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

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Don’t blend in

One of the things I love about Art Journaling is experimenting and trying out new techniques, so for this happy page my idea was to try to create some transparent bubbles floating across the page. Now you may wonder why I was thinking of bubbles, well it just so happens that I saw some bubble wands in our local supermarket and as I didn’t purchase one, I thought I’d just create my own (grin!).

I also had fun using three different types of book papers which included both text and pictures from a variety of books, so this is also a reminder that there is still another week to join the Use Book Paper challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, it would be lovely to see you there!

I started this page by stamping some white tissue paper with a postage mark stamp, a Script stamp and a Believe stamp from different stamp sets all by Kaisercraft, using black Archival Ink. Then I collaged ripped pieces of these tissue papers with some torn pieces of dressmaker tissue paper from a sewing pattern and two different book papers using Liquitex matte gel medium. The book papers are recycled from my old pocket dictionary that I had at school and also an old reading book that had seen better days which I bought from a charity shop (thrift store). For the circles, I drew around two different sized paint pots with a pencil and then I used Iced Coffee Faber-Castell Gelatos to outline them and Earl Grey and Coconut Faber-Castell Gelatos to shade them first using my finger to smudge the colours and then using a baby wipe to remove some of the colour until I achieved the look I was after. Even though I used some artistic license with the dark colour palette, I really like their translucency almost as if they were bubbles floating up the page (grin!). Then I used book papers again, this time I fussy cut the flowers which are all peonies from an old Garden book, stuck them down using Liquitex matte gel medium and when dry outlined them using a black Uni Pin marker. To finish I added the wording from a Kaisercraft sticker set and outlined it using a black Uni Pin marker, it reads “Don’t blend in when you were born to stand out”.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I was trying to think of something that linked to bubbles and I remembered a cream tea that we had at Alices Tearoom some time ago. So here’s our pot of green tea for two, isn’t the china beautiful …

… and here are a selection of cakes that we had, the one with Alice on the top has blue bubblegum icing – I must admit though, I didn’t care for the bubblegum taste that much preferring the Rocky Road and Chocolate Oreo cakes that are also on the plate (grin!).

If you are not familiar with Alices Tearoom, check out my previous posts here and here and here.

I’m saying a big hello and welcome to the T Gang – 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 as well as Try it on Tuesday, here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun using my Faber-Castell Gelatos, which I haven’t used in a while, to create my bubbles.

I’m joining the Get Sentimental challenge over at A Vintage Journey because a contrasting background and bright coloured flowers depicts the sentiment beautifully on my bubble inspired Mixed Media Style page.

I’m also joining Country View Challenges and their In The Summer Garden challenge as the peony flowers on my page can be found in the summer garden.

Over at That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog their theme is Close to Nature so I’m pleased to join this challenge with the beautiful flowers I added to my page.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with “Don’t’ blend in” 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)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Iced Coffee, Earl Grey, Coconut)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Provincial CS243, Script CS752, Vintage-Believe CS832)
• White tissue paper
• Style Sewing Pattern – tissue paper
• The Pocket Oxford Dictionary
• David Copperfield
• Oxford Book of Garden Plants
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS284)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Wedding Card

Today I’m sharing the wedding card that I made for our dear friends who got married last Saturday – I hope you like it!

I started by creating a square card using white cardstock which has a glossy finish on one side, then I cut a square piece of Daler Rowney Mixed Media paper that was slightly smaller so it left a 5mm (3/16”) border when placed on top of the card. Next I stamped some tree branches from a Kaisercraft stamp set and also two lovebirds in a birdcage using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad. I covered them with white Stampendous embossing powder, shook off the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper and also tapped the paper to make sure any stray powder was removed. Then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder by sweeping the gun over the stamped images, taking care not to direct the heat in one area for too long until the embossing powder melted to a glossy finish and became smooth and dimensional. Next I applied three different Distress Inks using a blending tool to give an ombré look, which emphasised the melted embossing powder beautifully. The ink colours I used were Chipped Sapphire at the top of the card, Salty Ocean in the middle and Peacock Feathers at the bottom; I blended the colours together so one colour merged with the next. I then flicked some water onto the paper using my fingers to re-activate the ink then dabbed with a piece of kitchen towel to leave a mottled effect – I love the dreamy look this created. I edged the paper with the Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink using a blending tool and stuck it onto the card using double-sided tape. To finish, I added the sentiment topper and lots of tiny pearls to the tree branches.

For their wedding present we gifted them some money towards their honeymoon, so I created a little card wallet using a card and envelope from the Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection which I stamped using black Archival Ink; the stamps I used for the outside were an alphabet stamp from Dovecraft, a scroll stamp from Penny Black and a heart stamp from Hallmark Cards.

For the inside I used the same scroll and heart stamps and some Destination and Travel stamps from Royal & Langnickel – such fun!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today with my wedding card:

I’m pleased to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Use inks anyway you want challenge as I enjoyed using my Distress Inks with the stamped white embossing to create this card.

As I created an ombré effect with my blue inks, I’m also pleased to in the fun over at Stamps and Stencils and their Ombré challenge.

With the sparkly look I created using the Distress Ink background, white embossing and pearls, I’m also pleased to join Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Add A Little Sparkle challenge.

Over at the That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog, their challenge is Close to Nature so I’m happy to join them with the pretty branches and bird detail on my card.

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 wedding card:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Magnolia Grove CS822)
• Dovecraft Clear Stamps (Birdcage DCCS015)
• White cardstock
• Daler Rowney Mixed Media paper
• Card Topper
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Stix 2 double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Let your dreams take flight

Inspired by happy summer days in my garden I decided to create this page using my new art supplies and some of my favourite techniques.

I started by heat embossing the background with white embossing powder; I did this by stamping my new seed head stamp from Molly Brown using a VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad. I then covered them with white Stampendous embossing powder, shook off the excess onto a piece of scrap paper and tapped the page to ensure any stray powder was removed. Then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder by sweeping the gun over the stamped images until the embossing powder melted to a glossy finish and became smooth and dimensional; don’t they look pretty! Then I used a blending tool to add Scattered Straw, Twisted Citron and Blueprint Sketch Distress Inks over the page. I used the same inks to add a honeycomb design using a stencil that I won over at That’s Crafty! to add more depth. As Distress Inks reactivate when water is added, I sprayed the page with water and removed some of the colour with a piece of kitchen towel. I then applied the Scattered Straw, Twisted Citron and Blueprint Sketch Distress Inks using one of my favourite techniques; applying the inks to an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page which created some lovely pools and drips of ink. Then I stamped the same seed head stamp using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and splattered white and black DecoArt acrylic paint over the page using a paintbrush.

Next I collaged the paper elements which are edged with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and stuck in place using double-sided tape. The paper elements included: some paper pieces which I cut from a Kaisercraft paper sheet; a flowery picture from an old magazine; a bird, butterfly and a postcard from a set of Vintage Die Cut Shapes. The two sentiments are from a sticker set by Kaisercraft and they are edged with the Frayed Burlap ink. I chose these sentiments because seed heads remind me dandelions and making wishes as a child, so I was thinking it is important to “Dare to dream” and when you make a wish with a dandelion seed head you “Let your dreams take flight”. To finish, I added some blue enamel dome stickers and a flowery metal embellishment which is secured using a brad.

As you know my favourite colour is blue and this plant in particular was on my shopping list this year (grin!). It’s a Salvia nemorosa called “Blue Marvel” and the bees and insects love it!

The butterflies seem to like this new addition to our garden too; it’s a Scabiosa which has the loveliest pale purple flowers. A frequent visitor, a small blue butterfly called Common Blue has proved difficult to photograph, so I was pleased to find a lovely die cut blue butterfly to add to my art journal page to remember its visits.

As T Stands for Tuesday and its summer, I’m sharing a couple of cooling milkshakes that me and my Sis had at a local café in St. Annes – one is chocolate (my choice – grin!) and the other is banana; they both are made with yummy vanilla icecream!

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 Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the heat embossing and Distress Ink techniques I used on this page.

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Your Favourite Colours which gave me the perfect excuse to use blue again, thank you!

I’m also joining in the fun over at the That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog and their A Summer’s Day Challenge with my summery art journal page – thanks so much for the fabulous stencils!

As this page reminds me of my garden with the summery colours, flowers, butterflies and birds, I’m also pleased to be able to join the In The Summer Garden challenge over at Country View Challenges.

I’m happy to also join Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my summery art journal page.

With birds and butterflies, this page is also perfect for the Things with Wings challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, where there is still another week to join in the fun – I hope to see you there!

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:

• Tsukineko Versamark (Watermark Ink Pad)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Twisted Citron, Blueprint Sketch, Hickory Smoke, Frayed Burlap)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Molly Brown Rubberstamps (MB-0079E)
• That’s Crafty! Dinky Stamps (Reverse Honeycomb TC031)
• Kaisercraft Porcelain Rose Collection 12×12 Paper (Dearest P1163)
• Old Magazine
• Kaisercraft Sticker Set (Fly Free SS289)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Vintage Die Cut Shapes)
• Docrafts Papermania Stickers (Enamel Shapes – Denium Blue Domes PMA3560011)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Metal Decorations)
• Stix 2 Double-sided tape

Oriental Fish – Birthday Card

Following all your lovely feedback last week, I have another card to share with you that I created using the stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps that I won recently.

This card was gratefully received by a member of my family who keeps goldfish in her garden pond, I hope you like it too!

I started by cutting some white cardstock to make a square-shaped card when folded and also a square of textured paper that is slightly smaller than the card. The paper is recycled from an old birthday card and I smooshed it with some blue Distress Inks to create a water effect; I did this by applying Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean ink onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the paper. When dry, I stuck it to the card using double-sided tape and added gold cherry blossom outline stickers diagonally across the card and also some gold border outline stickers around the edge to frame it. Next I stamped the beautiful fish from Paperbabe Stamps onto plain white card using Spiced Marmalade and Festive Berries Distress Ink and fussy cut them out; I stamped it by applying the Spiced Marmalade ink to the whole stamp and then I added the Festive Berries ink around the outside of the stamp. They are stuck in place using a UHU Stic and I added the bubbles and splash marks from the same stamp set using the blue inks. To finish, I added some glittery Icicle Sparkles by Ranger to the bubbles and a pretty “For you…” heart-shaped topper that I had in my craft stash.

If you are interested you can see the previous card that I made here.

This card reminds me of the fish we use to have in our old house, here is Popeye and his friends in the pond enjoying the sunshine; we called one of the fish Popeye as he had a funny shaped lip which reminded us of the cartoon character Popeye – “toot, toot!” (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:

Blue is my favourite colour and I love the Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean Distress Ink colours that I used to create this card, so I’m joining the lovely DT over at Moo Mania & More where there challenge is Your Favourite Colors.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, the challenge is Colour it Blue so I’m pleased to join in the fun with my blue water effect card too.

I’m also pleased to join the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where their theme is Anything Goes with my Oriental Fish birthday card.

I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my card that I created using their fabulous stamps!

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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, Spiced Marmalade, Festive Berries)
• Paperbabe Stamps (Oriental Zen Stamp Set)
• Cardstock (White 200 GSM)
• Textured paper – recycled birthday card
• Francoise Collection Outline Stickers (Gold 2238)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Straight Line Borders – Gold)
• Heart-shaped Topper
• Ranger Stickles (Icicle)
• UHU Stic
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided 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

Dragonfly Wishes

With the wonderful sunny weather we have been having of late, I have been spending time in the garden sorting out the flower beds and planting the summer bedding plants. So today’s page is inspired by beautiful blue skies and a rusty metal dragonfly which adorns my flower bed (grin!).

I started by adding some torn pieces of sheet music to the page with Liquitex matte gel medium and then I covered the whole page with Bright Aqua Green and Swedish Blue Liquitex acrylic paint and Pébéo white gesso using a paintbrush, blending and varying the shades of colour across the page. Then I used a Shabby Harlequin stencil from Creative Expressions to apply Pébéo white gesso; I used my finger to apply the gesso so it varied in thickness and caught along the edges of the stencil to add more interest. Next I stencilled modelling paste using a Wheels stencil from Ranger by Dina Wakley with a palette knife and left it to dry. I drew a couple of big dragonflies onto thick paper and added some copper glitter glue along the body and head, and then I covered the wings with DecoArt crackle glaze. When the crackle glaze had dried I covered the wings with Iced Coffee Faber-Castell Gelato and using a wet finger smudged the colour into the cracks, wiping any access off with a wet baby wipe.

Then I used some Iridescent Rich Copper and Rich Bronze metallic Liquitex Inks, which I received for my birthday (grin!), to colour the dragonflies; I really like the iridescent quality of the inks and the way that they seeped into the cracks of the crackle glaze. To give the dragonflies more of a patina I also coloured them using a Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and also Metallic Mint and Iced Coffee Faber-Castell Gelatos. I used the same Liquitex Inks, Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and Gelatos to colour the Wheels I had stencilled onto the page and I also splattered some of the metallic inks over the page along with some black DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush. I then stuck the dragonflies in place using a UHU Stic and finished the page by stamping the sentiment “May all your wishes come true” using black Archival Ink.

You may remember my dragonfly from a previous post.

I bought him at a flower show and he always makes me smile when I see him floating over my flower bed!

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the Flora and Fauna challenge over at Art Journal Journey which I’m hosting this month with my Fauna (dragonfly) page.

 I’m happy to join the Rust theme over at Mixed Media Monthly Challenge with the rusty wheels and dragonflies that I created for this page.

I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday and their Summer challenge with my sunshiny blue sky inspired page.

I’m also joining A Vintage Journey and their Words and Music challenge with the sheet music that I used to create my Mixed Media Style page and “Mr. Blue Sky” by ELO that I was singing whilst I was creating it (grin!).

I’m also pleased to join the Allsorts Challenge Blog and their Insects, Bugs, Bees and Butterflies challenge with my dragonfly page – sending you Happy belated 9^th Birthday wishes Allsorts!

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 (Bright Aqua Green, Swedish Blue)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• DecoArt Media Crackle Glaze
• Liquitex Inks! (Iridescent Rich Copper, Iridescent Rich Bronze)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188 B)
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Metallic Mint, Iced Coffee)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencils (Shabby Harlequin CEMSHARL)
• Ranger Dina Wakley Media Stencil (Wheels MDS45588)
• Clear Stamp Set (Winter Woodland) – Free with Crafts Beautiful Magazine
• Thick white paper
• Violin Studies – Sheet Music
• Hobbycraft Glitter Glue (Copper)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic