Tag Archives: Country View Crafts

Leaves begin to fall

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It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for September which is Leaves Begin to Fall.

Please ensure that leaves are the main focus of your creation (no token leaf please) when you join this challenge which is being hosted this month by the lovely Jane.

I was inspired by happy memories of our travels to New England to see the Fall colours and used lots of Tim Holtz products to create this art journal page.

I started by covering the background of the page with torn pieces of three different designed Worn Wallpaper Scraps by Tim Holtz using Liquitex matt gel medium. Then I die cut the autumn leaves and letters from some linen textured cardstock using Skeleton Leaves and Alphanumeric Bold thinlits sets by Tim Holtz. They were coloured using Fossilized Amber, Crackling Campfire, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Inks and then arranged onto the page using matte gel medium. To finish, I added the New England Trail image which was a Layers Card by Tim Holtz.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges. I hope you are inspired to join our Leaves Begin to Fall challenge too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

We have visited New England a number of times over the years to see the spectacular Fall colours; this photo was taken in the White Mountain National Forest.

This was taken on one of the walking trails in Maine.

Hoping that you are 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’m 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. You can also check out Country View Crafts as they sell many of the Tim Holtz products I used too.

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey and lovely Wendy K from wendyscraftjournal.blogspot.com who is hosting this month with her Vintage challenge; thank you to Erika for inviting me to join in the fun with my old fashioned Vintage retro feel page that was created with lots Tim Holtz products.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #150 – Anything Goes with my autumnal art journal page.

De-stress with distressing over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my distressed worn wallpaper scraps background and skeleton leaves.

Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page.

Celebrate Summer

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Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing a mini art journal page for this month’s Monochromatic challenge to celebrate summer.

With all the fabulous summer sunshine we’ve been enjoying recently, my monochromatic page features shades of yellow and was created using Tim Holtz products.

I started by preparing the chipboard page with a layer of white gesso and then I coloured the page various shades of yellow using Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, and Scattered Straw Distress Inks. Then I sprayed some White Linen Dylusions Spray Ink over the top and left it to dry. I applied some Ranger texture paste through a stencil from a #16 mini stencil set by Tim Holtz; the wet texture paste reactivated the inks turning it yellow so I sprayed some more of the White Linen Dylusions Spray Ink over the top. When dry, I stencilled some numbers and letters around the texture paste using the two other Tim Holtz stencils from the #16 set and some Fossilized Amber ink. For the flowers, I used a stamping platform to stamp the flower heads and stems onto some mixed media paper using a Flower Garden stamp set and the Fossilized Amber ink. They were coloured using the Mustard Seed and Fossilized Amber inks which I applied like watercolour paint, then I cut them out and stuck them in place using matte gel medium. For the wording, I die cut the letters from some mixed media paper, which I had coloured with the Fossilized Amber ink, using an Alphanumeric Label Thinlits set. The letters were stuck onto two banners which were die cut from white cardstock using a Tag Collection Framelits set. To finish, I splattered some white DecoArt acrylic paint over the page.

I hope you are inspired to join our Monochromatic 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 (grin!).

The colours, flowers and wording on this page were inspired by a visit to the Garden Hub Plant Centre at Lytham Hall whilst out walking.

Where we saw these gorgeous yellow cone shaped flowers called Echinacea.

There were also handwritten chalkboard signs displayed amongst the flowers, including this one which inspired the “Celebrate Summer” wording on my page (grin!).

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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

Here is a list of the materials from Country View Crafts that I used to create this art journal page:

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Neet from Hickydorums; she has chosen Type as her theme so I’m joining with the typed die cuts that I used on my page.

Shimmering Summer Fun Challenge over at The Funky Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my shimmery and summery yellow shabby chic page.

The Birthday Celebration! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge who are marking their 11th Birthday with my summer celebration page – thanks for all the challenge fun over the years and wishing you all a very Happy Birthday!

