Blues Brothers

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which for the next two weeks is Inspired By A Song.

I took my inspiration from my hubby who loves The Blues Brothers; I hope you like it!

I started by adding the Blues Brothers image, which was a photo that I took of a mural in Spain; I printed the image, and then I stuck it onto the page using a glue stick. I used a Slimline Sunburst Stencil/Mask by Marianne Designs to apply Prize Ribbon Distress Ink, and I extended the blue sunburst lines to cover my page using some pieces of card as a mask. Next, I coloured the Blues Brothers images using a Black Faber-Castell marker, so they stood out more. Then I used the card pieces again, as a mask, to stamp two different music note stamps by Docrafts using black Archival Ink; this took quite a bit of time but I love the results (smile!).

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies.

This is my hubby’s favourite song from the movie “Everybody needs someone to love” and makes me remember, fond memories of a trip to Florida when we visited Universal Studios; the Blues Brothers turned up sirens blazing and came into the diner where we were having lunch and walked all over the tables and threw ketchup packets – they made us smile, such fun!

Hoping that you all stay safe and well! x

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

Challenges

I’m joining the lovely Valerie and her Geometric Forms challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my sunburst.

Happy New Year 2024

Here’s wishing you a wonderful New Year!

To create this page, I started by covering the page with some recycled white tissue paper using Liquitex matte gel medium, and I scrunched the tissue paper as I applied it to the page to add some texture (because I wanted to emphasis it using a heat embossing technique). Next I coloured the whole page using Aqua Green and Cerulean Blue Liquitex acrylic paints and when the paint was dry, I heat embossed some Gold Ranger Embossing powder over the top, to emphasise the tissue paper texture, creating my wintery night sky. The gold moon was the seal from the top of a new pot of Liquitex matte gel medium which I recycled. To finish, I added the gold stars, houses and wording which were all outline stickers; it reads “Here’s wishing you a wonderful New Year”.

How about welcoming in the New Year with a cocktail of pineapple gin and cream soda; the pineapple gin was homemade by soaking pineapple fruit pieces in gin with some sugar for 4 weeks – so yummy!

We could also have these Piña Colada cocktails that we had one evening (well actually, more like every evening … ha, ha) at our hotel when we were on holiday in Spain (2023) and they were so delicious – cheers!

As were having pineapple gin and Piña Coladas, I’m happy to say hello and welcome to Bleubeard & Elizabeth and all the T Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday – Happy T Tuesday (smile!).

All the best for 2024, wishing you peace, good health and happiness! x

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Wendy K from Wendy’s Craft Journal; she has chosen Above Us Only Sky as her theme so I’m joining with my starry New Year sky.

Merry Christmas Trees

I really enjoy creating these mini art journal pages in my chipboard art journal, and I had lots of fun creating this page to wish you all a very Merry Christmas (smile!).

For the background, I applied some Salvaged Patina Distress Paint and a tiny amount of black DecoArt acrylic paint to dull the colour using a palette knife; leaving some of the chipboard showing through. When dry, I stencilled a Vintage Diamond design by Creative Expressions using Black Soot Distress Ink. Then I added the gold Christmas tree and gold and white stars outline stickers, and I splattered the page with white acrylic paint to a create snowy effect. To finish, I added the Merry Christmas tag which was recycled from a present and I embellished it with a turquoise brad and one of the little star stickers.

We recently enjoyed some drinks with our friends at a local café, and was surprised to find these little Christmas trees on the top of the cappuccino and hot chocolate (smile!). I’m so happy to joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth and the rest of the T Gang over at T Stands For Tuesday with my drinks today – I hope you are all keeping well, sending you Season’s Greetings!

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well and wishing you a very Merry Christmas! x

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Wendy K from Wendy’s Craft Journal; she has chosen Above Us Only Sky as her theme so I’m joining with my starry snowy sky.

Dear Santa

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.

This was such a fun page to create and I love the Santa image – doesn’t he look jolly (smile!).

I started by covering a chipboard page with the “Dear Santa” paper that was from a letter pack to Santa (it was in the sale and I thought it would look good on one of my pages). Then I distressed the edges of the page using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker, and I stamped some snowflakes using Toffee Crunch Memento Ink. The jolly Santa was from a Tim Holtz Christmas Ephemera pack and the wording I put together from a Tim Holtz Christmas sticker pack; it reads “The children were nestled all snug in their beds, Off to the land of dreams. When, from far up the chimney, Santa Claus came. Happy smiles and twinkling eyes, This very merry night”. To finish, some gold star outline stickers added some sparkle.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

Here’s another very jolly Santa that you will find on my Christmas Tree, it’s an old fashioned design (made of metal) and was from a local shop – wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Traditional Christmas

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Traditional Christmas.

I had fun creating this page which features traditional Christmas colours and images (smile!).

I started by stamping the foliage onto the page using Cottage Ivy Memento Ink. The pretty robin and foliage were cut from a party cracker that I recycled from last Christmas. I arranged them onto the page using a glue stick and then I edged them using some washi tapes. I finished the page by adding gold snowflakes and stars, which were outline stickers.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

These were the party crackers that we enjoyed last year at my family’s Christmas celebrations; I loved the beautiful festive foliage and of course the robin, which is my favourite bird especially at Christmas time (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

Art Journal Journey which I’m pleased to be hosting this month and the challenge theme that I’ve chosen is Nature.

MIUCB #68: Nov 1 – Dec 15 — Anything Goes + optional Stamping (rubber/clear – no digis)

I’d send you a blizzard

Robins are my favourite bird, and are synonymous with winter which is just around the corner. So when my hubby kindly bought me a gift with robins and this wonderful quote, I knew I had to use both on my page – I hope you like it!

I started by creating a masterboard from mixed media paper by first stamping the robin image using black Archival Ink and black Ranger Embossing powder. Next, I stamped the pretty snowflakes using the Simon Says Stamp Frozen Fractals stamp set and Versamark Watermark ink which I covered with white Stampendous embossing powder. For each of the embossing powders, I shook and tapped any excess powder off the page and then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder until it became smooth and dimensional with a glossy finish. I positioned a circular template onto the page to depict the sun and then I painted the different elements using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolour paint set: for the sky background, I flooded the page with water first and then applied Ultramarine Pale, Ultramarine and Turquoise Blue colours using my paintbrush, gradually shading and blending the paints; for the robin image, I used Red, Lemon Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Black, Sap Green Light, Sap Green, Hooker’s Green and Viridian paints; and for the sun I removed the sun template and applied some watered-down Lemon Yellow paint. Then I ripped the masterboard into pieces and arranged them onto my chipboard page using a glue stick. To finish, I added the wording which was stamped onto white cardstock using black Archival Ink.

Here’s the pretty plaque that my hubby gifted me, it take pride of place on my dresser so I see it every day (smile!).

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

Challenges

Art Journal Journey which I’m pleased to be hosting this month and the challenge theme that I’ve chosen is Nature, with my wintery robin page.

MIUCB #68: Nov 1 – Dec 15 — Anything Goes + optional Stamping (rubber/clear – no digis)

Winter Magic

My page today is for our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Baby It’s Cold Outside and features a pretty bird enjoying the cold!

I started by stamping three different foliage stamps onto the page using Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint Distress Archival Ink and Pine Needles Distress Ink. While the inks were still wet, I used a wet wipe to mute and smudge the colours. Next I added the bird photo, which was cut from an old magazine and framed with some leftover stitched design paper. The pine cones and holly were cut using Funky Festive Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from different colours of Kraft Cardstock-Classic by Tim Holtz and layered together. To finish, I added the topper wording by Docrafts which I backed with some leftover papers.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

I enjoy watching the birds in the garden this time of year, here’s an Eurasian Blue Tit (as featured on my page) visiting our feeder – so pretty (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

Art Journal Journey which I’m pleased to be hosting this month and the challenge theme that I’ve chosen is Nature.

Triple B Challenge Blog – Birds, Butterflies & Blooms – November Challenge

Lake Garda by Tandem

We really enjoyed our holiday in Torbole which is in Lake Garda, Italy. There are lots of biking trails there, so we decided to hire a tandem to explore. Here’s the page that I created to remember the fun we had!

The background collage was created using a map given to us by the bike rental company and also some grid paper by Docrafts. I added our hotel’s business card to the top right-hand corner as they were affiliated with the bike hire company which means we got a discount on our bike hire. The flowers, foliage, hearts, bike, bear (my hubby as he rides up front) and hedgehog (me) were die cut from Tim Holtz Kraft Cardstock – Basics using a Sizzix Thinlits set by Olivia Rose; I created the tandem by cutting and piecing together the two different bike die cuts from the set. Then I arranged everything onto the page using glue dot tape by Crafter’s Companion.

The trails around Torbole are dedicated to bikes, so they are paved and there are no cars. As shown on the map on my page, we headed from Torbole to Arco and then Dro along the river.

The scenery was beautiful and so breathtaking!

On the way to Dro, we saw the castle at Arco.

We had such a wonderful time and we stopped along the way for food and drinks; here we are in Arco.

Once back in Torbole, we headed to Riva along the bike trail alongside the lake.

The tandem we hired happened to be electric, we haven’t been on an electric bike before and my hubby was a bit frugal with the electricity; we found that out on returning the bike when we were told that we must have worked hard as we’d only used 20% of the electricity (smile!). Maybe next time we might not work so hard, it doesn’t make a difference though as we had such a wonderful time.

I hope you enjoyed riding with us around Lake Garda.

Thanks for joining me today and please feel free to leave a comment below. Stay safe and well!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Neet from Hickydorums this  month, who has chosen In Gear as her theme with the bike gears on my page.

Collect Beautiful Moments

It’s the first of the month so it’s time for a new challenge at Country View Challenges which is Vintage, and is being hosted by the lovely Craftyfield.

As Vintage is one of my favourite styles, this challenge gave me the excuse to create this old-fashioned distressed page using Tim Holtz products.

All the flowers on this page were stencilled using a Floral Stencil by Tim Holtz; first I used it to apply some Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the chipboard page and then some white gesso which I left it to dry overnight. I painted around the edges of the flowers and foliage using Ground Espresso Distress Ink to make them stand out more. Then, to give the white flowers and foliage more of a Vintage look, I dragged an Antique Linen Distress Ink pad over the top and then I splattered the Vintage Photo ink over the whole page. I added the script text using black Archival Ink and an Etcetera stamp set by Tim Holtz and the “Collect beautiful moments” wording, which was a Metallic sticker by Tim Holtz. To finish, I splattered the page with as white and black DecoArt acrylic paints.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

We are looking forward to seeing your makes and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the shop, Country View Crafts! Before you enter your project though, please read the rules.

The blossoms on my page remind me of the ones on the apple trees in our garden, it seems that everything is in full bloom all of a sudden (smile!).

Stay safe and well! x

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

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog and their Challenge #70 – Anything Goes with my vintage art journal page.

Stencil Fun Challenge and their June Stencil Fun – Anything Goes challenge, as I had fun using the stencilling all the flowers on this page.

Emboss It! … at Sparkles Monthly Challenge

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Emboss It!

I’m pleased to be hosting this month and I hope you like the theme that I chose; we would like you to include an embossing folder or embossing powder/enamel as part of your papercraft designs. For my card, I used an Arched embossing folder by Tim Holtz (smile!).

I started by cutting a piece of Kraft cardstock 6x4inches to fit my blank card and then I embossed it with an arch design using an Arched Embossing Folder by Tim Holtz. I highlighted the 3-D embossed design by running a Moonlight White Brilliance Ink Pad over the top. Next I die cut an oval from the embossed cardstock and also from a piece of white card using a Shapes Die Set by Marianne Designs. I layered them all together with a striped design paper for the background and also a pretty pink flower. The flower was created using a Flower Garden stamp by Tim Holtz, which I stamped onto mixed media paper using black Archival Ink, coloured using Kuretake watercolour paints and fussy cut out. The Kuretake paint colours I used were Rose Madder, Dark Rose Madder and White for the flower petals and Sap Green and Dark Sap Green for the foliage. To finish, I added a piece of lace and the “Happy Birthday” wording, which I stamped onto a piece of white card.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing papercraft projects from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us. Please be sure to check out the rules here.

With the arches on this card, we are going back to a part of Venice where arches abound, Piazza San Marco also known as St. Marks Square. This Square contains some of the most famous buildings in Venice, here is St. Marks Clocktower. It was constructed above a high archway that leads back to the Rialto (where we visited on my last post) and was completed in 1849.

The beautiful Basilica dominates the Square.

It is so intricately detailed, with its great arches and marble, and the gold and fresco decorations are breathtaking.

St. Mark’s Campanile is a free standing tower in the Piazza, that was rebuilt in 1912, as the former Campanile collapsed in 1902.

This is a view of the Piazzetta (little Piazza/Square), which is an extension of the St. Mark’s Square looking towards San Marco basin (an area of the Venetian Lagoon). The Doge’s Palace is on the left and the library is on the right, and there are two columns at the end, one topped with the “Lion of Venice” and the other with a statue of “St. Theodore”.

I hope that you are enjoying visiting Venice with me (smile!).

Stay safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog and their Challenge #69 – Anything Goes with my birthday card.

Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge Blog and their Anything Goes with a twist of Clouds challenge with the embossing folder that I used to create this card.

Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies with the pretty pink flower on my card.