Steam Locomotive

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing this Steam Locomotive journal page for this month’s Vehicles challenge.

I created this page using a steam locomotive image from a Voyages Fantastiques pad by Stamperia; as the image didn’t quite fit the page, I added some paper remnants to the edges and then extended the horizontal lines using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker. Next, I had lots of fun colouring the steam train, (like watercolour), using Peeled Patina, Vintage Photo, Weathered Wood and Hickory Smoke Distress Inks and to finish, a gold and a white Uni Ball gel pen. As I was colouring the steam at the top of the page, I extended the design onto the additional paper, using the Distress Inks and a black Faber-Castell fine line marker. I also coloured the sleepers and the foreground using Ground Espresso Distress Ink. To finish, I fussy cut the clock and the wording from the same Voyages Fantastiques pad by Stamperia, added them to the page and edged them using a black marker; the wording reads “There is nothing like a dream to create the future”.

I hope you are inspired to join our Vehicles 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.

Today I have a special treat courtesy of my dear friend, K, who is an exceptional photographer. She kindly sent me photos of probably the most famous steam locomotive, The Flying Scotsman, which she captured here appearing through the steam; isn’t it a stunning photo!

The Flying Scotsman still makes an appearance throughout the UK, and happens to be 100 years old this year – how amazing (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

LTSCB#74 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my Steam Locomotive page.

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Happy Mother’s Day Card

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Clean And Simple.

As it’s Mother’s Day here in the UK this coming weekend, I thought my new Thinlits sets by Olivia Rose would be perfect to keep these Mother’s Day card designs clean and simple (smile!).

Using a Romantic Layers Sizzix Thinlits die set by Olivia Rose, I cut three circular designs from some linen textured and turquoise blue design papers. Then I layered them all together using some glue tape from Crafters Companion and to finish, I added the wording which was die cut using an All Occasions Sizzix Thinlits set by Olivia Rose.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing papercraft projects from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us. Please be sure to check out the rules here.

I followed the same method to create a second Mother’s Day Card; this time in a purple colour palette (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Birthstone Challenges and their BSC #2 Anything Goes with Aquamarine & Diamond Colors as my aquamarine birthstone Mother’s Day card. Please be sure to check out this challenge blog as it’s new (smile!).

LTSCB #160 Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my Mother’s Day card.

New Beginnings

Today I’ve created another art journal page for our In With The New challenge at Try it on Tuesday.

I started by covering the page with three design papers, that I had leftover in my craft stash, using a glue stick. Next I added some stripes of border paper that I cut from the same Stamperia pad and then I stamped the star constellations onto the papers using a Stargazer stamp set by Kaisercraft, Moonlight White Brilliance Archival Ink and black Archival Ink. The main wolf image was, selected by my hubby, from a Cosmic Stamperia Paper Pad and I arranged it onto the page with some complimentary paper pieces and wording which I cut from the same pad. The wording reads “Trust the magic of new beginnings” linking to the New theme over at Try it on Tuesday.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my yummy Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, which was kindly gifted to us for Christmas, served with marshmallows – Happy T Day!

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.

Challenges

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

January Anything Goes Winter Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge with my Wintery New Beginnings page.

LTCCB #72 Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my New Beginnings page.

Merry Christmas

It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for December which is Christmas Anything Goes.

This challenge is perfect as I love all things Christmas and as I love all things Tim Holtz too, this page features lots of his products. Wishing you a Happy December and all the very best for the festive season!

I started by covering the page with white gesso using a brayer and then I stenciled some snowflakes using a Mini Layered Christmas Stencil Set #50 by Tim Holtz and Ranger Crackle Texture Paste. When dry I added the festive foliage which was die cut from different colours of Kraft Cardstock-Classic by Tim Holtz using a Funky Festive Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz; they were layered together using matte gel medium. To finish, I added the wording which was die cut from the black Kraft Cardstock-Classic using an Alphanumeric Script Thinlits set 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 Christmas Anything Goes challenge too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

I’ve already been decorating for Christmas and here’s one of my Christmas wreaths; this ones on my back door and was hung with a pretty metal robin decoration (smile!).

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well – Happy December! x

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

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey and the Snowy Winter challenge that I’m hosting this month as their are lots of stencilled snowflakes on my page.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #28 where Anything Christmas Goes with my Merry Christmas page.

LTCCB #71 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my Christmas page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #181 – Anything Goes challenge with my festive Christmas page.

MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes over at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog with my Merry Christmas page.

Tags Only at Country View Challenges

I’m so delighted that it’s my turn to host the challenge over at Country View Challenges this month which is Tags Only.

I chose this theme as I don’t create tags very often and who doesn’t love a tag, they are such fun to make! As the Tags Only title suggests we only want to see tags for this challenge, so no including them on cards, pages or other projects please.

I look forward to seeing what you make and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the shop! Before you enter your project though, please read the rules!

For my first tag, I used an MDF tag by Creative Expressions which I covered with Speckled Egg and Salvaged Patina Distress Paint. When dry, I added some letters to the background using a Tim Holtz Mini Layered Stencil Set #16 and some Speckled Egg Distress Ink. Then I stamped some grungy dots using a Urban Tapestry stamp set for Tim Holtz and some Faded Jeans Distress Archival Ink. Next I stamped numbers and circles using black Archival Ink and a #489 AALL & Create stamp set and I splattered the tag with white DecoArt acrylic paint. Gladys the flamingo was die cut using a Sizzix Time Holtz Thinlits set from different colours of Tim Holtz Kraft Cardstock – Classic. Once stuck in place I added the label sticker by Tim Holtz which reads “You Do You”. To finish, I tied some black paper twine and ribbons to the tag.

I had so much fun using the Gladys Flamingo Sizzix Thinlits set from Tim Holtz to create this MDF tag and here’s the crafting goodies from Country View Crafts that I used (grin!).

For more inspiration please see the amazing tags from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

Stay safe and well! x

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

Challenges

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #179 – Anything Goes with my tag.

Stencil Fun Challenge and their Anything Goes as long as you use a stencil as I used a letter stencil by Tim Holtz on my tag.

LTCCB#71 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my Gladys Flamingo tag.

Happy Halloween Owl Card

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Owls.

I loved creating this fun Halloween owl card (smile!).

The owl was die cut using an Arthur Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from coloured papers and cardstock; this included two purples for his face, bib, feet and tail, a pretty patterned paper for his body, some white paper that I covered in blue glitter, as well as blue, yellow, orange, black and white for his facial features. I edged some of the die cut pieces using Black Soot Distress Ink before sticking everything together using Liquitex matte gel medium.

The branch, leaves and ivy were die cut using the same Arthur Thinlits set and also a Garden Greens Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from black, orange and brown coloured paper. Some of them were edged using Ground Espresso Distress Ink before sticking them onto a 6×4″ white greetings card using Liquitex matte gel medium. To finish, I added the “Happy Halloween” wording which was a piece of washi tape that I mounted onto some card before sticking it in place.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing projects from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

I love owls and have some cute ones on my autumnal window display; they usually stay on the branches over winter too until spring arrives (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

OCTOBER – Anything Halloween challenge over at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge with my Happy Halloween Owl card.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #178 – Anything Goes challenge with my Halloween Owl card.

Challenge #63 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels with my Happy Halloween card.

LTCCB#69 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my card.

Pumpkin Patch Halloween

It’s a new month so it’s time to launch a new challenge over at Country View Challenges which is Halloween or Harvest, which is being hosted by the lovely Miriam.

For this challenge, I’m had fun creating this Pumpkin Patch Halloween page using Sizzix Thinlits by Tim Holtz.

The chipboard page was covered with a square of mixed media paper using a glue stick, which was first stamped using a Doorway Finnabair stamp and black Archival Ink. Then I stencilled the large moon using white DecoArt acrylic paint and I coloured the night sky around it using Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot Distress Inks with a blending tool. I used the same Distress Inks to add some texture to the moon itself and I added the black foreground using black DecoArt acrylic paint.

The bats and pumpkins were die cut using a Pumpkin Patch Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from different coloured Kraft Stock Classic paper pad by Tim Holtz. To finish, I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges. I hope you’ll join us, it would be lovely to see you there and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the Country View Crafts shop! Before you enter, please read the rules.

There seems to be some spooky goings on at Lytham Hall with pumpkin banners.

As well as this fabulous pottery pumpkin guarding the pumpkin patch.

Wishing you a Happy October and I hope that you’re staying safe and well! x

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

Challenge

As well as Country View Challenges , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Fairytales, Folklore & Fables – Tell Me A Story so I’m joining her with my Pumpkin Patch page as Jack-o’-lanterns are part of folklore tradition.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #177 – Anything Goes challenge with my Halloween page.

LTCCB#71 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my Pumpkin Patch page.

OCTOBER – Anything Halloween challenge over at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge with my Pumpkin Patch Halloween page.

Look for the magic

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Mushrooms and other Fungi.

I had fun creating this art journal page of mushrooms and autumn leaves which was inspired by a red-capped mushroom that we saw on one of our walks around Lytham Hall.

I started by stencilling Vintage Photo Distress Ink onto the page using a stencil from Creative Expressions. Next I stuck the mushrooms in place which were washi tape stickers and for the foreground, I arranged some leftover papers and autumnal leaves; the leaves were either die cut or stamped and cut out from papers coloured with Brushos or Distress Inks. I used the Vintage Photo Distress Ink to colour the wording, which was a Sentiments sticker by Finnabair. To finish, I had fun highlighting the mushrooms with a white gel pen and then I splattered the page with both white and black DecoArt acrylic paint.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing Mushrooms and other Fungi designs from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

This is the red-capped mushroom that we saw on our walk at Lytham Hall; it seems all we needed to do was “look for the magic” (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #176 – Anything Goes challenge with my autumnal page.

LTCCB#71 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my mushroom page celebrating autumn.

My Heart

It’s a new month so it’s time to launch a new challenge over at Country View Challenges which is Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness.

The lovely Debs is hosting and says that the title for her challenge is inspired by John Keats ode to Autumn, in particular the first stanza, “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”. So think of the colours, ripened fruit, late flowers, watery sunshine, swelling nuts and gourds, anything you associate with early Autumn.

My page captures autumnal leaves as we’ve noticed on our woodland walks that the leaves are falling early this year, with layers of leaves already forming on the woodland floor.

I started by covering the chipboard page using white gesso and when dry I rubbed some of the gesso off using a baby wipe to give a distressed look. Then I used a Falling Leaves stamp set by Tim Holtz to layer leaves around the edges of the page using quite a few different colours of Memento Ink; the colours included London Fog, Pistachio, Toffee Crunch, Rich Cocoa, Love Letter, Dandelion and Potters Clay Memento Inks. The wording was a sticker which I edged using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker. To finish, I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint and added two sparkly Gumdrop Heart gems.

I created this page with my hubby in mind as he loves autumn and this season brings both birthday and wedding anniversary celebrations – “when I follow my heart it leads to you” (smile).

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges. I hope you’ll join us, it would be lovely to see you there and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the Country View Crafts shop! Before you enter, please read the rules!

Wishing you a Happy September and I hope that you’re staying safe and well! x

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #175 – Anything Goes challenge with my autumnal page.

LTCCB#70 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my autumn love page.

Life’s a beach

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is At The Beach.

“Life’s a beach” for me as I’m lucky enough to live right by the beach with my hubby in the North West of England; we love living here and feel very blessed. So I’m sharing this beautiful beach view with some beach related postage stamps (smile!).

I started by covering the page with a piece of Stamperia paper showing a beautiful beach view; it was from an “Around the World” paper pad. Next I cut some letters to size which were salvage stickers by Tim Holtz, edged them all with a black Faber-Castell marker and stuck them in place to read “Life’s a beach”.

To finish, I added the Australian postage stamps, featuring a Lobster Crab, Banded Coral Shrimp and Anemone Fish, which were from my hubby’s childhood collection that he kindly gifted me for art journaling (smile!).

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing At The Beach designs from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

Our beach is quite extensive with miles of beautiful beach, some of which is pictured here with the pier in the background. We love living here and I think that I was drawn back this part of the world as I was born here on the Fylde coast; locally I’m called a “Sandgrown’un” which literally means someone born by the seaside (grin!).

You’ll also find sand dunes along the beach front too.

As well as a promenade and these beach huts which have a lovely outlook overlooking the beach and can be rented for the day.

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Chris from Pearshapedcrafting is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen When We Were Young so I’m joining her with my Life’s A Beach page as I was born and lived near the beach growing up and also some of my hubby’s childhood postage stamps are featured on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #174 – Anything Goes challenge with my Life’s A Beach page.

LTCCB#69 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my papercraft art journal page.

Ally’s Angels and their Challenge #61- Anything Goes; I’m happy to join this challenge with my beach page, thanks Leslie for the invite at your sister challenges (smile!).