Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Embossed.
This challenge is all about embossing, whether its heat embossing, embossing paste, embossing folders or embossed papers just be sure to tell use what you have used (grin!).
I was still in Halloween mode when I created this page being influenced by the Mexican celebration “Día de Muertos” (which happens to be next Monday). I used lots of embossing powder to heat emboss the white flowers, black doilies and black lace.
I started by painting magenta and green Liquitex Basics acrylic paint over the page using a dry paintbrush technique to prevent the colours blending. When dry, I covered the paints with some Pébéo white gesso and also some black DecoArt acrylic paint; I used a brayer to apply both paints letting them dry between applications.
For the white embossed flowers, I used an Oriental Zen stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps and black Archival Ink to stamp the flower design over the magenta coloured areas. I then covered the ink with white Stampendous embossing powder and heated it with my heat gun until glossy. The black doilies were stamped using a Dovecraft stamp set and the black Archival Ink and covered with black Papermania embossing powder; they were stamped over the green areas of the page.
I used the same Dovecraft stamp set, black ink and embossing powder to add the lace detail to my skull which was die cut using a Halloween Hangouts Thinlit set from Tim Holtz from white card. I mounted it onto some glittery paper and stuck it in place using a glue stick. I also added some circles that were cut from the glitter paper using a Spellbinders die set and to finish, I added a Kaisercraft sticker that reads “Fun starts here”.
I hope that you are inspired to join us too, for more Embossed inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look at all the beautiful creations from my Design Teamies (grin!).
As it was my hubby’s birthday last week and T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a slice of the birthday cake that I made him and his cuppa! The cake is a Victoria sponge filled with homemade buttercream icing and cherry jam which I topped with a white and red feathered icing and his tea is Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea – Happy T Day everyone!
Hoping that you 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 all the materials used to create this art journal page:
Liquitex Basics Acrylic Color (Quinacridone Magenta, Hooker’s Green Hue Permanent)
Pébéo White Gesso
DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
Ranger Mini Brayer
Paperbabe Stamps (Oriental Zen Stamp Set)
Dovecraft Stamp Set (Lave & Doile DCCS009)
Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
Stampendous! Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
Papermania Embossing Powder (Black)
Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with a Linen Texture CR0240/GE)
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Halloween Hangouts 663088)
Glitter wallpaper sample
Pritt Stick
Spellbinders Nestabilities Decorative Elements Die Cut System (Stately Circles S4-388) – thank you Astrid!
Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Bombay Sunset SS339)
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 Chris aka Pearshapedchris, who is hosting the Hold The Line challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the outlined embossed flowers and lines of lace adorning the skull on my page.
I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Halloween challenge with my Mexican inspired Halloween page.
I’m also joining in the fun over at the Two Old Bats Halloween Challengeand their Halloween Jump Start challenge with my art journal page.
I’m so pleased to be able to join in the Anything Goes over at Paperbabe Stamps with my Mexican “Día de Muertos” page – thanks so much Tracey, your beautiful ATCs reminded me of “Día de Muertos”, so inspirational!
I’m also joining the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their Anything Goes + optional twist of Distressing (ink or tool) with the dry painting technique that I used.
I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Layer It Up challenge with layers of paint and embossing powders that I used for the background and layers of papers that I used for the skull.
I love this time of the year, so I created this page to say hello to autumn and join a few challenge blogs – I hope you like it!
I started by creating the grungy background using a Spritz and Speckles stamp set by Paperbabes Stamps and Toffee Crunch, Rich Cocoa and Potter’s Clay Memento Inks. Then I used the same inks to add the leaves using an Autumnal Treasures stamp set that was free with a magazine. Next I stuck the horizontal decorative strip across the page which is from some Graphic 45 Autumn Collective paper using double-sided tape and then edged it with black Glitterations border stickers so it stood out more.
The circle was die cut from Lemon linen textured cardstock and then coloured using Fossilized Amber and Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Like the background, it was stamped using the Spritz and Speckles stamp set and the leaf stamp and the Memento Inks. The little bird was from the Autumnal Treasures stamp set and was stamped using black Archival Ink; I used a stamping platform to get a clear and bold finish. The “Life began in a garden” wording was cut from the Graphic 45 paper and I edged both the wording and the circle using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker before sticking them in place. To finish, I added some crystal gems to the page to add some sparkle.
Walks around Lytham Hall are always pretty this time of year with all the changing leaves and the colours on my page reminded me of these beautiful trees we saw there (grin!).
I 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:
Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CR0241/GE)
The Works (8 Cutting Dies)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo)
Ranger Stamping Platform
Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
Crystal Stickers by Mark Richards (Cluster Combo Style #5454C)
Challenges
I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris aka Pearshapedchris, who is hosting the Hold The Line challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the decorative strip that creates a line across my page.
I’m so pleased to be able to join in the #129 – Sketch challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps which inspired the design of my page (grin!).
I’m happy to join the Autumn Glory Challenge over at Stamping Sensations where the lovely Avril has just joined the Design Team with my stamped page – Many congratulations!
I’m also joining in the fun at Stinkin’ Inkers Challenge Blog and their Shades of Fall challenge with all the fall colours on my page.
Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Halloween.
As I love owls, I just couldn’t resist buying the new Arthur Thinlits die set from Tim Holtz and using it to create this Halloween page. I also included a fabulous poem called “On Halloween”, it’s by Nina W. Walter – Happy Halloween!
I started by covering the background with Dioxazine Purple, Deep Violet and Vivid Lime Green acrylic paints using a baby wipe. Then I added the lines by scraping the paint with an old gift card and also applying more paint with the edge of the card; both of which were fun techniques.
Next I created the owl and branch using the Arthur Thinlits die set; cutting the 16 pieces from different coloured papers, edging them with some Black Soot Distress Ink using a blending tool and then piecing them altogether. I coloured the small feather detail that was embossed on the owl Thinlits pieces with an Orange Spectrum Aqua marker so they stood out more.
For the poem, I used a Sizzix Doodle Alphabet & Numbers Thinlits die set to cut out the letters from two different orange papers and then stuck them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium; this was a bit fiddly and time consuming (grin!). The poem, “On Halloween” by Nina W. Walter, reads:
The witches fly across the sky The owls go, Who? Who? Who? The black cats yowl and the green ghosts howl, Scary Halloween to you!
As T Stands for T Day, I’m sharing my cuppa today and a special treat from my hubby – Happy T Day!
He kindly bought me this box of marshmallow treats as part of my wedding anniversary present last week which are very yummy!
I 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:
Liquitex Basics Acrylic Colour (Dioxazine Purple, Deep Violet)
Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green)
Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture – Multicoloured)
Leon X-Large Coloured Paper Pad
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Dies (Arthur 664730)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Orange, Topaz)
Pritt Stick
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set (Doodle Alphabet & Numbers by Sophie Guilar)
Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
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 Chris aka Pearshapedchris, who is hosting the Hold The Line challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the lines that I created in the background using the old gift card, the underlined poem title and the actual lines of the poem.
I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Halloween challenge with my On Halloween art journal page.
I’m also pleased to join the LTSCB #138 – Fall Back over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Halloween page too.
I’m also happy to join the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their Anything Goes + optional twist of Distressing (ink or tool) with the fun gift card techniques I used to apply the paints and the ink I used to distress the edges of owl Thinlits.
My sister kindly bought me a beautiful rusty style robin garden decoration, as you may know I love robins and it really makes my day when I see them in our garden so this was the perfect gift. I wanted to capture it along with the words she wrote on the note that she gave me with this gift which reads “now you can have robins in your garden all the time” (grin!).
For the background I stamped the pink blossoms using black Archival Ink and a blossom stamp from Stampendous; they are painted using Twisted Citron Distress Ink for the leaves and a mixture of Fired Brick Distress Ink and White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray for the flowers with additional touches of Putty colour from a Winsor & Newton Promarker. I applied Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink using a blending tool through a doily stencil randomly around the flowers then I spritzed the stenciling with water to re-activate the ink to give a washed out effect.
For the robins, I drew around my robin garden decoration using a pencil onto some mixed media paper and then spread Ranger Texture Paste in-between the drawn lines using a palette knife to create the rust texture. Once dry, I gradually coloured the texture paste to build up the rust effect using quite a few layers of Sanguine and Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush markers and Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. Next I cut the robins out of the mixed media paper and I applied some Orange Soda and Mango Faber-Castell Gelatos by scraping them over the raised areas of texture paste and smudging the colour with my finger which finished the rust effect wonderfully.
For the sign, I cut a piece of white cardstock to size and stuck the message that my sister had written on one side of the card. I coloured the other side using a Sanguine and Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and attached the four seasons stickers from Graphic 45 over the top. I then framed the front and the back edges with texture paste using a palette knife and I also used the texture paste to cover a brad too. When dry, I add a piece of cotton string to the sign and then coloured both the string and the texture paste using the Sanguine and Dark Sepia markers and then the Orange Soda and Mango Gelatos to create a rusty effect.
Next I attached the sign by the string to the page using the brad; this allows it to be turned over to reveal the message from my sister which reads “now you can have robins in your garden all the time!!”; which is why I chose to list all the seasons on the other side (grin!).
The robins look so pretty in my garden; I have placed them just outside my kitchen window so I can see them all the time and as you can see they are so beautifully rusty – perfect!
I hope 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.
Challenges
With rusty texture that I created, I’m pleased to join the Texture challenge over at Art Journal Journey that I’m hosting this month; thanks to everyone who has joined so far!
I’m so happy to join the Staying In The Background challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the pretty stamped and stenciled background that I created on this page.
I’m also happy to be able to join the #128 – Dimensions challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the rusty elements and signage dimension on my page.
I’m joining the Complimentary Colours challenge over at Country View Challenges with the blue background and rusty orange of the robins.
I’m also joining the Favourite Stencil (and why) challenge over at the As You Like It Challenge with my stencilled background; I love the pretty doily pattern that this stencil creates as it looks so delicate, this stencil is also versatile as it can be joined together to create one whole doily or just used randomly as I did on this page.
Here is a list of all the scrap materials used to create this art journal page:
Today I’m sharing another page inspired by the flowers in my garden, this time a pretty daisy called Banana Cream – such fun (grin!).
I’m pleased to join the Texture challenge that I’m hosting this month over at Art Journal Journey with all the texture I added to this page using stamping, inks, paint splatters, stencilled texture paste, linen textured paper, rub-on transfers and gems. Thank you for your lovely comments and wonderful creations so far, I hope you are having as much fun creating texture on your pages as I am!
I started by covering the background using Leaf Green Wendy Vecchi Bendable Dye Ink, Peeled Paint and Forest Moss Distress Inks; stamping the ink pads onto a blending mat, spritzing with water and pressing the mat onto the page. Once dry, I stamped some foliage using a Leaf Prints Tim Holtz stamp set and Peeled Paint and Forest Moss Distress Inks. Next I applied some Scattered Straw Distress Ink using a blending tool and some Pébéo white gesso with my finger which added more texture and depth to the page, and then I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint and the white gesso.
The daisy flowers are rub-on transfers which I applied to some card and cut out; they are all edged with a Cool Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and then stuck to the page using a glue stick with some cream linen textured card. The cream linen card was decorated with the rub-on transfers and edged with Scattered Straw Distress Ink and Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to give it a worn look and add more texture. Then I stencilled some Ranger Texture Paste that I coloured with Cadmium Yellow and white gesso through a Reversed Honeycomb stencil. To finish, I added the “Daisy” wording using letter stickers from Kaisercraft and some orange gemstones to add some sparkle.
