St. Thomas

With the Jazz & Blues Festival held in Blackpool last month and also the Inspired by a song theme over at Try it on Tuesday, I have found myself reminiscing about some of my favourite songs of late.

When it comes to music, I have quite an eclectic taste and always listen to music whilst crafting so I created a page which reminds me of a song called St. Thomas; it is an instrumental piece of music and has a Caribbean tropical vibe which influenced my page.

I started by covering the page in Raw Sienna Rowney Georgian Water Colour paint using a baby wipe and once dry, I stencilled leaves using Tea Dye Distress Ink and also a trellis pattern using Vintage Photo Distress Ink; I was thinking of sand on tropical shores when I chose this colour palette. Then I covered the page with some Pébéo white gesso using my finger to give a sun-bleached look. Next I applied some sheet music washi tape to the page which depicts the instrumental music and also some colourful polka dot paper washi tape to depict the happiness of the music and tropical vibe. I grouped different colours of washi tape together which were orange, purple and pink and also yellow, green and blue; they are layered on top of each other and then finished with a piece of the sheet music washi tape on the very top. I outlined them using a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball pen to make them stand out more from the background. The tropical flowers are fussy cut from a wallpaper sample and stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium; once dry I added more detail using the black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball pen and also threaded some bright pink stamens, which I threaded through the page securing them on the back with tape, to give their centres a 3D look. I added some pink metallic stickers with tropical leaves, palm trees and flamingos on them and outlined them with the black marker, white gel pen and then an orange, purple or dark green Uni Posca paint pen. I stamped two butterflies using a Graphic 45 stamp set by Hampton Art and black Archival Ink and then I added some white cardboard letters to spell out the title of the song which I decorated with dots using orange, purple, pink, yellow, light green and light blue Uni Posca paint pens to match the colourful washi tapes I had used.

I love the St. Thomas music, this is the Jazz version and although you may not recognise the name, when you hear the music you will probably know the song (grin!).

I have to say I love this steel drum (or steel pan) version more, it fills me with happiness when I hear it and makes me want to dance (grin!). I particularly like this version by Joseph Peck and play it on loop all the time! I have to say a big shout out and THANK YOU to my lovely friend Bleubeard & Elizabeth who introduced me to this fabulous musician and often mentions him on her blog. I love steel drum/steel pan, so quickly fell in love with his amazing music too (double grin!).

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover, who is hosting the Count your blessings challenge over at Art Journal Journey. My page celebrates music and it is a blessing to have blog friends like Bleubeard & Elizabeth who kindly introduced me to this amazing musician!

What could be better than tropical shores on a summer day so I’m joining in the fun over at Moo Mania and More and their theme is Summertime challenge too.

I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Tape It Up challenge with the sheet music and colourful paper washi tapes that I used on my art journal page.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Sun, Sea and Sand challenge over at Country View Challenges with my tropical vibe art journal page.

Don’t forget there is well cover a week to join our Inspired by a song challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be lovely to see you there!

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:

• Rowney Georgian Water Colour (Raw Sienna)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Vintage Photo)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm & 0.5mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (Orange, Purple, Dark Green, Pink, Yellow, Light Green, Light Blue)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 77106)
• Dutch Doobadoo Dutch Mask Art A5 (Vintage)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO135)
• Wallpaper sample
• Hobbycraft Decorative Tape (Assorted Black & White 5971471007)
• The Works The Craft Place (Spotted Paper Tapes)
• Craft Sensations (Paper Flowers CRO344/R)
• The Range (Craft Stickers CR1243)
• Hobbycraft (Alphabet Cardboard Stickers)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Masking tape

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Dream a little dream of me

Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge is Inspired by a Song. You have two weeks to join in the fun and there is some amazing inspiration from the Design Team, so please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to take a look.

