It’s been a while …for Stamps & Stencils

Hello everyone, I’m so excited to be over at Stamps & Stencils as Guest Designer for their It’s been a while… challenge this month. Sue is the host for this challenge and kindly provided the following brief:

Being creative often leads you in different directions and sometimes it isn’t until you start that you know where you are heading. For this challenge I thought that as we’ve not done it for a while it would be good to let your creative spirit wander and have a theme of Anything Goes. Your project must be mixed media and include stamping and/or stencilling but apart from that it’s up to you !

I am often inspired by things I see and do, so my art journal page is inspired by rainbow colours and sunshine to mark the end of summer. Here’s a sneak peek of the page I have created for this challenge, the full version can be found here at Stamps & Stencils along with my tutorial.

Thanks so much to the team at Stamps & Stencils for having me as Guest Designer this month. I hope that you are inspired by their It’s been a while… challenge too and are able to join in the fun!

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:

• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Boysenberry, Snow Cone, Lemon, Watermelon, Guava, Buttercream, Earl Grey)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• DecoArt Acrylic Paint (Black, White)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Finnabair Clear Stamp (Sponge #961909)
• Gummpanian Stamps (Collage Numbers 14030103, Worn Rings 2 11050601)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Ranger Dina Wakley Media Stencil (Wheels MDS45588)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO135)
• Royal & Langnickel rub-on transfers (Motivate Sentiments #ROY510)
• Homemade decoupage paper (white tissue paper stamped using a Sheet Music stamp from Woodware Craft Collection and black Archival Ink)
• Book pages – Pear’s Cyclopedia 2007-2008 Edition
• Hobbycraft Decorative Tapes (Assorted Black & White 5971481007)
• The Works (3 Washi Tapes)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

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Journey, Destination and Adventure

This week we have had family staying over, so we have been on journeys, travelled to destinations and had a few adventures along the way too (grin!). So I created this page to remember their visit and capture our time together; the background depicts the ripples of the water at high tide on our walks, the car reminds me of our outing to a local car show, the natural colours and pretty flower serves as a reminder of all the nature we saw on our walks as we walked their dog three times a day, and then the maps, clocks, compass and postage stamps to remember our days out and adventures exploring new places.

I started by applying Pébéo white gesso with a brayer and then I added dots of black DecoArt acrylic paint and also Bright Aqua Green Heavy Body Liquitex paint over the top and used the brayer to create the wonderful texture. When the paint was dry, I stencilled a large clock on the right-hand side of the page using black Archival Ink and a blending tool. I stamped some Vintage Circles from Woodware Craft Collection using black Archival Ink and then I applied Rusty Hinge and Ground Espresso Distress Ink through a stencil by Andy Skinner using a blending tool. The white circles are stamped using a cardboard tube and white DecoArt acrylic paint, I used the Andy Skinner stencil and Distress Inks again to pattern the inside of the circles and defined the edges more using a white Uniball gel pen and a black Uni Pin marker. Next I added three pieces of washi tape horizontally across the page and then stamped lots of different images using black Archival Ink onto some paper from American Crafts. The stamped images included: some postage stamps, lace and a clock from Kaisercraft; a car stamp from Tim Holtz which I cut up to produce the car, bingo sheet, map and ruler; a patterned circle from Kaisercraft; a compass by Graphic 45 from Hampton Art; a hand pointing the way from a Steampunk stamp set from Docrafts; and some numbers from a Collage Number stamp from Gummpanian Stamps. I fussy cut all the stamped pieces out, edged them with Rusty Hinge and Ground Espresso Distress Ink and then a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. They are stuck to the page using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium. Once the glue was dry, I edged them with a black Uni Pin marker and added white detail to both the images and stamping in the background using a Uniball gel pen. Next I cut a wildflower out of white cardstock using a die cut by Tim Holtz from Sizzix and my big shot machine, stuck it in place and outlined it using a black Uni Pin marker. I added two Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz idea-ology collection which read “the journey is the destination” and also “and so the adventure begins”, again they are outlined using a black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I added some Pébéo white gesso using a palette knife through a Vintage Diamond stencil from Creative Expressions.

