Tropical Flowers

Today I have created a tropical flower page which showcases some beautiful African postage stamps from Gabon – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the whole page with a tropical butterfly postal decoupage paper using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I tore some Gabon postage stamp information which was included with the postage stamps, edged it with black Faber-Castell marker and stuck it to the left-hand side and right-hand side edges of the page. Next I applied Spice and Moss Spectrum Aqua markers by scribbling them on an acrylic block and painting them onto the page with a paintbrush like watercolour and then I stencilled a trellis pattern from Dutch Doobadoo Mask using black Archival Ink and a blending tool. I also used the same black ink to stamp some butterflies from Hampton Art positioning them so they flowed vertically up the page. Then I layered some Pébéo modelling paste onto the page using a Moroccan stencil from Craft Sensations and when the paste was dry I coloured the edges with a Midnight Sparkle metallic lustre wax. I also added a thin layer of white gesso to soften the black and give a worn and grungy look.

Next I applied more colour using Topaz and Fawn Spectrum Aqua markers, by scribbling them on an acrylic block, holding the block over the page and spritzing with water so droplets of ink pooled onto the page, creating some rusty stains to continue the grunge look. When dry I splattered black and also white DecoArt acylic paint over the whole page using a paintbrush. To make the tags, I used some design paper which I cut into a tag shape and punched a whole in the top of each of one. They are edged with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink using a blending tool and also a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. I chose different bits of travel and tropical designed paper that were left over from other journal pages and edged them with the black Faber-Castell marker smudging the ink with my finger. They are layered onto the tags along with some light pink coloured mesh ribbon. I kept the pink colour on two of the tags and I also coloured some of this pink ribbon using the Moss Spectrum Aqua marker on one of the tags and then Spice Spectrum Aqua marker for the other two. The ribbon is stuck onto the tag using a Zig Memory System glue pen and the papers are stuck down using a UHU Stic. I stuck a Gabon postage stamp featuring wild tropical flowers onto each tag using double-sided foam tape and also numbered the tags using outline stickers which I had coloured black using a Sharpie marker. I tied a piece of black paper twine to each of the tags and then stuck them in place using double-sided foam tape which finished the page.

To continue the African tropical flower theme, here is a beautiful Calla lily (Zantedeschia) which is brightening our dining room table with its beautiful white dotted leaves and colourful flowers (grin!).

If you are interested here are some fun facts about this lily:

• They are also known as the pig lily, trumpet lily or arum lily.
• The name calla lily is derived from a Greek word meaning beauty.
• Because the calla lily blossoms in late spring, they have come to represent rebirth and youth.
• Although an outdoor plant by nature, this plant can also be kept as an indoor plant too.

Challenges

With the flora of the tropical flowers and fauna of the butterflies, I’m joining the Flora and Fauna challenge over at Art Journal Journey where I’m hosting this month. I hope you are inspired to join us, it would be lovely to see you there!

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Moo Mania and More and their Flowers theme with my Tropical Flowers art journal page.

I’m joining Valerie and the rest of the DT again over at Mixed Media World and their theme is Anything Goes…optional Pink.

I’m also pleased to join the Rust theme over at Mixed Media Monthly Challenge with the rusty stains that I added to my page.

As I used stencils on my page, I’m also reminding you of our Stencil, Die Cuts or Both theme over at Try it on Tuesday which runs until next Monday evening.

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 Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Craf-T Products Luster Rub-ons (Midnight Sparkle)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Spice, Moss, Topaz, Fawn)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Sharpie Permanent Marker (Black)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO134)
• Dutch Doobadoo Mask Art A5 (Vintage)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan)
• First Edition Deco Maché Decoupage Papers (FEDEC196)
• The Works 12×12 Paper Stack (Vintage Experience CRO239/TW6)
• Design papers – leftovers
• Postage stamps from hubby’s childhood stamp collection (Gabon 1961 set of 5 stamps featuring Wild Tropical Flowers)
• Mesh ribbon recycled from flower bouquet
• Outline Stickers (Time Silver 904935)
• Wilko (Paper Twine)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• The Range double-sided foam tape

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Hello Spring!

With sunny days and warmer temperatures, it feels more like spring! My garden definitely looks more spring-like too with the beautiful daffodils and birdsong. So today I’m capturing those happy spring memories on my art journal page.

