Every heart sings a song

I created this shabby chic vintage page in my mini art journal to join a few of my favourite challenges and, with the birds that I included, to also remind you that there is still another week to join our Feathered Friends challenge over at Try it on Tuesday.

For the background, I cut a piece of Kraft Card and ran it through a Tim Holtz Botanicals embossing folder. Then I stuck it onto the page with a panel of wildflower design paper using Liquitex matte gel medium. I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top of the papers using my finger paying attention to highlight the embossed texture. When dry, I edged the page with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker smudging the ink with my finger. Then I added a piece of lace using double-sided tape between the two panels. I used a Garden Greens Thinlits set from Tim Holtz to die cut the foliage from some leftover mixed media paper that I had coloured with Mowed Lawn, Peeled Painted and Pine Needles Distress Inks. They were arranged onto the page with some white flowers and birds which were fussy cut from Kaisercraft stickers. To finish, I added the beautiful quote by “Plato” which was a Kaisercraft sticker that I cut to fit the page and edged with a Dark Sepia Big Brush Faber-Castell marker; it reads “Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back”.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my cuppa with a home-made Skinny Lemon and Blueberry cupcake; they are a very yummy summer treat – wishing you all a Happy T Day!

Hoping that you are 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.

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

• Docrafts Papermania (Mini Chipboard Album 15x15cm)
• Kraft Cardstock
• Sizzix 3D Texture Fades A6 Tim Holtz Alterations (Botanicals 662716)
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia)
• Dovecraft Creative Ribbon Sweet Paris (Lace DCCR24)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Garden Greens 661206)
• Leftover mixed media paper coloured green with Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles Distress Inks
• Home Bargains Special Occasions (Mini White Flowers)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheets (Cherry Tree Lane SS329, Pen & Ink SS360)

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 Alison from Words & Pictures; she has chosen Summer Countryside as her theme so I’m joining with my mini art journal page design with the summer botanicals, wildflowers, foliage and birds. Funkie and Frilly challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog with my design the embossed background, flowers and lace that I used on this shabby chic vintage page. Out With The Old And In With The New challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge; the old being the embossing folder, thinlits set, leftover coloured papers and flowers, and the new being the wildflower paper, birds, and lace. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #148 – Anything Goes with my pretty mini art journal page. LTSCB #147 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my botanical page.

Soar

Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Feathered Friends.

For this challenge, I had fun using my new Scribbly Birds in Flight stamp set by Dina Wakley. My three birds are soaring high in the sky looking down on the lush green countryside filled with pretty flowers.

To start, I stamped the three birds in flight using a stamp set by Dina Wakley and black Archival Ink. Then I painted the sky around the birds using Ultramarine Pale watercolour paints; I also used these Kuretake Watercolours to colour everything on my page except the birds. When dry, I painted the mountains and the countryside foreground using Sap Green, Dark Sap Green, Hooker’s Green and Burnt Sienna paint, blending and layering the colours together. The flowers were created using a Flower Field Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and were die cut from some mixed media paper. I coloured them using the Sap Green Light, Dark Sap and Hooker’s Green paint and when they had dried, I painted the flowers using Cadmium Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, Rose Madder, Colbalt Violet, Red, Ultramarine paint; they were stuck into place using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium.

For the birds, I wanted to try a new technique using clear gesso and marker pens so I covered the birds with a layer of clear gesso and left it to dry. This allowed me to smudge and blend the marker inks by applying the marker colour over the gesso and then smudging it with my finger; the markers were Tri-Blend Spectrum Noir and the colours were Burnt Orange Blend, Gold Brown Blend, Earth Brown Blend and Gold Yellow Blend. I finished the birds by adding eyes and more feather detail with a black Uni Pin Fine Line marker and a white Uniball gel pen. To finish, I added the quote which I stamped onto a Pocket Card by Tim Holtz using an alphabet stamp set from Dovecraft and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. Once stamped, I cut out the wording to fit the page design and stuck them in place using double-sided tape. The quote I used is by William Blake and reads “No bird soars to high, if it soars with his own wings”.

I hope that you are inspired to join our Feathered Friends challenge too, for more amazing inspiration from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies please pop over to Try it on Tuesday.

This page was inspired by the English countryside and reminded me of our walks in the Forest Of Bowland, which is an “area of outstanding natural beauty” located near to the Lake District.

On this particular walk, we passed through beautiful countryside and farmland, woodlands and lakes making our way to a summit called Nicky Nook.

From the summit there are spectacular views across Lancashire; our house is located somewhere on the left-hand side of this picture faraway in the distance by the sea (grin!).

As T Stands for T Day I’m sharing our refreshing iced water that we always enjoy on our walks – Happy T Day everyone!

Hoping that 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.

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

• Dina Wakley Media Cling Rubber Stamps (Scribbly Birds In Flight MDR47636)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Ultramarine Pale No:61, Sap Green Light No:51, Sap Green No:53, Hooker’s Green No:52, Burnt Sienna No:46, Cadmium Scarlet No:31, Lemon Yellow No:40, Rose Madder No:34, Cobalt Violet No:139, Red No:32, Ultramarine No:64)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Dies (Flower Field 665369)
• Daler-Rowney Mixed Media Paper
• Pébéo Clear Gesso
• Tri-Blend Spectrum Noir Markers (Burnt Orange Blend, Gold Brown Blend, Earth Borwn Blend, Gold Yellow Blend)
• UniPin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Ground Espresso)
• X-Press It! Double-sided tape

Challenges As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Alison from Words & Pictures; she has chosen Summer Countryside as her theme so I’m joining her with my summery countryside page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #149 – Anything Goes with my summery art journal page. LTCCB #60 – July Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my birds in flight summer page.

Hope

This time of year I always find myself thinking of friends both past and present, so my page today is inspired by friendships and the hope that “may your heart be filled with joy”!

I started by painting the background with purple and white acrylic paint and when dry I added some white gesso over the top using a brayer. Then I sprayed some White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray over the page and left it to dry. Next I added the two flower stickers which were from a Romance of Flowers Stickeroos sheet by Penny Black and then I layered some of the remanents stickers from the same sheet with some border stickers from Kaisercraft. The wording was from another Kaisercraft sticker sheet and I added some gold foil butterflies and gold border outline stickers. To finish, I splattered some black DecoArt acrylic paint over the page.

The background colour of my page reminded me of our Streptocarpus which was gifted to us by a dear friend (thank you so much); this plant has been flowering since April and doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon (grin!)

I hope 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.

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

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic (Dioxazine Purple)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray (White Linen)
• Penny Black Stickeroos (Romance of Flowers 10-209)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Bombay Sunset SS339, Christmas Edition SS346)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Straight Line Borders Gold, Butterflies Gold)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)

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 Alison from Words & Pictures; she has chosen Summer Countryside as her theme so I’m joining in the fun with my page detailing the hazy purple of summer sunsets and the flowers and butterflies that could be found in the countryside. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #147 – Anything Goes with my hope art journal page. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Lazy Days of Summer challenge with the summery purple sunset colour, flowers and butterflies. LTCCB #60 – July Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my summery page.

T Day – 8th Anniversary

Today’s page celebrates the 8th Anniversary of T Stands for Tuesday, where our wonderful hosts Bleubeard and Elizabeth ask us to share a drink related post each week.

I always have fun meeting up with the T Gang each Tuesday, thanks so much to our hosts and everyone for making it such a friendly and happy place – Happy T Day!

I started by covering the background with white gesso and leaving it to dry. Then I added Passion Fruit Faber-Castell Gelato to the page in small horizontal lines and used a baby wipe to smudge the colour over the page. I repeated the same technique using Red Cherry Faber-Castell Gelato and then I painted some white acrylic paint over the top.

For the tags, I created a masterboard using some mixed media paper which I coloured with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. Then I stamped and stencilled the number 8 over it using lots of different stamp sets and stencils. The tags were die cut using Tim Holtz Tag Collection Framelits and layered onto the page with the flowers and wording. All the white cardstock was recycled from an old anniversary card along with the fussy cut champagne flutes and “anniversary” wording; they were edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker before sticking them in place. The rest of the silver wording was die cut, using an Alphanumeric Label Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and the number 8 using a X-Cut die set, from some recycled card packaging. All the flowers were die cut using a Small Tattered Florals Thinlits set from Tim Holtz from the recycled white card, some red and pink linen textured cardstock and some of the masterboard that I created; they were layered together using gel medium and finished with gemstone centres.

I thought a glass of this ice cold pink prosecco, that you may remember from my birthday, fits the bill for our celebration and would be perfect served in the champagne glasses on my page – cheers and Happy 8th Anniversary this T Day!

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.

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

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Passion Fruit, Red Cherry)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Daler-Rowney Mixed Media Paper
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Aged Mahogany)
• Number 8 Stamps – Papermania (Alphamania PMA9071102), Docrafts Creative Essentials A5 stamp set (Folk Alphabet, Script Alphabet, Alpha Trad), Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Grunge Alphabet CMC008, Documented CMS226), Kaisercraft (Provincial CS243), Craft Sensations (Clear Stamps CR0274/19A1)
• Number 8 Stencils – Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892, 2 Piece Stencil Set – letters and numbers)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• Recycled Anniversary Card
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Cold Grey)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Pritt Stick
• Recycled silver metallic packaging
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Textured Finish)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Alphanumeric Label 664177, Small Tattered Florals 661806)
• Docrafts X-Cut Die Set (Folk Alphabet)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Docrafts Papermania (Adhesive Stones – Red)
• Hobbycraft (Rose Gem Stones)
• Mark Richards (Silver Metal Style #1981)

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #148 – Anything Goes with my journal page. LTSCB #147 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my celebration page. MIUCB #51 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Aperture challenge at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the different techniques I used to create this page too.

Peregrine Falcon

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

My mixed media page was inspired by the Peregrine Falcon that lives locally to us (grin!).

I started by tearing some feather designed paper into pieces and sticking them onto the page using a glue stuck. Then I coloured the rest of the page using Scattered Straw, Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo Distress Inks and applied some Pébéo white gesso over the page using a brayer. When dry, I stencilled a Distressed Sequins stencil from Tando Creative using the Distress Inks again.

The Peregrine Falcon image and other paper pieces were cut from a Stamperia Paper Pad and edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker before sticking them in place using double-sided tape.

I also used the Stamperia paper to create the wording which was embossed using a Typewriter embossing folder by Tim Holtz. I cut the letters out to create small tiles and then I coloured the letters using a Brown Grey Tri-Blend Spectrum Noir marker before sticking them in place.

To finish, I added the grungy metal embellishment which was stuck in place using glue dots.

For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste. To join our mixed media challenge all you need to do is use three different mediums on your projects; I hope that you are inspired to join us, it would be lovely to see you there!

We were lucky to see the Peregrine Falcon flying around near to where we live.

Peregrine falcons are fascinating birds, if your interested here are some facts about them:

• Peregrine falcons are the fastest creatures on the planet, reaching speeds of over 321 kph (200 mph) as they dive to catch their prey from a great height in a movement called a ‘stoop’.
• Tower blocks, bridges and cathedrals offer the perfect urban alternative to nesting on cliff tops, and pigeons and starlings provide a reliable source of food which we have in abundance here.
• Their nostrils guide shock waves of air to stop the high pressure damaging their lungs while they dive. A natural design so that inspired the design of the first jet engines!
• They have excellent binocular vision which is eight times better than that of a human so they are able to see prey from more than 3 km away.

I hope that 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.

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

• The Works (Paper Pad Sheets with Glitter)
• Pritt Stick
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Mini Brayer
• Tando Creative Stencil (Distressed Sequins)
• Stamperia Double Faced Sheets (Forest)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175B)
• X-Press It! Double-sided tape
• Tim Holtz Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades (Typewriter 664760)
• Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend marker (Brown Grey Blend BG9)
• The Works (Metal Embellishments)
• Stix2 glue dots

Challenges As well as Creative Artiste, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #145 – Anything Goes with my Peregrine Falcon page. Masculine challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my falcon art journal page. Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge and their I’m Feeling Like Royalty challenge with my page as the Peregrine Falcon was considered a bird of royalty back when falconry was practiced in ancient times.

Invisible crown

“Always wear your invisible crown” is such a powerful message; to me it means to maintain self confidence, believe in yourself and be aware of your own self worth. I also like the idea of wearing an invisible crown (grin!) … a symbolic meaning of strength, courage, and respect.

I included this wording on today’s grungy page with some other related positive affirmations – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the page with strips of decoupage papers using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso and Bright Aqua Green Liquitex acrylic paint over the top using a brayer. When dry, I stencilled some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink onto the page using a Shabby Harlequin stencil from Creative Expressions. I used black Archival Ink to stamp the birds and keys using a Craft Sensations stamp set and the birdcages, crowns and “always wear your invisible crown” wording using a Kaisercraft stamp set. Then I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt and white acrylic paint. The words, filigree diamond shapes and pink flowers were stickers from Kaisercraft which I edged using a black Faber-Castell marker before sticking them in place. To finish, I added a black oval frame to emphasis the central stamped wording.

With summer on its way, I’ve been making raspberry gin again and as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my gin (and Sprite) with the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

If you are interested, here’s the recipe:

• 400 g (14oz) Raspberries – or any fruit of your choice, maybe pineapple, blueberry, peach, strawberry, rhubarb
• 300g (10oz) Granulated Sugar – you can vary this depending on your taste
• 750 mll (25 US fl oz) Gin – a cheap brand such as supermarket own brand as these are not too flavoured

Add them all to a Kilner Jar (or similar). You need to ensure the sugar dissolves so make sure you shake the jar throughout the first day, it dissolves pretty quickly. Then put it in a dark place for 4 weeks, I tend to shake the jar every other day to muddle the fruit. It’s tempting to eat the fruit afterwards, perhaps on ice-cream, however, I tried it and it was far too potent! So I ended up forcing it through a sieve to add more flavour to the gin. One last tip – don’t be tempted to do half a recipe like I did as when you start drinking it you’ll find it goes pretty fast (grin!).

Hope that 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.

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

• Poundworld (Patch Paper DS9454)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Bright Aqua Green)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Shabby Harlequin)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Craft Sensations Clear Stamps (CRO274/19A)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Oh So Lovely CS2111)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Arcylic (Black)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• The Works (Frame Stickers)

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat this month and her Language theme with the empowering meaning behind the quote I added to my page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #144 – Anything Goes with my art journal page. LTSCB#145 – Anything Goes over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my empowering Invisible Crown page. Stecnil It challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the stencilling on my page. Don’t forget that you still have another week to join our Make it Feminine challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too!

Enjoy the beauty of becoming

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

All you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our mixed media challenge; I hope you are inspired to join us, it would be lovely to see you there!

I had fun recycling some corrugated packaging and lace as part of my mixed media design, and as the page emerged I thought that the wording seemed very appropriate too (grin!).  

I started by ripping pieces of corrugated card which I recycled from some packaging and sticking them onto the page with some strips of lace using Liquitex matte gel medium.

Then I covered the whole page with Pébéo white gesso and left it to dry. Next I added some Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and Bluebird Wendy Vecchi Blendable Dye Ink to the page; I did this by adding drops of ink from re-inker bottles and then spritzing with water, gradually building up the layers of colour. When dry, I applied Mowed Lawn Distress Ink and Prickly Pear Wendy Vecchi Blendable Dye Ink using the same technique but this time to the bottom part of the page. I left the page to dry overnight and then I stamped a Marble stamp from Kasiercraft over the whole page using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink. The flowers were from a Tim Holtz Botanical Layers pack and I used a Finnabair Sentiments sticker book for the wording which read “create”, “Enjoy the beauty of becoming” and “bloom”.

For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too.

The flowers on my page reminded me of these Bellis Perennis which are also known as English Daisies. They have pompom blooms that flower from February to May and are very popular as an alternative to traditional spring bedding plants.

They look so beautiful filling the flower beds in the gardens by the seafront where we live.

I hope that 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.

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

• Recycled corrugated card packaging
• Recycled lace
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tumbled Glass, Mowed Lawn, Hickory Smoke)
• Ranger Wendy Vecchi Bendable Dye Inks (Bluebird, Prickly Pear)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Marble CS293)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Layers (Botanical #TH93554)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Finnabair Sticker Book (Sentiments #964849)

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat this month and her Language theme with the wording I added to my page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #143 – Anything Goes with my recycled page. LTSCB#57 – May Anything Goes over at the Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my mixed media recycled page. Feminine challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and also at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the lace and flower design. MIUCB#49 – Anything Goes + Layering over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the layering techniques that I used to create this page – recycled packaging and lace, gesso and inks with the stamping.

Parisian Café

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges where I’m sharing this mini art journal page for this month’s We will always have Paris challenge.

I had fun creating this grungy Parisian Café page using a new Andy Skinner stamp and some French Fancy Mixed Media Transfers that I’ve had in my craft stash for a while (grin!).

I started by covering the chipboard background with some white gesso and then I used some sandpaper to distress the surface by rubbing it horizontally across the page. I sprayed the page using White Linen Dylusions Spray and Pumice Stone Distress Oxide Spray and left it to dry. Next I stamped a Grunge Wallpaper stamp by Andy Skinner using a Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad and covered the ink with Broken China Distress Glaze which I melted using a heat gun. I edged the page using a black Faber-Castell marker and smudged the ink with my finger. The Eiffel Tower was fussy cut from some design paper and was stuck in place using a glue stick. I added some of the French Fancy Mixed Media transfers by Andy Skinner and then two oval glass embellishments of a butterfly and some roses, which finished the page.

I hope that you are enjoying our We always have Paris challenge over at Country View Challenges too; it would be lovely to see you there, and if you do join us then you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts website too (grin!).

