Days like today make me happy

Today’s new challenge at Try it on Tuesday is Slap it on… this could be paint, colour, texture, collage or like me washi tapes. It’s all about having fun and getting messy.

There is some amazing inspiration from the Design Team this month too, so please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to take a look.

Inspired by our new theme and discussions about washi tape collections, thanks to Eileen and Halle, I decided to have some fun and use all my washi tapes to create this page. So in no particular order I picked a washi tape and then simply tore off a piece of tape and randomly slapped it onto the page to form the background. Using all my washi tape stash was great fun and created quite a mess on my craft desk, I even included my Christmas, fabric and metallic ones too; I love the way it turned out with all the different patterns and styles. Next I die cut two stitched edged circles using my Big Shot Machine and stuck the butterflies and wording onto them which are from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet. I thought the words were appropriate for this page, they read “Days like today make me happy” and “Love”. I thought the circles needed something more so I quickly placed some stripes of washi tape onto a piece of recycled card and used a Garden Greens Sizzix Thinlet by Tim Holtz to cut out the leaves. They are stuck onto the circles using a glue stick and then to finish I stuck the circles to the page using double-sided tape.

Last week Eileen and Halle asked us to share our washi tape collection at T Stands for Tuesday so here is mine (grin!). As I don’t use washi tapes that much, I don’t have too many, although I have been inspired to use more of them lately. I’ve used them on this page as well as on my previous post, so thanks for the inspiration ladies!

With family staying last week, we have been out and about enjoying ourselves and as such I have quite a few options for T Day this week which could have included a fun photo of a VW Beetle, taken at a local car show (also on my previous post).

We also have green tea at the Wyreside Café …

…or perhaps a cooling beer or glass of ice water with lemon at The Royal Oak in Garstang.

Whatever your drink preference, thanks for stopping by and wishing you a 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 Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my washi tape adventure art journal page.

As this page includes circles, I’m also joining the Circles challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

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:

• The Works (Washi Tapes x 6 packs, Spotted Paper Tapes, Fabric Tapes, Enjoy the Ride Wash Tape))
• Poundland (3 Washi Tapes 137660, Washi Tapes 156456 x 3 tapes, Fabric Tape 156456-GE16, Set of 4 Metallic Tapes)
• Quality Toys Group Made by Me (Washi Tape 2544960)
• Crelando (Decorative Tape x 4 packs)
• Wilko (Glitter Tape)
• Hobbycraft Decorative Tape (Assorted Black & White 5971481007)
• Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection (Patterned Craft Tape Spots & Stripes PMA462302, Woven Fabric Tape Midnight Blush PMA462213)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Cutting Dies)
• Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Bright Colours CRO730/R)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Advertisements

Journey, Destination and Adventure

This week we have had family staying over, so we have been on journeys, travelled to destinations and had a few adventures along the way too (grin!). So I created this page to remember their visit and capture our time together; the background depicts the ripples of the water at high tide on our walks, the car reminds me of our outing to a local car show, the natural colours and pretty flower serves as a reminder of all the nature we saw on our walks as we walked their dog three times a day, and then the maps, clocks, compass and postage stamps to remember our days out and adventures exploring new places.

