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.
I am so delighted to be hosting Art Journal Journey this month and the challenge theme that I have chosen for this month is Texture.
We would like you to have fun creating texture on your pages. As you can see from the different panels on my page there are lots of possibilities to create texture. This could be by adding texture paste, crackle paste, high density mediums like gesso, paints or embossing powder. You could also use embossing folders, layers of papers, die cuts, fabrics or chipboard pieces too. The choice is yours!
I couldn’t just choose one texture so I decided to create my page using 21 different texture panels to inspire you and as I started creating the panels they turned into little scenes, I hope you like them (grin!).
If you’re interested, here’s close up pictures and full details of how the panels that make up my page were created. There’s also a list of all materials I used at the end of this post too.
1. Foil For my first panel, I stamped a dragonfly using black Archival Ink onto some coloured foil, which is recycled from an Easter egg wrapper. I stuck it onto the panel using a glue stick and to create the worn textured look I added some black Archival Ink to emphasis the creases and then I rubbed the foil back to its base silver colour with a baby wipe. To finish I added the glittery flower.
2. Teabags & staples Using staples I attached a used teabag to the panel and then I stuck three teacups on the top which were die cut from some design paper.
3. Glass beads I coloured the panel with some Summer Sky Memento Ink and then applied Liquitex Glass Beads Texture Gel over the top with a palette knife. Whilst the medium was still wet I pressed some pretty blue glass beads into the texture gel. When dry I added the little orange fish which is a brad.
4. Dried leaves I used matte gel medium to layer together a yellow skeleton leaf, a dried beech leaf and a die cut flower, which was cut from some linen textured paper using a Wildflower Tim Holtz Thinlet.
5. Fabric, threads and lace The panel was covered with some self-adhesive fabric and layered with a piece of frayed muslin, some Hessian/burlap and some threads which I topped with a lace flower.
6. Corrugated card I added a piece of corrugated card, which was recycled from some packaging, using matte gel medium then applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top. When dry, I emphasised the corrugations using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. The postage stamp is from Graphic 45 and was distressed using the Dark Sepia marker, Tea Dye Distress Ink and black acrylic paint.
7. Elastic bands I applied some matte gel medium to the panel and sprinkled on some Orthodontic elastic bands that CJ kindly set to me (grin!). When dry I covered them with white gesso and highlighted the circles using a Dark Sepia marker. Then I edged the panel using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and coloured some of the circle centres using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. To finish, I added three little hearts that were in my craft stash; they were created using the Falling Hearts Thinlet set from Tim Holtz and glossy white cardstock.
8. Crackle I covered the panel with white gesso and when it was dry I applied Earl Grey, Caramel and Coconut Faber-Castell Gelatos smudging the colours with my finger. To create the crackle I used a BoBunny stamp and some Toffee Crisp and Rich Cocoa Momento inks and Black Archival ink.
All the letters for the “texture” wording were created using an X-Cut die set; they were cut from both black and white paper and then layered together onto a panel of textured design paper.
9. Glitter I cut some different coloured glitter sheets into squares and then stuck them onto the panel using a glue stick.
10. Cork I simply stuck a piece of cork designed paper onto the panel.
11. Paint Splatter To add more texture I used some high density Liquitex paint, splattering Vivid Lime Green, Cold Grey and Bright Aqua Green onto the panel and leaving it to dry.
12. Wood This is one of my favourite techniques; I applied Tea Dye, Brushed Corduroy and Ground Espresso Distress Ink pads vertically down the panel and used a paint brush to add some matte gel medium over the top keeping the brush strokes in a vertical direction. I repeated the process a couple of times making sure each layer dried before adding the next.
13. Texture paste I applied some Ranger Texture Paste to the panel using a Vintage Diamond stencil. When dry I coloured the panel using Salty Ocean and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks, then emphasised the texture paste using some Midnight Sparkle lustre wax.
14. Napkin I simply covered the panel with a gold embossed napkin using a glue stick.
15. Wooden chipboard pieces and rust effect I started by sticking the cogs in place using matte gel medium. When dry I added layers of different shades of rust and brown acrylic paints which I had created by mixing Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow and black acrylic paints. When dry I added more detail using Dark Sepia and a Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. Then I added some patina by lightly stippling some Bright Aqua Green acrylic paint over the top.
16. Paper layers I covered the panel with leftover paper pieces and edged them using a black Uni Pin marker. The flower is a paper sticker and the foliage was cut using a Funky Floral Thinlet from Tim Holtz and coloured using two green Winsor & Newton Promarkers.
17. Doily and gems I added lots of texture to the panel using layers of doily which I edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia marker. They are stuck in place using double-sided tape and then embellished with some textured gemstones to add some shimmer and shine.
18. Embossing Folder, thread and buttons I used an embossing folder to add a flower design to a piece of Kraft cardstock and then coloured the raised embossed design using a white Uniball gel pen and Aqua Green Promarker. Then I wound some wax thread around the panel and attached a big button.
19. Drywall/Plasterboard Tape I added some drywall/plasterboard tape to the panel and coloured it using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray. I splattered the panel with black DecoArt acrylic paint and added some washi tape to create the foreground. Then I added the mushrooms which are from the Field Notes Ephemera Set from Tim Holtz.
20. Embossing enamel and die cut trellis The panel background was coloured using Tea Dye and Antique Linen Distress Ink and Dandelion and Pistachio Memento Ink. The trellis was die cut from white cardstock covered in black Archival Ink and Chunky Silver Stampendous embossing enamel. I added two little birds which were stamped using black Archival Ink, coloured with Promarkers and fussy cut out.
21. Tissue Paper For the final panel, I crumpled some white tissue paper and then added it to the panel using matte gel medium. When dry, I coloured it with Lemon, Cadmium Yellow, Cerulean Blue, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna watercolour paint. The flower was cut from some Kanban cardstock using a Wildflower Tim Holtz Thinlet.
Once the panels were complete I stuck them onto the page using double-sided tape; I coloured the background with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to outline the panels before sticking them in place.
Do you have a favourite panel? It’s hard for me to choose, maybe number 3 with the beads and little fish, number 6 as I love the corrugated card, number 15 with cogs and rust or number 20 as you know I adore robins (grin!).
I hope that you are inspired to join us at Art Journal Journey this month too! We are really looking forward to visiting you and seeing all the Texture that you create on your pages (grin!).
Hoping that you’re all staying 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 It’s A Wrap challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the Easter Egg wrapping, corrugated packaging and tissue paper wrap I used to create my panels.
I’m happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page.
Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday is Black and White plus One Extra Colour.
I used black, white and red to create this feminine vintage page featuring love and peace as well as a beautiful saying – “Throw kindness around like confetti”.
I started this page with by using up ink (that was leftover from my previous card making tutorial) on an Interlocking Circles stencil from Creative Expressions; using the stencil like a stamp which already had some Black Soot Distress Ink left on it. I spritzed the stencil with water and then pressed it onto the page firmly using a brayer. Then I used a baby wipe to clean the remaining ink off the stencil which added more layers of the ink to the page. The words “Peace” and “Love”, the ticket, ornate frames, postage mark, bees, text and flowers are stamped onto white tissue paper using black Archival Ink; these were all leftover from previous projects as I often stamp images onto tissue paper before using it on a page to see if they suit the design and also to decide where to place them. I then used the Interlocking Circles stencil again to add more Black Soot Distress Ink using a blending tool. Then I die cut some hearts from some recycled red foil cardstock using Falling Hearts Thinlets from Tim Holtz and arranged them on the page like confetti to depict the “Throw kindness around like confetti” wording which is a Small talk sticker from Tim Holtz.
As it was Easter this month we have been enjoying Hot Cross Buns so as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my cuppa with a Hot Cross Bun filled with Lancashire cheese which is a white crumbly cheese produced locally – yum! Happy T Day everyone!
Stay safe and keep well! x
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
I’m happy to join the lovely Valerie from Bastelmania over at Art Journal Journey and her Geometric Shapes challenge this month with the Interlocking Circles on this page.
I’m also joining the Mother’s Love challenge being hosted by the lovely Sara Emily over at the Frilly & Funkie Challenge Blog with the feminine vintage style, hearts and “Love” wording.
I’m thrilled and honoured to be part of the Creative Guide team at A Vintage Journey and I’d like to thank the wonderful team for having me.
Today at A Vintage Journey it is Tag Friday, which takes place only when there is a fifth Friday in the month. I had so much fun joining in this challenge as Tag Friday is all about creating something you love so there is no particular theme, it’s time to play, experiment and have fun – it would be great to see you there!
As some of you will be aware, I love art journaling, so I thought I would start a “Tag Journal” which will be made up of double-sided tags. Here’s my first one which I designed to capture my new adventure at A Vintage Journey; both sides are vintage shabby in style, on one side is the front cover of my new Tag Journal which reminds me to embrace the journey and on the other is a tribute to the support and kindness shown by my fellow Creative Guides who have been so welcoming and helpful – thank you!
To start, I used a large Tim Holtz Poster Card to create the tag by cutting off two of the corners to make a tag shape and punching a hole using my new Crop-A-Dile machine, which is so cool to use (grin!). I painted transparent gesso over both sides of the tag to make it stronger and give a good foundation for the inks and acrylic paints that I planned to apply. When dry, I applied Forest Moss and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks, to one side of the tag, by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the tag. The flowers and leaves are fussy cut from design paper and are stuck on top of some white acrylic paint to make them stand out more. I also added Gold Shellac embossing power to edge the tag and splattered the tag with white and black acrylic paint to create a grungy look.
The dragonfly is stamped onto tissue paper with the Gold Shellac embossing power and is stuck in place, like all of the elements, using matte gel medium; I was careful not to apply any of the gel medium over the embossing powder so it didn’t loose its shine. When dry I outlined the dragonfly with a black fine line marker.
The smaller “Tag Journal” tags were created using: a recycled clothing tag which I covered with white paper to conceal the designer name and edged with the Gold Shellac embossing powder; some green card which I splattered with the Pine Needles and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink, stamped with the words “Tag Journal” using black Archival Ink and then punched using my Crop-A-Dile machine; some pretty metal and gemstone embellishments recycled from an old necklace; and a piece of white thread which attached everything together. The thread was secured using a “figure of eight” knot as it looks more decorative, and a turquoise brad which I covered in the embossing powder; you’ll notice I wasn’t careful in how I applied the embossing powder as I wanted a grungy look.
To finish, I added a piece of lace to the bottom of the tag and a Small Talk sticker from Tim Holtz which I edged with a Cold Grey Big Brush marker, it reads “embrace the journey”; I thought these words were prefect for my new creative journey here at A Vintage Journey.
On the other side of the tag, I started by adding some white acrylic paint along the edges and when dry I covered the paint with Tea Dye Distress Ink using a blending tool and also the Cold Grey marker smudging the ink with my finger. Next I prepared the different elements to stick onto the tag, this included: a piece of design paper to add a pocket at the bottom of the tag which I reinforced with a piece of thin white card and edged along the top opening with the Tea Dye ink and Cold marker; a ripped piece of the same paper which is also edged with the Tea Dye ink and Cold Grey marker; a piece of striped paper edged with the Cold Grey marker; and flowers which I stamped onto tissue paper using black Archival Ink.
After stamping some postage marks using black Archival Ink over the background, I layered all of the elements onto the tag using matte gel medium. I covered up the back of the brad with a postage stamp from my hubby’s childhood collection (he kindly gave me his stamp collection to use in my artwork) and then I edged the tag using the Cold Grey marker and a black Uni Pin marker. I also selected a pretty vintage designed card from Tim Holtz to sit in the tag pocket.
As a tribute to the warm welcome, support and kindness shown by the Creative Guides at A Vintage Journey I included the words “together is the best place to be” and made the card that sits in the tag pocket reversible. On the reverse of the card, I added A Vintage Journey Creative Guide badge which I printed, stuck in place and distressed using the Tea Dye ink and the Cold Grey marker again. Then I added a thin piece of lace along the bottom edge so it blended into the lace that I had attached to the other side.
To finish, I added an eyelet with my Crop-A-Dile machine which reinforced the hole as I’m using a book ring to secure all of my Tag Journal tags together when they are finished. Like today, I plan to share my double-sided tag designs with you on Tag Fridays along with the process and materials that I used.
I had so much fun creating my first tag for Tag Friday and for more inspiration, please pop over to A Vintage Journey where you’ll find some amazing tags created by my fellow Creative Guides. I hope you are inspired to join us as I’m so looking forward to seeing your tags and being inspired by your designs too!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
I’m joining the Things with Wings challenge over at Moo Mania & More with the dragonfly that I included on my tag.
With the hot sunny days we have been enjoying of late, my page captures light and shade with colourful dragonflies dancing over the water.
I always love to experiment and try different techniques so I had a play around with acrylic paints and stamping to create the background which was fun, therefore my page also serves as a reminder of our 10th Birthday Party at Try it on Tuesday where I hope that you will join in the celebrations and share the art you love to create too!
I started by painting the background with Swedish Blue, Navy, Christmas Green and Cadmium Yellow Liquitex acrylic paint horizontally across the page using a paintbrush. Then I had fun applying the paints again using a scrunched up baby wipe, dabbing the paint onto the page to create light and shade. I stamped some background foliage at the top and bottom of the page which included a reed stamp from Gumpanian using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink, a foliage stamp from Eco Green Crafts using Peeled Paint Distress Ink, and leaves from Simon Says Stamp using Pine Needles and Twisted Citron Distress Ink. To add extra depth, I die cut some Tim Holtz thinlets out of a black patterned paper stock; they are edged with Black Soot Distress Ink and a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck into place in the foreground using a Zig Memory System glue pen. Next I added all the dragonflies which are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel and some small gems to add a little sparkle which finished the page.
Today we are revisiting the Tolkien Trail on a sunshiny day; this walk is called the Toilkien Trail as J.R.R Tolkien stayed in the area whilst writing The Lord of the Rings. It’s a lovely walk with beautiful views of the English countryside and it is said that the author was influenced by the landscape around Stonyhurst College where he wrote his book. For example a number of names which occur in ‘The Lord of The Rings’ are similar to those found locally including Shire Lane (in Hurst Green) and River Shirebourn (similar to the family name which built Stonyhurst).
J.R.R. Tolkien was renowned for his love of nature and wooded landscapes and this walk takes you though some beautiful woodland. Here we are walking down over one of the many bridges that we encountered along the way …
… and I think Gollum may live under this bridge (grin!).
We walked along the river a few times on the walk, it was so magical and I can just imagine dragonflies dancing over the water during summer too (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:
I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from the blog BioArtGal and her In the Sky/In the Air challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Dancing Dragonflies page.
I’m pleased to be able to join the Opposites challenge over at Country View Challenges with the “light” and “shade” depicted on my art journal page.
I’m happy to join in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog and their Creative Artiste’s #49th Challenge: Anything Mixed Media Goes with my mixed media art journal page (which included acrylic, inks, papers, markers and rub-ons).
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 (Swedish Blue, Navy, Christmas Green, Cadmium Yellow Medium)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, Twisted Citron, Black Soot)
Tsukineko Memento Ink (Rich Cocoa)
Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
Gummiapan Stamp (Reed Plant 14091107)
Simon Says Stamp Clear Stamp Set (Leaves And Scribbles SSS101445)
Eco Green Crafts Recycled Rubber Stamps (Petal Party)
I always find that I have a huge selection of tissue paper and paper leftover from creating other art journal pages, which I have either coloured or stamped. So in an attempt to tidy up a little (it hasn’t helped much – grin!), I decided to use some of them to create today’s page. I was also inspired by some challenge blogs too and as such, I hope you like the resulting page as much as I do!
I selected a black, white and yellow colour scheme for this page and collaged leftover pieces of white paper and tissue paper that had been stamped, whilst creating other pages, using black Archival Ink. Like all the collaged pieces they are stuck on the page using a glue stick. These stamped images included: grass and fern fronds from a Carabelle Studio stamp set; postage marks and bees from Hampton Art; postage marks from The Works; Vintage Circles from Woodware Craft Collection; blossoms from Stampendous; “kindness” wording from Docrafts; “discover” wording from Royal & Langnickel; script from Kaisercraft; and also a dragonfly from Eco Green Crafts. I arranged them on the page with some paper coloured with Yellow Colourcraft Brusho powders which were remnants of another journal page. Once the collage was complete, I covered the page with a layer of Liquitex Matte Gel Medium which allowed me to outline all the paper pieces using a black Uni Pin marker smudging the ink with my finger.
I added a pretty “yellow wagtail” bird that I fussy cut from my old nature book; he is stood on some torn pieces of black and white washi tape. I then added more pieces of the washi tape to the page background as well.
Next I stuck a yellow skeleton leaf onto the page along with a small glittery yellow flower which I embellished with a black gemstone in the centre. The yellow and white wording is from a Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet and they read “loving life” and “our story starts here”; they are both edged with a black Uni Pin marker and I stamped some small hearts onto them using black Archival Ink. I also stamped the hearts onto two small squares of leftover yellow sticker to make two small heart embellishments for my page. The black and white “love” wording is created using circular button letter stickers and the “love with all your heart” and “and so the adventure begins” wording are from a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker set; they are all outlined using the black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I splattered the page with black, white and yellow acrylic paint.
My page reminds me to love life and appreciate the simple things like the pretty yellow flowers that we have in our garden at the moment. You may remember that we replanted our flower beds last year and as such we added these miniature daffodils which seem to be a bit early flowering (grin!) – aren’t they adorable!
We were also surprised to see these pretty crocus in our flower bed too, we didn’t even know they there (double 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:
I’m pleased to be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the yellow I added.
I’m joining the Love is in the Air challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my Loving Life page.
Over at Country View Challenges their challenge is Black & White Plus One, so I’m happy to join this challenge to with my black, white and yellow page.
As I used black, white and yellow to create this page, I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Black, White + One Other Colour challenge.
Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Heart It!, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with all the stamped elements, love and hearts.
As the lovely Tracey is Guest Designing over at Frilly and Funkie, I’m also happy to be join the Frilly and Funkie Challenge which is Let Me Count The Ways, as I used three stamped Vintage Circles and three colours (black, white and yellow) on my 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:
Leftover tissue paper and papers stamped using various stamp sets and Jet Black Ranger Archival Ink
Leftover white paper coloured with Yellow Colourcraft Brusho Colour
Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.8mm)
Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow Medium)
For the next two weeks over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge is Things with Wings, I hope you are inspired by our new theme and will join us! You’ll find some amazing inspiration created by my Design Team teamies over at Try it on Tuesday too (grin!).
There are so many possibilities for our new theme so today I have created a mixed media page using different techniques to highlight some of my favourite things with wings!
I started this page by stamping a pretty floral stamp from Docrafts and two butterfly stamps, one from Crafter’s Companion and the other from Graphic 45 by Hampton Art, 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 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, 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 added Lavender, Strawberry and Elderberry Faber-Castell Gelatos smudging the colours with my finger which I had wet with water. To tone down the Lavender colour I added Coconut Faber-Castell Gelato over the top blending the colours with my finger. I applied Vintage Photo Distress Ink using a blending tool mainly around the edges of the page to give a worn vintage look and then I stamped a Dragonfly from Eco Green Crafts and some other floral images from the same Docrafts stamp set using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink. The small butterflies flowing up the page and wording “Give your dreams wings” are from a Kaisercraft sticker set; they are all edged with the Vintage Photo Distress Ink using a blending tool, then stuck to the page and covered with a layer of Liquitex matte gel medium. The butterfly, bird, flowers and branches are fussy cut from a wallpaper sample; I coloured the flowers and branches using the Vintage Photo Distress Ink and stuck them all in place using the Liquitex matte gel medium again. I also added a blue circular disc depicting a flower and a postage stamp depicting butterflies from a Graphic 45 sticker set. I outlined and added more details to the wallpaper images and stickers using a black Uni Pin marker and then to finish, I splattered the background with black DecoArt acrylic paint.
Visiting Lytham Hall is always fun and after a walk around the grounds with our dear friends, we usually head to the café for a cuppa (grin!). As T stands for Tuesday here’s my green tea and my friend’s Earl Grey tea.
As you may know from my previous posts, the cafe at Lytham Hall use mismatched china; isn’t this saucer beautiful!
After our cuppa we headed to the Vegetable Gardens which provides the café with some fresh produce. It’s a lovely place to wander around and admire all the different fruit and veg that is growing.
I smiled when I saw this happy couple; it seems that even the scarecrows are joining us at T Stands for Tuesday with their cuppa (grin!) – Happy T Day!
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 Gill from gibbyfrogettcraftations who is hosting the Inspired by … challenge over at Art Journal Journey as my inspiration for this page was things with wings.
I’m pleased to be able to join the Written Word (add some text in some form) challenge over at Country View Challenges with the “Give your dreams wings” quote that I added to my page.
Over at PaperBabe Stamps their challenge is Anything Goes so I’m pleased to be able to join them too.
I’m also pleased to join a new challenge today, the June Link Party #40 over at Cropstop Blog with my art journal page as I included a few products from companies that they carry in their store.
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:
Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
I am so delighted to be hosting Art Journal Journey this month and my challenge is
Flora and Fauna
For this challenge Flora refers to plant life and Fauna to the animal kingdom. In nature, flora and fauna compliment each other, so it’s up to you to decide whether you include only plants, animals or combine the two together.
I started by selecting stamps of plant life and animals from my craft stash; for Flora I chose a tree, some different flowers, leaves and fruit and then for Fauna I chose a bird, some insects including a bee, butterflies and a dragonfly, a hedgehog and some paw prints. I stamped my flora stamps onto white tissue paper and my fauna stamps onto brown tissue paper using black Archival Ink which I used for all of the stamping on this page. Well that’s what I thought anyway, but as you can see this is correct for all except the bee, I think he must be flying onto the white flora tissue paper to find the flowers (grin!). Then I ripped the edges of the tissue paper and stuck them onto the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium along with some gold star tissue paper and homemade papers which I made sometime ago using brown tissue paper and a Script stamp and also white tissue paper and a Sheet Music stamp. Once the gel medium was dry, I also stamped the corresponding wording “Flora” or “Fauna” directly onto the page alongside each stamped image and edged them using Willow and Ink Black Derwent Inktense pencils and a black Derwent Graphik marker. Then I added two different brown washi tapes, the thicker one depicts a flower, butterfly, bird and squirrel to tie into the theme and they are all edged with the Willow and Ink Black Derwent Inktense pencils. Next I arranged some wooden tiles for the “Flora” and “Fauna” wording and also some colourful postage stamps from my hubby’s childhood collection which portray different flora and fauna. The postage stamps are stuck to the page using a UHU Stic and as you can see I kept the flora ones at the top of the page and the fauna ones at the bottom to correspond with the tile wording that I had added. To finish, I stamped different words onto white tissue paper and stuck them onto the page using UHU Stic; they detail types of flora and fauna:
as flora refers to plant life the words I added included flower, fruit, tree, leaf, fungi
as fauna refers to the animal kingdom I included the words bird, reptile, fish, amphibian, insect, mammal.
I hope that this art journal page provides you with some ideas for your designs and that you are inspired by this month’s Flora and Fauna theme over at Art Journal Journey too. I am really looking forward to visiting you and seeing all your wonderful creations!
As some of you know, my art journal pages are inspired by things I see and do and I often share photographs along with my journal page to illustrate this. So I thought I would share a couple of different Flora and Fauna collages using photographs that have featured on my blog over the last couple of years – I hope you like them! This first one reminds me of springtime as most of the photos were taken this time of year.
This one reminds me of summer walks and happy discoveries!
I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Art Journal Journey, 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:
With the page focusing on stamping and animals, I’m pleased to be able to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Animals challenge.
With the collaged tissue background and all the stamping on this page, I’m also pleased to join the creative challenge over at The Artistic Stamper where the theme is Backgrounds.
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)
Derwent Inktense Pencils (Willow 1900, Ink Black 2200)
Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188 B)
Our new challenge at Try it on Tuesday is Nature’s Beauty and the Design Team have some amazing inspiration for you, whether it is flowers, plants, animals or scenes of nature.
My art journal page today is a scene capturing the peacefulness and serenity of dragonflies over water, which for me, encapsulates nature’s beauty.
I started by painting diluted Shabby Shutters and Salty Ocean Distress Ink onto the background by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block and applying it to the page with a paintbrush to create a watercolour effect. Then I used a Distressed Dots stencil from That Special Touch of Mica Masks by Creative Expressions to apply Mowed Lawn and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks using a blending tool. I stamped some foliage using an Eco Green stamp set made from recycled rubber and a Tan Spectrum Aqua Marker. Then I added some Pébéo modelling paste using the Distressed Dot stencil to add more dimension and when the paste was dry, coloured it with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint. I fussy cut the grasses, leaves and iris from a wallpaper sample and stuck them onto the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. To add more detail and definition I doodled outlines on them with a black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball gel pen, then added some shadows using a Slate Spectrum Aqua Marker. The dragonflies are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel and I positioned them so that one is sitting on a leaf and the other is flying off into the distance. I stamped some bees from a Graphic 45 stamp set by Hampton Art using black Archival Ink and coloured them using a yellow Spectrum Aqua marker. To finish, I added two stickers with the words “peaceful” and “serenity” which I thought captured the scene; they are edged with the Tan Spectrum Aqua marker and stuck in place using double-sided tape.
As it is T for Tuesday, I’m sharing the enjoyable time that we had at the local Pavilion Café in Ashton Gardens with our friends. Ashton Gardens is a municipal park which was established in 1874, it is situated in the centre of St. Anne’s on the Sea and is a lovely place to explore with its various display gardens including the most beautiful Rose Garden. The café building is a replica of the former bowling club pavilion known as the Ashton Institute.
This café always has a yummy array of cakes to choose from …
… and there is lovely art displayed on the walls which you can buy if you want to.
As T Stands for Tuesday, maybe you would like a green tea, hot chocolate or glass of water (of course they had coffee too, sorry I forgot to take a photo of our friends selection which included a cappuccino which I know you may prefer – grin!). As well as our drinks we enjoyed a bacon butty and a slice of salted caramel cake – yum! Wishing you all a very 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 Alison/Craftytrog, who is hosting the Recycle and Collage challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the recycled rubber art stamp set and wallpaper that I collaged to create this page!
With the stamped bees that I included on my nature page, I’m pleased to join The Birds & the Bees challenge over at The Artistic Stamper.
As I used and altered the wallpaper for my page, I’m pleased to join the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Pimp it up! (reuse or alter something) challenge.
I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Add Some Texture challenge with all the texture I created with the Distress Inks, stencils, modelling paste and wallpaper.
With the circles that I stencilled onto my page, I’m also pleased to join the Going Round in Circles challenge over at That’s Crafty Challenge.
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:
I found myself reminiscing about summer walks with my lovely blog-friends CJ and Erika wishing for warmer weather (grin!) and wanting to join a few blog challenges, I decided to create an art journal page inspired by some huge brown dragonflies that we saw on one of our summer walks last year at Glasson Dock. Although they were numerous we didn’t manage to get a good photo of them as they were so quick in flight, so it was fun creating this page to remember them – I hope you like it!
To match the brown dragonflies that we saw I chose a brown colour palette. I decided to experiment with a new technique using Colourcraft Brusho powders by using them as a spray, which worked really well as long as you are careful not to dilute the colour too much (grin!). I did this by placing some Dark Brown Brusho powder in a spray bottle and diluting with water, then using it to spray the page lightly with colour whilst leaving some white space. Next I stamped lots of dragonflies onto white tissue paper with an Eco Green Crafts stamp using Tea Dye and Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and also Rich Cocoa Memento Ink. I layered them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium, not worrying if the gel medium re-activated the Brusho or Distress Ink again, as I wanted a grungy look. When the gel medium had dried I used a stencil from That Special Touch of Mica Masks by Creative Expressions to add the Distressed Dots using the Dark Brown Brusho spray again and also used the stencil like a stamp to apply the excess spray that was on the stencil onto the page. Using the same stencil I applied: Tea Dye and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks with a blending tool; some Navy Spectrum Aqua marker by scribbling it onto an acrylic block, sprizing with water and applying with a blending tool; some smaller patches of Peacock Feathers and Black Soot Distress Ink using a blending tool to add more contrast; and finally some bronze metallic Lustre paint by applying it with my finger. Next I stamped the wording from the same Eco Green Crafts stamp set using black Archival Ink as it applied to the dragonflies that we saw and I really liked the grungy design. The dragonflies we saw were huge, so I drew and cut out a large dragonfly from some recycled glossy glittery paper and stuck it to the page using a UHU Stic. Once the glue had dried, I edged it with a black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball gel pen. I ripped some hexagonal washi tape and stuck it around the edges of the page with some pretty opaque gem stones and added some glittery bronze embroidered flowers using Glossy Accents which finished the page.
You may remember Glasson Dock from previous posts, such as this one here. This is the estuary at Glasson Dock where we first saw the dragonflies and as we continued our walk they seemed to be everywhere (grin!).
They were more abundant by the canal around the reeds and here’s the best picture we took of them. When we got home I identified them as Brown Hawker dragonflies; we plan to go back this year to see them again and try to get a better photograph of them (grin!). If you are interested here are a few facts about dragonflies:
The earliest fossil dragonflies date back 300 million years long before dinosaurs ruled the Earth and had wing spans around 70cm (27.6 inch) which is approximately 10 times larger than today; their overall shape has changed little since those early days.
There are approximately 6,000 named dragonfly species in the world today and new species are still currently being discovered for the first time.
The Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis) is a large dragonfly about 73mm (2.9 inch) long and is easily recognised by its brown body and bronze wings (grin!).
Challenges
My art journal page today has been inspired by some wonderful Challenge Blogs:
I’m also pleased to join the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything but Cute challenge.
As I created my own background for my dragonfly art journal page, I’m also happy to join the Make Your Own Background challenge over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Brushed Corduroy, Peacock Feathers, Black Soot)
Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Rich Cocoa)
Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Navy)
Craf-T Products (Lustre Rub-ons ASTM D-4236)
Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
Eco Green Crafts Recycled Rubber Art Stamps (Petal Party #04309)
Creative That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Distressed Dots)
Let's Art Journal 