Spread your wings

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

I used a fun technique using a Watermark Stamp Pad to create some of the flowers on my background which gave a lovely depth to my mixed media page; I hope you like it too (grin!).  

I stamped a Floral Silhouette stamp from Penny Black onto the background of the page using Versamark Watermark ink and then I dried it using a heat gun (the heat fixed the ink and achieved better watermark images). I applied some Abandoned Coral Distress Stain and also some Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso and Black Soot Distress Archival Inks over the top, gradually building up the colour using a blending tool so the watermark flower images appeared; they are the lightest flowers on the background. Then I stamped more of the flowers using the Penny Black stamp again and the Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso inks.

The pink flowers were die cut using Wildflower Stems #1 Thinlits by Tim Holtz from some design paper and then arranged onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. I used a journal card from Kaisercraft for the wording which reads “Until you spread your wings you’ll never know how far you’ll fly!”. The top and bottom of the card was embellished using two strips of silver metal beading.

To finish, I added the pretty butterfly sticker and some silver wire to trail behind it.

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

I seem to be drawn to pink at the moment, I even decorated my friend’s birthday cake with pink and white feather icing; this is a Victoria sponge filled with buttercream and strawberry jam. As we are still in lockdown here, I thought this would be a nice surprise to wish her a happy birthday (grin!).

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.

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

• Tsukineko Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Penny Black Clear Stamp Set (Floral Silhouette 30-563)
• Tim Holtz Distress Archival Ink (Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Black Soot)
• Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Abandoned Coral)
• The Works (Design Block)
• Tm Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Wildflower Stems #1 664163)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Kaisercraft Captured Moments (Life’s Treasures CM108)
• Mark Richards Metal Bead Stickers (Silver Metals #1981)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Home Bargains You & Me Stickers (Beautiful Butterflies 22742)
• Silver wire
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the Beautiful Blossoms challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with all the beautiful stamped and die cut flowers on my page. I’m joining the Anything Goes challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog with my vintage shabby chic flower page. I’m also joining the Art Journal challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge too with my art journal page. I’m happy to join Paperbabe Stamps and their #138 – Anything Goes challenge with my page too. I’m also joining the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their MIUCB #47 – Anything Goes + Inlaid Die Cut challenge with the fun technique I used to create the background using the Watermark Stamp Pad.

Noël

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

I hope you’ll join in the fun too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I love Christmas so I created this art journal page to wish you happiness this Christmastime!

Having made my Christmas cards I had a pile of paper which I had used to die cut fir tree branches from using a Tim Holtz Thinlits set, so rather than throw them away I used them to create my background. They had been coloured using Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles Distress Inks and I stuck them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium.

When dry, I added some green highlights to background pieces using an Alpine Green Blend coloured TriBlend alcohol marker from Spectrum Noir. The birds, branches and baubles were fussy cut from some design paper by Docrafts and arranged onto the page with a tag from the same Docrafts paper and die cut set.

I added the “Noël” wording and a snowflake to the tag and then I stuck the tag onto the page using double-sided foam tape. The bow was made from some red and white striped ribbon and stuck onto the tag using Ranger Glossy Accents. To finish, I added lots of green glittery snowflake foam stickers.

I hope that you are inspired to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge too, you just need to use 3 different mediums to enter so I kept it simple and only used Distress Inks, alcohol markers, design paper, ribbon and stickers this time.

For more amazing inspiration please check out the fabulous creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too.

I love Christmas and have been enjoying putting up our Christmas decorations this week; here I am in our Christmas robin themed room that I have just finished decorating (grin!).

Merry Christmas and stay safe!

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:

• Die cut off cuts
  • Recycled white paper
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles)
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Holiday Greens 658759)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Spectrum Noir TriBlend (Alpine Green Blend)
• Docrafts Papermania A4 Ultimate Die Cut & Paper Pack (Folk Christmas PMA160933)
• Ribbon
• Poundland (Christmas Craft Pack – snowflake stickers)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Creative Artiste, as they provide me with inspiration 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 Tracey over at Art Journal Journey and her Meaning of challenge this month as I love Christmas and also the meaning of the French word Noël is Christmas. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with Christmas art journal page. I’m pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my Noël page too. I’m also happy to join the A Time to be Grateful challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I’m always thankful when Christmas is here – I love it! I’m also pleased to join the Fun With Dies challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the die cut pieces I used to create the background and die cut tag on this page.