I started by applying Pébéo white gesso with a brayer and then I added dots of black DecoArt acrylic paint and also Bright Aqua Green Heavy Body Liquitex paint over the top and used the brayer to create the wonderful texture. When the paint was dry, I stencilled a large clock on the right-hand side of the page using black Archival Ink and a blending tool. I stamped some Vintage Circles from Woodware Craft Collection using black Archival Ink and then I applied Rusty Hinge and Ground Espresso Distress Ink through a stencil by Andy Skinner using a blending tool. The white circles are stamped using a cardboard tube and white DecoArt acrylic paint, I used the Andy Skinner stencil and Distress Inks again to pattern the inside of the circles and defined the edges more using a white Uniball gel pen and a black Uni Pin marker. Next I added three pieces of washi tape horizontally across the page and then stamped lots of different images using black Archival Ink onto some paper from American Crafts. The stamped images included: some postage stamps, lace and a clock from Kaisercraft; a car stamp from Tim Holtz which I cut up to produce the car, bingo sheet, map and ruler; a patterned circle from Kaisercraft; a compass by Graphic 45 from Hampton Art; a hand pointing the way from a Steampunk stamp set from Docrafts; and some numbers from a Collage Number stamp from Gummpanian Stamps. I fussy cut all the stamped pieces out, edged them with Rusty Hinge and Ground Espresso Distress Ink and then a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. They are stuck to the page using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium. Once the glue was dry, I edged them with a black Uni Pin marker and added white detail to both the images and stamping in the background using a Uniball gel pen. Next I cut a wildflower out of white cardstock using a die cut by Tim Holtz from Sizzix and my big shot machine, stuck it in place and outlined it using a black Uni Pin marker. I added two Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz idea-ology collection which read “the journey is the destination” and also “and so the adventure begins”, again they are outlined using a black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I added some Pébéo white gesso using a palette knife through a Vintage Diamond stencil from Creative Expressions.

Last Sunday we went to a Vintage Car Show with our visitors. It is a local show and was held on the green by the beach just round the corner from our house. We saw some beautiful cars including this one which is an Austin and looks a bit like the one on my page (grin!).

There were so many different cars there and we liked this one which was originally from Canada.

Or maybe this is more to your liking, it’s a Wolseley and I’m not sure my hubby would fit in it (grin!).

Some cars are Vintage now, even though I remember them whilst growing up … does that mean I’m getting old (double grin!). VW Beetles for example and we often see this gold one driving around town and look at the kettle and mugs, just right for T Stands for Tuesday!

Then we have local car clubs like this Land Rover Club which I thought Yvonne from Meggy’s way may like (triple grin!).

It turned into quite the adventure as we also saw the high tide which we don’t see that often and some kitesurfers right next to the beach.

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 Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Journey, Destination and Adventure art journal page.

As this page includes circles, I’m also joining the Circles challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

As I included circles on this page, I’m also joining the Going Round & Round challenge over at The Artistic Stamper too.

I used 3 different stencils on this art journal page, so I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and there Use More Than One Stencil challenge.

Over at Country View Challenges their challenge is Planes, Trains & Automobiles so I’m pleased to join them with the car and journey art journal page.

With the quote and all the stamping I used to create this page I’m also joining Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Quote Away challenge.

As I used quite a few Tim Holtz products to create this page I thought of A Vintage Journey, so I’m pleased to join their Back To Nature challenge this month as I was inspired by the nature we saw on our walks so included the natural colours and pretty flower on my Art Journaling and Vintage style 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:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Bright Aqua Green)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge, Ground Espresso)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.1mm, 0.8mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• DecoArt Andy Skinner Mixed Media Stencils (Shedded ANDY08)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Vintage Circles FRS665)
• Cardboard tube – stamp
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Magnolia Grove CS822, Provincial CS243)
• Tim Holtz Components Collection (COM013CAR)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO135)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Steampunk DCE907125)
• Gummpanian Stamp (Collage Numbers 14030103)
• Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz (Wildflowers 661190)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Vintage Diamond CEMSDIAM)
• American Crafts Papers (DIY Store 366665)
• White Cardstock
• Poundland (Washi Tapes 156456-GE16)
• The Works (3 Washi Tapes)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick

No Ball Games

This page is influenced by Street Art and childhood! You may recognise the “No ball games” images that I used as part of my design; they are from a Banksy artwork which can be found in Bristol. This image came from a magazine and I thought it would be fun to create a page using it as we had recently seen some amazing street art in Blackpool (grin!).

As this page links to childhood, it is also a reminder that there is still a week left to join our Childhood challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be great to see you there!

I started by spraying After Midnight Dylusions Spray Ink onto the page and pulling the ink with a metal tool out from the centre to create spikes of colour so the circles look like they are moving round. Next I picked up some of the Dylusions Spray using a blending tool and applied it along the edges of the page creating a border. I also splattered the page and drew some blue dots using a paintbrush with the spray, then I coloured the centre of the dots using a dark blue and a white Uni Posca paint pen. When the spray was dry, I added the green squares using a stencil from Creative Expressions and Vivid Lime Green Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paint which I applied with a palette knife and then left to dry overnight. Next I stamped an alphabet stamp from Kaisercraft onto the page to link the blue areas that I had covered with the spray using black Archival Ink. I ripped the Banksy magazine image into pieces and stuck them onto some recycled white card using Liquitex matte gel medium; I did this because I wanted to frame the images so they stood out more from the background and also to prevent the Dylusions Spray Ink which reactivates when wet seeping into the image. When the gel medium was dry, I ripped the white card leaving a border around the image and stuck them onto the page using a UHU Stic, then I outlined them all using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and also a white Uni Posca paint pen which activated the Dylusions Spray Ink and turned light blue which I like. The green balls are created from the leftover green background from the Banksy magazine image; I stamped the circles using black Archival Ink and the spray bottle lid and then cut them out of the paper. I stamped some Titanium White Liquitex Ink onto the page using the spray bottle lid to create a border for the green circles which I stuck in place using a UHU Stic. To finish, I stamped black Archival Ink over the top of the green circles again to define the outline and added further detail using a white Uni Posca paint pen and a black Uni Pin marker.

No Ball Games – click here to see the original on the Banksy website

When I think of street art, Banksy always springs to mind, I love his pieces! Banksy is known for his controversial, and often politically themed, stencilled work and this particular one makes me smile as it challenges the status quo and could even encourage children to play ball games despite the sign. The signage was introduced in housing estates built after the war to discourage anti-social behaviour; however they are now often ignored and have been removed as they are not deemed appropriate in today’s society.

I’m sharing some more street art from Blackpool that can be found on the side of the Winter Gardens, you may remember me showing other art murals on a previous post that are displayed alongside these. I love these two particular images the first one is of the beautiful owl and ….

… then there is this amazing bear and girl, both of which inspired my page. Here are some more murals that can be found alongside them:

 

 

Did you notice the takeaway coffee cup on one of the photos? It’s on the last one just sticking out of the cardboard box (grin!), so as T Stands for Tuesday I’m joining the rest of the T Gang and wishing you all a 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 Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my No ball games street art page.

As this page includes circles, I’m also joining the Circles challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

With my circles and dots going round and round, I’m also joining the Going Round & Round challenge over at The Artistic Stamper too.

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 Dylusions Spray Ink (After Midnight)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green)
• Liquitex ink! (Titanium White)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (White, Dark Blue)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Mini Squares CEMSSQUARE)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Alphabet CS887)
• Old Magazine
• Recycled white card
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic

Just for you – Card

Excited to use my new Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour paint set again, I created some cards using my favourite stamps and embossing powders (grin!).

I started by cutting a panel of mixed media paper to fit a white 6×4” card which I made from white cardstock. I embossed white doily shapes and black butterflies onto the panel by first stamping a Doily by Kaisercraft using VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad and applying white Stampendous embossing powder over the top. Then I shook the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper and tapped the tag against the table to make sure I’ve removed any stray powder. Once the excess powder was safely returned to its container, I used a craft heat gun to melt the embossing powder until the embossing powder melted into a glossy finish. I repeated the same process for the butterflies using a stamp designed by Graphic 45 Hampton Art using the VersaMark Watermark stamp pad again and this time I used black Papermania embossing powder. I added a filigree leaf stamp by Crafter’s Companion using Cottage Ivy Memento Ink and also a Script stamp by Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink. Next I painted the watercolour to the background by first wetting the paper and then adding Sap Green Light, Viridian and Lemon Yellow watercolour paint with a paintbrush and once dry I painted the filigree leaves with the same colours. I also added some Yellow Ochre watercolour paint to the centre of the card to break up the white space, then when the card was dry I splattered it with black DecoArt acylic paint. The “Just for you” is from the same stamp set from Crafter’s Companion and is stamped using black Archival Ink. I edged the paper panel with black Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker and stuck it on the 6×4” card using double-sided tape. Then to finish, I added silver glitter details to the butterfly wings using Ranger Stickles and also some glittery heart decorations using Glossy Accents.

