Ceylon Tea

We bought some new Ceylon Tea recently so I thought I’d have some fun and create an art journal page with the packaging that was sitting on my craft desk (grin!).

I started by mixing some yellow, red and black acrylic paints to create a medium tea colour and then applied it to the page using an old gift card. I used a wet paintbrush to move the colour around to cover the page giving it a grungy look. On the lighter painted areas of the page, I stamped a crackle effect using a BoBunny stamp and Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Next I added some black flowers, oriental shapes and leaves which are rub-on transfers from Kaisercraft. I die cut the tea packaging using circular, square and flower shape doily die cuts and then I arranged them onto the page using double-sided foam tape and a glue stick. I stencilled a criss-cross lattice pattern using Ranger Texture Paste and then I splattered the page with white and also black acrylic paint. When dry, I coloured the criss-cross shapes with a white Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which finished the page. 

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m having a cup of Ceylon Tea today and joining the T Gang – Happy T Day everyone!

Ceylon tea is a popular type of black tea that is also known as Sri Lankan tea as it is produced on the island of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon. This particular blend is rich amber in colour and has a zesty aroma with a fresh and bold flavour which makes it a refreshing and energising cuppa any time of the day. It’s suggested to have the following health benefits too:

• Weight loss by increasing your metabolism, which may help increase energy and help your body burn fat.
• Boosting your immune system being rich in antioxidants, which may increase white blood cells, boost the immune system, and help the body fight disease-causing viruses and harmful bacteria.
• Ceylon tea contains potassium which relaxes the tension in your blood vessels and arteries.
• Reducing blood glucose levels which may help prevent the spikes and drops that can be dangerous for people with diabetes.
• Skin elasticity as some of the antioxidants in Ceylon tea are linked to reducing collagen loss in the skin.

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

Hoping that you’re all stay safe and well! x

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month with flowers I included on this page.

I’m pleased to join in the Tea Party challenge over at Country View Challenges with my Ceylon Tea art journal page.

I’m joining in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their We’re All A Buzz challenge with my Ceylon Tea page as this tea energises you, giving you a buzz (grin!).

Don’t forget that you still have time to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog too, it would be lovely to see you there!

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Red Medium Hue, Cadmium Yellow Medium)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• BoBunny Stamp (Rough It Up Item# 12105155)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
• Kaisercraft Rub-ons (Lush Collection – Black & White RB867)
• Tea box packaging
• The Works Cutting Dies (Circles 211766, Squares 211759, Circular Doily 251335)
• X-Press It! double-sided foam tape
• Pritt Stick
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (White 101)

Colour me beautiful

Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Lovely Ladies.

We are asking that your page is not just feminine but also features a female image too. I used stamps to add the female images to the background of my page and fussy cut some old magazine images for the two lovely ladies – don’t you just love that hat!

For the background, I applied Antique Linen Distress Ink and Angel Pink Memento Ink to the page by applying the ink pads directly to the paper and pulling them vertically down the page to create stripes. Then I used a wet paintbrush to soften and blend the inks a little. Once dry, I stamped the cameos, perfume bottles and filigree over the background with a Kaisercraft stamp set using black Archival Ink. Next I applied some white gesso using my finger over some of the stamped images to push them back and add some depth to the design. My two lovely ladies and wording were fussy cut from some old magazines and stuck in place using a glue stick. I edged the wording with some black Glitterations border stickers and then stuck some striped black and white ribbon under the images. To finish, I added two large clear gemstones to the ends of the ribbon and three pretty pink acrylic daisy flowers.

I hope that you are inspired to join us too, for more inspiration my Design Teamies have created some Lovely Ladies creations for you over at Try it on Tuesday, so please pop over and take a look (grin!).

I’m also pleased to join the lovely Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month with pink flowers on this page.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I think the glamorous ladies on my page might enjoy a Poinsettia which is a cocktail made from Cranberry Juice, Orange Liqueur and Prosecco. Here we are serving them in a posh champagne glass – cheers and Happy T Day!

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.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Angel Pink)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (75 Cents CS864)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Old Magazines
• Pritt Stick
• Docrafts Papermania Glitterations (Black Borders ANT8181015)
• Craft Sensations (Self-Adhesive Deco Ribbons CRO244/16R)
• Poundworld DecoTime Scrapbook Accessories (Gems Art#54745)
• Stix2 Glue Dots
• Home Bargains Crafty Things (Acrylic Daisy Stickers 50650)

Unbirthday Tea Party

I thought I’d have some fun creating an Alice in Wonderland page to celebrate our three hundred and sixty four unbirthdays – a very merry unbirthday to you!

I started by ripping an Alice in Wonderland Paper Tissue into pieces and then sticking the different characters and flowers onto the page using a glue stick and some Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry, I added the club, spade, heart and diamond playing card images using a stamp set from Studio G and black Archival Ink. Next I added the wording which reads “A very merry unbirthday … with another cup of tea” and is taken from the song in the Disney animation of “Alice in Wonderland”. The letters are from Docrafts and once arranged I covered them with some Liquitex matte gel medium to hold them securely in place. To finish, I added some gold glitter enamel dots.

This song always makes me smile, here are some of the lyrics too:

A very merry unbirthday To me … To who? … To me … Oh you! A very merry unbirthday to you Who me? … Yes, you! … Oh, me! Let’s all congratulate us with another cup of tea A very merry unbirthday to you!

As we are having an unbirthday tea party today, I baked a Victoria Sponge and filled it with homemade Bramble Jelly and lightly whipped cream to celebrate – yum (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m also sharing my post with the T Gang (did you notice the Mad Hatter on my page is holding a teacup) and wishing you all a Very Merry Unbirthday T Day; don’t forget to help yourself to a slice of cake (double grin!).

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 pleased to join the lovely Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month with the flowers on my page.

I’m pleased to join in the Tea Party challenge over at Country View Challenges with Unbirthday Tea Party page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my unbirthday page.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Caspari Paper Pocket Tissues (Alice in wonderland in a winter garden)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Studio G Clear Stamps (VS4911 Series 11)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Docrafts A4 Ultimate Die-Cut & paper Pack (Folk Christmas PMA160933)
• Dovecraft Premium (Festive Wonder Glitter Enamel Dots DCDOT036X18)

See the Magic

Time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday so for the next two weeks we are asking you to Have fun with stencils. 

I had lots of fun with stencils to create this art journal page, can you see the magic (grin!).

I started by applying Ranger Texture Paste using a Tim Holtz Floral stencil around the right-hand side, top and left-hand side of the page and left it to dry. Then I applied some Bright Aqua Green, Magenta and Cadmium Yellow Liquitex acrylic paints over the whole page including the texture paste. Next I painted some white gesso to lighten the centre of the page so it looked like the sun is streaming through the flowers and foliage. Then I applied some of the Magenta paint using a brayer over the stencilled texture paste which gave a lovely effect highlighting different areas of the flowers with colour. I used the brayer again to apply some of the Magenta paint to some flower stamps from Gummiapan and Carabelle Studios, stamping them in the foreground; I made sure that I cleaned the stamps immediately so the paint didn’t dry on them. Then I splattered the page with some black DecoArt acrylic paint.

Next I stamped some tiny stars and the wording “See the magic” using a Paperbabes Stamps stamp set and black Archival Ink. I edged the page with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stamped a grid design from Sheena using the black Archival Ink. Then I added more detail to the flowers by painting them using the Magenta and black acrylic paints and adding highlights using a white Uniball gel pen which finished the page.

For more inspiration check out the amazing creations from my Design Teamies over at Try it on Tuesday who had fun with stencils too!

Some of you were asking if I had candles on the birthday cake that I made, as you can see I did – well just one candle (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing a piece of my birthday cake with my cuppa today! It was so yummy, if you missed it in my previous post it’s a homemade Victoria sponge cake filled with butter cream and cherry jam and topped with pink and white royal icing in a feathered design (double grin!) – Happy T day!

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 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 happy to join the lovely Valerie from Bastelmania over at Art Journal Journey and her Geometric Shapes challenge this month with the grid stamp I used on this page.

As birthdays are magical, I’m pleased to be able to join the Birthdays challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my See the Magic page too.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Spring Moodboard challenge with the colours and flowers that I included on this page.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Tim Holtz Layering Stencils (Floral THS077)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Liquitex Artist Basics Acrylic (Bright Aqua Green, Quinacridone Magenta, Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger (Mini Brayer)
• Gummiapan Stamps (Large Rubbeckia 15030501)
• Carabelle Studios Art Stamp (SA60175 Dans la Nature, il y a …)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Paperbabe Stamps (Flourish &  Grow Stamp Set)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Artist Pitt Pen (Black 199)
• Sheena Douglas Create A Flower Rubber Stamp (Funky Textures 2 SD-CAFS-FT2)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)

Past birthday celebrations at Zen

I have happy memories of past birthdays, spending time with friends at the Zen Restaurant. We like to go each year but with everything going on, we stayed at home this year so I decided to create this page to celebrate instead (grin!).

I started by applying some gold metallic paint to the background using a brayer and then stamping the same gold paint using a Serpentine background stamp from Art Impressions. Then I stamped some pretty fish using an Oriental Zen stamp set from Paperbabes Stamps and Toffee Crunch Memento Ink. Next I added some stickers and the business card from the restaurant, then the orchids which are napkins which I stuck in place using a very thin layer of Liquitex Matte Gel. The lanterns, dragon statue and tea pot are fussy cut from some old magazines and stuck in place using a glue stick. Then to finish, I added some gold glitter enamel dots.

The Zen Restaurant specialises in Thai and Chinese cuisine, and the interior of the restaurant is beautifully decorated with lanterns and the napkin rings are orchids which I included as part of my page design.

The gold, swirls and fish on this lovely painting at the restaurant also inspired my page design.

The food is delicious and I always have the Salt & Pepper Squid starter.

This is Sizzling King Prawns with Ginger and Spring Onions with jasmine rice.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m also sharing this fabulous teapot with a dragon design containing Chinese tea, isn’t it beautiful – Happy T day!

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

I’m happy to join the lovely Valerie from Bastelmania over at Art Journal Journey and her Geometric Shapes challenge this month with the rectangles and dots on this page.

I’m pleased to join in the Animal Magic challenge over at Country View Challenges with the fish and magical dragon on this page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Birthdays challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my birthday celebration page too.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Happy Birthday! challenge too as I created this page to celebrate my birthday – Happy Birthday to SSSWC too!

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Poundland Metallic Acylic Paint (Gold)
• Art Impressions Wood Mounted Rubber Stamp (Serpentine Background T2773)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Toffee Crunch)
• Paperbabe Stamps (Oriental Zen Stamp Set)
• Orchid napkin
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Penny Black Stickeroos (Unfolding #10-160)
• Business Card – Zen Restaurant
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Old Magazines
• Pritt Stick
• Dovecraft Premium (Glitter Enamel Dots DCDOT036X18)

Hope anchors the soul

The agapanthus has just started shooting in our garden so when I came across this inspirational quote “Hope anchors the soul” whilst crafting, I was inspired to create this page. It seemed very poignant with the difficulties the world is facing at the moment – wishing you all well and hoping that you stay safe and healthy!

I started by covering the page with various stamps using black Archival Ink; the stamps included a Parisian Beau Collage stamp from Crafter’s Companion and a Provincial and also a 75 Cents stamp set from Kaisercraft. Next I applied Acqua Dolce, Earl Grey and Caramel Faber-Castell Gelatos by scribbling them onto the page and using my wet finger to spread the colour vertically down the page. Then I stencilled an Ornamental stencil from Creative Expressions using Vintage Linen Distress Ink. The agapanthus flowers are napkin which I stuck down using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium (this was a mistake as it got far too wet, I should have used a UHU Stic and then the gel medium around the edges). When dry I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint. The wording “Hope anchors the soul” is a sticker from Kaisercraft which I coloured along the edges with some Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and an Amethyst Winsor & Newton Promarker. It’s stuck in place along with a purple flower and some die cut foliage; I used a Garden Greens Thinlet for the foliage which was cut from some white card that I had coloured using Twisted Citron Distress Ink and Cottage Ivy Memento Ink. To finish, I added lots of clear diamante gems to add some sparkle.

As this page has Parisian references, I’m sharing these strawberry tarts that my hubby bought me for Valentine’s this year which always remind me of our travels to Paris; you may remember them from my post last month.

I thought you may like to see what the tart looks like inside; it’s a short crust pastry case filled with crème pâtissière (vanilla pastry cream) with glazed strawberries on the top, so delicious! As T Stands for Tuesday I’m also sharing my cuppa and saying a big hello to the T Gang – Happy T Day!

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Eileen from The Artful Crafter and her Green challenge over at Art Journal Journey this month with the predominant green foliage on my page.

Don’t forget that you still have until next Tuesday to join our Home Sweet Home/Where you would like to live challenge (for this page I incorporated the two with the agapanthus from our garden/and who wouldn’t want to live in Paris) over at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be lovely to see you there!

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Crafter’s Companion Parisian Collection Clear Acrylic A6 Stamp (Beau Collage)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Provincial CS243, 75 Cents CS864)
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Acqua Dolce, Earl Grey, Caramel)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Ornamental)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen, Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron)
• Napkin
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Book (Antiquities SK807)
• Winsor & Newton Promarker (Amethyst V626)
• Poundland (Flower  – Accessories Pack 60911)
• White cardstock
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Garden Greens 661206)
• Zig Memory System 2-way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• The Works (Jewel Stickers)

Our friendship is like a cup of tea …

This page is inspired by some new green tea from the Tea & Biscuit Club in Arundel; the tea we chose was Spanish Orange Green Tea (grin!).

I started by covering the page with Metallic Mint, Iced Coffee and Gold Champagne Faber-Castell Gelatos by scribbling them onto the page and blending the colour with a wet finger. Then I sprayed some White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray through a Tim Holtz Stencil and left it to dry. Next I die cut the trellis from some gold paper recycled from a bar of chocolate and stuck them along with some of the cut outs onto the page using a Zig glue pen. Then I used a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker to add a shadow along edges of the trellis and cut outs to give a 3D effect; I love the way it looks as though the trellis is standing out from the page. I added the wording which is a Kaisercraft sticker edged with the Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker; it reads “Our friendship is like a cup of tea, a special blend of you and me”. To finish, I added a pretty Chinese tea image, with flowers which look a little like orange blossom, which is from a Kanban topper set using glue dots to stick it in place.

You may remember Arundel from my last post, if you want to see the castle and our walk, please see my Arundel Treasures post. This is The Tea & Biscuit Club shop we always visit to buy our tea; they have quite an array of loose leaf tea, which they create and blend on the premises.

We chose Spanish Orange Green Tea which is light green tea with rosehip, hibiscus, orange peel, calendula and sunflower petals, giving a vanilla aroma and a soft fruity taste. It’s very refreshing and as T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my tea with the T gang and wishing you all a very Happy T day!

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

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 Eileen from The Artful Crafter and her Green challenge over at Art Journal Journey this month with green tea page.

I’m joining in the Something Feminine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my friendship art journal page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page too.

I’m also joining in the A Bit’O Green challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my green tea art journal page.

Don’t forget that you still have time to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge over at Creative Artiste, it would be lovely to see you there!

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Faber-Castell Gelato (Metallic Mint, Iced Coffee, Gold Champagne)
• Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray (White Linen)
• Tim Holtz Layering Mini Stencil (Set 16 THMST016)
• Gold Recycled Paper
• The Works (Cutting Dies – Trellis)
• Zig Memeory System 2-way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (High Tea SS336)
• Kanban Paper Craft Toppers (Flowers & Cupcakes 900858)
• Stix2 Glue Dots