To start, I applied Mustard Seed Distress Ink concentrating the colour around the edges of the page; I did this by stamping the ink pad to an acrylic block and picking up the ink using a paint brush. Then I sprinkled some Leaf Green Colourfast Brusho powder onto the page and spritzed with water and watched the colours magically explode into life; I did this a few times until the intensity of colour I wanted was achieved. While the background was still wet, I used a stencil to apply Hickory Smoke Distress Ink using a blending tool and I stamped a daffodil tile stamp by Papermania using the Mustard Seed Distress Ink and also black Archival Ink, and also a small Flower & Dot stamp from Magenta using Teal Zeal Memento Ink; I really like the way the inks blended with the other background colours. I added a border of thin washi tape around the edge of the page and also around the wording “Hello Spring!” which I recycled from some junk mail. The pretty birds and daffodils are from a decoupage set which I fussy cut and stuck to the page using double-sided foam tape. The eggs are from an incomplete set of outline stickers from a charity shop (thrift store), which I stuck onto some textured recycled card and stuck to the page using a UHU Stic. To finish, I added some yellow bows which I made using recycled ribbon from a birthday gift.

Here are some of the beautiful daffodils flowering in our garden to welcome spring!

My pottery lamb stopped by to check them out too (grin!).

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 Alison/Craftytrog, who is hosting the Recycle and Collage challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the recycled junk mail, textured card and ribbon that I collaged onto this page!

With the stamping and pretty birds on my page, I’m pleased to join The Birds & the Bees challenge over at The Artistic Stamper.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Trio of Something challenge with my pretty trio of decoupage bird images (if you look closely you will see the bird sitting on the flowerpot repeated three times on my page) and also my trio of eggs.

I’m also joining the Allsorts Challenge Blog and their New Beginnings challenge as my art journal page depicts the change in seasons, to welcome spring.

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 (Mustard Seed, Hickory Smoke)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Colourcraft Brusho Colour (Leaf Green)
• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Teal Zeal)
• Papermania wood mounted stamp (39454)
• Magenta wood mounted rubber stamp (Flowers & Dots 23111D)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Recycled junk mail magazine
• Hunkydory Spring is in the Air Designer Decoupage (Garden Birds and Bunny Meadow)
• Recycled textured card
• Outline Stickers (PP570)
• Yellow Ribbon – recycled from present
• The Works (Washi Tape Set)
• Wilko (Sticky Dots)
• UHU Stic
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Vintage

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it On Tuesday and our theme for the next two weeks is Vintage.

Thanks to those of you who joined us for the Love is in the Air challenge and I hope you will be inspired by our Vintage challenge too, it would be great to see you there!

For my art journal page, I started by covering the page in pieces of napkin using Liquitex matte gel medium and then applying Pébéo white gesso using a palette knife.  Once dry, I aged the page to tie into the Vintage theme by using Dark Sepia, Sanguine and Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. I did this by applying the markers directly to the edges of the page and smudging them with my finger and I also scribbling the marker onto an acrylic block and dragging the block over the surface of the page so it highlighted the gesso texture and creases of napkin. Next I used a cutting die and my Big Shot to create tile shapes, which are stuck to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium and when they were all in place I covered them all with a layer of matte gel medium too. I coloured the edges of the tiles using Willow and Ink Black Derwent Inktense pencils and highlighted some of the gaps between the tiles using a white Derwent Inktense pencil. Then I covered some of the tiles with white gesso and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to give them more of an aged look. The pretty purple violet flowers are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel which I layered over the top of one another to build up the design and intensity of colour. I added the butterfly 3D sticker and then splattered black DecoArt acrylic paint over the whole page using a paintbrush. The ivy is die cut using Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz and coloured using Leaf Green, Moss and Sepia Spectrum Aqua markers and a black Derwent Graphik fine line marker. They are stuck to the page using a Zig Memory System glue pen. I added the letter button stickers and applied white gesso and then matte gel medium over their edges so they looked more in keeping with the Vintage style. I also used the Willow and Ink Black Derwent Inktense pencils around them giving a worn look. For the doily, I coloured the edges using Tea Dye Distress Ink and a blending tool, and also the Dark Sepia Big Brush marker. I tied a bow in the middle of a piece of purple satin ribbon and then threaded each end of the ribbon around the central circle of a doily and stuck the doily in place using double-sided foam tape. I cut some thick purple paper using a Spellbinders die and stuck a butterfly image on top, which I had edged with the Tea Dye ink and Dark Sepia marker, using double-sided tape. To finish, I added one of the violet flowers, from the rub-on transfer set, to a vintage metal embellishment and stuck it in place using Ranger Glossy Accents.

