Tag Archives: Ranger

Sweet & Cute

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Using up leftovers is one of my crafting goals this year, so I used lots of leftover papers and die cuts on this page to create homes for these sweet and cute critters (grin!).

Don’t forget that there is still another week to join our Oh So Cute challenge over at Try it on Tuesday; we are so looking forward to seeing your cute creations!

I started by covering the background with some colourful leftovers papers that have been sitting on my craft desk since Christmas – eek! They were stuck in place, like all the paper elements, using a glue stick. As the papers were quite brightly coloured, I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a brayer.

When dry, I added strips of bunting washi tape that my sister had kindly gifted me. The wording and stars were stickers from Craft Sensations and I outlined them all using a black Uni Pin marker so they stood out more.

Next I raided my stash of leftover die cuts and created little scenes with them for those cute critters which were foam stickers.

This malt loaf may not be cute but it is sweet (grin!). I bought it as a treat, when I was food shopping for my mum and dad, from our local bakery and it was so very yummy!

If you aren’t familiar with malt loaf, it’s a type of sweet leavened bread made with malt extract which originated in Scotland in the United Kingdom. It has a chewy sticky texture, and often contains fruits such as raisins. It’s usually eaten sliced and spread with butter.

We enjoyed it (sliced with butter) for our elevenses and as T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing it today with my cuppa – Happy 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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

  • Docrafts Ultimate Die Cut & Paper Pack (Folk Christmas PMA160933)
  • Pritt Stick
  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Bunting Washi Tape
  • Craft Sensation (Creative paper Collection CRO458/GE)
  • Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
  • Leftover die cut pieces – Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Fall Foliage 66955, Garden Greens 661206, Holiday Greens 658759, Funky Florals #1 662700), Papers (Tim Holtz idea-ology Paper Stash – Halloween #TH93712, Paper Bundle from local craft shop – green heart paper and metallic linen textured cardstock, Recycled Notepad Paper, White cardstock), Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron, Scattered Straw, Rusty Hinge)
  • Hobby World Foam Craft Stickers (Forest Friends)
Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the metallic linen textured papers that were used for some of the leaves surrounding the cute hedgehog.

I’m pleased to join the Anything But A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my art journal page.

I’m happy to join Paperbabe Stamps and their #138 – Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page too.

I’m also pleased to join the Favourite Technique challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, as collage, using white gesso to push back the background colour and die cutting are some of my favourite techniques.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their #46 – Anything Goes + Fancy Fold challenge with my art journal page; the different techniques I used to create this page included collage, using white gesso to push back the background colour and die cutting.

Miss You

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Today’s page was created in memory of my dearest friend; I found myself thinking of her as it was her birthday this week. She passed away two year’s ago after battling ovarian cancer, she was a shining light and I miss her very much!

I started by painting some gold metallic paint over the background and then I stamped a Serpentine stamp from Art Impressions using the same paint and some Black Soot Distress Ink. I recycled one of the papers that I had tested inks and stamps on; this time the paper had black and gold stamping on it so I cut it into pieces and stuck them into place using a glue stick.

I edged paper pieces and also the page using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker smudging the ink with my finger which was fun. All the different words were added using rub-on transfers and I arranged some gold sparkly flower and circle Glitterations stickers which added some lovely texture and finished the page.  

Thinking of my dear friend bought back so many happy memories; here she is, on the far left, the year before she passed when we were celebrating our friend’s wedding (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:

  • Poundland Metallic Acrylic Paint (Gold)
  • Art Impressions Wood Mounted Stamp (Serpentine Background T2773)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
  • Old paper pieces with gold and black stamping
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
  • UHU Stic
  • Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Spring Sentiments #ROY506, Motivate Sentiments #ROY510)
  • Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Tiny Text #TH93695)
  • Docrafts Papermania Glitterations (Gold Flowers ANT8181020, Gold Circle Frames ANT8181028)
Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the gold elements on this page.

I’m joining the LTSCB #142 – Love is … remembering dearest friends so I’m joining the Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Miss You art journal page.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Add Some Texture challenge with the texture from stamping the acrylic paint and Glitterations stickers.

I’m also pleased to join the Favourite Technique challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, as collage and edging the paper pieces by smudging ink with my finger are some of my favourite techniques.

I’m happy to join Paperbabe Stamps and their #138 – Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page too.

It’s cold, let’s cuddle

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Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Oh So Cute.

These really cute owls were recycled from a Christmas card and with all the cold weather we’ve been having of late they are sat in a snowy wonderland. I thought the wording was cute too, it reads “It’s cold, let’s cuddle”.

I hope you’ll join us with your cute creations too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by colouring the background using Bluebird Wendy Vecchi Blendable Ink from Ranger. When dry, I splattered the page with white acrylic paint and left it to dry.

It’s one of my goals this year to recycle and use up any leftovers from previous pages, so I was pleased to recycle these cute owls which were fussy cut from the Christmas card and stuck into place using a glue stick. I arranged them with some white foliage die cuts that were leftover from last year’s Happy January page. The foliage was decorated using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker, a silver metallic pen, some Icicle Stickles from Ranger and also some Inkylicious Fluffy Puffy Stuff which added the lovely texture. The Fluffy Puffy Stuff was a fun product to use as it’s applied and then heated with a heat gun which turns it all puffy and 3-dimensional. The snowflakes were leftover too, having been previously die cut from different patterned papers and white cardstock; they were arranged onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium.

For more Oh So Cute inspiration, please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies (grin!).

So far this month, it’s been cold and we’ve had quite a few snow flurries; I was surprised one morning to find it snowing so I took this photo out of my craft room window – brrrr!

As T Stands for Tuesday and it’s cold outside, I’m sharing our hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows, and also some yummy lebkuchen – 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:

  • Ranger Wendy Vecchi Blendable Ink (Bluebird)
  • Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
  • Recycled Christmas Card
  • Pritt Stick
  • Leftover foliage pieces – Sizzix Thinlits Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206, Holiday Greens 658759, Woodlands 660978), White cardstock, Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233), Script Metallic Pen (Silver), Ranger Stickles (Icicles), Inkylicious (Fluffy Puffy Stuff)
  • Stix2 glue dots
  • Leftover Snowflakes – Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Paper Snowflakes Mini 661599), Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (falling Snowflakes 1792e), The Works (Cutting Dies – Snowflake Garland), Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE), White Cardstock, Poundland Design Paper Pad (Purple Swirls)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Add Some Texture challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the snowy 3D texture on my page.

I’m joining LTCCB #55 – February Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my cute page.

I’m also joining in the fun over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog and their LTSCB #145 – Love is … all about cuddling your partner when it’s cold as I’ve depicted here on this cute owl page.

To my Valentine

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As it’s Valentine’s Day this weekend, today’s page is To My Valentine – Happy Valentine’s Day!

I started by covering the page with some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink using a blending tool and then I sprayed some White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray over the top.

When dry, I splattered the Picked Raspberry and White Linen inks over the page making sure that I dried each of the inks with my heat gun to stop them blending into the background too much. Next I stamped a couple of Clearly In Love stamps from Penny Black over the background using Lilac Roses Memento Ink.

I used an Organic Thinlits die cut from Tim Holtz to cut some recycled gold paper, arranging them around the page using Liquitex matte gel medium; I used a new technique for this which involved applying the gel medium to the back of the die cut pieces, placing them and then dabbing them down onto the page using a piece of tissue paper which removed the excess gel medium beautifully. I added the cherub heart image and some small hearts that I had cut from the gold paper and some burgundy cardstock using a paper punch. Some pearl gems and a satin ribbon bow finished the page.

Don’t forget that you still have time to join our Falling in Love challenge over at Try it on Tuesday; it would be lovely to see you there!

Me and my hubby would usually be volunteering at our local Beer Festival this weekend which for obvious reasons has been cancelled this year. An online festival has been arranged instead so we’ll joining in the fun and drinking some of our own home-brewed beer. Here we are at last year’s festival – wishing you all a very Happy Valentine’s 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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry)
  • Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray (White Linen)
  • Penny Black Stamp Set (Clearly In Love 30-009)
  • Tsukineko Memento Ink (Lilac Roses)
  • Recycled gold paper
  • Tim Holtz Sissix Thinlits (Organic 664153)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Cherub heart image and burgundy cardstock
  • X-Press It! double-sided tape
  • Heart Punch – thank you CJ!
  • Pearl Gem Stickers
  • Satin Ribbon
  • Stix2 glue dots
Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the gold die cut and punched pieces on my page.

