May all your wishes come true

It’s time for our first challenge of the year over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, this is a monthly challenge and as always the theme is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I had fun creating this mixed media page using my favourite Frost Fairy stamp from Paperbabe Stamps; she seems to be casting a spell – may all your wishes come true!

I started by applying black DecoArt acrylic paint to the edges of the page and blending it towards the centre. When dry, I applied the gold stars over the top using Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad, a Sparkles stencil by Tim Holtz and Gold Ranger embossing powder. The centre of the page was coloured using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the wording was created using foam letter stickers.

The Frost Fairy from Paperbabe Stamps was stamped using black Archival Ink onto some mixed media paper. Then I coloured her using Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers; the dress was coloured using Green Turquoise Blend, the ribbon using Yellow Gold Blend, her hair using Dark Red Blend, her skin using a Fair Skin Blend marker, her lips using Pale Pink Blend, her eyes using True Blue Blend and her wings using Iced Grey Blend. I also added more detail using a black Uni Pin fine line marker and white Uniball gel pen. Then I cut her out and added the Gold Ranger embossing powder using a Versamark Watermark Pen to create the stars. She was stuck in place using a glue stick which finished the page.

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

I was reminded of this beautiful glass angel that we bought when we visited Prague, there is room to place a tealight behind her and being made from glass she looks so delicate and pretty (grin!).

I hope 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.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create these ATCs:

• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Sparkles THS132)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Ranger Embossing Powder (Gold)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (MLD Frost Fairy)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Noir TriBlend Markers (Green Turquoise Blend, Yellow Gold Blend, Dark Red Blend, Fair Skin Blend, Pale Pink Blend, True Blue Blend, Iced Grey Blend)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Pen)
• Pritt Stick
• Simply Creative Alphabet & Number Stickers (Glitter SCSTK025)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the golden stars that I included on my page. I’m pleased to be able to join the Groundhog Day over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I couldn’t resist using my Frost Fairy stamp and TriBlends again (you may remember on my Believe page that I created last month) and of course the background may look familiar too, it’s from an ATC that I created in December, I just had to create it on a bigger scale (grin!). I’m also pleased to join the #136 – Patterns challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the pattern of stencilled stars on my page. I’m also joining MIUCB #46 – Anything Goes + Fancy Fold over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different techniques I used; I’m still perfecting my colouring and blending techniques using the TriBlend markers.

First Signs of Spring at Country View Challenges

I’m so excited and honoured to have joined the wonderfully talented Design Team over at Country View Challenges . It’s such an inspirational blog and being part of this team is a dream come true – thanks so much for your warm and friendly welcome!

At Country View Challenges our challenge for February is First Signs of Spring, which is being hosted this month by the lovely Miriam.

I love celebrating the different seasons and creating this blossom and birdsong art journal page was so uplifting (grin!).

When I thought of birdsong, I knew that I had to use these beautiful images from my new Forest Paper Pad by Stamperia; this included the forest panel on the left hand side of the page, the pretty bird tag and the square nest image. They were cut out and edged with a Dark Sepia marker and/or some Black Soot Distress Ink. To make them look more Spring-like, I added additional colours by painting Distress Inks over parts of the images; it’s important not to add too much water when doing this otherwise you could ruin the image. I used Mowed Lawn and Twisted Citron ink to add more vibrancy to the green areas of the forest panel and to the bird’s feathers, and also to add green leaves to the bare trees and colour the leaves on the nest image. I painted some Mustard Seed ink to add more vibrancy to the yellow feathers of the bird and also to add some colour to the nest. Then finally I painted the eggs using Speckled Egg ink and left them all to dry.

For the background, I coloured the page with splashes and drips of Hickory Smoke, Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress Ink. I did this by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page.

Then I brayered some white gesso over the top to push the colours into the background more and then splattered the page with white acrylic paint. I stencilled dots vertically down the page using a Halftone Layering Stencil from Tim Holtz and Ranger Crackle Paste; this is the first time I have used this paste and it was so easy to apply with a palette knife – I love the results (grin!).  

Next I stuck the Stamperia paper pieces in place using double-sided tape. Then I created the blossoms and leaves using Tim Holtz Thinlits and some white linen card stock which I had coloured using Distress Inks. The blossoms were coloured with Mustard Seed and Fossilised Amber ink and die cut using a Tattered Florals Thinlit set. The leaves using Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron and Forest Moss Distress Ink and cut using a Garden Greens Thinlits set. After shaping the flower petals and adding a gold pearl to the centre of each flower, I arranged them onto the page using glue dots. To finish, I added the “blossom” and “birdsong” wording which was created from some Field Notes Ephemera by Tim Holtz, an alphabet stamp set and black Archival Ink.