These are the Banana Cream daisies in my garden; they are a Shasta daisy and have a lovely creamy yellow colour.
Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well! x
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
I’m joining in the Use Your Favourite Stamps challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as the Tim Holtz foilage stamp set that I used is one of my favourites, especially the fern design.
Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:
Ranger Wendy Vecchi Make Art Blendable Dye Ink (Leaf Green)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss)
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Leaf Prints CMS273)
Pébéo White Gesso
DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
White cardstock
Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (White Flowers #ROY-668)
Faber-Castell Big Brush Artist Pitt Pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture)
Pritt Stick
That’s Crafty! Dinky Stencil (Reversed Honeycomb)
Ranger Texture Paste
Liquitex Basics Acrylic Color (Cadmium Yellow Light Hue)
Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Mix & Match – Alpha SS252)
The new challenge for the next two weeks at Try it on Tuesday is Neat & Tidy.
Please note: If you are looking for my Texture page (I’m so excited to be guest host over at Art Journal Journey this month), please scroll down or click here.
I found our Try it on Tuesday theme very challenging as my art journal pages aren’t usually very neat and tidy (grin!). So I decided on an autumnal leaf design to welcome autumn/fall as it September signifies the beginning of this season – I hope you like it!
The background was covered in a piece of plain coloured paper using a glue stick.
I started my neat and tidy leaf design by creating a template for the columns of leaves; measuring and then die cutting the maple leaves so they were evenly spaced across the page. The maple leaves were cut using a Fall Foliage Thinlet from Tim Holtz and they were cut out of some linen textured cardstock. I cut 40 leaves in total, one by one using the template to position each leaf to create 8 columns, then I stuck 2 of the columns together to give more depth and dimension to the leaf die cutting.
Next I backed the leaf die cuts with some autumnal patterned papers from Craft Asylum and I used double-sided tape to stick the columns evenly across the page using the template to space them.
I used the template again to position the die cut leaves between the columns and achieve a uniform pattern. To finish, I added the “It’s Fall” image to the centre of the page, which is a sticker from Graphic 45.
For more inspiration, my fellow Design Teamies have also been Neat & Tidy over at Try it on Tuesday, please pop over and take a look.
As T Stands for Tuesday and it’s September maybe I can tempt you to a piece of homemade pumpkin roll filled with cream cheese frosting with your cuppa today. As you can see there’s even coffee today if you would prefer it to tea – Happy T Day!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
With the texture from the die cutting, papers and leaves, I’m pleased to join the Texture challenge over at Art Journal Journey where I’m Guest Host this month; it would be lovely to see you there!
I am so delighted to be hosting Art Journal Journey this month and the challenge theme that I have chosen for this month is Texture.
We would like you to have fun creating texture on your pages. As you can see from the different panels on my page there are lots of possibilities to create texture. This could be by adding texture paste, crackle paste, high density mediums like gesso, paints or embossing powder. You could also use embossing folders, layers of papers, die cuts, fabrics or chipboard pieces too. The choice is yours!
I couldn’t just choose one texture so I decided to create my page using 21 different texture panels to inspire you and as I started creating the panels they turned into little scenes, I hope you like them (grin!).
If you’re interested, here’s close up pictures and full details of how the panels that make up my page were created. There’s also a list of all materials I used at the end of this post too.
1. Foil For my first panel, I stamped a dragonfly using black Archival Ink onto some coloured foil, which is recycled from an Easter egg wrapper. I stuck it onto the panel using a glue stick and to create the worn textured look I added some black Archival Ink to emphasis the creases and then I rubbed the foil back to its base silver colour with a baby wipe. To finish I added the glittery flower.
2. Teabags & staples Using staples I attached a used teabag to the panel and then I stuck three teacups on the top which were die cut from some design paper.
3. Glass beads I coloured the panel with some Summer Sky Memento Ink and then applied Liquitex Glass Beads Texture Gel over the top with a palette knife. Whilst the medium was still wet I pressed some pretty blue glass beads into the texture gel. When dry I added the little orange fish which is a brad.
4. Dried leaves I used matte gel medium to layer together a yellow skeleton leaf, a dried beech leaf and a die cut flower, which was cut from some linen textured paper using a Wildflower Tim Holtz Thinlet.
5. Fabric, threads and lace The panel was covered with some self-adhesive fabric and layered with a piece of frayed muslin, some Hessian/burlap and some threads which I topped with a lace flower.
6. Corrugated card I added a piece of corrugated card, which was recycled from some packaging, using matte gel medium then applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top. When dry, I emphasised the corrugations using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. The postage stamp is from Graphic 45 and was distressed using the Dark Sepia marker, Tea Dye Distress Ink and black acrylic paint.
7. Elastic bands I applied some matte gel medium to the panel and sprinkled on some Orthodontic elastic bands that CJ kindly set to me (grin!). When dry I covered them with white gesso and highlighted the circles using a Dark Sepia marker. Then I edged the panel using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and coloured some of the circle centres using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. To finish, I added three little hearts that were in my craft stash; they were created using the Falling Hearts Thinlet set from Tim Holtz and glossy white cardstock.
8. Crackle I covered the panel with white gesso and when it was dry I applied Earl Grey, Caramel and Coconut Faber-Castell Gelatos smudging the colours with my finger. To create the crackle I used a BoBunny stamp and some Toffee Crisp and Rich Cocoa Momento inks and Black Archival ink.
All the letters for the “texture” wording were created using an X-Cut die set; they were cut from both black and white paper and then layered together onto a panel of textured design paper.
9. Glitter I cut some different coloured glitter sheets into squares and then stuck them onto the panel using a glue stick.
10. Cork I simply stuck a piece of cork designed paper onto the panel.
11. Paint Splatter To add more texture I used some high density Liquitex paint, splattering Vivid Lime Green, Cold Grey and Bright Aqua Green onto the panel and leaving it to dry.
12. Wood This is one of my favourite techniques; I applied Tea Dye, Brushed Corduroy and Ground Espresso Distress Ink pads vertically down the panel and used a paint brush to add some matte gel medium over the top keeping the brush strokes in a vertical direction. I repeated the process a couple of times making sure each layer dried before adding the next.
13. Texture paste I applied some Ranger Texture Paste to the panel using a Vintage Diamond stencil. When dry I coloured the panel using Salty Ocean and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks, then emphasised the texture paste using some Midnight Sparkle lustre wax.
14. Napkin I simply covered the panel with a gold embossed napkin using a glue stick.
15. Wooden chipboard pieces and rust effect I started by sticking the cogs in place using matte gel medium. When dry I added layers of different shades of rust and brown acrylic paints which I had created by mixing Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow and black acrylic paints. When dry I added more detail using Dark Sepia and a Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. Then I added some patina by lightly stippling some Bright Aqua Green acrylic paint over the top.
16. Paper layers I covered the panel with leftover paper pieces and edged them using a black Uni Pin marker. The flower is a paper sticker and the foliage was cut using a Funky Floral Thinlet from Tim Holtz and coloured using two green Winsor & Newton Promarkers.
17. Doily and gems I added lots of texture to the panel using layers of doily which I edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia marker. They are stuck in place using double-sided tape and then embellished with some textured gemstones to add some shimmer and shine.
18. Embossing Folder, thread and buttons I used an embossing folder to add a flower design to a piece of Kraft cardstock and then coloured the raised embossed design using a white Uniball gel pen and Aqua Green Promarker. Then I wound some wax thread around the panel and attached a big button.
19. Drywall/Plasterboard Tape I added some drywall/plasterboard tape to the panel and coloured it using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray. I splattered the panel with black DecoArt acrylic paint and added some washi tape to create the foreground. Then I added the mushrooms which are from the Field Notes Ephemera Set from Tim Holtz.