This challenge reminded me of the Parisian Cafés that lined the streets of Paris and of course the Eiffel Tower – c’est magnifique!

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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 mini art journal page:

• Ranger Dylusions Ink Sprays – White Linen
• Ranger – Tim Holtz® – Distress® Oxide® Spray – Pumice Stone
• Creative Expressions – Rubber Stamp By Andy Skinner – Grunge Wallpaper
• VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad
• Tim Holtz® – Distress Embossing Glaze – Broken China
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Andy Skinner Mixed Media Transfers (French Fancy CEAST002)
• Docrafts Papermania (Mini Chipboard Album 15x15cm)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Travel Memories)
• Pritt Stick
• Oval Glass Embellishments
• Stix2 glue dots

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat this month and her Language theme with the French language on my page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #143 – Anything Goes with my Paris page. LTSCB#154 – Anything Goes over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my mini art journal page. Feminine challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and also at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my pretty Paris page.

Double-headed Tulips

As you may remember every year we plant tulips bulbs in our garden and last November we planted some double-headed tulips; they have the most amazing flowers and inspired this page (grin!).

I started by covering the background with a thin layer of Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress Ink, which was painted onto the page like watercolour. Then I stencilled a Shabby Harlequin mini stencil from Creative Expressions using the Forest Moss Distress Ink. Next I covered the background using white gesso and when dry, I used the same stencil to add some Mowed Lawn Distress Ink; the layers of gesso and ink gave the background a lovely translucency. I used the Mowed Lawn ink again to stamp some grungy dots around the stencilled areas using a Spritz & Speckles stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps. The tulips were fussy cut from an old flower book and they were stuck in place using a glue stick. To finish, I added the wording “Bloom where you are planted” which was a sticker from Kaisercraft and lots of sparkly green dots which are gel stickers.

Here are the amazing double-headed tulips in our garden; the flowers are huge and look so bright with their red and yellow petals.

This double-headed tulip is a mixture of the two colours, so pretty!

In fact, all the spring flowers are looking beautiful in our garden (grin!).

A little bit of our garden made its way into my craft room, and as T Stands for Tuesday I’ve included my cup of Ceylon Tea too – 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.

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mowed Lawn, Forest Moss)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Shabby Harlequin)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Spritz & Speckles)
• Recycled images from a Garden Flower book
• Pritt Stick
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Full Bloom SS365)
• Home Bargains (Gel Stickers – green)

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat this month and her Language theme with my tulips and wording on my page speaking to the language of flowers (grin!). Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #143 – Anything Goes with my spring flower page. MIUCB#49 – Anything Goes + Layering over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the layering techniques of the inks, stencilling, gesso and stamping that I used to create the background of this page. Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my tulip page too. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Feminine theme with my pretty flower page.

Inspired by Eileen

I’m so pleased to be able to join Art Journal Journey one last time this month, where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to be host. It’s heart breaking that she passed away last month shortly after her heart surgery; she is greatly missed and I’d like to say a big thank you to the AJJ team for allowing us to remember her throughout the month by joining this challenge.

I thought that it was fitting that my page was inspired by Eileen and her kindness, she was truly a lovely person!

Eileen and myself always enjoyed discussing products and techniques together, and she loved the Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint that I used on my pages so much so that she bought some for herself, so in her memory I used this paint to cover the background on my page. I also applied some white gesso to the background and when dry, I added some honeycomb patterns using a stencil from Creative Expressions and Antique Linen Distress Ink. Then I stamped the page using a Butterfly Post stamp from Stampendous and some Vintage Photo Distress Archival Ink. The painted paper pieces and the hydrangea image were kindly gifted to me by Eileen as part of some happy T Day mail that she sent to me. The butterflies and wording were stickers from Kaisercraft and finished the page; the wording reads “The language of  friendship is not words but meanings” by Henry David Thoreau, “memories” and “blessed”.

Here are the goodies, including the ones I used on this page, that Eileen kindly sent to me. She was such an inspiration and I miss her support, encouragement, camaraderie and friendship very much!

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.

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

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Honeycomb)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen)
• Stampendous! Cling Mounted Rubber Stamp (Butterfly Post)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Vintage Photo)
• Happy Mail from Eileen – Painted paper pieces and hydrangea image
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)

Challenges As well as Art Journal Journey, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #142 – Anything Goes with my page. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Add A Quote challenge with the friendship quote by Henry David Thoreau that I added to my page. LTSCB#144 – Spring Forward over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog as the blues and yellows with the blossom remind me of spring. Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my memory page.