Amour

Today I have created an art journal page to celebrate love as I’m so looking forward to the wedding of some very dear friends next month. I used my favourite blue Brusho colours to create the dreamy background and thought that Paris would be the perfect city for Amour (grin!).

I started by sprinkling Turquoise and Ultra Marine Colourcraft Brusho powders onto the page and spritzed them with water. I love watching the colours burst to life as you add the water and as Brushos are made up of the different component coloured powders that create the main colour, purple can be seen on the page too from the Ultra Marine powder. Once dry, I stamped Eiffel Tower image onto the page and also onto some blue/grey spotted design paper using a stamp called “City of Love” by Penny Black and black Archival Ink which I used for all the stamping on my page. I used the same “City of Love” stamp to add the black swirls along the edges of the page, as well as the two hearts and the word “amour” over the background. Again I stamped these images onto the blue/grey paper, fussy cut them out and edged them using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. Then I stamped a leaf tile stamp from Rubber Soul, two birds sitting on a branch from Dovecraft and the word “Paris” from 7 Gypsies stamp set by Hampton Art directly onto the page. Next I added some diamond-shaped border stickers by Kaisercraft and also silver outline stickers along the edges of the page; then I outlined them both with a black Uni Pin marker, which took quite a while as the outline stickers are quite an intricate design. I then added the stamped blue/grey paper images to the page sticking them in place using a UHU Stic. For the main Eiffel Tower image, I layered it over a white doily and it is stuck into place using double-sided tape. I then added the black round brads to the “amour” signs, lots of flowers which I had embellished with blue gems and also a glittery silver butterfly which finished the page.

Paris is such a lovely place to visit, here is the Eiffel Tower when we visited some years ago; it looks spectacular by day and by night (grin!).

The wrought ironwork is amazing, if you want to find out more about the Eiffel Tower please check out my previous post.

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 Gill from gibbyfrogettcraftations who is hosting the Inspired by … challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my love inspired page.

I enjoyed using all the different stamps to create my Amour page design, so I’m also pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Stamping Sensations.

I’m joining in the fun over at The Artistic Stamper and their Colour it Blue challenge as they have chosen my favourite colour as their theme this month.

With my vibrant Brusho coloured page, I’m also happy to join the Bright and Cheerful challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Written Word (add some text in some form) challenge over at Country View Challenges with my Amour art journal page.

I’m also very happy to join the lovely Design Team over at PaperBabe Stamps and their Anything Goes 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:

• Colourcraft Brusho Colours Crystals (Turquoise, Ultra Marine)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Penny Black 2007 wood-mounted stamp (City of Love 3800K)
• Rubber Soul wood-mounted stamp (Leaf Tile 276K)
• Dovecraft Clear Stamp (DCCS014)
• Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Vintage cling mounted rubber stamps (Birdsong ICO151)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Vintage Glory 154898)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Set (Fly Free SS289)
• Docraft Anita’s Outline Stickers (Timeless Borders ANT810117)
• Dovecraft Premium Paper Doilies (Painted Blooms DCDLS010)
• Brads (Round Black)
• Poundland (Accessories Pack 60911, Gem Florettes 117128)
• The Works (Wooden Craft Butterflies CR1292)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape

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Great Opportunities

Over at Try it On Tuesday we have a masculine theme for the next two weeks called For the Boys. Maybe your creations could be for a baby boy, boys, teenagers, adults, sons, dads or grandfathers, if you need more inspiration please check out the fabulous creations from our Design Team.

I created a masculine page with an industrial look using some inks, stamps, stencils, design paper, stickers and recycled magazine images.

I started by building up layers of colour using Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Hickory Smoke Distress Inks. I did this by applying the ink pads to an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page then drying each colour with a heat gun before applying the next. I stamped some cogs from a Steampunk stamp set from Docrafts using Toffee Crunch Memento Ink and then a ruler and also a bingo card stamp from Tim Holtz using black Archival Ink. Then I stenciled some Geometric Tile squares around the edge of the page using a Dutch Doobadoo mask and black Archival Ink.  Next I fussy cut the lightbulbs, clocks and metal semicircle door from a couple of old magazines and, like all of the paper elements, edged them with black Faber-Castell marker and stuck them in place using a UHU Stic. The world map pieces are cut from a sheet of design paper by Kaisercraft and the “402” is a Salvage Sticker by Tim Holtz which I embellished with two brown brads. To finish, I added the wording using double-sided foam tape which reads “each day holds the possibility for great opportunities”.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing a recent visit to Dahlia’s Kitchen which is a restaurant nearby, it’s attached to a garden centre so it was fun morning out (grin!).