20. Embossing enamel and die cut trellis The panel background was coloured using Tea Dye and Antique Linen Distress Ink and Dandelion and Pistachio Memento Ink. The trellis was die cut from white cardstock covered in black Archival Ink and Chunky Silver Stampendous embossing enamel. I added two little birds which were stamped using black Archival Ink, coloured with Promarkers and fussy cut out.
21. Tissue Paper For the final panel, I crumpled some white tissue paper and then added it to the panel using matte gel medium. When dry, I coloured it with Lemon, Cadmium Yellow, Cerulean Blue, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna watercolour paint. The flower was cut from some Kanban cardstock using a Wildflower Tim Holtz Thinlet.
Once the panels were complete I stuck them onto the page using double-sided tape; I coloured the background with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to outline the panels before sticking them in place.
Do you have a favourite panel? It’s hard for me to choose, maybe number 3 with the beads and little fish, number 6 as I love the corrugated card, number 15 with cogs and rust or number 20 as you know I adore robins (grin!).
I hope that you are inspired to join us at Art Journal Journey this month too! We are really looking forward to visiting you and seeing all the Texture that you create on your pages (grin!).
Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well! x
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
I’m joining the It’s A Wrap challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the Easter Egg wrapping, corrugated packaging and tissue paper wrap I used to create my panels.
I’m happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page.
I received another lovely surprise in the post, a gorgeous summer vibe card from my dear friend Nan. She knows how much I love the beach and ice cream so her card is perfect – thanks so much!
My page was inspired by Nan’s fabulous card design with the pastel-shade colours, the beach and summer vibe, the words/text, and of course the ice cream (grin!).
I coloured the background using Spectrum Aqua markers by scribbling the marker onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and then pressing the block or dripping the ink onto the page. I mopped up wet ink with a piece of kitchen towel so the colours merged into each other; the Spectrum Aqua colours I applied were Yellow, Sea Green, Topaz, Aquamarine, Orange, Crimson, Purple and Gold. My hubby says it looks like melted ice cream (grin!).
When dry I added lots of words related to summer which are rub-on transfers. I stamped the beach huts onto some mixed media paper using black Archival Ink and then coloured them with Uni Posca paint pens; the colours I used were Violet, Pink, Yellow, Light Blue, Red, Orange and Light Green. I fussy cut them out and stuck them to the page using a glue stick. The little tags were cut from white linen textured card stock using Tag Collection Framelits from Tim Holtz and edged using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker.
I added some little hearts to the tags which were cut from some different colours of Sizzix adhesive backed cardstock that was kindly sent to me by Nan, using a heart punch kindly gifted by CJ – thank you both! To finish, I added some black brads to the tags and then some ice-lolly/popsicle stickers.
With Nan’s amazing writing and adornments, my hubby instantly knew who the card was from when he saw the envelope on the door mat; he was all smiles when he told me something had arrived in the post (grin!). On opening it he noticed the ice cream van straight away, not surprising as he loves ice cream so much (double grin!). It’s so kind and thoughtful of Nan and very much appreciated – thanks very much!
Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well! x
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
I’m pleased to join the lovely Alison AKA Craftytrog over at Art Journal Journey and her Pockets and Tags challenge this month; the hearts on my tiny tags were inspired by Alison’s journal pages – thank you!
I’m joining in the fun I do like to be beside the seaside challenge over at Country View Challenges with my summer beach vibe page.
I’m also happy to be able to join the #126 –Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page.
Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Words/Numbers.
I created a world of Words and Numbers for my steampunk birds using collage paper, stencils, stamps, stickers and quote chips; I hope you’re inspired to join us too, it would be lovely to see you there!
I started by covering the page with collage paper by Tim Holtz, this one is called Typeset and has lots of words and numbers on it. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso with my finger and left it to dry. I dragged a Tea Dye Stamp Pad over the top of the paper and spritzed the ink with water to disperse the colour. When dry I stencilled some Wheels using a Dina Wakley stencil and some Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Then I stamped some Steampunk images and some background texture from a couple of Docrafts stamp sets using Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Archival Distress Ink.
The crowns, butterflies, strips of numbers and banners are from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet; I created some shadows around their edges using a Black Faber-Castell marker and outlined them using a black Uni Pin marker.
The birds were created using a Feathered Friends Thinlet set from Tim Holtz; they are cut from linen textured cardstock that I had coloured using Tea Dye, Ground Espresso and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. Their hats were stamped, using the Steampunk stamp set from Docrafts and black Archival Ink, onto white cardstock which I had coloured using Mowed Lawn, Forest Moss and Twisted Citron Distress Inks. I coloured the goggles on the hats using metallic gold and silver Daler-Rowney pens and used Glossy Accents to depict the glass in the lenses. To finish, I added wording with a Quote Chip from Tim Holtz which reads “Today is full of possibilities”.
I hope that you are inspired to join us too, for more inspiration my Design Teamies have created some Words/Numbers creations for you over at Try it on Tuesday, so please pop over and take a look (grin!).
As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing some homebrewed beer that we’ve been bottling. As you can see we have capping machine which makes short work of capping 35 to 40 bottles (grin!). This particular beer is a wheat beer which is perfect for summer but we have both amber and dark beers too (even a Porter style one which I believe some of you would prefer) – cheers and Happy T Day!
Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well! x
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
I’m 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 so pleased and honoured to be Guest Designer over at Country View Challenges for their I do like to be beside the seaside challenge this month.
This challenge is very fitting as I live by the sea so I decided to transport this adorable bear in his homemade Hawaiian shirt to a seaside scene inspired by where I live (grin!).
I started by covering the foreground with Ranger Texture paste to create a sandy texture. When dry I coloured it with Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed and Tea Dye Distress Inks. Then I coloured the sky using Salty Ocean Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page. Whilst the ink was wet I also added some Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink onto an acrylic block and pressed the block lightly onto the sky background to create the cloud effect. The sun was created using Ranger Texture Paste by applying it through a Mosaic stencil from Tim Holtz. When the texture paste was dry, I coloured it with a Canary Winsor & Newton Promarker. For the sea, I drew a straight horizon using a ruler and then coloured the sea using the Salty Ocean Distress Ink; applying it like watercolour.
The sea foam was created by applying some Pébéo white gesso and then some Liquitex Glass Bead Texture Gel over the top. I used a Funky Floral Tim Holtz Thinlet set to create the grasses from some recycled note paper that I had coloured using Mowed Lawn and Pine Needles Distress Ink and a Soft Green Winsor & Newton Promarker.
I created the bear using the Theodore Thinlet set from Tim Holtz; he was cut out of some linen textured cardstock and coloured using Ground Espresso, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Hickory Smoke Distress Ink, a Black Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker for his nose, eyes and eyebrows and a Putty Winsor & Newton Promarker for his ears. I hand drew the shirt and then cut it out from some design paper, re-adjusting the arm so that he was holding the ice cream which is a sticker – such fun!
The wording is cut from black paper using an Alphanumeric Label Thinlet set from Tim Holtz and to finish, I added three seagulls which were die cut from white cardstock and coloured using Cold Grey and Black Faber-Castell markers.
For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from the Design Team over at Country View Challenges – I hope that you are inspired by this month’s I do like to live beside the seaside challenge too and are able to join in the fun!
I feel very blessed to live by the sea, here is the view overlooking the sand dunes …
… and this is our beautiful beach with the pier in the background.
As my hubby will tell you it’s essential to have an ice cream whilst at the seaside and here are a couple of our favourite flavours – Double Chocolate and Sticky Toffee Pudding (grin!).
I have really enjoyed spending time with you today and I’d like to say a special thank you to Country View Challenges for giving me the opportunity to design for them!
Thanks so much! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
