T Day – 8th Anniversary

Today’s page celebrates the 8th Anniversary of T Stands for Tuesday, where our wonderful hosts Bleubeard and Elizabeth ask us to share a drink related post each week.

I always have fun meeting up with the T Gang each Tuesday, thanks so much to our hosts and everyone for making it such a friendly and happy place – Happy T Day!

I started by covering the background with white gesso and leaving it to dry. Then I added Passion Fruit Faber-Castell Gelato to the page in small horizontal lines and used a baby wipe to smudge the colour over the page. I repeated the same technique using Red Cherry Faber-Castell Gelato and then I painted some white acrylic paint over the top.

For the tags, I created a masterboard using some mixed media paper which I coloured with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. Then I stamped and stencilled the number 8 over it using lots of different stamp sets and stencils. The tags were die cut using Tim Holtz Tag Collection Framelits and layered onto the page with the flowers and wording. All the white cardstock was recycled from an old anniversary card along with the fussy cut champagne flutes and “anniversary” wording; they were edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker before sticking them in place. The rest of the silver wording was die cut, using an Alphanumeric Label Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and the number 8 using a X-Cut die set, from some recycled card packaging. All the flowers were die cut using a Small Tattered Florals Thinlits set from Tim Holtz from the recycled white card, some red and pink linen textured cardstock and some of the masterboard that I created; they were layered together using gel medium and finished with gemstone centres.

I thought a glass of this ice cold pink prosecco, that you may remember from my birthday, fits the bill for our celebration and would be perfect served in the champagne glasses on my page – cheers and Happy 8th Anniversary this 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.

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

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Passion Fruit, Red Cherry)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Daler-Rowney Mixed Media Paper
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Aged Mahogany)
• Number 8 Stamps – Papermania (Alphamania PMA9071102), Docrafts Creative Essentials A5 stamp set (Folk Alphabet, Script Alphabet, Alpha Trad), Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Grunge Alphabet CMC008, Documented CMS226), Kaisercraft (Provincial CS243), Craft Sensations (Clear Stamps CR0274/19A1)
• Number 8 Stencils – Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892, 2 Piece Stencil Set – letters and numbers)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• Recycled Anniversary Card
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Cold Grey)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Pritt Stick
• Recycled silver metallic packaging
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Textured Finish)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Alphanumeric Label 664177, Small Tattered Florals 661806)
• Docrafts X-Cut Die Set (Folk Alphabet)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Docrafts Papermania (Adhesive Stones – Red)
• Hobbycraft (Rose Gem Stones)
• Mark Richards (Silver Metal Style #1981)

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #148 – Anything Goes with my journal page. LTSCB #147 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my celebration page. MIUCB #51 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Aperture challenge at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the different techniques I used to create this page too.

Travel and Adventure

Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday for the next 2 weeks is Travel and Adventure.

I also want to welcome the wonderfully talented Tammy from My Craft Central who has joined our design team; she is such an inspirational artist and I’m so happy that she has joined us.

For my travel and adventure page, I’m sailing the high seas using some beautiful papers from Stamperia. I hope that you are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by using one of my favourite techniques which involved smooshing some Tumbled Glass Distress Ink onto the centre of the page; I used a re-inker for this so I placed some ink onto an acrylic block, spritzed it with water and then pressed the block onto the page. When dry, I ripped a piece of Stamperia design paper in half and stuck it to the left and right-hand sides of the page using a glue stick.

For the tags and additional images, I used some more of the Stamperia papers and also some vintage stickers that have been in my craft stash for a while. I layered the paper pieces and stickers together and secured the ship tag and the anchor using some brown brads before sticking them in place using double-sided foam tape.

To finish, I added the wording which are Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz; they read “no journey is to great if you find what you seek”, “adventure is worthwhile” and “travel the world over to find the beautiful”.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies to see where their Travel & Adventure has taken them (grin!).

This page reminded me this fabulous T-shirt which we bought for my hubby whilst holidaying in New England, it’s from the Shipyard Brewing Company in Portland, Maine.

When we travel, we always enjoy looking at and trying the different local beers and here is my hubby checking out the different varieties at a supermarket in Maine; as you can see from the overhead signage Shipyard make a pumpkin ale which is where we got the idea of home-brewing our own pumpkin beer – my favourite (grin!).

As life on the high seas is thirsty work, I’m also joining T Stands for Tuesday with all these beers and saying a big welcome to the T Gang – cheers and 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.

