Happy Days

Recently a good friend very kindly gave us a Food Dehydrator that she no longer uses so I thought I would create a page to remember this kindness and also the lovely apples we have been drying and eating – Happy Days!

I started by applying Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and white gesso using a sponge through a mosaic stencil from the Tim Holtz idea-ology collection. The round mosaic pattern reminded me of the trays in the dehydrator machine. Then I used some different stamps to add more detail to the background which included a blossom stamp from Stampendous using black Archival Ink, a foliage stamp from Kaisercraft using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink, and also a stitched flower stamp from Urban Stamps using Old Paper Distress Ink. Then I ripped three pieces of wallpaper; I really like the apple blossom design to remember the apples that we dried. They are edged, like all the paper pieces, using a Cold Grey Big Brush Faber-Castell marker and stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I added some pieces of spotted and flower design pink fabric washi tape to the wallpaper pieces to add some interest and colour. The apple is fussy cut from a magazine and is backed with recycled card; I layered it onto the page with a small piece of wallpaper and some worded stickers from Kaisercraft, which read “Happy Days” and “Grateful” as I am grateful for my friend’s kindness. They are stuck in place using a glue stick and outlined with a black Uni Pin marker, and I added a shadow at the base of the apple using Cold Grey and Black Faber-Castell Big Brush markers which I smudged with my finger. Next I used a stitched circle die set and my Big Shot machine to cut circles from a Kilner Jar label and stuck them to the page using a glue stick and also some double-sided foam tape; this is relevant as I bought a larger Kilner Jar, as the one pictured below was a bit too small, to store my dried apples in. Then to finish, I added some white Hessian flowers which matched the wallpaper design beautifully.

On our first attempt of using the dehydrator we made the most amazing dried apples; you need to slice them thinly and pop them into some water with lemon juice in to stop them going brown. We then used a tea towel to remove any excess water, placed them on the drying racks and sprinkled them with cinnamon and dried them in the dyhydrator.

After 8 hours of drying they were ready and we stored them in a Kilner Jar to eat as and when needed. They are very moreish and have an intense apple flavour – yum!

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 have received such kindness and have such lovely treats to eat.

As this page is a happy memory of summer, I’m also joining the Summertime challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

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

I’m pleased to join the Sketch challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps; I used the sketch to position my apple and sentiments (grin!).

I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Back to School challenge with my apple inspired page; synonymous with an apple for the teacher or for me a snack in my school bag.

Happy Days is also a song, do you remember it? I use to love watching the TV show when I was growing up too (grin!). You still have time to join the Inspired by a song 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:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Old Paper, Frayed Burlap)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Tim Holtz Layering Stencil (Mosaic THS084)
• Stampendous! Cling Rubber Stamp (Blossom Spray CRP136)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Magnolia Grove CS822)
• Docrafts Papermania Urban Stamps Craft Collections (5×5” Pastels PMA907223)
• The Works Cutting Dies (Stitched Circles)
• Wallpaper sample
• Old Magazine
• Recycled card
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS284)
• Kilner Jar Label Insert
• The Works (Fabric Tape)
• Craft Corner (Jute Shapes U-83162)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick

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Mr. and Mrs.

Having recently attended my friend’s wedding, I kept some of the table stationary and decorations as I wanted to create a journal page to keep them safe and remember the wonderful time that we had.

The question was how to include the menu, name cards and gift envelopes on my page so I could take them out and look at them in the future … then I remembered a tutorial about making Junk Journal corner pockets that my dear friend Astrid from Astrid’s Artistic Efforts published the other day and viola my problem was solved – here’s my page (grin!).

The background is stamped using three different stamps from Docrafts and three different inks, this included: a rose flower stamp using Dandelion Memento Ink as yellow roses featured in the brides bouquet, grooms lapel and table centrepieces; a rose garland stamp using Summer Sky Memento Ink as the wedding stationary was blue and white; and a music stamp using black Archival Ink as the music at the wedding was amazing with the violinists and also the band in the evening. Then continuing the yellow rose theme, I fussy cut one from an old garden book and stuck it to the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. When the gel medium was dry, I outlined the stem and leaves with a black Uni Pin marker. The lace, which reminds me of the bride’s dress, is fussy cut from some design paper and has a bleached out wood grain background which looks like the old wooden beams of the barn where the wedding was held.

