As it’s the first Friday of the month, we are launching our October challenge over at Creative Artiste today. As always our challenge is Anything Mixed Media Goes.
My mixed media page was inspired by my hubby; it’s our wedding anniversary tomorrow (smile!).
I started by adding water to the page and then some Orange Kuretake watercolour paint gradually building up washes of colour to give a smooshed effect. Then I splattered the page using the same paint and some white acrylic paint. Next I fussy cut the flowers and foliage from some decoupage paper and stuck them in place using a glue stick. The wording was a Kaisercraft sticker and reads “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage”; it was edged with a black Faber-Castell marker. To finish, I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint.
For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. All you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our mixed media challenge; I hope you are inspired to join us, it would be lovely to see join you there!
Here’s my hubby and me, I can’t believe that we’ve been married 34 years – time sure does fly when you’re having fun!
I hope that you’re all staying safe and well! x
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
As well as Creative Artiste, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:
Paperbabe Stamps and their #178 – Anything Goes challenge with my anniversary page.
MIUCB #61 – Anything Goes + Optional Smooshing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my smooshed background that I created using watercolour techniques.
Challenge #62 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels with my Deeply Loved page.
I created this page to remember one of my birthday celebrations, so today we are going to the Common Bar in Blackpool which serves South American Street Food such as tacos and burritos.
I started by covering the page with some decoupage paper with a palm leaf and bird design, sticking it in place using a glue stick. Next I stencilled the bricks over the top using Rusty Hinge, Brushed Corduroy and Vintage Photo Distress Inks and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer. I added the tropical foliage and flowers to the bottom and left-hand side of the page and the “Happy Birthday” wording, which were all stickers by Kaisercraft. To finish, I used some colourful letters to create the “Common Bar” wording and surrounded them with tile border stickers which were from the same Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet.
Here’s a video showing what the Common Bar looks like inside; we were seated upstairs in a window seat overlooking the street.
We had the most wonderful time and enjoyed these Plain Nachos (I think they are called “plain” as they have the basic toppings).
We also had three types of Tacos (Pork Carnitas, Shredded Chicken Tinga and Chipotle Mushroom) with a side order of corn – all of which were delicious (smile!). Here’s their food menu if you’re interested.
Our drinks were super fun too; I had a Havana Nights Cocktail and my hubby had a Pump Up The Jam beer by Tiny Rebel, yes it did taste like a jam doughnut (double grin!) – Happy T Day for those over at T Stands for Tuesday and here’s their drinks menu too.
Challenges
I’m pleased to join the lovely Matilde from http://craftowanie.blogspot.com/ who is hosting this month at Art Journal Journey and her Birds challenge with the two birds on the decoupage paper that I used on this page (did you spot them both, here’s one of them blowing kisses your way – smile!).
I’ve been having fun using stencils on my pages and this was inspired by our Use A Stencil challenge over at Try it on Tuesday; there is still another week to join in the fun too!
To join a few challenges including our I Can Hear Music challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, I created this fun “Painting the Roses Red” page using my new Alice Through The Looking Glass papers from Stamperia – I hope you like it!
I started by covering the background with some grey and silver acrylic paints, smudging them onto the page using a baby wipe. Then I layered some decoupage paper and design papers over the top using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium.
The framed images were cut from the Alice Through The Looking Glass papers by Stamperia, decorated with some washi tape roses and mushroom stickers and then layered together on the page. To finish, I added the wording which were letter stickers by Docrafts.
Do you remember this fun song from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland?
As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this Lancaster Red beer and wishing the T Gang a very Happy T Day and sending E very happy birthday wishes! If you look closely at the bottom of the pump clip, you can see the Red Rose of Lancaster which is a heraldic badge dating back to medieval times and is often see here in Lancashire as it’s our county flower.
Hoping that you’re staying safe and well! x
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:
The lovely Alison the Craftytrog is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Play it again Sam so I’m joining her with my Painting the Roses Red page.
