Tis the season to be … fluffy

As you probably know by now I love robins so I just couldn’t resist using this beautiful robin image, it reminded me of the fun saying “tis the season to be …fluffy”.

I coloured the page using an Earl Grey Faber-Castell Gelato to match the grey background of the robin image. The Gelato was scribbled onto the background and smudged with my finger which I had wet with a little water. The robin image was fussy cut from an old magazine that a dear friend gifted me for art journaling. Once stuck in place using a glue stick, I trimmed the image to fit the page. I arranged some of the trimmed pieces of leaves around the edges of page creating my wintry scene. For the wording I used some silver glitter stickers and then to finish, I splattered the page with both white and metallic silver acrylic paints.

As T Stands for Tuesday and to wish you all a Happy T Day, I’m sharing another fluffy robin that is on my winter mug.

If you’re wondering why robins sometimes look fluffy, it’s because on chilly days they puff out their feathers to keep warm. This puffing fluffs out their down feathers, giving some insulation to help the robin maintain its body temperature. So when winter’s here – “tis the season to be …fluffy (grin!).

Over Christmas we’ve also been enjoying this chocolate Yule Log from a local bakery, it was so very yummy! Not too sweet and covered in a thick layer of chocolate, and if you look closely…

…there’s even a little robin on the top (double grin!).

I hope you’ve had a safe and happy Christmas. Wishing you all the very best for 2021!

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:

• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Earl Grey)
• Old magazine
• Pritt Stick
• The Range (Alphabet Stickers – Silver Glitter)
• Poundland Metallic Acrylic (Silver)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)

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 celebrate the winter season and fluffy robins. I’m joining the Celebrate challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I’m celebrating the winter season with my fluffy robin page. I’m pleased to be able to join the fun LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my fluffy robin sitting in his winter wonderland. I’m also pleased to join the Sparkle and Shine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too with all the sparkle from the glitter letters and silver metallic paint on my page. I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my “tis the season to be … fluffy” robin 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 for my simply constructed page too.

Christmas Wishes

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 also pleased to join the Celebrate challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I’m celebrating Christmas with this 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.

Love Hearts

As last month signified our wedding anniversary and my hubby’s birthday, this page was inspired by love!

I really like the worn grungy look and feel to this page and I embossed the tiny hearts on a large red heart to depict how our love has grown over the years (grin!).

I started by covering the page with pieces of decoupage paper by VivaGade, old sheet music and Botanical collage paper by Tim Holtz using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I alternated layers of Pébéo white gesso using a brayer and some Distress Inks to create the grungy look, allowing each layer to dry before applying the next; the Distress Inks I used were Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso and they were applied by stamping the ink onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and either pressing the block or dripping the ink onto the page.

For the hearts I used some red foil cardstock cutting the smaller hearts using a Falling Hearts Thinlit set from Tim Holtz. I also got creative and used the Thinlit to emboss the large heart with lots of tiny hearts. Before sticking the hearts in place I marked where the large heart was to be placed and then painted black DecoArt acrylic around the edges dragging the paint outwards. I did the same with white acrylic paint and then splattered the page with both the black and white acrylic paints flicking the brush so the splatters emanated outwards from the heart. When dry, I stuck the hearts in place and added two black brads to the large heart. The “love” wording was created from the red foil and some white cardstock using a Shadow Script Thinlits set from Tim Holtz which finished the page.

Don’t forget that you still have another week to join our Embossed challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, it would be lovely to see you there!

For our wedding anniversary we ordered some delicious food from a new local takeaway called Elvin’s Street Food. The food is influenced by traditional Middle Eastern recipes that have been passed through generations of the owner’s family and they have an extensive vegan menu too. The owners pride themselves on using local produce from across Lancashire and being eco-friendly using easy to recycle packaging for their meals.

I had the “Sweet Kickin’ Chicken & Butterbeans”; this is spiced-infused chicken breast pieces and butterbeans slow-cooked for a rich and creamy texture, sweetened with homemade apple sauce. It’s served with rice, flatbread, salad, fresh mango and pomegranate salsa and yoghurt dip, and I also had a side order of fries – so yummy!

My hubby had “Lebanese-Style Yoghurt Chicken”; this is grilled chicken breast pieces marinated in yoghurt and Lebanese spices. It’s served with the same extras and he had the same side order of fries!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m also sharing the amazing mango lassi that I had to drink – this yoghurt based mango concoction was so delicious! 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:

• Viva Gade Decoupage Paper (Paris)
• Old sheet music
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Botanical #TH93705)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso)
• Foiled hearts bunting
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Falling Hearts 664415, Shadow Script #1 662684)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199, White 101)
• Brads (Round Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Artist Discount Acylic Paint (White)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Recycled white cardstock
• Pritt Stick

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as I always enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today: I’m happy to join the Home is Where the Heart is challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my vintage page as my home is always filled with love. I’m pleased to join the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their MIUCB #43 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Making Your Own Background with techniques I used to create the worn grungy background for this page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything But A Card challenge with my art journal page. I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too. I’m also joining Sandee & amelie’s Steampunk Challenge and their Winter Special 2020 challenge of Anything Goes – Steampunk/Industrial with my romantic hearts and worn grungy industrial background.

On Halloween

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

As I love owls, I just couldn’t resist buying the new Arthur Thinlits die set from Tim Holtz and using it to create this Halloween page. I also included a fabulous poem called “On Halloween”, it’s by Nina W. Walter – Happy Halloween!

I started by covering the background with Dioxazine Purple, Deep Violet and Vivid Lime Green acrylic paints using a baby wipe. Then I added the lines by scraping the paint with an old gift card and also applying more paint with the edge of the card; both of which were fun techniques.

Next I created the owl and branch using the Arthur Thinlits die set; cutting the 16 pieces from different coloured papers, edging them with some Black Soot Distress Ink using a blending tool and then piecing them altogether. I coloured the small feather detail that was embossed on the owl Thinlits pieces with an Orange Spectrum Aqua marker so they stood out more.

For the poem, I used a Sizzix Doodle Alphabet & Numbers Thinlits die set to cut out the letters from two different orange papers and then stuck them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium; this was a bit fiddly and time consuming (grin!). The poem, “On Halloween” by Nina W. Walter, reads:

The witches fly across the sky The owls go, Who? Who? Who? The black cats yowl and the green ghosts howl, Scary Halloween to you!

As T Stands for T Day, I’m sharing my cuppa today and a special treat from my hubby – Happy T Day!

He kindly bought me this box of marshmallow treats as part of my wedding anniversary present last week which are very yummy!

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.

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

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Colour (Dioxazine Purple, Deep Violet)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green)
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture – Multicoloured)
• Leon X-Large Coloured Paper Pad
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Dies (Arthur 664730)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Orange, Topaz)
• Pritt Stick
• Sizzix Thinlits Die Set (Doodle Alphabet & Numbers by Sophie Guilar)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

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 lines that I created in the background using the old gift card, the underlined poem title and the actual lines of the poem. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Halloween challenge with my On Halloween art journal page. I’m also pleased to join the LTSCB #138 – Fall Back over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Halloween page too. I’m also happy to join the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their Anything Goes + optional twist of Distressing (ink or tool) with the fun gift card techniques I used to apply the paints and the ink I used to distress the edges of owl Thinlits. I’m also pleased to join the Spooky! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my Halloween page too.

Use Your Scraps

For the next two weeks our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday is Use Your Scraps.

I find it very hard to throw things away so have lots of scraps in my craft stash so this challenge gave me the perfect excuse to get creative using them; I hope you like it too (grin!).

I often have scraps leftover from journal pages although I have to say my pile of scraps didn’t really get any smaller, but I so enjoyed creating this pretty art journal page.

My selection for this page was from my scrappy box of embellishments, words and die cuts along with my inked and stamped papers which are created when I experiment with ink techniques and stamps before using them on my pages. I often stamp onto tissue paper so I can position images and wording on my pages too.