Just discovered this gladioli in our garden this morning, isn’t it beautiful! I may just use this colour combination on one of these cards as I created several panels of the same design for painting later (grin!).

Here’s my new Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour paint set, the box is lovely!

You may remember this set of watercolours from a previous post; I’ve been so impressed with them so far, the colours are amazing!

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 Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my watercolour card.

Over at A Vintage Journey the challenge is How can you resist? so as I used embossing powders with my new watercolour paints, I’m pleased to join challenge this challenge too with my Mixed Media Style card.

Using my favourite Kaisercraft Doily stamp on my card means I’m also able to join in the fun over at Stamping Sensations and their Use your ‘current’ favourite stamp challenge.

With all the stamping and the butterflies on my card, I’m also happy to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their It’s A Bugs Life challenge.

As butterflies are part of the animal kingdom, I’m pleased to join the Animal Magic challenge over at That’s Crafty! too.

I’m also pleased to join the August Link Party #42 – Anything Goes over at Cropstop Blog with my card as I included some products from companies that they carry in their store.

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 card:

• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Sap Green Light, Viridian, Lemon Yellow, Yellow Ochre)
• Tsukineko VeraMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black PMA4021006)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Doily CS297, Script CS752)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO134)
• Crafter’s Companion Signature Collection by Sara Davies stamp set (Just for You – Butterfly Lullaby S-BL-ST-JUS)
• Daler Rowney Mixed Media paper
• White Cardstock
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Ranger Stickles (Silver)
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Take a Ride

Today we are starting a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday called Take a Ride. It’s up to you how you wish to travel, maybe by plane, boat, train, car, fantasy machine or like me in a vintage hot air balloon.

There are more fabulous inspirations from the Design Team over at Try it on Tuesday too, we hope to see you there!

I started by adding a used baby wipe which had lemon and violet paint on it to the background, some purple vintage hot air balloons torn from some decoupage paper and lots of bits which I had saved from die cutting papers and card and couldn’t bear to throw away (grin!); they are all stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. When the gel medium had dried I wet the page with water using a spray bottle and sprinkled Lemon and Purple Colourcraft Brushos over the top watching the colours burst to life as the powders were activated by the water. I added a few layers of Brusho powders until the colour intensity was to my liking and left it to dry. Next I sprinkled water over the page with my fingers and blotted the page dry which removed the Brusho colour where the water droplets had landed. I then cut another set of the purple vintage hot air balloons from the decoupage paper and stuck them over the top of the ones on the page, matching the designs; I did this because some of the Brusho colours had bled into the original images. Once the glue had dried, I outlined the balloons using some Derwent Graphik markers.

Next I applied some Titanium White Liquitex ink to the top of the page tilting the page so it ran downwards depicting paths etched into the sky. I also splattered the page with some black DecoArt acrylic paint and the same white ink drying it with my heat gun so the Brusho colour didn’t seep into it. I used a rub-on transfer set from Kaisercraft to add more hot air balloons and the inspirational quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson which reads “Don’t follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”. To finish, I outlined all the die cut bits and white splatters with a Derwent Graphik fine line marker.

There are lots of different textures on this page, it looks so amazing close up!

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 as it’s a joy to be able to travel; this page reminds me of the time we saw a sky full of hot air balloons, whilst on holiday in America, at the Alburquerque Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico (grin!).

As my vintage hot air balloons and fantastical sky reminds me of steampunk, I’m pleased to join SanDee & amelie’s Steampunk Challenges for their Anything Goes – Steampunk/Industrial challenge.

I’m also joining the Summertime challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my summery coloured page.

Over at Paperbabe Stamps their challenge is Anything Goes so I’m pleased to join in the fun with my vintage hot air balloon page.

I thought the T Gang, over at T Stands for Tuesday, may like this arrangement of the everlasting sweet peas from our garden; they are arranged in my old fashioned teapot which I picked up for 50p at our local carnival weekend. It didn’t have a lid but it’s perfect for these pretty sweet peas (grin!) – Happy T Day!

