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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Bless this nest

Our new bird feeders have proven very popular so far this year and we have had a variety of birds visiting our garden, so I created a page to celebrate birds at springtime and I can imagine the little bird on my page is saying “Bless this nest” (grin!).

I’m also joining in the fun over at Art Journal Journey with my spring related page where I’m hosting the Hello Springtime challenge – I hope to see you there!

The background is collaged and all the paper pieces were ripped along the edge and then edged with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck in place using a glue stick. I added tissue paper from an old dressmaking pattern and some leftover pieces of brown paper and then added the nest of eggs and a couple of feathers which are rub-on transfers from Royal & Langnickel. I then fussy cut the bird from an old magazine and used the green and brown paper pieces that surrounded the bird for the background along with some pieces of sheet music to represent birdsong. I stuck the bird sitting on the branch in place and also added pieces of paper to create a branch on the left-hand side of the nest so it extended across the page. Then I added the green leaves which are from the same set of rub-on transfers. Next I added some numbered Tim Holtz Salvage Stickers and stamped the background using a Script stamp from Kaisercraft and black Archival Ink. I added the wording which are wooden tiles and then splattered the whole page with black and white DecoArt acrylic paint.

The bird on my page is called a “Blue Tit” and the one pictured here was taken recently on the bird feeder in our garden. If you are interested here are some interesting facts about this bird:

• It is a songbird that belongs to the tit family and can be found in Europe, Asia and northwestern parts of Africa belonging to a group of non-migratory birds.
• They inhabit deciduous and mixed forests, hedgerows, farmlands, gardens and parks.
• Their colourful mix of blue, yellow, white and green makes them one of the most attractive and recognisable garden visitors.

The nest on this page also reminded me of our visit to America last year as our friends had quite a few robin nests around their property, here is one of them, isn’t it amazing! I’m told that seeing these robins over in America is a sign of spring (grin!).

Challenges

I always enjoy taking part in Challenge Blogs, like Art Journal Journey, as 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:

With the script stamp, numbers on the salvage stickers and alphabet letters and numbers on the wooden tiles I’m pleased to join the Numbers and/or Letters challenge over at Country View Challenges.

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my Bless this nest art journal 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:

• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Style Dressmaking Pattern
• The Works M&C Boutique (Design Block 25 x 25cm)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Bird’s Nest #ROY-563)
• Old Magazine
• Bosworth Violin Studies
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Salvage Stickers (Crowded Attic #TH92898)
• The Works (Alphabet Wooden Tiles)
• Pritt Stick

Dark Side of the Moose

Today’s art journal page pays homage to one of my favourite beers at the Beer Festival earlier this month, which is called Dark Side of the Moose. It’s brewed by Purple Moose Brewery in Wales which I have visited a number of times – such fun!

To start, I positioned some circular templates by Inkylicious onto the page to depict the moons and painted the sky background using some watered down Elderberry Memento Ink using a paintbrush. I left the templates in place so I could also add a heart and circle design stamp by Sugarloaf Inc. using Grape Jelly Memento Ink; to shade around the moons I used the ink that remained on the template after stamping, wiping the ink in a circular motion around the edges whilst the template was still on the page. Then I used the corresponding circular stencils from the Inkylicious template and stencil set to colour the moons; first with Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed Distress Ink and then by adding a Tim Holtz texture stamp using the Elderberry Memento Ink again. The Purple Moose sticker is taken from the hand pump clip which came with the beer from the brewery; the writing surrounding the moose details the name of the beer in both English and Welsh. The moose and trees are die cut using the Merry Moose Thinlets by Tim Holtz from Sizzix and my Big Shot Machine. I used some purple paper for my moose which I shaded with the Elderberry ink and then some brown paper for the trees which I edged with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. They are stuck to the page, like all the paper elements, using a Zig Memory glue pen and I used some ripped pieces of red dot washi tape for the ground beneath them. To finish, the hearts were created using the same red dot washi tape which I stuck to white paper and then cut using a Tonic Studios paper punch.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and sharing my Dark Side of the Moose beer. This is delicious dark ale with a ABV (Alcohol by Volume) of 4.6%, it has a deep malt flavour and a fruity bitterness, and is brewed by Purple Moose Brewery in Porthmadog, Gwynedd, Wales – wishing you all a very happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the yellow moons I added to my art journal page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Heart It!, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with all the stamped and paper punched hearts that I added to my page.

