Sisters

This page was inspired by my sister; we go to Aqua Aerobics every week together where you’ll find us singing along to the songs and giggling (a lot – smile!).

Purple is my sister’s favourite colour, so I started by painting a purple wash around the edges of the page; gradually pulling the colour into the centre so that the purple faded out in the centre. Then to make the centre brighter, I added some white acrylic paint blending it with the purple using a baby wipe. Next I used a stencil, around the edges of the page, to add some Ranger Texture paste which I had coloured using DecoArt Glamour Dust Purple Passion Glitter Paint, and then I left it to dry. The wording was a Kaisercraft sticker and reads “Giggles, secrets, sometimes tears, sisters and friends, through the years”. I added some little hearts that were cut from the sticker cardstock using a heart shaped punch. Finally I arranged the paper flowers and assorted gems, which my sister gifted me one Christmas (thank you!).

There’s still another week to join our Inspired By A Song challenge over at Try it on Tuesday; me and my sister always enjoy singing and “Sisters” is a favourite of ours.

Of course, the Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye lip-synced version is fab and so much fun (smile!); both are from the same film, White Christmas.

As part of my birthday present this year, my sister kindly treated me to some Purple Moose beers; here we have Elderflower Ale (Pale Ale), Chocolate Moose (Chocolate and Vanilla Porter), High Hops (Tropical IPA), Antlered IPA (India Pale Ale) and Navigator (Red IPA).

My gift included this amazing glass, if you look closely it has lots of little white mooses all over it – yay! As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my glass and beers with the T Gang – cheers and Happy T Day!

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.

Cherry Blossom

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

My Spring page is full of cherry blossom – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the page with water and then adding Red Madder Kuretake watercolour, so it pooled on the page, and then I left it to dry. Next I stamped the blossoms using a Stampendous stamp and Picked Raspberry Distress Archival Ink. The Cherry Blossom image was recycled from an old calendar and contains a Buddha quote which reads “Learn to let go. That’s the key to happiness”.

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.

Cherry blossom always reminds me of my dear friend who lives in Maine, America. With all the Maine related T Day posts last week, you had me thinking of my dearest friend, so here’s a blast from the past from when she visited us here in the UK, we just couldn’t resist having fun (smile!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the T Gang and share a yummy Belgian Cherry Wheatbeer that we enjoyed recently – cheers and Happy T Day!

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.

Light the way

For today’s page, we are travelling back to Prague to look at the most beautiful chandelier in St. Nicholas church.

I started by covering the page with pieces of music sheet and old dictionary pages, then I applied some white gesso using a brayer and left it to dry. I stamped the script text using black Archival Ink and an Etcetera stamp set by Tim Holtz. Next, I stencilled the stars using Faded Jeans Distress Archival Ink and I also applied some of the ink around the edges of the page. Then, I used an ornate baroque style stencil to apply some Ranger Texture Paste , which I mixed with Iridescent Bright Gold Liquitex Acrylic Ink before applying it to the page. I also coloured some of the background using this gold paste by applying it with my finger. When dry, I used a Daler-Rowney gold metallic acrylic paint marker and black UniPin fine line marker to add some contrast to the stencilled gold paste. I added the metallic word stickers by Tim Holtz, which read “Enjoy today”, “Collect beautiful moments”, “Light the way” and “Find joy in the ordinary.” I splattered the page using the Gold Liquitex Acrylic Ink, and then to finish, I added the chandelier image, highlighting the candles using the gold metallic marker.

St. Nicholas Church is a late-Gothic and Baroque church located in Prague’s Old Town it was built between 1732-1737.

It has the most magnificent chandelier of antique crystals, which is 4.5m in diameter and weighs 1.5 tons.

This is one of the views from the front steps of St. Nicholas church; the Old Town Square where you’ll find an amazing Christmas market and buildings of various architectural styles. The Gothic church in the centre is Church of Our Lady before Týn and is a well-known landmark.

We headed to the Christmas market after visiting St. Nicholas church, where we enjoyed a cinnamon crepe and a hot chocolate – yum! As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m saying a big hello and welcome to the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

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 is being hosted by the lovely Vicki Parson from stampedsmiles.com and her Light challenge with my Light the way page.

Alpine Punch

It’s time for a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday, which for the next two weeks is Add Some Text.

As you can see, I used lots of text on my page; recycling a menu and book pages for the background and also some tea packaging.

I started by covering the page with text; I collaged torn pieces of Dictionary and cyclopaedia pages and also Andělský Pivovar menu, which was from my previous post (as the tea shop, that we bought the tea from, was located in the same area of Prague).

The papers were stuck in place using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium. Once dry, I added some colour using an Iced Chai Faber-Castell Gelato and edged the paper pieces using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker; smudging the colours onto the page with my finger. Next I backed the red snowflake tea packaging onto cardstock and cut out the labels. I also used the packaging to die cut a teacup, hearts, and snowflakes using three different Sizzix Thinlits sets; the Thinlits were Tea Time by Olivia Rose, Falling Hearts by Tim Holtz and Cosy Winter by Tim Holtz. I arranged them onto the page with some winter foliage, to match the wreath on the packaging, which was also die cut; from linen textured cardstock using Funky Festive Thinlits by Tim Holtz. I arranged everything onto the page using a glue tape pen and I painted some steam rising from the cup, using a sponge to apply white acrylic paint, before sticking the hearts and snowflakes in place, so they stand out more.

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 (smile!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

When we visited the Anděl district of Prague, we purchased a Christmas blended tea. The tea is called Alpský Punč, which means Alpine Punch and is a blend of black tea, raisins, apples, cinnamon, raisins, orange blossom, walnut leaves and cloves. As T Stands for T Day, I’m pleased to join Bleubeard and Elizabeth with my tea inspired page and photos – Happy T Day!

I hope 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

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Erika from BioArtGal; she has chosen It’s On The Calendar as her theme so I’m joining with my Alpine Punch tea page.

Mix It Up Challenge – MIUCB #69 Anything Goes + optional Mixed Media

Anděl Angel

Today we are in Prague, which we visited just before Christmas. My page captures a brewery that we visited, called Andělský Pivovar which was located in the Anděl (which means Angel) district.

For my page, I created a wood grain effect by colouring the background using some Tea Dye, Brushed Corduroy and Ground Espresso Distress Ink and then stamping a woodgrain effect stamp over the top. I added some thicker stripes of Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker to create wood panels and then I covered the whole page with a layer of Liquitex matte gel medium. When fully dry, I drew the angel wings onto the page using a black marker. I recycled the beer mat and some images that I cut from their menu, arranging the pieces onto the page with some gingerbread stickers.

Andělský Pivovar is a restaurant and microbrewery that we found whilst exploring the Angel area.

They offer a range of lagers, IPAs, beers and stouts.

Andělský means Angelic, so here I am being angelic whilst enjoying my Gingerbread beer which they brew especially for Christmastime – it was so delicious! As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m also sharing our beers and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

We had such a lovely time in Prague, it’s the perfect place to go if you celebrate Christmas; here we are enjoying the Anděl Christmas market – do you like my new hat? I always buy one from the markets when we visit Prague (smile).

I hope 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

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Erika from BioArtGal; she has chosen It’s On The Calendar as her theme so I’m joining with my Prague page.

Mix It Up Challenge – MIUCB #69 Anything Goes + optional Mixed Media / MIUCB #68 Winner & Top Picks

Menorca

It’s time for our first challenge of the year over at Try it on Tuesday, which for the next two weeks is Winter Blues.

I decided to escape to Cala Galdana, Menorca for my winter blues page; creating a smooshed blue background using one of my favourite techniques and recycling a postcard, calendar page, restaurant business card and napkin from our holiday travels.

For my page background, I pressed some Mermaid Lagoon and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks onto an acrylic block, spritzed the ink with water and then pressed the block onto the page. I also splattered some of the inks from the acrylic block over the page using a paint brush. Next I tore the white napkin into pieces and applied them to the page using a glue stick. I arranged the postcard, calendar picture and business card together using double-sided tape and then stamped the “Menorca” wording using a Sophisticated Script Letters stamp by Concord & 9th and some Paris Dusk Memento Ink. Then to finish, I added the “Cala Galdana” wording which was detailed on the recycled napkin.

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 the beautiful beach at Cala Galdana, Menorca.

There are lots of walking trails and you can easily walk along the beach or promenade to the other side of the horse-shaped cove.

We loved the Sa Lluna restaurant that we often visited; the people were so friendly and the food was amazing and so very yummy! We often had the three course set menu and here were some of our favourites (starting top right going around clockwise) we have: Prawn Cocktail which was very delicious with the crab sticks and pineapple that were added; stuffed aubergine with a Menorcan cheese sauce and served with salad; Fideuà which is a seafood dish that is similar to paella but with pasta noodles instead of rice; Flan de leche or crème caramel, a custard dessert with clear caramel sauce which they were kind enough to let us have as dessert with every meal, even when it wasn’t on the set menu (smile).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m also sharing our drink of Estrella Damm which is a Spanish beer and is pictured here with a very tasty lasagne – cheers and Happy T Day!

We had such a wonderful time and the weather was lovely; the perfect way to beat those winter blues!

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 Erika from BioArtGal; she has chosen It’s On The Calendar as her theme so I’m joining with my Menorca page.

Mix It Up Challenge – MIUCB #69 Anything Goes + optional Mixed Media / MIUCB #68 Winner & Top Picks

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.

Deer Family

Today’s page was a quick make on one of my mini chipboard journal pages. It features a cute deer family for our Nature challenge over at Art Journal Journey; I hope to see you there!

I started by covering the edges of my chipboard page with some Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker. Then I cut the pretty forest backdrop from a Forest paper pad by Stamperia. The deer family were die cut from some cream linen-textured cardstock using Darling Deer Sizzix Thinlits by Tim Holtz and were coloured using Ground Espresso, Brushed Corduroy and Antique Linen Distress Inks. I arranged them onto the page using a glue stick along with the wording which were from a Sentiments Word Sticker Pad by Finnabair.

You’ll also find a deer family on these pretty mugs, they often make an appearance this time of year and are pictured here with a couple of custard slices that we enjoyed with our Ceylon tea for our elevenses (yum!).

Stay safe and well!

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

Challenges

Double D Challenges – Oh Deer Challenge

Let’s Get Messy

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Let’s Get Messy.

I’d also like to send a warm welcome to the lovely Pia and the lovely Viv, who have both joined our Design Team; this is their first challenge with us so be sure to check out their blogs and show them some love!

This messy page was created using leftovers. The background was a piece of card that I used under my journal pages whilst creating them to protect the page underneath; it’s messily covered in paints, stenciling, stamping, texture paste and marker pens. It looks like I also used this card when I created some some ATCs too, as you can see from the black acrylic paint outlines. I added the flowers which I stamped sometime ago onto some white tissue paper and also the stamped typewriter which was already fussy cut out. I also found the red hearts and “Be still and listen” wording in my craft stash, so added them to my design. To finish, I stamped the word love above the typewriter and some tiny framed hearts using black Archival Ink.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from Pia and Viv as well as 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 was so pleased to meet Chris from pearshapedcrafting, one of my design team buddies from Try it on Tuesday, at Lytham Hall a few weeks ago; we had such a lovely time together – thanks so much Chris!

We had fun chatting, exploring and admiring all the beautiful snowdrops.

Of course, as T Stands for Tuesday, I also enjoyed a cuppa too with our lunch; here’s my green tea and a slice of Honeycomb Cheesecake – Happy T Day everyone and many apologies for not being around lately, I’ve had lots of family stuff going on!

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 Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Erika at her BioArtGal blog and her Seeing Red challenge with the red hearts on my page.