I hope you will join in the fun over at Try it on Tuesday where you will find fabulous Vintage creations from the Design Team too!

Another rainy day meant another lovely walk around Lytham Hall with our friends. This time I had a piece of lemon and poppy cake with my pot of green tea and I was amazed how the vintage china and pretty purple flowers on my cake matched my Vintage page – Happy Serendipity (grin!). As I’m sharing my drink I’m saying a big hello and welcome to the T Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday and wishing you all a very 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 Rike from rike’s art, who is hosting the Animals A-Z challenge over at Art Journal Journey as B is for Butterfly on today’s page!

I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Add a Die Cut challenge with the vintage tiles, square frame and ivy leaf dies that I used on my art journal page.

I’m also pleased to join the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything but Cute 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:

• Dunelm Napkin (Grace 30220549)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175, Sanguine 188, Cold Grey IV 233)
• Derwent Inktense Pencils (Willow 1900, Ink Black 2200, Antique White 2300)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Leaf Green, Moss, Sepia)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Pentel Hybrid Gel Grip Pen (White)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye)
• Spellbinders Nestabilities Card Creator Die Cut Systems (Pearl Effects S5-194, Unknown)
• Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz (garden Greens 661206)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Design Block)
• American Crafts Papers (DIY Shop 366665)
• Poundland Design Pad (Purple Paradise CRO701/PL3)
• Docrafts Papermania 8×8” Labels (Botanicals PMA157234)
• Dovecraft Premium Paper Doilies (Painted Blooms DCDLS010)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (KPE1229G)
• Home Bargains (Love Letters 22738, Beautiful Butterflies 22742)
• Recycled Satin Ribbon (Purple)
• Poundworld (Vintage Stickers)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Melt It! – Four Seasons

I’m so excited and honoured to be a Pinworthy Guest Designer over at A Vintage Journey and my seasonal heart decorations are inspired by their challenge – Melt It! Julia is the host for this challenge and kindly provided the following brief:

This month we’re asking everyone to MELT IT! Get out the UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel), beeswax, encaustic wax, embossing powders or good old wax crayons and a heat tool and get melting to create something in a vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journaling; industrial, timeworn or steampunk style.

So today I’m sharing how I created a heart decoration for each of the four seasons and as I love creating my art journal pages and projects using mixed media, I chose to create these decorations in the Mixed Media Style for A Vintage Journey. I had so much fun melting both embossing powder for the backgrounds and also embossing enamels for the birds on my Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter decorations (grin!).

These decorations are wonderful additions to the seasonal window displays that I create throughout the year, which you may be aware of from my previous post.

I started by stamping the heart tags with different stamps using Emboss ink, the stamps included: a rose design from a Penny Black stamp set for spring; flowers and swirls from the same Penny Black stamp set and also a flower design from Hampton Art for summer; some leaves from Royal & Langnickel for autumn and finally snowflakes from BoBunny for winter. I covered each of them with white Stampendous embossing powder, shook off the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper and also tapped the heart to make sure any stray powder was removed. Then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder by sweeping the gun over the stamped images, taking care not to direct the heat in one area for too long until the embossing powder melted to a glossy finish and became smooth and dimensional. I repeated the same process to decorate the back of the heart too, making sure I suspended the heart when heating the embossing powder to ensure the reverse side did not stick to my craft mat. Next I applied two different Memento Inks for each of the hearts using a blending tool, which emphasised the melted embossing powder beautifully. The ink colours I used were Pistachio and Angel Pink for spring, Lilac Posies and Dandelion for summer, Morocco and Toffee Crunch for autumn and Summer Sky and London Fog for winter.

The branches and foliage for spring, autumn and winter are die cut using Garden Greens Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz from different design papers with my new Big Shot machine. They are coloured using Spectrum Aqua markers which I applied like watercolour by scribbling the marker onto an acrylic block and picking up the ink with a wet paintbrush; the colours I used were Bud Green and Moss for spring, Chestnut and Sepia for autumn and Chocolate for winter. I used some tiny maple leaves that I had in my craft stash to decorate the autumn branch which I coloured using Crimson, Orange and Gold Spectrum Aqua Markers. All of these paper elements are stuck to the heart using a Zig Memory System glue pen. For summer, I used some sunflower border stickers by Docrafts Papermania.