I’m also pleased to join A Vintage Journey and their Heart’s Desire challenge as I was inspired by my love of beer and used stamped and paper punched hearts to create my Art Journaling style 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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Elderberry, Grape Jelly)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed)
• Faber-Castell Craft Stamper Big Brush Pen (Dark Sepia 175 B, Black 199)
• Inkylicious Stencil (Sun & Moons)
• Sugarloaf Inc. Anita’s Wood Mounted Stamp (48721)
• Tim Holtz Collection Stampers Anonymous (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Merry Moose 663103)
• Tonic Studios Paper Punch Accent (Hearts Sider 830E)
• Pump clip – Purple Moose
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Bright Colours CRO730/R)
• Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CRO701/16PL1)
• Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection (Spots & Stripes festive PMA462302)
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Chisel Tip Glue Pen)
• Sizzix Big Shot

Sweet Winter Season

It’s been very cold and frosty this week, we even had a light sprinkling of snow, so I thought I’d create a page to capture the pretty frozen landscape.

I started by covering the centre of the page with Pébéo white gesso and then I added some Silver Metallic acrylic paint around the edges, gradually blending the gesso and acrylic into each other where they met. Next I arranged some images, wording, flowers and leaves from a Sweet Winter Season decoupage book and die cut some branches using Garden Greens Thinlets by Tim Holtz from some pink and brown paper using my Big Shot machine. They are all layered and arranged onto the page using double-sided tape or a Zig glue pen. I also die cut some snowflakes from grey/pink paper using two different die sets and stuck them onto the background along with silver snowflake relief stickers. I used some of the smaller snowflake relief stickers to decorate a few of the decoupage pieces, then to finish I added some tiny clear gemstones to add a bit of extra sparkle.

With it being so cold out, our bird feeder has been working overtime. We have had an array of birds visiting including a pair of Coal Tits; they have a distinctive grey back, black cap, and white patch at the back of their neck with beautiful creamy peachy coloured breast-feathers.

Coal Tits look similar to this Chickadee that we saw in the US when we visited last year. I have included a squirrel on my page but luckily we don’t have them raiding our bird feeder, unlike our friends in America who get chipmunks as well as red and grey squirrels on their feeders.

This little guy with his pretty grey and brown feathers is a Dunnock and reminds me of the little bird on my page; we see him in our garden on a daily basis feeding underneath our bird feeders.

Of course I wanted to also show you our resident Robin, although this isn’t the best of photos he still looks so sweet (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my wintry art journal page.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

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 White Gesso
• Poundland Metallic Acrylic Paint (Silver)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush marker (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206)
• Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (falling Snowflakes 1792e)
• The Works Cutting Dies (Snowflake Garland)
• The Works 3D Decoupage Book (Sweet Winter Season)
• Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CRO701/16PL1)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Endless Love CRO206/A)
• Crelando Relief Stickers (IAN289011)
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Smiles and Goals

At the start of the New Year I like to look back at what we have achieved and also set new goals for the year, so I don’t forget this year I’ve captured them on this art journal page – I hope you like it!

My background was created using three different colours of Liquitex acrylic paints; these were Christmas Green, Vivid Lime Green and Bright Aqua Green. My first layer of paint was a mixture of Christmas Green and Aqua Green, I covered the whole page using a paintbrush. Then I added patches of all three paints to the page, blending the paints together at the edges so they merged together. Next I used a different stencil to apply each of the paints with a sponge; a diamond stencil for the Christmas Green, a circle stencil for the Lime Green and a hexagon stencil for the Aqua Green. Then I stamped a Script stamp by Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink over the page and added splatters of white DecoArt acrylic paint. I die cut some black card with a geometric design on it, that I had recycled from some cookie packaging, using Tim Holtz Sizzix Wildflower thinlets and stuck them to the page using a Zig Memory System glue pen. Then I stamped some little butterflies onto the page and also onto some white card stock using black Archival Ink. I fussy cut the butterflies out of the card stock and then stuck them over the butterflies that I had stamped on the page. The two sentiment cards are cut from a 12x12in design paper by Kaisercraft; the sentiments seemed perfect as they depict looking back at achievements for 2018 and looking forward at goals for 2019; which I wrote on the reverse of each card. As I wanted them to be easily removed so I could look at the information I had written on the reverse, they are attached to the page using some photo corners which I coloured black using a Faber-Castell Big Brush marker (grin!).

Looking back, I have lots to be thankful for during 2018 which includes celebrating significant milestones like my birthday and our Wedding Anniversary, getting things done like our garden renovations, making new friends and meeting up with old friends like on our trip to America.

2018 has been a really special year for me with regards to blogging too as I was lucky enough to join the amazing Design Team at Try it on Tuesday, as well as hosting and guest designing at different Blog Challenges and making some wonderful new friends along the way –  I had so much fun, and if you are interested you can find all my blogging awards and achievements here. A big thank you to everyone involved in making 2018 so special!

I definitely found the sentiment “I’ll look back on this & smile” to be true!

I’m sure 2019 will be as much fun and as always I’ll be sharing these moments with you on my blog throughout the year as I capture them on my art journal pages, so I’m looking forward to fulfilling the sentiment “Smile, Laugh, Love, Live, Grow, Happy Today”.

Wishing you all the very best for 2019 too!

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 pleased to join the lovely Alison/Craftytrog and the Geometric Shapes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the different geometric shapes that can be found stencilled in the background and within the papers I used to create this page.

As it’s a new start to the year, I’m pleased to be able to join a new challenge blog today; over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog, their theme is Anything Goes + optional twist of Sentiment As Main Focus so I’m joining in the fun with my art journal page (grin!).

I’m happy to join the Put Your Stamp On It challenge over at A Vintage Journey as I used stamps in the background and for the pretty butterflies on this page; I was inspired by the New Year to capture my goals and create my Art Journaling style page.

I’m pleased to join the “New” (Fresh Start) challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as my page was created to capture Smiles of 2018 and my New Year Goals for the coming year (grin!).

I’m joining in the Let’s Party! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as my page celebrates past achievements and looks forward to 2019!

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Something New challenge as I used new design paper from Kaisercraft to create this page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Anything Goes, so I’m pleased to join this challenge too as my page fits their criteria of matching the theme and including stamping too.

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 (Christmas Green)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Vintage Diamonds CEMSDIAM)
• Circle Stencil
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlets (Wildflowers 66190)
• Crafter’s Companion Signature Collection by Sara Davies stamp set (Just for You – Butterfly Lullaby S-BL-ST-JUS)
• Recycled Card – Cookie packaging
• White Card Stock
• Kaisercraft Hello Today Collection (New P1665)
• Poundland (Fairy Stickers 29236)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)

Happy New Year 2019

Wishing you a very Happy New Year; may your year be filled with peace, love, and happiness!

To start my sparkly New Year page, I painted some gold metallic acrylic paint around the edges of the page and blended it into the centre with some Pébéo white gesso. I then layered the background by stamping some snowflakes with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink using a Woodware Collection stamp and then stencilling Festive Berries Distress Ink with a blending tool. The stencil is a Decorative Flowers stencil which I won over at That’s Crafty Challenge Blog – thank you! I stamped more snowflakes from a BoBunny stamp set using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which I also used to edge the page and then I added another layer of white gesso using a palette knife. I used the same Decorative flower stencil to add some Pébéo modelling paste and once dry I painted some Titanium White Liquitex Ink over the top. I stencilled more Festive Berries ink and stamped snowflakes again, this time using Potter’s Clay Memento Ink to get a clearer image which finished the background. Next I die cut the wording from grey design paper using a Docrafts die set and my Big Shot machine.

I used the same grey paper to back some bell and star-shaped outline stickers and cut them out; they are stuck to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. I suspended some of them from silver strands which are outline border stickers and also a red ribbon and bow which are recycled from an old Christmas card. I decorated the page with silver glittery stars and more silver outline stickers including some scrollwork, small stars and holly. To finish, I added more sparkle to the wording using silver Stickles and to the holly berries making them red to match the ribbon and bow using Christmas Red Stickles.

