Autumn Blessings

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Autumn Blessings.

I love autumn and I’m always thankful for the autumnal colours so my page features lots of colourful leaves and a fabulous saying that reads “May your blessings be as countless as the autumn leaves”.

I hope you like it and are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by stamping the wording onto the page using a Sophisticated Script stamp set by Concord & 9th and black Archival Ink; touching up the lettering in places using a black marker. Then I had a happy accident as I didn’t realise the black marker that I used was water-based, so when I added some Tea Dye Distress Ink using a wet paint brush it reactivated the black marker; I quickly changed my brush strokes so they were in a diagonal pattern away from the lettering and it resulted in this beautiful grungy look – I love how it turned out (grin!).

Next I selected lots of leftover papers that had been coloured with different acrylic paints, Distress Inks and Brushos. Then I die cut the different leaves from them using a Fall Foliage Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. I added more colour to the leaves using Crackling Campfire, Fired Brick, Fossilized Amber and Ground Espresso Distress Ink. Then I arranged them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium and to finish, I splattered the whole page using black DecoArt acrylic paint.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful Autumn Blessings creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday and autumn is in the air, I’m sharing some homemade parkin which is a gingerbread cake traditionally made with oatmeal and black treacle, which originated in Northern England. I always make it this time of year as it’s one of my dad’s favourites, and today I’m enjoying a piece with my cuppa (hot water this time) – Happy T Day!

I hope that you’re all staying safe and well, and sending you autumn blessings!

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 As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey and lovely Wendy K from wendyscraftjournal.blogspot.com who is hosting this month with her Vintage challenge with my autumn blessings page. #144 Autumn Colours challenge over at Sparkle Monthly Challenges with the autumn colours on my art journal page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #152 – Anything Goes with my autumn art journal page. Challenge #5 Mixed Media Lovers, this challenge blog is for all mixed media lovers so I’m joining them with my mixed media autumnal page. LTSCB #149- Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my autumn blessings page.

A very wonderful place

As you may remember one of my goals this year is to recycle and use up leftovers in my craft stash, so I created this vintage page using some recycled items; I hope you like it (grin!).

I started by covering the chipboard page with Vintage Photo Distress Archival Ink using a blending tool. Then I added lots of postage marks and text using a Craft Sensations stamp set and Black Soot Distress Archival Ink. I splattered the page using some Black Soot Distress Ink and edged it with a black Faber-Castell marker. Then I added a piece of die cut lace cardstock, which was recycled from a wedding invitation, to the right hand side of the page. The pretty postage stamp, featuring two wrens, was also recycled from my hubby’s childhood stamp collection. It was mounted onto a piece of black cardstock, also recycled from the wedding invitation, and then framed using two pieces of lace border which were outline stickers. I added the wording which were from a Clippings sticker set by Tim Holtz and to finish, I splattered some black and white acrylic paint over the page.

My hubby very kindly gifted me his childhood postage stamp collection for my art journaling. Many of the postage stamps are displayed in a large book but some, like this wren stamp, were part of a collection and still mounted on their original book pages. This Wild Birds stamp was a special issue from Hungary being published between 1973-1974.

Here’s it’s original page with the other stamps that formed part of the collection and wow, as you can see at the time they only cost 10p. It’s so interesting that they list the prices for this collection for other countries too, as you can see under the postage stamps on the bottom of the page (grin!).

Hoping that you’re 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.

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 Wendy K from wendyscraftjournal.blogspot.com who is hosting this month with her Vintage challenge with my vintage style page. Stitch It challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog with all the faux lace on my page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #152 – Anything Goes with my vintage page. LTSCB #149 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my vintage mini art journal page which includes stamping. MIUCB #53 – Anything Goes + Monochrome over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my distress techniques that I used to create my vintage page.

Own your story

I really enjoy creating these mini pages in my chipboard art journal, and I had so much fun making these typewriter keys using some new Distress products and the Typewriter 3D Texture Fades from Tim Holtz (grin!).

For the background, I covered the page with my new Salvaged Patina Distress Paint and a tiny amount of black DecoArt acrylic paint to dull the colour. When dry, I dragged a Black Soot Distressl Ink pad vertically down the page and then applied some Liquitex matte gel medium over the top using a paint brush to create a woodgrain effect.