For the birds, I used some wooden bird shapes which I covered in Emboss ink and Stampendous Frantage embossing enamel; this enamel was a Christmas present so this is the first time I had used it and I love it, it’s such an amazing medium to use (grin!). I shook off the excess enamel pieces and then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing enamel until it melted to a smooth glossy finish. Be careful not to touch the melted embossing enamel until cooled as it gets very hot when heated. For spring I used Aged Hunter, for summer Aged Silver, for autumn Aged Marine and winter Aged Scarlet. The birds are stuck in place using Ranger Glossy Accents.

Next I embellished the spring branches with some pretty flower beads to represent spring blossoms using Glossy Accents and the winter berries using Christmas Red Stickles from Ranger. The wording is stamped onto thick paper using a Dovecraft alphabet stamp set and different Memento Inks; Rich Cocoa for spring, Cottage Ivy for summer, Elderberry for autumn and Blue Danube for winter. They are stuck down using the Zig Memory System glue pen. To finish, I added a piece of white paper twine and also threaded some flower, metal and bevelled glass beads on a piece of thread and tied them with some ribbons around the twine.

I really enjoyed joining A Vintage Journey to Melt It! and create my Four Seasons heart decorations. I hope you are inspired by this month’s 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 these decorations:

• Tsukeniko Emboss Embossing Ink Pad (Clear)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Toffee Crunch, Angel Pink, Rich Cocoa, Lilac Posies, Dandelion, Cottage Ivy, Morocco, Toffee Crunch, Elderberry, Summer Sky, London Fog, Danube Blue)
• Stampendous Frantage Embossing Enamel Holiday Kit (Aged Hunter, Aged Silver, Aged Marine, Aged Scarlet)
• Spectrum Aqua Markers (Bud Green, Moss, Crimson, Orange, Gold, Chestnut, Sepia, Chocolate)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Penny Black Stamp Set (Clearly in Love 30-009)
• Hampton Art Studio G Clear Stamps (Series 11 VS4911)
• Royal & Langnickel Clear Choice Stamps (Pressed Leaves MIN-CCS102)
• BoBunny Stamps (Snow Day 13705563)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Crafter’s Companion Luxury Designer Paper Pad (Angelica & Adam Collection A&A-PAP6-M)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Design Block)
• Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CR0701/16PL1)
• Wilko (5 Heart Gift Tags)
• Craft for Occasions (C2026 – wooden bird and bunnies)
• Docrafts Papermania Signature 3D Floral Borders (Sunflower Burst PMA8011000)
• The Brighton Bead Shop (Assorted beads – flower, glass, metal, bevelled)
• Thick black thread
• Recycled ribbons from Christmas Crackers
• Satin ribbon (Green, Pink, Tan, Blue)
• Ranger Stickles (Christmas Red)
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (The Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• UHU Glue Pen

Vintage Christmas

Tidings of Comfort and Joy!

I hope you’re having a wonderful Christmastime and wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

Today’s page is inspired by Christmastime and all things vintage! I started by covering the page with a music sheet from a book of Christmas carols that I picked up in a charity shop (thrift store); you may know the carol and I liked that the title referenced both Christmas and the New Year. I ripped the page into three pieces and stuck them down along with some gold, gold star and gold holly tissue papers using a UHU Stic. When the glue had dried I added Toffee Crunch and Rich Cocoa Memento Inks to the edge of the page and papers using a blending tool. Next I stamped a snowflake design from the Woodware Craft Collection using Emboss ink, then I covered it with white Stampendous embossing powder and shook off the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper. I also tapped the page to make sure any stray powder was removed and then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder. I swept the gun over the stamped images, taking care not to direct the heat in one area for too long until the embossing powder changed to a glossy finish becoming smooth and dimensional. The gold trees are relief stickers by Crelando and the vintage images are cut using serrated scissors from an old magazine and a 12×12” paper sheet of Tags from the Glistening Season collection from Pion Designs; they are edged with the Toffee Crunch ink and arranged on the page using double-sided tape and some fabric washi tape. The “December 25” sign is a Victorian Christmas 3D sticker from Docrafts Papermania which I stuck down with a glass candy cane decoration. The candy cane is from an incomplete set of wine charms purchased at a charity shop; wine charms are small ornaments that you attach to a wine glass at a party so you know which glass is yours. I also tied some white paper twine to a round wooden tree tag and added it to the page. The white ribbon is recycled from a Christmas cracker and I tied it into a bow. To finish, I added lots of glittery gold snowflakes which are stickers.

