Nature’s Beauty

Our new challenge at Try it on Tuesday is Nature’s Beauty and the Design Team have some amazing inspiration for you, whether it is flowers, plants, animals or scenes of nature.

My art journal page today is a scene capturing the peacefulness and serenity of dragonflies over water, which for me, encapsulates nature’s beauty.

I started by painting diluted Shabby Shutters and Salty Ocean Distress Ink onto the background by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block and applying it to the page with a paintbrush to create a watercolour effect. Then I used a Distressed Dots stencil from That Special Touch of Mica Masks by Creative Expressions to apply Mowed Lawn and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks using a blending tool. I stamped some foliage using an Eco Green stamp set made from recycled rubber and a Tan Spectrum Aqua Marker. Then I added some Pébéo modelling paste using the Distressed Dot stencil to add more dimension and when the paste was dry, coloured it with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint. I fussy cut the grasses, leaves and iris from a wallpaper sample and stuck them onto the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. To add more detail and definition I doodled outlines on them with a black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball gel pen, then added some shadows using a Slate Spectrum Aqua Marker. The dragonflies are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel and I positioned them so that one is sitting on a leaf and the other is flying off into the distance. I stamped some bees from a Graphic 45 stamp set by Hampton Art using black Archival Ink and coloured them using a yellow Spectrum Aqua marker. To finish, I added two stickers with the words “peaceful” and “serenity” which I thought captured the scene; they are edged with the Tan Spectrum Aqua marker and stuck in place using double-sided tape.

As it is T for Tuesday, I’m sharing the enjoyable time that we had at the local Pavilion Café in Ashton Gardens with our friends. Ashton Gardens is a municipal park which was established in 1874, it is situated in the centre of St. Anne’s on the Sea and is a lovely place to explore with its various display gardens including the most beautiful Rose Garden. The café building is a replica of the former bowling club pavilion known as the Ashton Institute.

This café always has a yummy array of cakes to choose from …

… and there is lovely art displayed on the walls which you can buy if you want to.

As T Stands for Tuesday, maybe you would like a green tea, hot chocolate or glass of water (of course they had coffee too, sorry I forgot to take a photo of our friends selection which included a cappuccino which I know you may prefer – grin!). As well as our drinks we enjoyed a bacon butty and a slice of salted caramel cake – yum! Wishing you all a very 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 Alison/Craftytrog, who is hosting the Recycle and Collage challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the recycled rubber art stamp set and wallpaper that I collaged to create this page!

With the stamped bees that I included on my nature page, I’m pleased to join The Birds & the Bees challenge over at The Artistic Stamper.

As I used and altered the wallpaper for my page, I’m pleased to join the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Pimp it up! (reuse or alter something) challenge.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Add Some Texture challenge with all the texture I created with the Distress Inks, stencils, modelling paste and wallpaper.

With the circles that I stencilled onto my page, I’m also pleased to join the Going Round in Circles challenge over at That’s Crafty Challenge.

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 (Shabby Shutters, Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn, Chipped Sapphire)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Tan, Slate, Yellow)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Eco Green Crafts Recycled Rubber Stamps (Petal Party #04309)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Distressed Dots)
• Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Cling Mounted Rubber Stamps (Birdsong ICO151))
• Wallpaper sample – recycled
• Royal & Langnickel Tip of the Brush (Insect Collection #TIP1484 Rub-on)
• Little Yellow Bicycle Cardstock Stickers (PD-140)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

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Hot Chocolate is like …

Hot chocolate is top on my list of warming drinks this time of year and with it getting colder I thought I would create a winter themed page with a warming mug of hot chocolate and a lovely quote I recently found.

I started by covering the page with a piece of tissue paper with circles on it which had been in my craft stash for a while; the circles were stamped using an old cardboard tube with some leftover blue/green acrylic paint from another project. I stuck the tissue paper to the page using a UHU Stic. Next I stamped hearts into the centre of each circle and also a circle and heart design stamp onto the background using black Archival Ink, both stamps are from Sugarloaf Inc. I added Milled Lavender, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean Distress Inks and left the page to dry. Then I covered the whole page with a thin layer of white gesso using a baby wipe. Next I used four different stencils and blue inks to add layers of patterns; this included a stencil called Moroccan from the That Special Touch of Mica range by Creative Expressions using Salty Ocean Distress Ink, a Heart Cluster mini stencil from Creative Expressions using Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink, a cross stencil from Craft Sensations using Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and a Swoosh stencil from Creative Expressions using Summer Sky Memento Ink. The snowflakes are stamps from a Winter Woodland stamp set that was free with a magazine, they are stamped using the same Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch and Chipped Sapphire inks. I also used the snowflake stamps again to stamp white acrylic paint which I applied to the stamps using a brayer. With the background completed I added the quote using some black Label Letter stickers by Tim Holtz and edged them using a Poppy Red Derwent Inktense pencil and a black Uni Pin marker. The quote pays homage to how I feel about hot chocolate it reads:

Hot chocolate is like a hug from the inside.

Then I selected some glittery red paper from a Designer Paper Pack and punched out some snowflakes using a Woodware paper punch. I also punched some black paper snowflakes too which I offset under the red snowflakes to provide a shadow. They are stuck to the page using a UHU Stic. Next I drew a mug on the same red paper, cut it out and edged it using the same red Derwent Inktense pencil and a wet paintbrush.  Before I stuck the mug to the page using double-sided tape, I drew around where it was to be placed on the page and used an Ink Black Derwent Inktense pencil to create a shadow under it so it stood out more. I embellished the mug using a black snowflake, a white glitter foam snowflake and three red gemstones. To finish, I added two smaller red foam glitter snowflakes and some red gemstones to the background and then I edged the page with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker.

It’s been sunny here of late but very cold too, so when out walking with our friends we have been going to a local café on the beachfront and having a hot chocolate! As T Stands for Tuesday I’m pleased to join the T Gang and wish you all a Happy T Day!

As you can see we enjoyed a toasted teacake with our hot chocolate too (grin!). For those of you not familiar with toasted teacakes, here are some facts you may find interesting:

• Teacakes are a sweetened yeasted bread type roll which usually have dried fruit in, and it is usually split, toasted, buttered, and served with tea.
• Teacakes originated in the North of England and are very popular in Lancashire where I live.
• Teacakes have regional differences for example in East Lancashire, certain areas of Yorkshire and Cumbria a teacake is plain unless you ask for a “currant teacake” and this plain teacake is a specialty of the area and is still split and served toasted with butter and also sometimes jam (jelly).
• Sometimes the plain teacakes are confused with English Muffins however they are not the same thing. An English Muffin here in the UK is the same as in the US and is usually a breakfast item often served as Eggs Benedict or with smoked salmon.
• We often have toasted teacakes with a cuppa mid morning for elevenses.

Here’s the pretty view from the Waters Edge café over the beach – beautiful!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs 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:

Hot chocolate and the quote I used ties in nicely with the  “101 Ways To Keep Warm” challenge over at Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Chris.

I was inspired to use the four different stencils to create this page after seeing the design teams artwork over at Country View Challenges which they had created for their “Stencils” challenge.

As I used stamps and the hot chocolate quote, I’m also pleased to join a new challenge today over at The Artistic Stamper where this month’s creative challenge is “Use a Quote”.

It makes me happy to be able to join the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their “Food and/or Drink” challenge with my hot chocolate inspired page.

With my colourful blue and red page I’m pleased to join the lovely design team over at Try it on Tuesday and their “Colourful” Challenge and I’m also just have enough time to join in the fun over at Moo Mania & More and their “Put A Stencil On It” 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Milled Lavender, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Summer Sky)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Derwent Inktense Pencils (Poppy Red 0400, Ink Black 2200)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.3mm)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Sugarloaf Inc. Anita’s wood mounted stamps (Heart Tile 26631, Hearts & Circles 26645)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan, Swoosh)
• Craft Expressions Mini Stencils (Heart Clusters CEMSHEART)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Winter Woodland Clear Stamp Set – free with Craft Beautiful Dec 2017 magazine
• White tissue paper – stamped with circles
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Label Letters #TH93072)
• The Works Designer Paper Pack (The Night Before Christmas HCPAP003X15)
• Leon (X-Large Coloured Paper Pad)
• Woodware Craft Collection Paper Punch (Large Snowflake SL120118)
• Poundland (Christmas Craft Pack)
• Docrafts Papermania Eleganza Adhesive Stones (3mm Red PMA351607)
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Heart of Patina

Having visited Liverpool recently for my hubby’s birthday, I was inspired by the beautiful patina of the bronze statues that can be found around the city. The most famous statues of this sort, and also my favourite, are the Liver Birds which sit atop the Royal Liver Building along the riverfront of the Mersey. I created a patina effect heart as part of my design and also used a quote from one of my favourite poets, I hope you like it!