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tumbled Glass, Tea Dye)
• Stamperia 8×8 Inch Paper Pack (Around the World)
• Pritt Stick
• Vintage Stickers
• Craft Sensations (Brads)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Book (Small Talk #TH93193)

Challenges As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #147 – Anything Goes with my mini art journal page. LTcCB #60 – Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my travel and adventure page. Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my page too.

100 Challenges at Country View Challenges

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:

• DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paint 2oz – Driftwood
• 660200 Sizzix Big Shot Machine Only (White & Gray)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Falling Hearts 664415)
• 663619 – Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 20PK – Love Birds Shadow Box – By Courtney Chilson
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Tiny Text #TH93695)
• Docrafts Papermania (Mini Chipboard Album 15x15cm)
• Craft Sensations (Travel Memories Design Paper Pad – grey, Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture – red and pink)
• Recycled white cardstock
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Crafty Things (Eva Letter Stickers)

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.

Invisible crown

“Always wear your invisible crown” is such a powerful message; to me it means to maintain self confidence, believe in yourself and be aware of your own self worth. I also like the idea of wearing an invisible crown (grin!) … a symbolic meaning of strength, courage, and respect.

I included this wording on today’s grungy page with some other related positive affirmations – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the page with strips of decoupage papers using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso and Bright Aqua Green Liquitex acrylic paint over the top using a brayer. When dry, I stencilled some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink onto the page using a Shabby Harlequin stencil from Creative Expressions. I used black Archival Ink to stamp the birds and keys using a Craft Sensations stamp set and the birdcages, crowns and “always wear your invisible crown” wording using a Kaisercraft stamp set. Then I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt and white acrylic paint. The words, filigree diamond shapes and pink flowers were stickers from Kaisercraft which I edged using a black Faber-Castell marker before sticking them in place. To finish, I added a black oval frame to emphasis the central stamped wording.

With summer on its way, I’ve been making raspberry gin again and as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my gin (and Sprite) with the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

If you are interested, here’s the recipe:

• 400 g (14oz) Raspberries – or any fruit of your choice, maybe pineapple, blueberry, peach, strawberry, rhubarb
• 300g (10oz) Granulated Sugar – you can vary this depending on your taste
• 750 mll (25 US fl oz) Gin – a cheap brand such as supermarket own brand as these are not too flavoured

Add them all to a Kilner Jar (or similar). You need to ensure the sugar dissolves so make sure you shake the jar throughout the first day, it dissolves pretty quickly. Then put it in a dark place for 4 weeks, I tend to shake the jar every other day to muddle the fruit. It’s tempting to eat the fruit afterwards, perhaps on ice-cream, however, I tried it and it was far too potent! So I ended up forcing it through a sieve to add more flavour to the gin. One last tip – don’t be tempted to do half a recipe like I did as when you start drinking it you’ll find it goes pretty fast (grin!).

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.

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

• Poundworld (Patch Paper DS9454)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Bright Aqua Green)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Shabby Harlequin)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Craft Sensations Clear Stamps (CRO274/19A)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Oh So Lovely CS2111)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Arcylic (Black)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• The Works (Frame Stickers)

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 empowering meaning behind the quote I added to my page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #144 – Anything Goes with my art journal page. LTSCB#145 – Anything Goes over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my empowering Invisible Crown page. Stecnil It challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the stencilling on my page. Don’t forget that you still have another week to join our Make it Feminine challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too!

Feminine

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

I created this feminine page using a gorgeous Shabby Chic paper from Studio Light, some lace and pearls. I hope that you like it and are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

For the background, I stamped a delicate Floral Icons stamp from Docrafts using Brushed Corduroy and Ground Espresso Distress Ink. Then I cut the Shabby Chic paper and also some Vintage design papers to create the different paper pieces; I edged them with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and arranged them onto the page using a glue stick. The wording was a sticker from Kaisercraft and reads “You make life beautiful”. To finish, I added some pretty lace flowers and pearl strips.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful Make it Feminine creations from my Design Teamies too (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday and I recently celebrated 5 years of blogging, I’m sharing this photo collage of some of the tea that I’ve enjoyed and posted over the years; it features pretty feminine tea sets to tie in with my page – 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.

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

• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Floral Icons DCE907123)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy, Ground Espresso)
• Studio Light 12×12 Paper (Shabby Chic SCRAPSC03)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Vintage Romance 154897)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Full Bloom SS365)
• Lace – recycled
• Stix2 glue dots
• Poundland (Pearl Embellishments)

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 wording I added to my page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #143 – Anything Goes with my feminine page. LTSCB#145 – Anything Goes over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my pretty feminine page. Feminine challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Feminine page.

Parisian Café

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:

• Ranger Dylusions Ink Sprays – White Linen
• Ranger – Tim Holtz® – Distress® Oxide® Spray – Pumice Stone
• Creative Expressions – Rubber Stamp By Andy Skinner – Grunge Wallpaper
• VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad
• Tim Holtz® – Distress Embossing Glaze – Broken China
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Andy Skinner Mixed Media Transfers (French Fancy CEAST002)
• Docrafts Papermania (Mini Chipboard Album 15x15cm)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Travel Memories)
• Pritt Stick
• Oval Glass Embellishments
• Stix2 glue dots

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.

Happy Easter

I just couldn’t resist using my new sunburst stencil which was an early birthday present. As my birthday happens to coincide with Easter weekend this year, I used it to create a page to wish you all a Happy Easter!

I started by applying some Mustard Seed Distress Ink through the Slimline Sunburst stencil from Marianne Designs with a blending tool.

As it was a slimline stencil, I then extended the sunburst design across the page using a ruler and some paper to mask out the sunrays. I used a pretty Easter Treat bag to create my Easter scene by cutting out the bunny in the flower pot, another bunny face and a couple of Easter eggs and making some extra grass spikes. I outlined the bunny in the flower pot using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker, and then layered the other bunny face over the top so that it was slightly off centre, which made it stand out more from the background. I added some pretty white and yellow ribbon to the flower pot and then I layered all the card elements onto the page using a glue stick and some double-sided tape. The “Happy Easter” wording was created using some alphabet stickers and I added a ribbon bow and single flower to the flower pot which finished the page.

Here’s the Easter Treat Basket that I used to create this page (grin!).

I love this Marianne Designs stencil! It has two gorgeous A4 slimline sunburst designs as well as a foreground and a cloud mask. It’s such a fabulous birthday present – thank you very much dear hubby (grin!).

As it’s Easter soon, my hubby also treated me to this giant chocolate bunny; it’s huge as you can see from the regular sized mug placed by it – wishing you a Happy Easter!

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.

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

• Marianne Designs Craft Stencil A4 (Slimline Sunburst PS8080)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mustard Seed)
• Aldi (Easter Treat Basket, Alphabet Stickers)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Pritt Stick
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Craft Sensations (Satin Bow and Ribbon Set CRO280/R)
• Flower embellishment (unknown) and leftover die cut leaf (Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Funky Florals #2 660721, white cardstock coloured with Mowed lawn Distress Ink)

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today, they are: The lovely Sheila’s Single Flower challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the single flower that I added to the flower pot on my page. Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #140 – Anything Goes with my Happy Easter page. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog and their Spring/Easter Mood Board challenge as the colours, bunny and eggs that I included on my page match the mood board. LTCCB #56 – March Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my Easter page. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Whatever the Weather challenge with the sunburst I added to my page. Don’t forget that you still have a couple of days left to join our Use a Stencil or Two challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too!

Pretty in Pink

I’m still having fun recycling and using leftovers to create my art journal pages, so today I’m sharing one that I created using a pretty pink flower image that I recycled from an old magazine.

I started by covering the page with white acrylic paint and then I added the text using my favourite Script stamp by Kaisercraft and black Archival Ink. Next I arranged the recycled flower image and some pieces of black design paper using a glue stick. I applied some white gesso using a brayer to the black paper pieces to push them into the background more. The wording were Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz; they read “there is beauty in simplicity”, “find the beautiful” and “always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder”. To finish, I added the pink gemstones to add some sparkle.

Although this is a different flower, the spiky petals of the flower on my page reminded me of the mesembryanthemum flowers that we have in our garden each year. My family have nicknamed these flowers “pretties” and as we grow them from seed we will start propagating them this month – yay!

Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

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

• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic Paint (White)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Script CS752)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Recycled image from old magazine
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Travel Memories 154898)
• Pébéo white gesso
• Ranger (Mini Brayer Roller)
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Hobbycraft Gem Stones (Rose 5666091006)

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today, they are: The lovely Sheila’s Single Flower challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the single flower image that I added to my page. Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #139 – Picture Inspiration as the flower image on my page resembles the succulent’s shape on their picture. LTSCB #143 – Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my stamped and collaged art journal page. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Recycle challenge as my flower image was recycled from a magazine.

Sweet & Cute

Using up leftovers is one of my crafting goals this year, so I used lots of leftover papers and die cuts on this page to create homes for these sweet and cute critters (grin!).

Don’t forget that there is still another week to join our Oh So Cute challenge over at Try it on Tuesday; we are so looking forward to seeing your cute creations!