I’d also like to thank the Allsorts Challenge Blog for my early Christmas present of the Pion Design paper and the Toffee Crunch Memento Ink that I used to create this page. I won them over at their challenge from Swedish House Crafts, along with some other goodies too (grin!).

I love Christmas music and play it at every opportunity this time of year (grin!), so I was really pleased to find a book of carols in my local charity shop. The carol I used for my page is “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen”, if you are interested:

• This carol is also known as “Tidings of Comfort and Joy”.
• It is a traditional English Christmas carol which is thought to date back to the 16^th Century. It was first published by William Sandys in 1833.
• This carol is referred to in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, 1843:  “… at the first sound of ‘God bless you, merry gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!’, Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost.”
• There have been many covers of this carol including Bing Crosby in 1947,  Nat King Cole in 1960, Nancy Sinatra in 1991, Mariah Carey in 1994, Glee in 2010 and many more. Each of the names is a link to their version of the carol – now I’m wondering which one you would choose to listen too?

I received a lovely surprise from my hubby, look what was waiting for me at elevenses with my cup of green tea – a yummy gingerbread Christmas Tree (grin!). As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and wishing you all a very Christmassy T Day!

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Sheila from Orange Esmeralda who is hosting the “Let’s Celebrate” challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Vintage Christmas celebration!

I’m joining the Christmas” fun over at Country View Challenges where the theme is “Christmas with optional Reds, Greens and Rust”.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge the theme is “Party!” so I’m pleased to join them with my Vintage Christmas party!

I’m pleased to join the “Winter Wonderland” challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my vintage style page inspired by Christmastime, snow, carols and vintage wintry scenes.

I’m also joining the “Believe” challenge over at the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge with my vintage Christmas page as my design and colour palette was influenced by their inspirational photo – Merry Christmas!

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:

• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Toffee Crunch, Rich Cocoa)
• Emboss Embossing Ink Pad (Clear)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Snowflakes FRS027)
• Tissue Paper (Gold, Gold Star, Gold Holly)
• The Oxford Book of Carols
• Pion Design Glistening Season 12×12” sheet (Tags – PD6612)
• Old Magazine
• Poundland (Fabric Tape 156456-GE16)
• The Works (Pack of 9 Wooden Tags)
• Docrafts Papermania Victorian Christmas (3D Christmas Stickers PMA805801)
• Wilko (Paper Twine)
• Re-cycled ribbon (White)
• Crelando Relief Stickers Christmas designs (12 Sheets IAN289011)
• The Pier (Wine Charms PLU2010838)
• Christmas-Craft (Glitter Embellishments Gold XCR0037)
• Fun Cut Scissors – serrated
• UHU Stic
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape

Oh, Deer!

I’m so excited that December is here as I can put up my Christmas decorations; I started on Friday and it took me a couple of days to complete this task (grin!). I thought I’d create a page with the help of this deer who seems to be celebrating by decorating his antlers with Christmas baubles too (double grin!).

My idea was to create a snowy silver birch woodland background so I started by applying some torn pieces of white napkin using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium to add some texture. Then I added Brushed Corduroy, Spiced Marmalade and Hickory Smoke Distress Inks like watercolour by applying each ink to an acrylic block and then using a paintbrush to apply them to the page. I then sprinkled some Dark Brown Colourcraft Brusho powder over the top, spritzed with water and watched the powders explode with colour. I dried the page with my heat gun and then I applied a thin layer of PVA glue here and there in order to seal in some of the colour. Once the glue had dried, I applied a thick layer of Pébéo white gesso over the top using a palette knife and used the heat gun again to create some lovely texture as the gesso bubbled under the heat.  I emphasised this texture by using Silver Grey, White Sparkle and Apple Green metallic lustres by Craft-T products. I love how the gesso enhanced the background texture and that it looks like silver birch bark covered in snow. Next I ripped some branch and berry images from a napkin and stuck them around the edge of the page using a UHU Stic. With the background completed, I tore some silver Curling Ribbon (that was recycled from a present) into thin strips and then curled it with some scissors. I arranged the red and green baubles which are stickers and tied the strips of ribbon to them as if they were hanging down the page. I fussy cut the red reindeer from an old magazine and as the reindeer had white writing across it I covered it with small pieces of the red paper that I tore from the off cuts and coloured the edges with Crimson, Burgundy and Scarlet Spectrum Aqua markers. I mounted the reindeer image onto a piece of white card and outlined his eyes and nose with a Derwent Graphik marker so they stood out more. He is stuck onto the page using double-sided tape and I wrapped the ribbons around his antlers as I stuck him down so it looked like the baubles were hanging from them; this took a little time as it was quite fiddly. To finish, I added more sparkle to his antlers using some little silver dots and some red and green bells which are from the same sticker set as the baubles.

