Beauty is everywhere

I can’t believe that I was lucky enough to win the Paperbabe Stamps Layers challenge and I got to choose one of their fabulous stamp sets as my prize! I created this page to celebrate using the stamp set and I’m sure that it’ll be used again and again (grin!).

I started by colouring the background using Prickly Pear, Fern Green and Leaf Green Wendy Vecchi Make Art Inks by adding ink to a blending mat, spritzing with water and pressing the mat onto the page. I used a Snowy Stars thinlet set from Tim Holtz to create a stencil and used it to apply Ranger Texture Paste to the page. I coloured around the stencilled texture paste with some more of the Fern Green and Leaf Green Wendy Vecchi Inks to define the circles more and when dry I coloured the texture paste with a white Uni Posca paint pen, so that it stood out more. Then I splattered the page using white and also black acrylic paint and applied some White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray with a Carabelle Studio Art Template. I repeated the “Beauty is everywhere” wording and also the three stars over the page using my new Paperbabes Stamps Flourish & Grow stamp set and black Archival Ink. Then I added some highlights to the wording using a white Uniball gel pen. To finish, I added a bright pink flower which I fussy cut from a wallpaper sample, stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium and then edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to add some shadows.

I have to say that with all the fabulous new releases over at Paperbabe Stamps shop it was really difficult to chose my prize. Thank you so much for this amazing stamp set!

I also love the Balancing greetings card that Kim kindly sent to me too, it was such a lovely surprise and it now takes pride of place in my craft room (double grin!).

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Eileen from The Artful Crafter and her Green challenge over at Art Journal Journey this month with my green background.

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

I’m also joining in the fun again at Paperbabe Stamps, their challenge is #115 ~ Picture Inspiration as I was inspired by the pretty single stemmed flowers – thanks so much!

Don’t forget that you still have a couple of days left to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge over at Creative Artiste, it would be lovely to see you there!

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

• Ranger Wendy Vecchi Make Art Blendable Dye Ink (Prickly Pear, Fern Green, Leag Green)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Snowy Stars 663117)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (White)
• Carabelle Studio Art Template (Trame Tissues et Chiffres TE60034)
• Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray (White Linen)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Paperbabes Stamps (Flourish & Grow Stamp Set)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Wallpaper sample
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Cold Grey IV 233)

Hope anchors the soul

The agapanthus has just started shooting in our garden so when I came across this inspirational quote “Hope anchors the soul” whilst crafting, I was inspired to create this page. It seemed very poignant with the difficulties the world is facing at the moment – wishing you all well and hoping that you stay safe and healthy!

I started by covering the page with various stamps using black Archival Ink; the stamps included a Parisian Beau Collage stamp from Crafter’s Companion and a Provincial and also a 75 Cents stamp set from Kaisercraft. Next I applied Acqua Dolce, Earl Grey and Caramel Faber-Castell Gelatos by scribbling them onto the page and using my wet finger to spread the colour vertically down the page. Then I stencilled an Ornamental stencil from Creative Expressions using Vintage Linen Distress Ink. The agapanthus flowers are napkin which I stuck down using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium (this was a mistake as it got far too wet, I should have used a UHU Stic and then the gel medium around the edges). When dry I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint. The wording “Hope anchors the soul” is a sticker from Kaisercraft which I coloured along the edges with some Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and an Amethyst Winsor & Newton Promarker. It’s stuck in place along with a purple flower and some die cut foliage; I used a Garden Greens Thinlet for the foliage which was cut from some white card that I had coloured using Twisted Citron Distress Ink and Cottage Ivy Memento Ink. To finish, I added lots of clear diamante gems to add some sparkle.

As this page has Parisian references, I’m sharing these strawberry tarts that my hubby bought me for Valentine’s this year which always remind me of our travels to Paris; you may remember them from my post last month.

I thought you may like to see what the tart looks like inside; it’s a short crust pastry case filled with crème pâtissière (vanilla pastry cream) with glazed strawberries on the top, so delicious! As T Stands for Tuesday I’m also sharing my cuppa and saying a big hello to the T Gang – Happy T Day!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Eileen from The Artful Crafter and her Green challenge over at Art Journal Journey this month with the predominant green foliage on my page.

