30th Wedding Anniversary

As it’s our 30^th Wedding Anniversary or Pearl Wedding Anniversary, I thought I’d celebrate by creating another page, this time using pearls and also cream and peach colour tones to reflect the colour scheme at our wedding.

Thank you to everyone who left Happy Anniversary wishes on my previous post, that’s so kind of you (grin!).

I started by stamping the butterflies using a layering stamp set by Paperbabe Stamps called Butterfly Pieridae. Firstly, I stamped the butterfly wings with the background stamp using Peach Spectrum Aqua Marker and also Scattered Straw Distress Ink; I masked some of the wings that I stamped to create the different butterfly positions. Then I stamped three separate stamps to define the butterfly using Black Archival Ink this included the wing detail, the butterfly’s body and also the antennae. Next I stamped some hearts from the same Paperbabe stamp set using the Peach Spectrum Aqua Marker and the Scattered Straw Distress Ink again. Then I applied Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint through a Flourish Stencil from That’s Crafty using a sponge over the background. When dry, I added some torn pieces of Dictionary page using a glue stick; the words I chose were “wedding”, “marriage” and “anniversary”, and I outlined them using a black Derwent Graphik marker so they stood out more. I also cut some hearts from the dictionary pages using a paper punch; they are edged with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck down using a glue stick. The central heart is created using a doily, some gold glitter stickers, pearl gems, pearl roses and two pearl hearts; each of which were individually placed to build up the design, it is stuck in place using Ranger Glossy Accents. Then I added the gold glitter flowers and wording using the same stickers that I had used on the doily heart. To finish, I added some cream coloured felt swirls and embellished them with the pearl gems and roses.

It doesn’t seem like yesterday that we got married and the years seem to have flown by, well they do say “time flies when you’re having fun” and we certainly have had lots of fun over the years. So as T Stands for Tuesday we are toasting our anniversary with a glass of champagne – cheers and Happy T Day!

Sending Happy 30^th Anniversary wishes to Erika and her hubby too!

I’m pleased to join the lovely Linda, who is hosting Creature Comforts challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Happy Anniversary page.

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

I’m also pleased to join the September Link Party #44 – Anything Goes over at Cropstop Blogwith my page as I included some products from companies that they carry in their store.

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:

• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Peach)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• Paperbabe Stamps (Butterfly Pieridae Stamp Set)
• That’s Crafty! 8x8ins Stencil (Flourish TC8024)
• The Oxford Pocket Dictionary
• Woodware Craft Collection Paper Doily (Heart JL961)
• Self-Adhesive Felt Border (Scrolls FE196)
• The Range (Adhesive Pearls LCDOT002, Alphabet & Number Stickers Glitter SCSTK013)
• Home Bargains (Special Occasion – Mini Decorative Stickers 22740, Sweet Hearts 22809, Sticker Mania – Gel Stone Stickers 74749)
• Poundworld (Pearl Embellishments 137920-A)
• Craft Sensations (Ivory Deco Flowers CR0736-GE)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Pritt Stick

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You melt my heart

I created this page with my hubby in mind, as we are celebrating our 30^th Wedding Anniversary in a few days (grin!). The colours I used were also inspired by the turquoise pools and glazier photos of the Austrian Mountains over at Apple Apricot, I love these colours and had fun creating this page.

I started by stamping a Script stamp from Kaisercraft onto the page using black Archival Ink. Then I applied Emboss ink using a blending tool through a heart stencil from Creative Expressions and covered it with white Stampendous embossing powder. I shook off the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper and also tapped the page to make sure any stray powder was removed and then I used a heat gun to gently melt the embossing powder until it became glossy and dimensional. I repeated this process for all the embossing powder and enamel which included: a crackle stamp from BoBunny which I stamped using the Emboss ink and covered with white Stampendous embossing powder; a Serpentine Background stamp from Art Impressions using Emboss ink and Chunky Silver Stampendous Frantage embossing enamel; and stamping the Emboss ink pad directly to the edges of the page then adding the Chunky Silver embossing enamel. I also sprinkled some of the enamel pieces onto the page and heated it from a height to stop it blowing away until it adhered to the page, and then I moved my heat gun closer to melt it fully. With the background heat embossing finished, I applied some Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain and left it to dry. Then I added some white gesso using my finger and when dry I applied more of the Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain and also some diluted Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink using a paintbrush to layer and blend the colours together; the gesso gave the ink colours more of a chalky look which I was after.

