Friends are the flowers

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

I had fun creating this page inspired by some beautiful summer roses in my friend’s garden (smile!).

I started by applying a piece of neutral paper over the background detailing lots of flowers. Then I added a flowery border sticker, along the left-hand side and right-hand side of the page, from a Floral Shoppe Graphic 45 Sticker Sheet. I stamped two flower heads onto some mixed media paper using a Flower Garden stamp set from Tim Holtz and black Archival Ink. Then I painted the flowers to match those on the Graphic 45 stickers using Lemon Yellow and Rose Madder Kuretake watercolours. I fussy cut the large flower head and die cut some buds using a Bloom Colourize Sizzix Thinlits set along with some leaves from some green Kraft Cardstock – Classic by Tim Holtz. I arranged them onto the page with a pretty tag, that was from the same Graphic 45 Sticker Sheet, adding a green satin ribbon; the tag reads “Friends are the flowers in the garden of life”.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing Friendship 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.

My dear friend loves gardening and here is one of the beautiful roses that she grows in her garden (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:

LTCCB #159 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my papercraft page.

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Winter Village

Today I’m sharing a page that I created with two beautiful stamps, one of the Winter Village scene and the other of Santa’s sleigh, that I won over at Stamped Smiles. I was so thrilled to win and receive this special gift, especially as Vicki kindly sent them to me all the way from America – thank you so much!

I started by using an Airbrush Pen Set to spray purple, green, magenta and black felt tip pens onto a piece of mixed media paper. When fully dry, I ripped the mixed media paper into pieces and collaged the darker pieces onto the top of a chipboard page using a glue stick; creating the night sky. I coloured the white torn edges of the paper using the Airbrush Pen Set and then covered them with some Black Mirage Cosmic Shimmer Brilliant Sparkle Embossing Powder. I collaged the lighter coloured paper pieces to create the foreground stamping the houses and trees over the top using the Winter Village stamp, VersaMark Watermark ink pad and some Detailed White Stampendous embossing powder.

I stamped Santa’s sleigh using the VersaMark Ink Pad and the white Stampendous embossing powder. To finish, I added a small dot of Red Ranger Stickles to Rudolph the reindeer which gave him a very shiny nose (smile!).

Here are the stamps that Vicki kindly sent me along with a very pretty card; the Winter Village stamp is gorgeous and goes so beautifully with the surprise Santa’s sleigh stamp – thanks so much! They were both such fun to use and I’m sure I’ll be using them again soon.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

The lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from https://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/ who is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Collage Fodder, Food & Drink or Both so I’m joining her with my collaged page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #180 – Anything Goes challenge with my Winter Village page.

MIUCB #61 – Anything Goes + Optional Open Technique over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my Christmassy page using a collage technique.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes challenge with my Winter Village Santa page.

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.

Embossed Autumn Leaves

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Emboss It; this can be wet or dry embossing.

I had fun creating this autumnal page which features both wet and dry embossing techniques.

I started by covering the page with Driftwood DecoArt acrylic paint and when dry, I stamped a woodgrain stamp from BoBunny using some Moonlight White Brilliance Ink over the top. Next I used a Typewriter embossing folder by Tim Holtz and a leaf and swirls embossing folder to emboss some autumnal coloured masterboard that I had left over from a previous project; the masterboard was coloured by smooshing Rusty Hinge, Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks. I then dragged a Ground Espresso Distress Ink pad over the top of the embossed paper to highlight the embossed patterns. Next I fussy cut the letters and some of the leaves and swirls from one of the embossed papers, and I edged the rectangle of embossed paper using some Vintage Ivory embossing enamel by Stampendous. Then I arranged everything onto the page with two chipboard birds which were also covered using the same embossing enamel.

As we’re celebrating autumn and T Stands for Tuesday, here’s my green tea with a piece of homemade pumpkin roll filled with cream cheese frosting – 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.

Challenges

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

The lovely Neet from Hickydorums is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Fur and/or Feathers so I’m joining her with the birds on my page.

MIUCB#61 – Anything Goes + Optional Smooshing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the embossing techniques and smooshed masterboard embossed pieces that I used to create this page.

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

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.

Own your story

I really enjoy creating these mini pages in my chipboard art journal, and I had so much fun making these typewriter keys using some new Distress products and the Typewriter 3D Texture Fades from Tim Holtz (grin!).

For the background, I covered the page with my new Salvaged Patina Distress Paint and a tiny amount of black DecoArt acrylic paint to dull the colour. When dry, I dragged a Black Soot Distressl Ink pad vertically down the page and then applied some Liquitex matte gel medium over the top using a paint brush to create a woodgrain effect.

For the typewriter letters, I started by covering a piece of mixed media paper with the Salvaged Patina Distress Paint and my new Crackling Campfire Distress Ink and left it to dry. Then I dry embossed the paper using the Typewriter 3D Texture Fades by Tim Holtz. To highlight the texture, I dragged a black archival ink pad over the top of the letters to colour them and applied some Iced Coffee metallic Faber-Castell gelato smudging the colour with my finger. Then I splattered some Tarnished Brass Distress Paint over the top which finished the worn grungy look. They were cut out, edged with a black Faber-Castell big brush marker and then stuck into place using either double-sided or double-sided foam tape.

To finish, I added the typewriter which was stamped using a stamping platform, a stamp set from Craft Sensations and some black Archival Ink; it was stamped onto some of the mixed media paper that I had coloured with the Salvaged Patina Distress Paint and Crackling Campfire Distress Ink. I fussy cut it out and added the wording “own your story” which was a rub-on transfer from a Tiny Text Remnant Rubs set by Tim Holtz.

As T Stands for Tuesday and to link the the story theme of my page, I’m sharing these fabulous teapots that we saw whilst out walking; they were in a charity store window and feature Robin Hood, Dick Turpin and Shakespeare – Happy T Day everyone!

Hoping that you are 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 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 typewriter page (this mini art journal page measures 15x15cm). Dry Emboss challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as I used Tim Holtz 3D Texture Fades to dry emboss the typewriter letters for my page. LTSCB #148 – Old School over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my old school typewriter as they are generally not used nowadays with computers etc (grin!). Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #150 – Anything Goes with my typewriter art journal page. Mixed Media Lovers Challenge Blog and their Challenge #4 Mixed Media Lovers with my mixed media page; this is a new blog so why not join in the fun too! MIUCB #52 – Anything Goes + Mixed Media over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different materials and techniques that I used to create the background and typewriter letters for this fun mixed media page.