Tag Archives: nature

Blessed

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This time of year I always think of my dear American friends who will be celebrating Thanksgiving the last Thursday of November.

I feel very blessed to have them as my friends so today’s page is a tribute to them and the beautiful autumnal garden flag that they gifted us. The flag influenced the background design, autumnal leaves and golden pears that I created on this page and the wording relates to my dearest friends (grin!).

For the white and grey background, I applied some Hickory Smoke Distress Ink using a mini stencil from TCW and I then layered a postage mark stamp from Kaisercraft and a leaf stamp from Tim Holtz using Hickory Smoke Distress Archival Ink. I coloured the stamped leaves using Fossilized Amber Distress Ink by applying the ink pad to a blending mat and picking up the ink with a paintbrush. The page is also splattered with the Fossilized Amber Distress Ink. Next I fussy cut the pears from a magazine, edged them with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck them in place using a UHU Stic. They are arranged on the page with some flowers, a butterfly, a clock and some wording which are all stickers from Kaisercraft; they are edged using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and a blending tool before sticking them into place. The wording reads “blessed”, “moments”, “you & me” and “love”.

This is the garden flag that lead me to include a script and postage mark grey on white background, some autumnal leaves and golden pears as part of my page design. I see this flag everyday as it sits right outside my kitchen window which is a joy (grin!).

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

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 Rike from rike’s art and her Fruit and Veggies challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I included the golden pears on my page.

I’m happy to join the #203 – Circles challenge over at Moo Mania & More with the circular stickers and stamped postage marks on my page, the pears have a circular feel to them too (grin!).

I’m joining in the Thanks/Thanksgiving challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as I’m giving thanks for my friends with my Blessed art journal page.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday and the Autumn & Gratitude with my autumnal and grateful for friends inspired page.

I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my art journal page too.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

  • The Crafter’s Workshop 6×6 Stencil (Mini Art is TCW261s)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke, Fossilized Amber, Peacock Feathers)
  • Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Provincial CS243)
  • Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Falling Leaves CMS097)
  • Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Hickory Smoke)
  • Old Magazine
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
  • Kaisercraft Sticker Book (Antiquities SK807)
  • UHU Stic

Colours of Autumn

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Our new challenge for the next two weeks at Try it on Tuesday is Colours of Autumn.

I love the autumn season, so created an art journal page using a new technique with clear embossing powder; my autumnal colours are Brushos but you could use the same technique with any autumnal coloured inks, paints, infusions etc; to find out how it all came together please see below.

I started by sprinkling Yellow, Lemon, Yellow Ochre, Orange, Terracotta, Rose Red, Scarlett, Sandstone, Dark Brown and Moss Green Brusho powders onto my page then spritzing with water and leaving it to dry. Once dry, I sprinkled water droplets onto the page and removed them using some kitchen towel to give a mottled effect. I stamped the “wishing you a beautiful autumn season” wording using a Sophisticated Script stamp set from Concord & 9th and black Archival Ink and highlighted the letters using a white Uniball gel pen.

Then for my new technique, I stamped the leaves, which are from a Tim Holtz stamp set, to surround the wording; they are stamped using Versamark Watermark Ink and then covered with clear embossing powder, which I heated with my heat gun. Because it’s clear and has been applied over a coloured background, it lets the colours show through and protects them while you add more colour to the area. I used a blending tool to add some Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Ink around the edge of the page and over the leaves so they stood out more. To finish I splattered the page with Ground Espresso Distress Ink and added some gems to add some sparkle.

I hope you will join in our Colours of Autumn fun too and for more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and check out the amazing creations from my Design Teamies!

Lately I have been reminiscing about our trip to Maine, America as we were staying with friends at their Lake House in October last year and …

… as Kathy from Hummingbird Woodland Studio recently posted about her lake house and making Biscuits and Gravy, she reminded me of a breakfast that we had at Biscuits & Company. It’s a very popular place to eat with the locals so we reserved a table one Sunday morning.

This place serves American biscuits which are more like a savoury scone here in the UK with a firm browned crust and a soft, crumbly interior.

I chose from the normal menu and had biscuits and sausage gravy, so yummy!

My hubby had biscuits with the vegan mushroom gravy. We also had an egg on top which was optional and if you prefer they also have a gluten free biscuit too (grin!).

My friend chose from the brunch menu and had Biscuits Benedict which tasted yummy, yes she was kind enough to let me try some (double grin!); this was Country-Style biscuits with over-easy eggs and a choice of classic ham with a hollandaise sauce or creamy kale with a white wine sauce, she also had a side order of home fries.

As T Stands for Tuesday you may have already noticed my green tea in the photos, but there was also coffee, orange juice or even water from this fabulous water fountain – Happy T Day everyone!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Eileen of The Artful Crafter and her Dreams or Wishes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the so very grateful wishes on my page.

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Fall/Autumn Colors challenge 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:

  • Colourcraft Brushos (Yellow, Lemon, Yellow Ochre, Orange, Terracotta, Rose Red, Scarlet, Sandstone, Dark Brown, Moss Green)
  • Concord and 9th Clear Stamp Set (Sophisticated Script)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Uniball Gel Pen (White)
  • Tsukineko Versamark (Watermark Ink)
  • Tsukineko Versamark Emboss (Watermark Pen)
  • Wow! Embossing Powder (Clear Gloss Ultra High)
  • Docrafts Papermania Heat Tool
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso)
  • Hobbycraft Gem Stones (Rose)

Black Magic

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I was lucky enough to receive a box of Black Magic chocolates for a good deed that a member of my family requested – they were very yummy! So I thought I would recycle the packaging to create my Black Magic Halloween page – I hope you like it!

I started by using a Sun and Moon circle template from Inkylicious to mask off the moon and then painted the sky background with orange and black Kuretake watercolour paints. Then I removed the template and used the Sun and Moon stencil from the same Inkylicious set to add the moon detail using Vintage Linen and Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and a white Uni Posca paint pen. I stamped the sky with a Gothic Book stamp from Finnabair using Black Soot Distress Archival Ink and then I splattered the page with the orange and black watercolour paints. Next I recycled the inner packaging from my Black Magic chocolates by ripping the black paper into pieces and arranging them on the bottom and down the left-hand side of the page. I also die cut the flowers and ivy from the same black paper using Wildflower Stems and Garden Greens Thinlets from Tim Holtz and my Big Shot machine; they are stuck in place using a Zig Memory glue pen. I stamped some cobwebs from Molly Blooms using Black Soot Distress Archival Ink. Then I used some of the cardboard packaging for the “Black Magic” wording fussy cutting it out, black heat embossing it and sticking it in place using Ranger Glossy Accents. Then to finish, I splattered the page using the white Uni Posca paint pen.

Here’s my box of Black Magic chocolates, help yourselves – you have a choice of Coffee Crescent, Pure Black Magic, Midnight Truffle, Raspberry Heaven, Hazelnut Swirl, Dreamy Fudge, Almond Crunch, Orange Sensation and Caramel Heart. To make them last I treated myself to one a day and they were delicious (grin!).

This page reminded me of a song by Little Mix, I enjoy watching the video – it’s such a fun story line!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Eileen of The Artful Crafter and her Dreams or Wishes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my happy black magic dreams.

I’m also joining the Die Cuts and Punches challenge over at Moo Mania & More with the die cut flowers and ivy that I included on this page.

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Fall/Autumnal Colors challenge with the orange colours on my page.

I’m pleased to be able to join in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog for their Anything Mixed Media Goes with my mixed media art journal page which included paint, inks, recycled packaging and embossing powder.

Don’t forget that you can also join in the fun over at Try it on Tuesday for our Witches, Wizards, Halloween challenge 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:

  • Inkylicious Template & Stencil Set (Sun and Moon)
  • Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Orange, Black)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Hickory Smoke)
  • Inkylicious Ink Dusters
  • Uni Posca Paint Pen (White)
  • Prima Marketing Finnabair 2 Clear Stamp (Gothic Book 966966)
  • Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Black Soot)
  • Recycled Black Packaging
  • Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflower Stems 2 664164, Garden Greens 661206)
  • Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
  • Molly Blooms Rubber Stamp (MB-0065D)
  • Tsukineko Versamark Watermark Ink
  • Stampendous Embossing Powder (Black)
  • Ranger Glossy Accents

All Things Pink

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Hi everyone! I am so delighted to be in the Designer Spotlight this month over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. Thanks so much for all your support and lovely comments last week!

This week the theme is All Things Pink (Breast Cancer Awareness).

For this challenge I created an art Journal page in tribute to my auntie who has recently recovered from Breast Cancer – I hope you like it!

For the background I covered the page with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink using a blending tool and then sprayed White Linen Dylusions Spray over the top and left it to dry.  Next I used a Tim Holtz Mini Stencil to add the numbers using the Picked Raspberry ink again and then using the same ink and also Hickory Smoke Distress Archival Ink I stamped some Halftone Circles from Altenew. For the flowers, I used my Tim Holtz Stamping Platform to stamp flowers and stems from the Tim Holtz Flower Garden Stamp Set using Hickory Smoke ink onto some watercolour cardstock; stamping the image a few times to achieve a clear precise image. Then I coloured them with Picked Raspberry ink using a watercolour style technique gradually building up the pink shading using a paintbrush. They are fussy cut and stuck in place using a glue stick. The wording is from an Antiquities Sticker Book from Kaisercraft and is mounted onto some of the white watercolour paper before sticking them to the page; they read “Life is beautiful with you”, “Love”, “Faith” and “Hope”. To finish I added some little butterflies which I made using some white paper butterfly wings, recycled pink satin ribbon that I twisted so it looked like the Breast Cancer logo, and finally a small pink gem stone; everything is stuck in place using Ranger Glossy Accents.

I’m pleased to say that my auntie is doing well after being treated with breast cancer, luckily it was diagnosed early; she came to stay recently and we had lots of fun, she particularly enjoyed watching the sunsets.

It seems that pink seems to be prevalent of late as when I went to the hairdressers recently I was treated to a few glasses of this Summer Fruit drink, it was so refreshing! At my hairdressers they usually offer coffee, a range of teas and soft drinks to their clients and sometimes cake too (grin!). As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m pleased to share this drink with the T Gang – Happy T Day!

I enjoyed creating this art journal page for the All Things Pink (Breast Cancer Awareness) challenge and I hope you will join in the fun too! For more inspiration please check out the fabulous creations from the Design Team over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

Don’t forget that Simon Says Stamp is generously giving away a $50 voucher to shop at the Simon Says Stamp Store! and one lucky participant will be randomly drawn to win this voucher. How amazing is that! Good Luck to everyone!

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Eileen of The Artful Crafter and her Dreams or Wishes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the dreams and wishes on my page.

I’m also joining the Count Your Blessings challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my art journal page.

Here is a list of materials over at Simon Says Stamp to create this art journal page:

Autumn/Fall

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Hi everyone! I am so delighted to be in the Designer Spotlight this month over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. Thanks so much for inviting me!

This week the theme is Autumn/Fall.

As it is the first Monday of the month, Simon Says Stamp are featuring Tim Holtz so I created this birthday card as I have lots of family birthdays this time of year.

For the centre piece of my card, I stamped a maple leaf using a Tim Holtz Maple Sketch stamp and black Archival Ink onto a piece of Ranger Kraft paper which I tore along the edges to give it more of a rustic look and then coloured using a Sanguine and Black Faber-Castell marker. I also added a piece of lace and bound some twine to the bottom of the Kraft panel and attached a button which I threaded using the same twine.

I used the Tim Holtz Maple Sketch stamp again to stamp the maple leaf onto some Watercolour card stock using my Tim Holtz stamping platform. This enabled me to stamp the watercolour card again after I had coloured the leaf using Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. I cut out the leaf, edged it with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck it over the top of the leaf that I stamped on the Kraft panel using double-sided foam tape so it stood out more. The card was completed by mounting the finished Kraft panel onto a 6x4inch card which I made from white cardstock, stamped with a repeating pattern of “Happy Birthday” using Rich Cocoa, Toffee Crunch and Potter’s Clay Memento Ink and then finely splattered with Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.

Maple leaves always reminds me of fall in New England …

… so the colours on my card were inspired by this beautiful tree in Biddeford, Maine that we saw this time last year whilst on vacation to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.

It happens to be our 31st wedding anniversary tomorrow, so as T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing a photo of me and hubby enjoying some samplers of beer at Banded Brewery in Biddeford, Maine which we also visited whilst we were there – cheers and Happy T Day!

Which reminds me to wish Erika a very Happy Anniversary too!

I enjoyed creating this card with my Tim Holtz products for the Autumn/Fall challenge and I hope you will join in the fun too! For more inspiration please check out the fabulous creations from the Design Team over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

Don’t forget that Simon Says Stamp is generously giving away a $50 voucher to shop at the Simon Says Stamp Store! and one lucky participant will be randomly drawn to win this voucher. How amazing is that! Good Luck to everyone!

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

Here is a list of materials to make this card:

Seek

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Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday for the next two weeks is Animal Magic.

Enjoy this theme and have fun, all we ask is that there is an animal somewhere on your project. If you want to see which animals my Design Teamies have chosen please feel free to pop over to our blog.

When I saw this cheeky squirrel in a magazine, I thought he looked inquisitive so wanted to use him on my page; I like the way that he seems to be looking out at us, do you think he is trying to tell us something (grin!).

I started by painting the page with Kuretake watercolour paints, for the sky I used Ultramarine Pale and for the foreground I used Burnt Sienna. Next I stamped the trees using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink and then painted the foreground with some white DecoArt acrylic paint to look like snow. I stamped foliage and berries using Pistachio, Toffee Crunch and Potter’s Clay Memento Ink and then I splattered the whole page with some of the white acrylic paint to give a snowy appearance. The squirrel is fussy cut from an old magazine and once he was stuck in place I drew his whiskers with a black Derwent Graphik marker. To finish, I added the wording “adventure awaits you”, “wander”, “go where your heart takes you”, “embrace the journey” and “make it count” which are rub-on transfers and the word “seek” which is a quote chip; all of which are from the Tim Holtz idea-ology collection.

The squirrel on my page is a red squirrel also called a Eurasian red squirrel which has a darker coat in wintertime, hence the winter theme of my page. If you are interested here are some fun facts:

  • You will only find flourishing populations of red squirrels in the Lake District and the Highlands in Scotland. They very shy and timid, not at all like American Red Squirrels.
  • Red squirrels are largely vegetarian although they find acorns indigestible. They like to build larders of cones to provide food through the winter. Some larders have been found holding as many as 2,000 cones.
  • Beatrix Potter’s Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, first published in 1903, did much to popularise the red squirrel; she was inspired by the squirrels that she watched in Lake District.

My red squirrel reminded me of the Scottish shortbread, can you see the red squirrel on this pretty tin (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my cuppa and shortbread with the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

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

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 Eileen of The Artful Crafter and her Dreams or Wishes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with all the inspirational wording on my page.

I’m joining the Autumn Glory challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my wintry page with pops of autumnal colour.

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

I’m also so happy to join #103 – Picture Inspiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the pops of autumnal colours on my page which match the picture inspiration too.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

  • Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Ultramarine Pale, Burnt Sienna)
  • Creative Stamping Magazine (Autumnal Treasures from Issue 61, Winter Wonderland from Issue 62)
  • Tsukineko Memento Ink (Rich Cocoa, Pistachio, Toffee Crunch, Potter’s Clay)
  • DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
  • Old magazine
  • Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
  • Tim Holtz idea-ology (Remnant Rubs – Special Delivery #TH93188, Quote Chips #TH93563)
  • UHU Stic
  • Stix2 double-sided tape

Be your own kind of beautiful

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Today I was inspired by a seahorse mosaic that you can find in St. Anne’s on the Sea where I live; I always love seeing artwork when I’m out and about and this dancing seahorse is one of my favourites!

I started by covering the page with Salty Ocean Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad directly onto a blending mat, spritzing with water and pressing the mat onto the paper a number of times to build up splashes of ink to depict seawater.

Then I applied Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain through a circular stencil from Inkylicious and also blotted the stencil onto the page to mop up the excess Stain. Next I used a mosaic dot stamp using both Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink; firstly through the circle stencil to add more details to the large circles that I stencilled and then to the rest of the background so it looked like bubbles of water. I outlined each of the stencilled circles by stamping white acrylic paint using a plastic tube and then smudged the white gesso over the circle. When the paint was dry I coloured it with the Platinum Planet ink using my finger. I added more bubbles by stamping some dot stamps from Paperbabe Stamps using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink and then I splattered the page with some white acrylic paint which finished the background. The foliage is tissue paper which I die cut using Tim Holtz thinlets and my Big Shot machine which I then stuck to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium; I wasn’t to careful how I stuck them down as I wanted them to look like they were floating and moving in the water.

My dancing seahorse is fussy cut from a colouring book and coloured using Gold, Yellow, Sunset and Amber Spectrum Aqua markers to match the seahorse colours of the mosaic. Then I used a blending tool to blot Rusty Hinge Distress Ink onto the seahorse to add texture and give it more of a 3D look. It is stuck in place using matte gel medium, detailed using some black Derwent Graphik markers and a white Uniball pen for its eye. The words “Be your own beautiful self” are cut from a 3×4” card by Kaisercraft, stuck in place and outlined with a black marker pen. To finish, I added some silver and blue sequins to the background to add some sparkle.

This is the pretty seahorse mosaic and the words say “Golden sun rise on our sands moonlight pass us by. As seahorse dance among the waves. Our sandgrown spirit flies”. I particularly like the words as it mentions being “sandgrown” which applies only to the Flyde coast area where I live and literally means someone born by the seaside; I happen to be a Sandgrown’un too (grin!).

This is the other beautiful mosaic, this time of a pretty mermaid and the verse reads “We dream fondly of seas. Her waves lap softly on our shore. While mermaids songs drift onwards. Our peace to breathe once more”.

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

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 Erika aka BioArtGal and her Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids and Patterns challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my circle patterns on my background.

I’m also happy to join in the Under the Sea challenge over at Country View Challenges with my seahorse art journal page.

I’m joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my dancing seahorse too.

I’m pleased to be able to join in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog for their Anything Mixed Media Goes with my mixed media art journal page which included inks, paints, papers and sequins.

Don’t forget that you still have until over a week to join our Hot, Hot, Hot! Challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, maybe you can use hot colours like those I used for my seahorse; it would be lovely to see you there!

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Shabby Shutters, Rusty Hinge)
  • Inkylicious Stencil (Sun & Moons)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Cracked Pistachio)
  • Docrafts Papermania Mini Cards & Stamp Set (Capsule Geometric Krafts PMA105308)
  • Tsukineko Brilliance Pigment Ink (Platinum Planet)
  • Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Birthday Wishes)
  • Art Discount Acrylic (White)
  • Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz (Garden Greens 661206, Wildflower Stems #2 664164)
  • Recycled dark and light green tissue paper
  • Animal Kingdom Suduko & Doodle Book
  • Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Gold, Yellow, Sunset, Amber)
  • Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm, 0.1mm)
  • Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
  • Kaisercraft 3×4” Cards (Life’s Treasures CM108)
  • Poundland (Assorted Sequins)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Ranger Glossy Accents