Common Bar

I created this page to remember one of my birthday celebrations, so today we are going to the Common Bar in Blackpool which serves South American Street Food such as tacos and burritos. 

I started by covering the page with some decoupage paper with a palm leaf and bird design, sticking it in place using a glue stick. Next I stencilled the bricks over the top using Rusty Hinge, Brushed Corduroy and Vintage Photo Distress Inks and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer. I added the tropical foliage and flowers to the bottom and left-hand side of the page and the “Happy Birthday” wording, which were all stickers by Kaisercraft. To finish, I used some colourful letters to create the “Common Bar” wording and surrounded them with tile border stickers which were from the same Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet.

Here’s a video showing what the Common Bar looks like inside; we were seated upstairs in a window seat overlooking the street.

We had the most wonderful time and enjoyed these Plain Nachos (I think they are called “plain” as they have the basic toppings).

We also had three types of Tacos (Pork Carnitas, Shredded Chicken Tinga and Chipotle Mushroom) with a side order of corn – all of which were delicious (smile!). Here’s their food menu if you’re interested.

Our drinks were super fun too; I had a Havana Nights Cocktail and my hubby had a Pump Up The Jam beer by Tiny Rebel, yes it did taste like a jam doughnut (double grin!) – Happy T Day for those over at T Stands for Tuesday and here’s their drinks menu too.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Matilde from http://craftowanie.blogspot.com/ who is hosting this month at Art Journal Journey and her Birds challenge with the two birds on the decoupage paper that I used on this page (did you spot them both, here’s one of them blowing kisses your way – smile!).

I’ve been having fun using stencils on my pages and this was inspired by our Use A Stencil challenge over at Try it on Tuesday; there is still another week to join in the fun too!

Birthday Celebrations

Today I’m sharing a page that I created to capture my birthday celebrations – thanks so much for all your birthday wishes (smile!).

This page was created from recycled wrapping paper and envelopes that I received for my birthday.

They were simply ripped into pieces, arranged and then collaged onto the page using a glue stick. As it’s my first birthday without my dad, I thought the words “Dear self stay strong” were perfect for my page; this wording was gifted to me by my dear friend Tracey along with other happy birthday mail and goodies – thanks so much!

The present from my sister was wrapped in the Winnie the Pooh paper and as soon as I saw Tigger this is the song I sang (grin!).

For my birthday we went to my mums and had a birthday party; when I arrived this beautiful mum-made birthday cake was waiting for me.

We enjoyed a yummy Sunday roast dinner of lamb and we had Trifle for dessert (smile!). If you are not familiar with trifle, this is a very British dessert made by layering sponge soaked in sherry, jelly, blancmange, custard and cream topped with glace cherries (my mum added extra cherries as I love them so much!).

My sister spoilt us with this delicious Gin Rhubarb Fizz too and as you probably guessed I had such a wonderful day! As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing this drink with the T Gang and wishing you all a Happy T Day – cheers!

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 be joining the following challenges:

The lovely  Alison the Craftytrog is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Play it again Sam so I’m joining her with my Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too page as it reminded me of the fun song.

Sweet Treats challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my sweet Winnie the Pooh birthday page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #165 – Anything Goes challenge with my spring page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Happy Birthday! theme with my Birthday Celebrations page.

Don’t forget there is still another week to join our Spring Colours challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too.

Happy

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Black and White + 1, where we would like you to use black and white plus one other colour on your entries.

Limiting colour options is always a challenge for me, so I decided to create a black and white collage background and see where my creativity took me; I ended up adding a dark cherry colour as my “plus 1” – what do you think?

I covered the page with leftover pieces of white tissue paper which had been stamped with black Archival Ink and some black and white Botanicals/Halloween Collage papers by Tim Holtz; they were collaged onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. Next I added some pieces of an old magazine page (which was where the cherry coloured inspiration came from) and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer over the whole page and left it to dry. I mixed some Kuretake watercolour paints to match the cherry colour and used it to add a colour wash over the collage pieces and also some splatters. For my flowers, I arranged some white paper flowers onto the page and drew in their stems using a black marker. The leaves were stamped using a Carabelle Studio stamp set and black Archival Ink. To finish, I added the “Happy” wording panel which was by Kaisercraft.

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

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our mugs of green tea along with my hubby’s favourite Black Forest Gateau (which happens to be cherry like my page … smile!) and my favourite cream filled meringue – Happy T Day everyone!

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.

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #162 – Anything Goes challenge with my happy page.

Add A Die Cut over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the die cut paper flowers that I added to my page.

Add some texture

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Add some Texture.

We hope you’ll join in the fun and you can use any medium you like as long as we can see the texture that you created.

The texture on my page was created using a new technique with masking tape; it was easy and simple to achieve, great fun and I love the results.

I started by adding strips of making tape to the page, scrunching the tape up as I stuck it onto the page to create the texture. Then I covered the tape with a layer of Pébéo white gesso and left it to dry.

Next I sprayed water over the top and added drops of Picked Raspberry Distress Ink from a re-inker angling the page and spritzing some more water over the top to disperse the ink. I repeated this process using Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed Distress Ink, and then left it over night to dry. Then I dragged a Black Soot Distress Archival Ink pad over the top of the masking tape to highlight the texture.

The flowers and foliage were die cut from some black glittery cardstock using a Wildflowers Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and the “Focus on the good” wording was a Sentiments Label Sticker by Tim Holtz. To finish, I splattered the whole page with black acrylic paint.

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

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our beer, popcorn and cheesy snacks that we enjoyed whilst watching Super Bowl last week – wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

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.

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover is hosting this month over at Art Journal Journey and her challenge is What’s Your Style, so I’m joining in the fun with my texture page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #160 – Anything Goes challenge with my colourful page.

Art Journal at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my textured and colourful art journal page.

How long is forever?

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Add A Quote; we are not looking for a one or two word greeting.

I created an art journal page inspired by a quote from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Alice asks “How long is forever?” and the White Rabbit replies “Sometimes just one second”.

For the background, I started by stamping the clocks using a Provincial stamp set by Kaisercraft and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink and also a Steampunk stamp set from Docrafts and Vintage Photo Distress Archival Ink. Next I added some cogs and wheels through a stencil by Paperbabe Stamps using Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Then I used the corresponding template from the same Paperbabe Stamps Stencil set to apply Scattered Straw Distress Ink. I sprayed some water over the top and used a kitchen towel to mop it up which gave the background more of a blurry/grungy look. I used a Fragments stamp set from Tim Holtz to add the pretty wallpaper detail, over the Scattered Straw Distress Ink, using Hickory Smoke Distress Archival Ink. I then coloured the clock faces by painting them, like watercolour, with some Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.

The little girl was a Maryleedee in Wonderland stamp from Paperbabe Stamps which Kim kindly sent me as one of my prizes for winning her challenge over at the Paperbabe Stamps blog. She was coloured using Spectrum Noir markers, fussy cut and then stuck in place.

For the quote, I used a Bellissima Alphas stamp set by Docrafts which I stamped on some recycled playing cards; I applied Pébéo white gesso to the playing cards and when dry, the words were stamped over the top using black Archival Ink. I cut the words into tiles and edged them with some Ground Espresso Distress Ink and then I coloured the letters using Spectrum Noir markers before arranging them onto the page.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see all the quotes my Design Teamies used on their wonderful creations too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

My page reminded me of Alices, where we used to go for afternoon tea (grin!). Unfortunately this café closed before the lockdown which is such a shame as it was an amazing place.

There was so much thought and detail with regards to design – there were stairs on the ceiling and chairs as lights, upside down electric plug sockets, beautifully decorated furniture and even the door fittings were back to front!

There afternoon tea was served on mismatched china and consisted of a delicious selection of sandwiches, crisps (chips) and salad, scones with jam, cream and strawberries as well as a selection of cakes and a big pot of tea – yum! As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m reminiscing about Alices and our afternoon tea with the T Gang and wishing you all a Happy T Day!

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.

For the sake of brevity I’m no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey and the lovely Erika from BioArtGal who is hosting this month with her Let’s Face It challenge as Marydeelee in Wonderland is on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #159 – Anything Goes challenge with my Wonderland page – thanks so much for the stamp!

Love To Scrap Challenge Blog and their LTSCB #153 – Anything Goes challenge with my Alice page.

Out with the Old, in with the New over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the new Marydeelee stamp and old clock stamps and recycled playing cards that I used as part of my design.

Anything Stamping Goes with the option of Wings challenge over at We Love Stamping all the stamping on my art journal page.

Yule Tide

It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for December which is Christmas Anything Goes.

This challenge is perfect as I love all things Christmas and I created this Yule Tide page to celebrate and wish you a Happy December and all the very best for the festive season!

I started by covering the page with Christmas Collage Paper from Tim Holtz and then I edged the page using Gold Ranger Embossing Powder. The snowflakes were die cut from some white cardstock using a Mini Paper Snowflakes Thinlits set from Tim Holtz and then covered in the Gold Ranger Embossing Powder.

To finish, I added some word stickers which were from a Tim Holtz Christmas Sticker Book and read “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night”, “Baby it’s cold outside” and “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” and also some images from a Tim Holtz Ephemera Pack which read “Special Delivery” and “December 25”; they were all edged with the Gold Ranger embossing powder before sticking them in place.

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

I hope you are inspired to join our Christmas Anything Goes challenge too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

This Yule Tide page had me yearning for this chocolate Yule Log that we buy every Christmas from a local bakery, it’s so yummy – not long to wait now (double grin!).

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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

For the sake of brevity I’m no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link. You can also check out Country View Crafts as they sell many of the Tim Holtz and Ranger products that I used.

Challenges

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

Yuletide Delights over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my Yule Tide page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #157 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmas page.

Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Yule Tide page.

Challenge #106 – Anything Christmas Goes over at The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge with my Christmas art journal page.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Sparkle Mode challenge with the gold embossing powder adding sparkle to my page.

It’s all about time

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is It’s all about time.

For this challenge I was inspired by the time I have spent this month celebrating my hubby’s birthday and also our wedding anniversary. I hope are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

The background was a wallpaper sample detailing a large clock face, roses and the words “Take time to love the little things”; it was stuck in place using a glue stick and then cut to size, and I collaged the remnants together to create the panel on the left-hand side of the page. I also added more detail to the rose images using a white Uniball gel pen so they stood out more. Next I stamped the two clock faces onto some design paper by American Crafts using black Archival Ink and a couple of stamp sets by Kaisercraft. I cut them out and arranged them onto the page with some silver roses and circles which were outline stickers and a quote from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet which reads “Love the time we spend together”. To finish, I fussy cut the two butterflies from the wallpaper sample and stuck them onto the page.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful It’s all about time creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday and we’ve been out celebrating, I’m sharing our drinks and meal that we enjoyed for our wedding anniversary (time sure does fly, we celebrated 33 years of marriage this year!). My hubby had chicken with black pudding in a mustard sauce and I had a warm bacon and chicken salad; I couldn’t eat all mine so we had some for lunch the next day (grin!).

Cheers and Happy T Day!

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

For the sake of brevity I am no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today with my page:

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #154 – Anything Goes with my page.

Thinking of you over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

MIUCB#54 – Anything Goes + Paper Piecing challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog.

Love to Craft Challenge Blog and their LTCCB#63 – October Anything Goes challenge.

Everyday is a true blessing

I had so much fun creating this mixed media page and as using up leftovers is one of my crafting goals this year, I used some leftover paper that I had coloured using Kuretake watercolour to create my autumnal leaves for this page too (grin!).

Don’t forget that you still have until the end of this month to join our #76 Challenge – Anything Mixed Media Goes over at Creative Artiste; you just need to use three different mediums to join in the fun – I hope to see you there!

I started by covering the chipboard background with a layer of Pébéo white gesso and left it to dry, and then I applied a layer of black chalk paint over the top. When dry, I sanded the page in a vertical motion using a piece of sandpaper to expose some of the white gesso underneath to create a worn vintage chalkboard appearance. Next I created the leaves using some leftover paper that was coloured using Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Scarlet Kuretake watercolour paints; I die cut three sizes of the same leaf shape from a Fall Foliage Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and then I applied some Vintage Photo Distress Ink to the leaves to give them more of a grungy look. I stuck the “Everyday is a true blessing” wording in place, which was from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet, and then I arranged the leaves around it using Liquitex matte gel medium. I added dots of Pumpkin Ranger Liquid Pearls and to finish, I splattered the page with the white gesso and also the black chalk paint.

As we had frosts in April that affected the apple blossom, I feel very blessed for the crop of Braeburn apples that we picked this year from our apple trees in our garden. I used some of them to make this delicious cinnamon apple cake with maple frosting which goes perfectly with my cuppa for T Stands for Tuesday – wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

I 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.

For the sake of brevity I am no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey and lovely Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations  who is hosting this month with her My favourite colour is October challenge with my autumn blessings page (15x15cm). Chalk it Up! challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog with the chalk paint background on my autumnal page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #153 – Anything Goes with my autumn blessings page. #144 Autumn Colours over at Sparkles Monthly Challenges with the autumn colours I used on this page. LTSCB #150 – Anything But A Card over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my autumnal mini art journal page. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Not A Card challenge with my autumnal mini chipboard art journal page. Challenge #6 Mixed Media Lovers with my mixed media autumnal page; this is a new challenge so I thought I’d join in the fun!

Autumn Blessings

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Autumn Blessings.

I love autumn and I’m always thankful for the autumnal colours so my page features lots of colourful leaves and a fabulous saying that reads “May your blessings be as countless as the autumn leaves”.

I hope you like it and are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by stamping the wording onto the page using a Sophisticated Script stamp set by Concord & 9th and black Archival Ink; touching up the lettering in places using a black marker. Then I had a happy accident as I didn’t realise the black marker that I used was water-based, so when I added some Tea Dye Distress Ink using a wet paint brush it reactivated the black marker; I quickly changed my brush strokes so they were in a diagonal pattern away from the lettering and it resulted in this beautiful grungy look – I love how it turned out (grin!).

Next I selected lots of leftover papers that had been coloured with different acrylic paints, Distress Inks and Brushos. Then I die cut the different leaves from them using a Fall Foliage Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. I added more colour to the leaves using Crackling Campfire, Fired Brick, Fossilized Amber and Ground Espresso Distress Ink. Then I arranged them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium and to finish, I splattered the whole page using black DecoArt acrylic paint.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful Autumn Blessings creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday and autumn is in the air, I’m sharing some homemade parkin which is a gingerbread cake traditionally made with oatmeal and black treacle, which originated in Northern England. I always make it this time of year as it’s one of my dad’s favourites, and today I’m enjoying a piece with my cuppa (hot water this time) – Happy T Day!

I hope that you’re all staying safe and well, and sending you autumn blessings!

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

For the sake of brevity I am no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey and lovely Wendy K from wendyscraftjournal.blogspot.com who is hosting this month with her Vintage challenge with my autumn blessings page. #144 Autumn Colours challenge over at Sparkle Monthly Challenges with the autumn colours on my art journal page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #152 – Anything Goes with my autumn art journal page. Challenge #5 Mixed Media Lovers, this challenge blog is for all mixed media lovers so I’m joining them with my mixed media autumnal page. LTSCB #149- Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my autumn blessings page.

Nature

Today I’m sharing a nature page, from my mini art journal, for this month’s The Leaves begin to Fall challenge over at Country View Challenges.

This page features some beautiful Stamperia papers including a collage of leaf images for the background, a pretty bird sitting amongst some oak leaves and the “Nature” wording.

I started by cutting lots of leaf images from a piece of Forest design paper by Stamperia and collaging them onto the page using gel medium. When dry, I edged the paper pieces using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker smudging the ink with my finger. Next I fussy cut the bird sitting on a branch, the three oak leaves and “Nature” wording; they were edged with the Dark Sepia marker and then stuck in place which finished the page.

I hope you are inspired to join our The Leaves begin to Fall challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

The autumnal design and oak leaves on my page were also inspired by recent visit to the Royal Oak in Garstang with our family.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a beer that we enjoyed …

… and some of our delicious food; this is chicken, bacon and leeks in a Lancashire cheese sauce – yum!

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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

For the sake of brevity I’m no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey and lovely Wendy K from wendyscraftjournal.blogspot.com who is hosting this month with her Vintage challenge with my vintage autumnal page. #144 Autumn Colours challenge over at Sparkle Monthly Challenges with my autumnal coloured art journal page. Lots of Layers challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog with all the layers of paper I added to this nature page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #152 – Anything Goes with my nature art journal page. LTCCB #62- September Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my vintage page.