I started by tearing an A5 piece of paper, that was stamped and covered with ink, into five pieces and stuck them onto the page using a glue stick. Once in place, I added more images that had been stamped onto white tissue paper which included postage marks, flowers, tags and wording. I layered them together with bits of blue tissue and decoupage papers, torn pieces of wallpaper and sheet music and also papers that I had tested different colours of blue inks on. I covered the edges with a light covering of Liquitex matte gel medium so when dry I was able to outline them using a black Uni Pin marker (without my pen being ruined by the glue) and smudging the marker using my finger. Next I added some scraps of torn washi tape which I also outlined using the black marker.

For the birds in the birdcage, I cut up and joined together three different failed stamped images to create the one on the page which looks pretty perfect now (grin!) It is hung from a tree branch which was also previously stamped on some tissue paper.

From my scrappy box, I added some white die cut hearts, a couple of blue sequins, an alphabet button, a couple of paper flowers and some wording that I had pre-cut from a birthday card; this finished the page.

To inspire you further, my Design Teamies have been busy using their scraps over at Try it on Tuesday too, please pop over and take a look at their amazing creations!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my cup of green tea that I enjoyed with a Chorley Cake from a local bakery. As you can see this pastry was actually as big as my head so of course I shared it with my hubby (grin!). I’m saying a big hello and welcome to the T Gang and wishing you all a Happy T day!

If you didn’t know, a Chorley Cake is a flattened fruit filled pastry traditionally associated with the town of Chorley in Lancashire, England. The filling can be made from currants, raisins or sultanas which are evenly distributed and sandwiched between two layers of unsweetened shortcrust pastry. These cakes are not to be confused with an Eccles Cake which uses flaky puff pastry and is normally baked to a deeper brown in colour and covered with sugar. Here in Lancashire, Chorley cakes are often eaten with a light spread of butter on top, and sometimes with a slice of Lancashire cheese which makes them extra yummy (double grin!).

I hope 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.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Texture challenge over at Art Journal Journey that I’m hosting this month with the collage layered texture on this page.

I’m so happy to join the Birds challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the birds in the birdcage that I added to this page.

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

• Stamped and inked papers, stamped tissue paper, ink coloured paper
• Pieces of blue tissue and decoupage paper
• Pieces of wallpaper and sheet music
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matt Gel Medium
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Bits of torn washi tape
• Die cut white hearts
• Sequins
• Alphabet button
• Paper flower embellishments
• Ranger Glossy Accents

It’s Fall

The new challenge for the next two weeks at Try it on Tuesday is Neat & Tidy.

Please note: If you are looking for my Texture page (I’m so excited to be guest host over at Art Journal Journey this month), please scroll down or click here.

I found our Try it on Tuesday theme very challenging as my art journal pages aren’t usually very neat and tidy (grin!). So I decided on an autumnal leaf design to welcome autumn/fall as it September signifies the beginning of this season – I hope you like it!

The background was covered in a piece of plain coloured paper using a glue stick.

I started my neat and tidy leaf design by creating a template for the columns of leaves; measuring and then die cutting the maple leaves so they were evenly spaced across the page. The maple leaves were cut using a Fall Foliage Thinlet from Tim Holtz and they were cut out of some linen textured cardstock. I cut 40 leaves in total, one by one using the template to position each leaf to create 8 columns, then I stuck 2 of the columns together to give more depth and dimension to the leaf die cutting.

Next I backed the leaf die cuts with some autumnal patterned papers from Craft Asylum and I used double-sided tape to stick the columns evenly across the page using the template to space them.

I used the template again to position the die cut leaves between the columns and achieve a uniform pattern. To finish, I added the “It’s Fall” image to the centre of the page, which is a sticker from Graphic 45.

For more inspiration, my fellow Design Teamies have also been Neat & Tidy over at Try it on Tuesday, please pop over and take a look.

As T Stands for Tuesday and it’s September maybe I can tempt you to a piece of homemade pumpkin roll filled with cream cheese frosting with your cuppa today. As you can see there’s even coffee today if you would prefer it to tea – Happy T Day!

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

Challenges

With the texture from the die cutting, papers and leaves, I’m pleased to join the Texture challenge over at Art Journal Journey where I’m Guest Host this month; it would be lovely to see you there!

I’m happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page too.

I’m also pleased join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page.

I’m also pleased to join the Complimentary Colours challenge over at Country View Challenges with the red-green+yellow complimentary leaf colours.

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

• Leon X-Large Coloured Paper Pad
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Fall Foliage 660955) 
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CR0240/GE)
• Pritt Stick
• Craft Asylum Paper Pad (Into The Woods 480326)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Graphic 45 Cardstock Stickers (Place in Time 4500617)

Summer

Our new challenge for the next two weeks over at Try it on Tuesday is Summertime.

I had fun using the hot colours of summer to create my seascape page capturing a summertime sunset. I hope you’re inspired to join our Summertime challenge too, it would be lovely to see you there (grin!).

The background is layers of paint and stamping; I started by applying Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange and Ultramarine Blue Liquitex acrylic paints to the page using a brayer. Then I used a texture stamp from BoBunny to transfer some of the wet paint around the page cleaning it immediately so the paint didn’t ruin the stamp. When the page was dry, I stamped the same texture BoBunny stamp and also two other texture stamps from an Urban Tapestry Tim Holtz stamp set using black Archival Ink. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso and the Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Orange acrylic paints again over the top using the brayer.

I created the horizon using a black Uni Pin marker pen and a ruler, blending the marker pen along the bottom edge using a wet paintbrush. Then I doodled some waves using a black Uni Pin maker and white Uniball gel pen. The seagulls and boats are drawn and cut from a dictionary page which detailed the word “sail”. I stuck them in place using a glue stick, outlined them using a black Sharpie marker and shaded them using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. To finish, I added the word “summer” which is a rub-on transfer and highlighted it using a white Uniball gel pen.

For more Summertime inspiration, there are some amazing creations from my Design Teamies over at Try it on Tuesday, so please pop over and take a look (grin!).

We are lucky enough to live right by the sea on the west coast and the sunsets are often spectacular, whether it’s simply yellow and orange …

… or maybe clouds of blues and pinks – so beautiful (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my cup of green tea with a custard tart. This is a pastry case filled with egg custard, sprinkled with nutmeg and baked – so very yummy (grin!). Wishing you all a Happy T Day!

I hope 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.

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 Erika from her blog BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her When It’s Hot challenge this month with the hot pink that I added to hot sunset page.

I’m joining in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their A Day At The Beach challenge my seascape art journal page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the #123 – Photo Inspiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the colours that I included on my page.

I’m entering the Do What Makes You Happy challenge over at Country View Challenges too as walking along the beach and seeing the sunset always makes me happy.

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

• Liquitex Basics Artist Color (Cadmium Yellow Light Hue Cadmium Orange Hue, Ultramarine Blue )
• Ranger Mini Brayer
• BoBunny Stamps (Rough It Up #1205155)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Uni Pin Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Oxford Pocket Dictionary
• Pritt Stick
• Sharpie Permanent Marker Fine Point (Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt Artist Pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Summer Sentiments #ROY-505)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)

Make it Masculine

Our new challenge for the next two weeks over at Try it on Tuesday is Make it Masculine.

I enjoyed creating this masculine page with the help of my hubby who chose the three stamps for the background and also the air balloon rub-on transfers which gave the page a lovely Victorian Steampunk feel (grin!).

I started by stamping the three Kaisercraft stamps that my hubby chose onto the background using Archival Distress Ink; these were an Alphabet stamp using Hickory Smoke ink, a Sketchy stamp using Vintage Photo ink and a Keys stamp using Ground Espresso ink. Then I scribbled some Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker onto an acrylic block, spritzed with water and then pressed the block onto the page to add to the grungy look.

Next I cut some rulers and also tore some grid and map papers from American Crafts and arranged them on the page with some leftover pieces of book pages and sheet music; they are all edged, like all the paper elements, using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck in place using a glue stick. The “masculine” wording and shop advertising signs are from a Crowded Attic sticker set from Tim Holtz. I splattered the page using black and rust coloured acrylic paints and then edged it using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker.

I added some Men’s Accessories rub-on transfers which included some men’s trouser braces, a pair of spectacles, a lighter, a couple of gentlemen and a wallet. To finish, I added some Kaisercraft rub-on transfers detailing hot air balloons, tickets with the words “explore”, “discover”, “adventure” on them and some scrollwork.

For more inspiration, my Design Teamies have been making it masculine over at Try it on Tuesday with their wonderful creations too, so please pop over and take a look!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my cup of tea that we enjoyed with some homemade chocolate mousse – so very yummy (grin!). Wishing you all a Happy T Day!

If you are interested, the chocolate mousse was made using aquafaba (juice from a tin of chickpeas) which I whisked for 10–15 minutes until it was at the stiff peak stage, like you would meringues, and then I folded 250g of melted dark chocolate and a couple of tablespoons of castor sugar into it, poured the mixture into dishes and refrigerated overnight.

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

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Halle from Halle’s Hobbies over at Art Journal Journey and her A Stitch In Time challenge this month with the men’s clothing and wallet accessory on this page.

I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Masculine challenge.

I’m also happy to join the It’s A Man Thing challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with this page.

The challenge over at SanDee&amelie’s Steampunk Challenge is Anything Goes – Steampunk/Industrial so I’m pleased to be able to join them too.

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

• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Alphabet CS887, Sketchy CS878, Keys CS801)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Hickory Smoke, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Artist Pitt Pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• American Crafts Papers (DIY Shop 366665)
• Leftover pieces of book pages and sheet music
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Salvage Stickers (Crowded Attic #TH92898)
• Pritt Stick
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Liquitex Artist Color (Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Men’s Accessories #ROY-853)
• Kaisercraft Rub Ons (Up, Up & Away Collection RB870)

Time …

Experimenting with new products is always fun but what happens when things don’t work as expected, well you make do and improvise which is what I did for this page (grin) – I hope you like it!

The background started with some leftover Seedless Grape Distress Ink that I stamped using a Clock stamp from Kaisercraft. I added some Burnt Umber Liquitex Acrylic paint which I coated with a layer of Docrafts Crackle Medium and then some Parchment Liquitex Acrylic paint but the crackle didn’t appear. I repeated the layers again thicker this time but still no crackle effect (having doing a bit of research, apparently this brand is not easy to use) so I decided to rub the layers with a baby wipe to remove some of paints which left a distressed painted wood effect instead which I really like (grin!).

Then I stamped the clocks using a Tic Toc stamp from Kaisercraft and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. Next I added the lace and large flower border which are stickers from Kaisercraft; I created some shadows around the top edge of the flowers, so that they stood out more, by applying and smudging some of the Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker with my finger before sticking them down. The vase of flowers was from a Botanicals Layers set from Tim Holtz and the wording was from Kaisercraft and reads “Time has a wonderful way of reminding us what’s important”. To finish, I added some tiny flowers to the wording and the bottom of the vase which are from the same sticker sheet from Kaisercraft.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my cup of tea and a yummy homemade carrot cupcake topped with cream cheese frosting and saying a big hello to the T Gang – Happy T Day everyone!

Hoping 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.

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 Halle from Halle’s Hobbies over at Art Journal Journey and her A Stitch In Time challenge this month with my Time art journal page page and also the faux lace that I included.

I’m happy to be able to join the Quote challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with quote I added to my page too.

I’m joining in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Make Your Own Background challenge with the background that I created for my art journal page.

I’m also joining the Tickled Pink challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my pink feminine vintage page.

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

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

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic (Burnt Umber)
• Docrafts Artiste (Crackle Medium)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Tic Toc CS796)
• Distress Archival Ink (Ground Espresso)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Cherry Tree Lane SS329)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Unbirthday Tea Party

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hoping that you all stay safe and well! x

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

Challenges

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

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

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

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

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

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