The Spring

I always like to experiment and try out new design ideas when I create my art journal pages, so with a few Blog Challenges in mind I created this neutral coloured page to depict spring – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the page with Neutral Gray and Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint using a paintbrush. Then I layered some paper scraps, sheet music and some pretty script paper together; I ripped some of the edges to give them a grungy look, edged them all using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck them in place using a glue stick. Next I added two pieces of Collage Paper from Tim Holtz and then I splattered the whole page with the Neutral Gray and Parchment Liquitex acrylic paints and also some black DecoArt acrylic paint. To finish, I added the three birds and “The Spring” wording which are fussy cut from a couple of leaflets and also three white embellishments.

It was my birthday last week and I received some wonderful gifts, including the pretty white embellishments that I used on this page. They were a birthday gift off my sister along with some other crafting goodies and old sheet music that I remember her playing when I was young (grin!).

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m happy to join the Neutral Zone challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my Mixed Media Style page.

I’m happy to be able to join the Easter and/or Spring challenge over at Country View Challenges with my spring page.

I’m also joining the lovely Wen and her Simply Neutrals Tuesday party over at Apple Apricot with my neutral coloured page.

As I used more than three mediums (including acrylic paint, TH tissue paper and leaflets), I’m pleased to be join in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog and their Creative Artisite Challenge #48 – Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge.

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 Heavy Body Acrylic (Neutral Gray)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Halloween #TH93727)
• Paper scraps
• Script paper
• Recycled leaflets
• White embellishments
• UHU Stic
• Stix2 double-sided tape and mini glue dots

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Thank you – Hello Springtime at AJJ

As it’s the end of the month, I’m sharing the last page for the Hello Springtime challenge over at Art Journal Journey which I’ve been hosting this March, so thanks very much to everyone who joined in the fun!

I appreciate all your kind comments and support throughout the month and thoroughly enjoyed visiting your blogs and seeing all your wonderful Hello Springtime artwork so I created this page to remember you all and to say thank you!

I used my garden as inspiration for this page as it is coming to life now springtime’s here, so I decided to create a garden wall with pretty flowers to showcase all the names of the people who joined the Hello Springtime challenge this month at Art Journal Journey (AJJ).

I started by covering the page with a thick layer of Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and sponging a mixture of Christmas Green and Swedish Blue Liquitex acrylic paint over the top. Once the paint was dry, I stencilled a brick design using a mixture of red, yellow and black acrylic paint to create the brown colour and when dry I loosely outlined the bricks with a black Uni Pin marker to give them more definition. Then I used a texture stamp from Tim Holtz using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink to give a grungy look to the areas not covered with the brick design. For the foliage, I stamped Cottage Ivy Memento Ink using a stamp from Kaisercraft. Then I used my Dymo LetraTag label machine to create all the names of the people who joined the challenge this month which took some time as I cut each of them out and then stuck them in place along the brickwork. For the “thank you”, I stamped the banner and thank you using a couple of Hampton Art stamp sets using black Archival Ink onto some card by Docrafts. I fussy cut the banner out and gave it more of a worn look using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and a blending tool. I cut the AJJ logo out, and stuck it and the thank you banner in place using double-sided tape. I also added the “March 2019” and “Hello Springtime” labels that I created using my Dymo machine and then to finish, the sparkly flower embellishments using Ranger Glossy Accents.

I’d also like to that Gerrina who entered my challenge after I photographed my page. I have now added Gerrina’s name to my page too (grin!).

I had so much fun creating all my pages for this challenge and I hope you did too!

I’d like to say a special thanks to Susi and Bleubeard & Elizabeth for asking me to be a guest host, they provided such valuable support and encouragement, thanks so much!

I have also been overwhelmed with everyone’s participation and lovely comments; it has been such a pleasurable experience – thank you all! Jo x

Tomorrow is a new month and brings a new challenge at Art Journal Journey and I can’t wait to see what the new theme is and say hello to our new host – I hope to see you there!

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

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

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment, Christmas Green, Swedish Blue, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Magnolia Grove CS822)
• Tim Holtz Collection Stampers Anonymous (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
• Hampton Art cling mounted rubber stamps (7 Gypsies Vintage – Birdsong ICO151, Doodlebug Design Inc – Thankful ICO162)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Dymo LetraTag Label Maker and White paper Labels
• Art Journal Journey logo – computer printed
• Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection Tags (Elements Wood PMA174318)
• The Range (Craft Embellishments CRO824)
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Hello Spring

As spring is officially here, I was inspired to create this page using a mainly green colour palette to say Hello Spring – I hope you like it!