For the typewriter letters, I started by covering a piece of mixed media paper with the Salvaged Patina Distress Paint and my new Crackling Campfire Distress Ink and left it to dry. Then I dry embossed the paper using the Typewriter 3D Texture Fades by Tim Holtz. To highlight the texture, I dragged a black archival ink pad over the top of the letters to colour them and applied some Iced Coffee metallic Faber-Castell gelato smudging the colour with my finger. Then I splattered some Tarnished Brass Distress Paint over the top which finished the worn grungy look. They were cut out, edged with a black Faber-Castell big brush marker and then stuck into place using either double-sided or double-sided foam tape.

To finish, I added the typewriter which was stamped using a stamping platform, a stamp set from Craft Sensations and some black Archival Ink; it was stamped onto some of the mixed media paper that I had coloured with the Salvaged Patina Distress Paint and Crackling Campfire Distress Ink. I fussy cut it out and added the wording “own your story” which was a rub-on transfer from a Tiny Text Remnant Rubs set by Tim Holtz.

As T Stands for Tuesday and to link the the story theme of my page, I’m sharing these fabulous teapots that we saw whilst out walking; they were in a charity store window and feature Robin Hood, Dick Turpin and Shakespeare – Happy T Day everyone!

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.

For the sake of brevity I’m 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 which is being hosted this month by the lovely Neet from Hickydorums; she has chosen Type as her theme so I’m joining with my typewriter page (this mini art journal page measures 15x15cm). Dry Emboss challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as I used Tim Holtz 3D Texture Fades to dry emboss the typewriter letters for my page. LTSCB #148 – Old School over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my old school typewriter as they are generally not used nowadays with computers etc (grin!). Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #150 – Anything Goes with my typewriter art journal page. Mixed Media Lovers Challenge Blog and their Challenge #4 Mixed Media Lovers with my mixed media page; this is a new blog so why not join in the fun too! MIUCB #52 – Anything Goes + Mixed Media over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different materials and techniques that I used to create the background and typewriter letters for this fun mixed media page.

Celebrate Summer

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing a mini art journal page for this month’s Monochromatic challenge to celebrate summer.

With all the fabulous summer sunshine we’ve been enjoying recently, my monochromatic page features shades of yellow and was created using Tim Holtz products.

I started by preparing the chipboard page with a layer of white gesso and then I coloured the page various shades of yellow using Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, and Scattered Straw Distress Inks. Then I sprayed some White Linen Dylusions Spray Ink over the top and left it to dry. I applied some Ranger texture paste through a stencil from a #16 mini stencil set by Tim Holtz; the wet texture paste reactivated the inks turning it yellow so I sprayed some more of the White Linen Dylusions Spray Ink over the top. When dry, I stencilled some numbers and letters around the texture paste using the two other Tim Holtz stencils from the #16 set and some Fossilized Amber ink. For the flowers, I used a stamping platform to stamp the flower heads and stems onto some mixed media paper using a Flower Garden stamp set and the Fossilized Amber ink. They were coloured using the Mustard Seed and Fossilized Amber inks which I applied like watercolour paint, then I cut them out and stuck them in place using matte gel medium. For the wording, I die cut the letters from some mixed media paper, which I had coloured with the Fossilized Amber ink, using an Alphanumeric Label Thinlits set. The letters were stuck onto two banners which were die cut from white cardstock using a Tag Collection Framelits set. To finish, I splattered some white DecoArt acrylic paint over the page.

I hope you are inspired to join our Monochromatic 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 (grin!).

The colours, flowers and wording on this page were inspired by a visit to the Garden Hub Plant Centre at Lytham Hall whilst out walking.

Where we saw these gorgeous yellow cone shaped flowers called Echinacea.

There were also handwritten chalkboard signs displayed amongst the flowers, including this one which inspired the “Celebrate Summer” wording on my page (grin!).

Hoping 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.

Here is a list of the materials from Country View Crafts that I used to create this art journal page:

• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Mustard Seed
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Fossilized Amber
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Scattered Straw
• Ranger Dylusions Ink Sprays – White Linen
• Ranger – Texture Paste – 3 Pack
• MTHS016 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencil – Mini Stencil Set #16
• CMS215 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Cling Mounted Stamp Set – Flower Garden Stamp Set
• 660200 Sizzix Big Shot Machine Only (White & Gray)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Alphanumeric Label)
• 658784 Sizzix Framelits Die Set 8PK – Tag Collection By Tim Holtz
• DecoArt Acrylic (White)

Challenges As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Neet from Hickydorums; she has chosen Type as her theme so I’m joining with the typed die cuts that I used on my page. Shimmering Summer Fun Challenge over at The Funky Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my shimmery and summery yellow shabby chic page. The Birthday Celebration! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge who are marking their 11th Birthday with my summer celebration page – thanks for all the challenge fun over the years and wishing you all a very Happy Birthday! Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #149 – Anything Goes with my summer page. MIUCB #52 – Anything Goes + Mixed Media over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my happy summer page.

Hope

This time of year I always find myself thinking of friends both past and present, so my page today is inspired by friendships and the hope that “may your heart be filled with joy”!

I started by painting the background with purple and white acrylic paint and when dry I added some white gesso over the top using a brayer. Then I sprayed some White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray over the page and left it to dry. Next I added the two flower stickers which were from a Romance of Flowers Stickeroos sheet by Penny Black and then I layered some of the remanents stickers from the same sheet with some border stickers from Kaisercraft. The wording was from another Kaisercraft sticker sheet and I added some gold foil butterflies and gold border outline stickers. To finish, I splattered some black DecoArt acrylic paint over the page.

The background colour of my page reminded me of our Streptocarpus which was gifted to us by a dear friend (thank you so much); this plant has been flowering since April and doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon (grin!)

I hope 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.

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

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic (Dioxazine Purple)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray (White Linen)
• Penny Black Stickeroos (Romance of Flowers 10-209)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Bombay Sunset SS339, Christmas Edition SS346)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Straight Line Borders Gold, Butterflies Gold)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Alison from Words & Pictures; she has chosen Summer Countryside as her theme so I’m joining in the fun with my page detailing the hazy purple of summer sunsets and the flowers and butterflies that could be found in the countryside. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #147 – Anything Goes with my hope art journal page. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Lazy Days of Summer challenge with the summery purple sunset colour, flowers and butterflies. LTCCB #60 – July Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my summery page.

Be happy, be you

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

I always love to use mixed media to create my art journal pages and this month’s celebrates summer.

I started by sticking the orchid flower napkin pieces onto the page using a glue stick. Then I coloured the remaining white areas of the page using some Gold, Light Green and Hooker’s Green Liquitex acrylic paint. When dry, I used a Flutter stamp from Kaisercraft to add the trellis pattern using Cottage Ivy and Pistachio Memento Inks and also black Archival Ink. I outlined and defined the flowers using a black fine line marker and I added the two dragonflies which were rub on transfers. I applied some Glistening Gold Lustre Polish by Cosmic Shimmer around the edges of the napkin which added some lovely texture and sparkle. Finally, I splattered the page with some black and also some white acrylic paint using a paintbrush. Then I added the wording which are stickers from Kaisercraft; they read “be happy”, “be you” and “celebrate the little things”.

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!

This page reminded me of these amazing orchids that we saw hanging in a garden centre some time ago; so beautiful (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:

• Orchid Napkin
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Basic Acrylic Color (Gold, Light Green, Hooker’s Green Hue Permanent)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Flutter CS853)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cotage Ivy, Pistachio)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-On Transfers (ROY1643G)
• Cosmic Shimmer Lustre Polish (Glistening Gold)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Say Aloha SS281)

Challenges As well as Creative Artiste, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Alison from Words & Pictures; she has chosen Summer Countryside as her theme so I’m joining with my summer inspired page and the green and gold colours and pretty dragonflies that you find in the countryside. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #147 – Anything Goes with my mini art journal page. LTSCB #147 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my summer inspired mixed media page which includes stamping. Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my page too.

Use a Stencil (or two)

It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for July which is Use a Stencil (or two).

Please ensure that the stencils are a main focus of your projects when you join this challenge, which is being hosted this month by the lovely Monica.

For this month’s challenge, I created this mini art journal page using a Stamperia stencil and papers.