For more inspiration you’ll find some amazing First Signs of Spring creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you are inspired to join us too, and if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use at Country View Crafts (grin!).

The birds in our garden have been very active of late. We’ve even seen the Great Tits that are on my page, but we have noticed that this pair of Coal Tits visit our bird feeders more frequently.

This made me smile, can you think of a good caption for this photo? Maybe the bird is saying “Hello, is anyone there?” or “It’s really dark in here” (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 art journal page:

• Stamperia – Cristina Radovan – Forest 12×12 Inch Paper Pack
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Mowed Lawn
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Forest Moss
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Black Soot
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Twisted Citron
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Mustard Seed
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Fossilized Amber
• Ranger – Tim Holtz® – Distress Ink Pad – Speckled Egg
• Ranger Roller – Small Brayer 2 1/4
• THS144 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencil – Halftone
• Ranger Texture Paste Opaque Crackle 3.9 Fl Oz (116 Ml)
• 659765 Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit (White & Gray)
• TH94051 Tim Holtz® Idea-Ology™ – Ephemera Field Notes
• Ranger Archival Ink Pad, Jet Black – 90mm X 62mm
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175B)
• Stix2 double-sided tape and glue dots
• Creative Expressions (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Textured Finish)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Garden Greens  661206, Mini Tattered Floral 661806)
• Pearl Gemstones
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the #136 – Patterns challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the stencilled lines of dots that are on my page. I’m joining MIUCB #46 – Anything Goes + Fancy Fold over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different techniques I used, including the fun way that I coloured the paper images so they became more Spring-like. I’m also happy to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page too. I also pleased to be able to join in the fun at Love to Craft Challenge Blog and enter my spring blossom and birdsong page in their LTCCB #55 – February Anything Goes challenge.

Frosty Winter

As we live by the sea we don’t get many frosty mornings, but we have seen both frost and snow this month which inspired this frosty winter page.  

I started by recycling a piece of kitchen towel which I had used to mop up blue inks by tearing it into pieces and sticking them in place using some Liquitex matte gel medium; I used the wet gel medium to reactivate the inks which gave some of the white areas a slight bluish tinge. Next I arranged the pretty blue flower images and wording which were from a Paper Collection by Craft Sensations; the wording reads “A beautiful thing is never perfect”.

I continued the frosty theme by adding some glittery silver snowflakes, some Silver Ranger Stickles and also some round blue gems using Ranger Glossy Accents which finished the page.

As we walked along the promenade by the beach, we were surprised to still see a thick frost still lingering in the shadows behind the wall. The jagged edges inspired me to arrange the square corners of the images/wording diagonally across the page.

The flower and plant images that I included on my page were inspired by the frosty silhouette of the palm tree that we found on the slate in our front garden one morning – so amazing (grin!).

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

• Recycled kitchen towel that was used to mop up Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray (After Midnight), Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Speckled Egg) , DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Docrafts Create Christmas Glitterations (Snowflakes – Silver PMA818917)
• Hobbycraft Decorative Embellishments (Blue Round Gems)
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge this month as seeing the snow and frost is always one of my favourite things I’m so pleased to join the Squares Challenge at Country View Challenges with the square of wording on my page. I’m happy to join The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog and their So Delicate challenge with the delicate wispy edges of the kitchen roll background and pretty snowflakes. I’m also joining the Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the frosty background I created. I’m pleased to join the MITCB #45 – Anything Goes + Bleaching challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my frosty page too. I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their We’re On A Roll challenge with the round blue gems on my page. Don’t forget that you still have over a week to join our Winter Blues challenge at Try it on Tuesday too; it would be lovely to see you there!

Merry Little Christmas Au Revoir at A Vintage Journey

Over at A Vintage Journey our challenge this month is Merry Little Christmas which is sadly our very last challenge. It’s been an honour and a pleasure to be part of such a wonderful team and blog – thank you so much for all your inspiration and support over the years!

We have come together to create small ATC creations to share some Christmas cheer and also to say “au revoir”. So if you would like to participate in our challenge one last time please create an ATC project depicting a Merry Little Christmas and/or Au Revoir theme; we hope to see you there!

