Hello Spring

As spring is officially here, I was inspired to create this page using a mainly green colour palette to say Hello Spring – I hope you like it!

I started by die cutting a lattice pattern out of some pretty vintage floral paper using a Spellbinders die and my Big Shot machine; I stuck the die cut lattice and resulting tile pieces onto the page using a Pritt Stick and covered them with Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I added some Peeled Paint Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad onto a blending matt, adding water and applying it to the page using a paintbrush; I let the ink run down the page and pool around the die cut pieces. Once the ink was dry, I emphasised the die cut lattice and tiles by shading around them with a Bud Green and Moss Spectrum Aqua Marker, a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and also a black Uni Pin marker, smudging the colours with my finger. I stamped a texture stamp from BoBunny using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker over the background which reminded me of woven willow fencing. Next I die cut some leaves out of green paper using Garden Green thinlets by Tim Holtz and coloured them using Mowed lawn Distress Ink and Cottage Ivy Memento Ink; they are stuck to the page using a Zig Memory System glue pen. I added the pink mini paper flower embellishments using Ranger Glossy Accents and added some mini pearl gemstones to their centres. The wording is cut from a magazine and is mounted on a recycled piece of card. I doodled along the leaf die cut edges and also framed the wording using a black Uni Pin marker and splattered the whole page with Peeled Paint Distress Ink, then black and also white DecoArt acrylic paint. To finish, I added lots of tiny butterfly stickers.

The colours of the pretty flowers on this page remind me of these roses which are adorning my kitchen table at the moment; the shades of pink and cream colours are so beautiful!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey with my Hello Spring page. I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Colour It Green, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with my green spring page.

I’m joining in the Miniature/Tiny Things challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the tiny butterflies I added to my page.

I’m also happy to join in the fun over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their theme Anything + optional twist of inked background with my inked background Hello Spring 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
• Spectrum Aqua Markers (Bud Green, Moss)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Spellbinders Die – unknown
• BoBunny Stamp (Rough It Up 12105155)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Design Block 25 x 25cm, Mini Paper Flower Embellishments)
• Crafter’s Companion Designer Paper Pad (Angelica & Adam Collection A&A-PAP6-M)
• Old Magazine
• Recycled white card
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Fancy Sticker Sheet (Flowers & Butterflies 28965)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Advertisements

The Journey

My springtime page today features a white hydrangea, pretty butterflies and a quote which reads “The Journey is never truly over it just changed course”. I find that this quote applies not only to life but also to my art journaling as I often start with one idea for a particular page which then changes course as I create it (grin!), do you find this happens to you too?

For the background, I started by collaging pieces of dictionary pages, dressmaking pattern tissue paper and some homemade decoupage paper to the page using matt gel medium; I wanted a grungy look, so I let the tissue papers crease as I applied them to the page.

I had fun making the decoupage papers and for the one I used on this page, I stamped recycled brown tissue paper using a Script stamp from Kaisercraft and black Archival Ink (pictured at the bottom of the photo).

Once the gel medium had dried, I blended Parchment, Cadmium Yellow, Navy and Green Liquitex acrylic paints to create different shades of green and then stippled and splattered them onto the page using a paintbrush to build up the background colour. When the paint way dry, I added Peeled Paint and Black Soot Distress Ink to emphasise the grunge look using a baby wipe and then I added some Pébéo white gesso using a paint brush. When the page was dry, I applied Peacock Feathers Distress Ink with a baby wipe over the white gesso giving it a blue tinge. Next I stencilled splatters using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool through a textured template from The Crafter’s Workshop. I used the same template to add splatters of Ranger Texture Paste and when dry covered the paste using DecoArt white acrylic paint so it stood out more. The letters are cut from an old magazine and stuck to the page using the matte gel medium; they are outlined using a black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball gel pen. I stuck the pretty die cut hydrangea in place and added the butterflies which are rub-on transfers; I thought the butterflies went well with the “The Journey is never truly over it just changed course” quote that I selected for the page. To finish, I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

This page reminds me of a pretty hydrangea that we saw at a local garden centre, this is a tree variety and has the most beautiful snowy lime flowers – I love it (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to link my art journal page to the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey with my springtime page – I hope to see you there!

I’m joining the Close to Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my springtime page of butterflies and flowers.

I’m also pleased to join the Embrace The Journey challenge over at A Vintage Journey as the quote that I used applies to my creative journey which inspired my Mixed Media Style page – Happy 5^th Birthday!

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Colour It Green, so I’m pleased to join this challenge too with my green and grungy springtime page.

I’m also joining the Letters and/or Numbers challenge over at Country View Challenges with the recycled magazine letters that I used for the quote and those that can be found on the background.

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)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Navy, Christmas Green)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Black Soot, Peacock Feathers)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Script CS752)
• The Crafter’s Workshop Ronda Palazzari Designs (Texturized 12×12 Template)
• The Pocket Oxford Dictionary
• Style Dressmaking Pattern
• Brown Tissue Paper
• Old Magazine
• K & Company Susan Winget (Floral Die-Cut Cardstock)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (LAN1236G)
• Winsor & Newton Matt Gel Medium

Spring Greetings – Art Journal Cover

I always find that I have a huge selection of scraps leftover from creating art journal pages, which for some reason I just can’t seem to throw away (grin!). I usually try to use them up on my art journal covers and as I often use the same materials that can be found in the journal, the covers then also remind me of the pages that are inside (double grin!).

As my journal holds some of the springtime pages that I created for my Hello Springtime theme over at Art Journal Journey that I am hosting, I gave the cover a springtime feel too – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the background with a book page that I recycled from a part-work magazine, using as I did to stick all the paper elements, Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I used some washi tape, with a tape measure design on it, over the seam where two pieces of the book pages joined together. Next I stuck some lattice die cut pieces, remnants of a recycled brown bag, leftover pieces of teabag and also scrap pieces of wallpaper to the page. I added the robin, branches and leaves which are ripped pieces of tissue and then the scene started looking more like springtime, so I coloured the leaves using a Bud Green Spectrum Aqua Marker. The flowers are cobbled-together using leftover pieces of hydrangea flowers from a wallpaper sample and rub-on transfers of violets by Royal & Langnickel, along with some stamped hydrangea flowers using Elderberry Memento Ink. They are loosely coloured with watered down Purple and Navy Spectrum Aqua Markers so the flowers blended together. I also stamped the “My Art Journal” wording using the Elderberry Memento Ink and added more colour to the lettering using the Purple and Navy Spectrum aqua markers again. The “spring greetings” banner, “grow” tag and “plant a garden” banner are Graphic 45 Cardstock Stickers and I used the tape measure washi tape to bind and finish the edges of the page.

As you probably know by now, I love robins and this page reminded me of a robin we saw on a springtime walk last year. I think he had stopped by to say “hello”, isn’t he adorable (grin!).

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Art Journal Journey, 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 also joining the Close to Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my springtime art journal cover.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Create a Scene 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:

• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Elderberry)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Purple, Navy, Bud Green)
• Craft Sensations (Clear Stamps 154884)
• Clarity Stamp (Word Chain STA-WO-10048-XX)
• Leftover papers – lattice die cuts, recycled brown bag, teabag paper, wallpaper sample, tissue
• Recycled book page from part-work magazine
• Graphic 45 Cardstock Stickers (Place in Time 4500617, Seasons 4501629)
• Michael’s (Washi Tape)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Spring Hare

This page was inspired by an image from a magazine of a hare sitting in a lush green meadow and from that sprang the idea of extending the scene so the meadow filled my page – I hope you like it!

As this page was created with spring in mind, I’m pleased to join the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey too. I’d like to thank all of you for your lovely comments and wonderful creations so far, I hope you are having fun getting creative with this theme as much as I am (grin!).

To start I coloured some white paper with inks to match the colours on the magazine image; first I applied Mowed Lawn, Pine Needles, Twisted Citron and Forest Moss Distress Ink to a blending mat, spritzed with water and pressed the matt onto the white paper to create a green mottled effect.

I repeated the process using Fozzilized Amber, Mustard Seed and Scattered Straw Distress Ink, then Old Paper, Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo Distress Ink and finally Elderberry Memento Ink, Milled Lavender and Seedless Grape Distress Ink. When the papers were dry, I used the green mottled effect paper to cover the background by ripping the paper on the diagonal and layering it onto the page so the white edges formed part of the design to look more like fabric; it is stuck down using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I ripped the magazine image and stuck it on the left-hand side of the page.

Next I die cut some flowers using a Wildflower thinlet from Tim Holtz from the yellow and purple paper I had made. I intensified the colour of the yellow flowers using Fossilized Amber and then arranged them with foliage that I created using some brown string, embroidery silk thread and pieces of green and rusty-brown baby wipe that had been used to mop up inks and paints from previous projects. They are all stuck into place using Liquitex matte gel medium and once dry, I coloured the green pieces of baby wipe further with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink so they looked like blades of grass. I also added some white thread, die cut purple pieces and purple/blue used baby wipe to the top of the page to match the image design. To finish, I added the word “Spring” which is a rub-on transfer from Royal & Langnickel and then splattered the page with black and white DecoArt acrylic paints.

One springtime walk around Glasson Dock we were lucky enough to see hares in the fields; if you look very closely you can just see a hare in profile sitting on the bottom left-hand side of the picture.

The hares were fun to watch although they didn’t really stay still very long to get a good shot of them (grin!).

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Art Journal Journey, 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:

As my page captures nature at springtime, I’m joining the Close To Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

I’m also happy to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Create A Scene challenge with my Spring Hare scene.

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their theme Anything + optional twist of inked background with my inked background mixed media page.

As I used more than three mediums (inks, paints, paper, baby wipes, string, etc) to create my page, I’m also joining the Creative Artisite Challenge #47 – Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog.

I’m also pleased to join the Green & Gold challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday as I used these colours on my 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mowed Lawn, Pine Needles, Twisted Citron, Forest Moss, Fozzilized Amber, Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Old Paper, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, Milled Lavender, Seedless Grape)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Elderberry)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Sizzix Thinkets Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflowers 661190)
• Recycled white paper
• Old magazine
• Recycled used baby wipes
• Brown String
• Embroidery Silk Houline Stranded (0369)
• Recycled cotton thread
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Sentiments (Spring #ROY-506)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick

Beer Festival 2019

As you may remember, every February we volunteer at the Fleetwood Beer Festival, we work behind the bar serving customers and of course trying all the different beers, you can find our favourite ones on my art journal page below (grin!).

This page is created using recycled materials; this includes some beer packaging that contained one of my hubby’s Christmas presents, our Beer Festival magazine tasting notes and also a Beer Festival flyer. I started by selecting the tasting notes for our favourite beers; as we taste the different beers we always enjoy writing our opinions on the tasting notes provided in the magazine so these are included too (grin!). I arranged them onto the page so they are surrounded by pieces of the black and tan beer packaging and like everything on this page they are stuck down using a glue stick. The “Beer & Cider Festival” wording is also from the Beer Festival magazine and the glass of beer image is from a flyer; they are all stuck onto a piece of recycled card to give them more stability. I cut them out, edged them with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck them in place. Then I coloured and shaded the “Beer & Cider Festival” using a Yellow and also a Gold Spectrum Aqua Marker so it stood out more which finished the page.

The beers listed on my page included:

• Milk Chocolate Stout (Alcohol By Volume or ABV 5%) North Riding Brewery in Scarborough, North Yorkshire – a dark milk chocolate stout. The addition of lactose mutes the bitterness of the hops and dark malts to produce a sweet stout.
• Amber Necker (ABV 3.9%) Pennine Brewery in Well, North Yorkshire – being amber in colour, this is a great session beer with a smooth and creamy texture and a fantastic hoppy aftertaste.
• Dark Side of the Moose (ABV 4.6%) Purple Moose in Porthmadog, Gwynedd – a delicious dark ale with a deep malt flavour and a fruity bitterness.
• Lemon Dream (ABV 4.5%) Salopian Brewery in Shrewsbury, Shropshire – a light gold ale brewed with wheat malt and subtly flavoured with fresh lemons.
• Dark Ruby (ABV 6%) from Sarah Hughes in Sedgley, West Midlands – a dark strong ale with a good balance of fruit and hops, leading to a pleasant, lingering hops and malt finish.
• Don’t Give A Dram (ABV 4.9%) Sonnet 43 Brewery in Coxhoe, Country Durham – Full-Bodied reddish Brown ale with a low hop content and tastes of toffee and caramel. Nourished in former whiskey oak barrels, hence the name.
• Jaipur (ABV 5.9%) Thornbridge Brewery in Bakewell, Derbyshire – Flavoursome IPA packed with citrus hoppiness that’s nicely counterbalanced by malt and underlying sweetness and robust fruit flavours.
• Stay Puft (ABV 5.2%) Tiny Rebel Brewery in Newport, Wales – This marshmallow porter has the classic roasty qualities of a proper dark ale, with a smooth sweetness.
• Guzzler (ABV 3.6%) York Brewery in York, Yorkshire – Refreshing golden ale with dominant hop and fruit flavours developing throughout.

The busiest day was Friday, as you can see the hall was quite packed with people trying the 100+ beers and ciders that we had on offer. If you look carefully you’ll see me in the photo (grin!).

We had lots of fun chatting with customers, listening to the live bands and of course, sampling many of the beers (double grin!).

You can see all the casks of beer where we were serving in the background, this size of cask is known as a “firkin” and holds 9 imperial gallons which is 72 pints. We always like to try the beers that we are selling and write notes so that we can recommend a particular beer to our customers (well that’s my excuse for trying so many and I’m sticking to it) – Cheers!

Challenges

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m joining the T Gang with my beer related post and wishing you all a very Happy T day!

I’m pleased to be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun including yellow on my beer festival art journal page.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge their challenge is Typography, so I’m pleased to be able to join this challenge too as I collaged plenty of letter typed papers on my page.

I’m also pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my Beer Festival 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:

• Festival tasting notes magazine
• Beer packaging
• Festival Flyer
• Recycled Card
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Spectrum Aqua Marker (Yellow, Gold)
• Pritt Stick

Kin Toffee + Vodka

Today my page is inspired by a present that my hubby kindly bought me, Kin Toffee + Vodka which tastes delicious and is locally made in the heart of the Lake District. The box was gorgeous so I had fun recycling it to create this page (grin!).

The background is created using Kuretake watercolour paint set; I painted strips of Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna and Black paint diagonally onto a page that I had already wet with water, so that the paint colours bled into each other. I added more of these paints until I achieved the look I wanted, and then I also added some Lemon Yellow and Cadmium Scarlet watercolour paint to intensify the colours and add some contrast too.

Once the paint had dried, I added some tiny squares over the black watercolour paint using black Archival Ink and a stamp from the Docrafts Geometric Capsule Collection. Then finally I cut the vodka box packaging into squares and rectangles, and arranged them onto the page with an image of a bottle and glass that I recycled from a magazine; they are stuck in place using double-sided tape.

This toffee vodka is amazing and a little goes a long way, you only need a few sips in a glass; it tastes so yummy by itself and is a lovely treat served over ice cream too (grin!).

Kin Vodka is made in the Lake District as you can see by the packaging it is inspired by the beautiful area that it comes from and the great outdoors. It is hand blended and has rich caramel tones with a lovely smooth taste and a subtle warming kick – so delicious!

I’m sharing my drink related post over at T Stands for Tuesday and sending the T Gang very Happy T day wishes!

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 Alison/Craftytrog and her Geometric Shapes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with all the square stamped and collage square/rectangular shapes on my page.

I’m joining in the Alcohol, Drinks Or Inks challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my Toffee Vodka inspired page.

As I featured both stamped and collage squares on my page, I’m also happy to join the Squares challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

I’m pleased to join the “New” (Fresh Start) challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as my page was created to remember my new Toffee Vodka that my hubby kindly bought for me.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Have a Heart challenge as my page features vodka that is made in the “heart” of the Lake District from my dear hubby.

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:

• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Black, Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Scarlet)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Docrafts Papermania Gift Tags & Stamp Set (Capsule Geometric Kraft PMA105307)
• Kin Vodka + Toffee Box packaging
• Old magazine
• Stix 2 double-sided tape

Double Cab Pick Up Truck

I’m still capturing happy memories on my art journal pages of our holiday last year when we visited our dearest friends in Maine. Having visited America a number of times, my favourite vehicle ever is a double cab pick up truck so you can imagine my delight to see my friends had one (grin!).

I started by recycling pages from a couple of truck advertising magazines by cutting them into tile shapes; as our friends truck was blue I selected blue truck images and blue happens to be my favourite colour too – Happy Serendipity! I also used some of the texture photographed on the pages to create the tiles too, like pressed metal images. Then I created some rectangular diagonally striped tiles using white card stock which I coloured using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and stencilled using Black Soot Distress Ink. From the magazine cover I die cut the wording using an X-Cut alphabet die set and my Big Shot machine. Then I mounted the wording onto pieces of the magazine cover using a Zig Memory Glue Pen and cut them into their tile shapes. I arranged all of the tiles onto the page using double-sided tape and included some black and white striped washi tape in the design. For the washi tape, I stamped an arrow design from a Hampton Art stamp set underneath using black Archival Ink. To finish the page, I edged all the tiles using silver straight line border outline stickers from Docrafts to mimic the chrome of the truck.

I was so excited to see the truck parked on the driveway when we arrived, I’ve always loved them! They are bigger and more popular in the US than in the UK, although they seem to be growing in popularity over here too.

I did actually manage to get in the truck without assistance, although being 5 foot tall it was a little bit of a challenge (grin!). The boys thought it would be great fun to put a bucket on the floor to help me get out (double grin!).

As you can see the back of the truck is very spacious!

I had so much fun exploring the truck and probably because I was so enthusiastic to go out in it, we used it quite a few times to run errands, such as Dunkin Donuts, into town, the sandwich shop and even to some walking trails and also a very interesting place, the local Transfer Station (or Recycling Centre) to dispose of the household rubbish (triple 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:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Alison/Craftytrog and her Geometric Shapes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the square and rectangular tiles collage on my page.

With the silver, greys and blues on this page, I’m happy to join the Cold and Frosty Colours challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Clean and Simple challenge with my tile design page.

Recycling the advertising magazines was fun so I’m pleased to join the Recycle Something challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday 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:

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke, Black Soot)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503286)
• Hampton Bella Blvd Cling Stamps (Sand & Surf ICO226)
• Recycled Truck Advertising Magazines
• White Card Stock
• Michael’s (Washi Tape)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Straight Line Borders Silver ANT8101017)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 double-sided tape