For the corner pocket I used white cardstock and followed Astrid’s tutorial which you can find here; I have to say it worked like a dream – thanks so much! As you can see, I embellished the outer flap of the corner pocket using a Spellbinders die cut to add a pattern and inserted a piece of the wood grain design paper. The die was kindly gifted to me by Astrid too, thank you! I also added a piece of the fussy cut lace and then along the bottom edge I stamped yellow roses from the Docrafts stamp set using the Dandelion Memento Ink again. I finished the corner pocket with a piece of blue satin ribbon which I recycled from a birthday card. I used glue to stick the pocket in place and then added some tiny clear gems to add some sparkle and also the wooden Mr. & Mrs. and heart decorations that were on our table. To finish, I inserted the wedding menu, place markers and gift envelopes into the pocket for safe keeping (grin!).

The flowers were so beautiful at the wedding; this was our table centre piece!

As you can see the pretty yellow roses also featured on the wedding cake which looked and tasted amazing 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 Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I tried a new technique to create the corner pocket for my journal page using Astrid’s tutorial .

Over at Moo Mania & More the theme is Sheet Music so I’m pleased to join their challenge too with my music sheet stamped background.

With all the flowers that I included on my page, I’m joining in the fun over the Allsorts Challenge Blog and their Flowers all over challenge.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my Mr. and Mrs. 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:

• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Dandelion, Summer Sky)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Musicality DCE907112, Floral Icons DCE907123)
• Spellbinders Die Cut Systems Samantha Walker (Botanical & Accents)
• The Oxford Book of Garden Flowers
• Design paper bundle from local Craft Shop
• White cardstock
• Wedding Stationary – menu, name cards, gift envelopes
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Blue satin ribbon – recycled from a birthday card
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic

Agapanthus

Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge which runs for the next two weeks is Use Book Paper, so we would like to see some book, newspaper or magazine print papers of some sort on your creations.

My Design Team teamies have created some amazing inspirational pieces for you too, please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look. I decided to use book pages to create the background for my Agapanthus art journal page – I hope you like it!

I selected some Flora and Fauna pages from a Pear’s Encyclopaedia, cut them into rectangles and collaged them onto the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. Then I stamped some faux stitching around the edges of each collage piece using black Archival Ink and some new stamps by Urban Stamps which the bargain price of £1 each set at a local craft store. I also stamped a small stitched flower and a frame from the same stamp sets using the black ink again. Then I covered some of the page with a thin coating of white gesso using my finger to add a bit of depth. The agapanthus flowers are from a napkin which I separated into a single napkin layer, fussy cut and stuck in place using the Liquitex Matte Gel Medium; I love the way the napkin has melted into the background so that the text and stamping shows through. Next I created the butterflies with another new stamp set, this time from Kaisercraft, by stamping them onto Daler Rowney Mixed Media Paper using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad, covering them with black Papermania embossing powder, shaking off the excess and also tapping the paper to make sure any stray powder was removed. I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder by sweeping the gun over the stamped images, until the embossing powder melted to a glossy finish and became smooth and dimensional. I also covered some antennas, for the butterflies, that I made from wire with the black embossing powder following the same process whilst making sure I did not touch them until they were cooled as using the heat gun meant the metal wire got very hot. The butterflies are coloured using Sherbet Lemon, Sun Yellow, Tangerine, Poppy Red, Fuchsia, Violet and Antique White Derwent Inktense pencils; I picked the colour off the tip of the pencils with a wet paintbrush and then applied the colour to the butterfly wings. To finish, I stamped the sentiment from the same Kaisercraft stamp set, using black Archival Ink, into one of the frames, it reads “You are the reason I smile” and arranged the butterflies with the antennas so that their wings were folded upwards to add dimension to the page; they are stuck in place using glue dots.

As you probably know, we have been sorting out and replanting our flower beds – you can see some photos of our beds here. We have also been visiting local garden centres – Barton Grange has the best displays.

These glass agapanthus inspired my page; they can be found outside the garden centre, aren’t they amazing!

I love the blue agapanthus and bought some for our garden, I planted them into some pots so they are easier to over winter.

The water feature is beautiful too, don’t you think? …

… and inside we saw these pretty butterflies, which made me smile! So of course butterflies and the wording also feature on my page too (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, we popped into Light Ash Farm on the way home for my favourite cup of green tea and a huge piece of Lemon and Poppy Seed cake (yum!) – 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 Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun using my new stamp sets to create this page.

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Butterflies so I’m pleased to join their challenge too.

Being inspired by agapanthus and butterflies which make me smile, I’m also joining the Get Sentimental challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my Art Journaling and Mixed Media Style page.

Over at Paperbabe Stamps and their challenge is It Flies so I’m happy to join them with the butterflies that I created for my page.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the In The Summer Garden challenge over at Country View Challenges with my Agapanthus 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:

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black PMA4021006)
• Derwent Inktense Pencils (Sherbet Lemon 0100, Sun Yellow 0200, Tangerine 0300, Poppy Red 0400, Fuchsia 0700, Violet 0800, Antique White 2300)
• Docrafts Papermania Urban Stamp (Craft Collections – Pastels PMA907222 and PMA907223)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Ma Cherié CS241)
• Pear’s Cyclopaedia 2007-2008 Edition
• Caspari Napkin (Royal Horticultural Society – Agapanthus)
• Thin metal wire
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Stix 2 Mini Craft Dots

Wedding Card

Today I’m sharing the wedding card that I made for our dear friends who got married last Saturday – I hope you like it!

I started by creating a square card using white cardstock which has a glossy finish on one side, then I cut a square piece of Daler Rowney Mixed Media paper that was slightly smaller so it left a 5mm (3/16”) border when placed on top of the card. Next I stamped some tree branches from a Kaisercraft stamp set and also two lovebirds in a birdcage using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad. I covered them with white Stampendous embossing powder, shook off the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper and also tapped the paper to make sure any stray powder was removed. Then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder by sweeping the gun over the stamped images, taking care not to direct the heat in one area for too long until the embossing powder melted to a glossy finish and became smooth and dimensional. Next I applied three different Distress Inks using a blending tool to give an ombré look, which emphasised the melted embossing powder beautifully. The ink colours I used were Chipped Sapphire at the top of the card, Salty Ocean in the middle and Peacock Feathers at the bottom; I blended the colours together so one colour merged with the next. I then flicked some water onto the paper using my fingers to re-activate the ink then dabbed with a piece of kitchen towel to leave a mottled effect – I love the dreamy look this created. I edged the paper with the Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink using a blending tool and stuck it onto the card using double-sided tape. To finish, I added the sentiment topper and lots of tiny pearls to the tree branches.

For their wedding present we gifted them some money towards their honeymoon, so I created a little card wallet using a card and envelope from the Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection which I stamped using black Archival Ink; the stamps I used for the outside were an alphabet stamp from Dovecraft, a scroll stamp from Penny Black and a heart stamp from Hallmark Cards.

For the inside I used the same scroll and heart stamps and some Destination and Travel stamps from Royal & Langnickel – such fun!

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Use inks anyway you want challenge as I enjoyed using my Distress Inks with the stamped white embossing to create this card.

As I created an ombré effect with my blue inks, I’m also pleased to in the fun over at Stamps and Stencils and their Ombré challenge.

With the sparkly look I created using the Distress Ink background, white embossing and pearls, I’m also pleased to join Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Add A Little Sparkle challenge.

Over at the That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog, their challenge is Close to Nature so I’m happy to join them with the pretty branches and bird detail 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 wedding card:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Magnolia Grove CS822)
• Dovecraft Clear Stamps (Birdcage DCCS015)
• White cardstock
• Daler Rowney Mixed Media paper
• Card Topper
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Stix 2 double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Time is …

Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday is Add a Quote, and this time we are looking for your creations to include a quote rather than a sentiment. You’ll also find lots of wonderful inspiration from my fellow Design Team over at Try it on Tuesday.

Today my art journal page was inspired by the quote “Time is the most valuable thing one can spend”; it’s by Theophrastus who was an ancient Greek philosopher and pupil of Aristotle.

The quote inspired my clock background which is created using a new Kaisercraft stamp called Tic Toc and Ground Espresso Distress Ink. Next I fussy cut three rulers from a design paper sheet by American Crafts and stuck them to the page using a UHU Stic; they are outlined and distressed, like all of the paper elements, using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker, a Baked Earth Derwent Inktense pencil, a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball gel pen. I added patches of the Baked Earth Derwent Inktense pencil to the edges and background of the page, applying water over the top using a paintbrush to blend the colour. I also added some drips of Antique Linen Distress Ink by stamping the pad on an acrylic block and spritzing with water so it dripped onto the page; I love the distressed look that resulted as the inks merged together. Then I edged the page with a Sanguine and Dark Sepia Big Brush Marker. The satchel/briefcase, pocket watch and pen are rub-on transfers from Royal & Langnickel which I defined with a black Uni Pin marker so they stood out from the background more. The “Dream” butterfly ticket, chair and two flower pictures are all stickers and the different metal frames are fussy cut from a die cut topper set and stuck in place using a UHU Stic.

I added a wooden die cut decoration which says “memories” and for the quote, I cut a piece of white card and added the wording which is a rub-on transfer. Then I distressed the white card using the Antique Linen Distress Ink and mounted it onto a frame which I had die cut from some recycled paper and edged with brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. It is stuck in place using double-sided tape and edged with black Glitterations border stickers. To finish, I splattered the page with white and also black DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing an unexpected treat that I had whilst having my hair cut and coloured last week, a yummy piece of chocolate cake lovingly made by my hairdresser served with a glass of cold water – it was so rich and delicious!

Wishing you all a Happy T Day!

I know some of the T Gang requested to see some photos of the flower beds in my garden that I have been sorting out and replanting this year – if you are interested you’ll find some photos on my previous post here (grin!) – enjoy!

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun creating the distressed look and using my new craft supplies.

With the distressed look and feel of my page I’m joining the  Distress It! challenge over at The Artistic Stamper too.

I’m also joining the Get Sentimental challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my quote inspired page which I created in their Mixed Media and Vintage Styles.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Paperbabe Stamps and their Photo Inspiration challenge as I enjoyed incorporating the lovely colour palette for my design.

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 (Ground Espresso, Antique Linen)
• Derwent Inktense Pencil (Baked Earth 1800)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188 B, Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.3mm, 0.8mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Tic Toc CS796)
• Spellbinders Die Cut System (Marvellous Squares 1122)
• Brown Paper – recycled from an old notebook
• White card – Docrafts Papermania Mini Cards & Stamp Set (Capsule Geometric Krafts PMA105308)
• Royal & Langnickel Create A Collage Rub-on Transfers (Men’s Accessories #ROY-853)
• DécoTime (3D Stickers 54742)
• Craftime Colour Connection Stickers (Enchanted Brown ACO155E)
• Docrafts A5 Die Cut Toppers & Sentiments (Mr. Smith’s Workshop PMA157261)
• The Works The Crafts Place (Wooden Decorations)
• Colorbok Rub-ons (Memories Made Easy)
• Docrafts Papermania Glitterations (Black Borders ANT8181015)
• UHU Stic
• Stix 2 double-sided tape

Let your dreams take flight

Inspired by happy summer days in my garden I decided to create this page using my new art supplies and some of my favourite techniques.

I started by heat embossing the background with white embossing powder; I did this by stamping my new seed head stamp from Molly Brown using a VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad. I then covered them with white Stampendous embossing powder, shook off the excess onto a piece of scrap paper and tapped the page to ensure any stray powder was removed. Then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder by sweeping the gun over the stamped images until the embossing powder melted to a glossy finish and became smooth and dimensional; don’t they look pretty! Then I used a blending tool to add Scattered Straw, Twisted Citron and Blueprint Sketch Distress Inks over the page. I used the same inks to add a honeycomb design using a stencil that I won over at That’s Crafty! to add more depth. As Distress Inks reactivate when water is added, I sprayed the page with water and removed some of the colour with a piece of kitchen towel. I then applied the Scattered Straw, Twisted Citron and Blueprint Sketch Distress Inks using one of my favourite techniques; applying the inks to an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page which created some lovely pools and drips of ink. Then I stamped the same seed head stamp using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and splattered white and black DecoArt acrylic paint over the page using a paintbrush.

Next I collaged the paper elements which are edged with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and stuck in place using double-sided tape. The paper elements included: some paper pieces which I cut from a Kaisercraft paper sheet; a flowery picture from an old magazine; a bird, butterfly and a postcard from a set of Vintage Die Cut Shapes. The two sentiments are from a sticker set by Kaisercraft and they are edged with the Frayed Burlap ink. I chose these sentiments because seed heads remind me dandelions and making wishes as a child, so I was thinking it is important to “Dare to dream” and when you make a wish with a dandelion seed head you “Let your dreams take flight”. To finish, I added some blue enamel dome stickers and a flowery metal embellishment which is secured using a brad.

As you know my favourite colour is blue and this plant in particular was on my shopping list this year (grin!). It’s a Salvia nemorosa called “Blue Marvel” and the bees and insects love it!

The butterflies seem to like this new addition to our garden too; it’s a Scabiosa which has the loveliest pale purple flowers. A frequent visitor, a small blue butterfly called Common Blue has proved difficult to photograph, so I was pleased to find a lovely die cut blue butterfly to add to my art journal page to remember its visits.

As T Stands for Tuesday and its summer, I’m sharing a couple of cooling milkshakes that me and my Sis had at a local café in St. Annes – one is chocolate (my choice – grin!) and the other is banana; they both are made with yummy vanilla icecream!

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 Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the heat embossing and Distress Ink techniques I used on this page.

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Your Favourite Colours which gave me the perfect excuse to use blue again, thank you!

I’m also joining in the fun over at the That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog and their A Summer’s Day Challenge with my summery art journal page – thanks so much for the fabulous stencils!

As this page reminds me of my garden with the summery colours, flowers, butterflies and birds, I’m also pleased to be able to join the In The Summer Garden challenge over at Country View Challenges.

I’m happy to also join Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my summery art journal page.

With birds and butterflies, this page is also perfect for the Things with Wings challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, where there is still another week to join in the fun – 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:

• Tsukineko Versamark (Watermark Ink Pad)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Twisted Citron, Blueprint Sketch, Hickory Smoke, Frayed Burlap)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Molly Brown Rubberstamps (MB-0079E)
• That’s Crafty! Dinky Stamps (Reverse Honeycomb TC031)
• Kaisercraft Porcelain Rose Collection 12×12 Paper (Dearest P1163)
• Old Magazine
• Kaisercraft Sticker Set (Fly Free SS289)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Vintage Die Cut Shapes)
• Docrafts Papermania Stickers (Enamel Shapes – Denium Blue Domes PMA3560011)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Metal Decorations)
• Stix 2 Double-sided tape

Oriental Fish – Birthday Card

Following all your lovely feedback last week, I have another card to share with you that I created using the stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps that I won recently.

This card was gratefully received by a member of my family who keeps goldfish in her garden pond, I hope you like it too!

I started by cutting some white cardstock to make a square-shaped card when folded and also a square of textured paper that is slightly smaller than the card. The paper is recycled from an old birthday card and I smooshed it with some blue Distress Inks to create a water effect; I did this by applying Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean ink onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the paper. When dry, I stuck it to the card using double-sided tape and added gold cherry blossom outline stickers diagonally across the card and also some gold border outline stickers around the edge to frame it. Next I stamped the beautiful fish from Paperbabe Stamps onto plain white card using Spiced Marmalade and Festive Berries Distress Ink and fussy cut them out; I stamped it by applying the Spiced Marmalade ink to the whole stamp and then I added the Festive Berries ink around the outside of the stamp. They are stuck in place using a UHU Stic and I added the bubbles and splash marks from the same stamp set using the blue inks. To finish, I added some glittery Icicle Sparkles by Ranger to the bubbles and a pretty “For you…” heart-shaped topper that I had in my craft stash.

If you are interested you can see the previous card that I made here.

This card reminds me of the fish we use to have in our old house, here is Popeye and his friends in the pond enjoying the sunshine; we called one of the fish Popeye as he had a funny shaped lip which reminded us of the cartoon character Popeye – “toot, toot!” (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:

Blue is my favourite colour and I love the Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean Distress Ink colours that I used to create this card, so I’m joining the lovely DT over at Moo Mania & More where there challenge is Your Favourite Colors.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, the challenge is Colour it Blue so I’m pleased to join in the fun with my blue water effect card too.

I’m also pleased to join the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where their theme is Anything Goes with my Oriental Fish birthday card.

I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my card that I created using their fabulous stamps!

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 card:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, Spiced Marmalade, Festive Berries)
• Paperbabe Stamps (Oriental Zen Stamp Set)
• Cardstock (White 200 GSM)
• Textured paper – recycled birthday card
• Francoise Collection Outline Stickers (Gold 2238)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Straight Line Borders – Gold)
• Heart-shaped Topper
• Ranger Stickles (Icicle)
• UHU Stic
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape