Let’s Party at Try it on Tuesday

We are having a special celebration at Try it on Tuesday as it’s our 10^th Birthday, so why not join us for our Let’s Party challenge. We would like you to have fun, be colourful and share the art that you like to create with us.

You are invited to join our party which lasts for the next two weeks and to celebrate, we also have our 10^th birthday party logo that you can display on your blog too. Our Design Team can’t wait for you to join us so please pop over to our blog and check out the Let’s Party creations.

To commemorate our birthday, I created a colourful art journal page inspired by the colours from our 10th Birthday Party Logo and a fabulous balloon stamp that I found just for this occasion – happy birthday celebrations everyone!

I started by collaging some leftover pieces of Collage Paper from Tim Holtz using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. Then I covered the page with Lemon, Mango and Lavender Faber-Castell Gelatos by scribbling the colours onto the page and smudging them with my finger which I wet with water. The black stars are stencilled using Black Soot Distress Ink. Next I stamped the “happy”, “birthday” and “th” wording which are from a Paperbabes Stamp set, the “10” using a Papermania stamp set and the “Let’s Party” balloons onto white card using black Archival Ink; for this I used my Tim Holtz Stamp Platform which ensured that I achieved a nice dark and crisp stamped image. I fussy cut them all out and stuck them in place using a Zig Memory System glue pen along with some flower, butterflies and word stickers from Kaisercraft; the words I chose were “fun” and “memories” as we always have fun at Try it on Tuesday and we make such happy memories together. I die cut some stars from white card using Snowy Star thinlets from Tim Holtz and my Big Shot machine, and I stuck them in place using the Zig glue pen. To finish, I also stuck some white dots onto the page which were saved from a previous project when I was die cutting white card using the same thinlet set; I love the crisp 3D effect.

I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from the blog BioArtGal  and her In the Sky/In the Air challenge over at Art Journal Journey as you find balloons and butterflies in the air.

As it’s a birthday party what could be better than jelly and ice cream, this is still one of my favourites so I couldn’t resist having a “Blackpool Special” at Notarianni Ice Cream parlour; this is tangerine jelly with two scoops of vanilla ice cream topped with tangerine syrup – delicious! Blackpool Football Club are know as The Tangerines because they play in a tangerine coloured strip and the manager of Notarianni’s is a massive fan, hence the sundae as a tribute.

To continue the birthday theme what could be better than sharing a pint at our local pub and as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this pint of Apricot Fool beer which is brewed by Tiny Rebel, a brewery in Newport, South Wales. This beer is a light blonde beer tasting of apricots, it was so refreshing and was very easy to drink (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.

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

• Faber-Castell Gelato (Lemon, Mango, Lavender)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• Star Stencil
• Paperbabe Stamps (Birthday Wishes Stamp Set)
• Papermania Alphamania A-Z Clear Stamps (Leftover Alphabet PMA9071102)
• Love to Craft Stamp Set (Let’s Celebrate LCST001)
• Tim Holtz Stamp Platform
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlets (Snowy Stars 663117)
• Tim Holtz Collage Paper (Botanicals #TH93705, Halloween #TH93727)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS284, Fly Free SS289)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)

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Things with Wings

Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Things with Wings, so we would like to see birds, butterflies, dragonflies, bees, planes, fairies or something else with wings on your creations.

The Design Team have created some amazing inspirational pieces for you, so please pop over to our blog and take a look. I decided to go for a steampunk vibe and create time flying across my page by adding some colourful wings to some clocks – I hope you like it!

As there are lots of spring blossoms around at the moment I started this page by stamping a pretty blossom spray stamp from Stampendous using black Versafine Ink which I covered with black Papermania embossing powder and then melted with a heat gun to give a glossy finish. Then I had fun painting the page using Kuretake watercolour paints; I used Rose Madder and Sap Green for the blossoms and then Ultramarine and Turquoise Blue for the sky. Next I stamped the letters so they swept across the page from the bottom right-hand corner using a Carabelle Studio stamp and black Archival Ink. I created the butterfly clocks by using a clock from Kaisercraft Collectables, cutting clock faces from a Tim Holtz Pocket Card and adding butterfly wings from some 3D butterflies die cut shapes; they are all edged with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck in place using double-sided tape. To finish, I added the words which are Remnant Rubs from Tim Holtz, they read “brave”, “don’t forget to fly”, “wander” and “go where your heart take you”.

As palmiers are also known as butterfly wings (like on my page) I’m sharing my special birthday treat which is actually two palmiers sandwiched together with cream and strawberry jam – yum! As I enjoyed it with a cup of cinnamon orange Ceylon tea, I’m joining the T Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday– Happy T Day!

