It’s the first Friday of the month (and wow, I can’t believe that it’s May already), so it’s time for our new challenge at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, which as always is Anything Mixed Media Goes.
My mixed media page was inspired by a night out to see the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra last month (smile!).
I started this page by covering the background with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and some Salvaged Patina Distress Paint. Then I used a couple of Creative Expressions stencils to firstly remove some of the Distress paint using a baby wipe, then to lightly apply some Black Soot Distress Ink and finally to add some Pébéo Texture Paste. I splattered the page with white acrylic paint and I added some sheet music using a glue stick and then I splattered the page using black acrylic paint. When dry, I edged the sheet music pieces using a black Uni Pin marker. The instruments and wording were cut from the recycled programme from the concert.
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!
We had a lovely evening at the Philharmonic – Viennese Whirl concert, the music was wonderful (smile!); they played Johann Strauss II Emperor Waltz, Berg Violin Concerto, Johann Strauss II Blue Danube, and Beethoven Symphony No.7 in A Major.
Johann Strauss II is one of my favourites; if you are interested, you can check out the links and listen to excerpts of the two Johann Strauss II pieces here, Emperor’s Waltz and Blue Danube.
Stay safe and well! x
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
This page was inspired by my sister; we go to Aqua Aerobics every week together where you’ll find us singing along to the songs and giggling (a lot – smile!).
Purple is my sister’s favourite colour, so I started by painting a purple wash around the edges of the page; gradually pulling the colour into the centre so that the purple faded out in the centre. Then to make the centre brighter, I added some white acrylic paint blending it with the purple using a baby wipe. Next I used a stencil, around the edges of the page, to add some Ranger Texture paste which I had coloured using DecoArt Glamour Dust Purple Passion Glitter Paint, and then I left it to dry. The wording was a Kaisercraft sticker and reads “Giggles, secrets, sometimes tears, sisters and friends, through the years”. I added some little hearts that were cut from the sticker cardstock using a heart shaped punch. Finally I arranged the paper flowers and assorted gems, which my sister gifted me one Christmas (thank you!).
There’s still another week to join our Inspired By A Song challenge over at Try it on Tuesday; me and my sister always enjoy singing and “Sisters” is a favourite of ours.
Of course, the Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye lip-synced version is fab and so much fun (smile!); both are from the same film, White Christmas.
As part of my birthday present this year, my sister kindly treated me to some Purple Moose beers; here we have Elderflower Ale (Pale Ale), Chocolate Moose (Chocolate and Vanilla Porter), High Hops (Tropical IPA), Antlered IPA (India Pale Ale) and Navigator (Red IPA).
My gift included this amazing glass, if you look closely it has lots of little white mooses all over it – yay! As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my glass and beers with the T Gang – cheers and Happy T Day!
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.
I really enjoy creating these mini art journal pages in my chipboard art journal, and I had lots of fun creating this page to wish you all a very Merry Christmas (smile!).
For the background, I applied some Salvaged Patina Distress Paint and a tiny amount of black DecoArt acrylic paint to dull the colour using a palette knife; leaving some of the chipboard showing through. When dry, I stencilled a Vintage Diamond design by Creative Expressions using Black Soot Distress Ink. Then I added the gold Christmas tree and gold and white stars outline stickers, and I splattered the page with white acrylic paint to a create snowy effect. To finish, I added the Merry Christmas tag which was recycled from a present and I embellished it with a turquoise brad and one of the little star stickers.
We recently enjoyed some drinks with our friends at a local café, and was surprised to find these little Christmas trees on the top of the cappuccino and hot chocolate (smile!). I’m so happy to joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth and the rest of the T Gang over at T Stands For Tuesday with my drinks today – I hope you are all keeping well, sending you Season’s Greetings!
Hoping that you are all staying safe and well and wishing you a very Merry Christmas! 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 able to join the following challenges today:
Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Wendy K from Wendy’s Craft Journal; she has chosen Above Us Only Sky as her theme so I’m joining with my starry snowy sky.
I love to recycle and use up leftovers from previous projects on my pages, so here’s such a page to inspire you to join our Nature challenge over at Art Journal Journey, which I’m happy to be hosting this month. I hope you’ll join us there!
For my grungy background, I recycled some paper kitchen towel which I’d used to mop up Distress Inks; they were layered onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. Next I added the two butterflies and lots of die cut foliage and flowers that were in my craft stash; as far as I remember, the butterflies were stamped using a Paperbabes Stamp set using black Archival Ink onto some ink stained tissue paper, and the flowers and foliage were die cut using a Wildflower Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from yellow and brown tissue paper, and also from some black/white cardstock that was recycled from some cookie packaging. I added the wording “Take a chance don’t ever look back” which was a Kaisercraft sticker. Then to finish, I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint.
This page was inspired by these colourful flowers that we saw whilst walking to Riva from Torbole in Lake Garda, Italy.
I love Red Hot Pokers and these looked picture perfect with Riva and the mountains in the background.
Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you’ll join us over at Art Journal Journey.
It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which for the next two weeks is Sparkle All The Way.
I love the embossed sparkle of the flowers on this page; it was created using a flower stamp from Paperbabes Stamp and some black Archival Ink which I covered with Cosmic Shimmer Brilliant Sparkle Embossing Powder – Black Mirage. As this was a single flower stamp, I made a template and stamped it multiple times on the page layering the flowers together.
When heated with a heat gun, the sparkle is amazing (smile!). Next I coloured the background with Kuretake watercolour paints by adding water with a paintbrush and then the paint creating a cloudy effect. The flowers were also coloured using Cadmium Scarlet and Lemon Yellow Kuretake paints, using the same technique of applying the water then the paint. The wording was a sticker from Kaisercraft and to finish, I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.
For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!
I love autumn, so the sparkly flowers on my page were coloured in autumn splendour like this year’s autumnal and Halloween window display. It’s so beautiful and it seems to have grown over the years – yay!
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.
It’s the first Friday of October, so it’s time for a new challenge over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, which as always is Anything Mixed Media Goes.
My mixed media page was inspired by family visiting in September.
I started by covering the page with white gesso, keeping my brush strokes vertically across the page. When dry, I applied a wash of Black Soot Distress Ink to create a distressed background with the gesso acting as a resist. Next I stamped some black Archival Ink using a fragments stamp set by Tim Holtz and then I splattered the page with black acrylic paint. I tore the flowered papers, edged them with a black Faber-Castell marker and I also die cut the script wording from the same papers. I arranged them all onto the page using a glue stick and matte gel medium. To finish, I added the “sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in our hearts” wording, which was from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet.
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!
The papers I used for this page were gifted me earlier this year by the same family member (M) who gifted me this beautiful bouquet of flowers when they visited, which in turn …
… inspired the colours and flowers on my page – thank you so much M!
We had such a lovely week together and visited a number of places local to us. We laughed as we took what we called “a mini cruise” (literally 3.5 mins on a ferry) to visit Knott End – such fun!
We had a lovely lunch at The Bourne Arms pub, where I forgot to take a photo of my yummy Cannelloni but remembered to take one of my dessert which was a Knickerbocker Glory!
Stay safe and well! x
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Being TSFT 10th Anniversary, we decided to get really creative and swap 10 ATCs. These ATCs were contained in those beautiful folders that she created and look spectacular – thank you so much Lyn for this wonderful swap and to Bluebeard and Elizabeth for organising everything!
Here are the 10 ATCs that I sent Lyn – Happy 10th TSFT everyone! There happens to be 10 of them and also the number 10 on each of them, so I hope this meets Bleubeard & Elizabeth’s request of including the number 10 somewhere on your photos.
If you’re wondering how I created them, see below. All of my ATCs started as playing cards, which I painted with white gesso on the front and black gesso on the back. I added splatter using black DecoArt acrylic paint over some of the white gesso before I applied different designs; all the paper pieces were stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium and Crafter’s Companion glue tape. I used a white Uni Ball gel pen and/or a black Uni Pin marker to outline items and I added the number 10 (for 10th Anniversary) to each; this included stamping using black Archival Ink and a Tim Holtz stamp set. As you can see, my 10 ATC designs are all different, here’s how they came together:
1. I covered the playing card with a piece of Tim Holtz Collage paper and when dry, I coloured it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Next I stamped some hearts using Moonlight White Brilliance Ink by Archival. I coloured the hearts using a Red Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend marker and then, I covered them using Ranger Glossy Accents. To finish, I added the wording which were Kaisercraft Stickers.
2. This Alice design was created using a napkin from last year’s 9th TSFT napkin swap, thanks Lisca (smile!). The wording that I added was a Tim Holtz Small Talk Sticker.
3. I stamped numbers onto the background using black Archival Ink and a Documented stamp set by Tim Holtz, then I added the foliage and flowers which I die cut from used teabags. The words were Tim Holtz Small Talk and Label stickers, and I added some white flower buttons and beads to the centre of the flowers using Glossy Accents.
4. For the background, I added some pretty oriental papers and outlined them using a black Faber-Castell marker, smudging the ink with my finger. The “B” for Bleubeard, “E” for Elizabeth and wording were Tim Holtz stickers, and to finish, I added a green ephemera butterfly and two gold butterfly outline stickers.
5. I randomly applied some Ranger Crackle Paste using a palette knife and when dry, I applied some watered-down black Faber-Castell marker ink with a paintbrush to highlight the cracks. The poppy flower was a washi tape sticker and the teacup was die cut from Tim Holtz Halloween paper. To finish, I added a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker.
6. This was a fun collage design using a doily, some Kaisercraft Stickers and flower Ephemera.
7. The tea images were fussy cut from some Stamperia papers, which I arranged with some Kaisercraft Stickers.
8. Using a Stamperia stencil, I added some Ranger Texture Paste and left it to dry overnight. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top. When dry, it was painted using black and Aquamarine Kuretake watercolours. The wording was a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker.
9. The wording was cut from a Stamperia paper pad and arranged it onto the card with some die cut foliage and flowers that were leftover from previous projects.
10. I added strips of washi tape vertically down the card to create the background and I added the names of Elizabeth’s cats using Tim Holtz Label stickers. The two cats were die cut from Tim Holtz Kraft papers using a Mischievous Cats Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. I added some gems for their eyes and a red die cut heart adding “E” for Elizabeth to the centre.
Inspired by CJ, I also created a concertina folder to hold them in, which was fun to make (smile!).
Of course, I just had to send our amazing host a couple of ATCs too; I created another Squiggles and Bleubeard ATC and a Rust one, as I know how much Bleubeard & Elizabeth like rust. The rust one was created using Stamperia papers, Glossy Accents, a chipboard cog painted covered in acrylic and Distress Paints and some stickers. Happy 10th Anniversary and thank you for all your hard work to ensure T Stands For Tuesday is organised and available for everyone to join!
Stay safe and well!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
It’s the first of the month so it’s time for a new challenge at Country View Challenges which is 4-Legged Friends, and is being hosted by the lovely Sue.
I created this journal page which is full of Tim Holtz products including two Mischievous Cats, who happen to be celebrating Halloween early.
I started by creating a masterboard using some mixed media paper, which I covered with Villainous Potion, Spiced Marmalade and Scattered Straw Distress Inks; I did this, using one of my favourite techniques, by pressing the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and then pressing the block onto the paper to gradually build up the colours and textures. I cut a piece of the masterboard to size and stuck it onto my chipboard page. Next I used a sun/moon stencil to create the full moon using some white gesso. When dry, I stamped the texture onto the moon’s surface using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and an Urban Tapestry stamp by Tim Holtz. I die cut the branch, leaves, bats and cats from different coloured papers using various Sizzix Thinlits by Tim Holtz; the brown and black papers were Kraft Cardstock – Classic by Tim Holtz and the Thinlits I used were Mischievous Cats, Garden Greens and Arthur. I arranged the different die cuts onto the page using matte gel medium and added gems for the cats eyes. To finish, I splattered the page using white and black DecoArt acrylic paints and I added the Happy Halloween wording which was a piece of washi tape.
For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.
We are looking forward to seeing your makes and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the shop, Country View Crafts! Before you enter your project though, please read the rules!
Stay safe and well! x
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
It’s the first Friday of June, so it’s time for a new challenge over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, which as always is Anything Mixed Media Goes.
My mixed media page was inspired by some gorgeous Paper Pads that were gifted to me by a very dear family member (smile!).
My mixed media page started with a background that had gone wrong (does that happen to you?), so I covered it with Pébéo white gesso. When dry I applied black DecoArt acrylic paint over the top and then, I used a Moroccan Stencil from Creative Expressions and a baby wipe to remove some of the black paint; the gesso acted as a resist making it easier to remove the paint. I also rubbed areas of the page with the baby wipe to remove the black paint too, giving it a worn distressed look. Next I used an Etcetera stamp set by Tim Holtz and Moonlight White Brilliance Ink to add the text. The flowers, “Live, Laugh, Love” wording and butterflies were fussy cut from pages of the paper pad and stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. To finish, I added a Kaisercraft sticker and outlined it with a white Uniball gel pen; the sticker reads “Every moment spent with you is special”.
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!
These are the paper pads which were gifted to me; they were found in a charity shop and are full of beautiful flowers and images – thanks so much for thinking of me!
Stay safe and well!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
As well as Creative Artiste , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:
Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies so as their June Challenge; I’m joining them with the pretty bloomsand butterflies on my page.
It’s the first of the month so it’s time for a new challenge at Country View Challenges which is Vintage, and is being hosted by the lovely Craftyfield.
As Vintage is one of my favourite styles, this challenge gave me the excuse to create this old-fashioned distressed page using Tim Holtz products.
All the flowers on this page were stencilled using a Floral Stencil by Tim Holtz; first I used it to apply some Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the chipboard page and then some white gesso which I left it to dry overnight. I painted around the edges of the flowers and foliage using Ground Espresso Distress Ink to make them stand out more. Then, to give the white flowers and foliage more of a Vintage look, I dragged an Antique Linen Distress Ink pad over the top and then I splattered the Vintage Photo ink over the whole page. I added the script text using black Archival Ink and an Etcetera stamp set by Tim Holtz and the “Collect beautiful moments” wording, which was a Metallic sticker by Tim Holtz. To finish, I splattered the page with as white and black DecoArt acrylic paints.
For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.
We are looking forward to seeing your makes and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the shop, Country View Crafts! Before you enter your project though, please read the rules.
The blossoms on my page remind me of the ones on the apple trees in our garden, it seems that everything is in full bloom all of a sudden (smile!).
Stay safe and well! x
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Let's Art Journal 