Gnome for Christmas

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Gnome Home For The Holidays.

I had so much fun creating this colourful Christmas Gnome page, I hope you like it too (smile!).

I started by drawing the top of the toadstool onto to some red and white dot Christmas paper and cutting it out. Then I created the fronds and bottom of the toadstool out of white cardstock, which I coloured in a Brown Grey TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker and a black UniPen fine line marker. I also drew the door, fussy cut it out and coloured it using a Dark Brown Blend TriBlend marker and a black UniPen marker to create the wood effect and a Gold Spectrum Aqua Marker for the door handle. For the snow on the toadstool roof and in the foreground, I cut the shapes from some white cardstock and then I added some detail using a Ice Grey Blend TriBlend marker. I covered the chipboard page using some blue snowflake cardstock before sticking everything in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. The glittery Christmas trees on the right-hand and left-hand side of the page were layered together from a sticker pack. I stamped the cute Gnome using a Woodware Crafts stamp set and I coloured him using Alpine Green Blend, Dark Red Blend, Ice Grey Blend, Brown Grey Blend and Pale Pink Blend TriBlend markers and a also Yellow marker for the pom pom on his hat. To finish, I added the “Merry Christmas” wording which I framed with two gold coloured star gems.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing projects from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

I love Christmas and saw these cute gnomes whilst visiting a garden centre with family last week, they reminded me of my page.

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 Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining 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 Gnome page.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #29 where Anything Christmas Goes with my Gnome for Christmas page.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes challenge with my fun Gnome for Christmas page.

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Ho Ho Ho

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.

MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes over at Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog with my Santa Christmas page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #182 – Anything Goes challenge with my festive Santa page.

Christmas Robins

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.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #29 where Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas Robins page.

Double D Challenges and their Christmas Stockings challenge with the robins’ Christmas stocking on this page.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I’m so delighted to be hosting Art Journal Journey this month and the challenge theme that I have chosen for is Snowy Winter; like me all you need to do is add snowflakes and/or include snow as part of your page design.

Today’s page was inspired by a Christmas Event at our local garden centre which I attend every year with my family.

I started by painting some white acrylic paint to the centre of my chipboard page and some Salvaged Patina and Speckled Egg Distress Paint around the edges. Then I used a clean paintbrush to pull the white paint out to the edges to produce a starburst effect. When dry, I stamped some small snowflakes using Faded Jeans Distress Archival Ink over the page. Next I added some cute animal Christmas scenes which were 3D stickers and to finish, some pretty snowflake embellishments.

I hope that you are inspired to join in the AJJ fun this month too! I’m really looking forward to visiting you and seeing all your wonderful Snowy Winter creations (smile!).

The Christmas Event is held in evening and Santa was there to greet us as we arrived at the garden centre.

We always have fun looking at the Christmas displays, listening to the live Christmas music and of course, shopping.

It’s become a family tradition to attend this evening and it’s such a lovely way to start the Christmas festivities!

We also enjoyed the complimentary mulled wine and mince pie – yum! As T Stands for T Day, I’m sharing the mulled wine with you, grab a glass and Happy T Day!

Hope that you’re all staying well! x

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

Challenges

As well as Art Journal Journey, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #182 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmas page.

MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes over at Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog with my fun Christmas page.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #29 where Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas page.

Hello Winter

It’s a new month so we are launching our December challenge today over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, and as always the theme is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

Whilst tidying up, I found this adorable robin image that I had saved from an old calendar and just couldn’t resist creating a page with it straight away; I even abandoned another page that I was creating, oh and also the tidying up (grin!).

I started by covering the background using white acrylic and Speckled Egg Distress Paint. Then I die cut lots of holly and fir branches using a Holiday Greens Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some green coloured cardstock; I added more colour to them using a Dark Green Blend TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker. The cones were die cut using a Funky Festive Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some brown Kraft cardstock – Classic by Tim Holtz. The holly berries were die cut using an old Festive Holly set and the wording using a Sizzix Doodle Alphabet and Letters set; they were all cut from orange paper which I later coloured using Orange and Sunflower Spectrum Aqua markers. I fussy cut the robin and stuck him in place, then I die cut the snowflakes from the remaining calendar paper. All of the foliage and snowflake pieces were arranged onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium and to finish, I splattered the whole page using white acrylic paint.

I love robins and have quite a few beautiful metal robins in my garden; one Christmas my dearest friend in America bought us this pretty red robin sitting in a heart – isn’t it delightful (smile!).

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well, and wishing you a Happy December!

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

Challenges

As well as Creative Artiste , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey and the Snowy Winter challenge that I’m hosting this month as their are snowflakes on my wintery scene.

LTSCB #158 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Hello Winter page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #182 – Anything Goes challenge with my winter page.

December Anything Goes Winter Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge with my Hello Winter page.

Challenge #64 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog with my Winter page.

Merry Christmas

It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for December which is Christmas Anything Goes.

This challenge is perfect as I love all things Christmas and as I love all things Tim Holtz too, this page features lots of his products. Wishing you a Happy December and all the very best for the festive season!

I started by covering the page with white gesso using a brayer and then I stenciled some snowflakes using a Mini Layered Christmas Stencil Set #50 by Tim Holtz and Ranger Crackle Texture Paste. When dry I added the festive foliage which was die cut from different colours of Kraft Cardstock-Classic by Tim Holtz using a Funky Festive Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz; they were layered together using matte gel medium. To finish, I added the wording which was die cut from the black Kraft Cardstock-Classic using an Alphanumeric Script Thinlits set by Tim Holtz.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you are inspired to join our Christmas Anything Goes challenge too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

I’ve already been decorating for Christmas and here’s one of my Christmas wreaths; this ones on my back door and was hung with a pretty metal robin decoration (smile!).

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well – Happy December! x

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

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey and the Snowy Winter challenge that I’m hosting this month as their are lots of stencilled snowflakes on my page.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #28 where Anything Christmas Goes with my Merry Christmas page.

LTCCB #71 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my Christmas page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #181 – Anything Goes challenge with my festive Christmas page.

MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes over at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog with my Merry Christmas page.

Snowy Winter at Art Journal Journey

I am so delighted to be guest hosting Art Journal Journey this month with my Snowy Winter theme.

As winter is here, we’re looking for snow and snowflakes on your pages; this could be linked to a winter scene or even Christmas as it’s now December.

For my page, I started by using a Stencil Template set by Inkylicious for the moon and a Stencil Mask by Marianne Designs for the trees, and painting Seedless Grape Distress Ink like watercolour onto the page. Then I coloured the moon using the Inkylicious Stencil using the same Seedless Grape Ink and then the trees using Pine Needles Distress Ink. Next I used a Cozy Winter Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz to die cut the snowflakes, adorable bear, branch and woodpecker from some white cardstock and different colours of Tim Holtz Kraft Cardstock – Classic. I die cut some pine needles to add to the branch using a Holiday Greens Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and then I layered everything together and stuck them onto the page. I splattered the page with white acrylic paint and to finish, I added the wording “a white Christmas appeared” which was from a Christmas Sticker Book by Tim Holtz.

I hope that you are inspired to join in the fun this month too! I’m really looking forward to visiting you and seeing all your wonderful Snowy Winter creations; please, don’t forget to take a look at the RULES.

Wishing you a very Happy December 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

As well as Art Journal Journey, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Challenge #64 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog with my Snowy Winter Christmas page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #181 – Anything Goes challenge with my winter page.

Stencil Fun Challenge and their December Stencil Fun – Anything Goes as long as you use a stencil with the stencils that I used to create the background on my wintery page.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #28 where Anything Christmas Goes with my winter Christmas page.

Winter Wonderland Robin

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

My page was inspired by a beautiful Christmas card of a pretty robin sitting in a winter wonderland.

Using the Christmas card as reference, I painted the page to recreate the scenery on the card using Kuretake watercolours paints. Then I die cut the berries, grasses and seed heads from different colours of Tim Holtz Kraft Cardstock- Classic; the dies cuts that I used were Garden Greens Thinlits by Tim Holtz for the berries, a Holiday Greens Thinlits set by Tim Holtz for the grasses and a Delicate Autumn Stems Thinlits set by Lisa Jones for the seed heads. I stamped the trees and over-painted them using the Kuretake watercolours and I stamped some tiny snowflakes over the Christmas card and background. I stuck the Christmas card and all the die cuts in place and then I painted and heavily splattered the page with white acrylic paint. Once dry, I added the wording which were from a Christmas sticker book by Tim Holtz; they read “the beauty of a winter sky”, “wonder”, “little winter bird” and “the first snow has fallen”.

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 my cup of tea with some yummy Scottish shortbread – 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:

The lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from https://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/ who is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Collage Fodder, Food & Drink or Both so I’m joining her as I collaged the Christmas card and doe cuts onto my page to create this snowy scene.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #181 – Anything Goes challenge with my winter wonderland page.

LTSCB#158 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my robin page and the recycled Christmas card that I used.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #28 where Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas card inspired winter wonderland page.

Be Thankful

Today I’m sharing a thankful journal page and wishing all of you that are celebrating this week – a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I started by covering the chipboard page with some scraps of neutral coloured papers; I cut the papers into triangles before collaging them onto the page and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top using my finger. I added the framed wording “when I count my blessings I count you twice” which was a sticker from Kaisercraft and the “Be thankful” wording which was washi tape. Next I added two flowers from a Tim Holtz Ephemera pack and two die cut autumnal leaves that were coloured using Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. To finish, I added two little chipboard owls.

For our wedding anniversary last month, we went to a new local Chinese restaurant called “Blessings House” and had the most amazing time (smile!).

The beautiful picture on the wall is cross stitch and was sewn by one of the restaurant’s family – it was very detailed and must have taken ages to create!

We had the lunch buffet with starters and soup; our choices were Sweetcorn and Crabmeat soup and one of each of the starters which were Curry Samosas, Spring Rolls, Salt and Pepper Chicken, Spare Ribs, Chicken Satay, Prawn Toast and Seaweed.

We shared our mains of Chicken in Satay Sauce, Sweet and Sour Pork and Chicken with Mushrooms – it was all so yummy and very filling!

I forgot to take photos of our drinks at the restaurant, so as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a couple of pints that we enjoyed at the pub around the corner on our way home (smile!) – Happy T Day everyone!

I hope you’re all 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 join the following challenges:

The lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from https://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/ who is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Collage Fodder, Food & Drink or Both so I’m joining her with my collage fodder page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #181 – Anything Goes challenge with my thankful page.

LTSCB#158 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Be Thankful page; I used lots of scraps to create this one.

November Anything Goes Fall Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge with my autumnal thankful page.

Merry Moose Wonderland

I’m so delighted to be hosting this month’s challenge over at Sparkles Monthly Challenges choosing #158 – Die Cuts and/or Punches as my theme.

I love nothing better than using die cuts for my papercraft projects and I used quite a few die cuts for this page including one of my favourites – the Merry Moose Sizzix Thinlits by Tim Holtz.

It looks like Merry Moose is looking forward to Christmas this year while walking through a winter wonderland; I hope you’ll join in the fun too, it would be lovely to see you there (smile!).

I started by covering the chipboard page with a layer of Speckled Egg Distress Paint and left it to dry. Then I used lots of Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits to create the scene; this included a Branched Birch Thinlits Set which was cut from some white linen cardstock, a Woodlands Thinlits set for the fir trees cut from some green foil corrugated cardstock, a Merry Moose Thinlits set from some cream linen cardstock and a Winter Wardrobe Thinlits set for his bow from white linen cardstock. I layered the trees together using double-sided tape and I cut out the snowy foreground from some of the white linen cardstock. The Merry Moose was coloured using Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso and Antique Linen Distress Ink and his bow using a Dark Red Blend TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker. The two little robins, flying across the page, were stamped using a Picket Fence Studios stamp set and black Archival Ink; they were coloured using a Earth Brown Blend and the Dark Red Blend TriBlend Spectrum Noir markers and then fussy cut out. To finish, I added the “walking in a winter wonderland” wording which was a die cut sticker from a Christmas Sticker Book by Tim Holtz.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenges, and for more inspiration please check out the amazing Die Cuts and/or Punches projects from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

Here are all the Thinlits sets I used to create my Merry Moose Wonderland page.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a couple of pints of Dark Side of the Moose beer; it’s from Purple Moose brewery in Porthmadog, Wales and we enjoyed it last week at one of our local pubs – Cheers and Happy T Day everyone!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #180 – Anything Goes challenge with my Merry Moose page.

MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes over at Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog with my Merry Moose Wonderland page.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #27 where Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas Merry Moose page.