As it was a hot sunny day we sat outside on their new patio near this beautiful water feature made from recycled metal, it looks a bit industrial like my page although I’m not sure what it is – any ideas?

I went with my sister who had a strawberry milkshake, I had my usual pot of green tea and we shared a huge piece of ginger and lemon cake which was delicious – 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 be able to join the lovely Gill from gibbyfrogettcraftations who is hosting the Inspired by … challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my masculine inspired page.

I’m also pleased to join the Written Word (add some text in some form) challenge over at Country View Challenges with the inspirational wording I added to my page.

As I enjoyed stenciling the black square design around the edge of this page, I’m also joining the lovely Astrid who is hosting A Vintage Journey this month where the challenge is Stencil It. My masculine inspired page fits their challenge focus with it’s Industrial and Mixed Media Style.

I’m also happy to join in the fun over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Anything But A Card challenge with my 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Hickory Smoke)
• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Toffee Crunch)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.3mm)
• Dutch Doobadoo Dutch Mask Art A5 (Geometric Tiles)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Steampunk DCE907125)
• Tim Holtz {Components} Collection (COM013 CAR)
• Old Magazines
• Kaisercraft Timeless Collection 12×12 Design Paper (Postmarks P853)
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Salvage Stickers (Crowded Attic #TH92898)
• Little Yellow Bicycle Cardstock Stickers (Fresh Verse PD-140)
• Craft Sensations (Brads CRO550/A)
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Doodled Flowers

This page has been painted on the cardboard cover of my finished art journal book. I wanted to get creative with some new paints and just doodle a little; to be honest it started as a fun experiment as I don’t usually paint or doodle that much (grin!). I liked the way my page turned out so I thought I’d share it with you today.

I started by applying a dark grey acrylic paint onto the thick cardboard cover; I had intended to make a dark purple paint for another project but I added way too much dark blue so rather than waste this paint I covered this page with it. I also had some orange paint left over from the same project which I splattered using a paintbrush over the top. Next I doodled some large flower shapes using a white Uniball gel pen and coloured them using Vivid Lime Green, Neutral Gray and Bright Aqua Green Liquitex acrylic paints. It’s the first time I have used these paints which were a gift and as they are “heavy body” paints the flowers painted have a lovely 3D look which I love! I also added some of the different paint colours along the edges of the flower petals and in centre of the flowers. Then I used up any excess paint on the background of the page to break up the dark grey so that hints of these colours can be seen throughout the background. Next I used my brayer to apply white DecoArt acrylic paint to a diamond background stamp from Art Impressions and stamped it around the flowers. I also used the brayer to add white acrylic paint along the edge of the page too. I then cleaned the brayer and stamp and used them again to apply the Vivid Lime Green Liquitex acrylic paint onto the flower petals. When the paint was dry I doodled on the flowers with a black Derwent Graphik marker, defining the flower petals and stamens and I used the white gel pen to touch up the flower outlines and also a white Uni Posca paint pen to colour the stamens in the centre. To finish, I added three stickers by Kaisercraft which reminded of the happy time I had creating this page, which read “Smile”, “Create happiness” and “Live in the moment”.

Talking of flowers, these pretty Delphinium could be found flowering in our garden this time last year, unfortunately they did not survive our unusually cold snowy winter. Luckily I have some photos to remember how beautiful they were which makes me smile!

Of course you may remember these flowers from a previous post, they are my one of my favourite flowers called Mesembryanthemum which is a really hard one to pronounce, so I just refer to them as “pretties”; you may also know then as Livingston Daisies. I buy them every year and this year we have a big pot of them on our patio, so I’m really looking forward to seeing them flower as I’m sat relaxing in the garden (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Gill from gibbyfrogettcraftations who is hosting the Inspired by … challenge over at Art Journal Journey as my inspiration for this page was to have some fun experimenting with new paints and doodling.