I stared by covering the chipboard page with a thin layer of white gesso and then I used a Wallpaper & Compass stencil by Stamperia to add Ranger Texture Paste. The texture paste was coloured using Driftwood DecoArt paint and also using a mixture of some Blue Glamour Dust Acrylic paint from DecoArt and some Mowed Lawn ink from a reinker bottle to create a sparkly patina colour before applying them using a palette knife. When dry edged the page using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker smudging the ink with my finger. The deer image and wording were cut out of some Forest Stamperia papers and stuck in place over some strands of thread that I had leftover from some sewing. To finish, I added three pretty silver embellishments which were recycled from a necklace; they were stuck in place using Ranger Glossy Accents.

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

I hope you are inspired to join our Use a Stencil (or two) challenge too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use at Country View Crafts (grin!).

This page reminded me of these beautiful metal sculptures that we saw when we visited Portland, Maine. They are part of the “Glimpse” installation by Wendy Klemperer who is a New York artist and created these life-like woodland creatures from steel and repurposed nails.

Like on my page, the deer are surrounded by silver birch trees too – perfect (grin!).

Hoping 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.

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

• Stamperia – 15 X 20cm Thick Stencil – Sir Vagabond Wallpaper And Compass
• Ranger – Texture Paste – 3 Pack
• DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paint 2oz – Driftwood
• DecoArt – Glamour Dust Glitter Paint – Sapphire Blue – 2oz
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Mowed Lawn
• Stamperia – Cristina Radovan – Forest 12×12 Inch Paper Pack
• Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents 59ml (2 Fl Oz)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia)
• Papermania (Mini Chipboard Album 15x15cm)
• Leftover cotton threads
• Stix2 Glue Dots
• Recycled necklace

Challenges As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: MIUCB #51 – Anything Goes + Aperture (any shaped opening) over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #147 – Anything Goes with my mini art journal page. Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my page too.

100 Challenges at Country View Challenges

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges where I’m sharing this mini art journal page to celebrate 100 Challenges.

As this month marks our 100th Challenge and we couldn’t let that go by without a celebration we are offering two prizes, the first will be for your projects that fit the theme of 100 taking inspiration from one of the Design Team makes, such as a colour scheme, technique, design idea, stamp or die motif and of course, 100 (or One Hundred) must be included on the project. The second prize will be picked from one of the comments left on the Country View Challenges and Design Team blog posts – don’t forget, you can enter as many times as you like.

I hope you feel the love with the 100 hearts that I had fun adding to this page (grin!).

I started by covering the chipboard background with some Driftwood DecoArt acrylic paint. Then I die cut 99 small hearts using the Falling Hearts Thinlits set from Tim Holtz from grey paper and then white, pink and red cardstock; they were arranged onto the page using matte gel medium. The large red heart was die cut using a Love Birds Shadow Box Sizzix Thinlits set and takes the total of hearts on the page to 100. For the black and white wording, I used rub-on transfers from a Tiny Text Remnant Rubs set from Tim Holtz. To finish the page, I added the silver glitter “100” to the large heart and some small dots to the background which were all from the same sticker set.

I hope that you are enjoying our 100 Challenges over at Country View Challenges too; it would be lovely to see you there!

All the red hearts and love reminded me of these beautiful tulips that my sister bought me for my birthday, aren’t they gorgeous (grin!).

Hoping 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.

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

• DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paint 2oz – Driftwood
• 660200 Sizzix Big Shot Machine Only (White & Gray)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Falling Hearts 664415)
• 663619 – Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 20PK – Love Birds Shadow Box – By Courtney Chilson
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Tiny Text #TH93695)
• Docrafts Papermania (Mini Chipboard Album 15x15cm)
• Craft Sensations (Travel Memories Design Paper Pad – grey, Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture – red and pink)
• Recycled white cardstock
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Crafty Things (Eva Letter Stickers)

Challenges As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #145 – Anything Goes with my countryside page. with my art journal page. Love to Scrap Challenge Blog and their No Rulz 4! theme where their are no rules and you can create anything, so I’m joining in the fun my my mini art journal page. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Mixed Media challenge with my mixed media journal page.

Flutterbies

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Butterflies.

My “Flutterbies” page features lots of butterflies which were stamped using a stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps and coloured using Spectrum Aqua markers; I hope you’re inspired to us too, I can’t wait to see your butterfly creations!

I started by stamping the butterfly wings onto the page using black Archival Ink and a Butterfly Peiredae stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps masking some of the butterfly wings to create the different layers. Then I coloured the smaller butterflies using a Scarlet Spectrum Aqua marker and the larger butterflies using Yellow and Sunflower Spectrum Aqua markers; first by applying the ink using a paintbrush and then using the marker to intensify the colour. I used the black Archival Ink and the Paperbabe Stamps stamp set again to add the body and antenna to each of the butterflies. Then I splattered the page with the Scarlet and Yellow Spectrum Aqua markers and also some black DecoArt acrylic paint. Next I coloured some white cardstock using the Yellow and Sunflower Aqua markers and die cut the letters for the “Flutterbies” wording using an X-Cut die set from Docrafts. The letters were edged using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker before sticking them in place using a glue stick, which finished the page.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look at the amazing butterfly creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies; it would be lovely to see you there (grin!).

The colours on my page were inspired by the summer wreath which I made; if you look closely you can see a pink feather butterfly attached at the top (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our homemade milkshakes – there is either banana or peach to chose from and they are both very yummy – Happy T Day!

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.

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

• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Butterfly Peiredae)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Pen (Scarlet, Yellow, Sunflower)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Cut Set (Folk Alphabet)
• White cardstock
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• Pritt Stick

Challenges As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat this month and her Language theme as “Flutterbies” is used by children as an alternative word for butterflies. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #144 – Anything Goes with my butterfly art journal page stamped using the Butterfly Peiredae stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps. LTSCB#145 – Anything Goes over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my butterfly page. Frame It challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the thin black frame that I added to my page. MIUCB#49 Anything Goes + Layering over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the layered butterflies that I stamped on this page. Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my butterfly page.

Invisible crown

“Always wear your invisible crown” is such a powerful message; to me it means to maintain self confidence, believe in yourself and be aware of your own self worth. I also like the idea of wearing an invisible crown (grin!) … a symbolic meaning of strength, courage, and respect.

I included this wording on today’s grungy page with some other related positive affirmations – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the page with strips of decoupage papers using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso and Bright Aqua Green Liquitex acrylic paint over the top using a brayer. When dry, I stencilled some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink onto the page using a Shabby Harlequin stencil from Creative Expressions. I used black Archival Ink to stamp the birds and keys using a Craft Sensations stamp set and the birdcages, crowns and “always wear your invisible crown” wording using a Kaisercraft stamp set. Then I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt and white acrylic paint. The words, filigree diamond shapes and pink flowers were stickers from Kaisercraft which I edged using a black Faber-Castell marker before sticking them in place. To finish, I added a black oval frame to emphasis the central stamped wording.

With summer on its way, I’ve been making raspberry gin again and as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my gin (and Sprite) with the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

If you are interested, here’s the recipe:

• 400 g (14oz) Raspberries – or any fruit of your choice, maybe pineapple, blueberry, peach, strawberry, rhubarb
• 300g (10oz) Granulated Sugar – you can vary this depending on your taste
• 750 mll (25 US fl oz) Gin – a cheap brand such as supermarket own brand as these are not too flavoured

Add them all to a Kilner Jar (or similar). You need to ensure the sugar dissolves so make sure you shake the jar throughout the first day, it dissolves pretty quickly. Then put it in a dark place for 4 weeks, I tend to shake the jar every other day to muddle the fruit. It’s tempting to eat the fruit afterwards, perhaps on ice-cream, however, I tried it and it was far too potent! So I ended up forcing it through a sieve to add more flavour to the gin. One last tip – don’t be tempted to do half a recipe like I did as when you start drinking it you’ll find it goes pretty fast (grin!).

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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

• Poundworld (Patch Paper DS9454)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Bright Aqua Green)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Shabby Harlequin)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Craft Sensations Clear Stamps (CRO274/19A)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Oh So Lovely CS2111)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Arcylic (Black)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• The Works (Frame Stickers)

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat this month and her Language theme with the empowering meaning behind the quote I added to my page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #144 – Anything Goes with my art journal page. LTSCB#145 – Anything Goes over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my empowering Invisible Crown page. Stecnil It challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the stencilling on my page. Don’t forget that you still have another week to join our Make it Feminine challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too!