I started by die cutting a lattice pattern out of some pretty vintage floral paper using a Spellbinders die and my Big Shot machine; I stuck the die cut lattice and resulting tile pieces onto the page using a Pritt Stick and covered them with Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I added some Peeled Paint Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad onto a blending matt, adding water and applying it to the page using a paintbrush; I let the ink run down the page and pool around the die cut pieces. Once the ink was dry, I emphasised the die cut lattice and tiles by shading around them with a Bud Green and Moss Spectrum Aqua Marker, a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and also a black Uni Pin marker, smudging the colours with my finger. I stamped a texture stamp from BoBunny using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker over the background which reminded me of woven willow fencing. Next I die cut some leaves out of green paper using Garden Green thinlets by Tim Holtz and coloured them using Mowed lawn Distress Ink and Cottage Ivy Memento Ink; they are stuck to the page using a Zig Memory System glue pen. I added the pink mini paper flower embellishments using Ranger Glossy Accents and added some mini pearl gemstones to their centres. The wording is cut from a magazine and is mounted on a recycled piece of card. I doodled along the leaf die cut edges and also framed the wording using a black Uni Pin marker and splattered the whole page with Peeled Paint Distress Ink, then black and also white DecoArt acrylic paint. To finish, I added lots of tiny butterfly stickers.

The colours of the pretty flowers on this page remind me of these roses which are adorning my kitchen table at the moment; the shades of pink and cream colours are so beautiful!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey with my Hello Spring page. I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Colour It Green, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with my green spring page.

I’m joining in the Miniature/Tiny Things challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the tiny butterflies I added to my page.

I’m also happy to join in the fun over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their theme Anything + optional twist of inked background with my inked background Hello Spring page.

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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
• Spectrum Aqua Markers (Bud Green, Moss)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Spellbinders Die – unknown
• BoBunny Stamp (Rough It Up 12105155)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Design Block 25 x 25cm, Mini Paper Flower Embellishments)
• Crafter’s Companion Designer Paper Pad (Angelica & Adam Collection A&A-PAP6-M)
• Old Magazine
• Recycled white card
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Fancy Sticker Sheet (Flowers & Butterflies 28965)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Everyday is a New Beginning

Now spring has arrived, the evenings are getting lighter, we have had more sunshine and blue skies, spring flowers are blooming, there are new shoots on trees and new plants are sprouting up from the ground.

So my page today is celebrating these new beginnings to say Hello Springtime over at Art Journal Journey where I’m guest host this month. I’ve been amazed by all your support and wonderful creations, thanks so much!

I started this page by stencilling a clock face on brown cardboard that I recycled from some packaging using Pébéo modelling paste and left it to dry. Then I die cut some trellis with a pretty flower design out of some recycled paper using my Big Shot machine and stuck it in place using Liquitex matte gel medium so that it filled the centre diagonal of the page. I cut the clock face out of the cardboard and stuck it to the page along with some cardboard number stickers that I had, and then I covered everything with Pébéo white gesso. When the page was dry, I stuck a piece of pretty design paper which I had torn in half to the top left and bottom right hand corners of the page using a glue stick; they are edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which I smudged with my finger. Next I applied Fig, Snow Cone, Caramel, Coconut and Earl Grey Faber-Castell Gelatos to the trellis-work to highlight the texture and pattern. The numbers stickers and clock face are both coloured using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which I applied and then smudged with my finger. I also used the same four Faber-Castell Gelato colours to highlight the numer stickers and modelling paste. The clock face numbers are coloured using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and I applied some of the Coconut Faber-Castell Gelato over the top to give them a worn look. Next I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt acrylic paint and then to finish, I added some paper flowers, a pretty blue butterfly and a sticker from Kaisercraft which reads “Everyday is a new beginning”.

My springtime colours were inspired by the beautiful glass domed roof at the Marine Hall where the Fleetwood Beer Festival is held. The Marine Hall sits on the sea front and the building dates back to the 1930s so has an art deco heritage which includes this beautiful glass domed roof.

The Festival Beer Bar is situated right under this dome and I actually had to lie on the floor in the centre of the two bars to take this picture, luckily no one saw me as I was well hidden by the bars (grin!).

Challenges 

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Art Journal Journey, 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 also very happy to be able to join the Letters and/or Numbers challenge over at Country View Challenges as I had fun adding the numbers and letters to this page.

I’m also joining the Embrace The Journey challenge over at A Vintage Journey where they are celebrating their 5^th Birthday as my Mixed Media Style page depicts the journey of springtime where “Everyday is a new beginning” – Happy Birthday!

I’m joining in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog and their Creative Artiste’s #47th Challenge – Anything Mixed Media Goes with all the different mediums (listed below) that I used to create this page.

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:

• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Fig, Snow Cone, Caramel, Coconut, Earl Grey)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• The Works M & C Boutique (Cutting Dies)
• Recycled brown cardboard packaging
• Recycled paper
• The Works Design Pad (Vintage Love CRO707/TW25
• Leftover cardboard numbers from a Hobbycraft  Alphabet Letters set
• Poundland (Gem Florettes 117128, Accessories Pack 60911)
• The Works (Make Your Own 3D Butterflies – Assorted)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick

Cheerfulness

It’s time for a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday, so for the next two weeks our challenge is Say it with flowers and you will find plenty of wonderful inspiration from my Design Teamies over at our blog too!

I was inspired by one of my friend’s blogs, the lovely Christine from Foxgloves and Bumblebees, who blogs about Floriography which looks at “The language of flowers” which I thought linked well to our Say it with flowers theme. So as it is spring here, I choose crocus and looked up their meaning, which is “cheerfulness” and created this page – I hope you like it!

To create this page, I started by applying Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page. I gradually built up the colours and dried each layer of ink with my heat gun before applying the next, to create a textured effect of drips and smooshes. Then I fussy cut the crocus which is an image from an old calendar and used the leftover paper, from the image, to die cut the letters using a XCut die set from Docrafts and my Big Shot machine, I also cut some into tiny squares. Everything is stuck to the page using a glue stick and then covered with a thin layer of Liquitex matte gel medium so when dry I could shade them using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker and outline them with a white Uniball gel pen. Then I added some fine splatters of black and white DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush. To finish, I stuck some purple and green square gemstones onto the page and a postage stamp with crocus pictured on it.

This postage stamp is from Poland and was issued in 1967; it was part of my hubby’s childhood collection which he kindly gave to me for my art journaling (grin!).

It was fun looking at Floriography which is the term used to that describe the Victorian flower language. For crocuses, I found that they mean youth and cheerfulness. If you are interested, here are some fun facts about crocus:

• The crocus is one of the first flowers to emerge in the spring.
• They are often referred to as the light bulb flower because of their shape.
• It is a symbol of cheerfulness as it celebrates the return of spring by bringing the landscape alive with colour after winter.
• Saffron from the crocus flower is used as a spice to season foods.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my cup of green tea and a slice of birthday cake that I made for some friends; this was a Victoria sponge cake filled with strawberry jam and buttercream icing covered in dark purple fondant icing just like the purple colour of the crocuses on my page – Happy T day everyone!

Challenges

Over at Art Journal Journey, I’m delighted to be hosting my Hello Springtime challenge this month and as I created my page with spring in mind, I’m pleased to join this challenge – I hope to see you there too!

I’m pleased to join the Close to Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my springtime page.

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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Twisted Citron, Mowed lawn)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Docrafts XCut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503286)
• Old Calender
• Postage Stamp from Poland issued 1967 picturing Crocus
• Hobbycraft Self-Adhesive Gems (Assorted Square 5666141000)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 double-sided tape

The Journey

My springtime page today features a white hydrangea, pretty butterflies and a quote which reads “The Journey is never truly over it just changed course”. I find that this quote applies not only to life but also to my art journaling as I often start with one idea for a particular page which then changes course as I create it (grin!), do you find this happens to you too?

For the background, I started by collaging pieces of dictionary pages, dressmaking pattern tissue paper and some homemade decoupage paper to the page using matt gel medium; I wanted a grungy look, so I let the tissue papers crease as I applied them to the page.

I had fun making the decoupage papers and for the one I used on this page, I stamped recycled brown tissue paper using a Script stamp from Kaisercraft and black Archival Ink (pictured at the bottom of the photo).

Once the gel medium had dried, I blended Parchment, Cadmium Yellow, Navy and Green Liquitex acrylic paints to create different shades of green and then stippled and splattered them onto the page using a paintbrush to build up the background colour. When the paint way dry, I added Peeled Paint and Black Soot Distress Ink to emphasise the grunge look using a baby wipe and then I added some Pébéo white gesso using a paint brush. When the page was dry, I applied Peacock Feathers Distress Ink with a baby wipe over the white gesso giving it a blue tinge. Next I stencilled splatters using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool through a textured template from The Crafter’s Workshop. I used the same template to add splatters of Ranger Texture Paste and when dry covered the paste using DecoArt white acrylic paint so it stood out more. The letters are cut from an old magazine and stuck to the page using the matte gel medium; they are outlined using a black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball gel pen. I stuck the pretty die cut hydrangea in place and added the butterflies which are rub-on transfers; I thought the butterflies went well with the “The Journey is never truly over it just changed course” quote that I selected for the page. To finish, I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

This page reminds me of a pretty hydrangea that we saw at a local garden centre, this is a tree variety and has the most beautiful snowy lime flowers – I love it (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to link my art journal page to the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey with my springtime page – I hope to see you there!

I’m joining the Close to Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my springtime page of butterflies and flowers.

I’m also pleased to join the Embrace The Journey challenge over at A Vintage Journey as the quote that I used applies to my creative journey which inspired my Mixed Media Style page – Happy 5^th Birthday!

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Colour It Green, so I’m pleased to join this challenge too with my green and grungy springtime page.

I’m also joining the Letters and/or Numbers challenge over at Country View Challenges with the recycled magazine letters that I used for the quote and those that can be found on the background.

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:

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Navy, Christmas Green)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Black Soot, Peacock Feathers)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Script CS752)
• The Crafter’s Workshop Ronda Palazzari Designs (Texturized 12×12 Template)
• The Pocket Oxford Dictionary
• Style Dressmaking Pattern
• Brown Tissue Paper
• Old Magazine
• K & Company Susan Winget (Floral Die-Cut Cardstock)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (LAN1236G)
• Winsor & Newton Matt Gel Medium

Camellia

On a walk last week to the beach with our friends, we noticed a beautiful camellia flowering in one of the gardens we passed which made me think of springtime; so inspired by our walk with friends and the camellia that we saw I created this page!

I started by adding three pieces of ripped sheet music to the page using a glue stick and then I covered the background with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and Pébéo white gesso. When dry, I added some camellia stickers and framed them using some brown pieces of the same sticker sheet, a sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and a black Uni Pin marker. Then I stamped some new letter and number stamps from Inkadinkado using black Archival Ink over the page; my hubby kindly bought these stamps for me as a surprise so I just couldn’t wait to use them, aren’t they lovely! Next I added the wording which I chose to relate to our walk with our friends and the camellia that we saw: “Embrace the Journey” which is from Small Talk sticker set by Tim Holtz; “Enjoy every day” taken from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet; “Springtime”, “Harmony” and “Gentle” which are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel. Then I stuck three metal embellishments and to finish, I splattered the whole page with watered-down Cottage Green Memento Ink, black and also white DecoArt Crafter’s acrylic paint.

Here’s the pretty white camellia that we saw on our walk. If you are interested here are some facts about camellias:

• Camellia is an evergreen plant that belongs to the family Theaceae, the tea family.
• Camellia flowers can be white, cream, pink, red, purple, yellow or variegated, and bloom in autumn, winter and spring.
• The oldest living camellia was planted in 1347 and can be found in China’s Panlong Monastery.
• Camellia sinensis called ‘tea plant’ is used to make tea, usually from young leaves which can be made into green tea, black tea, white tea, oolong tea etc. The flowers are small and non-descript not like the ornamental ones on my page.
• Sacramento, California is nicknamed the Camellia City.
• The Camellia is Alabama’s state flower.
• Camellia represents adoration, devotion and loveliness.

As camellias belong to the tea family and we always stop for a cuppa when we walk with our friends, I’m sharing my green tea and wishing the T gang, over at T Stands for Tuesday, a very Happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m pleased to link my art journal page to the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey as my Camellia page reminds me of springtime. I hope you are inspired by this theme too, it would be lovely to see you there!

I’m pleased to join in the Letters and/or Number challenge over at Country View Challenges with the letter and numbers that I added to my page using the lovely new stamp set that my hubby kindly bought me (yay!).

I’m also joining the Close to Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my Camellia art journal page.

As I was inspired by our walk with our friends, I’m happy to join the Celebrate the Journey challenge over at A Vintage Journey my Art Journaling Style page too – wishing everyone at A Vintage Journey a Happy 5^th Birthday!

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

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

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188 B)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Inkadinkado Stamping Gear (Typographic 65-32008)
• Sheet Music
• Penny Black 2006 Stickeroos (In Bloom 10-208, Petals & Poetry 10-207)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Set (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Say Aloha SS281)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Sentiments (Spring #ROY-506)
• Poundworld (Vintage Stickers)
• The Works (Metal Embellishments)
• Pritt Stick
• Stix2 mini glue dots