My art journal page is inspired by the song “Dream a little dream of me” and it depicts the first verse:

Stars shining bright above you
Night breezes seem to whisper “I love you”
Birds singing in the sycamore trees
Dream a little dream of me

I started this page by adding the song title “Dream a little dream of me” by drawing some wavy lines with a pencil and adding the letters free hand. Then I drew over the letters with a black Uni Pin marker using a ruler for the straight edges, and when the ink was dry I rubbed off the pencil markings with an eraser. I then painted the page with Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green and Neutral Gray Liquitex acrylic paint, graduating the colour so the lime green was in the centre, then adding aqua green and then grey around the edges. Then I created a star burst effect in the centre of the page by applying Pébéo white gesso thinly using a sponge and a homemade template that I made out of card using a stamp from Sugarloaf Inc.

To depict the first line “Stars shining bright above you” I added lots of stars and sparkle. Firstly by removing some of the paint while it was still wet to create the white stars; I did this using a star stencil by Creative Stencils and baby wipe. I used the same stencil to apply the three Liquitex acrylic paints using a palette knife as they are all heavy body Liquitex paints which gave the stars a 3D effect. I also added lots of shiny dots and more stars with the stencil using silver Stickles.

I added the words “I love you” which are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel to depict the second line of the verse and outlined the letters with a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball gel pen.

For the third line, I stamped the sycamore leaves from a stamp set by Crafter’s Companion using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad and then covered them with silver Papermania embossing powder. I shook and tapped any excess powder off the page and then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder to a glossy finish until it became smooth and dimensional. I also edged the page with the silver embossing powder by dragging the VersaMark Watermark stamp pad over the edges of the page and then repeating the process above. As the heat embossing “resists” the ink I smudged white Uniball gel pen ink with my finger over the embossed leaves to highlight the leaf veins and give the leaves more definition. Then I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush. For my singing birds, I used one of my favourite stamps from Creative Expressions and stamped one of the birds three times onto the page and also onto a piece of Sheet Music. I fussy cut the birds along with some music notes and stuck them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium so they look as though they are singing.

Next I cut some curvy strips of sheet music and stuck them above and under the “Dream a little dream of me” wording using Liquitex matte gel medium. When the gel medium was dry, I edged the wavy lines of sheet music with a black Uni Pin marker. I went over the song title wording with a black Derwent Graphik marker so it stood out more and I highlighted some of the lettering with a white Uni Ball gel pen to give a 3D effect. To finish the page I also used the white gel pen to outline all of the different elements which included: all of the stars to make them shine brightly; the embossed edging and sycamore leaves; the birds and music notes; and also the silver Stickle dots. Adding all this detail with the white gel pen took a long time to complete (grin!).

I had so much fun creating this page as I love this song! There have been many recordings of Dream a little dream of me by different artists and The Mamas & The Papas is my favourite.

Happy Serendipity! – One of my lovely friends at Drivers and Sundry has recently blogged about this song and Cass Elliott from The Mamas and The Papas too, so take a look at her post here.

I also like The Beautiful South version of this song too.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my apple juice and ginger beer (mixed half and half) which I find very refreshing in this hot weather we are having (grin!). I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang too – Happy T Day!

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover, who is hosting the Count your blessings challenge over at Art Journal Journey as so I’m always enjoy listening to music like art journaling it soothes my soul.

As I used sheet music on my page, I’m pleased to join Moo Mania and More and their Sheet Music challenge.

With the silver embossing I used on my page, I’m also joining the How can you resist? challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my Dream a little dream of me inspired Art Journaling and Mixed Media Style page.

As I made my own background for this art journal page with the acrylic paints, I’m pleased to join the Make your own background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

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

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

• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.3mm)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green, Neutral Gray)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Silver)
• Ranger Stickles (Silver)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Sugarloaf Inc. Anita’s wood mounted stamp
• Creative Stencils Craft Essentials (Stars MAOB0004)
• Crafter’s Companion Signature Collection by Sara Davies (Autumn Morning Rustling Leaves S-AUT-ST-RUS)
• Craft Sensations Clear Stamps (CRO274/16R1)
• Bosworth Violin Studies – Sheet Music
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (kisses & Hugs Silver #ROY790SV)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Earth’s Music

Today I was inspired by nature and my lovely friend Alison from Craftytrog’s Arty Adventures who is undertaking a challenge to create 5 minute journal pages – thank you!

I wanted to use some leftover papers and paints in my craft area so with the drying time of paints and glues and my finishing touches, I cannot claim this is a 5 minute page – my time actually ran out after the stencilling (grin!).  I had so much fun though and it is one of the simplest and quickest pages I have created which makes me happy – see what you think!

For the background I added some leftover book papers that were on my craft desk, it’s from some old books and some of it was die cut from a previous project. I used a UHU Stic to stick it onto the page and then I stamped some clocks from Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink. Next I used Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Red Liquitex acrylic paints and also white and black DecoArt arcylic paints to colour the background; some of which were already in my paint palette. I mixed the paints to create a pale yellow and also an orange colour and applied them to the page using a baby wipe concentrating the yellow near the centre of the page and the orange around the edges. I used up any leftover paint by applying it through a trellis stencil by Creative Expressions with a sponge and then. I die cut some flowers from sheet music using Sizzix Wildflower Thinlets by Tim Holtz and my Big Shot Machine. When the paint was dry I stamped a crackle stamp by BoBunny around the edges of the page using black Archival Ink. I stuck the sheet music flowers in place using Liquitex matte gel medium and once the gel medium was dry, I outlined them with a black Uni Pin marker.  To finish, I added a quote by George Santayana using Letter Labels by Tim Holtz which I thought matched the sheet music flower beautifully, it reads “The earth has music for those who listen”.

I love nature and when I die cut some of the Thinlet wildflowers for this page they reminded me of some of the flowers in my new garden border. This included the Achillea and Rudbeckia …

… and also the poppies; we have quite a few this year and the seed flower heads provide some lovely structure to the border too.

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 Bleubeard & Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover, who is hosting the Count your blessings challenge over at Art Journal Journey as nature makes me happy and when I look at my garden I feel blessed.

As I enjoyed using the stamps as part of my design, I’m joining the Anything Goes Challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with my art journal page.

I’m joining the Wild Thing challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the wildflowers dies that I added to my art journal page.

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Sheet Music so I’m pleased to join their challenge too.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Make your own Background challenge with the layered book pages, stamping, paint and stencilling that I used to create my background for this art journal page.

I’m also pleased to join the July Link Party #41 over at Cropstop Blog with my art journal page as I included some products from companies that they carry in their store.

Over at Try it on Tuesday the theme is Use Book Paper and there is a few days left to join in the fun, I hope to see you there!

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

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

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Provincial CS243)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencils (Ornate Trellis CEMSTRELLIS)
• BoBunny Stamp (Rough it up 12105155)
• Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflowers 66190)
• Book papers – leftovers
• Bosworth Violin Studies – Sheet Music
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology (Label Letters #TH93072)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic

Don’t blend in

One of the things I love about Art Journaling is experimenting and trying out new techniques, so for this happy page my idea was to try to create some transparent bubbles floating across the page. Now you may wonder why I was thinking of bubbles, well it just so happens that I saw some bubble wands in our local supermarket and as I didn’t purchase one, I thought I’d just create my own (grin!).

I also had fun using three different types of book papers which included both text and pictures from a variety of books, so this is also a reminder that there is still another week to join the Use Book Paper challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, it would be lovely to see you there!

I started this page by stamping some white tissue paper with a postage mark stamp, a Script stamp and a Believe stamp from different stamp sets all by Kaisercraft, using black Archival Ink. Then I collaged ripped pieces of these tissue papers with some torn pieces of dressmaker tissue paper from a sewing pattern and two different book papers using Liquitex matte gel medium. The book papers are recycled from my old pocket dictionary that I had at school and also an old reading book that had seen better days which I bought from a charity shop (thrift store). For the circles, I drew around two different sized paint pots with a pencil and then I used Iced Coffee Faber-Castell Gelatos to outline them and Earl Grey and Coconut Faber-Castell Gelatos to shade them first using my finger to smudge the colours and then using a baby wipe to remove some of the colour until I achieved the look I was after. Even though I used some artistic license with the dark colour palette, I really like their translucency almost as if they were bubbles floating up the page (grin!). Then I used book papers again, this time I fussy cut the flowers which are all peonies from an old Garden book, stuck them down using Liquitex matte gel medium and when dry outlined them using a black Uni Pin marker. To finish I added the wording from a Kaisercraft sticker set and outlined it using a black Uni Pin marker, it reads “Don’t blend in when you were born to stand out”.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I was trying to think of something that linked to bubbles and I remembered a cream tea that we had at Alices Tearoom some time ago. So here’s our pot of green tea for two, isn’t the china beautiful …

… and here are a selection of cakes that we had, the one with Alice on the top has blue bubblegum icing – I must admit though, I didn’t care for the bubblegum taste that much preferring the Rocky Road and Chocolate Oreo cakes that are also on the plate (grin!).

If you are not familiar with Alices Tearoom, check out my previous posts here and here and here.

I’m saying a big hello and welcome to the T Gang – Happy T Day!

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun using my Faber-Castell Gelatos, which I haven’t used in a while, to create my bubbles.

I’m joining the Get Sentimental challenge over at A Vintage Journey because a contrasting background and bright coloured flowers depicts the sentiment beautifully on my bubble inspired Mixed Media Style page.

I’m also joining Country View Challenges and their In The Summer Garden challenge as the peony flowers on my page can be found in the summer garden.

Over at That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog their theme is Close to Nature so I’m pleased to join this challenge with the beautiful flowers I added to my page.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with “Don’t’ blend in” art journal page.

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

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

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Iced Coffee, Earl Grey, Coconut)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Provincial CS243, Script CS752, Vintage-Believe CS832)
• White tissue paper
• Style Sewing Pattern – tissue paper
• The Pocket Oxford Dictionary
• David Copperfield
• Oxford Book of Garden Plants
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS284)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Agapanthus

Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge which runs for the next two weeks is Use Book Paper, so we would like to see some book, newspaper or magazine print papers of some sort on your creations.

My Design Team teamies have created some amazing inspirational pieces for you too, please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look. I decided to use book pages to create the background for my Agapanthus art journal page – I hope you like it!

I selected some Flora and Fauna pages from a Pear’s Encyclopaedia, cut them into rectangles and collaged them onto the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. Then I stamped some faux stitching around the edges of each collage piece using black Archival Ink and some new stamps by Urban Stamps which the bargain price of £1 each set at a local craft store. I also stamped a small stitched flower and a frame from the same stamp sets using the black ink again. Then I covered some of the page with a thin coating of white gesso using my finger to add a bit of depth. The agapanthus flowers are from a napkin which I separated into a single napkin layer, fussy cut and stuck in place using the Liquitex Matte Gel Medium; I love the way the napkin has melted into the background so that the text and stamping shows through. Next I created the butterflies with another new stamp set, this time from Kaisercraft, by stamping them onto Daler Rowney Mixed Media Paper using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad, covering them with black Papermania embossing powder, shaking off the excess and also tapping the paper to make sure any stray powder was removed. I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder by sweeping the gun over the stamped images, until the embossing powder melted to a glossy finish and became smooth and dimensional. I also covered some antennas, for the butterflies, that I made from wire with the black embossing powder following the same process whilst making sure I did not touch them until they were cooled as using the heat gun meant the metal wire got very hot. The butterflies are coloured using Sherbet Lemon, Sun Yellow, Tangerine, Poppy Red, Fuchsia, Violet and Antique White Derwent Inktense pencils; I picked the colour off the tip of the pencils with a wet paintbrush and then applied the colour to the butterfly wings. To finish, I stamped the sentiment from the same Kaisercraft stamp set, using black Archival Ink, into one of the frames, it reads “You are the reason I smile” and arranged the butterflies with the antennas so that their wings were folded upwards to add dimension to the page; they are stuck in place using glue dots.

As you probably know, we have been sorting out and replanting our flower beds – you can see some photos of our beds here. We have also been visiting local garden centres – Barton Grange has the best displays.

These glass agapanthus inspired my page; they can be found outside the garden centre, aren’t they amazing!

I love the blue agapanthus and bought some for our garden, I planted them into some pots so they are easier to over winter.

The water feature is beautiful too, don’t you think? …

… and inside we saw these pretty butterflies, which made me smile! So of course butterflies and the wording also feature on my page too (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, we popped into Light Ash Farm on the way home for my favourite cup of green tea and a huge piece of Lemon and Poppy Seed cake (yum!) – Happy T Day!

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun using my new stamp sets to create this page.

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Butterflies so I’m pleased to join their challenge too.

Being inspired by agapanthus and butterflies which make me smile, I’m also joining the Get Sentimental challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my Art Journaling and Mixed Media Style page.

Over at Paperbabe Stamps and their challenge is It Flies so I’m happy to join them with the butterflies that I created for my page.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the In The Summer Garden challenge over at Country View Challenges with my Agapanthus page.

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

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

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black PMA4021006)
• Derwent Inktense Pencils (Sherbet Lemon 0100, Sun Yellow 0200, Tangerine 0300, Poppy Red 0400, Fuchsia 0700, Violet 0800, Antique White 2300)
• Docrafts Papermania Urban Stamp (Craft Collections – Pastels PMA907222 and PMA907223)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Ma Cherié CS241)
• Pear’s Cyclopaedia 2007-2008 Edition
• Caspari Napkin (Royal Horticultural Society – Agapanthus)
• Thin metal wire
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Stix 2 Mini Craft Dots

Find Inspiration in Nature

My art journal pages are often inspired by nature which is why I chose the Flora and Fauna theme for this month over at Art Journal Journey. I had so much fun creating the background and steampunk vibe flowers for this page – I hope you like it too!

Taking inspiration from the beautiful red sunsets we see in nature, I started by covering the page in a mixture of Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red and Apricot Liquitex acrylic paint, varying the blending slightly to give different shades of colour. I added some torn book pages using Liquitex matte gel medium and some washi tapes, and then I applied a thin layer of the same acrylic paints over the top using my finger to achieve a translucent look. When dry, I applied some white DecoArt acrylic paint using a brayer and also a circular Worn Rings stamp from Gummiapan, making sure I washed the stamp as soon as I had finished so the paint didn’t dry and ruin it. I then splattered the whole page with black DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush. The flowers are fussy cut from an old flower book that I found in a charity shop (thrift store) and arranged on the page with three stamps from the Vintage Circles Woodware Craft Selection Stamp Set using black Archival Ink. I used Liquitex matte gel medium to stick the flowers in place and once it was dry I outlined them with a black Derwent Graphik marker so that the stamping was incorporated into the flower design.

Both the fussy cutting and outlining took some time to complete and it really made a difference to the flowers as you can see on this before and after photo. The bees and wording which reads “Find inspiration in nature” are both Royal & Langnickel rub-on transfers and I added more detail to the bumblebees using a Derwent Graphik marker. To finish, I stamped some circles of white DecoArt acrylic paint using a bottle cap and added some more splatters of black DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush.

Everytime we visit Garstang we see these beautiful metal flowers and the yellow ones reminded me those on my page today – aren’t they stunning!

I like that they stay in bloom all year round for us to enjoy, no matter what the weather … grin!

Challenges

I’m joining Art Journal Journey and the Flora and Fauna theme with my flowers and bees; there is just one more week to join in the fun (grin!). I’ve really enjoyed seeing all your fabulous creations that you have linked to this theme so far, thank you!

I’m pleased to join Moo Mania and More for their Even More Flowers challenge with my flowery page.

I’m joining Fashionable Stamping Challenges where the theme is Floral, which has been chosen by the lovely Avril, with my Vintage styled flowers, .

I really like the Vintage look of my new Woodware Stamp Set that I used on this page against the mixed media background which also included stamping, so I’m also pleased to join the Backgrounds challenge over at The Artistic Stamper.

Stamping Sensations challenge is Close to Nature so I’m very happy to be able to join them with my “Find inspiration in Nature” page.

I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Use More Than One Stamp challenge as I used more than one stamp to create this art journal page.

My page reminds me of a classical music piece called “Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nikoli Rimsky-Korsakov and I can just imagine my bees flying around my page to this music exploring the Steampunk Style world of flowers that I created, so I’m also joining A Vintage Journey for their Words and Music challenge.

With the stamping I used to create this art journal page, I’m also pleased to join the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge and their May Challenge: Anything Goes!: (stamping MUST be included).

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

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

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Apricot)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm, 0.5mm)
• Gummiapan Stamp (Worn Rings 2 11050601)
• Woodware Craft Collection Magic Singles (Vintage Circles FRS665)
• The Oxford Book of Garden Flowers
• Quality Toys Group (Washi Tape 2544960)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (TIP1642G, Motivate Sentiments #ROY510, )
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

I want to sing …

With the glorious sunny weather we’ve been having of late, nature seems to be blooming with spring happiness, so today my page celebrates the beautiful magnolia trees, birds and birdsong!

I’m linking to the Flora and Fauna theme over at Art Journal Journey which I’m hosting this month too.

I started by scribbling some Metallic Blueberry Faber-Castell Gelato onto the page in horizontal lines and then I spritzed the page with water, and used my finger to smudge and blend the colour across the page. Next I ripped a magnolia design napkin and stuck the flowers onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. Once the gel medium was dry, I doodled an outline on the flowers with a black Derwent Graphik marker. Then to depict birdsong, I stamped some music notes and script stamps from the Musicality Docrafts stamp set over the background using black Archival Ink . I applied some Pébéo white gesso with my finger over some of the stamped images and then used the same stamp set and black ink again to add another layer of stamping which gave the page more depth. The bird image is fussy cut from an old calendar, edged with Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck onto one of the magnolia branches using a UHU Stic. I also cut two of the magnolia leaves from the napkin and arranged them in front the bird so he blended into the scene better. To make the bird look like he was singing, I arranged some pieces of musical washi tape to flow upwards from his open beak. I placed three of these musical notes on the page background too and covered them all with Liquitex matte gel medium to hold them firmly in place. When the gel medium was dry, I edged them with a black Derwent Graphik marker so they stood out more. I added the quote using some Docrafts letter stickers  and I edged with white Uniball gel pen to soften the edges. I stamped the author’s name under the quote using an alphabet stamp set and black Archival Ink which finished the page; the quote is by Rumi and reads:

“I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think”.

Walking into town we pass many gardens filled with beautiful spring blossoms and these are some pretty magnolias that are flowering not far from our house.

Challenges

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

Being inspired by the Words and Music theme over at A Vintage Journey, I’m pleased to join the lovely Astrid and the rest of the Creative Guides with my Mixed Media Style music related art journal page.

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Even More Flowers so I’m pleased to join in the fun with my magnolia inspired page.

I’m also joining the Allsorts Challenge Blog and their In the Pink challenge with the pretty pink magnolias that I included on my page.

I’m also pleased to join Mixed Media World where their theme is Anything Goes…optional Pink.

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:

• Faber-Castell Gelato (Metallic Blueberry)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm, 0.2mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Musicality DCE907112)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Caspari Napkin
• RSPB Calender – old
• The Works (Three Washi Tapes)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic