Summer

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday and for the next two weeks our challenge theme is Here Comes Summer.

I had fun creating the summer scenes on this art journal page; I hope you like it too (grin!).

I started by sprinkling the page with some Yellow and Lemon Colourcraft Brusho powders and then I spritzed the powders with water to disperse the colours over the page. I also splattered the two diluted Brushos colours around the edges of the page. For the silhouettes, I used stickers arranging the different elements together to create the summer scenes; for the boy fishing I added the flowers to the pre-cut silhouette and the flower scene was created from scratch using some flower heads, flower centres, foliage and grass stickers taking quite some time to put together. I added a zig-zag sticker along the bottom of each of the scenes and some rub-on transfers for the wording. To finish, I splattered the page with tiny flecks of black DecoArt acrylic paint.

The colours on my page reminded me of these pretty cat mugs that we saw in a local kitchen store; don’t you just love their expressions and the little bird that is perched on the end of their tails (grin!). I’m sharing these with the T Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday as I think Bleubeard and Squiggles will love them too – wishing everyone a very Happy T Day!

I hope that you’re staying well and enjoying your Summer so far!

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

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Mia who has chosen Fish as her theme as there is a little fish that the boy has caught on his fishing line on my page.

I’m pleased to join Paperbabe Stamps and their #170 – Anything Goes challenge with my summer page.

Stars shine

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing this art journal page as inspiration for this month’s Seeing Stars challenge.

I started by covering the page with white gesso and then added a layer of Bronze Distress Paint. When dry, I used a baby wipe to remove some of the Distress Paint giving the background a grungy distressed look. Next I used an AALL & Create Sparkles stamp set to stamp the starbursts using Elderberry Memento Ink and the Bronze Distress Paint. To finish the background, I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint. The owl panel and wording were cut from a Cosmos Stamperia paper pad and I die cut the stars from the paper using a Snowy Stars Thinlits set by Tim Holtz.

I hope you are inspired to join our Seeing Stars challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts.

The owl on my page reminded me of the one we saw on a walk at Glasson Dock; it was such a surprise to see this Little Owl sitting in the tree looking right at us – we were so lucky that day (smile!).

I hope that you’re 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 Paperbabe Stamps and their #170 – Anything Goes challenge with my starry page.

Seeing Stars

It’s time for our new challenge this month over at Country View Challenges which is being hosted by the lovely Sue whose theme is Seeing Stars; we would like to see stars as the main focus of your projects please.

For my page I used some lovely AALL & Create stamps to create this starry page.

I started by covering the chipboard page with black DecoArt acrylic paint and left it to dry, then I added some white acrylic paint over the top allowing the black paint to show through a little. Next I stamped the stars using Peeled Paint, Barn Door and Fossilized Amber Ranger Distress Archival Inks and then I covered them in complimentary WOW! embossing powders. I used the same stamp set to add the numbers using black Archival Ink and also splattered the page with the Inks and some of the black acrylic paint. To finish, I added the wording “Shine like the stars” and “Shine brightly” which were from a Metallic Sticker Book by Tim Holtz.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

Here’s the stamp set, ink pads, embossing powders and sticker book that I used to create my page; the shimmer and shine looks amazing close up (smile!).

I hope you’ll join us, it would be lovely to see you there and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the Country View Crafts shop! Before you enter, please read the rules!

Wishing you a happy June and I hope that you’re 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 Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #168 – Anything Goes challenge with my freesia page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes theme with my starry page.

Painting the Roses Red

To join a few challenges including our I Can Hear Music challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, I created this fun “Painting the Roses Red” page using my new Alice Through The Looking Glass papers from Stamperia – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the background with some grey and silver acrylic paints, smudging them onto the page using a baby wipe. Then I layered some decoupage paper and design papers over the top using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium.

The framed images were cut from the Alice Through The Looking Glass papers by Stamperia, decorated with some washi tape roses and mushroom stickers and then layered together on the page. To finish, I added the wording which were letter stickers by Docrafts.

Do you remember this fun song from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland?

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this Lancaster Red beer and wishing the T Gang a very Happy T Day and sending E very happy birthday wishes! If you look closely at the bottom of the pump clip, you can see the Red Rose of Lancaster which is a heraldic badge dating back to medieval times and is often see here in Lancashire as it’s our county flower.

Hoping that you’re 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 Alison the Craftytrog is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Play it again Sam so I’m joining her with my Painting the Roses Red page.

A Study in Contrast challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my contrasting colours of black and white to the red.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #166 – Anything Goes challenge with my page.

Spring is in the Air

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing my second page as inspiration for this month’s Spring is Coming challenge.

I started by painting the page using Sapphire Blue Glitter Dust DecoArt paint and when dry I applied some Rustic Wilderness and Twisted Citron Distress Paint to the foreground and to create the tree shapes. Next I used a Tall Pines Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and white cardstock to create the trees and then I painted them using the Distress Paints; they were stuck in place using matte gel medium and I added some highlights using a white gel pen. Next I doodled all the pretty spring flowers using purple, white and yellow Uni Posca paint pens which took quite bit of time as there were so many layers of colour and lots of flowers (smile!). The adorable deer family was die cut from some leftover cardstock which was coloured using Vintage Photo and Tea Dye Distress Inks using Darling Deer Thinlits set by Tim Holtz; their white dots were added using a white gel pen and some clear Ranger embossing powder. The wording “Spring is in the air” was recycled and finished the page.

I hope you are inspired to join our Spring is Coming challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts.

This deer is a rusty metal stake in my garden, isn’t he spectacular – we were kindly gifted it last Christmas (smile!).

I hope that you’re 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 Country View Challenges , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely  Alison the Craftytrog is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Play it again Sam and she is asking for pages inspired by your favourite movie or song.
As I love musicals the deer on my page reminded me of the lyric “Do, a deer, a female deer” which you may remember is from the song “Do-Re-Mi” from the Sound of Music. I used to sing this all the time when I was younger and can even still remember all words (grin!) – can you? (If not check out the video below).

Easter/Spring challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my spring page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #164 – Anything Goes challenge with my spring page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes theme with my spring colours page.

Enjoy the simple life

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

My mixed media page was inspired by spring and some new Simple Stories materials that I got as an early birthday present (grin!).

I started by covering the background with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and when dry I used a Moroccan stencil by Creative Expressions to apply some Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the top. I removed some of the ink using a baby wipe and then I applied some Brushed Sage Distress Ink through the stencil too. Next I added the pretty spring paper which was free from a magazine and based on designs from The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. I edged it using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker smudging the ink with my finger. Next I arranged and layered all the different paper pieces together; some of which were leftovers, some were fussy cut from Kaisercraft papers and the main images with the words “Enjoy the simple life” and “My heart” were chipboard pieces from Simple Stories. To finish, I splattered the page with some black DecoArt acrylic paint.

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!

Simple Stories is a new brand to me and I was lucky enough to be treated to some chipboard and die cut pieces as well as some papers for my birthday; they’re all so gorgeous and I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of them soon (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.

Challenges

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

Paperbabe Stamps and their #164 – Anything Goes challenge with my spring page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes theme with my spring coloured flowers page.

Celebrate

It’s time for our new challenge this month over at Country View Challenges which is being hosted by the lovely Evelyn whose theme is Mother’s Day.

Inspired by my mum and her love of freesias, I created this art journal page to celebrate Mother’s Day.

To create my bokeh background, I covered the page with Peacock Feathers, Tumbled Glass and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink using a blending tool. Then I applied the circles using a Sun & Moon stencil and white gesso, slightly overlapping some of the circles as I went. To finish the background, I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt acrylic paint. For the freesias, I die cut the flower heads using a Fresh Freesia Sizzix Thinlits set by Prima Marketing from some white cardstock that I had coloured using Abandoned Coral, Mustard Seed and Scattered Straw Distress Ink. The stems were die cut using the same Thinlits set from some green Kraft cardstock by Tim Holtz. Once arranged on the page, I added the wording which reads “Celebrate”, “It’s your day” and “XOXOXO” which were Sentiments Label Stickers by Tim Holtz.

It was my first time using these pretty Fresh Freesia Thinlits and I love how they look on my page with these Sentiments Label Stickers by Tim Holtz; both were from Country View Crafts and I’m sure I’ll be using them again soon (grin!).

For more inspiration please see the amazing Mother’s Day creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges. I hope you’ll join us, it would be lovely to see you there and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the Country View Crafts shop! Before you enter, please read the rules!

As T Stands for Tuesday, here’s the cute mug that I usually have at my mum’s when I visit (grin!) – Happy T Day everyone!