I’m pleased to be able to join Paperbabe Stamps and their Doodles challenge: thanks I had so much fun doodling to join your challenge (grin!).

I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their All Things Bright and Beautiful challenge with my colourful flower art journal page, where the lovely Chris is in the Designer Spotlight this month and created an amazing little book of flowers to inspire us for this particular challenge.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Written Word (add some text in some form) challenge over at Country View Challenges with the happy wording I added to my page.

I’m also joining the Colour it Blue challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with my painted blue flowers.

As I created my Doodled Flowers on my art journal cover, I’m also pleased to join the lovely Lulu over at Stamps and Stencils and their Do judge a book by its cover! 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:

• Leftover acrylic paint from previous project (Dark Grey, Orange)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green, Neutral Gray 5, Bright Aqua Green)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Derwent Graphik Line marker (Black 0.5mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (White)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Diamond Background T-3335)
• Ranger Brayer
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)

Peacock Butterfly

This page is inspired by the beautiful Peacock butterfly that we saw whilst walking along the Lancaster canal.

I started by painting the page with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint varying the tone of colour across the page by adding some Pébéo white gesso. When dry I stamped a pretty blossoms stamp from Stampendous over the page using black Archival Ink. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the stamped blossoms and re-stamped them layering the image over the top to give the page more depth. I also stamped a Script stamp from Kaisercraft using the black Archival Ink again. Next I fussy cut some squares, rectangles and faux embroidered shapes from some design paper, edged them with a Black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and arranged them on the page using a UHU Stic with: a white doily; a postcard; cards depicting a Peacock Butterfly on the front and information about the butterfly on the back; and a lace flower. The letters for the “Peacock Butterfly” wording are fussy cut from some design paper and stuck in place using the UHU Stic too. I added lots of mini decorative pearls to the centre of the blossoms which finished the page.

This Peacock butterfly was sitting on a thistle by the canal and I always marvel at its patterned wings and beautiful iridescent colours.  If you are interested here are some fun facts about this butterfly:

• Peacock butterflies are found in British Isles, Europe and temperate Asia as far east as Japan and are not the same genus as the “American Peacock butterfly”.
• This butterfly is one of the larger species of butterflies with the males being smaller than the females. However males and females have the same wing patterns, so other than size they look exactly the same.
• Peacock butterflies are easily to recognize by the beautiful purple eyespots on the hind wings and this specific colouration of their wings provides protection against predators by confusing or even scaring them away.
• The edges of its wings are dark and look like dead leaves and the underside of its wings are a dull brown which ensures excellent camouflage when butterfly rests on the bark of the trees.
• The Peacock butterfly is strong flyer and it can travel long distances. It has a nomadic instinct so instead of having a permanent home, it travels all the time.
• The Peacock butterfly has a long lifespan, living for around 11 months.

By far my favourite fact is, that when viewed up-side down, the pattern of the Peacock’s wings resembles the face of an owl (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our drink of ice-cold water that we always take on our walks – 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 here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Gill from gibbyfrogettcraftations who is hosting the Inspired by … challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Peacock Butterfly inspired page.

I’m pleased to join the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Written Word (add text in some form) challenge, which on this page includes the “Peacock Butterfly” wording that I created from the fussy cut letters and also the text from the Script stamp, postcard and Collectors Cards.

With it being the first Tuesday of the month, I’m pleased to join the Simply Neutrals Tuesday party over at Apple Apricot with my neutrals page.

Over at That’s Crafty! Challenge their challenge is A Stitch in Time so I’m happy to join them with the faux stitched embroidery and pretty crocheted lace flower that I used as part of my design for this art journal page.

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

I’m also pleased to join the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge and their June 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 (Parchment)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Stampendous cling rubber stamp (Blossom Spray CRP136)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Travel Memories 154898)
• The Works Design Pad (Classic Vintage CRO707/TW7)
• Dovecraft Premium Paper Doilies (Painted Blooms DCDLS010)
• Collectors Card (Butterflies & Roses)
• The Works (Lace Flower Stickers)
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Smile

I’m sharing my last page for this month’s challenge over at Art Journal Journey (AJJ) which I’ve been hosting and I’d like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who joined in the fun!