Creating ATCs is a first for me, who’d have thought that I’d have so much fun creating these mini artworks (grin!). Here are my Merry Little Christmas ATCs that I created to wish you all happiness this Christmas!

Using some old playing cards as my base, I started by covering them with scraps of Botanicals or Halloween Collage paper from Tim Holtz using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer and when dry, I added Vintage Photo Distress Ink with a blending tool.

I applied another layer of white gesso over the top and then added some holly leaves and berries. The holly leaves were die cut using a Holiday Greens Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some white paper which I had coloured using Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles Distress Ink. The berries were also die cut from some white paper which had been coloured with Festive Berries Distress Ink. When they were stuck in place using matte gel medium, I splattered the ATC with some white acrylic paint.

The stars are stencilled using a Sparkle stencil from Tim Holtz and VersaMark Watermark ink which I covered with gold Ranger embossing powder. I also edged the ATC with the embossing powder before heating everything with a heat gun. The glittery snowflakes were cut using a Mini Paper Snowflakes Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some glittery paper. To finish, I added the wording from a Christmas sticker book by Tim Holtz.

Here’s my Au Revior ATC which I created to celebrate A Vintage Journey; including all the amazing participants of our challenges and my fellow Creative Guides. The quote “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” (Dr. Seuss) that I included seemed appropriate as it’s so bittersweet to see A Vintage Journey end.

To create this mixed media ATC, I started by covering an old playing card firstly with white gesso and then with black DecoArt acrylic paint. I used the Sparkles stencil by Tim Holtz, VersaMark Watermark ink and gold Ranger Embossing powder again. Then I added one of the badges from A Vintage Journey, that I had printed and distressed using some Vintage Photo Distress Ink, to top and tail my ATC design. The Dr. Seuss quote was created using a label machine and the red hearts were cut from some cardstock using a Falling Hearts Thinlits set from Tim Holtz. To finish, I added some the white wording which were from a Small Talk Remnant Rubs set by Tim Holtz.

I hope you are inspired to join in the Merry Little Christmas and/or Au Revoir challenge themes and for more inspiration you’ll find some amazing ATCs and beautiful heartfelt words from my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey too.

I have really enjoyed my time at A Vintage Journey, from joining in the challenges to becoming a Creative Guide something that I always wished for. I have made some wonderful friends along the way, thank you for being part of my creative journey – it’s been a blast! x

Of course I seem to have been singing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” all month too and my favourite version has to be by Judy Garland from the musical Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) – the lyrics seem very pertinent for this year too.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

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

Here is a list of all the materials used to create these ATCs:

• Old playing cards
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Botanical #TH93705, Halloween #TH93712)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, Festive Berries)
• Recycled white paper
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Holiday Greens 658759, Paper Snowflakes Mini 661599, Falling Hearts 664415)
• The Range (5×5 Dies Holly)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Sparkles THS132)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Ranger Embossing Powder (Gold)
• Glitter wallpaper
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Christmas Sticker Book #TH93999)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• A Vintage Journey Badge – computer printed
• Dymo LetraTag Label Maker and Labels
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CRO241/GE)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Tiny Text #TH93695)

Challenges I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Christmas ATCs. I’m pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my Merry Little Christmas ATCs. I’m pleased to be able to join the A Time to be Grateful over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I am thankful to have been part of such a fabulous challenge blog and team. I’m also pleased to join the Fun With Dies challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with all the Tim Holtz Thinlets sets that I used to created my ATCs.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

There is still another week to join our Winter Wonderland challenge at Try it on Tuesday so I thought I’d create this wintry page to join in the fun; it was inspired by our travels to Prague at Christmastime (grin!).

I started by sticking a magazine image of a couple walking in a winter wonderland onto the page and then I covered the remainder of the page with black acrylic paint leaving a frame of white around the image. Next I dragged some of the black paint towards the image using a flat paintbrush to marry the black and white areas together. I stamped some white acrylic paint over the black background using a piece of scrunched up tissue paper and when dry, I added the wording which was created using some white letter stickers. The snowflakes were cut from some recycled white tissue paper, an old magazine page and some white card stock using a Tonic Studios die set. I layered them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium and then to finish I splattered the page using white acrylic paint.

We often visit the Christmas markets in Prague this time of year and as we are staying home this year, I find myself very thankful for all the wonderful memories we have of our time there.

