Free to Fly

It’s a new month so we are launching our October challenge over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, and as always the theme is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I had fun creating this page from various mixed media including a recycled magazine page, white gesso, markers, stickers, rub-on transfers and paint; it was inspired by the butterflies that have been sunning themselves on the slate in our front garden – I hope you like it!

I started by tearing a blue page from a magazine into squares and collaging them onto the page using a Pritt Stick and some Liquitex matte gel medium. I intensified the white areas of the page by painting them with Pébéo white gesso allowing the gesso to smudge onto the blue paper squares too. When dry, I edged the squares with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker smudging the ink with my finger and then with a black Uni Pin marker.

Next I stuck the pretty 3D butterflies onto the page and added some numbers and words which are rub-on transfers from two Remnant Rub sets by Tim Holtz.

I added some border stickers to frame the “Free to Fly” wording and then to finish, I splattered the page with white acrylic paint.

All you need to do is use three different mediums on your projects to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge and for more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too; it would be lovely to see you there!

This is one of the beautiful butterflies that have been sunbathing on the slate in our garden. This butterfly is a Red Admiral which is widespread across the UK; it has a wingspan of about 2 inches (5 cm) and has distinctive black wings with red bands and white spots.  The Red Admiral butterfly is known to be unusually calm so it allowed me to get quite close to take this photo (grin!).

Hoping that you’re 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.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris aka pearshapedchris the Hold The Line challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the two lines of border stickers that I used to frame the title of my page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the #128 – Dimensions challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the 3D butterflies on this page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the Anything Goes over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Free to Fly art journal page.

I’m also joining the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their Anything Goes + optional twist of Distressing (ink or tool) with the techniques I used to collage and distress the pieces of magazine on my journal page.

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

• Old magazine page
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.5mm)
• Home Bargains You & Me Stickers (Beautiful Butterflies 22742)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Specimen #TH94047, Tiny Text #TH93695)
• Sandylion Sticker Designs Kelly Panacci (Stitches & Borders KSCB105)
• Artist Discount Acrylic Paint (White)

Self-Belief

While tidying up my craft room I came across a motivational photo that I used to have on my work desk which always made me smile and inspired me to be more adventurous, it depicts “The power of self-belief”. It reminded me of a lion photo that I had saved from an old magazine so I just had to create this page – I hope you like it (grin!).

For the background I covered the page with Scattered Straw and Antique Linen Distress Ink with a blending tool and then I spritzed with water and left to dry; I love the dreamy way the inks blended with the bursts of colour. Then I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint dabbing it with a piece of kitchen towel to smudge and reduce the intensity of the colour.

For the lion and wording, I used a picture from a magazine. I experimented by die cutting the trellis pattern into the left-hand side of the picture to blend it into the page; I really like the result (grin!).

I die cut the letters for the wording using a Docrafts alphabet die set from the remainder of the magazine page. They are edged with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker before sticking them in place and surrounding them with pieces of the trellis, which finished the page.

Here’s the photo that inspired my page, I love how the kitten looking into the mirror depicts how powerful self-belief is and I’m a great believer in being able to achieve something if you set your mind to it (grin!).

I hope 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.

Challenges

With the background and trellis texture that I created on this art journal page, I’m pleased to join the Texture challenge over at Art Journal Journey that I’m hosting this month; it would be lovely to see you there!

I’m so happy to join the Staying in the Background challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the dreamy background that I created for this page.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their No Stamps Allowed challenge too as no stamps were used to create this page.

I’m pleased to join the Time Out Challenge where for their Challenge #170 they are challenging you to be Adventurous; I’ve been adventurous three-fold in that my art journal page inspires me to believe and therefore be more adventurous, secondly in that I experimented by die cutting into the magazine picture to blend it into my page, and thirdly because I focused on making my page more paper-based so I could play along at this challenge blog.

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Antique Linen)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic Paint (Black)
• Old magazine
• The Works (Die Cutting – Trellis)
• Pritt Stick
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Cut Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503286)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)

Beautiful Self

Inspired by a beautiful notebook that my sister bought me, I created this fun Highland cow page as a reminder to ‘Just be your beautiful self’ (grin!).

I started by taking a page out of the notebook to use as part of the collage background. I dyed the page with inks, firstly Bluebird ink for the sky and then with Leaf Green, Fern Green and Prickly Pear ink for the grass; they are all Wendy Vecchi Blendable Dye Inks.

As the page was lined I ripped the paper diagonally, positioning the pieces so the lines ran from left-hand side up to the right-hand side diagonally across the page. I collaged them using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium along with some torn pieces of kitchen towel and baby wipes that were used to mop up blue and green inks and paints from previous art journal pages that I had created. When dry, I painted Ultramarine and Sap Green Kuretake watercolours to add more colour to the sky and grass. The highland cow is from an old magazine and layered some of the pieces of coloured paper, kitchen towel and baby wipes over the edges to blend it into the background. As you can see, I created my page background so that it matches and blends with the felt/fabric look of the highland cow image background.

For the foliage and daisies I used a Wildflower Stems #2 Thinlet set from Tim Holtz: cutting the tall grasses from brown tissue paper and layering them on top of the background using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium; I used white cardstock for the leafy foliage which I stamped using black Archival Ink and a Finnabair Stamp, coloured using the Leaf Green, Fern Green and Prickly Pear Wendy Vecchi Blendable Inks and Mowed lawn Distress Ink, and edged using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker; and I used some linen textured cardstock for the daisies which were coloured using the Leaf Green and Prickly Pear inks and also watered down Watering Can Wendy Vecchi Blendable Ink for the petals. Once stuck into place using a Zig glue pen, I edged the leafy foliage and daisies using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker so they stood out more. Then I added a Kaisercraft sticker which reads “Just be your beautiful self” which finished the page.

Here’s the beautiful A4 notebook that inspired my page.

You may notice that I always list the materials I use for pages at the end of my posts and as you can see here I use this type of notebook to record these details, so this gift was perfect (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m also sharing my cuppa (of Ceylon Tea) which I often enjoy whilst crafting – wishing you all a very Happy T day!

Hoping that you 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.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Halle from Halle’s Hobbies over at Art Journal Journey and her A Stitch In Time challenge this month with the faux felt/fabric background.

I’m pleased to join in the Summer Fields challenge over at Country View Challenges with my highland cow summery field art journal page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the #121 – Sketch challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page; the green and blue splits the page and images.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Sprays and Splashes challenge with the splashes of green ink on the die cut foliage.

Don’t forget that you still have time to join our monthly Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog too!

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

• Notebook page
• Ranger Wendy Vecchi Make Art Blendable Dye Ink (Bluebird, Prickly Pear, Leaf green, Fern Green, Watering Can)
• Recycled kitchen towel and baby wipes used to mop up inks and paints
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Ultramarine No:64, Sap Green No:53)
• Old magazine
• Pritt Stick
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Wildflower Stems #2 664164)
• Recycled brown tissue paper
• White cardstock
• Prima Marketing Finnabair Clear Stamp (Old Receipt #966980)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mowed Lawn)
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CRO240/GE)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt Artist Pen (Black 199, Cold Grey IV 23)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS284)

Colour me beautiful

Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Lovely Ladies.

We are asking that your page is not just feminine but also features a female image too. I used stamps to add the female images to the background of my page and fussy cut some old magazine images for the two lovely ladies – don’t you just love that hat!

For the background, I applied Antique Linen Distress Ink and Angel Pink Memento Ink to the page by applying the ink pads directly to the paper and pulling them vertically down the page to create stripes. Then I used a wet paintbrush to soften and blend the inks a little. Once dry, I stamped the cameos, perfume bottles and filigree over the background with a Kaisercraft stamp set using black Archival Ink. Next I applied some white gesso using my finger over some of the stamped images to push them back and add some depth to the design. My two lovely ladies and wording were fussy cut from some old magazines and stuck in place using a glue stick. I edged the wording with some black Glitterations border stickers and then stuck some striped black and white ribbon under the images. To finish, I added two large clear gemstones to the ends of the ribbon and three pretty pink acrylic daisy flowers.

I hope that you are inspired to join us too, for more inspiration my Design Teamies have created some Lovely Ladies creations for you over at Try it on Tuesday, so please pop over and take a look (grin!).

I’m also pleased to join the lovely Mia from Craftartista over at Art Journal Journey and her Flowers challenge this month with pink flowers on this page.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I think the glamorous ladies on my page might enjoy a Poinsettia which is a cocktail made from Cranberry Juice, Orange Liqueur and Prosecco. Here we are serving them in a posh champagne glass – cheers and Happy T Day!

Hoping that you all stay safe and well! x

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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Angel Pink)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (75 Cents CS864)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Old Magazines
• Pritt Stick
• Docrafts Papermania Glitterations (Black Borders ANT8181015)
• Craft Sensations (Self-Adhesive Deco Ribbons CRO244/16R)
• Poundworld DecoTime Scrapbook Accessories (Gems Art#54745)
• Stix2 Glue Dots
• Home Bargains Crafty Things (Acrylic Daisy Stickers 50650)

Past birthday celebrations at Zen

I have happy memories of past birthdays, spending time with friends at the Zen Restaurant. We like to go each year but with everything going on, we stayed at home this year so I decided to create this page to celebrate instead (grin!).

I started by applying some gold metallic paint to the background using a brayer and then stamping the same gold paint using a Serpentine background stamp from Art Impressions. Then I stamped some pretty fish using an Oriental Zen stamp set from Paperbabes Stamps and Toffee Crunch Memento Ink. Next I added some stickers and the business card from the restaurant, then the orchids which are napkins which I stuck in place using a very thin layer of Liquitex Matte Gel. The lanterns, dragon statue and tea pot are fussy cut from some old magazines and stuck in place using a glue stick. Then to finish, I added some gold glitter enamel dots.

The Zen Restaurant specialises in Thai and Chinese cuisine, and the interior of the restaurant is beautifully decorated with lanterns and the napkin rings are orchids which I included as part of my page design.

The gold, swirls and fish on this lovely painting at the restaurant also inspired my page design.

The food is delicious and I always have the Salt & Pepper Squid starter.

This is Sizzling King Prawns with Ginger and Spring Onions with jasmine rice.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m also sharing this fabulous teapot with a dragon design containing Chinese tea, isn’t it beautiful – Happy T day!

Hoping that you all 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

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 happy to join the lovely Valerie from Bastelmania over at Art Journal Journey and her Geometric Shapes challenge this month with the rectangles and dots on this page.

I’m pleased to join in the Animal Magic challenge over at Country View Challenges with the fish and magical dragon on this page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Birthdays challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my birthday celebration page too.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Happy Birthday! challenge too as I created this page to celebrate my birthday – Happy Birthday to SSSWC too!

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

• Poundland Metallic Acylic Paint (Gold)
• Art Impressions Wood Mounted Rubber Stamp (Serpentine Background T2773)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Toffee Crunch)
• Paperbabe Stamps (Oriental Zen Stamp Set)
• Orchid napkin
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Penny Black Stickeroos (Unfolding #10-160)
• Business Card – Zen Restaurant
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Old Magazines
• Pritt Stick
• Dovecraft Premium (Glitter Enamel Dots DCDOT036X18)

Be your beautiful self

I fell in love with the image of this beautiful lady in her diamante headdress which I found in a magazine, so decided to create this sparkly page to showcase it along with some inspirational wording – what do you think (grin!).

I started by applying some Pine Needles and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink using a blending tool through a Discovering Planets stencil from Sheena; I choose these colours as when blended they matched the eye colour on the image that I used. Then I applied some white acrylic paint to the page using a palette knife and stencilled the diamond shapes using a Creative Expressions stencil and some Ranger Texture Paste. When the paste was dry, I coloured the diamonds using a silver Daler Rowney paint marker.  Next I added some lines of black acrylic paint, Pine Needles Distress Ink and white acrylic paint using an old plastic gift card and then splattered the whole page with some black acrylic paint. The image of the beautiful lady is mounted on some card before sticking it over a silver doily. I covered the teardrop shaped diamonds on her headdress with some teardrop gemstones to give a 3D look; it was a happy serendipity that they were the exact same size as those on the image. To finish I added some Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz that read “be your own beautiful self”, “leave a little sparkle wherever you go” and “choose to shine”.

I love a bit of sparkle as you can see here; this is one of my favourite hats and has lots of diamante on it (grin!).

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 from The Artful Crafter and her Green challenge over at Art Journal Journey this month with my green page background.

I’m also happy to join in the The Eyes have It challenge over at Country View Challenges with the beautiful lady on my art journal page.

I’m joining in the Stencil Fun challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my stencilled ink and texture paste background.

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

• Sheena by Sheena Douglas Create A Flower Stencil (Dissolving Planets SD-STEN-CAF-PLA)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Pine Needles, Shabby Shutters)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Vintage Diamonds CEMSDIAM)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Daler Rowney Acrylic Paint Marker (Silver)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Recycled Gift Card
• Art Discount Acrylic paint (White 011)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• The Works (Silver Doily)
• Old magazine
• Graham & Brown (Adhesive Jewels)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape

Be Thankful

I have plenty to be thankful for including the wonderful life with my hubby and my dearest friends; so as its Thanksgiving next week I had fun creating this autumnal thankful page.

I’m sending Happy Thanksgiving wishes to those of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving next week, have a wonderful time!

To start, I painted the page with Hooker’s Green, Yellow Oxide and Raw Umber Liquitex acrylic paint and then applied Pébéo white gesso over the top with a brayer. When dry, I stamped some leaves by Tim Holtz using Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso and Hickory Smoke Distress Archival Ink and a grid design by Sheena Douglass using Potter’s Clay, Cottage Green and Rich Cocoa Memento Ink. I also stamped some grungy dots using black Archival Ink and both of the above Distress Archival Inks and then I splattered the page with white gesso. Next I recycled some thanksgiving magazine images of a dinner service portraying a turkey, duck, pheasant and partridge; they are fussy cut, edged with a Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck to the page using a UHU Stic. They are arranged with some pretty acrylic daisy flowers and autumnal coloured leaves which I die cut using Tim Holtz thinlets. The leaves are cut from some textured metallic papers, edged using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and a blending tool, and stuck into place using glue dots. To finish, I added the “Be Thankful” wording which is a piece of washi tape which I stuck onto some white card and stuck into place using double-sided tape.

The autumn leaves seemed to have been and gone quickly this year; when we walked around Lytham Hall with our friends this week we found that most of the trees had lost their leaves so there was a thick coating of leaves along the pathways. There were really only these Beech trees which still retained their beautiful autumnal leaves.

Of course, little Ellie was in her element chasing leaves and picking up sticks, although I think this stick may have been a little big for her. As you can see her coat has got quite long so she’s off for a trim at the doggie stylists this week (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 Peace & Tranquility challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my reflective Be Thankful page.

I’m joining in the Recycle challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as I recycled magazine Thanksgiving images on this page.

I’m also pleased to join Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday and the Autumn & Gratitude theme with Be Thankful autumnal designed page.

I’m pleased to be able to join in the fun over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog for their Anything Goes + Watercoloring with my autumnal mixed media art journal page.

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

• Liquitex Basic Acrylic Color (Hooker’s Green, Yellow Oxide, Raw Umber)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Falling Leaves CMS097)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Hickory Smoke)
• Sheena by Sheena Douglass Create a Flower Rubber Stamps (Funky Textures 2)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Potter’s Clay, Cottage Ivy, Rich Cocoa)
• Creative Stamping Magazine Issue #61 (Autumnal Treasures)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Recycled images from Old Magazine
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188 B)
• UHU Stic
• Crafty Things (Acrylic Daisy Stickers)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Fall Foilage 660955)
• Paper Bundle from local Craft Shop
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ground Espresso)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Washi tape
• Recycled white cardstock
• X-Press It! double-sided tape

Blessed

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

Seek

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

Wish you were here

Our challenge for the next two weeks over at Try it on Tuesday is Wish you were here. Where will you take us? Maybe you would like to travel far away or even stay at home, the choice is yours!

For my art journal page, I decided to go to Venice and if you pop over to Try it on Tuesday you’ll find some more wonderful Wish you were here creations by my Design Teamies to inspire you too!

I had found one of the plastic bags from Venice had degraded into lots of pieces when I unpacked some holiday ornaments over Christmastime, so I decided to keep the pieces in my craft stash to use in my art journaling.

Being from Venice, I thought that they would be perfect for my “Venice wish you were here” inspired page, so I layered the bag pieces to form the background using Liquitex Matte gel medium. When the gel medium was dry, I flooded the page with watered-down Cracked Pistachio, Peeled Paint and Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and left them to dry; I love the amazing texture that resulted.

Then I splattered the page with the both the Peeled Paint and Chipped Sapphire inks using a paint brush and added some diamond shapes using a stencil from Creative Expressions; first using the Peeled Paint ink again and then using some Black Soot Distress Ink. Using black Archival Ink I stamped the decorative shield design from Kaisercraft onto the page and also the “wish you were here” wording from Hampton Arts onto tissue paper; the wording is stuck onto the page using matte gel medium. Next I cut out a picture of Venice from a free travel advertising magazine, backed it with white paper, stuck it onto the page using double-sided tape and edged it with some black Glitterations border stickers.

I stuck a postage stamp to cover some writing on the magazine picture using double-sided foam tape; the postage stamp is from Romania showing a painting of Venice by N. Darascu, circa 1972.

Then I added three pieces of white and black striped ribbon to the page along with a postage stamp from Italy showing Coin of Syracuse, circa 1955; both of the postage stamps were kindly given to me to use for my art journaling by my hubby as part of his childhood Stamp Collection (grin!). To finish, I added some pretty diamante pieces using Ranger Glossy Accents to add some elegance and sparkle.

We have been to Venice a couple of times which is located in North Eastern Italy and is a series of islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges.

Of course Venice is well known for its Gondolas which we have been lucky enough to travel in.

We are always amazed by the beauty of the architecture along the Grand Canal and the only way to travel is by boat which appeals to me as I love being on the water (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our Aperol Spritz which is a very popular drink in Italy along with some traditional cuisine from Venice. Aperol Spritz is an aperitif cocktail consisting of prosecco, Aperol and soda water; it originated in Italy and is now available worldwide. Our drinks are pictured with some cicchetti which are small snacks or side dishes that originated and are typically served in traditional “bàcari” (cicchetti bars) in Venice. Cheers and 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 pleased to join the lovely Gill from gibbyfrogettcraftations and her Anything with Eyes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the ladies eyes on the Italian postage stamp that I included on my page.

I’m also happy to join in the Layers of Texture challenge over at Country View Challenges the background texture that I created from recycling the pieces of bag.

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

I’m also pleased to be able to join Creative Artiste and their Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge with all the mixed media I used to create this page.

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

• Recycled pieces of plastic bag (degraded) from Venice
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Cracked Pistachio, Peeled Paint, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencils (Vintage Diamonds)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Decorative Accents CS852)
• Hampton Art Bella Blvd cling mounted rubber stamps (Sand & Surf ICO226)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Recycled white tissue paper
• Recycled travel advertising magazine
• Docrafts Papermania Glitterations (Black Borders ANT8181015)
• Postage stamps from hubby’s childhood collection (Posta Romana – Romania showing a painting of Venice by N. Darascu, circa, Itali – Italy showing Coin of Syracuse circa 1955)
• Home bargains Always & Forever Collection (Decorative Diamante Chain 26254)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape
• Ranger Glossy Accents