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #149 – Anything Goes with my summer page.

MIUCB #52 – Anything Goes + Mixed Media over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my happy summer page.

Monochromatic

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It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for August which is Monochromatic.

Please ensure that your projects are monochromatic and as such contain only one colour of varying shades. This month’s challenge is being hosted by the lovely Debs.

I had fun art journaling again and as summer is here I created this lush green monochromatic page using Tim Holtz products.

To start, I covered the background with Distress Inks by stamping Mowed Lawn, Bundled Sage and Twisted Citron ink pads onto a blending mat, spritzing with water and then pressing the mat onto the page; I did this a number of times until I achieved the intensity of colour I wanted.

Then I coloured two lots of Ranger Texture Paste; one using Rustic Wilderness and the other using Twisted Citron Distress Paint. I applied them to the page through a Halftone stencil using a palette knife.

Next I stamped some words and numbers from an Etcetera stamp set using Bundled Sage Distress Ink and then I splattered the page using some Forest Moss Distress Ink. When dry, I added some white Tiny Text Remnant Rubs which read “hold on tight to your dream”, “see the world”, “shine brightly”, “own your story”, “listen to your heart”, “see possibility everywhere”, “she is brave” and “make it count”. Then I splattered the whole page using white DecoArt acrylic paint.

The flowers were die cut from some mixed media paper using a Wildflowers Thinlits set and coloured using the Distress Inks before sticking them in place using matte gel medium.

For the dark green wording, I coloured some mixed media paper using the Rustic Wilderness Distress Paint and when dry, I cut out the letters using an Alphanumeric Label Thinlits set. They were stuck in place using matte gel medium which finished the page.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you are inspired to join our Monochromatic challenge too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

The white summer daisies in my garden seem to be enjoying the hot sunny days at the moment. I hope that you are enjoying the sunshine too wherever you are (grin!).

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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:

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Neet from Hickydorums; she has chosen Type as her theme so I’m joining with the typed remnant rubs wording and Alphanumeric wording I used to illustrate my page design.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #149 – Anything Goes with my summery art journal page.

Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my lush green summer page.

Using one stencil

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Today I’m sharing an art journal page for this month’s Use a stencil (or two) challenge over at Country View Challenges.

I created this page using the same stencil a few different ways; firstly by applying crackle paste and then some Distress Ink through the stencil and also by using the stencil like a stamp by covering it with ink and pressing it onto my page. 

I started by applying Ranger Crackle Paste through an Interlocking Circles stencil from Creative Expressions and left it to dry. Then I added some Bundled Sage Distress Ink and a mixture of Pickled Raspberry Distress Ink and White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray; spritzing with water to disperse the inks over the page. When dry, I splattered the page with the inks too.

Next I applied some Forest Moss Distress Ink using a paintbrush so it spread inbetween the cracks highlighting the crackle effect more. I used the stencil for the second time to apply some Bundled Sage Distress Ink using a blending tool. Then I pressed the Forest Moss Distress Ink pad onto the stencil, spritzed it with water and pressed the stencil onto the page, like you would a stamp; I also used a brayer over the inked stencil so it was firmly pressed against the paper transferring the stencil pattern.

I used some Tim Holtz products to finish the page; the pretty rose flowers were from a new Worn Wallpaper Scraps set and the “lovely” wording was created using a Shadow Words Thinlits set and some pink Classic Kraft cardstock.

I hope you are inspired to join our Use a stencil (or two) 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 (grin!).

I created this page to capture these beautiful Wild Prickly Roses (Rosa Acicularis) which we saw in the hedgerows on one of our walks recently (grin!).

There was an abundance of flowers and the fragrance was divine; I’ve since found out that they are very hardy and attract lots of wildlife, both in summer with their flowering blooms and in winter when the flowers turn into rosehips.

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

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Alison from Words & Pictures; she has chosen Summer Countryside as her theme so I’m joining with my wild prickly rose page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #147 – Anything Goes with my art journal page.

LTSCB #147 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my summer rose page.

Use a Stencil (or two)

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It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for July which is Use a Stencil (or two).

Please ensure that the stencils are a main focus of your projects when you join this challenge, which is being hosted this month by the lovely Monica.

For this month’s challenge, I created this mini art journal page using a Stamperia stencil and papers.

I stared by covering the chipboard page with a thin layer of white gesso and then I used a Wallpaper & Compass stencil by Stamperia to add Ranger Texture Paste. The texture paste was coloured using Driftwood DecoArt paint and also using a mixture of some Blue Glamour Dust Acrylic paint from DecoArt and some Mowed Lawn ink from a reinker bottle to create a sparkly patina colour before applying them using a palette knife. When dry edged the page using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker smudging the ink with my finger. The deer image and wording were cut out of some Forest Stamperia papers and stuck in place over some strands of thread that I had leftover from some sewing. To finish, I added three pretty silver embellishments which were recycled from a necklace; they were stuck in place using Ranger Glossy Accents.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you are inspired to join our Use a Stencil (or two) challenge too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use at Country View Crafts (grin!).

This page reminded me of these beautiful metal sculptures that we saw when we visited Portland, Maine. They are part of the “Glimpse” installation by Wendy Klemperer who is a New York artist and created these life-like woodland creatures from steel and repurposed nails.

Like on my page, the deer are surrounded by silver birch trees too – perfect (grin!).

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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 mini art journal page:

Challenges

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

MIUCB #51 – Anything Goes + Aperture (any shaped opening) over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #147 – Anything Goes with my mini art journal page.

Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my page too.

100 Challenges at Country View Challenges

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Today I’m over at Country View Challenges where I’m sharing this mini art journal page to celebrate 100 Challenges.

As this month marks our 100th Challenge and we couldn’t let that go by without a celebration we are offering two prizes, the first will be for your projects that fit the theme of 100 taking inspiration from one of the Design Team makes, such as a colour scheme, technique, design idea, stamp or die motif and of course, 100 (or One Hundred) must be included on the project. The second prize will be picked from one of the comments left on the Country View Challenges and Design Team blog posts – don’t forget, you can enter as many times as you like.

I hope you feel the love with the 100 hearts that I had fun adding to this page (grin!).

I started by covering the chipboard background with some Driftwood DecoArt acrylic paint. Then I die cut 99 small hearts using the Falling Hearts Thinlits set from Tim Holtz from grey paper and then white, pink and red cardstock; they were arranged onto the page using matte gel medium. The large red heart was die cut using a Love Birds Shadow Box Sizzix Thinlits set and takes the total of hearts on the page to 100. For the black and white wording, I used rub-on transfers from a Tiny Text Remnant Rubs set from Tim Holtz. To finish the page, I added the silver glitter “100” to the large heart and some small dots to the background which were all from the same sticker set.

I hope that you are enjoying our 100 Challenges over at Country View Challenges too; it would be lovely to see you there!

All the red hearts and love reminded me of these beautiful tulips that my sister bought me for my birthday, aren’t they gorgeous (grin!).

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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 mini art journal page:

Challenges

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

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #145 – Anything Goes with my countryside page.

with my art journal page.

Love to Scrap Challenge Blog and their No Rulz 4! theme where their are no rules and you can create anything, so I’m joining in the fun my my mini art journal page.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Mixed Media challenge with my mixed media journal page.

Happy 100th at Country View Challenges

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There’s a special celebration at Country View Challenges this month to commemorate our 100 Challenge.

This month marks our 100th Challenge and we couldn’t let that go by without a celebration so we are offering two prizes, the first will be for your projects that fit the theme of 100 taking inspiration from one of the DT makes, such as a colour scheme, technique, design idea, stamp or die motif and of course, 100 (or One Hundred) must be included on the project. The second prize will be picked from one of the comments left on the CVC and DT blog posts – don’t forget, you can enter as many times as you like so make sure it is a comment that makes our DT happy to make them count

I’m celebrating our Happy 100th challenge with this countryside scene which was created using lots of Tim Holtz products.

I started by using one of my favourite techniques, by stamping Salty Ocean and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink pads onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and then pressing the block onto the page.

While the page was drying, I used the Flower Field Thinlits die from Tim Holtz to cut out my flower meadow foreground and then coloured the flowers using a blending tool to apply Seedless Grape, Festive Berries, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed Distress Ink; all the die cuts were cut from mixed media paper and stuck in place using matte gel medium. Then I coloured the foliage with Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress Ink, sprayed some water over the top and pressed some kitchen towel over it to remove the water and some of the ink which added a lovely texture. The little butterflies were created using a Bunny Scene Thinlits set and coloured using Abandoned Coral Distress Ink, a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball gel pen.

The leaves and branches were created using Small Tattered Floral Thinlits set from Tim Holtz; the branches were coloured using Brushed Corduroy and Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the leaves using the Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss inks again. For the Happy 100th banner, I used the colours of the Distress Inks that I used for the flowers to create the squares and then die cut the white letters using the Alphanumeric Bold Thinlits set from Tim Holtz. The banner was arranged over some wax thread and stuck in place using double-sided foam tape and to finish, I added some bows made from was thread.

For more inspiration please see the amazing 100 Challenge creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you are inspired to join our celebration too, i

Remember you must take inspiration from one of the DT makes, such as a colour scheme, technique, design idea, stamp or die motif for your make to be in with the chance to win and, of course, include “100” (or One hundred in any language) for a chance to win a £20 voucher to the Country View Crafts shop. This month there is also a special prize for a commenter on todays’ CVC and DT blog posts. So Hop to it (grin!).

With the change in restrictions, we had a fabulous day at my sister’s over the weekend sitting in the sunshine, catching up, listening to music, and enjoying a BBQ and a few drinks. It was so lovely to be able to spend time with her and finally see her beautiful garden. To celebrate and as T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my fruity drink of gin and tonic with lemon and blueberries which was so very yummy – cheers and Happy T Day everyone!

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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:

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey and the lovely Mia from Craftartista who is hosting this month with her Butterfly Challenge, as I included lots of tiny butterflies on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #145 – Anything Goes with my countryside page.

Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page.

Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my celebration page.

Parisian Café

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Today I’m over at Country View Challenges where I’m sharing this mini art journal page for this month’s We will always have Paris challenge.

I had fun creating this grungy Parisian Café page using a new Andy Skinner stamp and some French Fancy Mixed Media Transfers that I’ve had in my craft stash for a while (grin!).

I started by covering the chipboard background with some white gesso and then I used some sandpaper to distress the surface by rubbing it horizontally across the page. I sprayed the page using White Linen Dylusions Spray and Pumice Stone Distress Oxide Spray and left it to dry. Next I stamped a Grunge Wallpaper stamp by Andy Skinner using a Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad and covered the ink with Broken China Distress Glaze which I melted using a heat gun. I edged the page using a black Faber-Castell marker and smudged the ink with my finger. The Eiffel Tower was fussy cut from some design paper and was stuck in place using a glue stick. I added some of the French Fancy Mixed Media transfers by Andy Skinner and then two oval glass embellishments of a butterfly and some roses, which finished the page.

I hope that you are enjoying our We always have Paris challenge over at Country View Challenges too; it would be lovely to see you there, and if you do join us then you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts website too (grin!).

This challenge reminded me of the Parisian Cafés that lined the streets of Paris and of course the Eiffel Tower – c’est magnifique!

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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 mini art journal page:

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat this month and her Language theme with the French language on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #143 – Anything Goes with my Paris page.

LTSCB#154 – Anything Goes over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my mini art journal page.

Feminine challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and also at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my pretty Paris page.

Paris

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It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for March which is We will always have Paris.

This challenge is being hosted this by the lovely Craftyfield; please ensure the main focus of your designs is Paris or anything that says “France” – think fashion, wine, lavender fields of Provence, old adverts etc.

I started by diagonally ripping a piece of design paper featuring Paris from an Around the World Paper Pack by Stamperia and sticking them in place using a glue stick. Then I mixed some Ranger Texture Paste with some Sapphire Blue Glamour Dust paint from DecoArt and some Mowed Lawn Distress Ink so that it matched the blue/green colour on the paper. It was stencilled across the white area of the page using a stencil from Samperia.

Next I coloured some mixed media paper for the wording, hearts and die cut flowers and leaves; I used Abandoned Coral Distress Ink Spray and White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray for the wording, hearts and blossoms, Fossilised Amber Distress Ink for the flower stamens and Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress Ink for the leaves. When the papers were dry I cut them out using two Sizzix Thinlits sets by Sarah Guilar; the wording and hearts using a Doodle Alphabet & Numbers set and the flowers using the Floral Layers set. I layered the flower pieces together and then stuck everything in place using gel medium which finished the page.

For more inspiration please see the amazing We will always have Paris creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you are inspired to join us too, if you do, you’ll also have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

Paris is a beautiful place to visit and as this theme brought back memories of when we visited in springtime, I added the spring blossoms to my page. I remember the magical Eiffel Tower with its wonderful iron lattice-work; it looks so spectacular all lit up and twinkling at night too, apparently there are 20,000 light bulbs which are used to make the Eiffel Tower sparkle.

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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:

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat and her Language theme as I used heart symbols from my Alphabet Die Set to mean “love” and the blossoms to represent Spring.

Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #143 – Anything Goes with my Paris page.

MIUCB#49 – Anything Goes + Layering over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the layered paper and stencil background and layered die cut blossoms on my art journal page.

Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Paris page too.

Bee Extraordinary

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It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for April which is The Birds and The Bees.

Please ensure that birds and/or bees are the main focus of your projects when you join this challenge which is being hosted this month by the lovely Sue.

This page was created in my mini art journal, so I started by covering the chipboard page with a coat of white gesso and then I stamped the beehive image using black Archival Ink and a Beehive Buzz stamp and die set from Pink Ink Designs. Next I added the hexagonal pattern to the background using Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo Distress Ink and an old hexagon stamp. Then I used an Interlocking Circles stencil from Creative Expressions as a stamp by covering it with Black Soot Distress Ink, spritzing it with water and then pressing the stencil onto the page. When dry, I used some black Archival Ink and the hexagon stamp again around the edges of the page to frame it. The beehive was coloured and shaded using a blue Tri-Blend marker and some Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo Distress Ink which I applied like watercolour.

I stamped the bees onto some mixed media paper and then I used the Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Salty Ocean Distress Inks again to colour them. They were die cut using the dies from the Beehive Buzz set and then stuck in place using glue dots.

I added three blue dome stickers and used the stamp and die set to create the “Bee Extraordinary” wording which finished the page.

I hope that you will join The Birds and The Bees challenge over at Country View Challenges too; it would be lovely to see you there, and if you do join us then you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts website too (grin!).

This beehive page brought back memories of some colourful beehives that we saw whilst on holiday in Skiathos, Greece.

We saw them whilst out walking along a cliff top trail; they were overlooking the sea and had this beautiful view!

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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 mini art journal page:

Challenges

I’m so pleased to be able to join Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month. It’s so heart breaking that she won’t be joining us as she passed away last month shortly after her heart surgery – she will be greatly missed and I’m so pleased to be able to remember her throughout the month by joining AJJ! My page was inspired by bees and beehives, and I’m sure Eileen would have loved the positive wording “Bee Extraordinary” too!