Challenges 

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal  and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as it was fun adding wings to clocks to create this page.

I’m joining the Spring Fever challenge over at Moo Mania & More with the spring blossoms on this page.

I’m also happy to join in the Easter and/or Spring challenge over at Country View Challenges with my spring blossoms.

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

I’m also pleased to join the Flowers/Garden challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my spring blossom art journal page – thanks Tracey!

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:

• Tsukineko Versafine Ink (Onyx Black)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black PMA4021006)
• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Rose Madder, Sap Green Light, Ultramarine Pale, Ultramarine, Turquiose Blue)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Stampendous cling rubber stamp (Blossom Spray CRP136)
• Carabelle Studio Art Stamp (Background avec des letters SA60233)
• Kaisercraft Collectables (Anthology CT938)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• The Works (Make your own 3D butterflies)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Special Delivery #TH93188)
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Springtime

Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday is Springtime.

As usual, you have two weeks to create your art, you can use any medium and digital is always welcome. Don’t forget to check out the wonderful inspiration provided by the Design Team over at the blog too!

Inspired by springtime flowers, I collaged the background of the page using Tim Holtz Collage Paper and some white paper that I had stamped using a lilac stamp; they are stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. As I was experimenting stamping the lilacs using Magenta, Purple, Moss, Bud Green and Chocolate Spectrum Aqua Markers to give a watercolour effect I thought I would use them on this page rather than throw them away. Then using black Versafine Ink, I stamped the “springtime” wording using an alphabet stamp and also added some clocks, both from Docrafts, as well as some bees and butterflies from Hampton Arts. The daffodils are fussy cut from an old flower book and stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. When the gel medium was dry, I outlined them with a black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I coloured the wording using light green, yellow and pink Uni Posca paint pens and then covered each of the letters with Ranger Glossy Accents to give a 3D effect.

Whilst out walking around Glasson Dock for my birthday we saw lots of beautiful daffodils along the roadside.

These daffodils look just like the ones on my page (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing our pot of green tea that we had at a lovely café in Glasson Dock – Happy T Day everyone!

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal  and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as my page links to having springtime fun.

I’m happy to be able to join the Easter and/or Spring challenge over at Country View Challenges with my springtime page.

I’m also joining in the Beautiful Blooms challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the stamped lilacs and pretty daffodils on my page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is New Growth, so I’m pleased to join this challenge too with my springtime page.

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

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

• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Magenta, Purple, Moss, Bud Green, Chocolate)
• Versafine Ink (Onyx Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (Light Green, Pink, Yellow)
• Docrafts Papermanina Tina Higgins wooden stamp (Lilac PMA9061108)
• Docrafts Creative Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Steampunk DCE9071102)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO134)
• Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Vintage cling mounted rubber stamps (Birdsong ICO151)
• Lion White Paper
• Tim Holtz Collage Paper (Halloween #TH93727)
• Oxford Book of Flowers
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Embrace beautiful chaos

Our new challenge for the next two weeks at Try it on Tuesday is Use a stencil or two and you’ll find some amazing creations from my Design Teamies over at our blog to inspire you (grin!).

I hope that you’ll join us for this challenge by using one or more stencils to create your artwork; I must admit that I had loads of fun creating this page using four different stencils – see what you think!

To start with, I tore a book page into three pieces and stuck them to the page using a glue stick. I then painted the page with Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green and Neutral Gray Liquitex acrylic paint and left it to dry. Next I used a Tim Holtz stencil to add the Bright Aqua Green acrylic paint using a sponge and then some butterflies and circles using a Mini Specimens stencil from The Crafter’s Workshop and Black Soot Distress Ink. The white dots are Pébéo modelling paste which I applied using a craft knife through a dot stencil. When the modelling paste was dry, I added the three large flowers using a mask by Carabelle Studio and Black Soot ink blending the black ink around the edges of the flower into the background. The “embrace beautiful chaos” wording, which I thought was perfect to summarise the look and feel of this page, is a Small Talk Sticker from Tim Holtz and I outlined it using a black Uni Pin Marker. I also applied some rub-on transfers to the page so the images were broken up and depicted the “embrace beautiful chaos” wording more; they are Special Delivery Remnant Rubs from Tim Holtz. To finish, I added three different coloured gems to each of the centre of the flowers.

Last week I had an early birthday treat and spent a wonderful day in Garstang visiting the local garden centre and looking around the town’s market stalls. We also had lunch and a few pints at my favourite pub and then walked along the canal and river – perfect (grin!). I thought this picture was fun, it was taken at the garden centre and shows the amazing wall on the way out of the food hall, I think it ties nicely into my page with the beautiful and chaotic way items have been embedded into it (grin!).

My favourite of course was the teapot! As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and wishing you all a Happy T Day!

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal  and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I always have fun creating art journal pages and this one was especially fun using all the different stencil techniques.

Over at Moo Mania & More their challenge is Colourful so I’m happy to join them to with the bright colours that I used to create this page.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

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

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

• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green, Neutral Gray)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Dot Stencil – unknown
• Tim Holtz Collection Layering Mini Stencil (Set 16 THMST016)
• The Crafter’s Workshop TCW Rebekah Meier Designs 6×6 Stencil (Mini Specimens TCW4545)
• Carabelle Studio Art Mask (2 Flowers)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Special Delivery #TH93188)
• B&M Crafting Goody Bag (Turquoise 321451)

Hello Spring

As spring is officially here, I was inspired to create this page using a mainly green colour palette to say Hello Spring – I hope you like it!

I started by die cutting a lattice pattern out of some pretty vintage floral paper using a Spellbinders die and my Big Shot machine; I stuck the die cut lattice and resulting tile pieces onto the page using a Pritt Stick and covered them with Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I added some Peeled Paint Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad onto a blending matt, adding water and applying it to the page using a paintbrush; I let the ink run down the page and pool around the die cut pieces. Once the ink was dry, I emphasised the die cut lattice and tiles by shading around them with a Bud Green and Moss Spectrum Aqua Marker, a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and also a black Uni Pin marker, smudging the colours with my finger. I stamped a texture stamp from BoBunny using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker over the background which reminded me of woven willow fencing. Next I die cut some leaves out of green paper using Garden Green thinlets by Tim Holtz and coloured them using Mowed lawn Distress Ink and Cottage Ivy Memento Ink; they are stuck to the page using a Zig Memory System glue pen. I added the pink mini paper flower embellishments using Ranger Glossy Accents and added some mini pearl gemstones to their centres. The wording is cut from a magazine and is mounted on a recycled piece of card. I doodled along the leaf die cut edges and also framed the wording using a black Uni Pin marker and splattered the whole page with Peeled Paint Distress Ink, then black and also white DecoArt acrylic paint. To finish, I added lots of tiny butterfly stickers.

The colours of the pretty flowers on this page remind me of these roses which are adorning my kitchen table at the moment; the shades of pink and cream colours are so beautiful!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey with my Hello Spring page. I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Colour It Green, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with my green spring page.

I’m joining in the Miniature/Tiny Things challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the tiny butterflies I added to my page.

I’m also happy to join in the fun over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their theme Anything + optional twist of inked background with my inked background Hello Spring page.

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

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
• Spectrum Aqua Markers (Bud Green, Moss)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Spellbinders Die – unknown
• BoBunny Stamp (Rough It Up 12105155)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Design Block 25 x 25cm, Mini Paper Flower Embellishments)
• Crafter’s Companion Designer Paper Pad (Angelica & Adam Collection A&A-PAP6-M)
• Old Magazine
• Recycled white card
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Fancy Sticker Sheet (Flowers & Butterflies 28965)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Everyday is a New Beginning

Now spring has arrived, the evenings are getting lighter, we have had more sunshine and blue skies, spring flowers are blooming, there are new shoots on trees and new plants are sprouting up from the ground.

So my page today is celebrating these new beginnings to say Hello Springtime over at Art Journal Journey where I’m guest host this month. I’ve been amazed by all your support and wonderful creations, thanks so much!

I started this page by stencilling a clock face on brown cardboard that I recycled from some packaging using Pébéo modelling paste and left it to dry. Then I die cut some trellis with a pretty flower design out of some recycled paper using my Big Shot machine and stuck it in place using Liquitex matte gel medium so that it filled the centre diagonal of the page. I cut the clock face out of the cardboard and stuck it to the page along with some cardboard number stickers that I had, and then I covered everything with Pébéo white gesso. When the page was dry, I stuck a piece of pretty design paper which I had torn in half to the top left and bottom right hand corners of the page using a glue stick; they are edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which I smudged with my finger. Next I applied Fig, Snow Cone, Caramel, Coconut and Earl Grey Faber-Castell Gelatos to the trellis-work to highlight the texture and pattern. The numbers stickers and clock face are both coloured using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which I applied and then smudged with my finger. I also used the same four Faber-Castell Gelato colours to highlight the numer stickers and modelling paste. The clock face numbers are coloured using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and I applied some of the Coconut Faber-Castell Gelato over the top to give them a worn look. Next I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt acrylic paint and then to finish, I added some paper flowers, a pretty blue butterfly and a sticker from Kaisercraft which reads “Everyday is a new beginning”.

My springtime colours were inspired by the beautiful glass domed roof at the Marine Hall where the Fleetwood Beer Festival is held. The Marine Hall sits on the sea front and the building dates back to the 1930s so has an art deco heritage which includes this beautiful glass domed roof.

The Festival Beer Bar is situated right under this dome and I actually had to lie on the floor in the centre of the two bars to take this picture, luckily no one saw me as I was well hidden by the bars (grin!).

Challenges 

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

I’m also very happy to be able to join the Letters and/or Numbers challenge over at Country View Challenges as I had fun adding the numbers and letters to this page.

I’m also joining the Embrace The Journey challenge over at A Vintage Journey where they are celebrating their 5^th Birthday as my Mixed Media Style page depicts the journey of springtime where “Everyday is a new beginning” – Happy Birthday!

I’m joining in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog and their Creative Artiste’s #47th Challenge – Anything Mixed Media Goes with all the different mediums (listed below) that I used to create this page.

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

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

• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Fig, Snow Cone, Caramel, Coconut, Earl Grey)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• The Works M & C Boutique (Cutting Dies)
• Recycled brown cardboard packaging
• Recycled paper
• The Works Design Pad (Vintage Love CRO707/TW25
• Leftover cardboard numbers from a Hobbycraft  Alphabet Letters set
• Poundland (Gem Florettes 117128, Accessories Pack 60911)
• The Works (Make Your Own 3D Butterflies – Assorted)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick

The Journey

My springtime page today features a white hydrangea, pretty butterflies and a quote which reads “The Journey is never truly over it just changed course”. I find that this quote applies not only to life but also to my art journaling as I often start with one idea for a particular page which then changes course as I create it (grin!), do you find this happens to you too?

For the background, I started by collaging pieces of dictionary pages, dressmaking pattern tissue paper and some homemade decoupage paper to the page using matt gel medium; I wanted a grungy look, so I let the tissue papers crease as I applied them to the page.

I had fun making the decoupage papers and for the one I used on this page, I stamped recycled brown tissue paper using a Script stamp from Kaisercraft and black Archival Ink (pictured at the bottom of the photo).

Once the gel medium had dried, I blended Parchment, Cadmium Yellow, Navy and Green Liquitex acrylic paints to create different shades of green and then stippled and splattered them onto the page using a paintbrush to build up the background colour. When the paint way dry, I added Peeled Paint and Black Soot Distress Ink to emphasise the grunge look using a baby wipe and then I added some Pébéo white gesso using a paint brush. When the page was dry, I applied Peacock Feathers Distress Ink with a baby wipe over the white gesso giving it a blue tinge. Next I stencilled splatters using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool through a textured template from The Crafter’s Workshop. I used the same template to add splatters of Ranger Texture Paste and when dry covered the paste using DecoArt white acrylic paint so it stood out more. The letters are cut from an old magazine and stuck to the page using the matte gel medium; they are outlined using a black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball gel pen. I stuck the pretty die cut hydrangea in place and added the butterflies which are rub-on transfers; I thought the butterflies went well with the “The Journey is never truly over it just changed course” quote that I selected for the page. To finish, I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

This page reminds me of a pretty hydrangea that we saw at a local garden centre, this is a tree variety and has the most beautiful snowy lime flowers – I love it (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to link my art journal page to the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey with my springtime page – I hope to see you there!

I’m joining the Close to Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my springtime page of butterflies and flowers.

I’m also pleased to join the Embrace The Journey challenge over at A Vintage Journey as the quote that I used applies to my creative journey which inspired my Mixed Media Style page – Happy 5^th Birthday!

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Colour It Green, so I’m pleased to join this challenge too with my green and grungy springtime page.

I’m also joining the Letters and/or Numbers challenge over at Country View Challenges with the recycled magazine letters that I used for the quote and those that can be found on the background.

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

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

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Navy, Christmas Green)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Black Soot, Peacock Feathers)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Script CS752)
• The Crafter’s Workshop Ronda Palazzari Designs (Texturized 12×12 Template)
• The Pocket Oxford Dictionary
• Style Dressmaking Pattern
• Brown Tissue Paper
• Old Magazine
• K & Company Susan Winget (Floral Die-Cut Cardstock)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (LAN1236G)
• Winsor & Newton Matt Gel Medium