Pumpkin Magic

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

For this challenge, I created an art journal page full of fun and spooky pumpkin magic; I hope you’ll join us too, it would be lovely to see you there!

For my grungy background, I started by covering the page with leftover pieces of Halloween papers by Tim Holtz using Liquitex matte gel medium. Next I added some pieces of washi tape and then I stencilled a diamond pattern using a Vintage Diamond mini stencil by Creative Expressions and some Black Soot Distress Ink. I applied some white gesso using a brayer and when dry, I used a baby wipe to smear some Carbon Black Liquitex Acrylic Ink over the top. I also used the Carbon Black ink to add drips down the page and left it to dry.

As some of my leftover papers were die cut, I noticed that one of them spelled out “Halloween” so I coloured the letters using a Gold Spectrum Aqua marker. The pumpkins were cut using a Halloween Hangouts Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some leftover paper that had been coloured using acrylic paint. I added more detail and shading to the pumpkins using the Gold Spectrum Aqua marker and I used some gold glitter to add sparkle to the eye and mouth cutouts. The letters for the quote were cut from the same leftover paper as the pumpkins, using an Alphanumeric Labels Thinlits set by Tim Holtz; the quote reads “There is magic in the night when the pumpkins glow by moonlight”.

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

This page reminded me of the Halloween pumpkin tealight that we bought in America many moons ago; it looks so wonderful when it’s all aglow – Happy Halloween!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

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

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey and lovely Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations  who is hosting this month with her My favourite colour is October challenge with my Halloween page.

October Anything Halloween challenge over at the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge with my fun and spooky Pumpkin Magic page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #153 – Anything Goes with my Halloween page.

LTSCB #150 – Anything But A Card over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my Pumpkin Magic page.

Fall Colors Mood Board over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the orange and black colours and pumpkins that I included on my page.

Challenge #6 Mixed Media Lovers with my mixed media Halloween page; this is a new challenge so I thought I’d join in the fun!

Mere colours …

As I shared a Halloween page to launch our Autumnal Colours and/or Halloween challenge over at Country View Challenges this month, my second creation is an autumnal art journal page featuring a beautiful quote by Oscar Wilde.

For the background I stuck a piece of kitchen towel onto the page which had been stained with Crackling Campfire, Rusty Hinge, Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso and Peeled Paint Distress Inks. It was stuck down using Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry, I stamped some fern images over the top using a Leaf Prints Tim Holtz stamp set and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. Then I used the fern stamp again to add the gold ferns using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad and some Gold Ranger embossing powder. I edged the page using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker and I stamped the quote using an old alphabet stamp set and some black Archival Ink. To finish, I used a white gel pen to make the letters stand out more; the quote is by Oscar Wilde and reads “Mere colour … can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways”.

I hope you are inspired to join our Autumnal Colours and/or Halloween challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

At this time of year, I always find myself thinking for our dearest friends in Maine (America) and the holidays we’ve enjoyed with them. The autumnal colours and ferns remind me of our woodland walks around their lake property.

Like the quote says, the autumnal colours speak to my soul – so breathtaking (grin!).

A few years ago, we even celebrated our wedding anniversary whilst we were there (double grin!). It seems like yesterday that me and my hubby got married but this year we find ourselves celebrating 33 years of marriage – sending my hubby all my love on our Anniversary and always! x

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.

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

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey and lovely Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations  who is hosting this month with her My favourite colour is October challenge with my autumnal coloured October page (15x15cm). Fall Gratitude challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog as I’m being thankful and paying homage to the autumn season with my quote and fall colours. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #153 – Anything Goes with my autumnal page. LTSCB #150 – Anything But A Card over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my autumnal mini art journal page celebrating autumn. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Not A Card challenge with my autumnal mini chipboard art journal page. Challenge #6 Mixed Media Lovers with my mixed media autumnal page; this is a new challenge so I thought I’d join in the fun!

Be still and listen

It’s a new month so we are launching our October challenge today over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, and as always the theme is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by the sunny Indian Summer we’ve been having of late, so I’ve transported us back to a summer walk along the Lancashire canal and the lovely yellow Iris that we saw flowering there (grin!).

I started by ripping and collaging some sheet music and design papers from Kaisercraft and American Crafts onto the page using a glue stick. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso and Salvaged Patina Distress Paint over the top. When dry, I added lots of small pieces of design paper, which I had leftover in my craft stash, using Liquitex matte gel medium to stick them in place. The fern foliage and yellow Iris flowers were washi tape stickers and I cut the pretty butterfly image from some Kaisercraft design paper. To finish, I added the wording which were Finnabair stickers that I edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker; they read “Be still. Listen.”, “Just breathe” and “Be led by your dreams”.