Last Sunday we went to a Vintage Car Show with our visitors. It is a local show and was held on the green by the beach just round the corner from our house. We saw some beautiful cars including this one which is an Austin and looks a bit like the one on my page (grin!).

There were so many different cars there and we liked this one which was originally from Canada.

Or maybe this is more to your liking, it’s a Wolseley and I’m not sure my hubby would fit in it (grin!).

Some cars are Vintage now, even though I remember them whilst growing up … does that mean I’m getting old (double grin!). VW Beetles for example and we often see this gold one driving around town and look at the kettle and mugs, just right for T Stands for Tuesday!

Then we have local car clubs like this Land Rover Club which I thought Yvonne from Meggy’s way may like (triple grin!).

It turned into quite the adventure as we also saw the high tide which we don’t see that often and some kitesurfers right next to the beach.

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 join the lovely Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Journey, Destination and Adventure art journal page.

As this page includes circles, I’m also joining the Circles challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

As I included circles on this page, I’m also joining the Going Round & Round challenge over at The Artistic Stamper too.

I used 3 different stencils on this art journal page, so I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and there Use More Than One Stencil challenge.

Over at Country View Challenges their challenge is Planes, Trains & Automobiles so I’m pleased to join them with the car and journey art journal page.

With the quote and all the stamping I used to create this page I’m also joining Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Quote Away challenge.

As I used quite a few Tim Holtz products to create this page I thought of A Vintage Journey, so I’m pleased to join their Back To Nature challenge this month as I was inspired by the nature we saw on our walks so included the natural colours and pretty flower on my Art Journaling and Vintage style 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 White Gesso
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Bright Aqua Green)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge, Ground Espresso)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.1mm, 0.8mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• DecoArt Andy Skinner Mixed Media Stencils (Shedded ANDY08)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Vintage Circles FRS665)
• Cardboard tube – stamp
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Magnolia Grove CS822, Provincial CS243)
• Tim Holtz Components Collection (COM013CAR)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO135)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Steampunk DCE907125)
• Gummpanian Stamp (Collage Numbers 14030103)
• Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz (Wildflowers 661190)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Vintage Diamond CEMSDIAM)
• American Crafts Papers (DIY Store 366665)
• White Cardstock
• Poundland (Washi Tapes 156456-GE16)
• The Works (3 Washi Tapes)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick

No Ball Games

This page is influenced by Street Art and childhood! You may recognise the “No ball games” images that I used as part of my design; they are from a Banksy artwork which can be found in Bristol. This image came from a magazine and I thought it would be fun to create a page using it as we had recently seen some amazing street art in Blackpool (grin!).

As this page links to childhood, it is also a reminder that there is still a week left to join our Childhood challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be great to see you there!

I started by spraying After Midnight Dylusions Spray Ink onto the page and pulling the ink with a metal tool out from the centre to create spikes of colour so the circles look like they are moving round. Next I picked up some of the Dylusions Spray using a blending tool and applied it along the edges of the page creating a border. I also splattered the page and drew some blue dots using a paintbrush with the spray, then I coloured the centre of the dots using a dark blue and a white Uni Posca paint pen. When the spray was dry, I added the green squares using a stencil from Creative Expressions and Vivid Lime Green Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paint which I applied with a palette knife and then left to dry overnight. Next I stamped an alphabet stamp from Kaisercraft onto the page to link the blue areas that I had covered with the spray using black Archival Ink. I ripped the Banksy magazine image into pieces and stuck them onto some recycled white card using Liquitex matte gel medium; I did this because I wanted to frame the images so they stood out more from the background and also to prevent the Dylusions Spray Ink which reactivates when wet seeping into the image. When the gel medium was dry, I ripped the white card leaving a border around the image and stuck them onto the page using a UHU Stic, then I outlined them all using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and also a white Uni Posca paint pen which activated the Dylusions Spray Ink and turned light blue which I like. The green balls are created from the leftover green background from the Banksy magazine image; I stamped the circles using black Archival Ink and the spray bottle lid and then cut them out of the paper. I stamped some Titanium White Liquitex Ink onto the page using the spray bottle lid to create a border for the green circles which I stuck in place using a UHU Stic. To finish, I stamped black Archival Ink over the top of the green circles again to define the outline and added further detail using a white Uni Posca paint pen and a black Uni Pin marker.

No Ball Games – click here to see the original on the Banksy website

When I think of street art, Banksy always springs to mind, I love his pieces! Banksy is known for his controversial, and often politically themed, stencilled work and this particular one makes me smile as it challenges the status quo and could even encourage children to play ball games despite the sign. The signage was introduced in housing estates built after the war to discourage anti-social behaviour; however they are now often ignored and have been removed as they are not deemed appropriate in today’s society.

I’m sharing some more street art from Blackpool that can be found on the side of the Winter Gardens, you may remember me showing other art murals on a previous post that are displayed alongside these. I love these two particular images the first one is of the beautiful owl and ….

… then there is this amazing bear and girl, both of which inspired my page. Here are some more murals that can be found alongside them:

 

 

Did you notice the takeaway coffee cup on one of the photos? It’s on the last one just sticking out of the cardboard box (grin!), so as T Stands for Tuesday I’m joining the rest of 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 the lovely Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my No ball games street art page.

As this page includes circles, I’m also joining the Circles challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

With my circles and dots going round and round, I’m also joining the Going Round & Round challenge over at The Artistic Stamper 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:

• Ranger Dylusions Spray Ink (After Midnight)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green)
• Liquitex ink! (Titanium White)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (White, Dark Blue)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Mini Squares CEMSSQUARE)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Alphabet CS887)
• Old Magazine
• Recycled white card
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic

Treasure Map

I enjoyed practicing and experimenting with different techniques and mediums to create this page. As I created this page, it reminded me of the kites at the St. Annes Kite Festival and I was also transported back to my childhood and into the fantasy world of pirates and looking for buried treasure (grin!).

I started by drawing a faint outline of the map using a pencil and then applied some Tea Dye Distress Ink using a blending tool which I then dabbed with a baby wipe to create an old worn look to the map. I then added an outline so the map had a defined edge using a black Uni Pin marker to create a border around the edge of my page. I coloured the border using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker by applying the ink to an acrylic block and painting the inks using a paintbrush. Next I outlined the land with Baked Earth and Willow Derwent Intense pencils by applying the pencil directly to the page and using a wet paintbrush to blend the colours. I also added small dots of Chocolate Spectrum Aqua marker around the edges of the land too. The mountains are drawn using the same Chocolate Spectrum Aqua marker and shaded using a Tan Spectrum Aqua marker. I stamped the pirates ship sitting in Pirates Cove using black Archival Ink and coloured it using Derwent Intense Pencils, I had fun stamping the wording “Yo ho yo ho …” too. In fact I spent quite a bit of time stamping all the wording on this map using individual wooden mounted letter stamps from Dovecraft and black Archival Ink; making up the different names and places was great fun too! I embellished the different places with a crab, starfish and tropical flowers which are rub-on transfers and also a sandcastle, some sea shells, tropical flowers and a treasure chest which are stickers. I made some of the elements from card toppers too, like the sea monster and mermaid tail and the gold in the treasure chest is made from gold outline stickers and pearl gems. All the pirate flags are stamped using black Archival Ink and the palm tree is hand drawn, fussy cut and coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils. The map trail that joins the different places together and big black “X” are also hand drawn using a black Uni Pin marker. Next I painted the sea by concentrating the colour along the shore line and adding the waves using Salty Ocean Distress Ink; I did this by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and using a paintbrush to apply it to the page. Then I stamped a compass by Graphic 45 from Hampton Art using black Archival Ink on the top of the page.  The banner is also a stamp by 7 Gypsies from Hampton Art and is stamped using black Archival Ink onto the page and also onto a piece of white paper. I coloured both of the banners with the Baked Earth and Willow Derwent Intense pencils and stamped “Treasure Map” in the centre of the one I stamped onto the paper using the letter stamps and black Archival Ink. I then cut out the central section of the banner with the wording on it from the paper and stuck it over the one that I had stamped onto the page. To finish, I outlined the banner with a black Uni Pin marker.

We enjoyed the St. Annes Kite Festival last weekend, it started with night kite flying and fireworks on Friday night.

Many of the kites reminded me of my page including this crab …

… these fish bobbing along …

… this parrot who I can just imagine saying “pieces of eight” …

… and of course the many sea monsters (grin!).

New to the festival this year was a land yachting demonstration which was great fun to watch too!

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 join the lovely Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my dreams of buried treasure.

I’m pleased to join the Picture Inspiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as I used the rock/pebble colours and you can find beaches and seashores as part of my art journal page design.

As “B” stands for “buried treasure” and “beach”, I’m pleased to join the I spy with my little eye something beginning with “B” challenge over at Stamping Sensations.

As my treasure map goes round and round, I’m also joining the Going Round & Round challenge over at The Artistic Stamper too.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Stamps and Stencils and their It’s been a while … Anything Goes challenge.

As my page links to childhood, I’m reminding you that your still have time to join our Childhood 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Brushed Corduroy, Salty Ocean)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Derwent Inktense Pencils (Baked Earth 1800. Willow 1900, Poppy Red 400, Field Green 1500)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Chocolate, Tan)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm, 0.5mm, 0.8mm)
• Home Bargains (Mini Stamps & Ink – Pirates)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set upper and lower case (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO135)
• Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Vintage cling mounted rubber stamps (Birdsong ICO151)
• Craft Planet Metallic Waterfall Stickers (Beach PO#9622)
• Eco Craft Go Create (Hunk of Junk Pirate Island)
• Hunkydory Luxury Toppers (Eastern Promise)
• Magenta Style Outline Stickers (Daisy Gold 93326G)
• Home Bargains Sticker Mania (Gel Stone Stickers 74748)
• UHU Stic

Beatrix Potter

Our new challenge theme over at Try it on Tuesday for the next two weeks is Childhood, so I created a page to remember my favourite childhood stories and author, Beatrix Potter.

You’ll find some beautiful inspiration from the Design Team over at Try it on Tuesday too, I hope you will join us!

I started by experimenting with Colourcraft Brushos and making a spray using Dark Brown Brusho powder and water which I mixed in a spritzer bottle. I sprayed it over the page and left it to dry, it gave a lovely pinkish egg-shell colour, which I thought tied in nicely with the Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck. But then I remembered that duck eggs are white! (grin). Then I fussy cut a black and white picture of Beatrix Potter, a colour picture of Hill Top Farm in the Lake District where she lived, her illustration of “Cecily Parsley Makes Cowslip Wine” and some text from an old 2016 magazine article celebrating her 150^th Birthday. I also fussy cut a picture of peas and a picture of the Lake District from the same magazine and I cut The Tale of Peter Rabbit book and my favourite characters from a leaflet, this included: Peter Rabbit; Peter Rabbit being chased by Farmer McGregor; Peter Rabbit jumping into a watering can; Peter Rabbit running on all fours; Appley Dapply; Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle; The Tailor of Gloucester; Mr. Jeremy Fisher; and Jemima Puddle-Duck. I collaged all the fussy cut pieces onto the page using a UHU Stic and when the glue was dry I outlined some of the pieces using a black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I added two pieces of blue ribbon and then stuck a recycled blue button where the ribbons overlapped using Glossy Accents and a pretty blue polka dot flower.

From my page, have you guessed who my all time favourite character was – it was Peter Rabbit! As a child I loved the Beatrix Potter stories and still have many of her books in my craft room which I have been known to sit and read now and then with a cup of tea (grin!). In the front of these books you will see my egg cup from my childhood too, it features Peter Rabbit and I have fond memories of dipping my soldiers (thin strips of toast) into my runny egg yolk (double grin!).