I’m joining the LTSCB #142 – Love is … challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my love-themed art journal page.

With the pink, red and white colours, hearts and roses that I included on my paper-crafted art journal page, I’m also pleased to be able to join #181 – Photo Inspiration over at Time Out Challenges.

Hello Spring

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I’m thrilled to have joined the wonderfully talented Design Team over at Country View Challenges and today I’m pleased to share my second project for our First Signs of Spring challenge.

I would like to say a special thank you to Susan for the lovely introduction today over at Country View Challenges and also to the Design Team for their warm and friendly welcome (grin!).

I really enjoyed creating this mini art journal page with the little bunnies, pretty butterflies and colourful blossom. I used a Sizzix Bunny Scene Thinlits die set which is a great design for both journaling and cards and it was so easy to use.

For the background, I covered the chipboard page with two coats of white gesso and then two coats of Speckled Egg Distress Paint. I applied some white gesso over the top using a brayer and for the grass I painted Twisted Citron Distress Paint along the bottom of the page. When dry, I rubbed a baby wipe through a Waves stencil from Creative Expressions which removed some of the paint, leaving a lighter mark in the shape of the stencil. I splattered the page using white gesso and the two Distress Paints, and left it to dry. Then I applied Vintage Photo Distress Archival Ink around the edges.

The Bunny Scene and butterflies were die cut from some white linen texture cardstock using the Sizzix Thinlits set and my Big Shot machine. I used one of my favourite techniques to create the wood effect on the tree using Distress Inks and gel medium; I dragged Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso stamp pads over the tree and then I painted gel medium over the top, keeping the ink and brush strokes flowing vertically up the tree trunk and along branches to mimic the wood grain.

For the bunnies, I masked their tails so that they stayed white and I coloured them using the Tea Dye and Vintage Photo inks. I used a black marker and white gel pen for their eyes.

For the blossom, leaves, grass and flowers I used the Bunny Scene Thinlit again; they were cut from some linen textured cardstock that I had coloured green, yellow, pink and purple using Distress Inks (see ink colours listed below). After cutting them out they were stuck in place, like all the elements on the page, using gel medium.

I used the same cardstock that I had coloured to create the triangles for the bunting and an Alphanumeric Label Thinlits set from Tim Holtz for the white cardstock letters. The bunting triangles were arranged over some waxed thread using glue dots. To finish, I added some pearl gems to the white butterflies and stuck them in place.

I hope that you are enjoying our First Signs of Spring 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!).

I also want to thank you for your lovely comments and wishes of congratulations last week when I joined the Country View Challenges Design Team with my first project. I’m so looking forward to sharing my creations with you, visiting your blogs and being inspired by your projects too!

I love this bunny scene and the butterflies reminded me of the ones in my craft room (grin!).

You can see the butterflies here as they fly above my craft desk; I was surprised how tidy it looks, my hubby will tell you that my craft room isn’t normally this tidy (double grin!).

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.

The chipboard mini art journal album, Bunny Scene Thinlits die set, Distress Paints and Creative Expressions Stencil that I used on this page were all Christmas presents – yay (grin!).

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the Groundhog Day over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I used a technique that’s an old favourite of mine to create the tree wood grain and my Distress Inks are my preference when it come to adding colour, I use them again and again.

I’m joining LTCCB #55 – February Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my Happy Spring chipboard page.

I’m also joining MIUCB #46 – Anything Goes + Fancy Fold over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the fun stencilling and wood grain techniques that I used to create this page.

I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month, I’m being a bit cheeky and hoping the heavy metal rings holding my book pages together which are an integral part of my Happy Spring page (15x15cm in size) photo allows me to join in the fun.

May all your wishes come true

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It’s time for our first challenge of the year over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, this is a monthly challenge and as always the theme is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I had fun creating this mixed media page using my favourite Frost Fairy stamp from Paperbabe Stamps; she seems to be casting a spell – may all your wishes come true!

I started by applying black DecoArt acrylic paint to the edges of the page and blending it towards the centre. When dry, I applied the gold stars over the top using Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad, a Sparkles stencil by Tim Holtz and Gold Ranger embossing powder. The centre of the page was coloured using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the wording was created using foam letter stickers.

The Frost Fairy from Paperbabe Stamps was stamped using black Archival Ink onto some mixed media paper. Then I coloured her using Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers; the dress was coloured using Green Turquoise Blend, the ribbon using Yellow Gold Blend, her hair using Dark Red Blend, her skin using a Fair Skin Blend marker, her lips using Pale Pink Blend, her eyes using True Blue Blend and her wings using Iced Grey Blend. I also added more detail using a black Uni Pin fine line marker and white Uniball gel pen. Then I cut her out and added the Gold Ranger embossing powder using a Versamark Watermark Pen to create the stars. She was stuck in place using a glue stick which finished the page.

All you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge. For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

I was reminded of this beautiful glass angel that we bought when we visited Prague, there is room to place a tealight behind her and being made from glass she looks so delicate and pretty (grin!).

I hope 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 these ATCs:

  • DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
  • Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Sparkles THS132)
  • Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
  • Ranger Embossing Powder (Gold)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
  • Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (MLD Frost Fairy)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Spectrum Noir TriBlend Markers (Green Turquoise Blend, Yellow Gold Blend, Dark Red Blend, Fair Skin Blend, Pale Pink Blend, True Blue Blend, Iced Grey Blend)
  • Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
  • Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
  • Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Pen)
  • Pritt Stick
  • Simply Creative Alphabet & Number Stickers (Glitter SCSTK025)
Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the golden stars that I included on my page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Groundhog Day over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I couldn’t resist using my Frost Fairy stamp and TriBlends again (you may remember on my Believe page that I created last month) and of course the background may look familiar too, it’s from an ATC that I created in December, I just had to create it on a bigger scale (grin!).

I’m also pleased to join the #136 – Patterns challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the pattern of stencilled stars on my page.

I’m also joining MIUCB #46 – Anything Goes + Fancy Fold over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different techniques I used; I’m still perfecting my colouring and blending techniques using the TriBlend markers.

Falling in love

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Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Falling in love.

I’m celebrating falling in love with my romantic shabby chic page using a gorgeous Shabby Chic paper from Studio Light and some very delicate green voile butterflies that my sister kindly gifted me for Christmas (grin!). I hope you like it and are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

Keeping the background colours soft and elegant, I started by lightly painting some Rose Madder, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre and Turquoise blue Kuretake watercolours onto the page. Then I used a Lace stencil from Tim Holtz to apply some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink and a Moroccan Stencil from Creative Expressions to apply some Speckled Egg Distress Ink; both inks were applied using a blending tool. Next I stamped a Gothic Book stamp from Finnabair, which is one of my favourite stamps, and also a delicate Floral Icons stamp from Docrafts using Toffee Crunch Memento Ink.

I cut the Shabby Chic paper to create the different paper pieces including some tags which I die cut using a Tag Collection Framelits die set from Tim Holtz. They were all edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then I arranged them onto the page using double-sided tape. I used Kaisercraft stickers for the wording and I tied some green thread to the tags to match the colour and delicate nature of the butterflies. The metal copper embellishments were held in place using Ranger Glossy Accents; they included a framed picture of the Tower of Pisa, a heart and a love letter envelope.

I used glue dots to stick the delicate green voile butterflies in place and then I added some sparkly green gemstones to the butterflies, metal embellishments and paper pieces which finished the page.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful Falling in Love creations from my Design Teamies too (grin!).

We love Italy and have visited Pisa whilst travelling to Tuscany; the Tower of Pisa was a sight to behold with its four-degree lean which is due to unstable foundations.

As T Stands for Tuesday, here are a couple of glasses Aperol Spritz; it’s a refreshing drink that we always enjoy whilst in Italy! Aperol is an alcoholic Italian aperitif which is bitter in flavour. In this case it has been mixed with prosecco and a splash of soda water then served with ice and a slice of orange – Happy 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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

  • Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Rose Madder, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Turquoise Blue)
  • Tim Holtz Layering Stencil (Lace THS034)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry, Speckled Egg, Vintage Photo)
  • Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan)
  • Finnabair Clear Stamp (Gothic Book #966966)
  • Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Floral Icons DCE907123)
  • Tsukineko Memento Ink (Toffee Crunch)
  • Studio Light 12×12 Paper (Shabby Chic SCRAPSC03)
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
  • X-Press It! double-sided tape
  • Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Everlasting SS376)
  • Guterman Thread (Col. 763)
  • The Works (Metal Framed Embellishments)
  • Crafter’s Companion Parisian Collection (Metal Charms S-PAR-CHAR)
  • Ranger Glossy Accents
  • Green Voile Butterflies
  • Stix2 glue dots
  • Hero Arts Gemstones (Green & Red CH120)
Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the metal embellishments that I included on my page.

I’m so happy to join in the fun over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog and their So Delicate challenge with my delicate and romantic shabby chic page.

I’m joining the LTSCB #142 – Love is … challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my love-themed art journal page.

I’m also pleased to be able to join Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Love and/or Hearts challenge as my romantic page contains both.

I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too.

First Signs of Spring at Country View Challenges

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I’m so excited and honoured to have joined the wonderfully talented Design Team over at Country View Challenges . It’s such an inspirational blog and being part of this team is a dream come true – thanks so much for your warm and friendly welcome!

At Country View Challenges our challenge for February is First Signs of Spring, which is being hosted this month by the lovely Miriam.

I love celebrating the different seasons and creating this blossom and birdsong art journal page was so uplifting (grin!).

When I thought of birdsong, I knew that I had to use these beautiful images from my new Forest Paper Pad by Stamperia; this included the forest panel on the left hand side of the page, the pretty bird tag and the square nest image. They were cut out and edged with a Dark Sepia marker and/or some Black Soot Distress Ink. To make them look more Spring-like, I added additional colours by painting Distress Inks over parts of the images; it’s important not to add too much water when doing this otherwise you could ruin the image. I used Mowed Lawn and Twisted Citron ink to add more vibrancy to the green areas of the forest panel and to the bird’s feathers, and also to add green leaves to the bare trees and colour the leaves on the nest image. I painted some Mustard Seed ink to add more vibrancy to the yellow feathers of the bird and also to add some colour to the nest. Then finally I painted the eggs using Speckled Egg ink and left them all to dry.

For the background, I coloured the page with splashes and drips of Hickory Smoke, Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress Ink. I did this by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page.

Then I brayered some white gesso over the top to push the colours into the background more and then splattered the page with white acrylic paint. I stencilled dots vertically down the page using a Halftone Layering Stencil from Tim Holtz and Ranger Crackle Paste; this is the first time I have used this paste and it was so easy to apply with a palette knife – I love the results (grin!).  

Next I stuck the Stamperia paper pieces in place using double-sided tape. Then I created the blossoms and leaves using Tim Holtz Thinlits and some white linen card stock which I had coloured using Distress Inks. The blossoms were coloured with Mustard Seed and Fossilised Amber ink and die cut using a Tattered Florals Thinlit set. The leaves using Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron and Forest Moss Distress Ink and cut using a Garden Greens Thinlits set. After shaping the flower petals and adding a gold pearl to the centre of each flower, I arranged them onto the page using glue dots. To finish, I added the “blossom” and “birdsong” wording which was created from some Field Notes Ephemera by Tim Holtz, an alphabet stamp set and black Archival Ink.

For more inspiration you’ll find some amazing First Signs of Spring creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you are inspired to join us too, and if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use at Country View Crafts (grin!).

The birds in our garden have been very active of late. We’ve even seen the Great Tits that are on my page, but we have noticed that this pair of Coal Tits visit our bird feeders more frequently.

This made me smile, can you think of a good caption for this photo? Maybe the bird is saying “Hello, is anyone there?” or “It’s really dark in here” (grin!).

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 art journal page:

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the #136 – Patterns challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the stencilled lines of dots that are on my page.

I’m joining MIUCB #46 – Anything Goes + Fancy Fold over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different techniques I used, including the fun way that I coloured the paper images so they became more Spring-like.

I’m also happy to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page too.

I also pleased to be able to join in the fun at Love to Craft Challenge Blog and enter my spring blossom and birdsong page in their LTCCB #55 – February Anything Goes challenge.

So Delicate at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

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I’m so pleased and honoured to be Guest Designer over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog for their So Delicate challenge.

Jenny is hosting, here’s what she has to say about this challenge:
“Although it’s not always evident in my projects, I have a real passion for delicate laces, fragile flowers, fine stitching, intricate artwork and exquisite architecture. For this challenge create something delicate or a vintage/shabby chic project that features delicate things in it.”

I enjoyed using different techniques and mediums to create this delicate page starting with the delicately painted background. I covered the background with water first and then added Kuretake watercolours over the top using a paintbrush; the colours I used were Ultramarine Pale, Yellow Ochre, Sap Green and a mixture of Black and White.

The elegant lace flower heads were stamped using one of my favourite stamps from Carabelle Studio and black Archival Ink. The flower heads were coloured using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and then I added lots of sparkle using some Silver Stickles from Ranger.

For the wording and butterflies, I coloured some white tissue paper using Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks. I did this by stamping the ink pads onto a blending mat, spritzing with water and pressing the tissue paper over the top. When dry, I die cut the letters for the wording using Alphanumeric Label Thinlits set and the butterflies using Springtime Sidekick Thinlits set from Tim Holtz.

I glued the wording onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium which was a bit fiddly as the letters were so fine; it reads “be still and listen, the earth is singing”. To finish, I arranged the butterflies around the page using some glue dots. I love how the tissue paper butterflies and wording look so fragile and delicate (grin!).

Thanks so much to The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog  for having me as Guest Designer! I hope that you are inspired by the So Delicate challenge too and are able to join in the fun (grin!).

There are so many delicate things to observe in nature and as I live by the sea, my watercolour background was inspired by this sea view with its pale colours and soft lighting; this was taken whilst walking along the beach near our house .

The lace flower heads, touches of green and pretty butterflies on my page were inspired by our garden. It reminded me of all the Painted Lady butterflies that visited last summer; here are a couple on the lavender (grin!).

I hope that you’re 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:

  • Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Ultramarine Pale, Yellow Ochre, Sap Green, Black, White)
  • Carabelle Studio Art Stamp (Dans la nature, il y a … SA60175
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
  • Ranger Stickles (Silver)
  • Recycled white tissue paper
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed, Chipped Sapphire)
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlit (Alphanumeric Label 664177)
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Sidekick Thinlit (Springtime 662711)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Stix2 glue dots
Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like it The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog , as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge as I used one of my favourite flower stamp sets.

As I used my favourite Carabelle Studio stamp set to create the lace flowers on my page, I’m also pleased to be able to join Stamping Sensations and their Favourite Stamps challenge too.

I’m also joining the Beautiful Blooms challenge over at the Allsorts Challenge with the pretty sparkly flowers on my page.

I’m happy to join in the LTSCB #141 – Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my delicate nature page.

I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page too.

I’m joining the MIUCB #45 – Anything Goes + Bleaching challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my page too.

Frosty Winter

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As we live by the sea we don’t get many frosty mornings, but we have seen both frost and snow this month which inspired this frosty winter page.  

I started by recycling a piece of kitchen towel which I had used to mop up blue inks by tearing it into pieces and sticking them in place using some Liquitex matte gel medium; I used the wet gel medium to reactivate the inks which gave some of the white areas a slight bluish tinge. Next I arranged the pretty blue flower images and wording which were from a Paper Collection by Craft Sensations; the wording reads “A beautiful thing is never perfect”.

I continued the frosty theme by adding some glittery silver snowflakes, some Silver Ranger Stickles and also some round blue gems using Ranger Glossy Accents which finished the page.

As we walked along the promenade by the beach, we were surprised to still see a thick frost still lingering in the shadows behind the wall. The jagged edges inspired me to arrange the square corners of the images/wording diagonally across the page.

The flower and plant images that I included on my page were inspired by the frosty silhouette of the palm tree that we found on the slate in our front garden one morning – so amazing (grin!).

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:

  • Recycled kitchen towel that was used to mop up Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray (After Midnight), Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Speckled Egg) , DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE)
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
  • X-Press It! double-sided tape
  • Docrafts Create Christmas Glitterations (Snowflakes – Silver PMA818917)
  • Hobbycraft Decorative Embellishments (Blue Round Gems)
  • Ranger Glossy Accents
Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge this month as seeing the snow and frost is always one of my favourite things

I’m so pleased to join the Squares Challenge at Country View Challenges with the square of wording on my page.

I’m happy to join The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog and their So Delicate challenge with the delicate wispy edges of the kitchen roll background and pretty snowflakes.

I’m also joining the Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the frosty background I created.

I’m pleased to join the MITCB #45 – Anything Goes + Bleaching challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my frosty page too.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their We’re On A Roll challenge with the round blue gems on my page.

Don’t forget that you still have over a week to join our Winter Blues challenge at Try it on Tuesday too; it would be lovely to see you there!