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.

Lazy Days of Summer

It’s time for a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday which for the next two weeks is Summer Blooms.

My page was inspired by some beautiful Provence Stamperia papers that were full of summer blooms.

Having chosen one of the 8×8″ pages from the Provence paper pad, I wanted to extend the background across my page so I painted the page with washes of Violet, Ultramarine and Sap Green Kuretake watercolour paints. Then I stamped the page using a couple of Kaisercraft stamps and some Distress Archival Inks; this included a Script stamp using Seedless Grape ink and a flower stamp from a Magnolia Grove stamp set using Seedless Grape and Peeled Paint inks. I used a Paperbabe Stamps stencil to create the vertical stripes on the page using a baby wipe to remove the watercolour paints.

Next I stuck the 8×8″ page in place and edged it using some striped washi tape. “The Lazy Days of Summer” wording was cut from a 12×12″ paper sheet by Graphic 45 and to finish, I added the butterflies and watering can Die-Cuts which were also from Stamperia.

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

Lavender in the garden always reminds me of summer and the butterflies seem to love it too; these are Painted Lady butterflies.

This one’s a female Common Blue butterfly.

As T Stands for Tuesday and summer is here, we’ve been enjoying these chilled fruity drinks – Happy T Day!

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  Chris from Pearshapedcrafting is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen When We Were Young so I’m joining her with my page as when I was young I experienced lazy days of summer during summer holidays.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #173 – Anything Goes challenge with my summery page.

LTCCB#156 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my summer blooms art journal page.

MIUCB#60 – Anything Goes + optional Clean & Simple over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques I used to re-create and extend the background on my page.

Be Yourself Be Happy

It’s a new month so we are launching our August challenge today over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog which is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by pretty pink roses and showcases Stamperia images and papers (grin!).

I started by applying Liquitex Parchment acrylic and white acrylic paint to the background. When dry, I stamped a crackle design from BoBunny using Terracotta Memento Ink and a Script stamp from Kaisercraft using Toffee Crunch Memento Ink. All the papers and images were from Stamperia; I fussy cut the roses, trellis, butterfly and birds and then I arranged them with the arched window which was die cut using a Cathedral Window Sizzix Bigz Die by Tim Holtz. I even used the window cut outs, that were leftover, as fence panelling layering everything together using a glue stick. To finish, I added a Kaisercraft sticker which reads “Be Yourself Be Happy”.

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!

The roses on my page reminded me of these beautiful roses that my sister kindly bought for my mum; we always had roses in our garden growing up and I remember the wall of our garage being totally covered with soft pink roses like these (smile!).

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.

Challenges

I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely  Chris from Pearshapedcrafting is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen When We Were Young so I’m joining her with my memories of roses from my childhood.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #173 – Anything Goes challenge with my pretty garden page.

LTCCB#156 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my mixed media art journal page.

MIUCB#60 – Anything Goes + optional Clean & Simple over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques I used to create my garden scene.

Things with Wings

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Things with Wings.

So today I’m sharing the birthday card, that I made for my mum this year, featuring a huge Thinlits butterfly from Tim Holtz (smile!).

I started by creating a masterboard from watercolour paper smooshing it using Salty Ocean and Peacock Feather Distress Inks. When dry, I cut a panel from the masterboard and stuck it onto a 6×6” card using double-sided tape. Next I added some white rub-on transfers from a Remnant Rubs set by Tim Holtz and used some outline stickers to add some silver dots and a silver border around the panel. The large butterfly was die cut from white cardstock using a Perspective Butterfly Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and to finish, I added the “On Your Birthday” wording which was from a topper set.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing Things with Wings 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 gate that greets you at my mum’s house and as you can see it features many “things with wings” (smile!).

I hope that you’re 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:

MIUCB #59 Anything Goes + Optional 3-D over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different techniques that I used to create my 3-D butterfly card.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #169 – Anything Goes challenge with my butterfly card.

Take time

It’s a new month so it’s time to launch our June challenge today over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog which is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by summer days with a sunny golden sky for the bright red flowers and butterflies to bask in – Happy June everyone!

I started by covering the background with Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue Liquitex acrylic paint and then I stamped five different stamps to pattern the background using Memento Inks and Archival Ink. This included three stamps from Kaisercraft using Love Letter and Toffee Crisp Memento Inks, a starburst stamp using Dandelion Memento Ink and a Woodware Craft Collection stamp using black Archival Ink. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a brayer and I splattered the whole page using the yellow and also black acrylic paint. The two flowers were washi tape stickers and the wording was from a Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet. To finish, I added the red ephemera butterflies.

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!

We’ve seen lots of red poppies recently and we discovered these on one of our walks (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

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

Paperbabe Stamps and their #169 – Anything Goes challenge with my summer page.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their  It’s Up In The Air theme with my butterflies flying in the summer sky.

LTCCB#68 Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my mixed media journal page celebrating summer.

One Fine Day

With Alison the Craftytrog posting a page for “Pretty Woman” as part of her Play It Again Sam challenge over Art Journal Journey, it made me think about other films from this era that I used to watch. The movie “One Fine Day” sprang to mind so I created this romantic page – do you remember this movie?

With romance in mind, I added a wash of Tattered Rose and Antique Linen Distress Ink to the background, applying it like watercolour. Then I used the same Distress Inks and Pistachio Memento Ink to stamp some stamps from an Etcetera and also a Sketch Greenery stamp set by Tim Holtz. Next I added some pretty doily and flower stickers from Kaisercraft and the heart and butterflies were from a Simple Vintage die cut set by Simple Stories. I added two brads to the “One Fine Day” wording, which was also from Simple Stories set, before sticking it in place using double-sided foam tape. To finish, I added the pink raindrop gems as I love the scene when they are in the park splashing around in the puddles.

If you are not familiar with this movie, One Fine Day was released in 1996 and it’s an American romantic comedy starring George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer. It’s about two single working parents who meet as strangers unexpectedly, along with their young children, one day in New York City.

Here’s the trailer for this film, which includes a glimpse at the scene where they are splashing in the puddles (grin!).

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 pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Alison the Craftytrog is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Play it again Sam so I’m joining her with my “One Fine Day” page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #165 – Anything Goes challenge with my romantic page.

Whatever The Weather challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my One Fine Day page which includes pink raindrops.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Rain or Shine theme with my page which includes pink raindrops.

Spring Colours

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

We hope you’ll join in the fun and you can use any medium you like as long as we can see spring colours as part of your design. There are lots of spring colours to choose from and I was inspired by the green, yellow and neutral colours of spring.

I love collaging so I arranged some recycled images of a cute bunny rabbit, a hare and the “Spring” wording onto the page with a pretty daisy paper from The Diary of an Edwardian Lady paper set, and some recycled Encyclopaedia pages; they were stuck in place using a glue stick. I stamped the wording “Spring is in the air” onto the Encyclopaedia paper using black Archival Ink, and then I added two lots of thin washi tapes and the offcut strips of paper. To finish, I added all the spring ephemera pieces which were from a Field Notes ephemera pack or cut from some Pocket Cards; all of which were by Tim Holtz.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the wonderful spring colour creations from our Guest Designer 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 to continue the spring hare theme on my page, here’s a couple of beers we enjoyed recently including Hopping Hare Pale Ale by Badger Brewery. The other is a Mango Wheat by Blue Moon – Cheers and 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

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

Easter/Spring challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my spring page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #164 – Anything Goes challenge with my spring page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes theme with my spring colours page.

Enjoy the simple life

It’s a new month so we are launching our April challenge today over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog which is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by spring and some new Simple Stories materials that I got as an early birthday present (grin!).

I started by covering the background with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and when dry I used a Moroccan stencil by Creative Expressions to apply some Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the top. I removed some of the ink using a baby wipe and then I applied some Brushed Sage Distress Ink through the stencil too. Next I added the pretty spring paper which was free from a magazine and based on designs from The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. I edged it using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker smudging the ink with my finger. Next I arranged and layered all the different paper pieces together; some of which were leftovers, some were fussy cut from Kaisercraft papers and the main images with the words “Enjoy the simple life” and “My heart” were chipboard pieces from Simple Stories. To finish, I splattered the page with some black DecoArt acrylic paint.

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!

Simple Stories is a new brand to me and I was lucky enough to be treated to some chipboard and die cut pieces as well as some papers for my birthday; they’re all so gorgeous and I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of them soon (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.

Challenges

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

Paperbabe Stamps and their #164 – Anything Goes challenge with my spring page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes theme with my spring coloured flowers page.

Perfect Moments

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

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 was inspired by my good friend Craftyfield to stamp using Colourcraft Brushos, so I used them to create the diamond background. I did this by sprinkling Scarlett, Terracotta, Orange and Yellow Ochre Brushos onto a Vintage Diamond mini stencil by Creative Expressions. Then I spritzed the stencil with water and pressed it onto the page like a stamp; I did this a number of times to build up the background. When dry, I stencilled some texture paste by Tim Holtz which I had coloured using Salvaged Patina Distress Paint through a Moroccan That Special Touch of Mica Mask by Creative Expressions. Then I splattered the page using the Salvaged Patina Distress Paint and also some black DecoArt acrylic paint and left to dry. To finish, I added three fussy cut butterflies and the wording which was a Kaisercraft sticker; it reads “Perfect Moments”.

For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too.

Perfect moments made me think of this post box that I discovered outside my local post office, isn’t the crochet cover amazing – it made me smile for the rest of the day (grin!). I like the way the colours of the sun and butterfly match my page too (double 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.

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:

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #155 – Anything Goes with my festive tags.

Living Things challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the butterflies I included on my page.

Love to Scrap Challenge Blog and their LTSCB #151 – Anything Goes with my happy page and experimental stamping with Brushos.

Challenge #7 at Mixed Media Lovers with my mixed media journal page.

Be still and listen

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

My mixed media page was inspired by the sunny Indian Summer we’ve been having of late, so I’ve transported us back to a summer walk along the Lancashire canal and the lovely yellow Iris that we saw flowering there (grin!).

I started by ripping and collaging some sheet music and design papers from Kaisercraft and American Crafts onto the page using a glue stick. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso and Salvaged Patina Distress Paint over the top. When dry, I added lots of small pieces of design paper, which I had leftover in my craft stash, using Liquitex matte gel medium to stick them in place. The fern foliage and yellow Iris flowers were washi tape stickers and I cut the pretty butterfly image from some Kaisercraft design paper. To finish, I added the wording which were Finnabair stickers that I edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker; they read “Be still. Listen.”, “Just breathe” and “Be led by your dreams”.

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!

We always enjoy this walk along the canal and seeing the different boats, plants and wildlife along the way.

Here’s a view of one of the bridges where we saw the pretty yellow Iris flowering along the waters edge; it’s such a beautiful and peaceful place to walk (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.

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 Creative Artiste, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Touchy Feely challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the texture I created using the leftover paper pieces which I layered together on this page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #153 – Anything Goes with my summer walk art journal page. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my Indian Summer inspired page.