Don’t forget that you still have until next Tuesday to join our Home Sweet Home/Where you would like to live challenge (for this page I incorporated the two with the agapanthus from our garden/and who wouldn’t want to live in Paris) over at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be lovely to see you there!

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

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Crafter’s Companion Parisian Collection Clear Acrylic A6 Stamp (Beau Collage)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Provincial CS243, 75 Cents CS864)
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Acqua Dolce, Earl Grey, Caramel)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Ornamental)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen, Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron)
• Napkin
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Book (Antiquities SK807)
• Winsor & Newton Promarker (Amethyst V626)
• Poundland (Flower  – Accessories Pack 60911)
• White cardstock
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Garden Greens 661206)
• Zig Memory System 2-way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• The Works (Jewel Stickers)

Be your beautiful self

I fell in love with the image of this beautiful lady in her diamante headdress which I found in a magazine, so decided to create this sparkly page to showcase it along with some inspirational wording – what do you think (grin!).

I started by applying some Pine Needles and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink using a blending tool through a Discovering Planets stencil from Sheena; I choose these colours as when blended they matched the eye colour on the image that I used. Then I applied some white acrylic paint to the page using a palette knife and stencilled the diamond shapes using a Creative Expressions stencil and some Ranger Texture Paste. When the paste was dry, I coloured the diamonds using a silver Daler Rowney paint marker.  Next I added some lines of black acrylic paint, Pine Needles Distress Ink and white acrylic paint using an old plastic gift card and then splattered the whole page with some black acrylic paint. The image of the beautiful lady is mounted on some card before sticking it over a silver doily. I covered the teardrop shaped diamonds on her headdress with some teardrop gemstones to give a 3D look; it was a happy serendipity that they were the exact same size as those on the image. To finish I added some Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz that read “be your own beautiful self”, “leave a little sparkle wherever you go” and “choose to shine”.

I love a bit of sparkle as you can see here; this is one of my favourite hats and has lots of diamante on it (grin!).

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Eileen from The Artful Crafter and her Green challenge over at Art Journal Journey this month with my green page background.

I’m also happy to join in the The Eyes have It challenge over at Country View Challenges with the beautiful lady on my art journal page.

I’m joining in the Stencil Fun challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my stencilled ink and texture paste background.

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

• Sheena by Sheena Douglas Create A Flower Stencil (Dissolving Planets SD-STEN-CAF-PLA)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Pine Needles, Shabby Shutters)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Vintage Diamonds CEMSDIAM)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Daler Rowney Acrylic Paint Marker (Silver)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Recycled Gift Card
• Art Discount Acrylic paint (White 011)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• The Works (Silver Doily)
• Old magazine
• Graham & Brown (Adhesive Jewels)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape

Home Sweet Home

The new challenge for the next two weeks at Try it on Tuesday is:

Home Sweet Home/Where you would like to live

At Try it on Tuesday we are also saying a big hello and welcome to the very talented Helen and Mia who have both joined our Design Team, please check out their amazing first creations over at our blog!

My Home Sweet Home page design was inspired all the birds that are around at the moment that are setting up new homes in readiness for spring – I hope you like it!

I started by smooshing Salty Ocean and Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink onto the background by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page. When dry, I stamped a Sheet Music stamp from Woodware Craft Collection and also the “Home Sweet Home” wording using a stamp set from Concord & 9^th and black Archival Ink. I added some more detail to the wording using a white Uniball gel pen and then I stencilled some Ranger Texture paste though a Carabelle Studio Art Template.

Using two different Tim Holtz thinlet sets I created the tree branches from brown paper that I coloured further using Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Ink. The branches are stuck in place using a Zig glue pen and shaded further using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. The leaves were cut from green paper, which I coloured further using some Mowed Lawn and Twisted Citron Distress Ink; they are cut using a Fall Foilage thinlets set from Tim Holtz and are also stamped with some tiny dots using a Kaisercraft stamp and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink.

I created the birdhouse using some off-cuts of paper that were on my craft desk; drawing the birdhouse design and heart onto the paper and then cutting them out.

I added more detail using Winsor & Newton Promarkers; Henna and Canary to create the wooden panels and Ruby and Rose Pink for the heart and roof. I suspended the birdhouse from one of the branches using some white twine sticking the birdhouse in place using double-sided foam tape. The cute birds were stamped onto white linen paper using a Picket Fence stamp set and black Archival Ink and then coloured using Sky Blue, Cool Grey and Canary Winsor & Newton Promarkers. I also stamped the birds onto the page and the birdhouse roof using the black Archival Ink and then I stuck the coloured birds over the top using double-sided foam tape. To finish, I splattered the page with some black DecoArt acrylic paint.

My Design Teamies have created some amazing Home Sweet Home/Where would you like to live inspiration for you over at Try it on Tuesday too, so please pop over and take a look.

The birds reminded me of the tea tray that we use everyday at home, as you can see it has lots of lovely garden birds on it that we find here in the UK.

Here’s our tray being put to good use; as T Stands for Tuesday it’s pictured holding our daily cuppa and homemade fruit cake that we are enjoying at the moment – Happy T Day!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Eileen from The Artful Crafter and her Green challenge over at Art Journal Journey this month with the green leaves on this page.

I’m happy to be able to join the Use Some Green challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page too.

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

I’m also joining the Stencil Fun challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as I included stencilling on my art journal page.

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Vintage Photo, Grounsd Espresso, Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron)
• Woodware Crafts Collection (Sheet Music JG111)
• Concord & 9^th Stamp Set (Sophisticated Script 10056)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Carabelle Studio Art Template (Trame Tissues et Chiffres TE60034)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Studio Light Paper Pad (PPSL84)
• Crafter’s Companion Luxury Designer Paper Pad (Angelica & Adam Collection A&A-PAP6-M)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Funky Florals Large 664158, Fall Foliage 660955) 
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Tiny Dot CS360)
• Zig Memory System 2-way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Paper off-cuts (Yellow, White coloured with red and pink Distress Inks)
• Winsor & Newton ProMarker (Henna 0225, Canary Y367, Ruby R455, Rose Pink M727, Sky Blue B137, Cool Grey 4 CG4)
• White Thread
• Picket Fence Studios Stamps (Chirp Chirp A130)
• X-Press It! double-sided foam tape
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)

Makes your soul sing

I was so pleased to see the robin in our garden this month that I created this art journal page to celebrate (grin!).

I started by painting the page with some white acrylic paint and when it was dry added some Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker by scribbling the ink onto a blending mat and then applying it to the page with a baby wipe. Next I tore some green heart designed paper and an old calendar page into strips, edged them with Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck them to the page using a UHU Stic. I die cut some foliage from recycled tissue paper using Tim Holtz Wildflower Stems thinlets, they are stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. The robin is fussy cut from an old calendar and the wording is stamped using a Paperbabes Stamp Set and the music notes using a Docrafts Stamp Set using black Archival Ink. I coloured the wording using a silver Derwent Rowney Paint Pen and a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker; it reads “Create what makes your heart dance and your soul sing”. Then I splattered the whole page using black DecoArt acrylic paint and added some wooden flowers using glue dots, which finished the page.

We haven’t seen our robin much this winter, so I was excited to see him sitting in the tree at the back of our garden; this is a European Robin not to be confused with an American Robin (grin!).

He also made his way to our bird feeder too (grin!)

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Eileen from The Artful Crafter and her Green challenge over at Art Journal Journey this month with the paper and flowers that I used.

I’m joining in the Bit O’Green challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the green that I added to my art journal page.

I’m happy to be able to join the Use Some Green challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my page too.

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

I’m also happy to join in the The Eyes Have It challenge over at Country View Challenges with my robin on my art journal page.

I’m also joining the Aquamarine challenge over at the Frilly & Funkie Challenge Blog with the blue/green coloured paper on my page.

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

• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B, Cold Grey IV 233)
• Studio Light Paper Pad (PPSL84)
• Old Calendar
• UHU Stic
• Recycled tissue paper
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Wildflower Stems #2 664164)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Paperbabe Stamps (Fun Alphabet Outline Stamp Set)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Musicality DCE907112)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Daler Rowney Acrylic Paint Marker (Silver)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Melinera (Scatter Decorations – Wooden Flowers)

Our friendship is like a cup of tea …

This page is inspired by some new green tea from the Tea & Biscuit Club in Arundel; the tea we chose was Spanish Orange Green Tea (grin!).

I started by covering the page with Metallic Mint, Iced Coffee and Gold Champagne Faber-Castell Gelatos by scribbling them onto the page and blending the colour with a wet finger. Then I sprayed some White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray through a Tim Holtz Stencil and left it to dry. Next I die cut the trellis from some gold paper recycled from a bar of chocolate and stuck them along with some of the cut outs onto the page using a Zig glue pen. Then I used a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker to add a shadow along edges of the trellis and cut outs to give a 3D effect; I love the way it looks as though the trellis is standing out from the page. I added the wording which is a Kaisercraft sticker edged with the Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker; it reads “Our friendship is like a cup of tea, a special blend of you and me”. To finish, I added a pretty Chinese tea image, with flowers which look a little like orange blossom, which is from a Kanban topper set using glue dots to stick it in place.

You may remember Arundel from my last post, if you want to see the castle and our walk, please see my Arundel Treasures post. This is The Tea & Biscuit Club shop we always visit to buy our tea; they have quite an array of loose leaf tea, which they create and blend on the premises.

We chose Spanish Orange Green Tea which is light green tea with rosehip, hibiscus, orange peel, calendula and sunflower petals, giving a vanilla aroma and a soft fruity taste. It’s very refreshing and as T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my tea with the T gang and wishing you all a very Happy T day!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

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 Eileen from The Artful Crafter and her Green challenge over at Art Journal Journey this month with green tea page.

I’m joining in the Something Feminine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my friendship art journal page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page too.

I’m also joining in the A Bit’O Green challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my green tea art journal page.

Don’t forget that you still have time to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge over at Creative Artiste, it would be lovely to see you there!

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

• Faber-Castell Gelato (Metallic Mint, Iced Coffee, Gold Champagne)
• Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray (White Linen)
• Tim Holtz Layering Mini Stencil (Set 16 THMST016)
• Gold Recycled Paper
• The Works (Cutting Dies – Trellis)
• Zig Memeory System 2-way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (High Tea SS336)
• Kanban Paper Craft Toppers (Flowers & Cupcakes 900858)
• Stix2 Glue Dots

Paradise

I had fun art journaling using a New Technique, which is our new challenge theme over at Try it on Tuesday for the next two weeks.

I hope to see you there and don’t forget to tell us what new technique you used.

I created a quick and simple background (many of you will know that “quick and simple” is so unlike me … grin!) by applying paint with a old plastic gift card – it was such a fun technique and definitely something I will try again!

First, I layered some Cold Grey and Vivid Lime Green Liquitex acrylic and some white and black DecoArt acrylic paint onto the page using the gift card to scrape the paint across the page. Then I added more of these paints using the edge of the gift card to create lots texture; I love how it turned out (grin!). When dry, I added some pink felt flowers using Ranger Glossy Accents, some flower stickers which are edged with some smudged black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker, some green circular rub-on transfers and a “paradise” fabric sticker and just like that the page was finished.

We are starting to plan jobs in the garden for this year and this page reminded me of how our garden becomes our own little “paradise” especially when these beautiful pink daisy flowers are flowering. I’m so looking forward to seeing them again.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a pint of Saxon Red Ale that we had whilst out last week. It’s brewed locally by The Parker Brewery and is smooth and malty with a hint of spice on the finish – cheers and Happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Eileen from  The Artful Crafter and her Green challenge over at Art Journal Journey this month with the lime green paint, leaves, sticker flower centres and rub-ons on this page.

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge.

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

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

• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Neutral Gray, Vivid Lime Green)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Old Gift Card
• Home Bargains (Decorative Sticks 38352, Room Décor Embellishments)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Little Yellow Bicycle Fabric Favourites (PD-220)
• Kaisercraft Rubons (Lush Colour RB868)