Thank You Friend

Posted on May 5, 2023 by Let's Art Journal

It’s the first Friday of May, so it’s time for a new challenge over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, which as always is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by birthday cards and goodies from my dearest friends; the dotty paper was a recycled envelope from one of my birthday cards and the gorgeous butterfly was a napkin that was sent to me by my good friend, Tracey.

I started by ripping the dotty envelope into pieces and arranging them onto the page using a glue stick and some matte gel medium. Then I ripped the edges of napkin from around the beautiful butterfly image and applied the butterfly to the page. I arranged the ripped pieces of leftover napkin in-between the dotty paper and stuck them in place using matte gel medium. When dry, I used various colours of Kuretake watercolour paint to match and colour around the napkin pieces. Then I edged the papers and butterfly using a Uni Pin fine line marker smudging the ink with my finger. To finish, I added a Tim Holtz label sticker which reads “Thank You Friend”.

For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. All you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our mixed media challenge; I hope you are inspired to join us, it would be lovely to see you there!

I received some beautiful cards and gifts last month for my birthday; this homemade card and crafting goodies were sent to me by my dear friend Tracey from New Beginnings …Creating in my Corner – thank you so much!

Stay safe and well!

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

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Aimeslee this month, who has chosen Flowers as her theme; so I’m joining in the fun with the flowers of the butterfly image on my page.

Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies so as their May Challenge; I’m joining them with all the blooms and butterflies that my main butterfly image is made up from.

LTSCB#161 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Thank You page.

Making them with you

Posted on April 7, 2023 by Let's Art Journal

It’s the first Friday of April, so it’s time for a new challenge over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, which as always is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by a recent trip with my hubby to Venice, Italy (smile!).

I started by using a large 12×12″ stencil (KSTDG02) by Stamperia to add Ranger Texture Paste using a palette knife and then I left it to dry overnight. Next I added washes of Sap Green, Ultramarine and Yellow Ochre Kuretake watercolour paint; I did this by applying water to the page, then adding the watercolour and letting the colours blend. Once dry, I added the Venice image which was recycled from an old calendar and the “The best thing about memories, is making them with you” wording which was from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet.

My page was inspired by the canals and bridges in Venice, so I thought I’d share some of them with you as well as some interesting facts. Following my last post, we are still exploring the Cannaregio district; I love this beautiful view of one of the canals with it’s wrought iron bridge, and aren’t those reflections amazing (smile!).

We were amazed to find canals and bridges around every corner; this bridge in Cannaregio is quite similar to the image on my journal page.

Me and hubby definitely made some lovely memories together in Venice; here we are having walked to the nearby San Polo dictrict.

Venice is such a beautiful place and is well known for its canals and bridges.

There are supposedly 177 canals and 417 bridges in Venice; although we haven’t counted them all ourselves (grin!).

Probably the most famous bridge is the Rialto which connects San Polo to San Marco district (which we will explore in my next post). The Rialto Bridge is over a 1000 years old and you can see it in the background of this selfie that we took one evening.

The Rialto Bridge spans the S-shaped Grand Canal, which you can see here taken from the bridge itself. This is the biggest canal in Venice and splits the city in two. Not surprisingly, the main form of transport in Venice is by boat. As you can see there are lots of different boats on the canal, including gondolas. I was surprised to find out that there are about 350 gondolas in Venice, which on average are 11 meters long and weigh around 600 kilos, and there are about 400 gondolieri.

I hope you enjoyed visiting Venice and looking around Cannaregio and San Polo, join me next time as we explore San Marco (smile!).

Stay safe and well!

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

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from blog Altered Book Lover and her Recycle, reuse, repurpose challenge with my recycled image from an old calendar.

MIUCB #64 – Anything Goes + optional Distressing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my distressed watercolour technique background.

Stencil Fun Challenge and their April Stencil Fun – Anything Goes with optional Pattern challenge the patterned Stamperia stencil that I used for my page.

Hello March

Posted on March 3, 2023 by Let's Art Journal

It’s the first Friday of a new month, so it’s time for a new challenge over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, which as always is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I would also like to send a warm welcome to the lovely Fiona from http://www.craftystamping.blogspot.com/ who has joined our Design Team; please be sure to visit her blog and show her some love!

My mixed media page is saying “Hello March” and celebrating the pretty crocus that flower this time of year!

I started by covering the background with a couple of cyclopaedia book pages and then covered them with some Villainous Potion Distress Paint applying it like watercolour. When dry, I applied some Yellow Ochre Kuretake Watercolour and I stamped some foliage and a circular filigree stamp using a Magnolia Grove stamp set by Kaisercraft, black Archival Ink and Dusty Concord Distress Archival Ink. Next I added some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a brayer and layered some more of the stamping over the top, to create a distressed grungy look. Then I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint. The crocus were fussy cut from an old garden flower book, edged with a black Faber-Castell marker and stuck in place using a glue stick. I stamped the “Hello March” wording using a Sophisticated Script stamp set by Concord & 9th and black Archival Ink, then to finish I highlighted the letters with a white Uniball gel pen.

Every year, there is a beautiful display of crocus’ at the church in Poulton-de-Fylde; which is a small town near to where we live.

These little crocus flowers look so amazing and it’s always such a beautiful sight as they cover the church yard in so much colour!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well.

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

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Valerie of Bastelmania and her Anything Goes challenge with my Hello March page.

MIUCB #64 – Anything Goes + optional Distressing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my distressed background crocus page.

Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies so as their March challenge blog was launched this month, I’m joining them with my spring blooms.

Hello Winter

Posted on December 2, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

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

Whilst tidying up, I found this adorable robin image that I had saved from an old calendar and just couldn’t resist creating a page with it straight away; I even abandoned another page that I was creating, oh and also the tidying up (grin!).

I started by covering the background using white acrylic and Speckled Egg Distress Paint. Then I die cut lots of holly and fir branches using a Holiday Greens Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some green coloured cardstock; I added more colour to them using a Dark Green Blend TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker. The cones were die cut using a Funky Festive Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some brown Kraft cardstock – Classic by Tim Holtz. The holly berries were die cut using an old Festive Holly set and the wording using a Sizzix Doodle Alphabet and Letters set; they were all cut from orange paper which I later coloured using Orange and Sunflower Spectrum Aqua markers. I fussy cut the robin and stuck him in place, then I die cut the snowflakes from the remaining calendar paper. All of the foliage and snowflake pieces were arranged onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium and to finish, I splattered the whole page using white acrylic paint.

I love robins and have quite a few beautiful metal robins in my garden; one Christmas my dearest friend in America bought us this pretty red robin sitting in a heart – isn’t it delightful (smile!).

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well, and wishing you a Happy December!

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

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey and the Snowy Winter challenge that I’m hosting this month as their are snowflakes on my wintery scene.

LTSCB #158 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Hello Winter page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #182 – Anything Goes challenge with my winter page.

December Anything Goes Winter Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge with my Hello Winter page.

Challenge #64 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog with my Winter page.

Believe in Yourself

Posted on November 4, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

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

My mixed media page was inspired by the golden colour of the sunsets that we see this time of year; I hope you like it (smile!).

I started by covering the page with Wild Honey, Fossilized Amber and Vintage Photo Distress Ink by smooshing them onto the page using an acrylic block; I did this by stamping the ink pad onto the acrylic black, spritzing with water and then pressing the block onto the page gradually building up the layers of colour. Next I stamped a Hessian stamp by Kaisercraft over the whole page using a VersaMark Watermark ink pad and covered it with Gold Ranger embossing powder. I cut some lace edged ovals from white cardstock using a Basic Shapes die cut set by Marianne Designs and then I arranged them onto the page with some Weathered Garden Chipboard Die-cuts by Simple Stories, a gold frame, two gold banners and a washi tape flower. To finish, I added some small white acrylic hearts.

November brings golden sunsets looking over the beach where we live, so I was inspired to use golden autumnal colours on this page.

I hope that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

Challenges

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

MIUCB #62 – Anything Goes + optional Open Technique over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the ink and acrylic block technique that I used to create my smooshed background.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #180 – Anything Goes challenge with my sunset coloured page.

Deeply Loved

Posted on October 7, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

As it’s the first Friday of the month, we are launching our October challenge over at Creative Artiste today. As always our challenge is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by my hubby; it’s our wedding anniversary tomorrow (smile!).

I started by adding water to the page and then some Orange Kuretake watercolour paint gradually building up washes of colour to give a smooshed effect. Then I splattered the page using the same paint and some white acrylic paint. Next I fussy cut the flowers and foliage from some decoupage paper and stuck them in place using a glue stick. The wording was a Kaisercraft sticker and reads “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage”; it was edged with a black Faber-Castell marker. To finish, I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint.

Here’s my hubby and me, I can’t believe that we’ve been married 34 years – time sure does fly when you’re having fun!

I hope that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

Challenges

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

Paperbabe Stamps and their #178 – Anything Goes challenge with my anniversary page.

MIUCB #61 – Anything Goes + Optional Smooshing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my smooshed background that I created using watercolour techniques.

Challenge #62 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels with my Deeply Loved page.

Cute as a bug

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

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

My mixed media page was inspired by a pretty Sunflower napkin that I just had to buy whilst out shopping.

I started by cutting panels from the napkin and sticking them onto the page using a glue stick. Then I added some colour between the napkin pieces using watered down Jasmine and Spice Spectrum Aqua Markers. Next I stamped a hexagon design from Docrafts over the top using Toffee Crunch Memento Ink. To finish, I edged the napkin pieces with black Glitterations border stickers and I added the cardstock stickers of a bee, flower and the wording “Cute as a bug”.

The sunflowers reminded me of September as we always have family holidaying with us this time of year who kindly gift us flowers which are often sunflowers; here’s the beautiful bouquet from last year (smile!).

I hope that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

Challenges

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

The lovely Neet from Hickydorums is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Fur and/or Feathers; bees can be furry so I’m joining in the fun with my page (smile!).

Paperbabe Stamps and their #175 – Anything Goes challenge with my sunflower page.

LTSCB#157– Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my sunflower napkin inspired page.

Be Yourself Be Happy

Posted on August 5, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

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

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

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

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

I hope that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

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

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

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

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

You are my happy

Posted on July 1, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

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

My mixed media page was inspired by some pretty mosaic paper that my sister kindly gifted me; it reminded me of summer holidays in Greece (smile!).

I covered the whole page with a piece of mosaic paper using a glue stick and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top and left it to dry. Next I added some Snow Cone Faber-Castell gelato using a wet finger to smudge the colour over the gesso and paper to give it a washed out look. Then I used a Mosaic Stencil by Tim Holtz to apply some Ranger Crackle Paste to the page using a palette knife. When dry I added the blue flowers which were washi tape stickers, some shiny green gel dome stickers, the “You are my happy” sticker from Kaisercraft and the little white butterflies which were die cut and embellished with some green striped washi tape down the centre.

This journal page made me think of our holidays to Skiathos, which is one of the Greek islands. This was the view of the town as we approached it by water taxi which picked us up at our hotel.

We always enjoy walking and exploring, so we walked up to the top where the church was and this was the view looking back down towards the port.

We had such a wonderful time exploring the island, it was such a beautiful place; maybe one day we will return (smile!).

I hope that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

Challenges

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

Paperbabe Stamps and their #171 – Anything Goes challenge with my summery page.

Take time

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

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

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

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