As T Stands for Tuesday, maybe you would like to celebrate the New Year with us by trying some of our homebrewed pumpkin beer. As you can see we have plenty for everyone – Cheers and Happy T Day!

Wishing you all the very best for 2019!

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 pleased to join the lovely Alison/Craftytrog and her Geometric Shapes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with all the star shapes that I included on my page.

I’m happy to join the Star Light Star Bright challenge over at A Vintage Journey as I had fun adding all the sparkly stars; I was inspired by the New Year to create this Art Journalling style page.

I’m joining in the Party Time! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as my page celebrates the New Year!

Over at That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog their theme is Anything Goes so I’m pleased to also join this challenge.

As I included stamping on this page, I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at The Artistic Stamper – Happy New Year!

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes! challenge with my New Year’s page too.

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:

• Poundland Metallic Acrylic Paint (Gold)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Festive Berries, Rusty Hinge)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Potter’s Clay)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 233 B)
• Liquitex Ink! (Titanium White)
• That’s Crafty! 8x8in Stencil (Decorative Flower – TC8039)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Snowflakes FRS027)
• BoBunny Clear Stamps (Snow Day #13705563)
• Clear Impressions (Woodland Christmas) – free with magazine
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503284)
• Poundland Design Pad (Purple Paradise CRO701/PL3)
• Crelando Relief Sticker Set (IAN289011)
• Silver Border Outline Stickers (© DD6572)
• The Works (Christmas Glitter Stickers)
• Ranger Stickles (Silver, Christmas Red)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Believe in the Magic of Christmas – Card

Today I’m sharing one of the Christmas card designs that I made for family and friends this year and some treats from the Garstang Victorian Christmas Festival that we went too a couple of weeks ago – Happy Christmas!

This card is designed with an embossing folder and stamp set that came free with a crafting magazine. To start, I embossed some white blank cards using a village scene embossing folder and my Big Shot machine. Then I stamped Santa and his reindeer flying across the sky and the wording “Believe in the Magic of Christmas” using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad which I then covered with Tinsel Red embossing powder. I shook and tapped off any excess powder and used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder until it became dimensional with a sparkly glossy finish.

Next I used my Big Shot machine to die cut some snowflakes out of some festive design paper; I adhered a single snowflake to the front of each card adding a gem to the centre. Then I stamped some snowflakes around the snowflake and wording using Love Letter Memento Ink.

To finish, I also decorated the inside of the cards using a panel of the design paper that matched the die cut snowflake, another one of the die cut snowflakes and the snowflake stamp using the Love Letter ink again.

The Garstang Victorian Christmas Festival was wonderful! We enjoyed walking around listening to the music, shopping, sampling the food and taking in the joyous atmosphere. We particularly enjoyed these German marshmallow treats called ” Schokokuss” or “Christmas Kisses”.

We bought a box home with us; the flavours we chose were Caramel, Cherry, Rum and Raisin, Cinnamon and Baileys. If you are interested you can tour the factory and see how they are made here.

This is what they look like inside, so light and yummy! They were a lovely treat for our elevensies with our green tea being served in our new mugs (grin!). As T Stands for Tuesday I’m pleased to join the T Gang and wish you all a very Happy T Day and Happy Holidays!

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:

With my wintry village scene, I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Winter challenge.

As the challenge over at Country View Challenges is Christmas, I’m pleased to join them with my Believe in the Magic of Christmas card.

With all the stamping and sparkly Tinsel Red embossing, I’m also joining the Winter Sparkle challenge over at Stamping Sensations.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Christmas Challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with my Believe in the Magic of Christmas card too.

As this is the first time I have used an embossing folder, I’m joining the Try Something NEW! Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Picture Inspiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps too with the red and white colours and snowy village scene that I included on my card.

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:

• Tsukineko VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Tinsel Red)
• Memento Ink (Love Letter)
• Winter Wonderland embossing folder and stamp set- free with magazine
• Dovecraft Cutting Dies (Merry Christmas DCDIE052X16)
• White card stock
• Poundland (Christmas Craft Pack)
• Oaktree UK Eleganza Craft Stickers (3mm 418 Gems Red No. 16)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 double-sided tape