You’re so beautiful

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

I love autumn, it seems a magical time of year to me with the beautiful colours of the leaves and the sunny days with a slight chill in the air. There’s nothing better than walking along with the crunch of leaves beneath your feet (grin!), so my page today celebrates autumn.

To start, I painted the page with Raw Sienna, Raw Umber and Deep Green Liquitex acrylic paint and then applied Pébéo white gesso over the top with a brayer.

I stamped lots of leaves over the top from a Falling Leaves stamp set from BoBunny using Rich Cocoa, Morocco and Cottage Ivy Memento Ink. Then I applied another layer of white gesso using the brayer and stamped more of the maple leaves using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink; this technique adds the illusion of depth to my page. I stamped a grid design over the background using black Archival Ink and a homemade stamp made from a wooden block and some plasterboard/drywall tape. Then I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

Next I added some die cut circles and the “you’re so beautiful” wording which are from Craft Sensations. They are arranged with some metallic copper leaves which are outline stickers from Stampendous. To finish, I added tiny copper circles and dots around the page which are from the same outline sticker set.

For more mixed media inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too; it would be lovely to see you there!

We always enjoy walking with our dearest friends and little Ellie who happens to love autumn too as she loves chasing leaves. Well she actually likes chewing them (grin!); you may remember this photo from a previous post.

Here is a picture of her looking all grown up after visiting Prestige Paws who are a fabulous local dog groomers; they kindly let me share this lovely photo that they took of her, thanks so much! Today’s page made me think of Ellie, not only does she love leaves but I always tell her “you’re so beautiful!” and here she’s looking particularly beautiful after her recent visit (double 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.

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

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Color (Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Deep Green Permanent)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Mini Brayer
• BoBunny Stamps (Falling Leaves #12105154)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Rich Cocoa, Morocco, Cottage Ivy)
• Homemade stamp – wood block and plasterboard/drywall tape
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE)
• Stampendous Outline Stickers (2077 – copper leaves)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Creative Artiste, as I always 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 to be able join the #131 – Picture Inspiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as the autumnal design and colours. I’m happy to join the Home is Where the Heart is challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as like my page, my home is always decorated with autumnal foliage this time of year. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything But A Card challenge with my autumnal art journal page. I’m also pleased to join the LTSCB #139 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with autumnal page too. I’m also joining in the Thinking Of You challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page as it makes me think of little Ellie.

Heat of Summer

Today I am sharing a page that I created especially to join in with the fun themes over at some of my favourite challenge blogs. This includes using a ballpoint pen to create the grids on my page, dividing the page so it has a distinct panel along the bottom, some splashes and splatters and celebrating summer with the hot colours and wording – I hope you like it!

I love the contrast between the black and white and the sunny summer colours (grin!).

I started by drawing the grid patterns on the page using a black ballpoint pen and a ruler which was fun and took quite a bit of time (grin!).

Then I stamped the central leaf, the numbers and letters using my new Postal Mix stamp set from Woodware Craft Collection and black Archival Ink. Next I coloured the bottom of the page with some hot summer colours using Yellow, Lemon, Orange and Rose Red Brusho powders. I did this by sprinkling the Brushos onto the page and spritzing with water; it always amazes me how magically the powders burst with colour when water is added (grin!). When dry, I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

I stamped the leaf three more leaves onto some white cardstock using my Ranger Stamp Platform, this helps get a clear crisp image as you can re-stamp over and over again until you get the ink intensity that you want. Then I fussy cut them out and stuck one of them over the stamped image and then arranged the other two leaves around it. I used rub-on transfers for all the summer related wording which includes “summer”, “hot”, “sun”, “easy”, “June”, “July” and “August”. To finish, I added two small black butterflies and drew on some antennae with a UniPin marker. 

The colours on this page reminds me of a lovely lily that we have flowering in our garden – it certainly is a spectacular sight (grin!).

Hoping that you are 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 Positively Pensive challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the grid designs that I drew on this page.

I’m joining in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Sprays and Splatters challenge with the splashes of Brushos and paint on my art journal page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the #121 – Sketch challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page design; the bottom panel of colour and leaves match the sketch.

With the hot summer colours and wording, I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Summer Fun challenge too.

Don’t forget that you still have time to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge this month over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog too, it would be lovely to see you there!

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

• Bic Ballpoint Pen (Black)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Postal Mix FRS781)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Colourcraft Brusho Crystal Colours (Yellow, Lemon, Orange, Rose Red)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• White Cardstock
• Zig Memory System 2-way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Summer Sentiment #ROY-505)
• Poundland (Mini Embellishments)
• UniPin Fine Line Marker Pen (Black 0.05mm)

Tulips

It’s a new month so we are launching our May challenge over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, and as always the theme is:

Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I was inspired by the beautiful tulips in my garden and had fun playing around with mixed media to create this Tulip art journal page. I hope you’ll join in the fun too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by ripping and fussy cutting a tulip napkin and then I stuck the pieces into place using a glue stick. I painted around the napkin pieces with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and while the paint was still wet I added some Vivid Green Liquitex acrylic paint using a palette knife so it matched the napkin background. When the paint was dry, I stamped a Script stamp from Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink and also a crackle texture stamp from BoBunny using Pistachio Memento Ink over the painted areas.

Then I added some Ranger Texture Paste using a heart stencil that I created with a Falling Hearts Thinlet set from Tim Holtz and when dry, the hearts were coloured using Red Violet, Crimson and Magenta Spectrum Aqua markers. Next I added the “Tulips” wording using letter stickers from Kaisercraft and also a pretty blue butterfly from an Ephemera Pack by Tim Holtz.

To finish, I added some shadow to the tulips with a Charcoal grey Derwent Inktense pencil and then emphasised the tulip petals using a black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball gel pen.

I hope that you are inspired to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge! For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too.

This year the tulips in our garden have been beautiful.

I love all the colours and structure that they have added to our flower border.

We plan to add more tulip bulbs every year; we planted these striped tulips a few years ago …

… and these gorgeous purple tulips are the ones that we planted in November last year (grin!).

Hoping that you all stay safe and keep 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 Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month with the Interlocking Circles on this page.

I’m joining in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Not A Card challenge with my art journal page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my tulip page.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

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

• Tulip Napkin
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Script CS752)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• BoBunny Stamp (Rough It Up 12105155)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Pistachio)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Falling Hearts 664415)
• Ranger Texture paste
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Red Violet, Crimson, Magenta)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Mix & Match – Alpha SS252)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Ephemera Pack (Field Notes #TH94051)
• Stix2 Glue Dots
• Derwent Inktense Pencil (Charcoal Grey 2100)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)

Joy and Beauty

It’s a new month so we are launching our April challenge over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, and as always the theme is:

Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I had fun playing around with mixed media to create this springtime birthday art journal page. I hope you’ll join in the fun too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I arranged the paper pieces onto the page and then applied some Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Inks around them. Then I stuck the papers in place using a glue stick and some Liquitex matte gel medium; the papers included some Aviary Collage Paper from Tim Holtz and some old Sheet Music that my sister gave me for my birthday last year, which is quite apt as it happens to be my birthday today (grin!).

I then added some Ranger Texture Paste over the Distress Inks through a new Kaisercraft leaf stencil; the Distress Inks seeped into the texture paste which gave a lovely effect (my hubby says they look like fossils). I added some flowers which are from a Botanical Layers set and also some wording which are Small Talk stickers; both are from Tim Holtz. The wording reads “everything has beauty”, “look on the bright side” and “find joy in the ordinary”.

I hope that you are inspired to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge too! For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too.

Here’s the beautiful Sheet Music which my sister gifted me last year, I remember her playing music on both the piano and violin when we were both children – such happy memories!

Due to everything going on at the moment I’m home with my hubby this year for my birthday so I decided to make myself a birthday cake (something I don’t normally do as my mum usually makes one for me). This is a homemade Victoria sponge, with butter cream and cherry jam topped with white and pink feathered icing; I can’t wait to try a piece later with my cuppa  – yum (grin!).

Hoping that you all stay 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 in the Animal Magic challenge over at Country View Challenges with art journal page.

I’m joining in the Spring Mood Board challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the spring blooms and images on this page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Birthdays challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my springtime birthday celebration page too.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Happy Birthday! challenge too – Happy Birthday!

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Collage paper – Aviary #TH93706, Layers – Botanicals #TH93554, Stickers – Small Talk #TH93193)
• UHU Stic
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Kaisercraft 6×6″ Designer Template (Tropical Leaves IT433)
• Ranger Texture paste
• Stix2 Glue Dots