Friends are the flowers

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Friendship.

I had fun creating this page inspired by some beautiful summer roses in my friend’s garden (smile!).

I started by applying a piece of neutral paper over the background detailing lots of flowers. Then I added a flowery border sticker, along the left-hand side and right-hand side of the page, from a Floral Shoppe Graphic 45 Sticker Sheet. I stamped two flower heads onto some mixed media paper using a Flower Garden stamp set from Tim Holtz and black Archival Ink. Then I painted the flowers to match those on the Graphic 45 stickers using Lemon Yellow and Rose Madder Kuretake watercolours. I fussy cut the large flower head and die cut some buds using a Bloom Colourize Sizzix Thinlits set along with some leaves from some green Kraft Cardstock – Classic by Tim Holtz. I arranged them onto the page with a pretty tag, that was from the same Graphic 45 Sticker Sheet, adding a green satin ribbon; the tag reads “Friends are the flowers in the garden of life”.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing Friendship designs from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

My dear friend loves gardening and here is one of the beautiful roses that she grows in her garden (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

LTCCB #159 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my papercraft page.

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Joyful Tag

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing my second tag for November’s Tags Only challenge, which I’m delighted to be hosting this month.

For this Christmasy festive tag, I used another MDF tag by Creative Expressions covering it with Driftwood acrylic paint by DecoArt. Then I used one of my favourite techniques to create a wood effect background using Distress Inks and matte gel medium. I did this by dragging Frayed Burlap, Crushed Corduroy and Tea Dye Distress Ink pads vertically down the tag and applying matte gel medium over the top keeping the brush strokes vertical; the gel medium dragged the ink down the tag to give a wood grain effect. Next I die cut the flowers from different colours of Tim Holtz Kraft Cardstock – Classic using a Floral Edge Sizzix Thinlits set and pieced them together. I added the “Joyful” wording from a Christmas Sticker book by Tim Holtz and I tied on some white paper twine, red and green ribbons which finished the tag.

I hope you are inspired to join our Tags Only challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have two chances to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts.

Here are some of the materials that I used to create the tag from Country View Crafts.

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #179 – Anything Goes challenge with my Joyful tag.

MIUCB #61 – Anything Goes + Optional Open Technique over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my favourite wood grain effect technique that I used on this tag.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #26 where Anything Christmas Goes with my festive Christmas tag.

Tags Only at Country View Challenges

I’m so delighted that it’s my turn to host the challenge over at Country View Challenges this month which is Tags Only.

I chose this theme as I don’t create tags very often and who doesn’t love a tag, they are such fun to make! As the Tags Only title suggests we only want to see tags for this challenge, so no including them on cards, pages or other projects please.

I look forward to seeing what you make and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the shop! Before you enter your project though, please read the rules!

For my first tag, I used an MDF tag by Creative Expressions which I covered with Speckled Egg and Salvaged Patina Distress Paint. When dry, I added some letters to the background using a Tim Holtz Mini Layered Stencil Set #16 and some Speckled Egg Distress Ink. Then I stamped some grungy dots using a Urban Tapestry stamp set for Tim Holtz and some Faded Jeans Distress Archival Ink. Next I stamped numbers and circles using black Archival Ink and a #489 AALL & Create stamp set and I splattered the tag with white DecoArt acrylic paint. Gladys the flamingo was die cut using a Sizzix Time Holtz Thinlits set from different colours of Tim Holtz Kraft Cardstock – Classic. Once stuck in place I added the label sticker by Tim Holtz which reads “You Do You”. To finish, I tied some black paper twine and ribbons to the tag.

I had so much fun using the Gladys Flamingo Sizzix Thinlits set from Tim Holtz to create this MDF tag and here’s the crafting goodies from Country View Crafts that I used (grin!).

For more inspiration please see the amazing tags from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

Stay safe and well! x

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

Challenges

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #179 – Anything Goes with my tag.

Stencil Fun Challenge and their Anything Goes as long as you use a stencil as I used a letter stencil by Tim Holtz on my tag.

LTCCB#71 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my Gladys Flamingo tag.

The importance of a moment

Inspired by a new paper pad and Ric Rac ribbon, I created this Shabby Chic styled page with a beautiful quote that reads “Sometimes you don’t realise the importance of a moment until it becomes a memory”.

I started by covering the chipboard page with some pretty hummingbird and flower designed paper using a glue stick. Then I added three pieces of cream Ric Rac ribbon vertically down the left-hand side of the page, sticking them in place using double-sided tape. I placed a flower and leaves by Little Birdie over the bottom of the ribbon. Next I added the wording which was from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet and to finish, I edged it using a Uniball white gel pen.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a bottle of Cherry Wheat Beer that my hubby got me for Christmas. It was so delicious and reminded me of our trips to Belgium; I thought that it tied in nicely with the colour of my page (grin) – Happy T Day!

Hoping that you all stay safe and well! x

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover is hosting this month over at Art Journal Journey and her challenge is What’s Your Style, so I’m joining in the fun with my Shabby Chic styled page.

#148 – Use Ribbon, Raffia or Twine over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge with the new Ric Rac ribbon that I used on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #161 – Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page.

Love Hearts

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is All Loved Up.

My art journal page is all loved up with hearts, flowers and words; this time it was created just from collage materials.

I started by covering the page with some stripes of lace, star and old wallpaper designed decoupage and tissue papers using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I stuck a silver outline sticker vertically down the right-hand side of the page and some pink border and flower stickers from Kaisercraft horizontally across the page. Next I added the two large which I intertwined together with some ribbon; they were recycled from a banner. To finish I added the wording and small hearts which were from some Kaisercraft Sticker sheets.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the wonderful All Loved Up creations from our Guest Designers and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

For the sake of brevity I’m no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

To match my page and as T Stands for Tuesday, here’s my green tea in a mug with a pretty pink heart on it that I often have at my friends house – 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.

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover over at Art Journal Journey and her What’s Your Style challenge this month with my collage style page.

#148 – Use Ribbon, Raffia or Twine over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge with the ribbon that I used on my page to intertwine the hearts.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #160 – Anything Goes challenge with my romantic love page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their With Love Challenge with my Love Hearts page.

Love Is In The Air challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my Love Hearts page.

Winter Wonderland

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday which for the next 2 weeks is Winter Wonderland.

As some of you will know I can never resist using my Merry Moose Thinlits set this time of year, so today here he is walking through a winter wonderland at sunset (grin!).

I positioned a circular template from an Inkylicious template and stencil set to mask out the sun and then I painted some Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to mark out the sky and foreground. For the snowy foreground, I added some Ranger Texture Paste using s palette knife and when dry, I painted some Prize Ribbon Distress Ink and Pébéo white gesso over the top. Then I splattered the whole page using the white gesso, which when dry acted as a resist when I added the next layers of colour, forming the snowfall. To create the sunset, I gradually built up the layers of colour by painting the sky with some Abandoned Coral Distress Stain to form the clouds and I reflected some of this colour onto the snowy foreground too. The sun was painted using Mustard Seed Distress Ink and the same Abandoned Coral Distress Stain, and to add a bit of snowy sparkle I also added some Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink over the sun and clouds. I used a Tall Pines Thinlits set to cut the trees from some white cardstock and then I covered them with some Ranger Texture Paste and coloured them using some of the Distress Inks/Stain and white gesso. The “Winter Wonderland” wording was stamped onto some tissue paper using a free stamp set from a magazine and black Archival Ink; it was stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium.

The moose was die cut using the Merry Moose Thinlets from some Classic Kraft Paper, both by Tim Holtz. He was edged using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker, and I added a piece of ribbon for a scarf before sticking him in place. To finish, I splattered the whole page with white acrylic paint.

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

Over the years, I have created tags, journal pages and even Christmas cards using this Merry Moose Thinlits set, here’s some that have a winter wonderland feel about them; they all hold such happy memories of dear friends and my time on Design Teams! I hope you are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

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.

For the sake of brevity I am no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey and lovely Chris from http://pearshapedcrafting.blogspot.com/ who is hosting this month with her All Kinds of Weather challenge with all the snow falling on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #156 – Anything Goes with my Merry Moose page.

Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the winter wonderland background that I created for this page.

LTSCB #151 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my Winter Wonderland page.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog and their MLCCB #40 – November Anything Christmas Goes with my Winter Wonderland Christmasy page.

Christmas Gift Bag

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing these pretty Christmas gift bags for this month’s Christmas Gifting challenge. I’ve filled them with a couple of Christmas presents already – perfect (grin!).

Each bag was created from a piece of white A4 cardstock using an easy and fun folding method – please see full instructions below.

I started by stamping the poinsettias onto a piece of white A4 cardstock using a Christmas Time stamp set from Tim Holtz with Crackling Campfire and Rustic Wildness Distress Inks.

To create the bags, place the cardstock in front of you on a flat surface, making sure to place it in “portrait” orientation so that the top of the bag is on the right-hand side, then use a metal ruler and a stylus to score a crease mark 4cm wide down the left-hand side of the cardstock. When you’re done leave this unfolded as it will later become the bottom of the bag.

Of course if you have them, you may find it easier to use the groove on a Tonic Studios trimmer with a bone folder to make all the fold marks instead (this photo shows the 4cm wide crease mark).

Next turn the cardstock so it’s “landscape” in orientation and place a crease mark 1cm wide along the right-hand edge of the cardstock and sharply crease the fold. Keeping the cardstock in “landscape” orientation and leaving the 1cm folded, score a crease mark in the centre of the cardstock and then sharply fold.

Run a bead of glue along the 1cm fold and press the cardstock together where they overlap, weight down and leave to dry.

Orientate the bag so the openings are at the top and bottom and then make a 2cm wide score mark vertically down each side of the bag, which will crease mark both the front and back of the bag. Open the folds and use the crease marks to fold the bag inwards to create an accordion effect.

Next create the bottom of the bag using the scored crease lines to fold the left and then the right-hand sides inwards making sure you crease the bottom folds all the way to the corners to create a triangle of folded paper on either side; I sharply creased the triangle folds using a bone folder.

Then fold the triangles over each other like an envelope and stick them in place using a bead of glue and leave it to dry.

To finish, I punched two holes in the top of the bag using a We R Memory Keepers Tools Crop-A-Dile Hole Punch & Eyelet Setter; the holes are 4cm from each edge of the bag. Then I attached a tag using some red recycled ribbon; the tag was created using some of the white cardstock, the Christmas Time stamp set and Distress Inks again and embellished with a gold bell.

I hope you are inspired to join our Christmas Gifting challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the  (grin!).

I hope 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.

For the sake of brevity I am no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link. You can find most of the products that I used over at Country View Crafts too.

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #156 – Anything Goes with my Christmas gift bags.

MIUCB #55 – Anything Goes + 3-D Project over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the folding techniques I used to create this 3-D gift bag.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog and their MLCCB #40 – November Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas gift bags.

Challenge 130 – Christmas Presents over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with my Christmas bags that I created for presents this year.

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and their Challenge #105 – Anything Christmas Goes with my pretty Christmas gift bags.

Stamping Sensations and their Christmas challenge with my stamped Christmas gift bag and tags.

Christmas challenge over at We Love Stamping with my stamped Christmas gift bags and tags – thanks so much Brenda for highlighting this challenge in your lovely comment!

Be forever happy

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

I created a mixed media page using lots of leftovers from previous art journal pages; I hope you like it!

I started by covering the background of the page with the letters using one of stencils from a #16 mini stencil set by Tim Holtz and some leftover Iced Coffee Faber-Castell Gelato which was applied with a baby wipe.

Next I edged 4 Poster Cards from Tim Holtz, like I did all the paper elements on this page, using a black Faber-Castell marker and arranged them onto the page using double-sided tape. Then I added lots of leftover bits and pieces; this included a piece of mixed media paper which had been coloured using green Distress Inks, some flowers and foliage that had been die cut using Tim Holtz Thinlits and coloured using Distress Inks, some ribbon, some torn paper, some tissue paper and note paper that had been stamped using Finnabair stamps and black Archival Ink, a ruler from a Kaisercraft Journal Card and some die cut pieces of trellis that had been covered with Aged Silver Stampendous Embossing Enamel.

They were arranged onto the page using a glue stick or double-sided tape, and I layered together a doily, a recycled butterfly gift tag and some leftover die cut letters and wording to read “Be forever happy”. I added some sparkly gems to the centre of the yellow flowers and a green wooden bird and then to finish, I coloured the “Aug” and “Sept” wording on the Poster Card using Tri-Blend Spectrum Noir markers.

As you can see I used lots of different mediums to create this page but 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!

This page was inspired by our walks at Lytham Hall that we enjoyed over the summer (grin!).

There are lots of woodland walks so we were able to stay cool in the shade and out of the summer heat. I’m now looking forward to seeing the leaves change to their colours over the coming months with the autumn on its way.

Our walks also take us by these flower borders in the walled gardens which always look so beautiful (grin!).

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.

For the sake of brevity I’m no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges As well as Creative Artiste, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #151 – Anything Goes with my nature art journal page. De-stress with distressing over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my distressed grungy stencilled background, Distress Inks, and also the torn papers, trellis and ribbon. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Glimmer and Sparkle challenge with the glimmer and sparkle of the yellow flowers with their glittery gem centres. LTSCB #149 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my leftovers page. Mixed Media Lovers and their Challenge #5 Mixed Media Lovers as I used lots of mixed media to create this nature page; this is a new challenge blog so why not join in the fun too!

To my Valentine

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.

Noël

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

I hope you’ll join in the fun too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I love Christmas so I created this art journal page to wish you happiness this Christmastime!

Having made my Christmas cards I had a pile of paper which I had used to die cut fir tree branches from using a Tim Holtz Thinlits set, so rather than throw them away I used them to create my background. They had been coloured using Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles Distress Inks and I stuck them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium.

When dry, I added some green highlights to background pieces using an Alpine Green Blend coloured TriBlend alcohol marker from Spectrum Noir. The birds, branches and baubles were fussy cut from some design paper by Docrafts and arranged onto the page with a tag from the same Docrafts paper and die cut set.

I added the “Noël” wording and a snowflake to the tag and then I stuck the tag onto the page using double-sided foam tape. The bow was made from some red and white striped ribbon and stuck onto the tag using Ranger Glossy Accents. To finish, I added lots of green glittery snowflake foam stickers.

I hope that you are inspired to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge too, you just need to use 3 different mediums to enter so I kept it simple and only used Distress Inks, alcohol markers, design paper, ribbon and stickers this time.

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

I love Christmas and have been enjoying putting up our Christmas decorations this week; here I am in our Christmas robin themed room that I have just finished decorating (grin!).

Merry Christmas and stay safe!

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:

• Die cut off cuts
  • Recycled white paper
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles)
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Holiday Greens 658759)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Spectrum Noir TriBlend (Alpine Green Blend)
• Docrafts Papermania A4 Ultimate Die Cut & Paper Pack (Folk Christmas PMA160933)
• Ribbon
• Poundland (Christmas Craft Pack – snowflake stickers)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Creative Artiste, as they provide me with inspiration 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 Tracey over at Art Journal Journey and her Meaning of challenge this month as I love Christmas and also the meaning of the French word Noël is Christmas. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with Christmas art journal page. I’m pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my Noël page too. I’m also happy to join the A Time to be Grateful challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I’m always thankful when Christmas is here – I love it! I’m also pleased to join the Fun With Dies challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the die cut pieces I used to create the background and die cut tag on this page.