For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. All you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our mixed media challenge; I hope you are inspired to join us, it would be lovely to see join you there!

We always enjoy this walk along the canal and seeing the different boats, plants and wildlife along the way.

Here’s a view of one of the bridges where we saw the pretty yellow Iris flowering along the waters edge; it’s such a beautiful and peaceful place to walk (grin!).

I hope that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

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

Challenges As well as Creative Artiste, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Touchy Feely challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the texture I created using the leftover paper pieces which I layered together on this page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #153 – Anything Goes with my summer walk art journal page. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my Indian Summer inspired page.

Autumn Blessings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nature

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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

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

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

Vintage Collection

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Going round in Circles.

Today my page features a collection of vintage circles; I hope you like it and are inspired to join our challenge too, it would be lovely to see you there!

For the background, I dragged Speckled Egg and Hickory Smoke Distress Ink pads vertically down the page and then applied some Liquitex matte gel medium over the top; I did this a number of times to build up the colour letting the gel medium dry before applying more ink.

Next I die cut lots of different sized circles from two design papers from a DIY Shop American Crafts paper pad and edged them using Ground Espresso Distress Ink. Then I added layers of washi tapes and lots of Tim Holtz ephemera, salvage stickers and remnant rubs to the circles and I splattered them and the page using Ground Espresso and Vintage Photo Distress Inks.

Before sticking the circles in place using a glue stick, I added shadows underneath them using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker smudging the ink with my finger. To finish, I outlined each of the circles with a black fine line marker so they stood out more.

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

As T Stands for Tuesday, I thought I would continue the circle theme with my Hot Beef Barm (slices of beef in a barm cake which is a popular flattish bread roll from North West of England where I live) served with onion gravy and chips which went very nicely with a pint of Unicorn beer – Happy T Day everyone!

I hope that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

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

Challenges As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey and lovely Wendy K from wendyscraftjournal.blogspot.com who is hosting this month with her Vintage challenge with my vintage circles page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #151 – Anything Goes with my nature art journal page. Die-na-mite over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with all the circular die cuts and Tim Holtz Ephemera die cuts that I used to create this vintage page. LTSCB #149 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my vintage page.

Choose Happiness

Inspired by a pretty mismatched teacup and saucer, I created this vintage page using some new Tim Holtz products.

I also used some old book pages to remind you that there is still another week to join our Use book pages challenge over at Try it on Tuesday; I hope to see you there (grin!).

I started by adding a piece vintage flower paper, from a Worn Wallpaper Scraps set from Tim Holtz, to the left-hand side of the page. It was stuck down using Liquitex matte gel medium which I used for all the paper elements. Then I tore a dictionary page and edged the pieces with black Faber-Castell marker before sticking them into place. When dry I outlined the word “vintage” at the bottom of the dictionary page with a black fine line marker. The rose was fussy cut from an old garden flowers book and I added some shadow using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker and outlined it using a black fine line marker. The wording were Quotations metallic stickers from Tim Holtz and read “It’s all perspective”, “Choose happiness” and “There is beauty in simplicity”. To finish, I added some gold dot outline stickers and black gemstones which I layered together.

As T Stands for Tuesday, here’s the mismatched teacup and saucer that inspired my page with my pot of green tea which I enjoyed whilst sat in the café gardens at Lytham Hall. I just loved the pink rose on the inside of the teacup and the pretty aqua green colour with the gold accents – 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.

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

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey and lovely Wendy K from wendyscraftjournal.blogspot.com who is hosting this month with her Vintage challenge with my vintage rose page (size 15x15cm). Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #151 – Anything Goes with my vintage art journal page. De-stress with distressing over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my distressed dictionary pages. LTSCB #149 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my vintage page.

Be forever happy

It’s a new month so we are launching our September challenge today over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, this is a monthly challenge and as always the theme is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I created a mixed media page using lots of leftovers from previous art journal pages; I hope you like it!

I started by covering the background of the page with the letters using one of stencils from a #16 mini stencil set by Tim Holtz and some leftover Iced Coffee Faber-Castell Gelato which was applied with a baby wipe.

Next I edged 4 Poster Cards from Tim Holtz, like I did all the paper elements on this page, using a black Faber-Castell marker and arranged them onto the page using double-sided tape. Then I added lots of leftover bits and pieces; this included a piece of mixed media paper which had been coloured using green Distress Inks, some flowers and foliage that had been die cut using Tim Holtz Thinlits and coloured using Distress Inks, some ribbon, some torn paper, some tissue paper and note paper that had been stamped using Finnabair stamps and black Archival Ink, a ruler from a Kaisercraft Journal Card and some die cut pieces of trellis that had been covered with Aged Silver Stampendous Embossing Enamel.

