I’m thrilled and honoured to be over at Altered Book Lover with Bleubeard and Elizabeth today as part of her 22 days of recycling leading up to her happy bEARTHday.
One of my goals this year is to recycle and use up leftovers on my art journal pages, so I was delighted to be invited and very happy to join in the fun – thanks so much!
The background and main images for this page were created using recycled materials; they just seemed too nice to throw away (grin!).
For the background I collaged strips of recycled tissue paper, brown paper packaging and some of the card that I place under my journal pages whilst crafting to catch any excess paints, inks, modelling paste etc; like all the paper elements they were stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry, I outlined the edges of these collaged pieces using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker smudging the ink with my finger. I also added some gold embossing powder to highlight the texture of the tissue paper and to match the gold on the main images. I fussy cut the cute dogs, heart balloons and patterned foreground from a beautiful anniversary card that my mum and dad kindly sent us; I had fun fussy cutting everything which took quite a bit of time. I arranged them on either side of the page and then I added the Kaisercraft sticker wording which reads “Wherever you go, no matter how far, I carry your heart with mine” which finished the page.
I hope that you’re inspired to recycle and repurpose materials for your art creations; there’s lots of inspiration this month over at Altered Book Lover too (grin!).
The little dogs on my page reminded me of this pottery dog that sits on our mantel in the lounge which was from a local gallery. It’s Raku pottery which is my favourite type of decorative pottery and derives from a traditional Japanese process where the fired raku piece is removed from the hot kiln and is allowed to cool in the open air. I believe that this spotty dog was decorated with coloured slips, glazes and metal leaf before it was Raku fired.
Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Here is a list of the materials that were used to create this art journal page:
Recycled white tissue paper
Recycled brown paper packaging
Recycled card that I place under my journal pages whilst crafting covered in paints, inks, modelling paste, stencilling, scribbles, washi tape, sticker off cuts etc
Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
Ranger Embossing Powder (gold)
Recycled anniversary card
Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Havana Nights SS354)
Challenges
I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are:
Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – I miss her greatly! I’m so pleased to be able to her challenge and was inspired to recycle; I think the wording “I carry your heart with mine” is perfect to remember Eileen by too!
MIUCB#48 – Anything Goes + optional No Stamping challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my recycled page which contains no stamping.
It’s a new month so we are launching our April challenge today over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, our monthly challenge theme, as always, is Anything Mixed Media Goes.
My page today was inspired by one of our walks along the beach front and a sea view that reminded me of adventures (grin!).
For the background, I dragged Hickory Smoke and Black Soot Distress Ink pads over the textured mixed media paper and then I added some water using a paintbrush to activate some of the ink. Next I framed the page by painting some white gesso around the edges using my finger which gave a cloudy appearance. The postcard, world, rectangle and bird sitting on the world globe were all fussy cut from some Vintage Travels design paper and the three alphabet tiles were cut from a wallpaper sample; they were arranged onto the page using double-sided tape.
I added two chipboard pieces from BoozyBear which I covered with Versamark Watermark ink and some specks of white and then clear embossing powder; they were stuck in place using Ranger Glossy Accents. I added all the motivational wording which were from Sentiments Sticker Pad by Finnabair. To finish, I embellished the page with some metal and glass beads which were recycled from an old necklace.
You need to use three different mediums on your projects to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge and for more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!
Here’s the view that inspired my page; I captured this sea view whilst out walking as I loved the grey moody clouds and sunshine with the boat in the forefront, which seems to be waiting for new adventures (grin!).
Hope 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.
Here is a list of the materials that were used to create this art journal page:
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke, Black Soot)
Pébéo White Gesso
Creative Expressions Design Pad (Vintage Travels)
Wallpaper sample
X-Press It! double-sided tape
Boozybear chipboard pieces
Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
Wow! Embossing Powder (White, Clear)
Ranger Glossy Accents
Finnabair Prima Marketing Art Daily Sticker Pad (Sentiments)
Challenges
As well as Creative Artiste, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are:
I’m so pleased to be able to join Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – she will be greatly missed! I’m so pleased to be able to remember her by joining AJJ with my page which was inspired by one of my walks along the seafront and new adventures.
MIUCB #48 –Anything Goes + optional twist of No Stamping challenge over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the background, collage and EP techniques I used to create this page and there was no stamping too.
It’s time for our first challenge of the year over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, this is a monthly challenge and as always the theme is Anything Mixed Media Goes.
I had fun creating this mixed media page using my favourite Frost Fairy stamp from Paperbabe Stamps; she seems to be casting a spell – may all your wishes come true!
I started by applying black DecoArt acrylic paint to the edges of the page and blending it towards the centre. When dry, I applied the gold stars over the top using Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad, a Sparkles stencil by Tim Holtz and Gold Ranger embossing powder. The centre of the page was coloured using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the wording was created using foam letter stickers.
The Frost Fairy from Paperbabe Stamps was stamped using black Archival Ink onto some mixed media paper. Then I coloured her using Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers; the dress was coloured using Green Turquoise Blend, the ribbon using Yellow Gold Blend, her hair using Dark Red Blend, her skin using a Fair Skin Blend marker, her lips using Pale Pink Blend, her eyes using True Blue Blend and her wings using Iced Grey Blend. I also added more detail using a black Uni Pin fine line marker and white Uniball gel pen. Then I cut her out and added the Gold Ranger embossing powder using a Versamark Watermark Pen to create the stars. She was stuck in place using a glue stick which finished the page.
All you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge. For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!
I was reminded of this beautiful glass angel that we bought when we visited Prague, there is room to place a tealight behind her and being made from glass she looks so delicate and pretty (grin!).
I hope that you are 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.
Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:
DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Sparkles THS132)
Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
Ranger Embossing Powder (Gold)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (MLD Frost Fairy)
Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
Spectrum Noir TriBlend Markers (Green Turquoise Blend, Yellow Gold Blend, Dark Red Blend, Fair Skin Blend, Pale Pink Blend, True Blue Blend, Iced Grey Blend)
Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Pen)
Pritt Stick
Simply Creative Alphabet & Number Stickers (Glitter SCSTK025)
Challenges
I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the golden stars that I included on my page.
I’m pleased to be able to join the Groundhog Day over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I couldn’t resist using my Frost Fairy stamp and TriBlends again (you may remember on my Believe page that I created last month) and of course the background may look familiar too, it’s from an ATC that I created in December, I just had to create it on a bigger scale (grin!).
I’m also pleased to join the #136 – Patterns challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the pattern of stencilled stars on my page.
I’m also joining MIUCB #46 – Anything Goes + Fancy Fold over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different techniques I used; I’m still perfecting my colouring and blending techniques using the TriBlend markers.
I created today’s art journal page to send you Christmas wishes – wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas filled with peace and love!
I started by covering the page with Pébéo white gesso and then I spread some clear glitter glue over the top using a palette knife. All the festive images were cut from old magazines and stuck in place using a glue stick. I splattered white acrylic paint around the edges of the images and left it to dry.
The black circles were stamped onto some white tissue paper using a Snow Day stamp set from BoBunny, some black Archival Ink and black Papermania Embossing Powder; they were stuck down using a glue stick. I added some texture over the white background around the images by applying Ranger Texture Paste though a Sparkle stencil from Tim Holtz; I love the white on white effect that this created. When dry, I finished the page by adding the “Christmas Wishes” wording which was recycled from an old Christmas card.
One of our Christmas traditions is to treat ourselves to a Festive Feast sandwich from our local deli in town; it’s filled with stuffing, turkey, bacon, sausage, cranberry sauce and mayonnaise (grin!).
They make sandwiches to takeaway so we bought the sandwich home to enjoy with one of the beers from our homemade advent calendar. This Belgian IPA had a fruity finish and tasted of coriander and orange peel, and both the beer and the sandwich were very yummy (double grin!).
This past week, we’ve loved all of the beers that we have tried from our advent calendar so as T Stands for Tuesday, I thought I’d share some of the other beers with you and say a big hello to the T Gang – cheers and Happy T day!
This one is specially brewed for Aldi by Brewdog Brewery and there is an interesting story behind this beer. It started with Aldi supermarket selling a copy of Brewdog’s flagship beer, so Brewdog then made a beer called YALDI IPA and launched it on Twitter (Brewdog is in Scotland and “yaldi” is apparently slang for happiness). Aldi replied on Twitter to Brewdog saying “would have gone with ALD IPA, send us a crate and we’ll talk”. Apparently the customer enquiries went through the roof after their conversation on Twitter, so they got together and Aldi now sell this beer as a special edition; it’s marketed as their “own label IPA”.
Erika will be pleased that we have tried this Push Pineapple beer too; I was looking forward to trying this one myself and it didn’t disappoint! This is a Pineapple Milkshake IPA; it is called “milkshake” as it contains lactose which gives a creamier mouth feel and makes the beer sweeter as brewer’s yeast can’t ferment it. Lactose is traditionally used in stouts to give them a sweeter and creamer taste. This beer had a lovely pineapple flavoured finish too – so delicious (grin!).
Wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Here is a list of the materials that were used to create this art journal page:
Pébéo White Gesso
Glitter Glue (Clear)
Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
Old magazines
Pritt Stick
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Mixed Media Stencil (Sparkle THS132)
Ranger Texture Paste
Recycled white tissue paper
BoBunny Stamp Set (Snow Day)
Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
Papermania Embossing Powder (Black)
Recycled Christmas Card Topper
X-Press It! double-sided foam tape
Challenges
I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as they provide me with inspiration and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:
I’m pleased to join the lovely Tracey over at Art Journal Journey and her Meaning of challenge this month as I created this page to send you happy Christmas wishes.
I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Christmas page.
I’m happy to join the MIUCB #44 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Clean and Simple challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques I used to create the clean and simple white on white background.
I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmas Wishes page.
I’m also pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas page too.
I can never resist using my favourite Merry Moose Thinlits set at Christmastime; this time he’s on a Christmas card so I can share some “Christmoose” joy with my friends (grin!).
To start, I cut a panel of mixed media paper to fit my greetings card and positioned a circular template from an Inkylicious template and stencil set to mask out the moon. Then I stamped the pretty snowflakes using a Frozen Fractals stamp set from Simon Says Stamp; they were stamped using Versamark Watermark ink and then covered in white Stampendous embossing powder. Next I positioned a hand cut paper template to mask out the foreground. and then I painted the panel using a mixture of Ultramarine Pale, Ultramarine and Turquoise Blue colours Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour paints. When dry, I removed both of the templates and added some colour to the snowflakes in the foreground using the watercolour paints again. I coloured the moon with some Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink and added some texture using a white gel pen and also by stamping some grey dots using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and an Urban Tapestry stamp from Tim Holtz. Then I splattered the whole panel with white acrylic paint.
The tree and moose were die cut using the Merry Moose Thinlets by Tim Holtz and my Big Shot Machine. The tree was cut from some paper that I had used to mop up brown inks and the snow was cut from some white linen textured cardstock. For the Merry Moose, I used some linen card stock which I coloured using Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Inks. His antlers were coloured using Antique Linen Distress Ink and I edged all the pieces with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell maker. His harness was die cut from some blue glitter paper and white cardstock which I had coloured with the Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink. To finish, I added the “Merry Christmas” wording which was from a Christmas sticker book from Tim Holtz; it’s edged using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker before sticking it in place.
I love moose and there are quite a few moose on our Holiday Tree which is decorated with ornaments that we purchased whilst on holiday/vacation. We always enjoy looking at this tree and reminiscing of times gone by; all the decorations hold such happy memories (grin!).
As you can see, these ornaments are from Maine; the wording on this one makes me smile – Merry Christmoose everyone (double grin!).
Stay safe and keep well!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Here is a list of the materials that were used to create this card:
Simon Says Stamp Clear Stamp Set (Frozen Fractals SSS101694)
Tsukineko Versamark Watermark Ink Pad
Stampendous Embossing Powder Basics (Detail White Opaque DP100)
Inkylicious Stencil and Template Set (Sun & Moons)
Recycled paper
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Ultramarine Pale, Ultramarine, Turquoise Blue)
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Stamp Set (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
Tim Holtz Alterations Sizzix Thinlets (Merry Moose 663103)
Recycled paper used to mop up brown inks
Craft Sensations (Luxury Card Stock with Linen Texture)
Poundland (Glitter Paper Sheets)
Zig Memory System Chisel Tip Glue Pen
Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Book (Christmas #TH93999)
Challenges
I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as they provide me with inspiration and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:
I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Christmoose card.
I’m happy to join the # 119 Non-Traditional Christmas Colours challenge over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with the colours that I used on this card.
I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmoose card.
I’m also pleased to join in the LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland challenge over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my Merry Moose walking in his winter wonderland card.
I’m so happy to join in the fun over at the Rudolph Days Challenge where Anything Goes, as long as it’s Christmas with my Merry Moose Christmas card too.
Don’t forget there is still another week to join our Christmas Sparkle challenge at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be lovely to see you there!
Over at A Vintage Journey our challenge this month is Merry Little Christmas which is sadly our very last challenge. It’s been an honour and a pleasure to be part of such a wonderful team and blog – thank you so much for all your inspiration and support over the years!
We have come together to create small ATC creations to share some Christmas cheer and also to say “au revoir”. So if you would like to participate in our challenge one last time please create an ATC project depicting a Merry Little Christmas and/or Au Revoir theme; we hope to see you there!
Creating ATCs is a first for me, who’d have thought that I’d have so much fun creating these mini artworks (grin!). Here are my Merry Little Christmas ATCs that I created to wish you all happiness this Christmas!
Using some old playing cards as my base, I started by covering them with scraps of Botanicals or Halloween Collage paper from Tim Holtz using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer and when dry, I added Vintage Photo Distress Ink with a blending tool.
I applied another layer of white gesso over the top and then added some holly leaves and berries. The holly leaves were die cut using a Holiday Greens Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some white paper which I had coloured using Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles Distress Ink. The berries were also die cut from some white paper which had been coloured with Festive Berries Distress Ink. When they were stuck in place using matte gel medium, I splattered the ATC with some white acrylic paint.
The stars are stencilled using a Sparkle stencil from Tim Holtz and VersaMark Watermark ink which I covered with gold Ranger embossing powder. I also edged the ATC with the embossing powder before heating everything with a heat gun. The glittery snowflakes were cut using a Mini Paper Snowflakes Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some glittery paper. To finish, I added the wording from a Christmas sticker book by Tim Holtz.
Here’s my Au Revior ATC which I created to celebrate A Vintage Journey; including all the amazing participants of our challenges and my fellow Creative Guides. The quote “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” (Dr. Seuss) that I included seemed appropriate as it’s so bittersweet to see A Vintage Journey end.
To create this mixed media ATC, I started by covering an old playing card firstly with white gesso and then with black DecoArt acrylic paint. I used the Sparkles stencil by Tim Holtz, VersaMark Watermark ink and gold Ranger Embossing powder again. Then I added one of the badges from A Vintage Journey, that I had printed and distressed using some Vintage Photo Distress Ink, to top and tail my ATC design. The Dr. Seuss quote was created using a label machine and the red hearts were cut from some cardstock using a Falling Hearts Thinlits set from Tim Holtz. To finish, I added some the white wording which were from a Small Talk Remnant Rubs set by Tim Holtz.
I hope you are inspired to join in the Merry Little Christmas and/or Au Revoir challenge themes and for more inspiration you’ll find some amazing ATCs and beautiful heartfelt words from my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey too.
I have really enjoyed my time at A Vintage Journey, from joining in the challenges to becoming a Creative Guide something that I always wished for. I have made some wonderful friends along the way, thank you for being part of my creative journey – it’s been a blast! x
Of course I seem to have been singing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” all month too and my favourite version has to be by Judy Garland from the musical Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) – the lyrics seem very pertinent for this year too.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you. Stay safe!
Here is a list of all the materials used to create these ATCs:
Old playing cards
Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Botanical #TH93705, Halloween #TH93712)
Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
Pébéo White Gesso
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, Festive Berries)
Recycled white paper
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Holiday Greens 658759, Paper Snowflakes Mini 661599, Falling Hearts 664415)
The Range (5×5 Dies Holly)
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Sparkles THS132)
Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
Ranger Embossing Powder (Gold)
Glitter wallpaper
Tim Holtz idea-ology (Christmas Sticker Book #TH93999)
Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
A Vintage Journey Badge – computer printed
Dymo LetraTag Label Maker and Labels
Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CRO241/GE)
Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Tiny Text #TH93695)
Challenges
I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Christmas ATCs.
I’m pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my Merry Little Christmas ATCs.
I’m pleased to be able to join the A Time to be Grateful over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I am thankful to have been part of such a fabulous challenge blog and team.
I’m also pleased to join the Fun With Dies challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with all the Tim Holtz Thinlets sets that I used to created my ATCs.
Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Embossed.
This challenge is all about embossing, whether its heat embossing, embossing paste, embossing folders or embossed papers just be sure to tell use what you have used (grin!).
I was still in Halloween mode when I created this page being influenced by the Mexican celebration “Día de Muertos” (which happens to be next Monday). I used lots of embossing powder to heat emboss the white flowers, black doilies and black lace.
I started by painting magenta and green Liquitex Basics acrylic paint over the page using a dry paintbrush technique to prevent the colours blending. When dry, I covered the paints with some Pébéo white gesso and also some black DecoArt acrylic paint; I used a brayer to apply both paints letting them dry between applications.
For the white embossed flowers, I used an Oriental Zen stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps and black Archival Ink to stamp the flower design over the magenta coloured areas. I then covered the ink with white Stampendous embossing powder and heated it with my heat gun until glossy. The black doilies were stamped using a Dovecraft stamp set and the black Archival Ink and covered with black Papermania embossing powder; they were stamped over the green areas of the page.
I used the same Dovecraft stamp set, black ink and embossing powder to add the lace detail to my skull which was die cut using a Halloween Hangouts Thinlit set from Tim Holtz from white card. I mounted it onto some glittery paper and stuck it in place using a glue stick. I also added some circles that were cut from the glitter paper using a Spellbinders die set and to finish, I added a Kaisercraft sticker that reads “Fun starts here”.
I hope that you are inspired to join us too, for more Embossed inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look at all the beautiful creations from my Design Teamies (grin!).
As it was my hubby’s birthday last week and T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a slice of the birthday cake that I made him and his cuppa! The cake is a Victoria sponge filled with homemade buttercream icing and cherry jam which I topped with a white and red feathered icing and his tea is Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea – Happy T Day everyone!
Hoping that you 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.
Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:
Liquitex Basics Acrylic Color (Quinacridone Magenta, Hooker’s Green Hue Permanent)
Pébéo White Gesso
DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
Ranger Mini Brayer
Paperbabe Stamps (Oriental Zen Stamp Set)
Dovecraft Stamp Set (Lave & Doile DCCS009)
Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
Stampendous! Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
Papermania Embossing Powder (Black)
Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with a Linen Texture CR0240/GE)
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Halloween Hangouts 663088)
Glitter wallpaper sample
Pritt Stick
Spellbinders Nestabilities Decorative Elements Die Cut System (Stately Circles S4-388) – thank you Astrid!
Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Bombay Sunset SS339)
Challenges
I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:
I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris aka Pearshapedchris, who is hosting the Hold The Line challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the outlined embossed flowers and lines of lace adorning the skull on my page.
I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Halloween challenge with my Mexican inspired Halloween page.
I’m also joining in the fun over at the Two Old Bats Halloween Challengeand their Halloween Jump Start challenge with my art journal page.
I’m so pleased to be able to join in the Anything Goes over at Paperbabe Stamps with my Mexican “Día de Muertos” page – thanks so much Tracey, your beautiful ATCs reminded me of “Día de Muertos”, so inspirational!
I’m also joining the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their Anything Goes + optional twist of Distressing (ink or tool) with the dry painting technique that I used.
I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Layer It Up challenge with layers of paint and embossing powders that I used for the background and layers of papers that I used for the skull.
The new challenge for the next two weeks at Try it on Tuesday is Autumn Colours.
I love the colours of autumn so I had fun creating this page and there’s not a leaf in sight – I hope you like it!
I started by covering the page with Pébéo white gesso and modelling paste using a paintbrush. When dry, I applied Peat Moss, Potting Soil, Orange Blossom and Buttercup Wendy Vecchi Blendable Dye Inks and Fired Brisk Distress Ink over the top and spritzed them with water letting the inks drip across the page and left it to dry. Then I splattered the page using gold Liquitex Ink.
Next I added some gold Ranger embossing powder over the inks using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad and my heat gun.
The eagle picture was cut from an old book and edged using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and some of the gold embossing powder; it was stuck in place using double-sided tape. As the eagle symbolises courage and power, I added some Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz which read “Shine like the whole universe is yours”, “be Fearless” and “be brave with your life”. They were coloured using Yellow Ochre Kuretake watercolour paint to blend them into the background more.
Next I added some gold Glitterations border stickers to the page and then applied some of the gold embossing powder to some Bozzy Bear wood chippies which I coloured using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker; they were stuck down using Ranger Glossy Accents which finished the page.
For more inspiration, my fellow Design Teamies have been having fun with Autumn Colours over at Try it on Tuesday too, please pop over and take a look.
As T Stands for Tuesday and it’s autumn I’m sharing our homebrewed pumpkin beer – cheers and Happy T Day! This copper beer has to be my favourite beer, it has a lovely hint of pumpkin and pumpkin spice aroma; this one came at 5.78% abv (alcohol by volume). We discovered pumpkin beer when we visited Federal Jack’s in Kennebunkport, Maine. They serve it with an optional shot of spiced rum added, so we have tried it that way too; it’s so nice and warming on a cold autumn day, though I limit myself to only one as it’s quite potent (grin!).
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
With all the texture on my page, I’m pleased to join the Texture challenge over at Art Journal Journey where I’m guest host this month; thank you to everyone who has joined in the fun, I have really enjoyed visiting your blogs and seeing your wonderful creations!
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.
Today I’m joining the Something New challenge that I’m hosting this month over at Art Journal Journey with a new technique using a hot glue gun that I’ve wanted to try for a while. Here’s the journal page that I created, what do you think?
Whilst the glue gun was heating up, I doodled an abstract heart design onto the page using a pencil.
Once the glue gun was heated to temperature, I applied the hot glue over the pencil marks and also added some dots of glue and then I left the glue to cool and dry.
I then applied Aged Ivory Stampendous embossing enamel powder over the top of the glue by carefully heating the surface of the glue up again with my heat gun (it takes seconds) and then covering it with the embossing enamel powder; it’s important that you don’t heat the glue too much as it will flatten and loose its 3D shape. I left the glue to dry and harden again before I carefully heated it again using the heat gun to melt the embossing enamel. Next I painted the page using Kuretake watercolour paints; using Red for the hearts and for the rest of the page using Rose Madder and Colbalt Violet coloured paints.
When dry, I coloured the embossed hot glue with a glittery gold lustre polish (which was new to my craft stash) using a paintbrush. The words are rub-on transfers from Tim Holtz and read “Love”, “Love you to the moon & back”, “always & forever” and “better together”. To finish, I splattered the page using some black DecoArt acrylic paint.
As Valentine’s is approaching, my winter window display, like my page, gets a smattering of red hearts which provides a lovely contrast to the white decorations (grin!).
As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a pint of Lancaster Red beer which we enjoyed at one of our favourite pubs – cheers and wishing you all much love this T day!
Challenges
I’m pleased to join the Love challenge over at Country View Challenges with my Love art journal page.
I’m joining in the All Loved Up challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as with my love and hearts designed art journal page.
Over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog their theme is # 33 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Paper Piecing, so I’m pleased to be able to join this challenge too.
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:
Bostik Hot Glue Pen & Glue
Stampendous Embossing Enamel (Aged Ivory)
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Red No. 32, Rose Madder No. 34, Rose Madder Deep No. 36, Colbalt Violet No. 139)
