Be Thankful

Today I’m sharing a thankful journal page and wishing all of you that are celebrating this week – a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I started by covering the chipboard page with some scraps of neutral coloured papers; I cut the papers into triangles before collaging them onto the page and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top using my finger. I added the framed wording “when I count my blessings I count you twice” which was a sticker from Kaisercraft and the “Be thankful” wording which was washi tape. Next I added two flowers from a Tim Holtz Ephemera pack and two die cut autumnal leaves that were coloured using Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. To finish, I added two little chipboard owls.

For our wedding anniversary last month, we went to a new local Chinese restaurant called “Blessings House” and had the most amazing time (smile!).

The beautiful picture on the wall is cross stitch and was sewn by one of the restaurant’s family – it was very detailed and must have taken ages to create!

We had the lunch buffet with starters and soup; our choices were Sweetcorn and Crabmeat soup and one of each of the starters which were Curry Samosas, Spring Rolls, Salt and Pepper Chicken, Spare Ribs, Chicken Satay, Prawn Toast and Seaweed.

We shared our mains of Chicken in Satay Sauce, Sweet and Sour Pork and Chicken with Mushrooms – it was all so yummy and very filling!

I forgot to take photos of our drinks at the restaurant, so as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a couple of pints that we enjoyed at the pub around the corner on our way home (smile!) – Happy T Day everyone!

I hope 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 pleased to join the following challenges:

The lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from https://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/ who is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Collage Fodder, Food & Drink or Both so I’m joining her with my collage fodder page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #181 – Anything Goes challenge with my thankful page.

LTSCB#158 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Be Thankful page; I used lots of scraps to create this one.

November Anything Goes Fall Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge with my autumnal thankful page.

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Sparkle & Shine

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Sparkle & Shine.

For my sparkly page, I mixed some gold metallic Liquitex Acrylic Ink with Ranger Texture Paste and then I used it to stencil the swirls. Next I applied some of the gold acrylic ink onto the page with some Salvaged Patina and Prize Ribbon Distress Paints spritzing them with water to blend them. When the page was dry, I splattered the page with the gold metallic ink and also some white acrylic paint. For the heart, I embossed a piece of silver metallic cardstock using an Engraved Embossing Folder by Tim Holtz and cut out a heart shape. Then I applied some black metallic wax to the embossed pattern on the heart along with some of the gold ink and both Distress Paints. I added the wording from a Metallic Sticker Book by Tim Holtz which read “Shine brightly”, “Light the way” and “Start each day with a grateful heart”.

To finish, I added a sparkly embellishment to the heart; it’s a pearl surrounded by tiny diamante gems which was kindly gifted to me by the lovely Tracey.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing 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 and last weekend we officially moved to winter with the clocks going back an hour, I’m sharing our winter mugs. There pictured with a couple of mince pies – I know it’s early to have these but we treated ourselves when we saw them in the shops. As you can see my hubby’s “G” winter mug is very sparkly too – 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 join the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #179 – Anything Goes challenge with my sparkle and shine page.

Stencil Fun Challenge and their Anything Goes as long as you use a stencil with the stencil that I used to create the metallic swirls on my page.

Can You Handle The Pressure and their Anything Goes Embossing with a Twist of Pumpkins with the embossed heart on my page – thanks for the invite Darlene!

Time for Tea

As it’s time for tea at T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a page that I created using one of the napkins that I kindly received as part of the napkin swap – Happy T Day everyone!

I started by covering the page with Speckled Egg Distress paint and some white acrylic paint; mixing the paints on the page using a paintbrush. I ripped the pieces of a pretty Alice napkin and when the page was dry, I stuck them in place using a glue stick. Next I stencilled some Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink through a Vintage Diamond mini stencil by Creative Expressions. Then I added some black stamping using a Black Soot Distress Archival Ink; the stamps were a Tiny Dots stamp and a Script stamp from Kaisercraft and club and spade shaped stamp. To finish, I cut out and added various images from an Alice Stamperia paper pad.

As strawberry tarts feature on my page and happen to be one of my favourites, I’m sharing this one from our local bakery. It’s a shortcrust pastry base filled with a creamy custard and topped with glazed strawberries and it goes perfectly with my cup of green tea – yum!

Maybe you could join in the tea party too (smile!).

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

I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Fairytales, Folklore & Fables – Tell Me A Story so I’m joining her with my page which tells the story of Alice and her Adventures in Wonderland where she meets the Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter and joins the tea party.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #178 – Anything Goes challenge with my Time for Tea page.

Challenge #63 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels with my Alice page.

LTSCB#157 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog as I created my Time for Tea page using pieces of napkin.

I’m also joining a new challenge blog that’s just started this month called Stencil Fun Challenge which is Anything Goes as long as you use a stencil (with optional Halloween Colours), so as I had fun using the Vintage Diamond stencil on my page – Happy Stencilling!

Embossed Autumn Leaves

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Emboss It; this can be wet or dry embossing.

I had fun creating this autumnal page which features both wet and dry embossing techniques.

I started by covering the page with Driftwood DecoArt acrylic paint and when dry, I stamped a woodgrain stamp from BoBunny using some Moonlight White Brilliance Ink over the top. Next I used a Typewriter embossing folder by Tim Holtz and a leaf and swirls embossing folder to emboss some autumnal coloured masterboard that I had left over from a previous project; the masterboard was coloured by smooshing Rusty Hinge, Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks. I then dragged a Ground Espresso Distress Ink pad over the top of the embossed paper to highlight the embossed patterns. Next I fussy cut the letters and some of the leaves and swirls from one of the embossed papers, and I edged the rectangle of embossed paper using some Vintage Ivory embossing enamel by Stampendous. Then I arranged everything onto the page with two chipboard birds which were also covered using the same embossing enamel.

As we’re celebrating autumn and T Stands for Tuesday, here’s my green tea with a piece of homemade pumpkin roll filled with cream cheese frosting – 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:

The lovely Neet from Hickydorums is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Fur and/or Feathers so I’m joining her with the birds on my page.

MIUCB#61 – Anything Goes + Optional Smooshing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the embossing techniques and smooshed masterboard embossed pieces that I used to create this page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #176 – Anything Goes challenge with my autumnal page.

Happy 9th T Day Anniversary

I’m so happy to share the page that I created to celebrate the 9th T Day Anniversary over at T Stands for Tuesday.

Posting this page was somewhat delayed as we were awaiting everyone’s napkins that were sent to Bleubeard & Elizabeth for the napkin swap (smile!). As I created this celebratory page using one of the napkins that I swapped, I wasn’t able to post it earlier but Bleubeard & Elizabeth have asked us to share our napkins today, so here it is – I’m also sending a big thank you to E for organising and co-ordinating everything!

I started by using a paintbrush with some water to wet and then tear out pieces of napkin to create my scene. The pieces were layered together using a glue stick – did you notice there are nine animals (2 monkeys, 2 birds and 5 butterflies) on the page to celebrate the 9th anniversary. I added some heart and circular stickers from Docrafts that were luckily the same soft pink as the napkin; the circular stickers read “love”, “blog” and “hello”. I also added a transparent pocket using an offcut from a cellophane bag.

This pocket holds a card; the front of the card wishes everyone a “Happy 9th T Day Anniversary” and also thanks Bleubeard & Elizabeth for organising T Day and on the back of the card I’ve listed those who took part in the napkin swap. The card was created by recycling a playing card which I covered, on both sides, with Pébéo white gesso. When dry, I stamped the front using a Fragments stamp from Tim Holtz and black Archival Ink. The letters were die cut using a Sizzix Thinlits set, coloured using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker and then stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. To finish, I added some stickers from the same Docrafts set, that I used on the page, and then on the back I wrote the names of the nine people who took part in the swap.

Here are the two napkins I sent to swap; I thought the English currency with the Queen was particularly relevant due to this year being the Queen’s 70th Jubilee; and I loved the vintage animal design napkin as soon as I saw it and I know how much Bleubeard & Elizabeth love palm trees so it seemed perfect – I hope you like them too! If you’re interested you can see more napkins that were swapped over at T Stands For Tuesday.

We’re having a pint of home crafted Smuggler’s Gold beer and a glass of sangria with some nibbles to celebrate too – cheers and Happy T Day!

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m pleased to be joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #174 – Anything Goes challenge with my celebratory page.

Eat Cake

It’s a new month so it’s time to launch a new challenge over at Country View Challenges which is Happy Birthday; the lovely Monika is hosting and asks that “you join this challenge with a birthday card and/or a gift”.

So for this challenge, I’m sharing this fun birthday card which I created using a Sizzix Celebration Cake Mini Thinlits Die.

I started by die cutting the cake using the Sizzix Thinlits die from some leftover soft pink cardstock, some recycled grey paper and some bright pink design paper. I also used the same bright pink paper to create the background and frame the cake by die cutting a circle from the paper. Then I layered everything together onto a 3×3” white card and I embellished the cake with a thin strip of the background paper and a pretty flower sticker. To finish, I added the “Eat Cake” wording which was a Sentiments Label Sticker from Tim Holtz.

As this card design was simple to make, I made a few of them to send to family and friends.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges. I hope you’ll join us, it would be lovely to see you there and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the Country View Crafts shop! Before you enter, please read the rules!

As I’m also joining T Stands for Tuesday today, I’m continuing the birthday theme by sharing my cuppa with a piece of one of my homemade birthday cakes (smile!) – Happy T Day everyone!

Wishing you a Happy August and I hope that you’re 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

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

Paperbabe Stamps and their #173 – Anything Goes challenge with my birthday cards.

LTSCB#156 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with the leftover and recycled papers that I used on my cards.

Use your wings and shine

I’m a bit behind on crafting this month but I wanted to join Art Journal Journey and Wendy‘s fabulous Doors and/or Arches challenge again before the end of the month – so this is only my second entry for this challenge, I’m not sure where July has gone (eek!).

This is also my second post of the day, so as you may be looking for my Make It Feminine inspiration for Try it on Tuesday – please find it here.

I started by covering this chipboard page with Pébéo white gesso (it’s a great medium for the Gelatos that I’m using next) and left it to dry. Then I applied some Lemon, Mango and Lime Faber-Castell Gelatos by scribbling them onto the page and using a wet finger to disperse the colour. I also used a wet wipe to distress and remove some of the Gelatos colour allowing the white to show through. Next I stamped the page using black Archival Ink and an Architecture stamp and a Fragments stamp; both stamp sets were from Tim Holtz. The bird was die cut from some Simple Stories cardstock using a Sizzix die and to finish, I added the wording which were Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz.

To celebrate the 9th Anniversary of T Stands for Tuesday, I shared a breakfast sandwich and some of you were asking if it was a bacon butty. This isn’t what we know in the UK as a bacon butty (although it does contain bacon); this sandwich is something a bit more special and it isn’t typically English either just something I saw on the internet.

A bacon butty is a fairly plain sandwich with bacon in it; usually the bacon is “back” bacon rather than “streaky” bacon as shown here.

The bacon is often served on two slices of white or brown bread along with red or brown sauce. The “butty” part of it is a Northern term here in the UK for a “sandwich”.

Of course, being “up North”, we also have a bacon “barm” or “bap” too which is a type of “bread roll” and a whole other story (smile!) – wishing you all a 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.

Challenges

I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Wendy from wendyscraftjournal is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Doors and/or Arches so I’m joining her with the arches that I stamped on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #172 – Anything Goes challenge with my brightly coloured page.

MIUCB#60 – Anything Goes + optional Clean & Simple over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my simply created page using Faber-Castell Gelatos colouring techniques.

All the cake

It’s time for a new challenge over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge which Shaker Card/Project.

I’ve never created anything Shaker designed before so this was a first for me, so I decided to create this fun mini art journal page – see what you think (smile!).

I started by covering the chipboard page with a couple of layers of Bronze Distress Paint. When dry, I stamped the circles and starbursts using Fossilized Amber Distress Archival Ink and a Sparkles stamp set from AALL & Create. The “All the Cake” frame was from Simple Stories and I cut it to size, layering all the cakes together, to fit the page.

I added some prettily decorated film to the inside of the frame and filled it with lots of colourful sequins. The frame was layered onto the page with some balloons which were die cut from coloured paper using a Sizzix die set. To finish I added some tiny red stars to the background, which were from the same sequin pack, sticking them into place using Ranger Glossy Accents.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing Shaker designs from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

When asked I often make Birthday cakes for people and this year I made this cake for one of my dearest friends.

It was fun to make and you may recognise the little dog on the top that I created as the likeness was based my friend’s dog, Ellie (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #171 – Anything Goes challenge with my shaker page.

LTCCB#69- Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my fun “All the Cake” page.

Magic is everywhere

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

For my magical page, I started by covering the background with Prize Ribbon and Villainous Poison Distress Paints. Then I fussy cut the wizard image, which was recycled from an old book, and stuck it in place. I applied some Pébéo white gesso to continue the bright glow from the wizard image across the bottom right-hand side of the page. Then I splattered the page with the gesso too. I used Moonlight White Brilliance Ink by Ranger to stamp all the stars using a Lavinia stamp, the “Magic is everywhere” wording using stamps by Paperbabe Stamps and the constellation stamps which were from Kaisercraft. To finish, I added lots of tiny gemstones to highlight the stamping on the page.

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!

We enjoyed a magical time with our friends this weekend, and I made these egg, bacon and cheese breakfast sandwiches one morning – they are very yummy (smile!). As it’s the 9th Anniversary at T Stands for Tuesday, I’m pleased to share them and my cuppa with my T Gang friends – wishing you a very Happy Anniversary T Day!

The breakfast sandwiches were fun to make; if you’re interested here’s a video showing you how to make them – enjoy!

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:

MIUCB #60 Anything Goes + Optional Clean & Simple over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different techniques that I used to create my mixed media magical page. Paperbabe Stamps and their #171 – Anything Goes challenge with my Magic is Everywhere page.

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!