Prague is a magical place especially when it snows and here I am enjoying the snowfall whilst listening to Christmas carols by the tree on the previous photo.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing another of my favourites … Kozel dark beer and don’t you just love this sign; Kozel happens to mean “male goat” in Czech (grin!) – Happy T day!

What could be better than walking in a winter wonderland with Michael Bublé too (double grin!).

Hoping that you all stay 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:

• Old magazine page
• Pritt Stick
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Recycled white tissue page
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Simply Creative Alphabet & Number Stickers (White Glitter SCSTK025)
• White Cardstock
• Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (Falling Snowflakes 1792e)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as they provide me with inspiration and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today: I’m pleased to join the lovely Tracey over at Art Journal Journey and her Meaning of challenge this month as this page reminds me of Christmas and Prague. I’m pleased to join LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland challenge over at the Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with the snowy winter wonderland that I created on this page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with winter wonderland page. I’m pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my winter Christmastime page. I’m also joining the # 119 Non-Traditional Christmas Colours challenge over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with my black and white Christmas winter wonderland page. I’m pleased to be able to join the A Time to be Grateful over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as we are always thankful to visit Prague especially when it snows as we love nothing better than walking in a winter wonderland. I’m also pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my winter page too.

Hello November

As it’s November I created a page to celebrate everything autumn which includes Thanksgiving next week; this month always reminds me of all the things we have to be grateful for!

I started by covering the background with a collage of scrap paper pieces which included dictionary pages, tissue paper, sheet music, diary pages and napkin; they were stuck down using a glue stick and then covered with Liquitex matte gel medium. Next I applied Red Oxide, Crimson and Yellow Liquitex acrylic paint over the top blending the colours together to create a bright autumnal orange colour. Then I used a brayer to apply some Pébéo white gesso and when dry I added some rub-on transfers from a Specimen Remnant Rubs set by Tim Holtz. I used the brayer again to add some more white gesso over the top which pushed them into the background. I love the way these techniques give so much depth and interest to the background (grin!).

Next I used lots of different stamp sets with black Archival Ink which I used for all the stamping on this page. Firstly I stamped a Script stamp over the background and then a foliage stamp to create the branches and leaves, both of which are from Kaisercraft. The bird sitting on the branch was stamped from a Craft Sensations stamp set and I used the Kaisercraft foliage stamp again to add the leaves to the branch so it blended in to the scene.

I used two alphabet stamp sets to create the wording; the “Hello November” was stamped using a Sophisticated Script stamp set from Concord & 9^th and the rest of the wording was stamped using a Docrafts stamp set and reads “Thank you for reminding us we have so much to be grateful for!”.  To finish, I splattered the page with black and also white acrylic paint.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this morning’s cup of Cinnamon Orange tea, it’s pictured by my autumnal window display which is bright and cheery and inspired the colours of my page (grin) – Happy T Day everyone!

Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

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

• Scrap paper pieces (Dictionary pages, tissue paper, sheet music, diary pages, napkin)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Colour (Red Oxide, Naphthol Crimson, Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Script CS752, Magnolia Grove CS822)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Mini Brayer
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Specimen #TH94047)
• Craft Sensations Clear Stamp (CR0274/16R1)
• Concord & 9^th Stamp Set (Sophisticated Script 10056)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Alphas Trad DCE907116)
• DecoArt Acrylic Paint (Black)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Wendy K over at Art Journal Journey and her Birds challenge this month with the bird stamping that I included on this page. I’m happy to join the Celebrate challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my brightly coloured page I created to celebrate November and Thanksgiving. I’m joining the fun over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their Anything Goes + optional twist of Making Your Own Background with the techniques I used to create the background for this page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything But A Card challenge with my art journal page. I’m also joining in the Thanks/Thanksgiving challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my page. I’m also pleased to join the LTSCB #139 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with page too.

You’re so beautiful

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

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

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

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Creative Artiste, as I always enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today: I’m so pleased to be able join the #131 – Picture Inspiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as the autumnal design and colours. I’m happy to join the Home is Where the Heart is challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as like my page, my home is always decorated with autumnal foliage this time of year. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything But A Card challenge with my autumnal art journal page. I’m also pleased to join the LTSCB #139 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with autumnal page too. I’m also joining in the Thinking Of You challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page as it makes me think of little Ellie.

Love Hearts

As last month signified our wedding anniversary and my hubby’s birthday, this page was inspired by love!

I really like the worn grungy look and feel to this page and I embossed the tiny hearts on a large red heart to depict how our love has grown over the years (grin!).

I started by covering the page with pieces of decoupage paper by VivaGade, old sheet music and Botanical collage paper by Tim Holtz using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I alternated layers of Pébéo white gesso using a brayer and some Distress Inks to create the grungy look, allowing each layer to dry before applying the next; the Distress Inks I used were Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso and they were applied by stamping the ink onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and either pressing the block or dripping the ink onto the page.

For the hearts I used some red foil cardstock cutting the smaller hearts using a Falling Hearts Thinlit set from Tim Holtz. I also got creative and used the Thinlit to emboss the large heart with lots of tiny hearts. Before sticking the hearts in place I marked where the large heart was to be placed and then painted black DecoArt acrylic around the edges dragging the paint outwards. I did the same with white acrylic paint and then splattered the page with both the black and white acrylic paints flicking the brush so the splatters emanated outwards from the heart. When dry, I stuck the hearts in place and added two black brads to the large heart. The “love” wording was created from the red foil and some white cardstock using a Shadow Script Thinlits set from Tim Holtz which finished the page.

Don’t forget that you still have another week to join our Embossed challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, it would be lovely to see you there!

For our wedding anniversary we ordered some delicious food from a new local takeaway called Elvin’s Street Food. The food is influenced by traditional Middle Eastern recipes that have been passed through generations of the owner’s family and they have an extensive vegan menu too. The owners pride themselves on using local produce from across Lancashire and being eco-friendly using easy to recycle packaging for their meals.

I had the “Sweet Kickin’ Chicken & Butterbeans”; this is spiced-infused chicken breast pieces and butterbeans slow-cooked for a rich and creamy texture, sweetened with homemade apple sauce. It’s served with rice, flatbread, salad, fresh mango and pomegranate salsa and yoghurt dip, and I also had a side order of fries – so yummy!

My hubby had “Lebanese-Style Yoghurt Chicken”; this is grilled chicken breast pieces marinated in yoghurt and Lebanese spices. It’s served with the same extras and he had the same side order of fries!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m also sharing the amazing mango lassi that I had to drink – this yoghurt based mango concoction was so delicious! Happy T Day everyone!

Hoping that you 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:

• Viva Gade Decoupage Paper (Paris)
• Old sheet music
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Botanical #TH93705)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso)
• Foiled hearts bunting
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Falling Hearts 664415, Shadow Script #1 662684)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199, White 101)
• Brads (Round Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Artist Discount Acylic Paint (White)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Recycled white cardstock
• Pritt Stick

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as I always enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today: I’m happy to join the Home is Where the Heart is challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my vintage page as my home is always filled with love. I’m pleased to join the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their MIUCB #43 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Making Your Own Background with techniques I used to create the worn grungy background for this page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything But A Card challenge with my art journal page. I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too. I’m also joining Sandee & amelie’s Steampunk Challenge and their Winter Special 2020 challenge of Anything Goes – Steampunk/Industrial with my romantic hearts and worn grungy industrial background.

Fun Starts Here

Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Embossed.

This challenge is all about embossing, whether its heat embossing, embossing paste, embossing folders or embossed papers just be sure to tell use what you have used (grin!).

I was still in Halloween mode when I created this page being influenced by the Mexican celebration “Día de Muertos” (which happens to be next Monday). I used lots of embossing powder to heat emboss the white flowers, black doilies and black lace.

I started by painting magenta and green Liquitex Basics acrylic paint over the page using a dry paintbrush technique to prevent the colours blending. When dry, I covered the paints with some Pébéo white gesso and also some black DecoArt acrylic paint; I used a brayer to apply both paints letting them dry between applications.

For the white embossed flowers, I used an Oriental Zen stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps and black Archival Ink to stamp the flower design over the magenta coloured areas. I then covered the ink with white Stampendous embossing powder and heated it with my heat gun until glossy. The black doilies were stamped using a Dovecraft stamp set and the black Archival Ink and covered with black Papermania embossing powder; they were stamped over the green areas of the page.

I used the same Dovecraft stamp set, black ink and embossing powder to add the lace detail to my skull which was die cut using a Halloween Hangouts Thinlit set from Tim Holtz from white card. I mounted it onto some glittery paper and stuck it in place using a glue stick. I also added some circles that were cut from the glitter paper using a Spellbinders die set and to finish, I added a Kaisercraft sticker that reads “Fun starts here”.

I hope that you are inspired to join us too, for more Embossed inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look at all the beautiful creations from my Design Teamies (grin!).

As it was my hubby’s birthday last week and T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a slice of the birthday cake that I made him and his cuppa! The cake is a Victoria sponge filled with homemade buttercream icing and cherry jam which I topped with a white and red feathered icing and his tea is Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea – Happy T Day everyone!

Hoping that you all staying safe and well! x

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

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

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Color (Quinacridone Magenta, Hooker’s Green Hue Permanent)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Ranger Mini Brayer
• Paperbabe Stamps (Oriental Zen Stamp Set)
• Dovecraft Stamp Set (Lave & Doile DCCS009)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Stampendous! Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black)
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with a Linen Texture CR0240/GE)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Halloween Hangouts 663088)
• Glitter wallpaper sample
• Pritt Stick
• Spellbinders Nestabilities Decorative Elements Die Cut System (Stately Circles S4-388) – thank you Astrid!
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Bombay Sunset SS339)

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 lovely Chris aka Pearshapedchris, who is hosting the Hold The Line challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the outlined embossed flowers and lines of lace adorning the skull on my page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Halloween challenge with my Mexican inspired Halloween page. I’m joining the Purple, Orange, Green! Eek! It’s Halloween! challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my “Día de Muertos” page. I’m also joining in the fun over at the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge and their Halloween Jump Start challenge with my art journal page. I’m so pleased to be able to join in the Anything Goes over at Paperbabe Stamps with my Mexican “Día de Muertos” page – thanks so much Tracey, your beautiful ATCs reminded me of “Día de Muertos”, so inspirational! I’m also joining the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their Anything Goes + optional twist of Distressing (ink or tool) with the dry painting technique that I used. I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Layer It Up challenge with layers of paint and embossing powders that I used for the background and layers of papers that I used for the skull.

Sweet Life

I love everything pumpkin so my hubby kindly bought me a beautiful glass pumpkin for our wedding anniversary, which inspired me to create this pumpkin page – I hope you like it!

I started by colouring the foreground of the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint using a brayer. Then I used up leftover torn pieces of collage papers, sheet music, stamped tissue paper, napkin and design papers to create the background. It was fun to collage all the different papers together using Liquitex matte gel medium and I really like the spooky pumpkin patch look that resulted. When dry I painted Pébéo white gesso in the centre of the page blending it outwards towards the edges of the page.

The pumpkin was hand drawn and then cut out to make templates for different segments of the pumpkin. I used these templates to cut out different orange, white and black patterned Pion Design papers. Then I layered them together onto the page to create the large pumpkin using matte gel medium and left it to dry. I outlined each segment using a black Uni Pin marker and then shaded the edges of each segments using either Mango or Earl Grey Faber-Castell Gelato. The stalk of the pumpkin was created from recycled brown string which I coloured using two green Liquitex acrylic paints. When dry I doubled the string over and tightly twisted it together applying matte gel medium to stick the strands together. I stuck it in place using glue dots twisting and looping the stalk. To finish, I added a Kaisercraft sticker which reads “The Sweet Life”.

Here’s the beautiful glass pumpkin that my hubby kindly gifted me, isn’t it amazing (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:

• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Ranger Mini Brayer
• Leftover paper pieces (Tim Holtz Halloween Collage Paper, sheet music, dressmaking tissue paper stamped with a Gothic Book Finnabair stamp and black Archival Ink, napkin, design papers)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Pion Design Paper (Trick or Treat PD8102, Midnight Spell PD8103, October Garden PD8104)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.5mm)
• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Mango, Earl Grey)
• Recyled brown string
• Liquitex Basic Acrylic Colour (Light Green Permanent, Phthalocyanine Green)
• Stiz2 glue dots
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Bombay Sunset SS339)

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 lined design paper on the pumpkin. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Halloween challenge with the spooky pumpkin patch background. I’m joining the Purple, Orange, Green! Eek! It’s Halloween! challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my spooky vintage pumpkin page. I’m also pleased to join the Not A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my art journal page. I’m so pleased to be able to join in the Anything Goes over at Paperbabe Stamps with my pumpkin page. I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Layer It Up challenge with the collage background and pumpkin layers on my page. I’m also happy to join LTCCB #51 – October Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my pumpkin inspired art journal page too. Don’t forget that you still have a few days left to join in the Halloween fun over at Try it on Tuesday too!