You may remember the Winter Wonderland Decorations that I made last month. I had a few requests to show them again when I had created my winter window display, so here they are (grin!). As you can see I made a few more of these decorations and trimmed them with lace, and as it’s December they are being displayed with some Christmas decorations too.

They look so magical at night with the fairy lights!

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my green tea in some new mugs that were bought for us, their design reminded me of the reindeer page (double grin!) – Happy T Day!

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. Being a new month there are lots of new exciting challenge themes too, so here are the ones I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Sheila from Orange Esmeralda over at Art Journal Journey and her “Let’s Celebrate” challenge with my reindeer celebrating Christmas!

I’m joining the “Christmas” challenge over at Country View Challenges with my Christmas themed page and it was lots of fun also including their option of using reds and greens as part of my page design.

With my snowy reindeer scene I’m also joining in the fun over at A Vintage Journey and their “Winter Wonderland” challenge with my “Art Journaling” and “Mixed-Media” style page as it was created to remember the joy of putting up my Christmas Decorations this year and I used lots of different media to create it.

Being inspired by Chris and the fabulous textured backgrounds that she created for her happy snowman and baubles, I’m also joining the “Torn, Ripped and Burnt” challenge over at PaperArtsy with the torn and heated elements that I used to create my silver birch textured background and happy reindeer with baubles.

I’m also pleased to join the 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy, Spiced Marmalade, Hickory Smoke)
• Colourcraft Brusho Colour (Dark Brown)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Craf-T Luster Rub-ons Color Kit #4 (Silver Grey, White Sparkle, Apple Green)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Crimson, Burgundy, Scarlet)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Poundland (Luxury Napkins 70371)
• Old Magazine
• Bauble Stickers from Charity Shop
• Recycled Curling Ribbon (Silver)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Winter Wonderland Decorations

Today I have something different to my normal Art Journalling … as you may be aware, I like to create a seasonal window display. I have always struggled to source winter decorations for my tree branches as they need to be appropriate for January and February not just for Christmas, so I decided to have some fun and create my own using items I had in my craft stash. Here they are … what do you think?

As winter was my inspiration for these decorations, I used a white colour palette and some sparkle, which reminds me of frosty mornings and snowy days: I was thinking winter wonderland! I chose music, birds and hearts to link to my love of this season; linking to Christmas time festivities and of course Valentine’s Day. Even though each item is unique, they are brought together as a collection because I used the same materials to decorate them. You can find out how I created them below.

Love Heart

The large heart is a luxury gift tag which I stamped using three different stamps using Emboss ink; the stamps include a music stamp from the Musicality clear stamp set by Docrafts, a Diamond Background stamp and also a Serpentine Background stamp, both by Art Impressions. I covered the Emboss ink with white Stampendous embossing powder and shook off the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper. I also tapped the heart to make sure any stray powder was removed and then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder. I swept the gun over the stamped images, taking care not to direct the heat in one area for too long until the embossing powder changed to a glossy finish becoming smooth and dimensional. I repeated this process on the back of the tag as well. To add a little contrast I applied Toffee Crunch Memento Ink very lightly to the front and back using a blending tool which highlighted the embossing more. I added a piece of music decorative tape diagonally across the tag and edged it with pearl strips that I had cut to size. I stuck a piece of diamante decorative chain wire along the length of the decorative tape, securing it with Glossy Accents. The “Love” sentiment is a wooden embellishment which I painted first with white gesso and then I embossed it with the same white embossing powder. I stuck it onto the heart along with some pearls and pearl feathers using Glossy Accents. To finish, I added a piece of white paper twine and organza ribbon.

Bobbin

For the bobbin, which was kindly gifted me by my mum who uses lots of gold thread for her Christmas cards that she embroiders, I applied three bands of the same decorative tape around the central cone. Then using the slit at the top of the bobbin, where the thread in normally secured, I secured the end of the diamante wire and wrapped it around the central cone securing it again at the bottom. I then edged the top and bottom of the bobbin with the same pearl strips and also added some pearls and pearl feathers to the central cone using Glossy Accents. To embellish the bottom of the bobbin I used a metal heart, which I recycled from an old necklace, by painting it with white gesso. When the gesso was dry, I covered the heart in Emboss ink and then white Stampendous embossing powder. It’s very important to remember that this heart is metal and therefore conducts the intense heat of the heat gun so I suspended the heart while heating it and waited until it cooled before touching it. Once cooled I distressed the heart with a craft knife and added a pearl to both sides. I then threaded some white paper twine through the heart and up through the bobbin to suspend the heart at the bottom. To finish, I tied some of the white ribbon into a bow around the paper twine at the top of the bobbin.

Small Heart

For the small heart, I used a wooden hollow heart shape tag and covered the front and the back with the music decorative tape and then I edged all the sides of the heart with pearl strips that I had cut to size.  I punched a hole through the tape to thread the piece of white string back through. It is decorated with some diamante wire, pearls and pearl feathers using Glossy Accents to stick them and I added a piece of the organza ribbon to the top of the heart to finish the piece.

Bird Frame

The bird decoration is a wooden frame embellishment which I covered in white gesso and white embossed on both the front and the back. I cut decorative tape to fit the bottom section and added a string of pearls and feathers to the bottom edge using Glossy Accents. Along the top frame I adhered some of the pearl strips and wrapped a piece of the diamante wire onto the right-hand side securing it with Glossy Accents. Again this piece is finished with white paper twine and ribbon which I tied in a bow.

Frost Fairy

I used another luxury gift tag heart and coloured it with the Toffee Crunch Memento Ink using a blending tool, then I covered half of the heart with the decorative tape. I created a frosty leaf by painting it with white gesso and then white embossed it. For the fairy which is a wooden shape, I painted white gesso and embossed it and then I added a piece of wire and a pearl to form a band around the fairy’s waist. I stuck both the leaf and fairy to the heart using Glossy Accents. Next I added a piece of the decorative tape diagonally across the top left-hand corner over the leaf and edged it with the pearl strips and added the diamante wire along its length. I curled the leaf edges to show the heart shape more and stuck the pearl and pearl feathers to the top right-hand side. To finish, I added a piece of white paper twine and organza ribbon.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my hot chocolate and a special winter treat of lebkuchen – yum! Wishing you all a Happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, 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 created these decorations to adorn my home so I’m pleased to join the “Home Sweet Home” theme over at Try it on Tuesday.

The “Mini Marvels” challenge over at A Vintage Journey gave me the perfect motivation to create my winter inspired decorations in readiness for display in December. They meet the “Mini Marvels” criteria with the largest decoration (the Bird Frame) being 4” and all the rest being smaller. I hope you like the “Shabby Chic” look of these winter decorations.

I really enjoyed using the white colour palette to create my winter wonderland decorations, so I’m joining in the fun over at  Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their “Snow White” challenge.

As I used stamping on the Love Heart decoration for the white embossing, I’m pleased to join the “November Challenge: Anything Goes!: (stamping MUST be included)” at the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge.

Inspired by Alison, I’m also pleased to be able to join PaperArtsy where the theme is “Shades of White”, thanks so much for inviting me 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 these decorations:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tsukienki Memento Ink (Toffee Crunch)
• Tsukienki Emboss Embossing Stamp Pad (Clear)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Diamond Background T-3335, Serpentine Background T-2773)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Musicality DCE907112)
• Wilko (Luxury Gift Tags – Hearts)
• Crelando Decorative Tape
• Poundworld (Pearl Embellishments)
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Decorative Chain 26253)
• The Brighton Bead Company (Pearl and leaf strand)
• The Works (Wooden Craft Words)
• Bobbins
• Recycled metal charm from old necklace
• The Works M&C Boutique (Hollow Heart Shape Tags)
• The Works (Wooden Frames CRO282/TW1)
• The Works (Fairy Shapes)
• The Handmade Paper Company (Nature’s Touch of Art – Leaves)
• Wilko (Paper Twine)
• Organza ribbon (White)
• Ranger Glossy Accents