We used to holiday in the Lake District every year when I was a child and I have many happy memories of visiting Hill Top Farm too so I was pleased to include this on my page.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my cup of green tea and a homemade Belgian Bun – Happy T Day!

This was the first time that we have made these buns and they tasted delicious. They are not to be confused with Chelsea Buns that I used to make when I was younger, as they have Lemon Curd filling rather than butter so have less fat content – yay!

Also if you are visiting from the T Gang and like Street Art then you may wish to check out my previous post here.

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Beatrix Potter page as she definitely created fantastical animals for her stories.

I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page.

Over at That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog their theme is Animal Magic so I’m pleased to join this challenge with Beatrix Potter’s magical animals that I included on my 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:

• Colourcraft Brusho (Dark Brown)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.3mm)
• Old Magazine
• Beatrix Potter Leaflet
• Blue Adhesive Ribbon
• Recycled blue button
• Wilko Stickers (Flower Embellishments)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• UHU Stic

Creative Discoveries

I always enjoy getting creative and my journal pages are often inspired by things I see and do, so today I used my imagination to create a page to celebrate Creative Discoveries.

I started by painting Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink and Aquamarine Spectrum Aqua marker to the page by applying the inks to an acrylic block, spritzing with water and using a paintbrush. I also scribbled the Aquamarine Spectrum Aqua marker onto the acrylic block, added a little water and then used a dry paintbrush to drag the ink over the page, which created a lovely marbling effect. I repeated this process using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker too. Next I stamped the black flowers and dots from a Woodware Craft Collection stamp set using black Archival Ink so they flowed in lines over the page. Then I used a Distressed Dots stencil from Creative Expressions to apply Pébéo modelling paste mixed with Pébéo white gesso. When the paste had dried, I added some stickers of a flower, a pear and some sparkly dots, along with various embellishments by Little Yellow Bicycle, this included; two fabric banners; three pink flower dots which have either “Free”, “Yourself” or “Beautiful” written in the centre; two different sentiments which read “Hello, World” and “You can find me here” which I thought were relevant to my art journaling; some letter stickers which I used to make the word “creative” which I mounted onto some card and stuck to the page using double-sided foam tape; and a fabric “Discoveries”.

When we visit Blackpool we always make new discoveries, like this lovely street art near one of my favourite art shops.

There are quite a few other art installations in this area including this amazing panel which is just around the corner at Winter Gardens and it can be found alongside these:

 

 

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my imaginative page of Creative Discoveries.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my Creative Discoveries art journal page.

My lovely friend Bleubeard and Elizabeth suggested that I join Sami over at Colourfulworld with my street art, so I’m also pleased to join the Monday Mural fun 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Cracked Pistachio)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Aquamarine)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Woodware Craft Collection Wood Set (Flower Style FRSWS003)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Distressed Dots)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Soft Sweetness 154897)
• Recycled white card
• Home Bargains (Room Décor Embellishments)
• Little Yellow Bicycle (Fabric Favourites PD-220, Cardstock Stickers PD-140)
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Creativity and Imagination

I enjoyed using my creativity and imagination to create this industrial looking page and pretty steampunk butterflies. I also had fun raiding my hubby’s tool supplies for the metal pins and washers for this page (grin!). I hope that you like it too!

To create an industrial look, I started by applying modelling paste using a Metal Grid and also a Clock background stencil from That’s Crafty! When the paste was dry, I covered the entire page in Neutral Gray Liquitex acrylic paint. I painted some Iridescent Bright Silver Liquitex Ink over and around the stencilled modeling paste and then I applied some Midnight Sparkle and Silver Grey metallic wax lustres over the top which emphasised the texture and detail of the metal grid and clocks. I also splattered the page with the same silver Liquitex ink and a copper spray to give a grungy look. Once dry, I stencilled roses onto the page using Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and a blending tool positioning them in between the metal grids and clocks. I stamped some cogs/gears using black Archival Ink and a Docrafts Steampunk stamp set and then I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

To create my steampunk butterflies I used a wonderful butterfly stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps that I recently won over at the Paperbabe Stamp Challenge. This stamp set allows you to layer all the different butterfly parts so it looks more detailed and realistic, you can even create different butterfly poses to produce flight and movement. As this is my first time using these stamps, I kept it simple and started by stamping the larger wing background layer stamp using Rusty Hinge Distress Ink onto white cardstock. Then I stamped the same cog/gear stamp, that I used on my page, over the top using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad and covered them with copper Papermania embossing powder. I removed any excess powder and used my heat gun to melt it until it turned glossy. Then I stamped the detailed wing layer stamp from the same Paperbabe Stamp set using the VersaMark ink lining up the stamps so that they fit together, covered the wings with silver Papermania embossing powder and melted it with my heat gun. I cut the butterfly out of the cardstock, edged them with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and outlined the cog/gear detail using a black Derwent Graphik marker so they stood out more. I used a metal split pin, from my hubby’s tool supplies (grin!) to create the butterfly body by simply sliding the paper butterfly into the pin and then I stuck them to the page using Glossy Accents.

The “Creativity” and “Imagination” wording is created using Tim Holtz idea-ology Label Letter stickers which are edged with a Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. To finish, I added some copper gems, some metal split lock washers, nuts, and internal tooth lock washers using Glossy Accents to stick them all in place. These metal pieces are from my hubby’s tool kit supplies and I did ask before I used them and I think they add a lovely industrial and steampunk feel to my page (grin!).

I have had a few questions about my art journal pages recently – how I photograph them, do I scan them and what I do with them, do I bind them into a book or journal?

My pages are always photographed outside in the garden in natural light and although I crop the photos to show just the actual page for my blog posts, my pages are actually all contained in a spiral bound pad. Once the journal is complete I make decorative covers on the front and back of the book. I like to look through the pages to remember what I’ve been up to and I also have a book stand in my craft room where a different page is displayed everyday from one of my Art Journals; it’s lovely to look at the page and recall the memories associated with it!

If you want to see and find out more about my art journal books then check out my post here.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m joining the T Gang and sharing a recent visit to Dahlia’s Kitchen where we had ice cream milkshakes, I have chocolate or banana milkshakes to choose from – yum! Of course they have other beverages if you would prefer – Happy T Day!

Do you remember this water feature? Well, as promised, I found out what it is…it is an old commercial potato peeling machine that has been mounted on stilts (grin!). Doesn’t it look fabulous up-cycled!

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 join the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover, who is hosting the Count your blessings challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I feel very blessed to be able to use my creativity and imagination when creating my art journal pages.

I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps too – thank you for the beautiful stamps!

Over at Stamps and Stencils, their challenge is Industrial/Grungy and I had fun using both stamps and stencils on this page to join their theme.

Using embossing powders to create my butterflies, I’m also joining the How can you resist? challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my Industrial inspired and styled Mixed Media page.

I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with my Creativity and Imagination art journal page.

I’m pleased to join SanDee & amelie’s Steampunk Challenges for their AnythingGoes – Steampunk/Industrial challenge as I had fun creating this industrial 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
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Neutral Gray)
• Liquitex Ink! (Iridescent Bright Silver)
• Craf-T Products Luster Rub-ons Kit #4 (Midnight Sparkle, Silver Grey)
• Michelle Marsden Crafts Scrumptious Precious Metal Spritzer (Copper)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Copper, Silver)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199, Sanguine 188 B)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• That’s Crafty! Dinky Stencils (Metal Grid Background TC041, Clock Background TC048)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Steampunk DCE907125)
• Paperbabe Stamps (Butterfly Pieridae Stamp Set)
• White cardstock
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Label Letters #TH93072)
• Metal split pins, split lock washers, nuts, internal tooth lock washers
• Docrafts Forever Friends Adhesive Dome Borders (Opulent FFS351111)
• Ranger Glossy Accents