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting all your blogs to see your wonderful Flora and Fauna artwork and I was delighted by all the different styles, techniques and mediums used as well.

Your amazing creations have really made me smile so I created this page to remember you all – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the page with some old recycled graph paper that my hubby used to mount his childhood postage stamp collection on and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a palette knife to exaggerate the worn look. Next I tore the following: some book pages defining Flora and Fauna from a very old encyclopedia that I bought at a charity shop; a wildlife leaflet; a map leftover from a previous page; and a pretty floral paper by Kaisercraft. I edged all of these torn pieces with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink using a blending tool and stuck them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. I also fussy cut some flora and fauna images of birds and flowers from the wildlife leaflet. Next I outlined the Flora and Fauna wording using a black Uni Pin marker and framed it using an oval die cut which I created using a Spellbinders Die and my Big Shot machine; the inside edge is coloured using a black Big Brush marker. I also added a die cut butterfly and Smile banner using double-sided tape. The hydrangea image and flowers are fussy cut from a wallpaper sample. I actually cut two of these images out, which took some time – those who know me will know I love nothing better than fussy cutting, it’s so relaxing (grin!).

So there is a reason that I fussy cut two hydrangea images as this page has a surprise on the far right-hand side, it opens up like a leaflet to reveal those who took part in the AJJ challenge this month. I don’t think you would know this by looking at the page as I fussy cut and arranged the hydrangea flowers on top of the folded section to match the hydrangea image underneath.

Inside, it is decorated in the same way as the main page by backing it with the old graph paper and then collaging the other papers on top. I printed the names from AJJ and tore them into strips, edged them with the Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and stuck them in place. Then I added some of the leftover hydrangea flowers, the wording and the sentiment, which reads “So many wonderful reasons to be grateful” as I am truly grateful to all of you who took part (grin!).

I sure had fun creating all my pages for this challenge and I hope you did too!

I’d like to say a special thanks to Susi and Bleubeard & Elizabeth for asking me to be a guest host, they have really provided such valuable support and encouragement, thank you!  I have also been overwhelmed with everyone’s participation and lovely comments; it has been such a pleasurable experience – thank you all! Jo x

Tomorrow is a new month and brings a new challenge at Art Journal Journey and I can’t wait to see what the new theme is and say hello to our new host – I hope to see you there!

Challenges

As I used die cuts as part of my art journal page design, I joining in the fun at Moo Mania & More and their Die Cuts challenge.

I’m also pleased to join the Anything Goes 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:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Frayed Burlap)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.5mm, 0.8mm)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Spellbinders Die Set (Unknown)
• Recycled graph paper – hubby’s childhood postage stamp collection
• The New Standard Encyclopaedia and World Atlas
• Recycled RSPB leaflet – Gardening with wildlife in mind
• Leftover map pieces from previous project
• Wallpaper sample
• Recycled black paper
• Kaisercraft Provincial Collection 12×12 Paper (Willow P1979)
• The Works (Vintage Die Cut Shapes)
• Letraset Transfer (Helvetica Bold Condensed 5mm RDC0251)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• The Range double-sided foam tape

She’s got the Look

It’s time for a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday which is She’s got the Look. It might be in her style, her eyes etc … which give her that special look.

Please check out the amazing Design Team creations over at Try it on Tuesday for more inspiration. I had lots of fun creating my art journal page, I think she definitely has “The Look” (grin!).

I started this page by covering it in squares and rectangles of different grey and white decoupage papers using Liquitex matte gel medium; the decoupage designs included lace, dots and fleur-de-lis. Then I added some clock and circular shapes from Kaisercraft and also a Fiskars stamp set and a scroll stamp by Penny Black using black Archival Ink. The pretty girl’s face is from an old magazine and is mounted onto a piece of wallpaper using a UHU Stic to give it more stability. Once dry I fussy cut and stuck it to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium along with some flowers and leaves which I fussy cut from a wallpaper sample. Once everything was in place I covered it with a layer of Liquitex matte gel medium to seal the images so I could easily apply different mediums over the top to add colour and more detail. Next I stencilled modelling paste onto the background through a fleur-de-lis style stencil and left it to dry.

To create the distressed grungy look, I coloured the background using Iced Rose, Iced Currant, Earl Grey and Coconut Faber-Castell Gelatos smudging the colours with my finger. I then added some water to the page using a paintbrush and applied some Carbon Black Liquitex Ink over the top; the water helped control where the ink seeped and spread on the page. I also tipped the page vertically so the ink dripped and ran down the page. Next I applied some DecoArt white paint with a sponge to the background and also to the fleur-de-lis by using the stencil again which added some highlights making the page lighter. I intensified the colour of the flowers on her headdress using a Chilli Red Inktense pencil and then outlined them using an Ink Black Inktense pencil. To give her headdress more of a grungy look, I covered the leaves in black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker wiping the ink off with a baby wipe so it just dulled the green colour. Then I painted diluted Carbon Black Liquitex Ink to the edges of the flower petals and outlined both the flowers and leaves with this ink so they stood out more from the background. I used a white Uniball gel pen and black Uni Pin marker to doodle lines and dots onto the flowers and leaves to add more detail and interest to the design. I then added some sparkle to the edges of the flowers using silver Stickles by Ranger and coloured the stamens of the flowers using a white Uniball gel pen and outlined them with a black Uni Pin marker. Then I picked out the flower colour and design of the girl’s headdress to embed the girl’s image into the background better by applying some Red Berries Distress Ink using a Floral stencil by Tim Holtz around the edges of the page.

I emphasised the girl’s eyes by doodling on them with a black Uni Pin marker and then colouring them with Baked Earth and Antique White Inktense pencils, a white Uniball gel pen and also silver Stickles to add some sparkle. Her mask is made using some fine silver netting which I cut to shape and placed over her face tucking it under the flowers of her headdress; I arranged some strands of clear and black gemstones over the netting to create her sparkly mask with a teardrop gem in the centre. I applied some more silver stickles to the lower part of her face to define the lines of her neck, chin and cheeks. Next I added some thin feathers which I had curled so they fanned out creating more texture around her face, they are stuck in place using Ranger Glossy Accents. With the mask complete I also stuck the edges of the mask and flowers in place using the Glossy Accents. To tie the mask into the headdress design, I added some of the clear and black gemstones around and behind the edges of the flowers on her headdress and then I painted Chilli Red Intense pencil onto her lips which finished her look.

As T Stands for Tuesday and my lady is going to a Masked Ball, I think she would be enjoying a cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a cosmo – Happy T Day!

This happens to be one of my favourite cocktails and if you are interested it’s made with ½oz Fresh lime juice, 1oz Cranberry juice, ½oz Cointreau, 1½oz Vodka. Place all the ingredients into cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake well and strain into a large cocktail glass – yum (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:

As I included flowers and feathers on my journal page, I’m pleased to join the Flora and Fauna theme which I’m hosting at Art Journal Journey. There is still a few days left to join in the fun and be sure to pop back on Thursday to see my final celebratory journal page for this theme (grin!).

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Even More Flowers so I’m pleased to join the lovely DT with the flowers I created for this page.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Doodles challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as I really enjoyed adding all the doodles to the girl’s face and also her headdress flowers and leaves.

I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Use More Than One Stamp challenge as I used the clock, circular and scroll stamps for this 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)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Iced Rose, Iced Currant, Earl Grey, Coconut)
• Liquitex Inks! (Carbon Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Derwent Inktense Pencils (Chilli Red 0500, Ink Black 2200, Baked Earth 1800, Antique White 2300)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Festive Berries)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Magnolia Grove CS822, Provincial CS243)
• Penny Black T for Transparent (Clearly in Love 30-009)
• Fiskars Clear Stamps (Rounds & Squares 4657)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Tim Holtz Collection Stamper Anonymous (Floral Layering Stencil THS077)
• Viva Gade Decoupage papers Skagen (25561, 25562, 25564)
• Old Magazine
• Wallpaper sample
• Poundland (Design Jems 175751)
• Graham & Brown (Adhesive Jewels)
• Black Feathers
• Ranger Stickles (Silver)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic

Flora and Fauna

I am so delighted to be hosting Art Journal Journey this month and my challenge is

Flora and Fauna

For this challenge Flora refers to plant life and Fauna to the animal kingdom. In nature, flora and fauna compliment each other, so it’s up to you to decide whether you include only plants, animals or combine the two together.

I started by selecting stamps of plant life and animals from my craft stash; for Flora I chose a tree, some different flowers, leaves and fruit and then for Fauna I chose a bird, some insects including a bee, butterflies and a dragonfly, a hedgehog and some paw prints. I stamped my flora stamps onto white tissue paper and my fauna stamps onto brown tissue paper using black Archival Ink which I used for all of the stamping on this page. Well that’s what I thought anyway, but as you can see this is correct for all except the bee, I think he must be flying onto the white flora tissue paper to find the flowers (grin!). Then I ripped the edges of the tissue paper and stuck them onto the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium along with some gold star tissue paper and homemade papers which I made sometime ago using brown tissue paper and a Script stamp and also white tissue paper and a Sheet Music stamp. Once the gel medium was dry, I also stamped the corresponding wording “Flora” or “Fauna” directly onto the page alongside each stamped image and edged them using Willow and Ink Black Derwent Inktense pencils and a black Derwent Graphik marker. Then I added two different brown washi tapes, the thicker one depicts a flower, butterfly, bird and squirrel to tie into the theme and they are all edged with the Willow and Ink Black Derwent Inktense pencils. Next I arranged some wooden tiles for the “Flora” and “Fauna” wording and also some colourful postage stamps from my hubby’s childhood collection which portray different flora and fauna. The postage stamps are stuck to the page using a UHU Stic and as you can see I kept the flora ones at the top of the page and the fauna ones at the bottom to correspond with the tile wording that I had added. To finish, I stamped different words onto white tissue paper and stuck them onto the page using UHU Stic; they detail types of flora and fauna:

• as flora refers to plant life the words I added included flower, fruit, tree, leaf, fungi
• as fauna refers to the animal kingdom I included the words bird, reptile, fish, amphibian, insect, mammal.

I hope that this art journal page provides you with some ideas for your designs and that you are inspired by this month’s Flora and Fauna theme over at Art Journal Journey too. I am really looking forward to visiting you and seeing all your wonderful creations!

As some of you know, my art journal pages are inspired by things I see and do and I often share photographs along with my journal page to illustrate this. So I thought I would share a couple of different Flora and Fauna collages using photographs that have featured on my blog over the last couple of years – I hope you like them! This first one reminds me of springtime as most of the photos were taken this time of year.

This one reminds me of summer walks and happy discoveries!

If you are looking for my post featuring the new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday or T Stands for Tuesday, please click here.

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like 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:

With the page focusing on stamping and animals, I’m pleased to be able to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Animals challenge.

I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

With the collaged tissue background and all the stamping on this page, I’m also pleased to join the creative challenge over at The Artistic Stamper where the theme is Backgrounds.

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)
• Derwent Inktense Pencils (Willow 1900, Ink Black 2200)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188 B)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO133)
• Hampton Art Bella Blvd cling mounted rubber stamps (Sand & Surf ICO226)
• Hampton Art 7 Gypsies cling mounted rubber stamps (Birdsong ICO135)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Tree P-1398, 4 Point Star Background G2983)
• Papermania wood mounted rubber stamp (Daffodil Tile 39454)
• Magenta wood mounted rubber stamp (Flowers & Dots 2111D)
• Royal & Langnickel Clear Choice Stamps (Pressed Leaves MIN-CCS102)
• Hampton Art wood mounted rubber stamp (Cherry Background KN2466)
• Eco Green Recycled Rubber Art Stamps (Petal Party #04309)
• Free Stamp Set with Craft Beautiful Magazine (Winter Wonderland)
• Stampendous wood mounted rubber stamp (Tiny Paw AA017)
• Sugarloaf Inc. wood mounted rubber stamp (26551)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Sheet Music JGS111)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Tissue Paper (White, Brown)
• Postage Stamps from my hubby’s childhood collection (Ghana, Rhodesia, Trinidad & Tobago, South Africa, Bulgaria, Ceylon, Australia, Hungary, Romania, Dominica, Kenya)
• Crelando (Decorative Tape)
• The Works (Wooden Alphabet Tiles)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic