To create this page, I started by covering the page with some recycled white tissue paper using Liquitex matte gel medium, and I scrunched the tissue paper as I applied it to the page to add some texture (because I wanted to emphasis it using a heat embossing technique). Next I coloured the whole page using Aqua Green and Cerulean Blue Liquitex acrylic paints and when the paint was dry, I heat embossed some Gold Ranger Embossing powder over the top, to emphasise the tissue paper texture, creating my wintery night sky. The gold moon was the seal from the top of a new pot of Liquitex matte gel medium which I recycled. To finish, I added the gold stars, houses and wording which were all outline stickers; it reads “Here’s wishing you a wonderful New Year”.
How about welcoming in the New Year with a cocktail of pineapple gin and cream soda; the pineapple gin was homemade by soaking pineapple fruit pieces in gin with some sugar for 4 weeks – so yummy!
We could also have these Piña Colada cocktails that we had one evening (well actually, more like every evening … ha, ha) at our hotel when we were on holiday in Spain (2023) and they were so delicious – cheers!
As were having pineapple gin and Piña Coladas, I’m happy to say hello and welcome to Bleubeard & Elizabeth and all the T Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday – Happy T Tuesday (smile!).
All the best for 2024, wishing you peace, good health and happiness! 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 able to join the following challenges today:
Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Wendy K from Wendy’s Craft Journal; she has chosen Above Us Only Sky as her theme so I’m joining with my starry New Year sky.
It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.
This was such a fun page to create and I love the Santa image – doesn’t he look jolly (smile!).
I started by covering a chipboard page with the “Dear Santa” paper that was from a letter pack to Santa (it was in the sale and I thought it would look good on one of my pages). Then I distressed the edges of the page using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker, and I stamped some snowflakes using Toffee Crunch Memento Ink. The jolly Santa was from a Tim Holtz Christmas Ephemera pack and the wording I put together from a Tim Holtz Christmas sticker pack; it reads “The children were nestled all snug in their beds, Off to the land of dreams. When, from far up the chimney, Santa Claus came. Happy smiles and twinkling eyes, This very merry night”. To finish, some gold star outline stickers added some sparkle.
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!
Here’s another very jolly Santa that you will find on my Christmas Tree, it’s an old fashioned design (made of metal) and was from a local shop – wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
I hope that you are staying safe and well!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Traditional Christmas.
I had fun creating this page which features traditional Christmas colours and images (smile!).
I started by stamping the foliage onto the page using Cottage Ivy Memento Ink. The pretty robin and foliage were cut from a party cracker that I recycled from last Christmas. I arranged them onto the page using a glue stick and then I edged them using some washi tapes. I finished the page by adding gold snowflakes and stars, which were outline stickers.
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!
These were the party crackers that we enjoyed last year at my family’s Christmas celebrations; I loved the beautiful festive foliage and of course the robin, which is my favourite bird especially at Christmas time (smile!).
I hope that you are staying safe and well!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
Art Journal Journey which I’m pleased to be hosting this month and the challenge theme that I’ve chosen is Nature.
Being TSFT 10th Anniversary, we decided to get really creative and swap 10 ATCs. These ATCs were contained in those beautiful folders that she created and look spectacular – thank you so much Lyn for this wonderful swap and to Bluebeard and Elizabeth for organising everything!
Here are the 10 ATCs that I sent Lyn – Happy 10th TSFT everyone! There happens to be 10 of them and also the number 10 on each of them, so I hope this meets Bleubeard & Elizabeth’s request of including the number 10 somewhere on your photos.
If you’re wondering how I created them, see below. All of my ATCs started as playing cards, which I painted with white gesso on the front and black gesso on the back. I added splatter using black DecoArt acrylic paint over some of the white gesso before I applied different designs; all the paper pieces were stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium and Crafter’s Companion glue tape. I used a white Uni Ball gel pen and/or a black Uni Pin marker to outline items and I added the number 10 (for 10th Anniversary) to each; this included stamping using black Archival Ink and a Tim Holtz stamp set. As you can see, my 10 ATC designs are all different, here’s how they came together:
1. I covered the playing card with a piece of Tim Holtz Collage paper and when dry, I coloured it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Next I stamped some hearts using Moonlight White Brilliance Ink by Archival. I coloured the hearts using a Red Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend marker and then, I covered them using Ranger Glossy Accents. To finish, I added the wording which were Kaisercraft Stickers.
2. This Alice design was created using a napkin from last year’s 9th TSFT napkin swap, thanks Lisca (smile!). The wording that I added was a Tim Holtz Small Talk Sticker.
3. I stamped numbers onto the background using black Archival Ink and a Documented stamp set by Tim Holtz, then I added the foliage and flowers which I die cut from used teabags. The words were Tim Holtz Small Talk and Label stickers, and I added some white flower buttons and beads to the centre of the flowers using Glossy Accents.
4. For the background, I added some pretty oriental papers and outlined them using a black Faber-Castell marker, smudging the ink with my finger. The “B” for Bleubeard, “E” for Elizabeth and wording were Tim Holtz stickers, and to finish, I added a green ephemera butterfly and two gold butterfly outline stickers.
5. I randomly applied some Ranger Crackle Paste using a palette knife and when dry, I applied some watered-down black Faber-Castell marker ink with a paintbrush to highlight the cracks. The poppy flower was a washi tape sticker and the teacup was die cut from Tim Holtz Halloween paper. To finish, I added a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker.
6. This was a fun collage design using a doily, some Kaisercraft Stickers and flower Ephemera.
7. The tea images were fussy cut from some Stamperia papers, which I arranged with some Kaisercraft Stickers.
8. Using a Stamperia stencil, I added some Ranger Texture Paste and left it to dry overnight. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top. When dry, it was painted using black and Aquamarine Kuretake watercolours. The wording was a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker.
9. The wording was cut from a Stamperia paper pad and arranged it onto the card with some die cut foliage and flowers that were leftover from previous projects.
10. I added strips of washi tape vertically down the card to create the background and I added the names of Elizabeth’s cats using Tim Holtz Label stickers. The two cats were die cut from Tim Holtz Kraft papers using a Mischievous Cats Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. I added some gems for their eyes and a red die cut heart adding “E” for Elizabeth to the centre.
Inspired by CJ, I also created a concertina folder to hold them in, which was fun to make (smile!).
Of course, I just had to send our amazing host a couple of ATCs too; I created another Squiggles and Bleubeard ATC and a Rust one, as I know how much Bleubeard & Elizabeth like rust. The rust one was created using Stamperia papers, Glossy Accents, a chipboard cog painted covered in acrylic and Distress Paints and some stickers. Happy 10th Anniversary and thank you for all your hard work to ensure T Stands For Tuesday is organised and available for everyone to join!
Stay safe and well!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Keep It Simple.
I kept it simple with a stencil background, a beautiful Stamperia image and a word stamp.
The background was created by using a Rose Stamperia stencil like a stamp, rubbing a Saltwater Taffy Distress Ink pad onto the stencil and spritzing with water. Then I placed the stencil onto the page and pressed lightly to transfer the ink; this was repeated a couple of times to fill the page. The pretty image was from a Sir Vagabond in Japan paper pad by Stamperia and I simply stuck it in place using glue tape and then edged it with some black Glitterations border outline stickers. To finish, I used black Archival Ink and an old stamp to add the wording, which reads “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.
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 love the geisha girl image that I used on this page and the simple design seems very fitting to showcase it (smile!). My page reminded me of this beautiful cross-stitch that my mum created, I’m in awe of her talent and patience as she has created many of these cross stitch pictures. It is quite a contrast to my page as it is so very detailed; breathtakingly so!
I hope that you are 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:
Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Aimeslee this month, who has chosen Flowers as her theme; so I’m joining in the fun with the stencilled roses and all the flowers contained in the image that I used on my page.
Stencil Fun Challenge and their May Stencil Fun – Anything Goeswith optional Flowerschallenge as I had fun using thestencil on this simply designed page.
This journal page was created using Sir Vagabond in Japan papers and Backgrounds papers by Stamperia. I started by cutting a piece of blue paper, from the Sir Vagabond in Japan – Backgrounds paper pad, to fit the page. Then I layered some leftover Japanese written plaque paper pieces and the Japanese warrior over the top; he was fussy cut from the Sir Vagabond in Japan pad. The circular dragon was a topper from Hunkydory Crafts and the words “Be Calm, Be Strong” were from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet. To finish, I added the pretty gold flowers which were outline stickers.
I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing papercraft projects from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us. Please be sure to check out the rules here.
I always find it hard to create masculine pages, but I had so much fun using these Stamperia papers to create this page and I love how it turned out; I hope you like it too!
I hope that you are staying safe and well!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Erika at her BioArtGal blog and she has chosen Seeing Red as her challenge; my Japanese warrior is wearing red.
As it’s the end of December, I’m sharing my last page for the Snowy Winter challenge over at Art Journal Journey which I’ve been hosting this month.
Thank you so much to everyone who joined me; I really appreciate all your kind comments and support throughout the month and have thoroughly enjoyed visiting your blogs and seeing all your wonderful artwork (smile!).
Please note: I took this photo earlier this week and will add any names I’ve missed when the challenge has finished (smile!).
My page celebrates all of you who joined in the fun and I chose to design a page full of gifts, like you’re artworks were this month. I started by die cutting lots of squares from different Christmas design papers by Docrafts and arranged them onto the page with some blue square stickers. Then I painted some Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain between the squares giving it an icy snowy look. When dry, I added lots of stickers to the squares and background; they included tags, presents, bells, snowman, trees, snowflakes and stars. Next I printed the names of those who joined the challenge using a Dymo LetraTag Label Maker and once stuck in place, I decorated them using some silver Stickles glitter and a sequin snowflake.
I hope you had as much fun as I did, I enjoyed creating snowy winter pages for this challenge whether it was in my mini journal or …
… in my A4 sized journal.
Thank you all for your participation and lovely comments, you made it such a joy to host this challenge!
I’d like to say a special thanks to Bleubeard & Elizabeth and the rest of the AJJ Team for asking me to be a guest host; it’s always a pleasure to join you!
Not only is tomorrow a New Year, it’s the start of a new month which brings a new challenge at Art Journal Journey and I can’t wait to see what the new theme is and say hello to our new host – see you there!
I hope you’ve had a safe and happy Christmas. Wishing you all the very best for 2023! Hugs Jo x
Thanks for joining me and if you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is It’s all about Santa.
For my Santa page, I started by covering the background with Tumbled Glass and Speckled Egg Distress Ink; painting the inks onto the page, like watercolour, vertically down the page. Next I stamped a script Christmas stamp by Paperbabe Stamps and some mini snowflake stamps, over the background, using Faded Jeans Distress Archival Ink. Then I fussy cut the Santa and reindeer image on the left-hand side and stuck it onto the page with two other Santa images; one was a recycled tag which I framed with gold border outline stickers and the other was a topper by Hunkydory. To finish, I added the glittery red snowflakes which were foam stickers and the “Ho Ho Ho” wording.
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!
As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a Rosey Nosey beer hand pump; as you can see, I forgot to include the pint of beer in my photo but luckily there are plenty of other drinks in the bottles in the background for me to qualify for TSFT this week – 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:
Art Journal Journey and the Snowy Winter challenge that I’m hosting this month with my snowy scenes and snowflakes on this page.
I was kindly gifted some part-used topper and cardstock sets by M, my very dear MIL, which were from a charity shop. Of course, I fell in love with the robin designs as soon as I saw them, so I created this simple, fun page (smile!).
I started by covering the whole page with a piece of cardstock, that had lots of robins sitting on a branch hanging their stockings. Then I had fun adding all the hanging baubles and bells from the branches using some coloured baubles stickers and some thin strips of silver border outline stickers. To finish, I used the toppers from the same robin pack to create the signage which reads “Flying by to wish you a Merry Christmas”.
It was so kind of M to think of me and gift me such gorgeous cardstock and toppers for my art journal pages (smile!); I’m looking forward to creating more pages with these goodies!
Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well and Happy Journaling! Hugs Jo x
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
I’m pleased to join the following challenges:
Art Journal Journey which I’m having fun hosting this month; I chose the challenge theme Snowy Winter so like me all you need to do is add snowflakes and/or snow on your pages. I hope to see you there!
Paperbabe Stamps and their #182 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmas page.
Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes challenge with my Robins flying by Christmas page.
My page today was inspired by some beautiful wellies (Wellington rain boots) that were a surprise present from my mum.
My page design includes a napkin that I received as part of the napkin swap over at T Stand for Tuesday, I think this napkin was from Erika as it has busy bees on it.
If you are interested, I’ve also recycled the washi tape that came as part of the napkin swap, see my page Love you to the moon and back.
I started by creating a hexagon template from some card using a compass; I used this template to draw and then cut out hexagons of the napkin and also some blue paper that was recycled from a book cover. I arranged them onto the page using a glue stick and edged them all using some gold border outline stickers. Next I die cut the honeycomb from some leftover gold cardstock using a Bee Hive Sizzix Thinlits set by Olivia Rose. They were arranged onto the page with some white rub-on transfers for the wording and also some white flower stickers which I also added to decorate the napkins. To finish, I added two bees which were stamped and die cut using a Beehive Buzz Pink Ink Designs set, and were coloured using Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend markers.
Here are the pretty wellies that my mum kindly bought me; the colours, bees and honeycomb inspired my page design.
Wellies is a term that we use in the UK for Wellington boots which are also known as rain boots or gumboots in other parts of the world:
Wellington boots, or “Wellies” are named after Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington who wore and popularised them here in the UK.
Wellington’s boots were made of leather, but in 1856, the Scotland-based North British Rubber Company (now known as Hunter Boots) began manufacturing rubber Wellington rain boots. Being made from rubber enhanced the boots by giving them more flexible movement and making them 100% waterproof.
The nickname “gumboots” is a nod to the natural rubber that rain boots are made from. Natural rubber, which is obtained from trees, is called “gum rubber” hence the name gumboots.
As T Stands for Tuesday and keeping with the bee theme, here’s my apple juice and ginger beer in a glass that we purchased when we visited Maine Mead Works in America which has their bee logo on it – Happy T Day everyone!
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 Neet from Hickydorums is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Fur and/or Feathers so I’m joining her with yet more busy fuzzy bees … ha,ha!
LTSCB#157 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blogas I created this page using a scraps of book page and gold cardstock as well as a napkin.
Paperbabe Stamps and their #176 – Anything Goes challenge with my bee page.
Let's Art Journal 