Tag Archives: Ranger

Feminine

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Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Make it Feminine.

I created this feminine page using a gorgeous Shabby Chic paper from Studio Light, some lace and pearls. I hope that you like it and are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

For the background, I stamped a delicate Floral Icons stamp from Docrafts using Brushed Corduroy and Ground Espresso Distress Ink. Then I cut the Shabby Chic paper and also some Vintage design papers to create the different paper pieces; I edged them with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and arranged them onto the page using a glue stick. The wording was a sticker from Kaisercraft and reads “You make life beautiful”. To finish, I added some pretty lace flowers and pearl strips.

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

As T Stands for Tuesday and I recently celebrated 5 years of blogging, I’m sharing this photo collage of some of the tea that I’ve enjoyed and posted over the years; it features pretty feminine tea sets to tie in with my page – 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 Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Floral Icons DCE907123)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy, Ground Espresso)
  • Studio Light 12×12 Paper (Shabby Chic SCRAPSC03)
  • Craft Sensations Design Pad (Vintage Romance 154897)
  • Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Full Bloom SS365)
  • Lace – recycled
  • Stix2 glue dots
  • Poundland (Pearl Embellishments)
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 feminine page.

LTSCB#145 – Anything Goes over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my pretty feminine page.

Feminine challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Feminine page.

Enjoy the beauty of becoming

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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

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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:

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.

Paris

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It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for March which is We will always have Paris.

This challenge is being hosted this by the lovely Craftyfield; please ensure the main focus of your designs is Paris or anything that says “France” – think fashion, wine, lavender fields of Provence, old adverts etc.

I started by diagonally ripping a piece of design paper featuring Paris from an Around the World Paper Pack by Stamperia and sticking them in place using a glue stick. Then I mixed some Ranger Texture Paste with some Sapphire Blue Glamour Dust paint from DecoArt and some Mowed Lawn Distress Ink so that it matched the blue/green colour on the paper. It was stencilled across the white area of the page using a stencil from Samperia.

Next I coloured some mixed media paper for the wording, hearts and die cut flowers and leaves; I used Abandoned Coral Distress Ink Spray and White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray for the wording, hearts and blossoms, Fossilised Amber Distress Ink for the flower stamens and Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress Ink for the leaves. When the papers were dry I cut them out using two Sizzix Thinlits sets by Sarah Guilar; the wording and hearts using a Doodle Alphabet & Numbers set and the flowers using the Floral Layers set. I layered the flower pieces together and then stuck everything in place using gel medium which finished the page.

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

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

Paris is a beautiful place to visit and as this theme brought back memories of when we visited in springtime, I added the spring blossoms to my page. I remember the magical Eiffel Tower with its wonderful iron lattice-work; it looks so spectacular all lit up and twinkling at night too, apparently there are 20,000 light bulbs which are used to make the Eiffel Tower sparkle.

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 be able to join the following challenges today:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat and her Language theme as I used heart symbols from my Alphabet Die Set to mean “love” and the blossoms to represent Spring.

Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #143 – Anything Goes with my Paris page.

MIUCB#49 – Anything Goes + Layering over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the layered paper and stencil background and layered die cut blossoms on my art journal page.

Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Paris page too.

Inspired by Eileen

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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.

The Singing Ringing Tree

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As you may remember, I was surprised that I had never featured The Singing Ringing Tree before on one of my posts. We visited this sculpture a couple of years ago for my birthday, so it inspired this page – I hope you like it (grin!).

I started by adding the image of The Singing Ringing Tree, which was from an old magazine, using a glue stick; it was edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. I coloured the white areas of the page by stamping a Steampunk Background stamp and the “Explore, Discover, Journey” wording using Hickory Smoke Distress Archival Ink and adding some Hickory Smoke and Salty Ocean Distress Ink. The letters were die cut using Alphanumeric Bold Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and were cut from some silver corrugated cardstock. I covered the letters using Silver Grey lustre wax and black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to give it a grungy metallic appearance. Before sticking them in place I added some Pébéo white gesso over the stamped areas to push the colour back and then I stuck the letters down using Liquitex matte gel medium. I outlined the right-hand side of the letters using a black Uni Pin marker so they stood out more and then to finish, I added three metal music notes using Ranger Glossy Accents.

Reminded of our visit, I also found some of our photos to share with you (grin!). The singing ringing tree is located a little way from the road so we parked and then walked to the sculpture; Panopticon means “structure providing a comprehensive view”.

It was a short trek to The Singing Ringing Tree which is a wind powered sound sculpture resembling a tree and set in the landscape of the Pennine Hill range overlooking Burnley in Lancashire.

This 3-metre (10 ft) tall sculpture was designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu and has amazing views across the Pennine Moors.

It comprises of galvanised steel pipes; some are structural and others are cut across their width to produce sound by harnessing the energy of the wind.

It was a windy day when we visited so we got to hear the haunting sounds of The Singing Ringing Tree, if you are interested to hear the sounds and see more of the view please check out this video.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a photo that you may remember of me with my cup of green tea and a Chorley cake which was actually bought the same day that we visited this sculpture – Happy T Day!

You can find out more about Chorley Cakes which are a sweet treat here in Lancashire on my previous post Use Your Scraps; the title of this post also reminded me to wish Elizabeth a very Happy bEARTHday for later this week!

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:

  • Old magazine image
  • Pritt Stick
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke, Salty Ocean)
  • Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamps (Steampunk Background DCE907128)
  • Royal & Langnickel Clear Choice Stamps (Traveller MIN-CCS103)
  • Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Hickory Smoke)
  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Die Set (Alphanumeric Bold 665205)
  • Wilkos (Corrugated Cardstock – Silver)
  • Craf-T Products Lustre Rub-ons (Color Kit #4 – Silver Grey)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
  • The Works (Metal Musical Notes)
  • Ranger Glossy Accents
Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are:

Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – she is greatly missed! I’m so pleased to be able to remember her by joining AJJ with my page which was inspired by The Singing Ringing Tree.

Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #142 – Anything Goes with my page.

LTCCB#57 – April Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my Singing Ringing Tree mixed media page.

Carry your heart with mine

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I’m thrilled and honoured to be over at Altered Book Lover with Bleubeard and Elizabeth today as part of her 22 days of recycling leading up to her happy bEARTHday.

One of my goals this year is to recycle and use up leftovers on my art journal pages, so I was delighted to be invited and very happy to join in the fun – thanks so much! 

The background and main images for this page were created using recycled materials; they just seemed too nice to throw away (grin!).

For the background I collaged strips of recycled tissue paper, brown paper packaging and some of the card that I place under my journal pages whilst crafting to catch any excess paints, inks, modelling paste etc; like all the paper elements they were stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry, I outlined the edges of these collaged pieces using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker smudging the ink with my finger. I also added some gold embossing powder to highlight the texture of the tissue paper and to match the gold on the main images. I fussy cut the cute dogs, heart balloons and patterned foreground from a beautiful anniversary card that my mum and dad kindly sent us; I had fun fussy cutting everything which took quite a bit of time. I arranged them on either side of the page and then I added the Kaisercraft sticker wording which reads “Wherever you go, no matter how far, I carry your heart with mine” which finished the page.

I hope that you’re inspired to recycle and repurpose materials for your art creations; there’s lots of inspiration this month over at Altered Book Lover too (grin!).

The little dogs on my page reminded me of this pottery dog that sits on our mantel in the lounge which was from a local gallery. It’s Raku pottery which is my favourite type of decorative pottery and derives from a traditional Japanese process where the fired raku piece is removed from the hot kiln and is allowed to cool in the open air. I believe that this spotty dog was decorated with coloured slips, glazes and metal leaf before it was Raku fired.  

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 white tissue paper
  • Recycled brown paper packaging
  • Recycled card that I place under my journal pages whilst crafting covered in paints, inks, modelling paste, stencilling, scribbles, washi tape, sticker off cuts etc
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
  • Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
  • Ranger Embossing Powder (gold)
  • Recycled anniversary card
  • Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Havana Nights SS354)
Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are:

Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – I miss her greatly! I’m so pleased to be able to her challenge and was inspired to recycle; I think the wording “I carry your heart with mine” is perfect to remember Eileen by too!

MIUCB#48 – Anything Goes + optional No Stamping challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my recycled page which contains no stamping.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Not a Card challenge with my recycled art journal page.

LTCCB#57 – April Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with the recycled materials on my mixed media page.

Make a Rainbow

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Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday for the next 2 weeks is Make a Rainbow.

For my art journal page, I created a rainbow coloured background of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet with matching die cut flowers. I hope that you are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

For the rainbow background, I painted Kuretake Watercolour paints in the vertical panels onto the page. I did this by applying water to the page first and then adding Red, Cadmium Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, Sap Green Light, Ultramarine, Indigo and Cobalt Violet watercolour paint over the top. Then I splattered the page using white and also black acrylic paint and when dry, I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer to push back the bright rainbow colours into the background more. The different flowers were die cut using three sets of Wildflower Thinlits from Tim Holtz; they were cut from coloured papers and also white cardstock. I layered the coloured and white flower die cuts together so they were slightly off centre and then I arranged them onto the page using a Zig glue pen. The letters for the “rainbow” wording were created the same way using a Docrafts Alphabet die cut set which finished the page.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful Make a Rainbow creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!).

It’s always magical seeing rainbows and whilst creating this page it reminded me of this one; taken through my craft room window last year.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m saying a big welcome to the T Gang and sharing my cuppa with one of my yummy birthday cupcakes that I made (it’s a sponge cake filled with vanilla buttercream and jam then topped with the icing) – wishing you a very 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 (Red, Cadmium Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, Sap Green Light, Ultramarine, Indigo, Cobalt Violet)
  • Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
  • DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Ranger Brayer (Small Roller)
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Wildflowers #1 66190, Wildflower # 2 661808, Wildflower Stems #3 665221)
  • Leon X-Large Coloured Paper Pad
  • White Cardstock
  • Zig Memory System 2-way Glue Pen – Chisel Tip
  • Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Cut Set (Folk Alphabet)
Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are:

Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – she is greatly missed! I’m so pleased to be able to remember her by joining AJJ with my pages this month which was inspired by rainbow wishes (grin!).

MIUCB#48 – Anything Goes + optional No Stamping challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my rainbow page which contains no stamping.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Not a Card challenge with my rainbow art journal page.

Birds & Bees

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Today I’m over at Country View Challenges where I’m sharing a mixed media page for this month’s The Birds and The Bees challenge.

 I created this spring scene using lots of new crafting goodies, including a Sizzix Floral Layers Thinlits for the blossom and a Pink Ink Designs Beehive Buzz stamp and die set for the bees. I also used my new Tim Holtz Typewriter Embossing Folder for the wording which was on my birthday list thanks to the lovely Tracey who used it on one of her journal covers – thank you for the inspiration!

Like the birds in my garden, the birds and bees on my page are enjoying spring with the blue skies and pretty blossoms.

I started by covering the background with Speckled Egg and Twisted Citron Distress Paint using a Brayer and then some white gesso. When dry, I added the birds and sheet music which were from some Aviary Collage Paper by Tim Holtz and were stuck in place using a glue stick.

Next I coloured some mixed media paper for the die cut flowers and leaves; for the blossoms I used Abandoned Coral Distress Ink Spray and White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray, for the stamens Fossilized Amber Distress Ink and for the leaves Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress Ink. I cut them out using the Sizzix Floral Layers Thinlits set, layered the die cut pieces together, edged them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and arranged them onto the page using gel medium.

I stamped the bees onto the page and also onto some mixed media paper using black Archival Ink and the Beehive Buzz set from Pink Ink Designs. They were coloured using Fossilized Amber and Vintage Photo Distress Inks, die cut using the Beehive Buzz dies and then stuck in place using glue dots.

The wording was created using the Typewriter Embossing Folder from Tim Holtz. I embossed the letters onto some card and cut them out to make small panels. Then I coloured the card around each of the letters using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker and stuck them in place using glue dots which finished the page.

I hope that you are enjoying The Birds and The Bees challenge over at Country View Challenges too; it would be lovely to see you there! Don’t forget that when you link to this challenge that Birds and/or Bees need to be the main focus of your design in order to have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts website (grin!).

With the sunny days we’ve been having it’s becoming very busy on the beachfront, so we have been mindful to walk more in land; this has allowed us to appreciate all the pretty spring blossoms in people’s gardens – Happy Spring everyone!

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:

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are:

Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – she is greatly missed! I’m so pleased to be able to remember her by joining AJJ with my page which was inspired by springtime birds and bees.

LTSCB#144 – Spring Forward challenge over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my springtime page.

Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #141 – Anything Goes with my birds and bees page.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Layer It challenge with the layers of colour, collage paper and die cuts on this page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog and their Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page too.

Past Birthday Treats

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As it was my birthday over Easter weekend and we can’t celebrate like we normally do, I decided to relive memories of past birthdays by creating this page.

You may recognise some of them from previous posts; I had so much fun looking back and remembering these birthday treats (grin!)

As my birthday is in April which is known for April showers and spring blossom, I chose a colour scheme of grey, blue and pink and created my background to look like a mixture of light and dark clouds. I did this by covering the background with Kingfisher, Peacock Blue, Charcoal and Blossom Spectrum Aqua markers; I gradually built up the layers of colour by scribbling the Aqua markers onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and then pressing the block onto the page. Using black Archival Ink, I stamped the circles using a Docrafts stamp set and then the wording using some alphabet stamp sets from Dovecraft. I coloured the stamped leaves, buttons and hearts using the same Spectrum Aqua Markers blending them like watercolour. The butterfly and wording were recycled from an old birthday card, it reads:

“Wishes as bright as butterfly’s wings for laughter and sunshine and wonderful things,
Wishes for quiet and calm, peaceful hours for memories as sweet as meadow flowers,
These are the wishes, wished just for you … for happiness today and all the year through”.

To finish, I added some embellishments relevant to each of the birthday treats:

  • As we usually go to the cinema for my birthday, I included the film “Beauty and the Beast” and added a glittery heart.
  • We always enjoy walking somewhere local and Cockerham Sands was particularly memorable; as it’s by the sea I added the fish and starfish beads.
  • A meal with our dearest friends is a must, so The Gurkha restaurant which specialises in Nepalese and other Asian cuisine was added along with a pretty flower made from oriental fabric.
  • Notarianni is an ice cream parlour that we always enjoy visiting so this was accompanied by sticker of an ice cream.
  • We often have a fun time exploring different places, so I added Liverpool which is a great destination for a “Happy Birthday!”
  • A trip to a local café such as The Blackbird Café with its pretty birdcage décor which I captured by adding the glass embellishment.
  • I added a tree to depict our visit to a sculpture called The Singing Ringing Tree. I was surprised that I have never featured the Singing Ringing Tree on one of my posts before which we visited a couple of years ago, so I’ll be creating a page and sharing this with you later this month  (stay tuned – grin!).
  • Of course I couldn’t create a page without Coco’s Soul Food and for this I added a tropical wooden flower.

As some of you will know we normally have a week of birthday celebrations and I had fun looking back at previous birthday photos; these beautiful views were taken at Cockerham Sands.

Here we are having a wonderful time in Liverpool …

… and of course some of the lovely food we have enjoyed too; from left to right there’s Notarianni Ice cream Parlour, The Blackbird Café and Coco’s Soul Food.

I still very much enjoyed my birthday this year as we’ve had some beautiful sunny days, which meant we could still enjoy catching up with our dear friends over a takeaway and some bubbly in their garden (grin!). Of course we spent time with little Ellie too which is always a delight – yay!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this yummy pink prosecco which was a lovely surprise from my dear friends, thank you so much – cheers and Happy T Day everyone!

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:

  • Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Kingfisher, Peacock Blue, Charcoal, Blossom)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Docrafts Papermania 4×4 Clear Stamp (Bellissima Christmas PMA907942)
  • Dovecraft Upper and Lower Case Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
  • Recycled Birthday Card
  • X-Press It! double-sided foam tape
  • The Works (Hearts, Sea Life Beads, Glass Embellishments, Craft Flowers)
  • Twilleys of Stamford Crafties (Chinese Flowers Cerise 2912/160)
  • Wilko Foam Stickers
  • Craft for Occasions (Happy Birthday C2090)
  • Poundland (3D Glitter Embellishments – Tree)
  • Ranger Glossy Accents
Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are:

Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – she will be greatly missed! I’m so pleased to be able to remember her by joining AJJ with my page which was inspired by past birthdays.

Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #141 – Anything Goes with my birthday page.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Layer It challenge with the layers of colour and recycled birthday card on this page.

LTSCB#144 – Spring Forward challenge over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my spring birthday page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog and their Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page.

LTCCB #57 – April Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my mixed media page.