For the heart, I used a wooden heart tag which I covered in Emboss ink and the Chunky Silver Stampendous Frantage embossing enamel. I used a heat gun to melt the embossing enamel to a smooth glossy finish and before the enamel had cooled fully, I imprinted it using the Serpentine Background stamp again, being careful not to touch the enamel with my fingers as it gets super hot. I also covered a metal key embellishment with the same embossing enamel using the Emboss ink. They are all stuck in place using Ranger Glossy Accents.

For the dragonfly “love…” trails, I stamped some white tissue paper with a stamp from Craft Sensations using the black Archival Ink and covered it with black Papermania embossing powder. I was careful with the heat gun as the embossing powder melted very quickly due to it being on tissue paper. I repeated this process for the “You melt my heart” which is from a BoBunny stamp set. They are all fussy cut from the tissue paper and stuck in place using a UHU Stic. Then I attached the dragonfly brads and also some black round brads by pushing them through the page and fastening them into place; I also covered the back of the brads with masking tape to protect my next journal page. To finish, I splattered the page with Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain, some diluted Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink and also black DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush.

Here’s me and my hubby, it’s been a wonderful 30 years and he has always and will forever “melt my heart” (grin!).

If I remember correctly we won’t be the only ones celebrating our 30^th Wedding Anniversary in October so will Erika and her hubby – Happy Anniversary!

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 Linda, who is hosting Creature Comforts challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my art journal page as to love and be loved brings me comfort.

I had fun creating this page with all the different inks and stains so I’m joining the Inktober challenge over at The Artistic Stamper too.

With the quote and all the stamping I used to create this page, I’m also joining Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Quote Away challenge.

I’m also pleased to join Topic 17 Colour Challenge is A Box of Eggs over at PaperArtsy with the blue and green pastel shades that I used for this page.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday the challenge is Celebrating Stamping & STAMPtember®! so I’m pleased to join them too.

I’m also pleased to join the September Link Party #44 – Anything Goes over at Cropstop Blog with my page as I included some products from companies that they carry in their store.

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)
• Tsukineko Emboss Embossing Stamp Pad (Clear)
• Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Cracked Pistachio)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mermaid Lagoon)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Stampendous Frantage embossing enamel (Chunky Silver)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black PMA4021006)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Heart Cluster CEMSHEART)
• BoBunny Stamps (Rough it up #12105155, Snow Day #13705563)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Serpentine Background T-2773)
• Craft Sensations (Clear Stamps CRO274/16R1)
• White tissue paper
• The Works (Chalkboard Tags)
• The Range (Key Embellishments CRO954)
• Brads (Dragonflies – Black, Round – Black)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• UHU Stic

Black, white and one other colour

Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday is Black, white and one other colour. To inspire you further please see the fabulous Design Team creations over at our blog.

It was quite a dilemma choosing the one other colour for my art journal page (grin!), in the end I decided on Abandoned Coral in the form of both a Distress Spray and Distress Stain. I’m really looking forward to seeing which one other colour you choose too!

I started by covering the page with white gesso and when dry I applied Pébéo modelling paste with a palette knife, over the top using a Floral stencil by Tim Holtz. Next I used a Rossi Belle stamp set to stamp some images onto the background using black Archival Ink and rubbed the images with a baby wipe which removed some of the ink giving a distressed look. Then I sprayed Abandoned Coral Distress Spray over the flowers that I had stencilled and left it to dry. Once dry I layered some more white gesso over the background and then applied some Abandoned Coral Distress Stain, repeating the layers until I reached the look I was after; I let the white gesso and Distress Stain dry between each application so they didn’t blend together and become a muddy mess. Next I added some black DecoArt acrylic paint, firstly through a stencil from Creative Expressions using a sponge and then by adding black splatters using a paintbrush. I used some bubble wrap and a cardboard tube to stamp white DecoArt acrylic paint onto the page and then splattered the page with the white paint too. The flowers are cut from black and white numbered card from Kanban using the Wildflower Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz and my Big Shot machine. They are edged with black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and then stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. To finish, I added three Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz and outlined them with a black Derwent Graphik marker; I thought the wording was appropriate for this page considering my colour palette was limited to black, white and one other colour, they read “out of limitations comes creativity”, “be fearless” and “creativity take courage”.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my pot of green tea at a café in town called Elbourne’s Tea Emporium. I thought it matched the black white and one colour scheme with the red wrapper of the biscuit and heart hanging from the teapot, the white tea service and the black table. In case you are wondering, the little red heart is attached to the tea infuser as they use loose leaf tea. In the photo, you can also see a cup of Earl Grey tea, a glass of cloudy lemonade and a glass of ice water too but the cappuccino is hiding behind the plant (grin!) – Happy T Day!

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 Linda, who is hosting Creature Comforts challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the soothing warmth of colour that I included on my art journal page.

Over at Country View Challenges their challenge is Plant-tastic so I’m pleased to join them with the flowers on my art journal page.

I’m pleased to join their Back To Nature challenge over at A Vintage Journey, as I was inspired by my limited colour palette to create this floral Mixed Media style page.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, their challenge is Anything Goes so I’m pleased to join this challenge too.

I’m also joining the anything goes theme called It’s been a while… over at Stamps & Stencils 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
• Pébéo Modelling Paste
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Spray (Abandoned Coral)
• Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Abandoned Coral)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.1 mm)
• Tim Holtz Layering Stencil (Floral THS077)
• Prima Marketing Clear Stamps (Rossi Belle 587499)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan)
• Recycled cardboard tube – stamp
• Recycled bubble wrap – stamp
• Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflowers 661190)
• Kanban (Mackenzie Numbers Black Background Card CRD1763)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Delicious Autumn

Autumn is one of my favourite months and finding this pretty tissue of a robin sat amongst autumn leaves I decided to create a page using some leaves that I had pressed and a beautiful quote from a poem by George Eliot.

I started by ripping the tissue into pieces around the robin, leaf and branch images and adhering them to the page using a glue stick and matte gel medium. Next I applied DecoArt crackle glaze using a palette knife in between the tissue pieces and left it to dry overnight.

To highlight the crackle effect, I painted Yellow Ochre from my Kuratake watercolour paint set onto the page and also Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker by scribbling the pen onto an acrylic block and picking the ink up with a paintbrush. I also added droplets of Carbon Black Liquitex Ink and then applied water with a paintbrush making it spread between the cracks. I repeated this process using Black Soot Distress Ink too. For the wording, I used my new label maker, which was fun (grin!). The quote is from a poem by George Eliot who wrote “Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns”. I distressed the edges of the labels with scissors and used Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Inks to edge and colour them; once they were stuck in place I outlined them using a black Uni Pin marker. Then I added some leaves to the branches which I collected last year and had dried and pressed; they are stuck down using wood adhesive. To finish, I applied some little dots of Pumpkin Liquid Pearls to add a pop of bright autumnal colour.

I love the quote from George Eliot too; wouldn’t it be amazing to be a bird and fly about the earth experiencing one autumn after the other (grin!). There is so much I enjoy about autumn especially the colours of autumn which can be seen in this beautiful view of the River Yarrow when we visited Duxbury Woods.

One of my favourite places for autumn/fall foliage with its amazing reds, oranges and yellows is New England. This photo was taken a few years ago, it’s lovely to be transported back there and maybe it is possible to chase those successive autumns after all!

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 Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my successive autumn wishes, wouldn’t it be amazing to experience one autumn after another!

I’m pleased to join their Back To Nature challenge over at A Vintage Journey, as their brief for this challenge inspired me to use the leaves that I had collected last year and dried. I hope you like my Art Journaling and Mixed Media style page.

Over at That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog their theme is Forever Autumn so I’m pleased to join this challenge with my Delicious Autumn page.

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

I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my autumnal 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 Medium Crackle Glaze
• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Yellow Ochre)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Liquitex ink! (Carbon Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• IHR Ideal Home Range tissues (Red Robin PT89600)
• Dymo LetraTag Personal Label Maker LT-100H
• Dymo LetraTag Tape 12mm (White Paper)
• Dried and pressed leaves
• Ranger Liquid Pearls (Pumpkin)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick
• Evo-Stik Wood Adhesive

Journey, Destination and Adventure

This week we have had family staying over, so we have been on journeys, travelled to destinations and had a few adventures along the way too (grin!). So I created this page to remember their visit and capture our time together; the background depicts the ripples of the water at high tide on our walks, the car reminds me of our outing to a local car show, the natural colours and pretty flower serves as a reminder of all the nature we saw on our walks as we walked their dog three times a day, and then the maps, clocks, compass and postage stamps to remember our days out and adventures exploring new places.

I started by applying Pébéo white gesso with a brayer and then I added dots of black DecoArt acrylic paint and also Bright Aqua Green Heavy Body Liquitex paint over the top and used the brayer to create the wonderful texture. When the paint was dry, I stencilled a large clock on the right-hand side of the page using black Archival Ink and a blending tool. I stamped some Vintage Circles from Woodware Craft Collection using black Archival Ink and then I applied Rusty Hinge and Ground Espresso Distress Ink through a stencil by Andy Skinner using a blending tool. The white circles are stamped using a cardboard tube and white DecoArt acrylic paint, I used the Andy Skinner stencil and Distress Inks again to pattern the inside of the circles and defined the edges more using a white Uniball gel pen and a black Uni Pin marker. Next I added three pieces of washi tape horizontally across the page and then stamped lots of different images using black Archival Ink onto some paper from American Crafts. The stamped images included: some postage stamps, lace and a clock from Kaisercraft; a car stamp from Tim Holtz which I cut up to produce the car, bingo sheet, map and ruler; a patterned circle from Kaisercraft; a compass by Graphic 45 from Hampton Art; a hand pointing the way from a Steampunk stamp set from Docrafts; and some numbers from a Collage Number stamp from Gummpanian Stamps. I fussy cut all the stamped pieces out, edged them with Rusty Hinge and Ground Espresso Distress Ink and then a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. They are stuck to the page using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium. Once the glue was dry, I edged them with a black Uni Pin marker and added white detail to both the images and stamping in the background using a Uniball gel pen. Next I cut a wildflower out of white cardstock using a die cut by Tim Holtz from Sizzix and my big shot machine, stuck it in place and outlined it using a black Uni Pin marker. I added two Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz idea-ology collection which read “the journey is the destination” and also “and so the adventure begins”, again they are outlined using a black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I added some Pébéo white gesso using a palette knife through a Vintage Diamond stencil from Creative Expressions.

Last Sunday we went to a Vintage Car Show with our visitors. It is a local show and was held on the green by the beach just round the corner from our house. We saw some beautiful cars including this one which is an Austin and looks a bit like the one on my page (grin!).

There were so many different cars there and we liked this one which was originally from Canada.

Or maybe this is more to your liking, it’s a Wolseley and I’m not sure my hubby would fit in it (grin!).

Some cars are Vintage now, even though I remember them whilst growing up … does that mean I’m getting old (double grin!). VW Beetles for example and we often see this gold one driving around town and look at the kettle and mugs, just right for T Stands for Tuesday!

Then we have local car clubs like this Land Rover Club which I thought Yvonne from Meggy’s way may like (triple grin!).

It turned into quite the adventure as we also saw the high tide which we don’t see that often and some kitesurfers right next to the beach.

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 Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Journey, Destination and Adventure art journal page.

As this page includes circles, I’m also joining the Circles challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

As I included circles on this page, I’m also joining the Going Round & Round challenge over at The Artistic Stamper too.

I used 3 different stencils on this art journal page, so I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and there Use More Than One Stencil challenge.

Over at Country View Challenges their challenge is Planes, Trains & Automobiles so I’m pleased to join them with the car and journey art journal page.

With the quote and all the stamping I used to create this page I’m also joining Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Quote Away challenge.

As I used quite a few Tim Holtz products to create this page I thought of A Vintage Journey, so I’m pleased to join their Back To Nature challenge this month as I was inspired by the nature we saw on our walks so included the natural colours and pretty flower on my Art Journaling and Vintage 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 all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Bright Aqua Green)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge, Ground Espresso)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.1mm, 0.8mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• DecoArt Andy Skinner Mixed Media Stencils (Shedded ANDY08)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Vintage Circles FRS665)
• Cardboard tube – stamp
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Magnolia Grove CS822, Provincial CS243)
• Tim Holtz Components Collection (COM013CAR)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO135)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Steampunk DCE907125)
• Gummpanian Stamp (Collage Numbers 14030103)
• Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz (Wildflowers 661190)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Vintage Diamond CEMSDIAM)
• American Crafts Papers (DIY Store 366665)
• White Cardstock
• Poundland (Washi Tapes 156456-GE16)
• The Works (3 Washi Tapes)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick

Treasure Map

I enjoyed practicing and experimenting with different techniques and mediums to create this page. As I created this page, it reminded me of the kites at the St. Annes Kite Festival and I was also transported back to my childhood and into the fantasy world of pirates and looking for buried treasure (grin!).

I started by drawing a faint outline of the map using a pencil and then applied some Tea Dye Distress Ink using a blending tool which I then dabbed with a baby wipe to create an old worn look to the map. I then added an outline so the map had a defined edge using a black Uni Pin marker to create a border around the edge of my page. I coloured the border using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker by applying the ink to an acrylic block and painting the inks using a paintbrush. Next I outlined the land with Baked Earth and Willow Derwent Intense pencils by applying the pencil directly to the page and using a wet paintbrush to blend the colours. I also added small dots of Chocolate Spectrum Aqua marker around the edges of the land too. The mountains are drawn using the same Chocolate Spectrum Aqua marker and shaded using a Tan Spectrum Aqua marker. I stamped the pirates ship sitting in Pirates Cove using black Archival Ink and coloured it using Derwent Intense Pencils, I had fun stamping the wording “Yo ho yo ho …” too. In fact I spent quite a bit of time stamping all the wording on this map using individual wooden mounted letter stamps from Dovecraft and black Archival Ink; making up the different names and places was great fun too! I embellished the different places with a crab, starfish and tropical flowers which are rub-on transfers and also a sandcastle, some sea shells, tropical flowers and a treasure chest which are stickers. I made some of the elements from card toppers too, like the sea monster and mermaid tail and the gold in the treasure chest is made from gold outline stickers and pearl gems. All the pirate flags are stamped using black Archival Ink and the palm tree is hand drawn, fussy cut and coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils. The map trail that joins the different places together and big black “X” are also hand drawn using a black Uni Pin marker. Next I painted the sea by concentrating the colour along the shore line and adding the waves using Salty Ocean Distress Ink; I did this by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and using a paintbrush to apply it to the page. Then I stamped a compass by Graphic 45 from Hampton Art using black Archival Ink on the top of the page.  The banner is also a stamp by 7 Gypsies from Hampton Art and is stamped using black Archival Ink onto the page and also onto a piece of white paper. I coloured both of the banners with the Baked Earth and Willow Derwent Intense pencils and stamped “Treasure Map” in the centre of the one I stamped onto the paper using the letter stamps and black Archival Ink. I then cut out the central section of the banner with the wording on it from the paper and stuck it over the one that I had stamped onto the page. To finish, I outlined the banner with a black Uni Pin marker.

We enjoyed the St. Annes Kite Festival last weekend, it started with night kite flying and fireworks on Friday night.

Many of the kites reminded me of my page including this crab …

… these fish bobbing along …

… this parrot who I can just imagine saying “pieces of eight” …

… and of course the many sea monsters (grin!).

New to the festival this year was a land yachting demonstration which was great fun to watch 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 Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my dreams of buried treasure.

I’m pleased to join the Picture Inspiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as I used the rock/pebble colours and you can find beaches and seashores as part of my art journal page design.

As “B” stands for “buried treasure” and “beach”, I’m pleased to join the I spy with my little eye something beginning with “B” challenge over at Stamping Sensations.

As my treasure map goes round and round, I’m also joining the Going Round & Round challenge over at The Artistic Stamper too.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Stamps and Stencils and their It’s been a while … Anything Goes challenge.

As my page links to childhood, I’m reminding you that your still have time to join our Childhood challenge at Try it on Tuesday 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Brushed Corduroy, Salty Ocean)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Derwent Inktense Pencils (Baked Earth 1800. Willow 1900, Poppy Red 400, Field Green 1500)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Chocolate, Tan)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm, 0.5mm, 0.8mm)
• Home Bargains (Mini Stamps & Ink – Pirates)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set upper and lower case (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO135)
• Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Vintage cling mounted rubber stamps (Birdsong ICO151)
• Craft Planet Metallic Waterfall Stickers (Beach PO#9622)
• Eco Craft Go Create (Hunk of Junk Pirate Island)
• Hunkydory Luxury Toppers (Eastern Promise)
• Magenta Style Outline Stickers (Daisy Gold 93326G)
• Home Bargains Sticker Mania (Gel Stone Stickers 74748)
• UHU Stic

Creativity and Imagination

I enjoyed using my creativity and imagination to create this industrial looking page and pretty steampunk butterflies. I also had fun raiding my hubby’s tool supplies for the metal pins and washers for this page (grin!). I hope that you like it too!

To create an industrial look, I started by applying modelling paste using a Metal Grid and also a Clock background stencil from That’s Crafty! When the paste was dry, I covered the entire page in Neutral Gray Liquitex acrylic paint. I painted some Iridescent Bright Silver Liquitex Ink over and around the stencilled modeling paste and then I applied some Midnight Sparkle and Silver Grey metallic wax lustres over the top which emphasised the texture and detail of the metal grid and clocks. I also splattered the page with the same silver Liquitex ink and a copper spray to give a grungy look. Once dry, I stencilled roses onto the page using Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and a blending tool positioning them in between the metal grids and clocks. I stamped some cogs/gears using black Archival Ink and a Docrafts Steampunk stamp set and then I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

To create my steampunk butterflies I used a wonderful butterfly stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps that I recently won over at the Paperbabe Stamp Challenge. This stamp set allows you to layer all the different butterfly parts so it looks more detailed and realistic, you can even create different butterfly poses to produce flight and movement. As this is my first time using these stamps, I kept it simple and started by stamping the larger wing background layer stamp using Rusty Hinge Distress Ink onto white cardstock. Then I stamped the same cog/gear stamp, that I used on my page, over the top using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad and covered them with copper Papermania embossing powder. I removed any excess powder and used my heat gun to melt it until it turned glossy. Then I stamped the detailed wing layer stamp from the same Paperbabe Stamp set using the VersaMark ink lining up the stamps so that they fit together, covered the wings with silver Papermania embossing powder and melted it with my heat gun. I cut the butterfly out of the cardstock, edged them with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and outlined the cog/gear detail using a black Derwent Graphik marker so they stood out more. I used a metal split pin, from my hubby’s tool supplies (grin!) to create the butterfly body by simply sliding the paper butterfly into the pin and then I stuck them to the page using Glossy Accents.

The “Creativity” and “Imagination” wording is created using Tim Holtz idea-ology Label Letter stickers which are edged with a Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. To finish, I added some copper gems, some metal split lock washers, nuts, and internal tooth lock washers using Glossy Accents to stick them all in place. These metal pieces are from my hubby’s tool kit supplies and I did ask before I used them and I think they add a lovely industrial and steampunk feel to my page (grin!).

I have had a few questions about my art journal pages recently – how I photograph them, do I scan them and what I do with them, do I bind them into a book or journal?

My pages are always photographed outside in the garden in natural light and although I crop the photos to show just the actual page for my blog posts, my pages are actually all contained in a spiral bound pad. Once the journal is complete I make decorative covers on the front and back of the book. I like to look through the pages to remember what I’ve been up to and I also have a book stand in my craft room where a different page is displayed everyday from one of my Art Journals; it’s lovely to look at the page and recall the memories associated with it!

If you want to see and find out more about my art journal books then check out my post here.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m joining the T Gang and sharing a recent visit to Dahlia’s Kitchen where we had ice cream milkshakes, I have chocolate or banana milkshakes to choose from – yum! Of course they have other beverages if you would prefer – Happy T Day!

Do you remember this water feature? Well, as promised, I found out what it is…it is an old commercial potato peeling machine that has been mounted on stilts (grin!). Doesn’t it look fabulous up-cycled!

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 Bleubeard & Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover, who is hosting the Count your blessings challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I feel very blessed to be able to use my creativity and imagination when creating my art journal pages.

I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps too – thank you for the beautiful stamps!

Over at Stamps and Stencils, their challenge is Industrial/Grungy and I had fun using both stamps and stencils on this page to join their theme.

Using embossing powders to create my butterflies, I’m also joining the How can you resist? challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my Industrial inspired and styled Mixed Media page.

I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with my Creativity and Imagination art journal page.

I’m pleased to join SanDee & amelie’s Steampunk Challenges for their AnythingGoes – Steampunk/Industrial challenge as I had fun creating this industrial 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
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Neutral Gray)
• Liquitex Ink! (Iridescent Bright Silver)
• Craf-T Products Luster Rub-ons Kit #4 (Midnight Sparkle, Silver Grey)
• Michelle Marsden Crafts Scrumptious Precious Metal Spritzer (Copper)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Copper, Silver)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199, Sanguine 188 B)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• That’s Crafty! Dinky Stencils (Metal Grid Background TC041, Clock Background TC048)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Steampunk DCE907125)
• Paperbabe Stamps (Butterfly Pieridae Stamp Set)
• White cardstock
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Label Letters #TH93072)
• Metal split pins, split lock washers, nuts, internal tooth lock washers
• Docrafts Forever Friends Adhesive Dome Borders (Opulent FFS351111)
• Ranger Glossy Accents