Wild and Free

With the warmer weather of late we have been having fun in the garden. We have weeded our flower beds and added a mulch of bark and have been watching the spring flowers grow and new foliage shoot up. So I created this happy page to celebrate, using some soft spring colours as well as some fun techniques and the wording “all good things are wild and free” (grin!).

I started by stamping the page with a dot stamp from Woodware Craft Collection using Rose Bud Memento Ink and a flower stamp by Hampton Arts using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink. Then I covered the page with pastel shades of pink, turquoise and orange acrylic paint and also Pébéo white gesso; they are all applied using a brayer to build up layers of colour. Once dry I added the large flower sticker and some leftover letters and frame stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle.

The wording “all good things are wild and free by Henry David Thoreau” and “Just be” which included a sweet little bird are from the same sticker set; the little bird with the flower in his beak reminded me of some Goldfinches that come into our garden to take pieces of a silver leaved plant called Cineraria, not sure why they want it, but it’s fun to watch them (grin!). Then I outlined all of these stickers using a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball gel pen so they stood out more and had fun doodling all the dots using black, white and pink Uni Posca paint pens. To continue the spring theme I added more little birds, flowers and as we are making lots of new discoveries this year in our garden I also added the “Discoveries” wording which are all fabric stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle.

As you may remember we replanted our flower beds last year and here’s what they look like at the moment. The apple trees are sprouting and should be in bloom soon, the bluebells are out in force and the bark mulch looks great – I love it!

We discovered that we had crocus in our garden and along with daffodils they have finished flowering but we do have some tulips starting to bloom that we planted in October last year. This beautiful pink frilly variety reminded me of my page (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal  and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as my page represents having fun gardening.

I’m joining the Polka Dots challenge over at Moo Mania & More with the polka dot stickers and dots on this page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Easter and/or Spring challenge over at Country View Challenges with my spring pastel coloured page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is New Growth, so I’m also joining this challenge too with my springtime flower page.

I’m also pleased to join the Spring Flowers! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday with happy spring flower inspired 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:

• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Rose Bud, Rich Cocoa)
• Script Ready Made Paint (Pastels)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Uni Posca Paint Pens (Black, White, Pink)
• Hampton Art Bella Blvd cling mounted rubber stamps (Sand & Surf ICO226)
• Woodware Craft Collections Francoise Collection Stamp Set (Flower Style FRSWS003)
• Home Bargains (Room Décor Embellishment Art 01194)
• Little Yellow Bicycle (Cardstock Stickers Fresh Verse PD-140, Fabric Favourites PD-220)

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Embrace beautiful chaos

Our new challenge for the next two weeks at Try it on Tuesday is Use a stencil or two and you’ll find some amazing creations from my Design Teamies over at our blog to inspire you (grin!).

I hope that you’ll join us for this challenge by using one or more stencils to create your artwork; I must admit that I had loads of fun creating this page using four different stencils – see what you think!

To start with, I tore a book page into three pieces and stuck them to the page using a glue stick. I then painted the page with Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green and Neutral Gray Liquitex acrylic paint and left it to dry. Next I used a Tim Holtz stencil to add the Bright Aqua Green acrylic paint using a sponge and then some butterflies and circles using a Mini Specimens stencil from The Crafter’s Workshop and Black Soot Distress Ink. The white dots are Pébéo modelling paste which I applied using a craft knife through a dot stencil. When the modelling paste was dry, I added the three large flowers using a mask by Carabelle Studio and Black Soot ink blending the black ink around the edges of the flower into the background. The “embrace beautiful chaos” wording, which I thought was perfect to summarise the look and feel of this page, is a Small Talk Sticker from Tim Holtz and I outlined it using a black Uni Pin Marker. I also applied some rub-on transfers to the page so the images were broken up and depicted the “embrace beautiful chaos” wording more; they are Special Delivery Remnant Rubs from Tim Holtz. To finish, I added three different coloured gems to each of the centre of the flowers.

Last week I had an early birthday treat and spent a wonderful day in Garstang visiting the local garden centre and looking around the town’s market stalls. We also had lunch and a few pints at my favourite pub and then walked along the canal and river – perfect (grin!). I thought this picture was fun, it was taken at the garden centre and shows the amazing wall on the way out of the food hall, I think it ties nicely into my page with the beautiful and chaotic way items have been embedded into it (grin!).

My favourite of course was the teapot! As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and wishing you all a Happy T Day!

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:

I’m pleased to join Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal  and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I always have fun creating art journal pages and this one was especially fun using all the different stencil techniques.

Over at Moo Mania & More their challenge is Colourful so I’m happy to join them to with the bright colours that I used to create this page.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge 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:

• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green, Neutral Gray)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Dot Stencil – unknown
• Tim Holtz Collection Layering Mini Stencil (Set 16 THMST016)
• The Crafter’s Workshop TCW Rebekah Meier Designs 6×6 Stencil (Mini Specimens TCW4545)
• Carabelle Studio Art Mask (2 Flowers)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Special Delivery #TH93188)
• B&M Crafting Goody Bag (Turquoise 321451)

Everyday is a New Beginning

Now spring has arrived, the evenings are getting lighter, we have had more sunshine and blue skies, spring flowers are blooming, there are new shoots on trees and new plants are sprouting up from the ground.

So my page today is celebrating these new beginnings to say Hello Springtime over at Art Journal Journey where I’m guest host this month. I’ve been amazed by all your support and wonderful creations, thanks so much!

I started this page by stencilling a clock face on brown cardboard that I recycled from some packaging using Pébéo modelling paste and left it to dry. Then I die cut some trellis with a pretty flower design out of some recycled paper using my Big Shot machine and stuck it in place using Liquitex matte gel medium so that it filled the centre diagonal of the page. I cut the clock face out of the cardboard and stuck it to the page along with some cardboard number stickers that I had, and then I covered everything with Pébéo white gesso. When the page was dry, I stuck a piece of pretty design paper which I had torn in half to the top left and bottom right hand corners of the page using a glue stick; they are edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which I smudged with my finger. Next I applied Fig, Snow Cone, Caramel, Coconut and Earl Grey Faber-Castell Gelatos to the trellis-work to highlight the texture and pattern. The numbers stickers and clock face are both coloured using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which I applied and then smudged with my finger. I also used the same four Faber-Castell Gelato colours to highlight the numer stickers and modelling paste. The clock face numbers are coloured using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and I applied some of the Coconut Faber-Castell Gelato over the top to give them a worn look. Next I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt acrylic paint and then to finish, I added some paper flowers, a pretty blue butterfly and a sticker from Kaisercraft which reads “Everyday is a new beginning”.

My springtime colours were inspired by the beautiful glass domed roof at the Marine Hall where the Fleetwood Beer Festival is held. The Marine Hall sits on the sea front and the building dates back to the 1930s so has an art deco heritage which includes this beautiful glass domed roof.

The Festival Beer Bar is situated right under this dome and I actually had to lie on the floor in the centre of the two bars to take this picture, luckily no one saw me as I was well hidden by the bars (grin!).

Challenges 

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Art Journal Journey, 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 also very happy to be able to join the Letters and/or Numbers challenge over at Country View Challenges as I had fun adding the numbers and letters to this page.

I’m also joining the Embrace The Journey challenge over at A Vintage Journey where they are celebrating their 5^th Birthday as my Mixed Media Style page depicts the journey of springtime where “Everyday is a new beginning” – Happy Birthday!

I’m joining in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog and their Creative Artiste’s #47th Challenge – Anything Mixed Media Goes with all the different mediums (listed below) that I used to create this 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:

• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Fig, Snow Cone, Caramel, Coconut, Earl Grey)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• The Works M & C Boutique (Cutting Dies)
• Recycled brown cardboard packaging
• Recycled paper
• The Works Design Pad (Vintage Love CRO707/TW25
• Leftover cardboard numbers from a Hobbycraft  Alphabet Letters set
• Poundland (Gem Florettes 117128, Accessories Pack 60911)
• The Works (Make Your Own 3D Butterflies – Assorted)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick

Camellia

On a walk last week to the beach with our friends, we noticed a beautiful camellia flowering in one of the gardens we passed which made me think of springtime; so inspired by our walk with friends and the camellia that we saw I created this page!

I started by adding three pieces of ripped sheet music to the page using a glue stick and then I covered the background with Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint and Pébéo white gesso. When dry, I added some camellia stickers and framed them using some brown pieces of the same sticker sheet, a sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and a black Uni Pin marker. Then I stamped some new letter and number stamps from Inkadinkado using black Archival Ink over the page; my hubby kindly bought these stamps for me as a surprise so I just couldn’t wait to use them, aren’t they lovely! Next I added the wording which I chose to relate to our walk with our friends and the camellia that we saw: “Embrace the Journey” which is from Small Talk sticker set by Tim Holtz; “Enjoy every day” taken from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet; “Springtime”, “Harmony” and “Gentle” which are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel. Then I stuck three metal embellishments and to finish, I splattered the whole page with watered-down Cottage Green Memento Ink, black and also white DecoArt Crafter’s acrylic paint.

Here’s the pretty white camellia that we saw on our walk. If you are interested here are some facts about camellias:

• Camellia is an evergreen plant that belongs to the family Theaceae, the tea family.
• Camellia flowers can be white, cream, pink, red, purple, yellow or variegated, and bloom in autumn, winter and spring.
• The oldest living camellia was planted in 1347 and can be found in China’s Panlong Monastery.
• Camellia sinensis called ‘tea plant’ is used to make tea, usually from young leaves which can be made into green tea, black tea, white tea, oolong tea etc. The flowers are small and non-descript not like the ornamental ones on my page.
• Sacramento, California is nicknamed the Camellia City.
• The Camellia is Alabama’s state flower.
• Camellia represents adoration, devotion and loveliness.

As camellias belong to the tea family and we always stop for a cuppa when we walk with our friends, I’m sharing my green tea and wishing the T gang, over at T Stands for Tuesday, a very Happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m pleased to link my art journal page to the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey as my Camellia page reminds me of springtime. I hope you are inspired by this theme too, it would be lovely to see you there!

I’m pleased to join in the Letters and/or Number challenge over at Country View Challenges with the letter and numbers that I added to my page using the lovely new stamp set that my hubby kindly bought me (yay!).

I’m also joining the Close to Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my Camellia art journal page.

As I was inspired by our walk with our friends, I’m happy to join the Celebrate the Journey challenge over at A Vintage Journey my Art Journaling Style page too – wishing everyone at A Vintage Journey a Happy 5^th Birthday!

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:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188 B)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Inkadinkado Stamping Gear (Typographic 65-32008)
• Sheet Music
• Penny Black 2006 Stickeroos (In Bloom 10-208, Petals & Poetry 10-207)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Set (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Say Aloha SS281)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Sentiments (Spring #ROY-506)
• Poundworld (Vintage Stickers)
• The Works (Metal Embellishments)
• Pritt Stick
• Stix2 mini glue dots

Hello Springtime

I am so delighted to be hosting Art Journal Journey this month and the challenge that I have chosen is:

Hello Springtime

Now it’s March, spring is just around the corner so along with Susi, Bleubeard & Elizabeth, I would like you to join in and say Hello to Springtime. You could include flowers, blossoms, new foliage, birds, birdsong, butterflies or any other nature on your designs or perhaps capture the changes in the season with sunshine and blue skies or even new beginnings as spring is a time of change!

For my background to depict springtime sunshine and blue skies, I scribbled Yellow and Aquamarine Spectrum Aqua markers on a blending mat, spritzed with water and pressed the mat onto the page. Then I stencilled a trellis design from Creative Expressions using Tea Dye, Frayed Burlap and Black Soot Distress Ink with a blending tool. Next I stamped a Music Sheet stamp from Woodware Craft Collection, a Script stamp and a Vintage Circle stamp both from Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink and painted some Pébéo white gesso using my finger on parts of the page to add some contrast.

I then die cut the “Hello Springtime” wording from some Tim Holtz design paper which I stamped using a blossom spray stamp from Stampendous and the black Archival Ink; the letters are stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium and once dry edged with black Uni Pin marker. Then I created the different springtime scenes which included: a little bird sitting on a branch and some feathers from Kaisercraft Anthology Collection with a Tim Holtz Pocket Card featuring Nest & Eggs; a pretty butterfly tag to which I had tied a piece of white thread; a Tim Holtz Pocket Card featuring trellis-work and yellow flowers and a little butterfly sticker from Kaisercraft; four clocks cut from a Tim Holtz Pocket Card, a tag from Kaisercraft Anthology collection which I tied another piece of white thread to and the Eiffel Tower from a die cut set. They are all edged with a Dark Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker, stuck in place using double-sided tape or a glue stick and accented with some pretty pink, blue, yellow and white die cut blossoms that we see at springtime. To finish the page, I added all the springtime words which are created using Tim Holtz idea-ology Label Letter Stickers stuck to some strips of a neutral coloured design paper from American Crafts.

I hope that you are inspired by this month’s Hello Springtime theme too and are able to join in the fun. I am really looking forward to visiting you and seeing all your wonderful springtime creations!

It has felt like spring the last couple of weeks as the weather has been unusually mild. This has meant we have had spring flowers appearing in our garden, birds visiting our bird feeders, blue skies and lots of sunshine. I’m not sure that it will last but it definitely felt like springtime to me (grin!).

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Art Journal Journey, 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 Vintage/Past Times challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my vintage styled springtime page.

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

• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Yellow, Aquamarine)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Frayed Burlap, Black Soot)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Vintage Circles FRS665, Sheet Music JGS111)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Script CS752)
• Stampendous! (Cling Blossom Spray CRP136)
• Docrafts X Cut A5 Die Cut Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503286)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Paper Stash (Halloween #TH93712)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Kaisercraft Collectables (Anthology CT938)
• The Range (Craft Tags CRO740)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• K & Company Susan Winget (Floral Die-Cut Cardstock)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Label Letters #TH93072)
• American Crafts Papers (DIY Shop 366665)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• Pritt Stick

I love us

I feel very blessed to have married my soulmate and to have spent many happy and fulfilling years together so with Valentine’s fast approaching I created this page for my dear hubby to say “I love us” (grin!).

I started by adding some pieces of old dictionary pages using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium, then I coloured the background using some Cadmium Yellow Liquitex Acyclic paint and some Pébéo white gesso. When the paint was dry, I stencilled a lattice pattern using some Scattered Straw Distress Ink and a blending tool. Then I used the stencil to stamp the lattice pattern using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and also applied some DecoArt white acrylic paint with a sponge through the same stencil. I die cut some wildflowers from paper by Tim Holtz using a Tim Holtz thinlet set with my Big Shot machine and stuck them to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. When the gel medium was dry I outlined them with a black Uni Pin Fine Line marker so they stood out more and then I stuck three pieces of pretty green lace vertically onto the page.

For the heart, I used a wooden heart tag which I covered in Emboss ink and Chunky Silver Stampendous Frantage embossing enamel. I used a heat gun to melt the embossing enamel to a smooth glossy finish and before the enamel had cooled fully, I imprinted it using a Serpentine Background stamp; being careful not to touch the enamel with my fingers as it gets super hot. I also covered the word “Love” which is a wooden embellishment with the same embossing enamel using the Emboss ink.

I tied a piece of green ribbon to the heart tag and arranged it with the “love” embellishment onto the page using Ranger Glossy Accents along with a vintage Tim Holtz Pocket card, a white doily and a metal decorative embellishment. To finish, I added two Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers which are outlined using a black Derwent marker; they say “I’m happiest when I’m with you” and “I love us”.

Me and my hubby are thankful for every day and always enjoy the time we have together, whether we are at home …

… making discoveries on our walks, like this pretty yellow sunflower that magically appeared on the beach front which is just around the corner from our house …

… or out and about like at this local beer festival (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 Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my appropriately coloured art journal page.

As this page captures love and romance, I’m joining the Love is in the Air challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

I’m happy to join the Your Hearts Desire challenge over at A Vintage Journey as I was inspired to create this romantic Mixed Media Style page for my hubby which includes hearts.

I’m also pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my romantic art journal page.

Don’t forget that you still have plenty of time to join our Romance 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:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow Medium)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Ground Espresso)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Tsukineko Emboss Embossing Stamp Pad (Clear)
• Stampendous Frantage Embossing Enamel (Chunky Silver)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflowers 661190)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Serpentine Background T-2773)
• The Pocket Oxford Dictionary
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Paper Stash (Halloween #TH93712)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Dovecrafts Premium Paper Doilies (Painted Blooms DCDLS010)
• Docrafts Papermania Adhesive Lace Trim (Botanicals PMA358334)
• The Works (Chalkboard Tags, 5 Embellishments, Wooden Craft Words)
• Thin Satin Ribbon (Green)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Romance

Over at Try it on Tuesday for the next two weeks our challenge is Romance. With it being February and Valentine’s Day soon, I hope that you are in the mood for Romance too, it would be great to see you there!

My Design Teamies have created some amazing pieces to inspire you so please pop over to our blog and take a look. Today my page is a vintage gothic style, designed with romantic hearts and a wire garland of red roses (grin!).

I started by covering the page with scraps of teabag, brown tissue paper and also white tissue paper which I had stamped whilst designing previous pages using either black or red ink; I often find stamping some images on tissue paper helps me position them on my pages easier and decide on the design before I stamp them directly onto the page. Then I stamped some lovely lace filigree hearts by Penny Black using black Archival Ink and I added some pieces of red and also black washi tape both of which had a rose design on them, and also some pieces of black decorative lace border tape. Next I covered the page with Pébéo white gesso and once dry I applied some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink, as well as Dark Sepia and Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush markers around the edges of the page using my finger to blend out the colour. I scribbled some Iced Rosé, Iced Currant and Iced Chai Faber-Castell Gelatos over the edges of the page too and then smudged the colour using my finger again which I wet with a baby wipe. Then I added some more white gesso to tone down the colours to give a worn and distressed look and stamped a Script stamp by Kaisercraft using Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and also Black Archival Ink. The word “Romance” is die cut from some pretty textured paper from a Halloween paper pad by Tim Holtz using a Docrafts alphabet Die set and my Big Shot machine. I edged the wording with a Black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker so it stood out more from the background and then cut two strips off either side of the die cut paper and arranged them all on the left-hand side of the page using a glue stick.

I also cut out a heart shape from the Tim Holtz paper and I added some more lace filigree hearts using the Penny Black stamp and back Archival Ink and stuck the paper heart in place using a glue stick. The left-hand side of the paper columns and heart are edged using a black Derwent Inktense pencil and then I arranged some rose garland wire over the top using Ranger Glossy Accents to stick it in place. To finish, I threaded some of the wire through a metal key and added it to my page.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this romantic Valentine’s dessert from Lytham Hall; it is so pretty with the white teacup which is filled with a chocolate cupcake and topped with pink icing and the dark chocolate wording! It almost looks too good to eat – Happy T day!

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:

As I included hearts as part of my design, I’m happy to join the Your Hearts Desire challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my romance inspired Vintage and Mixed Media Style page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Heart It! so I’m pleased to join this challenge too with the stamped and paper hearts on my page.

As my page is black, white and red I’m also joining the Black & White Plus One challenge over at Country View Challenges.

I’m also joining in the Add Some Red challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the red roses that I added to my page.

I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my romantic art journal page 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:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge)
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Iced Rosé, Iced Currant, Iced Chai)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B, Sanguine 188 B, Black 199)
• Derwent Inktense Pencil (Black 2200)
• Penny Black Stamp Set (Clearly In Love 30-009)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503286)
• Leftover pieces of stamped teabags and tissue paper
• Tim Holtz paper Stash (Halloween #TH93712)
• The Range (Rose Garland, Key Embellishments)
• Michael’s (Washi  Tape x 2)
• Poundland (Decorative Border Tape 77513)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Pritt Stick