They were arranged onto the page using a glue stick or double-sided tape, and I layered together a doily, a recycled butterfly gift tag and some leftover die cut letters and wording to read “Be forever happy”. I added some sparkly gems to the centre of the yellow flowers and a green wooden bird and then to finish, I coloured the “Aug” and “Sept” wording on the Poster Card using Tri-Blend Spectrum Noir markers.

As you can see I used lots of different mediums to create this page but all you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge.

For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

This page was inspired by our walks at Lytham Hall that we enjoyed over the summer (grin!).

There are lots of woodland walks so we were able to stay cool in the shade and out of the summer heat. I’m now looking forward to seeing the leaves change to their colours over the coming months with the autumn on its way.

Our walks also take us by these flower borders in the walled gardens which always look so beautiful (grin!).

I hope that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

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

Challenges As well as Creative Artiste, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #151 – Anything Goes with my nature art journal page. De-stress with distressing over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my distressed grungy stencilled background, Distress Inks, and also the torn papers, trellis and ribbon. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Glimmer and Sparkle challenge with the glimmer and sparkle of the yellow flowers with their glittery gem centres. LTSCB #149 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my leftovers page. Mixed Media Lovers and their Challenge #5 Mixed Media Lovers as I used lots of mixed media to create this nature page; this is a new challenge blog so why not join in the fun too!

Leaves begin to fall

It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for September which is Leaves Begin to Fall.

Please ensure that leaves are the main focus of your creation (no token leaf please) when you join this challenge which is being hosted this month by the lovely Jane.

I was inspired by happy memories of our travels to New England to see the Fall colours and used lots of Tim Holtz products to create this art journal page.

I started by covering the background of the page with torn pieces of three different designed Worn Wallpaper Scraps by Tim Holtz using Liquitex matt gel medium. Then I die cut the autumn leaves and letters from some linen textured cardstock using Skeleton Leaves and Alphanumeric Bold thinlits sets by Tim Holtz. They were coloured using Fossilized Amber, Crackling Campfire, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Inks and then arranged onto the page using matte gel medium. To finish, I added the New England Trail image which was a Layers Card by Tim Holtz.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges. I hope you are inspired to join our Leaves Begin to Fall challenge too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

We have visited New England a number of times over the years to see the spectacular Fall colours; this photo was taken in the White Mountain National Forest.

This was taken on one of the walking trails in Maine.

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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

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

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey and lovely Wendy K from wendyscraftjournal.blogspot.com who is hosting this month with her Vintage challenge; thank you to Erika for inviting me to join in the fun with my old fashioned Vintage retro feel page that was created with lots Tim Holtz products. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #150 – Anything Goes with my autumnal art journal page. De-stress with distressing over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my distressed worn wallpaper scraps background and skeleton leaves. Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page.

Book pages

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Use Book Pages.

I have some old books in my craft stash that I use for my art journaling and I used quite a few different books to create this page, in fact the only items that aren’t book pages are the sparkly butterflies (grin!).

I started by collaging the background with lots of different torn book pages from an old dictionary from my school days, a Pears Cyclopaedia, an old David Copperfield novel and an old novel with Kraft paper pages. They are stuck down using a glue stick and some Liquitex matte gel medium, and I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a brayer and left it to dry.

Next I fussy cut the gladioli image from an old garden flower book and stuck it in place using a glue stick.

Then I die cut some pages of an old poetry book to create the red border (using a Spellbinders set) and the “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? …” sonnet by William Shakespeare; I layered them together and stuck them onto the page using double-sided tape.

To finish, I added some pretty butterflies to add some sparkle.

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

I always look for books for my art journaling in charity shops and here are two books that I bought back in 2013 with every intention of using them on my pages, but they are so beautiful and precious that instead they remain on my bookshelf and I find myself reading them often. As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my “With a cup of tea” book with the T Gang today and wishing you all a Happy T Day!

My page was also inspired by these beautiful gladioli that are flowering in our garden too (grin!).

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

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

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Neet from Hickydorums; she has chosen Type as her theme so I’m joining with my type on the book pages I used on this page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #150 – Anything Goes with my typewriter art journal page. De-stress with distressing over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my distressed book pages which I achieved by tearing them and covering them with white gesso. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Glimmer and Sparkle challenge with the glimmer and sparkle of the butterflies on my page. Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page.