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 (Lemon, Purple)
• Liquitex Ink! (Titanium White)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.03mm & 0.8mm)
• Recycled Baby Wipe – used to mop up paints
• Recycled die cut bits – paper and card
• Docrafts Deco Sheets Papier Patch (Vintage Air Balloons PMAT69328)
• Kaisercraft Rub Ons Up, Up & Away Collection (Black & White RB869)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Happy Days

Recently a good friend very kindly gave us a Food Dehydrator that she no longer uses so I thought I would create a page to remember this kindness and also the lovely apples we have been drying and eating – Happy Days!

I started by applying Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and white gesso using a sponge through a mosaic stencil from the Tim Holtz idea-ology collection. The round mosaic pattern reminded me of the trays in the dehydrator machine. Then I used some different stamps to add more detail to the background which included a blossom stamp from Stampendous using black Archival Ink, a foliage stamp from Kaisercraft using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink, and also a stitched flower stamp from Urban Stamps using Old Paper Distress Ink. Then I ripped three pieces of wallpaper; I really like the apple blossom design to remember the apples that we dried. They are edged, like all the paper pieces, using a Cold Grey Big Brush Faber-Castell marker and stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I added some pieces of spotted and flower design pink fabric washi tape to the wallpaper pieces to add some interest and colour. The apple is fussy cut from a magazine and is backed with recycled card; I layered it onto the page with a small piece of wallpaper and some worded stickers from Kaisercraft, which read “Happy Days” and “Grateful” as I am grateful for my friend’s kindness. They are stuck in place using a glue stick and outlined with a black Uni Pin marker, and I added a shadow at the base of the apple using Cold Grey and Black Faber-Castell Big Brush markers which I smudged with my finger. Next I used a stitched circle die set and my Big Shot machine to cut circles from a Kilner Jar label and stuck them to the page using a glue stick and also some double-sided foam tape; this is relevant as I bought a larger Kilner Jar, as the one pictured below was a bit too small, to store my dried apples in. Then to finish, I added some white Hessian flowers which matched the wallpaper design beautifully.

On our first attempt of using the dehydrator we made the most amazing dried apples; you need to slice them thinly and pop them into some water with lemon juice in to stop them going brown. We then used a tea towel to remove any excess water, placed them on the drying racks and sprinkled them with cinnamon and dried them in the dyhydrator.

After 8 hours of drying they were ready and we stored them in a Kilner Jar to eat as and when needed. They are very moreish and have an intense apple flavour – yum!

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 as I feel very blessed to have received such kindness and have such lovely treats to eat.

As this page is a happy memory of summer, I’m also joining the Summertime challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

I’m also joining the lovely Wen and her Simply Neutrals Tuesday party over at Apple Apricot with my neutral coloured page.

I’m pleased to join the Sketch challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps; I used the sketch to position my apple and sentiments (grin!).

I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Back to School challenge with my apple inspired page; synonymous with an apple for the teacher or for me a snack in my school bag.

Happy Days is also a song, do you remember it? I use to love watching the TV show when I was growing up too (grin!). You still have time to join the Inspired by a song challenge at Try it on Tuesday too!

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
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Old Paper, Frayed Burlap)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Tim Holtz Layering Stencil (Mosaic THS084)
• Stampendous! Cling Rubber Stamp (Blossom Spray CRP136)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Magnolia Grove CS822)
• Docrafts Papermania Urban Stamps Craft Collections (5×5” Pastels PMA907223)
• The Works Cutting Dies (Stitched Circles)
• Wallpaper sample
• Old Magazine
• Recycled card
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS284)
• Kilner Jar Label Insert
• The Works (Fabric Tape)
• Craft Corner (Jute Shapes U-83162)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick

Bee Happy

Today I’m sharing my first attempt at painting with my new Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour paint set. I think I’ll be using them again soon as the vibrancy of the colours is amazing and I love how they blend together to create this summery page.

I also used a new bee stamp set and the “Don’t worry bee happy” sentiment which made me smile as it reminds me of the “Don’t worry, be happy” song. Don’t forget that you still have a week to join the Inspired by a Song challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, it would be great to see you there.

I started by die cutting some flowers out of pages from of my old pocket dictionary using my Big Shot machine.  On the page I stuck both the die cuts and the page they were cut from, so as to get a positive and negative flower image, using Liquitex matte gel medium. I also stuck some pieces of leftover decoupage paper and white leftover tissue paper that were sitting on my craft desk, which already had a floral stamp from Docrafts, a Sheet Music stamp from Woodware, a Vintage-Believe stamp and a Script stamp from Kaisercraft stamped on them using black Archival Ink. When the gel medium was dry, I wet the page with water using a paintbrush and then I added Rose Madder, Sap Green Light, Viridian, Ultrmarine, Turquiose Blue and Colbalt Violet watercolour paints over the top using a paintbrush; it was fun as I learnt how to apply the paints. I concentrated the Rose Madder paint over the flower shapes and added Lemon Yellow to their centres. They are outlined using Black watercolour paint and later with some black Uni Pin markers to add more detail. Next I stencilled a honeycomb pattern using modelling paste and stamped a hexagonalGeometric hexagonal stamp using black Archival Ink. I applied some white gesso to the page using my finger to dull the black stamping and some of the watercolour which added more depth and dimension to the page. The heart was a leftover piece of dictionary page which already had a heart shape punched out of it, I coloured it using the Rose Madder and Lemon Yellow watercolour paints and outlined it as I did the flowers. I also used the top of my spritzer bottle to stamp the small round circles using black Archival Ink and they are painted using Rose Madder, Colbalt Violet and Lemon Yellow watercolour paint. Next I stamped the bees onto some white card three times and also onto the page. For the ones that I stamped on the card, I coloured their body using Lemon Yellow watercolour paint and an extremely diluted Ultramarine Pale watercolour on their wings, then fussy cut the body, head and wings out. I then coloured the legs of the ones that I had stamped on the page using a brown Uni Posca paint pen and stuck the body and wings over the top using a UHU Stic, bending the wings upwards so they looked more 3D. As this page is so bright and cheery, I added the sentiment “Don’t worry bee happy” using black Archival Ink which is from the same stamp set as the bees; this finished the page.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m showing a drink of apple juice and ginger beer again, you may remember it from last week (grin!). Well, following all of the comments from the T Gang I was getting a bit confused until my lovely friend from Drivers and Sundry made me realise that Ginger Beer here in the UK is similar to Ginger Ale in America. They are both non-alcoholic soft drinks although ginger beer is spicier with a more fiery ginger flavour than ginger ale, so as an alternative half apple juice and half ginger ale will work too – Happy T Day!

Also if you look at my glass closely you will see a bee etched upon it, which links back to today’s page (double grin!).

In case you are wondering, this is my box of new Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint; I’m looking forward to using them some more and trying our new techniques 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. As well as Try it on Tuesday, 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 as I feel very blessed to be able to create art and share it with others.

I’m joining in the fun over at Moo Mania & More and their theme is Summertime challenge with my summery watercolour page.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday the challenge is Watercolour! so I’m pleased to join this challenge too.

I’m also happy to join the Anything Goes! challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with my Bee Happy stamped art journal page.

With the bees and stamping, I’m also pleased to be able to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their It’s A Bugs Life challenge.

I love my new bee stamp so I’m also joining the Use your ‘current’ favourite stamp challenge over at Stamping Sensations too.

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:

• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Rose Madder, Sap Green Light, Viridian, Ultrmarine, Turquiose Blue, Colbalt Violet, Lemon Yellow, Black)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm & 0.5mm)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (Brown)
• That’s Crafty Dinky Stencil (Reversed Honeycomb)
• Docrafts Papermania Capsule Clear Stamps (Geometric Mono)
• Dovecraft Premium Clear Stamps (Bee Happy DCSTP129)
• The Oxford Pocket Dictionary
• Leftover decoupage paper
• Leftover stamped white tissue paper
• Cardstock (White)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic