Hello Spring

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Hello Spring.

My spring page was created by recycling some hexagons from a magazine and is full of butterflies and flowers, as well as some fun bunny rabbits that are hopping about.

I started by cutting out the hexagons from a magazine and then sticking them onto the page using a glue stick. The hopping rabbits were die cut, from some Color Vibe Basics Papers by Simple Stories, using a Bunny Hop Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. Then I added all the flower toppers and also the butterflies and the “hello” wording, which were Vintage Cottage Fields Ephemera by Simple Stories. The “spring” wording was also recycled from the same magazine; it was cut out and stuck in place finishing the page.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

I promised more photos from our recent trip to Venice, so here’s a little bakery that we found; aren’t those colourful Easter biscuits adorable (smile!).

We found this bakery whilst exploring the Cannaregio district of Venice; it was located in this pretty row of shops alongside a canal.

We had great fun looking around and found that Cannaregio seems to be more of a residential area with local shops and small cafés/bars.

Stay safe and well!

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

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from blog Altered Book Lover and her Recycle, reuse, repurpose challenge with my hexagon background which I recycled from a magazine.

Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies so as their April challenge blog; I’m joining them with the blooms and butterflies on my page.

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Love and Devotion

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is All You Need is Love.

I started by covering the page with Pébéo white gesso as, when dry, it’s a wonderful base medium for the Faber-Castell Gelatos that were used to colour this page, making them easier to smudge and blend. I used Watermelon and Coconut Gelatos which I scribbled over the background and smudged with my finger and a little water. Next I added the fragments of gold tissue paper that I had previously die cut; they were leftover from another journal page. The love and devotion heart image was fussy cut from an old magazine and once stuck in place, I surrounded it with some blue and cream pearl gemstone clusters which finished the page.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

I’m sharing this romantic Valentine’s dessert served in a pretty white teacup from Lytham Hall café. It’s a chocolate cupcake topped with pink icing, silver sprinkles and dark chocolate! It almost looks too good to eat!

Stay safe and well!

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

Challenges

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

MIUCB #63 – Anything Goes + optional no stamping over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my romantic page which was created with no stamping.

Double D Challenges and their Hearts challenge with the Love and Devotion Heart hearts page.

More Than Words challenge and their Love Letters challenge with my Love and Devotion page.

Thankful Everyday

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Winter Blues.

My page today was created with lots of blue scraps that I had in my craft stash which included recycled papers from greeting cards, recycled envelopes, recycled book pages, leftover stamped tissue paper, old calendar pages, recycled foil from sweets and a photo from an old magazine. I simply collaged everything together using a glue stick and some Liquitex matte gel medium after edging them all with a black Faber-Castell marker. To finish, I added some measuring tape designed washi tape, a blue washi tape flower and the “Thankful everyday” sticker from Kaisercraft.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing Winter Blues creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my pretty blue mug of tea with a piece of spiced apple cake made with apples from my garden (smile!) – Happy T Day everyone!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

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

LTSCB #159 Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my paper scraps collage page.

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Mia from https://craftartista.blogspot.com/ this month who has chosen Use a Photo; I used pieces of sky and rocks from a photo in a magazine as part of my collage papers which you can see here:

Spooky Halloween

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Halloween.

For my page, I recycled a magazine page with a beautiful spooky image of “Día de los Muertos” or “Day of the Dead“.

I started by stencilling large circles onto the page using the white acrylic paint. When dry, I coloured between the circles using Villainous Potion Distress Paint. Then I applied some more white acrylic paint to the circles mixing in some of the Distress Paint to add texture and depth. Then I splattered the page using the same Distress Paint.

Next I added the image, circles and wording which were all recycled from a magazine page; I loved the spooky makeup and rich colours. The image and circles were die cut and then layered together with the wording using a glue stick. To finish, I added some sparkly pink gemstones.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the wonderful texture creations from our Guest Designers and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

As T Stands for Tuesday and with the cooler autumn temperatures, I’m sharing my yummy hot chocolate and saying a big hello to the T Gang – wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

I’ve had such fun creating pages using the napkins from the T Day napkin swap this year, as you may know I’ve created two pages so far and if you’re interested you can find them here:

1. Bee Wellington Boots
2. Time for Tea
3. Autumn Greetings – to be posted next week

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

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

The lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Fairytales, Folklore & Fables – Tell Me A Story so I’m joining her with my”Día de los Muertos” or “Day of the Dead” page.