Inspired by the sunny days we’ve been experiencing over the past week, I created this sunshiny spring page (grin!).
I hope that you’ve been enjoying some sunshine too wherever you are!
This page was a quick make; I started by covering a chipboard page with some pretty blue paper which included the wording “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away”. Next I arranged the foreground of bunny rabbits and spring flowers which were cut from some leftover decoupage cardstock. To finish, I added some gold Glitterations stickers over the top.
As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing some wheat beer that we have been enjoying as it’s very refreshing on sunny day – Happy T Day!
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.
Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Black and White + 1, where we would like you to use black and white plus one other colour on your entries.
Limiting colour options is always a challenge for me, so I decided to create a black and white collage background and see where my creativity took me; I ended up adding a dark cherry colour as my “plus 1” – what do you think?
I covered the page with leftover pieces of white tissue paper which had been stamped with black Archival Ink and some black and white Botanicals/Halloween Collage papers by Tim Holtz; they were collaged onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. Next I added some pieces of an old magazine page (which was where the cherry coloured inspiration came from) and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer over the whole page and left it to dry. I mixed some Kuretake watercolour paints to match the cherry colour and used it to add a colour wash over the collage pieces and also some splatters. For my flowers, I arranged some white paper flowers onto the page and drew in their stems using a black marker. The leaves were stamped using a Carabelle Studio stamp set and black Archival Ink. To finish, I added the “Happy” wording panel which was by Kaisercraft.
For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the wonderful creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!
As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our mugs of green tea along with my hubby’s favourite Black Forest Gateau (which happens to be cherry like my page … smile!) and my favourite cream filled meringue – Happy T Day everyone!
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.
Challenges
As well as Try it on Tuesday , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:
Paperbabe Stamps and their #162 – Anything Goes challenge with my happy page.
Add A Die Cutover at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the die cut paper flowers that I added to my page.
Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is All Loved Up.
My art journal page is all loved up with hearts, flowers and words; this time it was created just from collage materials.
I started by covering the page with some stripes of lace, star and old wallpaper designed decoupage and tissue papers using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I stuck a silver outline sticker vertically down the right-hand side of the page and some pink border and flower stickers from Kaisercraft horizontally across the page. Next I added the two large which I intertwined together with some ribbon; they were recycled from a banner. To finish I added the wording and small hearts which were from some Kaisercraft Sticker sheets.
For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the wonderful All Loved Up creations from our Guest Designers and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!
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.
To match my page and as T Stands for Tuesday, here’s my green tea in a mug with a pretty pink heart on it that I often have at my friends house – Happy T Day everyone!
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.
Challenges
As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:
It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for December which is Christmas Anything Goes.
This challenge is perfect as I love all things Christmas and I created this Yule Tide page to celebrate and wish you a Happy December and all the very best for the festive season!
I started by covering the page with Christmas Collage Paper from Tim Holtz and then I edged the page using Gold Ranger Embossing Powder. The snowflakes were die cut from some white cardstock using a Mini Paper Snowflakes Thinlits set from Tim Holtz and then covered in the Gold Ranger Embossing Powder.
To finish, I added some word stickers which were from a Tim Holtz Christmas Sticker Book and read “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night”, “Baby it’s cold outside” and “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” and also some images from a Tim Holtz Ephemera Pack which read “Special Delivery” and “December 25”; they were all edged with the Gold Ranger embossing powder before sticking them in place.
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 Christmas Anything Goes challenge too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).
This Yule Tide page had me yearning for this chocolate Yule Log that we buy every Christmas from a local bakery, it’s so yummy – not long to wait now (double 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.
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. You can also check out Country View Crafts as they sell many of the Tim Holtz and Ranger products that I used.
I love this time of year, so my page today is inspired by autumnal colours and some spooky bats to celebrate Halloween; I hope you like it!
I started by adding the large leaves, which were some leftover pieces of Botanicals Collage Paper by Tim Holtz, sticking them in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry, I smooshed lots of Distress Inks over the page, the colours I used were Seedless Grapes, Spiced Marmalade and Twisted Citron. Next I added more foliage using an Urban Tapestry stamp set by Tim Holtz and black Archival Ink and then I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint. The black wreath circles and bats were die cut from black cardstock using a couple of Sizzix Thinlits sets; they were Pretty Wreath Thinlits by Peter Hughes and Halloween Hangouts Thinlits by Tim Holtz. The “Halloween” wording was created using letters from some Chipboard Quote chips by Tim Holtz. To finish, I added three Small Talk stickers which were also by Tim Holtz and read “stay curious”, “don’t forget to fly” and “be brave”.
Tracey was asking if I have lights on my autumn window display, well as you can see here I do (grin!).
I even have bats up for Halloween too and I managed to capture them here with the moon shining through the window – so spooky (double 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.
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 with my Batty Halloween page:
Art Journal Journey and lovely Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations who is hosting this month with her My favourite colour is October challenge as Halloween and the colours are synonymous with October.
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)
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 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.
At Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Cut It Out.
Like me, you could use die cuts that you make and colour yourself or pre-made die cuts and stickers or you could simply fussy cut something out, the choice is yours!
My page today was inspired by some beautiful heuchera flowers that are flowering in my garden at the moment (grin!).
I started covering the page with Botancial Collage Paper from Tim Holtz using a glue stick and then I covered it with white gesso to push the images back. When dry, I applied some Earl Grey, Caramel, Kiwi and Lime Faber-Castell Gelatos over the top, by scribbling them onto the page and smudging the colour with a wet finger. I then toned down the colours and added some darker shading by applying some Iced Coffee and Iced Chai Faber-Castell Gelatos to the page. Next I added some Ranger Texture Paste through a brick design stencil from Craft Sensations and left it to dry. The brick design is coloured using Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and the Iced Coffee Faber-Castell Gelato. I stencilled a trellis pattern using Black Soot Distress Ink and a Moroccan stencil from Creative Expressions, then I used a baby wipe to remove some of the colour allowing white patches of the collage paper to show through which added depth and contrast to the background. The page is also splattered with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and then black and also white acrylic paint.
I used a Wildflower #2 Tim Holtz thinlet set to die cut the flowers from some linen textured cardstock and coloured the flower petals by painting on some Abandoned Coral Distress Spray Stain using a paintbrush. The leaves and stems are coloured using Olive Green and Forest Green Winsor & Newton Promarkers and they are stuck to the page using a Zig Memory glue pen. To finish, I added a pretty die cut butterfly from a Field Notes Ephemera Pack by Tim Holtz and the “Heuchera” wording which are letter stickers from Kaisercraft.
My Design Teamies have been busy fussy cutting and die cutting to create some amazing Cut It Out inspiration for you over at Try it on Tuesday too, so please pop over and take a look.
Here are the heuchera flowers that are in bloom in our flower bed, they are so delicate with tiny flower heads.
They look very striking with their coral colour especially when they catch the sunlight!
These plants come in all sorts of leaf and flowers colours, to find out more about them check out this Heuchera link.
You may already be aware that I have been completing a series of flower art journal pages inspired by my garden. If you are interested you can see the other pages here:
As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing a new batch of Raspberry Gin that we made, it tastes so fruity and is ideal for drinking whist sitting in the garden on a hot sunny day – Happy T Day!
You can find the Raspberry Gin recipe here and I think Halle asked about the amount of sugar added – this is just for taste so you can add as much or as little as you like (grin!).
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
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 Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month with my Heuchera flowered page.
I’m so happy to be able to join the #119 – Picture Inpiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the pretty flowers on my page. Thanks so much for my win too, how exciting!
Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:
Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Botanical #TH93705)
Let's Art Journal 