Treasure Map

I enjoyed practicing and experimenting with different techniques and mediums to create this page. As I created this page, it reminded me of the kites at the St. Annes Kite Festival and I was also transported back to my childhood and into the fantasy world of pirates and looking for buried treasure (grin!).

I started by drawing a faint outline of the map using a pencil and then applied some Tea Dye Distress Ink using a blending tool which I then dabbed with a baby wipe to create an old worn look to the map. I then added an outline so the map had a defined edge using a black Uni Pin marker to create a border around the edge of my page. I coloured the border using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker by applying the ink to an acrylic block and painting the inks using a paintbrush. Next I outlined the land with Baked Earth and Willow Derwent Intense pencils by applying the pencil directly to the page and using a wet paintbrush to blend the colours. I also added small dots of Chocolate Spectrum Aqua marker around the edges of the land too. The mountains are drawn using the same Chocolate Spectrum Aqua marker and shaded using a Tan Spectrum Aqua marker. I stamped the pirates ship sitting in Pirates Cove using black Archival Ink and coloured it using Derwent Intense Pencils, I had fun stamping the wording “Yo ho yo ho …” too. In fact I spent quite a bit of time stamping all the wording on this map using individual wooden mounted letter stamps from Dovecraft and black Archival Ink; making up the different names and places was great fun too! I embellished the different places with a crab, starfish and tropical flowers which are rub-on transfers and also a sandcastle, some sea shells, tropical flowers and a treasure chest which are stickers. I made some of the elements from card toppers too, like the sea monster and mermaid tail and the gold in the treasure chest is made from gold outline stickers and pearl gems. All the pirate flags are stamped using black Archival Ink and the palm tree is hand drawn, fussy cut and coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils. The map trail that joins the different places together and big black “X” are also hand drawn using a black Uni Pin marker. Next I painted the sea by concentrating the colour along the shore line and adding the waves using Salty Ocean Distress Ink; I did this by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and using a paintbrush to apply it to the page. Then I stamped a compass by Graphic 45 from Hampton Art using black Archival Ink on the top of the page.  The banner is also a stamp by 7 Gypsies from Hampton Art and is stamped using black Archival Ink onto the page and also onto a piece of white paper. I coloured both of the banners with the Baked Earth and Willow Derwent Intense pencils and stamped “Treasure Map” in the centre of the one I stamped onto the paper using the letter stamps and black Archival Ink. I then cut out the central section of the banner with the wording on it from the paper and stuck it over the one that I had stamped onto the page. To finish, I outlined the banner with a black Uni Pin marker.

We enjoyed the St. Annes Kite Festival last weekend, it started with night kite flying and fireworks on Friday night.

Many of the kites reminded me of my page including this crab …

… these fish bobbing along …

… this parrot who I can just imagine saying “pieces of eight” …

… and of course the many sea monsters (grin!).

New to the festival this year was a land yachting demonstration which was great fun to watch too!

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 Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my dreams of buried treasure.

I’m pleased to join the Picture Inspiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as I used the rock/pebble colours and you can find beaches and seashores as part of my art journal page design.

As “B” stands for “buried treasure” and “beach”, I’m pleased to join the I spy with my little eye something beginning with “B” challenge over at Stamping Sensations.

As my treasure map goes round and round, I’m also joining the Going Round & Round challenge over at The Artistic Stamper too.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Stamps and Stencils and their It’s been a while … Anything Goes challenge.

As my page links to childhood, I’m reminding you that your still have time to join our Childhood challenge at Try it on Tuesday 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Brushed Corduroy, Salty Ocean)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Derwent Inktense Pencils (Baked Earth 1800. Willow 1900, Poppy Red 400, Field Green 1500)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Chocolate, Tan)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm, 0.5mm, 0.8mm)
• Home Bargains (Mini Stamps & Ink – Pirates)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set upper and lower case (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO135)
• Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Vintage cling mounted rubber stamps (Birdsong ICO151)
• Craft Planet Metallic Waterfall Stickers (Beach PO#9622)
• Eco Craft Go Create (Hunk of Junk Pirate Island)
• Hunkydory Luxury Toppers (Eastern Promise)
• Magenta Style Outline Stickers (Daisy Gold 93326G)
• Home Bargains Sticker Mania (Gel Stone Stickers 74748)
• UHU Stic

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You are my …

We attended our friend’s wedding this weekend and what an amazing time we had! The venue was perfect and the bride and groom looked stunning and it was wonderful to spend time with some of my dearest friends too. So I created a page to celebrate this magical day with one of my favourite quotes by E. E Cummings which reads

“You are my sun, my moon and all of my stars”.

Don’t forget that there is still another week to join the Add a Quote challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, it would be lovely to see you there!

I chose a blue and white colour palette to match the wedding invitation that we received; stamping Chipped Sapphire and Salty Ocean Distress ink pads onto the CD, spritzing with water and pressing the CD onto the page to leave an imprint. I did this several times to build up the intensity of the colour until I was happy. Next I used a star stencil to apply the two Distress Inks, again using a blending tool and then covered them with a thin layer of white gesso to dull the colour and push the star design into the background. I used black Archival Ink and the Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink to add a planet and star constellation stamp from a stamp set called Stargazer by Kaisercraft, layering the images to add more depth and interest. Then I drew around the CD using a black Uni Pin marker outlining the CD imprints and added a sun stamp from the same stamp set using the Chipped Sapphire ink again. Next I added some silver circles and stars which are outline stickers and outlined them all using a black Uni Pin marker, which took quite a while (grin!). The quote by E.E. Cummings is also from the same Stargazer stamp set and is stamped onto some blue design paper using black Archival Ink. I cut it out and edged it with one of the silver outline stickers and stuck it in place using double-sided foam tape. To finish, I added some clear jewel gems in varying sizes to the silver circle and stars to add a little sparkle.

The venue was so pretty with the old barn buildings and pretty gardens! I even cried a tear at the ceremony as it was so beautiful with the vows they had prepared especially for each other and with the fabulous violinists playing romantic music and also the personalised readings – it was truly amazing!

You could tell the bride had planned the wedding well, as there were so many thoughtful details that we discovered throughout the day including sweets “Take a little, eat a lot, enjoy these treats, we tied the knot” …

… flip flops “Here’s a little treat for your dancing feet” and blankets “To have and to hold incase you are cold”.

We decided to enjoy the day and company rather than take too many photos, but as T Stands for Tuesday is celebrating its 5th Anniversary here’s a fun photo of someone’s red wine (grin!). There was quite a drink selection on offer – iced water, gin and elderflower tonic (my choice – yum!), beers (hubby’s choice – yum!), champagne and a selection of white, rosé and red wines. We were also served tea and coffee if you would prefer –  Happy 5th Anniversary T Day wishes!

Maybe you will join me in a little dance around the fountain too (grin!) …

… and in case you are wondering here is my sun, my moon and all of my stars; we had such a wonderful time!

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 Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun using my new Kaisercraft stamp set and also experimenting by using the CD as a stamp.

Inspired by my dearest friends, I’m also joining the Get Sentimental challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my Art Journaling and Mixed Media Style page.

I’m also pleased to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Use inks anyway you want challenge as I used inks and stamping to create this art journal page.

With the silver accents and sparkly gems, I’m also pleased to join Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Add A Little Sparkle 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• CD – old
• Creative Stencils Craft Essentials (Stars MAOB0004)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Stargazer CS327)
• Poundland Design Pad (Pure Frozen CRO701/16P4)
• Starform Outline Stickers (Silver Circles 1144)
• Crelando Relief Sticker Set (12 Sheets IAN289011)
• The Works (Jewel Stickers)
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Oriental Fish – Birthday Card

Following all your lovely feedback last week, I have another card to share with you that I created using the stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps that I won recently.

This card was gratefully received by a member of my family who keeps goldfish in her garden pond, I hope you like it too!

I started by cutting some white cardstock to make a square-shaped card when folded and also a square of textured paper that is slightly smaller than the card. The paper is recycled from an old birthday card and I smooshed it with some blue Distress Inks to create a water effect; I did this by applying Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean ink onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the paper. When dry, I stuck it to the card using double-sided tape and added gold cherry blossom outline stickers diagonally across the card and also some gold border outline stickers around the edge to frame it. Next I stamped the beautiful fish from Paperbabe Stamps onto plain white card using Spiced Marmalade and Festive Berries Distress Ink and fussy cut them out; I stamped it by applying the Spiced Marmalade ink to the whole stamp and then I added the Festive Berries ink around the outside of the stamp. They are stuck in place using a UHU Stic and I added the bubbles and splash marks from the same stamp set using the blue inks. To finish, I added some glittery Icicle Sparkles by Ranger to the bubbles and a pretty “For you…” heart-shaped topper that I had in my craft stash.

If you are interested you can see the previous card that I made here.

This card reminds me of the fish we use to have in our old house, here is Popeye and his friends in the pond enjoying the sunshine; we called one of the fish Popeye as he had a funny shaped lip which reminded us of the cartoon character Popeye – “toot, toot!” (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:

Blue is my favourite colour and I love the Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean Distress Ink colours that I used to create this card, so I’m joining the lovely DT over at Moo Mania & More where there challenge is Your Favourite Colors.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, the challenge is Colour it Blue so I’m pleased to join in the fun with my blue water effect card too.

I’m also pleased to join the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where their theme is Anything Goes with my Oriental Fish birthday card.

I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my card that I created using their fabulous stamps!

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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, Spiced Marmalade, Festive Berries)
• Paperbabe Stamps (Oriental Zen Stamp Set)
• Cardstock (White 200 GSM)
• Textured paper – recycled birthday card
• Francoise Collection Outline Stickers (Gold 2238)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Straight Line Borders – Gold)
• Heart-shaped Topper
• Ranger Stickles (Icicle)
• UHU Stic
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape

Amour

Today I have created an art journal page to celebrate love as I’m so looking forward to the wedding of some very dear friends next month. I used my favourite blue Brusho colours to create the dreamy background and thought that Paris would be the perfect city for Amour (grin!).

I started by sprinkling Turquoise and Ultra Marine Colourcraft Brusho powders onto the page and spritzed them with water. I love watching the colours burst to life as you add the water and as Brushos are made up of the different component coloured powders that create the main colour, purple can be seen on the page too from the Ultra Marine powder. Once dry, I stamped Eiffel Tower image onto the page and also onto some blue/grey spotted design paper using a stamp called “City of Love” by Penny Black and black Archival Ink which I used for all the stamping on my page. I used the same “City of Love” stamp to add the black swirls along the edges of the page, as well as the two hearts and the word “amour” over the background. Again I stamped these images onto the blue/grey paper, fussy cut them out and edged them using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. Then I stamped a leaf tile stamp from Rubber Soul, two birds sitting on a branch from Dovecraft and the word “Paris” from 7 Gypsies stamp set by Hampton Art directly onto the page. Next I added some diamond-shaped border stickers by Kaisercraft and also silver outline stickers along the edges of the page; then I outlined them both with a black Uni Pin marker, which took quite a while as the outline stickers are quite an intricate design. I then added the stamped blue/grey paper images to the page sticking them in place using a UHU Stic. For the main Eiffel Tower image, I layered it over a white doily and it is stuck into place using double-sided tape. I then added the black round brads to the “amour” signs, lots of flowers which I had embellished with blue gems and also a glittery silver butterfly which finished the page.

Paris is such a lovely place to visit, here is the Eiffel Tower when we visited some years ago; it looks spectacular by day and by night (grin!).

The wrought ironwork is amazing, if you want to find out more about the Eiffel Tower please check out my previous post.

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 Gill from gibbyfrogettcraftations who is hosting the Inspired by … challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my love inspired page.

I enjoyed using all the different stamps to create my Amour page design, so I’m also pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Stamping Sensations.

I’m joining in the fun over at The Artistic Stamper and their Colour it Blue challenge as they have chosen my favourite colour as their theme this month.

With my vibrant Brusho coloured page, I’m also happy to join the Bright and Cheerful challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Written Word (add some text in some form) challenge over at Country View Challenges with my Amour art journal page.

I’m also very happy to join the lovely Design Team over at PaperBabe Stamps and their Anything Goes 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:

• Colourcraft Brusho Colours Crystals (Turquoise, Ultra Marine)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Penny Black 2007 wood-mounted stamp (City of Love 3800K)
• Rubber Soul wood-mounted stamp (Leaf Tile 276K)
• Dovecraft Clear Stamp (DCCS014)
• Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Vintage cling mounted rubber stamps (Birdsong ICO151)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Vintage Glory 154898)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Set (Fly Free SS289)
• Docraft Anita’s Outline Stickers (Timeless Borders ANT810117)
• Dovecraft Premium Paper Doilies (Painted Blooms DCDLS010)
• Brads (Round Black)
• Poundland (Accessories Pack 60911, Gem Florettes 117128)
• The Works (Wooden Craft Butterflies CR1292)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Oriental Fish – Card

I often make cards for family and friends but I don’t tend to share them on my blog, but I was so excited to get creative with my fabulous new stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps that I thought I’d share this one with you today to see what you thought.

I was lucky enough to win a voucher on one of the Paperbabe Stamps challenges to spend in their shop so I chose their Oriental Zen Stamp Set – thanks so much!

I started by cutting some white card to make a square shape when folded, then on the front of the card I stamped the concentric circles stamp from the stamp set using Spiced Marmalade and Festive Berries Distress Ink; applying the Spiced Marmalade ink to the stamp first then adding patches of Festive Berries Ink and stamping them onto the card. I then cut a semi-circle of textured paper which I recycled from an old birthday card using my circle cutter. Then I smooshed it with some blue Distress Inks to create a water effect by applying Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean ink to an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the paper. I also edged the semi-circle with these two blue inks using a blending tool. I added some gold cherry blossom outline stickers to the card and then layered the blue semi-circle over the top using double-sided tape. Next I stamped the beautiful fish which is from the same stamp set using the Spiced Marmalade and Festive Berries Distress Ink onto plain white card and fussy cut them out. They are stuck in place using a UHU Stic and I added the bubbles and splash marks from the same stamp set using the blue inks. To finish, I added some glittery Icicle Sparkles by Ranger to the bubbles and a “Love” topper from an Eastern Promise set that I had in my craft stash.

Here’s all the materials including the stamp set that I chose from Paperbabe Stamps and I have to say I love it (grin!). I’m sure I’ll be using it again very soon as I need to make quite a few birthday cards this month. I also wanted to say a big “Thank you” to Kim from Paperbabe Stamps and I hope that you and the Design Team like the card that I made!

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:

As I created this card using lots of stamping I’m very pleased to be able to join Stamping Sensations and their Anything Goes challenge.

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where their theme is Bright and Cheerful with my bright and cheerful coloured card.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge and their June Challenge: Anything Goes!: (stamping MUST be included).

I’m also joining the Sketch … challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as I used their sketch, which I rotated to the left, as a template for my card design – I hope you like it!

I’m also pleased to join the Cropstop Blog and their June Link Party #40, thanks for the invite Esther!

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, Festive Berries, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean)
• Paperbabe Stamps (Oriental Zen Stamp Set)
• Cardstock (White 200 GSM)
• Textured paper – recycled birthday card
• Francoise Collection Outline Stickers (Gold 2238)
• Hunkydory Luxury Topper Collection (Eastern Promise EAST104)
• Ranger Stickles (Icicle)
• UHU Stic
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape

Destination Morecambe

I decided to travel to Morecambe for the new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday which is Destinations; you may choose to travel to far away places, maybe somewhere in Europe, Africa or America or like me, stay closer to home – the choice is yours!

My fellow Design Team members have chosen some fabulous Destinations too, make sure you check them out over at Try it on Tuesday. Our challenge runs for the next two weeks and it would be great to see you there (grin!).

I started by covering the page in a light wash of Tea Dye Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block and applying it to the page with a wet paintbrush. Then I added Tea Dye, Hickory Smoke and Salty Ocean Distress Ink using a blending tool and a Mosaic stencil by Tim Holtz to cover the whole page. The nautical style of the mosaic pattern and colours remind me of the promenade and jetty at Morecambe. Next I fussy cut a number of sea birds from an old British Nature book that are native to Morecambe and are paid tribute to in the many sculptures and statues along the promenade walk; they included a cormorant, curlew, lesser black-backed gull, little gull and a turnstone. There is also the famous Eric Morecambe statue along the beachfront too so I cut a picture of it from a free booklet and also some of his well-known comic sayings from a greaseproof food display paper kindly provided by the Midland Hotel which is situated right on the seafront. I cut out “Morecambe” from the free booklet and backed it with white card recycled from some packaging. The seahorse is cut from the hotels advertising leaflet and can be found high on the roof line above the doors as you enter the hotel. I arranged all the elements and stuck them to the page using a UHU Stic. Then I used the Mosaic stencil again to add some modelling paste to different areas of the page and once dry I coloured the modelling using Iced Chai and Earl Grey Faber-Castell Gelatos. To finish, I added a circular silver outline sticker around the picture of Eric Morecambe and also to the background to add some interest.

Morecambe is a seaside town on Morecambe Bay in Lancashire and we went there recently as one of my birthday treats. We had a wonderful time walking along the seafront promenade and seeing all the amazing statues and sculptures along the way. Here is my hubby striking the famous pose with the Eric Morecambe statue (grin!).

You may remember Eric Morecambe from the famous comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, he was one of the most popular British entertainers and you may recall me featuring him before on this post where you can find out more about him.

His statue looks over these amazing green gulls …

… and if you walk just a little further you will find this metal artwork of a family of coots called Coot Parade.

Then you come to the stone jetty and the Rock Islands topped with these stunning cormorants – aren’t they spectacular!

On the jetty itself, it’s fun to walk out and you will find tongue twisters, a compass, hopscotch and word search all incorporated into the pavement.

We enjoyed watching the fishing boats from the jetty.

The jetty is opposite the majestic Art Deco Midland Hotel, which overlooks the seafront. On the far left of this photo…

… you’ll find the hotel’s Rotunda Bar.

I love Art Deco and this is the front of the hotel and if you look closely you can see the seahorses on the very top.

This is the inside of the Rotunda Bar where we went for lunch (grin!), which was recommended by Chris who often visits here on her blogs – it was a great choice thank you!

I had the most amazing burger – yum! It’s called a Midland Burger and consists of two beef patties, crispy bacon, lettuce, red onion and tomato on a brioche bun with a deep-fried pickle. It was served with fries and coleslaw and as you can see is presented on one of the papers I used for this page; the waiter kindly got me a clean one for my art journal. As we had water with ice and lemon too, I’m joining the T Gang at T Stands for Tuesday and wishing you all a Happy T Day!

We looked at the amazing cormorants on Rock Islands once more …

… and then we headed to the Bird Fence along the seafront where you will find lots of different seabirds native to Morecambe Bay including curlew, dunlin, knot and turnstones. Morecambe Bay is a RSPB reserve with sand flats and salt marshes that attract thousands of birds and is considered the second most important estuary in the UK.

Along the stone jetty and shoreline you also find these amazing Bird Bollards depicting cormorants too.

We had such a lovely day and I hope you enjoyed visiting Morecambe with me!

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:

Over at Art Journal Journey I’m hosting the Flora and Fauna theme, as I included just Fauna this time with the seabirds and seahorses, I’m pleased to link to this challenge. We are half way through the month already so there is still plenty of time to join in the fun and I’d like to say a big thank you to all of you who have joined this theme so far!

I’m pleased to join Country View Challenges and their Be Humorous challenge with the funnies provided by Eric Morecambe that I included on my art journal page.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their For the Boys challenge with my art journal page being a tribute to Eric Morecambe.

As I had fun using my new Tim Holtz stencil to create my mosaic background, I’m also very happy to be joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Stencil It 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Hickory Smoke, Salty Ocean)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Iced Chai and Earl Grey)
• Tim Holtz Collection Stampers Anonymous Stencil (Mosaic Layering Stencil THS084)
• The Illustrated Book of Nature
• Morecambe Visitor Guide & Map
• Food presentation paper from the Midland Hotel
• Information leaflet from the Midland Hotel
• White card – recycled
• Starform Outline Stickers (Silver Circle Borders 1144)
• UHU Stic

Tropical Flowers

Today I have created a tropical flower page which showcases some beautiful African postage stamps from Gabon – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the whole page with a tropical butterfly postal decoupage paper using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I tore some Gabon postage stamp information which was included with the postage stamps, edged it with black Faber-Castell marker and stuck it to the left-hand side and right-hand side edges of the page. Next I applied Spice and Moss Spectrum Aqua markers by scribbling them on an acrylic block and painting them onto the page with a paintbrush like watercolour and then I stencilled a trellis pattern from Dutch Doobadoo Mask using black Archival Ink and a blending tool. I also used the same black ink to stamp some butterflies from Hampton Art positioning them so they flowed vertically up the page. Then I layered some Pébéo modelling paste onto the page using a Moroccan stencil from Craft Sensations and when the paste was dry I coloured the edges with a Midnight Sparkle metallic lustre wax. I also added a thin layer of white gesso to soften the black and give a worn and grungy look.

Next I applied more colour using Topaz and Fawn Spectrum Aqua markers, by scribbling them on an acrylic block, holding the block over the page and spritzing with water so droplets of ink pooled onto the page, creating some rusty stains to continue the grunge look. When dry I splattered black and also white DecoArt acylic paint over the whole page using a paintbrush. To make the tags, I used some design paper which I cut into a tag shape and punched a whole in the top of each of one. They are edged with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink using a blending tool and also a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. I chose different bits of travel and tropical designed paper that were left over from other journal pages and edged them with the black Faber-Castell marker smudging the ink with my finger. They are layered onto the tags along with some light pink coloured mesh ribbon. I kept the pink colour on two of the tags and I also coloured some of this pink ribbon using the Moss Spectrum Aqua marker on one of the tags and then Spice Spectrum Aqua marker for the other two. The ribbon is stuck onto the tag using a Zig Memory System glue pen and the papers are stuck down using a UHU Stic. I stuck a Gabon postage stamp featuring wild tropical flowers onto each tag using double-sided foam tape and also numbered the tags using outline stickers which I had coloured black using a Sharpie marker. I tied a piece of black paper twine to each of the tags and then stuck them in place using double-sided foam tape which finished the page.

To continue the African tropical flower theme, here is a beautiful Calla lily (Zantedeschia) which is brightening our dining room table with its beautiful white dotted leaves and colourful flowers (grin!).

If you are interested here are some fun facts about this lily:

• They are also known as the pig lily, trumpet lily or arum lily.
• The name calla lily is derived from a Greek word meaning beauty.
• Because the calla lily blossoms in late spring, they have come to represent rebirth and youth.
• Although an outdoor plant by nature, this plant can also be kept as an indoor plant too.

Challenges

With the flora of the tropical flowers and fauna of the butterflies, I’m joining the Flora and Fauna challenge over at Art Journal Journey where I’m hosting this month. I hope you are inspired to join us, it would be lovely to see you there!

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Moo Mania and More and their Flowers theme with my Tropical Flowers art journal page.

I’m joining Valerie and the rest of the DT again over at Mixed Media World and their theme is Anything Goes…optional Pink.

I’m also pleased to join the Rust theme over at Mixed Media Monthly Challenge with the rusty stains that I added to my page.

As I used stencils on my page, I’m also reminding you of our Stencil, Die Cuts or Both theme over at Try it on Tuesday which runs until next Monday evening.

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)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Craf-T Products Luster Rub-ons (Midnight Sparkle)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Spice, Moss, Topaz, Fawn)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Sharpie Permanent Marker (Black)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO134)
• Dutch Doobadoo Mask Art A5 (Vintage)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan)
• First Edition Deco Maché Decoupage Papers (FEDEC196)
• The Works 12×12 Paper Stack (Vintage Experience CRO239/TW6)
• Design papers – leftovers
• Postage stamps from hubby’s childhood stamp collection (Gabon 1961 set of 5 stamps featuring Wild Tropical Flowers)
• Mesh ribbon recycled from flower bouquet
• Outline Stickers (Time Silver 904935)
• Wilko (Paper Twine)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• The Range double-sided foam tape