I’m also joining a new challenge blog that’s just started this month called Stencil Fun Challenge which is Anything Goes as long as you use a stencil (with optional Halloween Colours); I used a circle stencil to create the background for my Halloween page – Happy Stencilling!

OCTOBER – Anything Halloween challenge over at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge with my Spooky Halloween page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #178 – Anything Goes challenge with my spooky page.

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Extraordinary

Looking at old holiday photos of Greece, I was inspired by the old weathered shutters and doors. I used one of my favourite techniques to create the background and some lovely images from an old magazine – I hope you like it (smile!).

I started by creating the worn wooden background by dragging Peeled Paint and Brushed Sage Distress Ink pads vertically down the page and layering Liquitex Matte Gel Medium over the top; the gel medium reactivates the inks and helps create the wood grain texture. When dry, I dragged some Black Soot, Weathered Wood and Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink pads over the top and more gel medium; the gel medium was applied using a paintbrush and I ensured my brush strokes were continuous and in one direction vertically down the page in order to create the wood grain finish. Next I experimented by adding some Ranger Crackle Paste vertically down the page and when dry used sandpaper on some of the areas to give it more of a distressed look. Then I added more layers of the Weathered Wood and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks to colour the crackle paste and achieve the worn painted wood look I was after. The black and white images of the doors and shutters were from a magazine and the number “1” with the brick background was from a wallpaper sample; I cut them out, backed them with some card and edged them with a black Faber-Castell marker. They were arranged using double-sided tape and to finish, I added the “what seems ordinary is often the extraordinary” wording which is a Small Talk sticker from Tim Holtz.

These shutters and doors were taken many years ago when we visited Crete, which is one of the Greek Islands. The weathered doors looked amazing although I’m sure the locals think they are just ordinary, hence the wording on my page.

We enjoyed exploring the town and taking in the beautiful scenery.

The doors and shutters were beautifully rustic and distressed and I seem to remember enjoying the shade in this doorway, as we had sunny hot weather too (smile!).

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 pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Wendy from wendyscraftjournal is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Doors and/or Arches so I’m joining her with my old weathered door inspired page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #173 – Anything Goes challenge with my page.

LTSCB#156 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with the scrapped magazine images that I used on my page.

MIUCB#60 – Anything Goes + optional Clean & Simple over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques I used to create the worn weathered wood background.

Welcome to my Garden

Wanting to join in the fun at Art Journal Journey again, I created this page by recycling an arch from a magazine and combining it with some Garden House Stamperia papers.

I started by arranging the arch image from the magazine onto the left-hand side of the page, layering some Stamperia papers behind it so it looked like you’re looking into a garden room. I used a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker to darken the floor and I fussy cut the spade and pots, from the same Stamperia pad, arranging them on either side of the archway. Next I created the brickwork by stencilling Ground Espresso and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks and applying some Ranger Texture Paste over the top. I layered more colour over the bricks using Black Soot, Vintage Photo and Crackling Campfire Distress Ink gradually building up the colour until they matched the colours of the arch. The pots of flowers, shelf of flower pots, wreath and welcome sign were fussy cut from the same Stamperia pad and stuck in place, which finished the page.

The brickwork reminded me of the beautiful brick walls in our garden; here you can see some of the pretty flowers that we have flowering currently including Million Bells which have have an abundance of pink flowers with a trailing geranium in the centre. You can just see our Welcome sign on the far right too (smile!).

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 pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Wendy from wendyscraftjournal is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Doors and/or Arches so I’m joining her with the garden arch on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #172 – Anything Goes challenge with my brightly coloured page.

LTSCB#156 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with the scrapped magazine image that I used on my page.

Own Your Dreams – Recycle

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Recycle.

I love to recycle and use up leftovers on my art journal pages so I collaged different paper pieces that I recycled from a Home Store magazine with some leftover sticker pieces.

I started by recycling a couple of the magazine pages by cutting out the different textured and patterned panels and arranged them onto the page using a glue stick. Then I added the large yellow flower which was a washi tape sticker and some leftover pieces of yellow and brown border stickers from Kaisercraft. I used some border outline stickers from Docrafts to frame the paper pieces and to finish, I added the “own your dreams” wording by Kaisercraft.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the wonderful Recycle creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

Now summers here with peaches are available in the shops and as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a yummy Peach Bellini. Like my page it’s simple to make (measurements are for a champagne glass):

Add 3tbl of homemade Peach Puree.
Add 2tbls of Peach Schnapps.
Add chilled Prosecco and stir if needed.

Happy T Day everyone!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

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

Paperbabe Stamps and their #169 – Anything Goes challenge with my recycled page.

LTCCB#155 Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with recycling old magazine pages to create my page.

Bluebells are Bluebells

We have lots of bluebells flowering in our garden this year, so I created this page by recycling some magazine images and sheet music. Bluebells always make me smile as they remind me of my Grandad Westy because he used to sing a song called “Bluebells are bluebells” at family get togethers.

I started by covering the page with Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks and when dry, applying some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a brayer. Next I tore some sheet music paper and added it to the page using a glue stick and I applied some more white gesso over them too. Then I used a Docrafts stamp to add some more music notes using Grape Jelly Memento Ink. The bluebell images and wording were cut from some magazine pages and to finish, I added some purple foam glittery hearts.

Here’s the pretty bluebells flowering in my garden; the fun song that my Grandad Westy used to sing went “Bluebells are bluebells, Bluebells are blue, Bluebells are bluebells when bluebells are blue” (smile!).

I hope that you’re staying safe and well! x

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Alison the Craftytrog is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Play it again Sam where you’re page need to be inspired by a song or movie; so I’m joining her with my Bluebells Are Bluebells song page.

A Study in Contrast challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the contrasting light background and darker bluebell images on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #166 – Anything Goes challenge with my page.

Wild and Wonderful challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the wild and wonderful bluebell images on my page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my bluebell page.

Happy

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Black and White + 1, where we would like you to use black and white plus one other colour on your entries.

Limiting colour options is always a challenge for me, so I decided to create a black and white collage background and see where my creativity took me; I ended up adding a dark cherry colour as my “plus 1” – what do you think?

I covered the page with leftover pieces of white tissue paper which had been stamped with black Archival Ink and some black and white Botanicals/Halloween Collage papers by Tim Holtz; they were collaged onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. Next I added some pieces of an old magazine page (which was where the cherry coloured inspiration came from) and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer over the whole page and left it to dry. I mixed some Kuretake watercolour paints to match the cherry colour and used it to add a colour wash over the collage pieces and also some splatters. For my flowers, I arranged some white paper flowers onto the page and drew in their stems using a black marker. The leaves were stamped using a Carabelle Studio stamp set and black Archival Ink. To finish, I added the “Happy” wording panel which was by Kaisercraft.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the wonderful creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our mugs of green tea along with my hubby’s favourite Black Forest Gateau (which happens to be cherry like my page … smile!) and my favourite cream filled meringue – Happy T Day everyone!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

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

Paperbabe Stamps and their #162 – Anything Goes challenge with my happy page.

Add A Die Cut over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the die cut paper flowers that I added to my page.

Spooky Fun

As Halloween weekend is upon us, I created this page full of Spooky Fun to wish you all a Happy Halloween!

I started by adding the panels of wrought iron and ghost images which were from an old magazine and then I added some striped washi tape to fill in the gaps between the panels. The wording was also cut from magazine pages; so all the letters matched some of the backgrounds were coloured using a black Faber-Castell marker and some of the letters using a Gold Spectrum Aqua marker. Once the wording was stuck in place, I added some touches of gold to the letters using a gel pen and I outlined them using black Glitterations border stickers which added a bit more sparkle.

The purple ivy die cuts and coloured papers that I used to die cut the autumnal leaves from, were leftover from other projects; the leaves were die cut using a Fall Foliage Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. To finish, I splattered the whole page with some black DecoArt acrylic paint.

The wrought iron reminded me of the gates at Lytham Hall. There have been spooky goings on reported at the gatehouse, where these gates are situated, which include phantom cars and white paranormal sightings; if your interested you can check out the full story here titled Ghosts at Lytham Hall.

Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well!

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

For the sake of brevity I am no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Art Journal Journey and lovely Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations  who is hosting this month with her My favourite colour is October challenge with my autumnal Halloween page.

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog and their Grunge, Ghouls or Giggles with my Spooky Fun page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #155 – Anything Goes with my Halloween page.

LTSCB #150 – Anything But A Card over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my Spooky Fun page.

Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog with my spooky page.