be Thankful page; I used lots of scraps to create this one.

November Anything Goes Fall Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge with my autumnal thankful page.

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Autumn Greetings

I’m having so much fun creating pages using the beautiful napkins that I received as part of the napkin swap over at T Stands for Tuesday. So today I’m sharing my third page, this time I used an autumnal mushroom designed napkin to send you all Autumn Greetings!

I started by painting the edge of the page with Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre Kuretake watercolours. When dry, I stamped a crackle design by BoBunny, over the top of the watercolours, using black Archival Ink. Then I stencilled the ivy using Black Soot Distress Ink; the stencil template was created using an ivy die cut from a Garden Greens Thinlits by Tim Holtz. Next I carefully tore the napkin, around the autumnal mushroom image, and stuck it in place using a glue stick. To finish, I stamped the “Autumn Greetings” wording using Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink.

It was my hubby’s birthday last week which happened to coincide with a Beer Festival at one of our local pubs. With my autumnal page and as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing one this “All the leaves are brown” ale – it’s by Brewster’s Brewery and is a California Common Style beer at 4.8% ABV made with British malt and hops; it’s amber coloured, zesty and fruity.

We also both had a BBQ Fried Buttermilk Chicken Burger topped with maple-cured bacon and cheese, and served with BBQ sauce, onion rings and chips – so yummy!

Cheers and Happy T Day!

Creating pages using the napkins from the T Day napkin swap is so much fun! If you’re interested you can find them here:

1. Bee Wellington Boots – Bee napkin from Erika
2. Time for Tea – Alice napkin from Lisca
3. Autumn Greeting – Autumnal napkin from Chris – this post
4. Mischievous Cats – to be posted in November

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

I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Fairytales, Folklore & Fables – Tell Me A Story so I’m joining her with my autumnal page as mushrooms have a long history in Magic and Folklore; in the UK it is often thought fairies live in them (smile!).

Paperbabe Stamps and their #179 – Anything Goes challenge with my autumnal page.

Challenge #63 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels with my Autumn Greetings page.

Stencil Fun Challenge which is Anything Goes as long as you use a stencil (with optional Halloween Colours); with the stencil which was created from a Tim Holtz die set that I used on my page.

Spooky Halloween

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

For my page, I recycled a magazine page with a beautiful spooky image of “Día de los Muertos” or “Day of the Dead“.

I started by stencilling large circles onto the page using the white acrylic paint. When dry, I coloured between the circles using Villainous Potion Distress Paint. Then I applied some more white acrylic paint to the circles mixing in some of the Distress Paint to add texture and depth. Then I splattered the page using the same Distress Paint.

Next I added the image, circles and wording which were all recycled from a magazine page; I loved the spooky makeup and rich colours. The image and circles were die cut and then layered together with the wording using a glue stick. To finish, I added some sparkly pink gemstones.

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

As T Stands for Tuesday and with the cooler autumn temperatures, I’m sharing my yummy hot chocolate and saying a big hello to the T Gang – wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

I’ve had such fun creating pages using the napkins from the T Day napkin swap this year, as you may know I’ve created two pages so far and if you’re interested you can find them here:

1. Bee Wellington Boots
2. Time for Tea
3. Autumn Greetings – to be posted next week

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 Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Fairytales, Folklore & Fables – Tell Me A Story so I’m joining her with my”Día de los Muertos” or “Day of the Dead” page.

I’m also joining a new challenge blog that’s just started this month called Stencil Fun Challenge which is Anything Goes as long as you use a stencil (with optional Halloween Colours); I used a circle stencil to create the background for my Halloween page – Happy Stencilling!

OCTOBER – Anything Halloween challenge over at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge with my Spooky Halloween page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #178 – Anything Goes challenge with my spooky page.

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Pumpkin Patch Halloween

It’s a new month so it’s time to launch a new challenge over at Country View Challenges which is Halloween or Harvest, which is being hosted by the lovely Miriam.

For this challenge, I’m had fun creating this Pumpkin Patch Halloween page using Sizzix Thinlits by Tim Holtz.

The chipboard page was covered with a square of mixed media paper using a glue stick, which was first stamped using a Doorway Finnabair stamp and black Archival Ink. Then I stencilled the large moon using white DecoArt acrylic paint and I coloured the night sky around it using Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot Distress Inks with a blending tool. I used the same Distress Inks to add some texture to the moon itself and I added the black foreground using black DecoArt acrylic paint.

The bats and pumpkins were die cut using a Pumpkin Patch Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from different coloured Kraft Stock Classic paper pad by Tim Holtz. To finish, I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges. I hope you’ll join us, it would be lovely to see you there and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the Country View Crafts shop! Before you enter, please read the rules.

There seems to be some spooky goings on at Lytham Hall with pumpkin banners.

As well as this fabulous pottery pumpkin guarding the pumpkin patch.

Wishing you a Happy October and 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.

Challenge

As well as Country View Challenges , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Fairytales, Folklore & Fables – Tell Me A Story so I’m joining her with my Pumpkin Patch page as Jack-o’-lanterns are part of folklore tradition.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #177 – Anything Goes challenge with my Halloween page.

LTCCB#71 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my Pumpkin Patch page.

OCTOBER – Anything Halloween challenge over at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge with my Pumpkin Patch Halloween page.

Embossed Autumn Leaves

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Emboss It; this can be wet or dry embossing.

I had fun creating this autumnal page which features both wet and dry embossing techniques.

I started by covering the page with Driftwood DecoArt acrylic paint and when dry, I stamped a woodgrain stamp from BoBunny using some Moonlight White Brilliance Ink over the top. Next I used a Typewriter embossing folder by Tim Holtz and a leaf and swirls embossing folder to emboss some autumnal coloured masterboard that I had left over from a previous project; the masterboard was coloured by smooshing Rusty Hinge, Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks. I then dragged a Ground Espresso Distress Ink pad over the top of the embossed paper to highlight the embossed patterns. Next I fussy cut the letters and some of the leaves and swirls from one of the embossed papers, and I edged the rectangle of embossed paper using some Vintage Ivory embossing enamel by Stampendous. Then I arranged everything onto the page with two chipboard birds which were also covered using the same embossing enamel.

As we’re celebrating autumn and T Stands for Tuesday, here’s my green tea with a piece of homemade pumpkin roll filled with cream cheese frosting – Happy T Day everyone!

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 Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Neet from Hickydorums is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Fur and/or Feathers so I’m joining her with the birds on my page.

MIUCB#61 – Anything Goes + Optional Smooshing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the embossing techniques and smooshed masterboard embossed pieces that I used to create this page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #176 – Anything Goes challenge with my autumnal page.

Look for the magic

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Mushrooms and other Fungi.

I had fun creating this art journal page of mushrooms and autumn leaves which was inspired by a red-capped mushroom that we saw on one of our walks around Lytham Hall.

I started by stencilling Vintage Photo Distress Ink onto the page using a stencil from Creative Expressions. Next I stuck the mushrooms in place which were washi tape stickers and for the foreground, I arranged some leftover papers and autumnal leaves; the leaves were either die cut or stamped and cut out from papers coloured with Brushos or Distress Inks. I used the Vintage Photo Distress Ink to colour the wording, which was a Sentiments sticker by Finnabair. To finish, I had fun highlighting the mushrooms with a white gel pen and then I splattered the page with both white and black DecoArt acrylic paint.

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

This is the red-capped mushroom that we saw on our walk at Lytham Hall; it seems all we needed to do was “look for the magic” (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 Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #176 – Anything Goes challenge with my autumnal page.

LTCCB#71 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my mushroom page celebrating autumn.

Full of Wonder

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges with art journal page for this month’s Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness Challenge.

This autumnal journal page celebrates early autumn with a smooshed background of autumnal sunshine, and some ephemera of seasonal flowers and a pretty butterfly.

I started by creating a masterboard of smooshed Rusty Hinge, Mustard Seed and Orange Marmalade Distress Inks on some mixed media paper; I did this by stamping the ink pads onto an acrylic block, spritzing the block with water and pressing it onto the paper gradually building up the layers of colour. When dry, I cut out a panel for the background of my page, sticking it in place using a glue stick. Next I layered, onto the page, a Pocket Card with a pretty butterfly design, some yarrow and chrysanthemum flowers from an Ephemera pack and the wording which were from a Thoughts Label Sticker set; all of these were Tim Holtz products. To finish, I splattered the page with black DecoArt paint.

I hope you are inspired to join our challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts.

I always think of chrysanthemums this time of year which remind me of the Fall displays in America. They seem to be a popular flower on sale in Garden Centres over here in the UK too – Happy Autumn everyone!

I hope that you’re staying safe and well!

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Neet from Hickydorums is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Fur and/or Feathers so I’m joining her with the butterfly on my page as the wings near it’s body look so furry.

MIUCB#61 – Anything Goes + Optional Smooshing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my smooshed masterboard background for this page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #176 – Anything Goes challenge with my autumnal page.

Spooky Fun

As Halloween weekend is upon us, I created this page full of Spooky Fun to wish you all a Happy Halloween!

I started by adding the panels of wrought iron and ghost images which were from an old magazine and then I added some striped washi tape to fill in the gaps between the panels. The wording was also cut from magazine pages; so all the letters matched some of the backgrounds were coloured using a black Faber-Castell marker and some of the letters using a Gold Spectrum Aqua marker. Once the wording was stuck in place, I added some touches of gold to the letters using a gel pen and I outlined them using black Glitterations border stickers which added a bit more sparkle.

The purple ivy die cuts and coloured papers that I used to die cut the autumnal leaves from, were leftover from other projects; the leaves were die cut using a Fall Foliage Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. To finish, I splattered the whole page with some black DecoArt acrylic paint.

The wrought iron reminded me of the gates at Lytham Hall. There have been spooky goings on reported at the gatehouse, where these gates are situated, which include phantom cars and white paranormal sightings; if your interested you can check out the full story here titled Ghosts at Lytham Hall.

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.

For the sake of brevity I am no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Art Journal Journey and lovely Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations  who is hosting this month with her My favourite colour is October challenge with my autumnal Halloween page.

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog and their Grunge, Ghouls or Giggles with my Spooky Fun page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #155 – Anything Goes with my Halloween page.

LTSCB #150 – Anything But A Card over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my Spooky Fun page.

Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog with my spooky page.

It’s all about time

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is It’s all about time.

For this challenge I was inspired by the time I have spent this month celebrating my hubby’s birthday and also our wedding anniversary. I hope are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

The background was a wallpaper sample detailing a large clock face, roses and the words “Take time to love the little things”; it was stuck in place using a glue stick and then cut to size, and I collaged the remnants together to create the panel on the left-hand side of the page. I also added more detail to the rose images using a white Uniball gel pen so they stood out more. Next I stamped the two clock faces onto some design paper by American Crafts using black Archival Ink and a couple of stamp sets by Kaisercraft. I cut them out and arranged them onto the page with some silver roses and circles which were outline stickers and a quote from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet which reads “Love the time we spend together”. To finish, I fussy cut the two butterflies from the wallpaper sample and stuck them onto the page.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful It’s all about time creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday and we’ve been out celebrating, I’m sharing our drinks and meal that we enjoyed for our wedding anniversary (time sure does fly, we celebrated 33 years of marriage this year!). My hubby had chicken with black pudding in a mustard sauce and I had a warm bacon and chicken salad; I couldn’t eat all mine so we had some for lunch the next day (grin!).

Cheers and Happy T Day!

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

For the sake of brevity I am no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today with my page:

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #154 – Anything Goes with my page.

Thinking of you over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

MIUCB#54 – Anything Goes + Paper Piecing challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog.

Love to Craft Challenge Blog and their LTCCB#63 – October Anything Goes challenge.

Batty Halloween

I love this time of year, so my page today is inspired by autumnal colours and some spooky bats to celebrate Halloween; I hope you like it!

I started by adding the large leaves, which were some leftover pieces of Botanicals Collage Paper by Tim Holtz, sticking them in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry, I smooshed lots of Distress Inks over the page, the colours I used were Seedless Grapes, Spiced Marmalade and Twisted Citron. Next I added more foliage using an Urban Tapestry stamp set by Tim Holtz and black Archival Ink and then I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint. The black wreath circles and bats were die cut from black cardstock using a couple of Sizzix Thinlits sets; they were Pretty Wreath Thinlits by Peter Hughes and Halloween Hangouts Thinlits by Tim Holtz. The “Halloween” wording was created using letters from some Chipboard Quote chips by Tim Holtz. To finish, I added three Small Talk stickers which were also by Tim Holtz and read “stay curious”, “don’t forget to fly” and “be brave”.

Tracey was asking if I have lights on my autumn window display, well as you can see here I do (grin!).

I even have bats up for Halloween too and I managed to capture them here with the moon shining through the window – so spooky (double grin!).

I 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.

For the sake of brevity I am no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today with my Batty Halloween page:

Art Journal Journey and lovely Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations  who is hosting this month with her My favourite colour is October challenge as Halloween and the colours are synonymous with October.

October Anything Halloween challenge over at the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge.

Grunge, Ghouls or Giggles over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog with my grungy page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #154 – Anything Goes with my page.

Spooky/Halloween challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

LTSCB #150 – Anything But A Card over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with this Halloween art journal page.

Spooky/Halloween challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

Challenge #6 Mixed Media Lovers with my mixed media Halloween page; this is a new challenge so I thought I’d join in the fun!