Tis the Witching Hour

Here’s another Halloween page, this time in a vintage style to celebrate the Witching Hour with steampunk clocks, recycled chains, bats and I thought I’d never say this but a spider too – eek!

I started by colouring the background of the page with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and Pébéo white gesso using a baby wipe. When dry, I tore a piece of Pion Design paper called Midnight Spell that details clocks, lace and cobwebs and stuck it to the page using a glue stick. Then I added stamping and collage layers to blend the paper into the background; firstly by stamping a Gothic Book stamp from Finnabair over the page using black Archival Ink. Then using the same Gothic Book stamp and ink I stamped some tissue paper from an old dressmaking pattern, and ripped and stuck pieces of it onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I applied some more white gesso and layered more of the stamped tissue paper over the top. Next I stamped the pretty foliage over the page which was from a Floral Silhouette stamp set by Penny Black and some cobwebs around the edges of the page using a stamp by Molly Browns; both were stamped using black Archival Ink.

I used the black Archival Ink to create the “Tis the Witching Hour” wording using an alphabet stamp set by Hampton Arts and also to add the bats which were from an Autumnal Treasures stamp set that was free from a magazine.

The clock was made from wooden chipboard pieces from Boozybear which I covered with white gesso and then coloured with the black Archival Ink and a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker.

I backed the cogs and face with some recycled cream card that I die cut into circles and then I painted them with some watered down black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. The clock pieces were stuck together using Ranger Glossy Accents making sure that the hands on the clock showed midnight (the Witching Hour!) and I added some highlights using a silver Daler-Rowney paint pen.

The clock is arranged on the page with some pieces of chain and pendants from an old necklace that I had coloured with the white gesso and then some black DecoArt acrylic paint. To finish, I suspended a spider from the top of the page; it was stamped using the Autumnal Treasures stamp set and black Archival Ink and I drew a line using a black Uni Pin for the little spider to dangle from (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my hubby’s Hobgoblin beer which is brewed by Wychwood Brewery in Oxfordshire.

I thought of this beer as the Wychwood logo, (which is hard to see, but it’s etched onto the neck of the bottle), includes a witch flying on a broomstick which is perfect for my page too (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:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Pion Design Paper (Midnight Spell PD8103)
• Prima Marketing Finnaibar Clear Stamps (Gothic Book #966966)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Style Dressmaking Pattern tissue paper
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Penny Black Clear Stamp Set (Floral Silhouette 30-563)
• Molly Blooms Rubber Stamps (Cobweb MB-0065D)
• Boozybear wooden chipboard pieces (Clock Face)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Recycled Cream Cardstock
• The Works (Cutting Dies – Circles)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Daler-Rowney Acrylic Paint Markers (Silver)
• Recycled necklace – chains and pendants
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Hampton Art (Alphabet Stamp Set WM1037)
• Creative Stamping Issue 61 (Autumn Treasures Stamp Set)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.5mm)

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 lines of chain and cobwebs on my page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Halloween challenge with my Tis the witching hour art journal page. I’m joining the Purple, Orange, Green! Eek! It’s Halloween! challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my vintage witching hour page. I’m pleased to join the Not A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my art journal page. I’m also joining in the fun over at the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge and their Halloween Jump Start challenge which is their very first challenge – thank you Dar for inviting me to join in the fun, I hope you like my witching hour page! I’m so pleased to be able to join in the Anything Goes over at Paperbabe Stamps with my witching hour page too. I’m also pleased to join Sandee & aimlee’s Steampunk Challenge and their Anything Goes -Steampunk/Industrial challenge with my vintage steampunk Halloween page. I’m also joining the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their Anything Goes + optional twist of Distressing (ink or tool) with the stamping and layering background techniques and the techniques I used to create the Steampunk clock. Don’t forget that you still have another week to join in the Halloween fun over at Try it on Tuesday too!

Have a cup of Positivi-Tea

I had fun creating this page out of recycled teabags to showcase the fun quote “Have a cup of Positivi-Tea” (grin!).

For the background I covered the page with used teabags using Liquitex matte gel medium and left it to dry; I found them difficult to stick down as they were a nylon type material which wasn’t very malleable, luckily I wanted texture so the lumps and bumps didn’t matter. To add to the texture you can see black speckles which are dried tealeaves and I also stuck the strings and tabs from the teabags onto the page too. I stamped the page with a Chevron stamp from Kaisercraft and black Archival Ink, and then I added more colour using Tea Dye Distress Ink which was spritzed with water to blend out the colour. Then I applied Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker along the edges of the page to frame it.

The wording was created using some silver glitter foam letter stickers which added some sparkle and dimension.

The teacups and saucers were cut using a die cut from Crafter’s Companion from some turquoise paper that I backed with card. I added some shadows to saucers at the base of the teacups using a silver Daler Rowney paint pen and also some lines to the teacups and saucers using a black Uni Pin marker and some silver Stickles. As the surface was uneven I stuck the teacups and saucers in place using glue dots and to finish I added some little cupcake stickers.

The Hot Cinnamon Spice tea I have been drinking is made by Harney & Sons and is a black tea with cinnamon, orange and sweet clove – so delicious! This pretty tin of teabags was gifted to me (I normally buy loose leaf tea) so I thought I’d recycle the teabags especially as they were made of this nylon type material as I’m pretty sure that they wouldn’t break down in the compost bin (grin!).

As T Stands for T Day, I’m sharing my page and tea with the T Gang and wishing you a Happy T Day! Also for those who love lions and kittens (you know who you are – grin!) you may wish to check out my last post (I was thinking of you while I was creating it – double grin!).

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 the texture from the teabags, stamping, foam stickers and Stickles, I’m pleased to join the Texture challenge over at Art Journal Journey that I’m hosting this month; it would be lovely to see you there!

I’m joining the Staying in the Background challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the teabag background that I created for this page.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Frame It challenge with the simple frame I created with marker on this page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the #128- Dimensions challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the dimension from the letters and teacups on my page.

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

• Recycled teabags
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Chevron CS149)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Crafty Things (Eva Letter Stickers 51114)
• B&M Craft Goody Bag (Turquoise 321451)
• White cardstock
• Pritt Stick
• Crafter’s Companion Signature Collection by Sara Davies Vintage Tea Party Metal Die Set (Toppling Teacups)
• Daler Rowley Acrylic Paint Marker (Silver)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.5mm)
• Ranger Stickles (Silver)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Fun Stickers (Cupcakes 603)

Today is full of possibilities

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 pleased to join the Summer Special – ANYTHING GOES in Steampunk and Industrial mixed media challenge over at SanDee & amelie’s Steampunk Challenges.

I’m joining in 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:

• Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Typeset #TH94046)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Dina Wakley Mixed Media Stencil (Wheels MDS45588)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Mowed Lawn, Forest Moss, Twisted Citron)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials Clear Stamps (Steampunk DCE907125, Steampunk Background DCE907128)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (The Looking Glass SS206)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Artist Pitt Pen (Black 199)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CRO240/GE)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Feathered Friends 664433)
• White cardstock
• Daler-Rowney Acrylic Paint Marker (Gold, Silver)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Pritt Stick
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Quote Chips #TH93563)
• Stix2 Glue Dots

Create Art/Be Brave Tag

Today over at A Vintage Journey it’s Tag Friday, there is no particular theme as it’s all about creating something you love, experimenting and having fun! I hope that you will join our tag challenge, it would be lovely to see you there!

Spending more time in my garden means that my art is being inspired by some of the beautiful flowers which are blooming at the moment, so today’s double-sided tag features purple poppies and rudbeckia.

The tag itself was made from a large Poster Card by Tim Holtz and I added some texture and colour to the edges of it by applying some Broken China Distress Embossing Glaze and then some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. As I planned to use Faber-Castell Gelatos on both tags, I applied some white gesso to the tag first; this enhanced the colours and made it easier to apply the Gelatos. When the gesso was dry, I scribbled Kiwi and Aqua Dolce Faber-Castell Gelatos over the top smudging the colour with my finger.

Next I removed some of the Gelato colours using a baby wipe through a Halftone stencil from Tim Holtz and I used the stencil again to add some Memento Inks; I used Cottage Ivy ink for the poppy background and Paris Dusk ink for the rudbeckia background.

I stamped a document stamp and a grunge stamp from two different Tim Holtz stamp sets using black Archival Ink and then some leaf stamps from Carabelle Studios using Cottage Ivy Memento Ink for the poppy tag and London Fog Memento Ink for the rudbeckia tag. To finish the backgrounds, I added some rub-on transfers from a Specimen Remnant Rubs set by Tim Holtz.

The flowers were stamped onto some Mixed Media paper using a Stamping Platform to ensure a clear crisp finish. The stamps are from a Flower Garden stamp set by Tim Holtz and are stamped using black Archival Ink. The foliage was coloured using Sap Green Kuretake watercolour paint and highlighted using Lime Green and Forest Green Winsor & Newton Promarkers.

I had fun painting the poppy using Colbalt Violet, Black and White Kuretake watercolour paints and I coloured the edges of the petals using Amethyst Winsor & Newton Promarker. I used Lime Green and Canary Promarkers to colour the centre of the flower and a white Uniball gel pen, a black Uni Pin marker and a Cool Grey Promarker for the stamens. The flower was stuck in place using a glue stick and some glue dots and I added the “Create Art” wording which was a Quote Chip from Tim Holtz that was edged using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker.

The rudbeckia flower was painted using Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Scarlet, Black, White and Burnt Umber Sienna Kuretake watercolour paints and a Canary Promarker. I used a black Uni Posca paint pen and a black Uni Pin marker to add the texture to the stamens. I added the “Be Brave” wording and edged both tags using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. To finish, I added an eyelet with my Crop-A-Dile machine to reinforce the hole as I’m using a book ring to secure all of my double-sided tags together as part of my Tag Journal (grin!).

For more Tag Friday inspiration, please pop over to A Vintage Journey where you’ll find some fabulous tags created by my fellow Creative Guides. I hope you are inspired to join us as I’m so looking forward to seeing your tag designs!

These purple poppies are a welcome addition to our flower bed and were totally unplanned; I think the birds must have brought them into the garden (grin!). They have been flowering non-stop since the beginning of July. I’m featuring them again as some of you had never seen them before so I thought I’d share some more information about them:

• This particular poppy is called Papaver Somniferum “Hungarian Blue” and is an heirloom variety with single flowers.
• They are gorgeous purple-violet shades with dark inner markings on each petal.
• They are easy to grow being ideal as a cut flower and the dried seed pods can also be used in flower arranging.
• They grow to a height of 90cm.

The rudbeckia has just started flowering and adds a happy vibrant yellow to our flower bed; this particular one is Rudbeckia Fulgida ”Goldsturm” and is also known as the Golden Cone Flower or Black Eyed Susan.

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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 Summer challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my summer flower tags.

I’m joining in the fun at Country View Challenges and their Do What Makes You Happy Challenge with my flower tags as although I always find making tags a bit daunting I always enjoy making them; they also make me smile when I look at them as they are always on display in my craft room.

I’m joining in the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this double-sided tag:     

• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Glaze (Broken China)
• Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Kiwi, Aqua Dolce)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Halftone THS144)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy, Paris Dusk, London Fog)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Stamp Set (Documented CMS226, Urban Tapestry CMS061, Flower Garden CMS215)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Carabelle Studios Art Stamp (Dans la nature, il y a … SA60175)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Specimen #TH94047)
• Daler-Rowney Mixed Media Paper
• Ranger Tonic Studios Stamping Platform
• Kuretake Gambai Watercolour Paints (Sap Green No.53, Colbalt Violet No.139, Black No.20, White No.10, Lemon Yellow No.40, Cadmium Scarlet No.31, Burnt Sienna No.46)
• Winsor & Newton Promarkers (Lime Green G178, Forest Green G356, Amethyst V626, Cool Grey 4 CG4, Canary Y367)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (Black)
• Pritt Stick
• Stix2 Glue Dots
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Quote Chips #TH96563)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt Artist Pen (Black 199)
• American Crafts Crop-A-Dile (Hole Punch & Eyelet Setter, Standard Eyelets – Black)

Makes your soul sing

I was so pleased to see the robin in our garden this month that I created this art journal page to celebrate (grin!).

I started by painting the page with some white acrylic paint and when it was dry added some Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker by scribbling the ink onto a blending mat and then applying it to the page with a baby wipe. Next I tore some green heart designed paper and an old calendar page into strips, edged them with Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck them to the page using a UHU Stic. I die cut some foliage from recycled tissue paper using Tim Holtz Wildflower Stems thinlets, they are stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. The robin is fussy cut from an old calendar and the wording is stamped using a Paperbabes Stamp Set and the music notes using a Docrafts Stamp Set using black Archival Ink. I coloured the wording using a silver Derwent Rowney Paint Pen and a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker; it reads “Create what makes your heart dance and your soul sing”. Then I splattered the whole page using black DecoArt acrylic paint and added some wooden flowers using glue dots, which finished the page.

We haven’t seen our robin much this winter, so I was excited to see him sitting in the tree at the back of our garden; this is a European Robin not to be confused with an American Robin (grin!).

He also made his way to our bird feeder too (grin!)

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 Eileen from The Artful Crafter and her Green challenge over at Art Journal Journey this month with the paper and flowers that I used.

I’m joining in the Bit O’Green challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the green that I added to my art journal page.

I’m happy to be able to join the Use Some Green challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my page too.

I’m also pleased join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page.

I’m also happy to join in the The Eyes Have It challenge over at Country View Challenges with my robin on my art journal page.

I’m also joining the Aquamarine challenge over at the Frilly & Funkie Challenge Blog with the blue/green coloured paper on my page.

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

• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B, Cold Grey IV 233)
• Studio Light Paper Pad (PPSL84)
• Old Calendar
• UHU Stic
• Recycled tissue paper
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Wildflower Stems #2 664164)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Paperbabe Stamps (Fun Alphabet Outline Stamp Set)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Musicality DCE907112)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Daler Rowney Acrylic Paint Marker (Silver)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Melinera (Scatter Decorations – Wooden Flowers)

Makes me dream

A visit to the Blackbird Café had me thinking of stars, so I created this page from recycled used inky baby wipes and a fabulous quote from Vincent Van Gogh that reads “I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream”.

I started by collaging pieces of baby wipe that I had used to mop up some After Midnight Dylusions Ink Spray and Black Archival Ink using some gel medium. When dry I also applied some of the Dylusions Ink Spray using a paintbrush to water it down to any areas of the page that I hadn’t collaged and then stencilled some dots using a Creative Expressions Distressed Dots Mask. I splattered the page with some Pébéo white gesso, black DecoArt acrylic paint and a silver Daler Rowney paint marker. Next I fussy cut some images from a sheet of Stargazer Collection paper from Kaisercraft, edged them with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck them in place. I framed the quote using silver outline stickers and then I added some glittery silver stars which finished the page.

You may remember the Blackbird Café from previous posts, it’s such a lovely place and we normally go there with our dearest friends and chat over a cuppa (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, here’s my cup of hot chocolate in a beautiful blue mug and it was served with a yummy white chocolate star – Happy T Day!

Of course we couldn’t visit this café without having a bacon butty too – so delicious (double grin!).

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 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 happy to join in the Splatters, Splashes & Drips challenge over at Country View Challenges with all the splatters, splashes and drips on this page.

I’m joining in the Add A Sentiment challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my page.

Over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog their theme is # 34 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Stenciling so I’m pleased to be able to join this challenge with my mixed media stenciled page.

As I recycled some used baby wipes this is also a reminder that you still have another week to join our Go Green or Recycle Something challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be lovely to see you there!

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

• Used baby wipes stained with Ranger After Midnight Dylusions Ink Spray and Jet Black Archival Ink
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Distressed Dots)
• Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray (After Midnight)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Daler Rowney Acrylic Paint Markers (Silver)
• Kaisercraft Stargazer Collection 12×12 Paper (Galaxy P2538)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• X-Press It! double-sided foam tape
• Design Objectives Outline Stickers (Silver Borders 123551)
• Craft Sensations (Foam Glitter Stickers Silver CRO243/18GE)