Notarianni Ice Cream

We always enjoy visiting our favourite ice cream shop, Notarianni’s, for a takeaway tub of ice cream! With birthday celebrations it means that we have an extra special treat of visiting their Ice Cream Parlour for a sundae, so I created a page to celebrate our recent visit and later in the post you can even check out which yummy sundae we had too (grin!).

I started by covering the page with white napkins that I recycled from the Ice Cream parlour that we visited. I layered the napkins using Liquitex matte gel medium to cover the background quite thickly to create texture. Once the gel medium was dry I painted it with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and Pébéo white gesso. As both the paint and gesso were high density I scraped a palette knife over the top to give a smoother finish so it looked like the silky texture of the vanilla ice cream we had. Next I added some gold lacy borders on the left-hand and right-hand sides of the page and arranged some gold circles diagonally across the page, all of which are outline stickers. The green and white stripes are washi tape which I used to cover the edges of the page alongside the lacy borders, to back some of the small circles, and also to create a counter for the ice cream and bottle image to sit on which is edged with some of the gold lace border too. All of the images are fussy cut from a free leaflet from the parlour and depict the Notarianni Ice Cream history through the generations. I always enjoy reading and finding out more about the places and I often hope to recycle this sort of leaflet on my pages. I backed the images onto some white card that I recycled from some clothes packaging and stuck them over the gold circles using glue dots.

The waitress at the Ice Cream Parlour also kindly gave me some Notarianni Ice Cream stickers too, so I mounted them behind some of the gold circles, cut them to shape and added them to my collage. To finish, I used outline letter stickers to add “1928” and for the wording which is their strap-line and always makes me smile, it reads:

“You can have any flavour you like as long as its vanilla!”

Notarianni Ice Cream has a long history and dates back to 1928, as you may have guessed from the name they make Italian Ice Cream and keeping to their family tradition they sell one flavour only which is vanilla. There are a variety of ways to enjoy the ice cream, on a cone, tub, sundae, floats or milkshake and there are so many toppings to chose – sprinkles, nuts, honeycomb, sherbet, chocolate flake, toffee, chocolate or raspberry sauce. If you are interested, here’s the link to Notarianni’s website and menu. It is now run by the third and fourth generations of the family and they have a loyal following from locals and tourists who, like us, return again and again.

They close over winter and on visiting the ice cream parlour we found that it has been remodelled with a super new counter.

This time we chose a Banoffee Sundae which has slices of banana and toffee sauce served with two scoops of vanilla ice cream and is topped with whipped cream, and we also had a chocolate milkshake served in one of their cool milk bottles (grin!).

I’m sure that we will be visiting again soon (double 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 be able to join the lovely Alison/Craftytrog, who is hosting the Recycle and Collage challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the recycled materials I collaged together to create my art journal page!

As I reused and altered napkins, free leaflets, packaging and stickers to create this page, I’m pleased to join the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Pimp It Up! (reuse or alter something) challenge.

I’m happy to be able to join the Simply Neutrals Tuesday party again over at Apple Apricot with my vanilla ice cream page (grin!).

I’m also happy to join the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Add some Texture challenge with my ice cream textured background.

With the circles I added to my page, I’m pleased to join in the fun over  at That’s Crafty Challenge and their Going Round in Circles challenge.

This page also fits our Recycle Something challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, I hope to see you there!

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

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

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Recyled napkins
• Recycled leaflet
• White card recycled from packaging
• Notarianni Ice Cream stickers
• Anita’s Outline Stickers (Sew Retro Gold ANT810136)
• Starform Outline Stickers (Circles Gold 1144)
• Outline Stickers (Alphabet Gold)
• Docrafts Papermania Patterned Craft Tape (Capsule Collection – Spots and Stripes Festive PMA462302)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• Wilko (Sticky Dots)

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Hello Spring!

With sunny days and warmer temperatures, it feels more like spring! My garden definitely looks more spring-like too with the beautiful daffodils and birdsong. So today I’m capturing those happy spring memories on my art journal page.

To start, I applied Mustard Seed Distress Ink concentrating the colour around the edges of the page; I did this by stamping the ink pad to an acrylic block and picking up the ink using a paint brush. Then I sprinkled some Leaf Green Colourfast Brusho powder onto the page and spritzed with water and watched the colours magically explode into life; I did this a few times until the intensity of colour I wanted was achieved. While the background was still wet, I used a stencil to apply Hickory Smoke Distress Ink using a blending tool and I stamped a daffodil tile stamp by Papermania using the Mustard Seed Distress Ink and also black Archival Ink, and also a small Flower & Dot stamp from Magenta using Teal Zeal Memento Ink; I really like the way the inks blended with the other background colours. I added a border of thin washi tape around the edge of the page and also around the wording “Hello Spring!” which I recycled from some junk mail. The pretty birds and daffodils are from a decoupage set which I fussy cut and stuck to the page using double-sided foam tape. The eggs are from an incomplete set of outline stickers from a charity shop (thrift store), which I stuck onto some textured recycled card and stuck to the page using a UHU Stic. To finish, I added some yellow bows which I made using recycled ribbon from a birthday gift.

Here are some of the beautiful daffodils flowering in our garden to welcome spring!

My pottery lamb stopped by to check them out too (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, who is hosting the Recycle and Collage challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the recycled junk mail, textured card and ribbon that I collaged onto this page!

With the stamping and pretty birds on my page, I’m pleased to join The Birds & the Bees challenge over at The Artistic Stamper.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Trio of Something challenge with my pretty trio of decoupage bird images (if you look closely you will see the bird sitting on the flowerpot repeated three times on my page) and also my trio of eggs.

I’m also joining the Allsorts Challenge Blog and their New Beginnings challenge as my art journal page depicts the change in seasons, to welcome spring.

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 (Mustard Seed, Hickory Smoke)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Colourcraft Brusho Colour (Leaf Green)
• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Teal Zeal)
• Papermania wood mounted stamp (39454)
• Magenta wood mounted rubber stamp (Flowers & Dots 23111D)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Recycled junk mail magazine
• Hunkydory Spring is in the Air Designer Decoupage (Garden Birds and Bunny Meadow)
• Recycled textured card
• Outline Stickers (PP570)
• Yellow Ribbon – recycled from present
• The Works (Washi Tape Set)
• Wilko (Sticky Dots)
• UHU Stic
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Happy Easter

As it is Easter this weekend I was inspired to create an art journal page to wish all of you who celebrate – a very Happy Easter!

I started by applying diluted Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink to the page by stamping the pad onto an acrylic block and picking the ink up with a wet paintbrush. Then I sprinkled on some Leaf Green Colourfast Brusho powder and spritzed it with water to watch the colours burst onto the page. I used a stencil by Dutch Doobadoo Masks to add a dot design using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and a circle design using Mustard Seed Distress Ink. I also added Picked Raspberry Distress Ink using a star stencil from Creative Stencils and then stamped a Script stamp by Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink. Next I edged the page with the Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink and a blending tool and splattered the whole page with white and black DecoArt acrylic paint. The eggs and flowers are made from felt and are stuck to the page using a UHU glue pen and glue dots. I drew lines on the page for the stems and then covered them with either strips of black gems or black border Glitterations stickers. I also added some little black flower stickers and the words “smile” and “fun” which are stickers from Sandylion Sticker Designs and stamped some leaves from Hampton Art using black Archival Ink. To finish, I fussy cut a “Happy Easter” banner which I recycled from an advertising leaflet, backed it with white card, edged it with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck it to the page using double-sided tape.

Continuing the Easter theme, here are some of the little chicks and eggs that are adorning my seasonal window (grin!)

There are about 24 chicks adorning the branches – aren’t they cute!

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:

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Happy Easter so I’m pleased to join in the fun and wish you all a Happy Easter!

I’m pleased to be able to join the lovely Rosie from Rosie’s Bastelwelt who is hosting the Spring challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my colourful springtime Easter page.

I enjoyed using stamping and stencilling to create this page so I’m also happy to join the Stencils & Masks challenge over at The Artistic Stamper.

I’m also joining the Use a stencil and Three Mediums challenge over at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge as I used stencils and at least three mediums which included Distress Inks, Brushos and Acrylic paints to create my Happy Easter page.

I’m also joining the Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday challenge as I used a fun inking technique layering the different Distress Inks using stencils and a blending tool to create my colourful Easter 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Spiced Marmalade, Peacock Feathers, Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry)
• Colourcraft Brusho Colours (Leaf Green)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Dutch Doobadoo Dutch Mask Art A5 (Geometric Tiles)
• Creative Stencils Craft Essentials (MAOB0004 – Stars)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Script CS752)
• Hampton Art Bella Blvd cling mounted rubber stamps (Surf & Turf ICO226
• Advertising leaflet
• White card
• Poundland (Design Gems 175751)
• Docrafts Papermania Glitterations Stickers (Black Border ANT8181015)
• Sandylion Sticker Designs Kelly Panacci (Stitches & Borders KSCB102)
• Aldi (Easter Collection Bonnet Accessories 25099751)
• Home Bargains (Decorative Sticks 38352)
• Wilko (Sticky Dots)
• UHU Glue Pen
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Winter to Spring

I started this page sometime ago; it’s been sitting on my craft table these past three weeks waiting patiently for me, which is quite ironic given the quote I had chosen to use (grin!).

You may remember we had snow and storms during February/March despite the fact that spring should be just around the corner, which inspired my design.

I started by covering half of the page with a piece of paper depicting snowflakes from a design pad and the other half with a piece of magazine cover depicting cherry blossom, they are stuck into place using a UHU Stic. Then I stamped a star border from Dovecraft and also the “Winter” and “Spring” wording using an alphabet stamp set from Hampton Art and VersaMark Watermark stamp pad which I covered with Stampendous white embossing powder. I shook off the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper and also tapped the page to make sure any stray powder was removed. Then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder until the embossing powder melted to a glossy finish and became smooth and dimensional. Next I added some silver stars to the edges and centre of the page which are outline stickers. For the central image I used the VersaMark ink and white embossing powder again to add blossoms and snowflakes to the opposite sides of a piece of mixed media paper. Then I coloured the paper using Picked Raspberry, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean Distress Inks with a blending tool. I used my Big Shot to die cut a panel and some round shapes from this paper and also a smaller panel from an American Crafts design pad. I edged them all using the Distress Inks and a blending tool and also a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stamped an Art Deco lady in the centre of the smaller panel using black Archival Ink to represent Mother Nature. I also stamped the quote onto the leftover mixed media paper and cut the words out; they are edged with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck to the page using a UHU Gluepen. The quote is by Ralph Waldo Emerson and reads “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience”. To finish, I added some silver snowflakes, pink paper blossoms and clear jewel stickers to add some sparkle.

As you can see we didn’t get much snow during the storms. We live right by the sea and I think because of our location, being in a flat part of the country and surrounded on three sides by hills and mountains (Lake District, Pennines and Welsh Mountains) we miss out on the snow as it falls in those places before it gets to us. We found that Storm Emma was the worst thing with very high winds which increased the chill factor – brrrr!

With the cold weather of late and having been unwell with the flu, I have found myself wishing for warmer weather so let’s hope Spring is here soon!

Also I really appreciate all your kindness and get well wishes for my dad who is much better now, thank 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 Rosie from Rosie’s Bastelwelt who is hosting the Spring challenge over at Art Journal Journey.

With the focal images being stamped I’m also happy to be able to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Springtime challenge.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Allsorts Challenge Blog and their Bring on the Bling challenge with my sparkly and blingy art journal page.

With all the pink blossoms on my art journal page, I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Floral Frenzy challenge.

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

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

• Tsukeniko VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Dovecraft Studio G Designer Clears Stamps (DCRS86)
• Hampton Art Mini Wood Peg Rubber Stamps (Alphabet Set #1037)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Stampendous Cling Rubber Stamps (Blossom Spray CRP136)
• BoBunny Stamps (Snow Day 13705563)
• Craft Sensations Clear Stamps (CR0274/16PL4)
• Spellbinders Nestabilities (Labels Thirty S5-157, Unknown)
• Old Magazine
• Poundland Design Pad (Pure Frozen CR0701/16PL4)
• Crelando Relief Stickers (12 Sheets IAN289011)
• The Works (Mini Paper Flower Embellishments)
• The Works (Jewel Stickers)
• The Works (Christmas Embellishments)
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers)
• UHU Stic
• UHU Gluepen
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Mother’s Day Card

There’s still another week to join in the fun over at Try it on Tuesday with our Mum’s the Word challenge, where you are asked to be inspired by all things mother related such as a mother’s birthday, quotes for mothers, mother and child, animal families, Mother’s Day or any other way you would like to interpret this special mother theme!

Although Mother’s Day is celebrated throughout the world, here in the UK it is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent whereas in many other countries it is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. As I’m in the UK, we celebrated Mother’s Day this last Sunday so I’m sharing the Mother’s Day card I created for my mum for the Mum’s the Word challenge (grin!).

I started by using a lattice die from Spellbinders to cut a piece of white cardstock using my Big Shot die cutting machine. I stuck the lattice onto a white 6×4 card using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I stamped two roses onto some mixed media paper using a stamp from Urban Stamps and black Archival Ink. They are painted using a Scarlet Spectrum Aqua marker, I did this by scribbling the marker on an acrylic block and picking the ink up with a wet paintbrush and gradually building up the layers of colour; I love the pretty watercolour effect that this produced. Then I fussy cut the roses and arranged them on the card with some leaves which I die cut from green design paper from Crafter’s Companion using Garden Greens Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz and my Big Shot machine. The leaves are edged with a Moss Spectrum Aqua marker and stuck to the card using a Zig Memory System glue pen. I added a piece of satin ribbon along the left-hand side which I tied into a bow and a strip of clear gems. To finish, I added a few single clear gems and also the wording which are Peel-off stickers that I coloured using a black Sharpie permanent marker.

I do hope you will join us at Try it on Tuesday and if you pop over to the main blog you’ll find some amazing Mum’s the Word inspiration from my fellow Design Team members, as well as who is in our Top 5 for the previous Vintage Challenge.

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

• Moo Mania & More and their Colour Effect challenge with the scarlet watercolour effect I created for the roses on this card.
• Country View Challenges and their Postcards (6×4) challenge as my card is postcard-sized.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge as my feminine Mother’s Day card also fits their Girl Power challenge.
• As I stamped the roses for this card, I’m pleased to join the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge and their March Challenge: Anything Goes!: (stamping MUST be included) challenge.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this lunch I had whilst out with my parents around this time last year. We had a delicious ham and cheese toastie each and I had a ginger beer, my dad had a white coffee and my mum a cappuccino. I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and sending you all Happy T Day wishes!

My post is brief today as I haven’t had much time for blogging this last week due to family illness. I’d like to thank everyone for their kind wishes regarding my dad, he is doing much better and is now back home which is a great relief to all our family and friends. I hope to find the time to visit you all soon and in the meantime thanks for your understanding and wishing you every happiness! Jo 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 card:

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Scarlet)
• Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Marker Pen (Black)
• Spellbinders Die (Unknown)
• Docrafts Papermania 4×4” Urban Stamps (Birthday Rose PMA907221)
• Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz (Garden Greens 661206)
• White card stock
• Daler-Rowney Mixed Media Paper
• Crafter’s Companion Luxury Designer Paper Pad (Angelica & Adam Collection A&A-PAP6-M)
• Dovecraft Essentials Peel-Off Stickers (Family G DCPO-17)
• Poundland (Design Gems 175751)
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided foam tape

Mum’s the Word

The new theme over at Try it on Tuesday is Mum’s the Word which means all things mother related, it maybe quotes for mothers, mother and child, animal families, Mother’s Day or something else related to mothers. Over at Try it on Tuesday  you’ll find lots of wonderful inspiration from the Design Team.

This challenge runs for the next two weeks and I hope to see you there!

My art journal page today is inspired by my mum as it’s her birthday and Mother’s Day this month as well as the different ways you can say mother (a suggestion from one of my non-blogging best friends – thank you!). So I started by stamping some of different names you can call your mother using a VersaMark watermark stamp pad and an alphabet stamp set from Dovecraft. Then I covered the words with gold Papermania embossing powder and shook and tapped off the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper, and also removed any stray powder using a paintbrush. Then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder by sweeping the gun over the stamped wording until the embossing powder melted to a glossy finish and became smooth and dimensional. Next I stamped some pink doilies and blue swirls onto the page; I did this using Angel Pink Memento Ink with Doily stamps from Kaisercraft and also Dovecraft, as well as Summer Sky Memento Ink with a Serpentine Background stamp from Art Impressions. I applied Blossom and Teal Spectrum Aqua Markers to the background by scribbling the ink onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page. To mute the colours and wording I applied Pébéo white gesso over the top using a palette knife. I cut some pieces of pink doily and stuck them to the edges of the page using a UHU Stic. The teal leaves are cut from some design paper using Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Hotlz, they are edged with the Teal Spectrum Aqua marker and stuck in place using a Zig Memory System Glue Pen. The wreath and matching flowers are fussy cut from a magazine article about Mother’s Day. I mounted the wreath on a circle of card before sticking it to the page using double-sided foam tape. The matching flowers are mounted on top of some yellow and pink paper flowers and the “With love and cuddles” wording is a card topper from Kanban; they are all stuck in place using double-sided tape. To finish, I added some pretty gold tiles and the “Mum” wording which are outline stickers.

I hope you will join in the fun at Try it on Tuesday with your Mum’s the Word creations too!

As you may be aware, I regularly go to a local café with my mum so today I’m sharing my mum’s cappuccino …

…. and my green tea along with a toasted fruit bread to share (grin!). I’m pleased that these drinks cater for both the coffee and tea drinkers in the T Gang (grin!) over at T Stands for Tuesday – thanks for visiting and Happy T Day!

With the spring colours I used on my page, I’m pleased to join the lovely Rosie from Rosie’s Bastelwelt who is hosting the Spring challenge over at Art Journal Journey and also the Think of Spring challenge over at Moo Mania and More.

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:

• Tsukeniko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad VM-001)
• Docrafts Papermania Embossing Powder (Gold Shellac PMA4021007)
• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Angel Pink, Summer Sky)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Blossom, Teal)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Doily CS297)
• Dovecraft Curiosity Corner Clear Stamp (A5 Lace & Doile DCCS009)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Serpentine Background T-2773)
• Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz (Garden Greens 661206)
• Poundland Design Pad (Vintage Chic CRO701/PL4)
• Dovecraft Collections Back to Basics III (Paper Blossoms DCBL005)
• Dovecraft Paper Doilies (Floral Muse DCDLS005)
• Kanban Paper Craft Toppers (Flower and Cupcakes 900858)
• Magenta Style Outline Stickers (Gold 1227)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Modern Alphabet Gold ANT8101000)
• UHU Stic
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Pretty Snowdrops

The snowdrops flowering in our garden always make me think of spring so in order to remember one of the first flowers of the year and also the beautiful displays we have seen at Lytham Hall of late, I was inspired to create this snowdrop art journal page.

I started this page by covering it with squares of decoupage paper using Liquitex matte gel medium. Once dry I edged the squares with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and smudged it with my finger. Then I stamped some postage marks and text using black Archival Ink and covered the whole page with green paint that I had mixed from Liquitex Christmas Green acrylic paint with some black and white DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic paints. Once the paint was dry I rubbed and removed some of the paint using a baby wipe to give the page a worn look and then covered the whole page with PVA Glue to brighten the green colour and give it a glossy finish. Next I added some Pébéo white gesso with my finger and stencilled a doily image by Craft Sensations using a Bud Green Spectrum Aqua marker. I stamped a doily image using white DecoArt acrylic paint by applying the paint to the stamp using a brayer making sure that I washed the stamp immediately afterwards so the paint did not ruin the stamp by drying onto it. Then I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush. With the background complete, I added a white lace border on the left hand side of the page which is an outline sticker, a pretty circular bird sticker from Docrafts and some black button letters which spell out the word “Snowdrop”. I die cut some brown paper which I recycled from a notebook using a Spellbinders die set and my Big Shot die cutting machine and arranged them onto the page with: a white doily by Dovecraft which is stuck down using a UHU Stic; a snowdrop image that I fussy cut from an old book of garden flowers and stuck into place using a Zig Memory System glue pen; text from the same book about snowdrops which I mounted on white and black card using double-sided tape; and finally a “S” alphabet letter sticker again mounted on white and black card.

If you are interested, here’s a close up of the text I included on my page.

This is one of the small clumps of snowdrops in our back garden before the snow came this week (grin!).

We went to see the snowdrop displays again at Lytham Hall this year, which have now almost finished and although they didn’t seem to be as bountiful this year the displays were still very beautiful. Here I am on a cold sunny day last week amongst the pretty snowdrops. I’m well wrapped up against the cold, do you like my new winter hat with its two bobbles or pom poms (grin!).

You may remember the amazing displays of snowdrops at Lytham Hall that I posted last year, so if you would like to see more of these pretty snowdrops please take a look my post here.

I so enjoyed reading the different stories associated with how the snowdrop flower came to be that I thought I would share a couple of them with you:

• Garden of Eden: When Eve was cast out of the Garden of Eden, continuous snow covered the earth leaving it cold and barren. The angel, who appeared to comfort Eve, caught a snowflake and breathed upon it. The snowflake fluttered to the earth and gave birth to the snowdrop which later came to symbolize hope and rebirth.
• German Legend: With the creation of snow, God tasked it with visiting the flowers of the earth to gather colours. Seeing that the gentle snowdrop was a kind and generous soul, the snow agreed to allow the snowdrop to bloom first every spring in exchange for her colour. So white snowdrops can be seen flowering amongst the snow each spring.

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 Rosie from Rosie’s Bastelwelt who is hosting the Spring challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my snowdrop page!

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Think of Spring so I’m pleased to join this challenge too!

I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their In My Garden challenge with this snowdrop art journal page.

I’m also joining the Use a stencil and Three Mediums challenge over at The Mixed Media Challenge as I used a doily stencil and at least three mediums which included Spectrum Aqua marker, acrylic paints and Memento Ink to create my page.

I’m also pleased to be able to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my 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:

• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Christmas Green)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Cottage Green)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Bud Green)
• Prima Marketing Clear Stamps (Rossi Belle 587499)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Script CS752)
• Dovecraft Curiosity Corner Clear Stamps (A5 Lace & Doile DCCS009)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Spellbinders Die Set (Unknown)
• Viva Gade Decoupage Paper (Skagen 25561)
• Trimcraft (Decoupage Papers SCDEC064)
• Recycled brown paper from old notebook
• Oxford Book of Garden Flowers
• White card
• Dovecraft Paper Doilies (Painted Blooms DCDLS010)
• Docrafts Papermania Label Stickers (Botanicals PMA157234)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Delicate Lace Borders ANT8101510)
• Home Bargains (Love Letters 22738)
• PSX Designs for Creativity Stickers (Florentine Alphabet Green SR6042)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Everbuild 501 Universal PVA Bond
• UHU Stic
• Docraft Stick It! double-sided tape