I started this page by crumpling up a piece of white tissue paper a number of times to create creases in it, then covering my page with glue using a UHU Stic I stuck the tissue paper on top whilst trying to retain the creased texture. When the glue had dried I added Milled Lavender, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feather and Black Soot Distress Inks using a blending tool. Then I applied the same Distress Ink colours to an acrylic block and dragged it across the page which coloured the peaks of the tissue paper creases with intense colour; I love how this highlighted the texture. Next I stencilled Pébéo modelling paste around the outside edge of the page using a patterned stencil from Craft Sensations. I also applied some white gesso with a palette knife around the edges of the page and heated it with a heat gun so it bubbled to add more texture.  Once the modelling paste had dried, I dripped on some diluted Peacock Feather Distress Ink drying it with the heat gun again. Then I applied Midnight Sparkle and Silver Grey metallic lustre around the edge of the page with my finger, which highlighted the beautiful texture from the gesso and modelling paste and darkened the edges of the page. I then added the gold flowers and circles which are peel-off stickers. To create the small hearts I covered white paper with gold leaf using Annie Sloan Gold Size and used a heart paper punch by Tonic Studios to cut them out and coloured them with the Peacock Feather Distress Ink. I then drew around the heart shapes on the background where they were to be positioned with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush maker smudging it with my finger and finally I stuck down the hearts using a UHU Stic.

To make the patina heart, I used a heart-shaped gift tag and covered it with modelling paste using the same Craft Sensations stencil. One dry I applied the same four colours of Distress Inks that I had used on the background and some gold leaf using the Annie Sloan gold size. Then I covered the heart with a thin layer of DecoArt Media crackle glaze and once it was dry I applied some diluted ink from a black Faber-Castell Big Brush maker wiping off the excess with a baby wipe to highlight the crackle. To add more shine, I applied more gold leaf around the edges of the heart. For the quote, I used paper from a Design Pad by Craft Sensations and stamped the words using black Archival Ink and an alphabet stamp set by Dovecraft. I edged the paper with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush maker and some gold online stickers, and then I stuck it to the page using double-sided tape; this finished the page.

Have you heard of Atticus before? He is quite a new phenomenon and is very well known on Instagram for his poetry. He is a young writer from Canada and it’s hard to find out much about him as he is quite mysterious and prefers to stay anonymous. He wrote a book of poetry called “Love her Wild” which is amazing and you can find more of his work on his website, Facebook and/or Instagram sites.

The Royal Liver Building is home to two fabled Liver Birds, one watching over the city and the other out to sea. Legend has it that if these two birds were to fly away then the city would cease to exist. “Liver” in this case is pronounced “live” as in “alive” and “er” – “live-er”.

The Royal Liver Building opened in 1911 and is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the city of Liverpool. It’s located at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool Building and collectively these buildings are known as the “Three Graces”.

This building is privately owned, so we popped into the reception area to take a peek and we discovered the most amazing marble entrance hall (grin!).

Here’s my hubby’s birthday treat, at Rococo café which you may remember from a previous post of mine. My hubby had a Malteser (malt ball) slice and I had lemon cake with our green tea and also cucumber or mint/lemon infused water – delicious! We also had a sandwich, but had eaten it before we remembered to take pictures!

As T Stands for Tuesday – I’m saying a big hello and welcome to the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

This black cat was adorning the window at the café – Happy Halloween!

I’m posting my page a little earlier than usual so I can join in the weekend fun with Yvonne from Meggy’s Way. You can enter any project to win some fabulous napkins and Yvonne is very kindly providing us with this wonderful Halloween treat!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join Elke from Meerwolkenleben who is hosting the “Landscape of the Soul” challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the wonderful quote I used.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their “Anything Goes” challenge.

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 (Milled Lavender, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Black Soot)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Craf-T Products Lustre Rub-ons Color Kit #4 (Midnight Sparkle, Silver Grey)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.5mm)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• DecoArt Media Crackle Paste
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Poundland Design Pad (Vintage Chic Creations CR0701/PL4)
• Wilko (Luxury Gift Tag)
• White tissue paper
• White paper
• Gold leaf
• Tonic Studios Paper Punch (Classic Heart 858E)
• Elizabeth Craft Designs Peel-off Stickers (Gold 0442)
• Annie Sloan Water Based Gold Size
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Head, Heart and Soul

I’ve been meaning to use this amazing quote on one of my pages for a while, it really speaks to me and it seemed perfect for my brown and lace inspired page which reminds me of beauty and love!

For the background I collaged and layered torn pieces of cog patterned decoupage papers using a UHU Stic and then applied Liquitex Matte Gel Medium to ensure the edges of the papers were completely stuck down. When the gel medium had dried I outlined the torn edges of the decoupage paper with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker smudging the ink with my finger to give an aged and worn look. Next I used Pébéo modelling paste and a stencil by Craft Sensations to add the pretty lace design to the bottom left-hand corner. While the modelling paste was drying, I fussy cut the beautiful lady from the packet that the decoupage papers came in, and also a paper panel for the quote and some other images from a Design Pad by Craft Sensations. I stamped the quote onto the panel using black Archival Ink and an alphabet stamp set by Dovecraft, and stuck it to the page with the other layered images using double-sided tape. I edged them all with a Desert Spectrum Aqua marker to give them a weathered look and outlined them with black Derwent Graphik and Uni Pin markers to add more depth.  The lady is stuck down using a UHU Stic and I accentuated some of the design using a black Derwent Graphik marker and outlined her using the Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. I selected a piece of card, with a lace design, from a recycled gift tag and used a paper punch by Tonic Studios to cut out a heart, which I outlined with the same Dark Sepia Big Brush marker, and stuck it over the girl’s hand using a UHU Stic. I stuck a metal heart to the centre of the card heart, which was recycled from the same tag, using Glossy Accents. To finish, I added clusters of pretty flowers  in colours that compliment her dress using Glossy Accents again.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my pot of green tea and yummy ginger cake that I had with friends last week after walking around the grounds of Lytham Hall. As it was raining that day, we decided to take shelter in the woodland walks that are there and chat over a drink in the café instead of going to the beach. When I saw the ginger cake I just had to have a slice and it was very yummy (grin!). Wishing you a Happy T Day!

I’m pleased to join Elke from Meerwolkenleben who is hosting the “Landscapes of the Soul” challenge over at Art Journal Journey. Your theme gave me the perfect excuse to create my quote inspired page, thank you!

I chose the dark autumnal colours to join in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their “Mixed Media with Autumnal Hues” challenge.

As I love autumn, I also had the “Crazy for Autumn Colour” challenge over at A Vintage Journey in mind when I was creating this page. So I’m pleased to be able to join them with my autumnal coloured page which focuses on their “Mixed Media” genre as I have used different mediums to create this page and also their “Art Journaling” genre as I’m combining art and the quote, which inspired my page, to express myself.

I’m also pleased to join the “AMMG with a Twist (Use or imitate Glass)” challenge over at Mixed Media World with my myriad of pretty flowers with their glass gemstone centres.

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 Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Desert)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.5mm)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Santoro Decoupage Papers (SNDEC043)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Travel Memories  154892)
• Recycled gift tag
• Poundland (Accessories Pack)
• Tonic Studios Paper Punch (Classic Heart 858E)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• X-Press It double-sided tape

Chell’s

This journal page is inspired by a new café we discovered over the summer which we now visit regularly, it’s called Chell’s of Lytham. This café is an easy tandem bike ride from our house and sells the most amazing homemade ice-cream and food – yum! It is such an elegant place so I used the gold colour of the signage and also blue which features on their loyalty card, interior and pretty flowers that adorn the tables.

For the background I started with a base coat of grey Windsor & Newton watercolour paint which I applied with a baby wipe. Then I layered some apricot Liquitex Acrylic paint creating horizontal lines of colour. As I found the apricot was a little too bold against the grey, I applied a thin layer of gesso over it using a baby wipe which toned it down nicely, so it just added some warmth to the background. Next I applied a thin wash of Navy Spectrum Aqua marker by scribbling the pen onto an acrylic block, spritzing the block with water and picking up the now diluted ink with a paintbrush. I stamped a Script stamp by Kaisercraft over the background using the same Navy Aqua marker and then I applied some gold shimmer and shine across the horizontal lines of apricot paint and around the edge of the page using a Sunshine lustre rub from Craf-T Products, which I applied with my finger. Next I stamped some tile images from Papermania onto some white tissue paper using Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink, cut them out and stuck them to the page using a UHU Stic. I also applied some white gesso over them using my finger, so they blended into the background more and then I stamped some scroll images from Royal & Langnickel onto the page using the same Distress Ink.

The gold and blue flower images are fussy cut from an old birthday card, edged with a Navy Spectrum Aqua marker and stuck to the page using double-sided foam tape. The pretty gold panels are outline stickers and, along with the stamped tile and scroll images, remind me of Victorian architecture, tiling and wrought ironwork that can be found at the café. To finish, I edged the page with the same Navy Spectrum Aqua marker and added some square gold gemstones and the name of the café using alphabet outline stickers which matched the font on the café signage perfectly (grin!).

This café is situated in Lytham and has a pretty facade overlooking the street. It has an Victorian look to it with the outside seating being covered by a canopy which leads up to the big window shop front with the tiled floor entrance and wrought ironwork.

The interior is lovely too, here’s the counter where you order your food, drink and ice-cream.

They make their own ice-cream here in many different flavours, which are often sold out at the end of the day because it’s so delicious! Our favourite flavour combination is Sticky Toffee Pudding, Cherry and Double Chocolate – yum!

We were introduced to this café by our friends after we had all cycled along the front to Lytham and stopped for refreshments – such fun! On that occasion we had a Chocolate Dream Sundae – double yum! Can you see a face in this photo? (grin!)

The drinks and cakes are delicious too, here are the cappuccino, pot of Earl Grey tea and custard tart that our friends ordered. As you can see the water is served in very pretty glasses too (grin!). As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

As you know I love to join in with the challenges as they help to inspire my design and get creative. So today I’m pleased to join the lovely Yvonne from Meggy’s Way who is hosting the “Colour in my World” challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the blue and gold colours in my page.

I love the gold metallic outline stickers and flowers I used on this page, they add so much shimmer and shine so I’m also pleased to join both the “Metal” Challenge over at Country View Challenge  and  the “Shimmer and Shine” theme over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge again.

Using the double-sided foam tape gives a 3D look to my page so I’m also joining in the fun over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for their “Pop It Up” challenge.

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:

• Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colours (Payne’s Gray)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Apricot)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Navy)
• Craf-T Products Luster Rub-ons (Sunshine ASTM D-4236)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Chipped Sapphire)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Papermania Design Objectives wood mounted rubber stamp (PMA10108)
• Royal & Langnickel Clear Choice Stamps (Ornate Scrollwork MIN-CCS123)
• White tissue paper
• Old birthday card
• Elizabeth Craft Designs outline stickers (Gold 0318)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Modern Alphabet Gold ANT8101000)
• Hobbycraft Self-Adhesive Gems (Assorted Squares 5666141000)
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Love Vintage

I love all things vintage and wanted to try out some new techniques that I’ve discovered from visiting other people’s blogs. For me this page is a lovely reminder of friends because not only is it inspired by their techniques and the blog challenges they are currently hosting, but the vintage style of the page is also inspired by a recent visit with our dear friends to Lytham Hall.

The first technique involves using a heat gun with gesso and came from my good friend Astrid who loves all things vintage too. Then I added lots of splatters and a teabag which reminds me of the lovely Alison as she often incorporates both these techniques into her artwork.

I started the page by adding modelling paste through a stencil from DecoArt and using a Kaisercraft Keys stamp with Grape Jelly Memento Ink. Next I painted white gesso onto the whole page, leaving it thick in some places and dried it with a heat gun so it blistered and created some lovely texture. I added Tea Dye and Hickory Smoke Distress Inks to the background by applying the pad directly to the page and used a wet paintbrush to blend the ink. Then I applied black 3D Pearl Effects paint in diagonal bands across the page with my finger, I also added Peach, Earl Grey, Fig and Caramel Faber-Castell Gelatos, which I scribbled onto the page and smudged with my finger. Next I applied a very thin layer of gesso over the whole page with a paintbrush and while it was still wet I wiped most of it off with a baby wipe and a piece of kitchen towel; this created a translucent grungy look.

Next I added Amber and Midnight Sparkle metallic lustre to emphasise the gesso and modelling paste textures. I coloured the edges of the page using a Desert Spectrum Aqua Marker, smudging the ink with my finger. The numbers are rub-on transfers by Kaisercraft and Letraset which I had leftover, and to add the splatters I used black and white acrylic paint. I then tore a vintage design paper by Craft Sensations into three pieces, edged them with the Desert Aqua marker and stuck them to the page using a UHU Stic. When the glue had dried, I doodled along the edge with a black Uni Pin marker to add more definition. The black filigree shapes are pieces of decorative tape by Poundland which I cut and stuck onto the page. I also used some domino stickers from the Idea-ology Crowded Attic Collection by Tim Holtz which I edged using a black Faber-Castell marker. I added more splatters of black acrylic paint and also Tea Dye Distress Ink to the paper and stickers so that they looked more in keeping with the grunge background.

I created a collection of items as a focal point which included: a used dried teabag stamped with the Kaisercraft key images using black Archival Ink and stuck down using a UHU Stic; a piece of black decorative tape; a leaf from The Handmade Paper Company which I covered in Emboss ink and then I held the leaf with tweezers covered it with black Papermania embossing powder, shook off any excess powder and used a heat gun to melt the powder until it changed to a glossy finish; a black feather; the word ‘Love’, which I thought tied into the friendship theme, is made of wood from The Works and is stained with Tea Dye Distress Ink and covered with Glossy Accents; a red silk flower and pearl that I added to its centre; and finally a Pearl Charm brad which I covered on the back with masking tape to prevent damage to the next journal page. To finish, I outlined the word “vintage” with a black Uni Pin marker and covered the letters in Glossy Accents so they stood out more.

 As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing a pot of tea, scone with clotted cream and jam and a lemon meringue pie with my friends at the T Gang! This was taken when we visited Lytham Hall recently with our friends, don’t you just love the pretty vintage china – Happy T day!

Lytham Hall is beautiful and it’s a place we visit often; you may remember it from my snowdrop post earlier this year. It seems our recent visit may have inspired my colour palette for this page (grin!) and as you can see they have lots of china on display, beautiful glass jar lights and right at the bottom of the counter a little door (which is part of a ‘Secret Door Trail’ popular with children, you’ll find similar doors around the Hall grounds).

I love vintage and I know that my friend Yvonne from Meggy’s Way does too, so I thought I’d join her “Colour in my World” challenge over at Art Journal Journey – I hope you like this vintage colour palette with the vibrant pop of red!

As my page is inspired by friends, I’m also pleased to join the talented design team over at Try it on Tuesday for their “My Friend” challenge.

As I made this page with Astrid in mind and she is part of the design team over at The Mixed Media Challenge, I’m pleased to be able to join their “Vintage” theme too.

With my love of using mixed media to create my art journal pages, I’m also joining in the fun over at Mixed Media World for their “Anything Mixed Media Goes” challenge.

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 Modelling Paste
• Pébéo White Gesso
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Grape Jelly)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Hickory Smoke)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Dovecraft Essentials 3D Pearl Effects (Brights – Black DCB592PD)
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Peach, Earl Grey, Fig, Caramel)
• Craft-T Products Luster Rub-ons (Amber, Midnight Sparkle)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Desert)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Tsukineko Emboss embossing stamp pad (Clear)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black PMA4021006)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Keys CS801)
• DecoArt Amdy Skinner Mixed Media Stencils (Shedded ANDY08)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Vintage Romance 154897)
• Used dried teabag
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Crowded Attic (Salvage Stickers #TH92898)
• Poundland Decorative Border Tape (Black)
• The Handmade Paper Company (Nature’s Touch of Art)
• The Works The Craft Place (Wooden Decorations)
• The Works (Craft Flowers)
• Trimcraft (Pearl Charms LCTOP003)
• Black feather
• Pearl
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• UHU Stic & Glue Pen

Music makes my heart sing

I love listening to music when I’m crafting and have quite an eclectic taste, for when I feel like classical music, then Johann Strauss II is by far my favourite with his joyful polkas and waltzes, his music seems so happy to me (grin!)). What could be better than listening to “An der schönen blauen Donau” (The Blue Danube), which inspired my colourful musical vintage page today.