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

As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Valerie of Bastelmania is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Spring; as Mother’s Day is synonymous with Spring here in the UK and the colours are spring-like I’m joining her challenge with my page.

For The Love of Mixed Media challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as my mixed media page was created for my mum and mother’s day.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #162 – Anything Goes challenge with my freesia page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes theme with my celebrate Mother’s Day page.

Use At Least One Stencil challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as I used a stencil to create my bokeh background.

A Year to Sparkle & Shine

Happy New Year everyone!

I’m so delighted that it’s my turn to host the challenge over at Country View Challenges this month, so to welcome 2022 I have chosen the theme of A Year to Sparkle and Shine.

We would like to see LOTS of sparkle and shine on your projects, no “token” gems or sequins please; you really need to go sprinkle that sparkle! This means that you can use lots of different sparkly and shiny products (like metallics, sparkly embossing powders, glitters, lustres, foil, glazes, mirror cardstock, mica sprays or paints etc) as part of your designs.

For my very sparkly art journal page, I started by covering the background with Silver DecoArt Extreme Sheen Metallic Paint and then sprinkled some Black Sparkle Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder over the top and heated it with a heat gun. Then I added some rub-on transfers from a Numbers pack from Tim Holtz and the wording which were Metallic Alpha Stickers by Tim Holtz. To finish, I added Crystal Twinkle Stars from Creative Expressions.

Here’s all the crafting goodies from Country View Crafts that I used to create this page (grin!).

For more inspiration please see the amazing sparkly and shiny creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I look forward to visiting you and seeing what you make and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the shop! Before you enter your project though, please read the rules! 

Stay safe and well!

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

Perfect Moments

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.

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 was inspired by my good friend Craftyfield to stamp using Colourcraft Brushos, so I used them to create the diamond background. I did this by sprinkling Scarlett, Terracotta, Orange and Yellow Ochre Brushos onto a Vintage Diamond mini stencil by Creative Expressions. Then I spritzed the stencil with water and pressed it onto the page like a stamp; I did this a number of times to build up the background. When dry, I stencilled some texture paste by Tim Holtz which I had coloured using Salvaged Patina Distress Paint through a Moroccan That Special Touch of Mica Mask by Creative Expressions. Then I splattered the page using the Salvaged Patina Distress Paint and also some black DecoArt acrylic paint and left to dry. To finish, I added three fussy cut butterflies and the wording which was a Kaisercraft sticker; it reads “Perfect Moments”.

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

Perfect moments made me think of this post box that I discovered outside my local post office, isn’t the crochet cover amazing – it made me smile for the rest of the day (grin!). I like the way the colours of the sun and butterfly match my page too (double 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.

For the sake of brevity I am no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #155 – Anything Goes with my festive tags.

Living Things challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the butterflies I included on my page.

Love to Scrap Challenge Blog and their LTSCB #151 – Anything Goes with my happy page and experimental stamping with Brushos.

Challenge #7 at Mixed Media Lovers with my mixed media journal page.

Spooky Fun

As Halloween weekend is upon us, I created this page full of Spooky Fun to wish you all a Happy Halloween!

I started by adding the panels of wrought iron and ghost images which were from an old magazine and then I added some striped washi tape to fill in the gaps between the panels. The wording was also cut from magazine pages; so all the letters matched some of the backgrounds were coloured using a black Faber-Castell marker and some of the letters using a Gold Spectrum Aqua marker. Once the wording was stuck in place, I added some touches of gold to the letters using a gel pen and I outlined them using black Glitterations border stickers which added a bit more sparkle.

The purple ivy die cuts and coloured papers that I used to die cut the autumnal leaves from, were leftover from other projects; the leaves were die cut using a Fall Foliage Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. To finish, I splattered the whole page with some black DecoArt acrylic paint.

The wrought iron reminded me of the gates at Lytham Hall. There have been spooky goings on reported at the gatehouse, where these gates are situated, which include phantom cars and white paranormal sightings; if your interested you can check out the full story here titled Ghosts at Lytham Hall.

Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

For the sake of brevity I am no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Art Journal Journey and lovely Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations  who is hosting this month with her My favourite colour is October challenge with my autumnal Halloween page.

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog and their Grunge, Ghouls or Giggles with my Spooky Fun page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #155 – Anything Goes with my Halloween page.

LTSCB #150 – Anything But A Card over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my Spooky Fun page.

Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog with my spooky page.