I started by covering the background with some colourful leftovers papers that have been sitting on my craft desk since Christmas – eek! They were stuck in place, like all the paper elements, using a glue stick. As the papers were quite brightly coloured, I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a brayer.

When dry, I added strips of bunting washi tape that my sister had kindly gifted me. The wording and stars were stickers from Craft Sensations and I outlined them all using a black Uni Pin marker so they stood out more.

Next I raided my stash of leftover die cuts and created little scenes with them for those cute critters which were foam stickers.

This malt loaf may not be cute but it is sweet (grin!). I bought it as a treat, when I was food shopping for my mum and dad, from our local bakery and it was so very yummy!

If you aren’t familiar with malt loaf, it’s a type of sweet leavened bread made with malt extract which originated in Scotland in the United Kingdom. It has a chewy sticky texture, and often contains fruits such as raisins. It’s usually eaten sliced and spread with butter.

We enjoyed it (sliced with butter) for our elevenses and as T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing it today with my cuppa – 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.

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

• Docrafts Ultimate Die Cut & Paper Pack (Folk Christmas PMA160933)
• Pritt Stick
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Bunting Washi Tape
• Craft Sensation (Creative paper Collection CRO458/GE)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Leftover die cut pieces – Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Fall Foliage 66955, Garden Greens 661206, Holiday Greens 658759, Funky Florals #1 662700), Papers (Tim Holtz idea-ology Paper Stash – Halloween #TH93712, Paper Bundle from local craft shop – green heart paper and metallic linen textured cardstock, Recycled Notepad Paper, White cardstock), Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron, Scattered Straw, Rusty Hinge)
• Hobby World Foam Craft Stickers (Forest Friends)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the metallic linen textured papers that were used for some of the leaves surrounding the cute hedgehog. I’m pleased to join the Anything But A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my art journal page. I’m happy to join Paperbabe Stamps and their #138 – Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page too. I’m also pleased to join the Favourite Technique challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, as collage, using white gesso to push back the background colour and die cutting are some of my favourite techniques. I’m also joining in the fun over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their #46 – Anything Goes + Fancy Fold challenge with my art journal page; the different techniques I used to create this page included collage, using white gesso to push back the background colour and die cutting.

It’s cold, let’s cuddle

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Oh So Cute.

These really cute owls were recycled from a Christmas card and with all the cold weather we’ve been having of late they are sat in a snowy wonderland. I thought the wording was cute too, it reads “It’s cold, let’s cuddle”.

I hope you’ll join us with your cute creations too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by colouring the background using Bluebird Wendy Vecchi Blendable Ink from Ranger. When dry, I splattered the page with white acrylic paint and left it to dry.

It’s one of my goals this year to recycle and use up any leftovers from previous pages, so I was pleased to recycle these cute owls which were fussy cut from the Christmas card and stuck into place using a glue stick. I arranged them with some white foliage die cuts that were leftover from last year’s Happy January page. The foliage was decorated using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker, a silver metallic pen, some Icicle Stickles from Ranger and also some Inkylicious Fluffy Puffy Stuff which added the lovely texture. The Fluffy Puffy Stuff was a fun product to use as it’s applied and then heated with a heat gun which turns it all puffy and 3-dimensional. The snowflakes were leftover too, having been previously die cut from different patterned papers and white cardstock; they were arranged onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium.

For more Oh So Cute inspiration, please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies (grin!).

So far this month, it’s been cold and we’ve had quite a few snow flurries; I was surprised one morning to find it snowing so I took this photo out of my craft room window – brrrr!

As T Stands for Tuesday and it’s cold outside, I’m sharing our hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows, and also some yummy lebkuchen – Happy T Day everyone!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

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

• Ranger Wendy Vecchi Blendable Ink (Bluebird)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Recycled Christmas Card
• Pritt Stick
• Leftover foliage pieces – Sizzix Thinlits Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206, Holiday Greens 658759, Woodlands 660978), White cardstock, Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233), Script Metallic Pen (Silver), Ranger Stickles (Icicles), Inkylicious (Fluffy Puffy Stuff)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Leftover Snowflakes – Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Paper Snowflakes Mini 661599), Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (falling Snowflakes 1792e), The Works (Cutting Dies – Snowflake Garland), Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE), White Cardstock, Poundland Design Paper Pad (Purple Swirls)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Challenges I’m pleased to join the Add Some Texture challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the snowy 3D texture on my page. I’m joining LTCCB #55 – February Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my cute page. I’m also joining in the fun over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog and their LTSCB #145 – Love is … all about cuddling your partner when it’s cold as I’ve depicted here on this cute owl page.