I started by experimenting with a new technique of adding Liquitex Matte Gel Medium to the whole page as a base for Faber-Castell Gelatos. Once the gel medium was dry I scribbled Snow Cone, Lime, Boysenberry, Margarita Mix gelatos over the top and used a wet finger to blend the colours. This was really easy to do and the gel medium created a slippery surface for the gelatos to glide over and is definitely a technique I would try again. Next I used various stamps to create the patterned background using Memento Inks. This included a Diamond Background stamp by Art Impressions using an aptly named Blue Danube ink, a circle and heart stamp by Sugar loaf Inc. using Bahama Blue, a Flower Tile stamp by Rubber Soul using Grape Jelly, a Serpentine Background stamp by Art Impressions using Summer Sky and a 4-Point Star Background stamp by Art Impressions using Lilac Posies. Then I rubbed some of these stamped images with a baby wipe to remove some of the ink and gelato which created a beautiful translucent effect. To finish the background, I added the roses, moulding, ballerina, music sheet and script images from a stamp set called Musicality by Docrafts using black Archival Ink. I really like the layers of stamping and the translucency of the colours and I enjoyed experimenting with all the techniques I used to produce them. Next I covered the page with a thin layer of gel medium to seal the colour and to allow the rub-on transfers to adhere easier to the page as the gelato has a tendency to coat the back of the transfer stopping it transferring to the page. I used an alphabet letter set of rub-on transfers to create the wording and went over the letters with a white Uni Posca paint pen so they stood out more. The hearts are wedding place cards from Dunelm which I stuck to the page using a UHU Stic. I used a paper punch to create the flowers using some sheet music, coloured the edges of the petals using Kingfisher and Peacock Blue Spectrum Aqua Markers and stuck a pearl Gel Stone Sticker in the centre.

I arranged the flowers on the hearts with some lace flowers, silver metallic ribbon and a blue enamel Vintage flower from Poundworld using Glossy Accents. Then I added some pieces of wire pearl decorative chain which I also used to swirl across the page using Glossy Accents to stick it into place, this finished the page.

It’s a new month and I’m pleased to join the lovely Yvonne from Meggy’s way over at Art Journal Journey for her theme “Colour in my World” with my colourful page and I think music colours my world too – Happy September!

As I used metal decorative wire and metallic ribbon on my page, I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenge where the theme is “Metal”.

With the vintage look and feel I created on my page, I’m also joining the lovely Astrid who is part of the Design Team over at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge for their “Vintage” theme.

A few weeks ago I was talking to Susi about the Vienna Opera House in Austria and my love for Strauss, which inspired this page. Does anyone else watch the Vienna Philharmonic’s famous New Year’s Day Concerts?  It’s televised here in the UK and I always watch it – I love it! Of course Austrian composer Strauss always features at the concert and you can watch the “An der schönen blauen Donau” (The Blue Danube) being beautifully played by Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2011 New Year’s Concert on the YouTube link above.

If you are interested here are some facts about the music:

• “The Blue Danube” is the common English title of “An der schönen blauen Donau”, which is German for “By the Beautiful Blue Danube”.
• Johann Strauss II (1825 – 1899) is part of a famous musical dynasty being the son of Johann Strauss I. He wrote more than 400 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, operettas, a ballet and other dance tunes. He is also known as “The Waltz King” and he composed this particular waltz in 1866.
• Strauss adapted it into an orchestral version for the Paris World’s Fair in 1867 and it became a great success.
• Words have been written to accompany the music but the instrumental version is by far the most commonly performed today.
• When Strauss’s stepdaughter, asked the composer Johannes Brahms for his autograph, he wrote down the first bars of The Blue Danube and “Leider nicht von Johannes Brahms” which means “Alas! not by Johannes Brahms”.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing a drink with the T Gang and wishing you a Happy T Day!

We currently have family staying with us for the week, so I’m sorry that I haven’t had any time to blog and visit everyone recently. We had a fun weekend and I thought this photo matched the look and feel of my page, so here’s my Green tea and for those of you who are coffee lovers a cappuccino (just in shot on the left-hand side) at a local café we visited (grin!).

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 (Snow Cone, Lime, Boysenberry, Margarita Mix)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Danube Blue, Bahama Blue, Grape Jelly, Lilac Posies, Summer Sky)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Kingfisher, Peacock Blue)
• Uni Posca Paint Pens (White)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Diamond Background T-3335)
• Sugarloaf Inc. Anita’s wood mounted rubber stamp (26645)
• Rubber Soul Sylvia Yu 2006 wood mounted rubber stamp (Flower Tile 1539-K)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Serpentine Background T-2773)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (4-Point Star Background G2983)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Musicality DCE 907112)
• Dunelm Wedding Collection (Place Cards)
• Bosworth Violin Studies
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Old English White #ROY-864 Rub-on)
• Poundworld (Vintage Stickers 54748)
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Decorative Chain 26253)
• Home Bargains Sticker Mania (Gel Store Stickers 74749)
• Lace border
• Metallic Silver Ribbon
• Floral Paper Punch
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic