All you need is love

Today’s page was created by using one of my favourite inky techniques, some beautiful red hearts and a couple of cute bunnies, to wish you all a very Happy Valentine’s Day!

I started by smooshing Bluebird and Potting Soil Wendy Vicchi Make Art Inks from Ranger onto the page using one of my favourite techniques; applying the ink to an acrylic block, spritzing with water and then pressing the block and dripping the ink onto the page. I drew the large heart using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and then I stamped some tiny dots and some marble crackle texture using two Kaisercraft stamps and black Archival Ink.

Next I stuck the red hearts in place using a Zig glue pen, they were die cut from some recycled red foil cardstock using Tim Holtz Falling Hearts Thinlets and my big shot machine. Then I splattered the page using black and also white DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush. When dry, I added some rub-on transfers which are all Remnant Rubs from Tim Holtz; the numbers and incomplete words are from the Special Delivery set and the wording “love you”, “XOXO” and “happy together” are from the Tiny Text set.

The cute bunnies are cut from linen textured paper using a Springtime Sidekick thinlet set by Tim Holtz; I coloured them with a black Faber- Castell marker and used the red foil cardstock for their bows and some white pom-poms for their tails. I shaded behind the tails with a black marker so they stood out more and sat them onto three different washi tapes which I layered together; I also layered these washi tapes on other areas of the page too. To finish, I added three Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz which read “together is the best place to be”, “all you need is love” and “I’m happiest when I’m with you”.

For Valentine’s Day hubby treated us both to these Strawberry Tarts, you may remember me saying these were a favourite of mine in my Paris blog earlier this month. He bought them from a local bakery and it was such a lovely surprise, I can’t wait to try them with my cuppa – Happy Valentine’s Day!

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

Challenges

With all the hearts on my page, I’m pleased to join the Hearts challenge over at Art Journal Journey that is being hosted by the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth this month.

I’m so happy to join in the Splatters, Splashes & Drips challenge over at Country View Challenges with the splashes and drips of ink and acrylic paint splatters on this page.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge their challenge is Crack It Up, so I’m joining them too with the marble crackle texture that I stamped on my art journal page.

Don’t forget that you still have time to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge this month over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog 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 Wendy Vecchi Blendable Dye Ink (Bluebird, Potting Soil)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Tiny Dot CS360, Marble CS293)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Remnant Rubs Special Delivery #TH93188, Tiny Text #TH93695, Small Talk Stickers #TH93193)
• Recycled Red Foil Cardstock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Falling Hearts 664415)
• Zig Memory System 2-way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CRO240/GE)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets Sidekick (Springtime 662711)
• Poundland (Pom Poms – White)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Washi Tapes (Docrafts Papermania – red with white dots, The Works – black with white dots, Crelando – turquoise with red and pink flowers)

Against the Grain

Our new challenge this month over at A Vintage Journey is Against the Grain, which is being hosted by the lovely Sara Emily. Here’s what it’s all about:

“Most of us love the look of wood and there are a lot of art/craft products out there that help us achieve beautiful wood grain, including stamps, stencils, embossing folders, paper and mixed media products. We would love to see how you add a touch of wood texture or appearance to your vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk projects”.

I experimented with a fun technique using Distress Ink and gel medium to create a wooden plank background for my art journal page. This provided the perfect backdrop for my “metal” hearts, pretty flowers and quotes.

For the background I dragged three different Distress Ink stamp pads from right to left horizontally across my page, as you can see the mixed media paper I use is textured which helped create the wood grain effect. Then I applied some gel medium over the top using a paintbrush making sure my brush strokes were continuous and in one direction to create the wood grain finish; the ink colours used were Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso. To build up the wood grain, I repeated this process four times in total ensuring that the gel medium was dry before adding the next layer …

… on applying the ink for the second layer I also divided the page into wood panels using the Ground Espresso Distress Ink and a black marker smudging the inks with my finger …

… and before I applied the fourth and final layer of ink and gel medium, I rubbed the page hard with a baby wipe which removed some of the gel medium and ink to give an aged and worn look; the mixed media paper I used was 250gsm so it can take this type of treatment.

For the heart I drew and cut a heart from some silver recycled packaging and then ran it through an Elegant Embossing Folder from Tim Holtz. I applied some black acrylic paint over the top to emphasis the embossed parts of the image and when dry I wiped the access paint off with my finger which gave it a tarnished look. The heart is also edged with a black Sharpie permanent marker.

I arranged my “metal” heart onto the page with some pretty die cut flowers which are Tim Holtz Botanical Layers and also some Sparkle Little Birdie Flowers; everything is stuck into place using glue dots. The tiny silver hearts are cut from the same silver packaging using a Falling Hearts Thinlet set by Tim Holtz. To finish, I added three Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers that read “have an open heart”, “no beauty shines brighter than that of a good heart” and “follow your heart”.

I hope you are inspired to join in the Against the Grain fun over at A Vintage Journey, and for more inspiration you’ll find some amazing creations from my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey too, it would be lovely to see you there!

My page reminds me of springtime and it seems that spring is on it’s way with all the beautiful flowers that are flowering already, here’s a springtime Camellia that flowers just around the corner from us – isn’t it gorgeous (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 Hearts challenge over at Art Journal Journey that is being hosted by the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth this month with the hearts and wording on my page.

I’m also pleased to join the Floral Frenzy challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the pretty flowers that I included on my page.

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

I’m joining in the With Love challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page too.

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• Recycled silver packaging
• Tim Holtz Sizzix 3D Texture Fades A6 Embossing Folder (Elegant 664172)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic paint (Black)
• Sharpie Permanent Fine Point Marker (Black)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Botancial Layers #TH93554, Small Talk Stickers #TH93193)  
• Little Birdie (Sparkle Little Birdie Flowers SKU213726)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Falling Hearts 664415)
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Snowdrop and Valentine Tag

Today over at A Vintage Journey is Tag Friday, where any tag goes; it’s all about creating something you love so there is no particular theme, it’s time to play, experiment and have fun – it would be great to see you there!

I had fun creating another double-sided tag for my Tag Journal using lots of Tim Holtz products, one side features snowdrops as this January I’ve been surprised by them flowering so early and the other side is a Valentine heart design as it’s nearly February.

To start, I used a large Poster Card by Tim Holtz to create the tag by cutting off two of the corners to make a tag shape and punching a hole using my Crop-A-Dile machine. I added some stickers from a Crowded Attic sticker book from Tim Holtz to alternate the designs and tie the tags together; the stickers are edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and outlined with a black Uni Pin marker. I also used some the Vintage Photo Distress Ink to colour around the edges of both sides of the tag.

For the snowdrop design I stencilled some frosty snowflakes using a Dyan Reaveley stencil and some Ranger Texture Paste and when dry I intensified the colour using a white Uni Posca pen. I used Alphanumeric Label Thinlets for the wording, Funky Florals #2 Thinlets for the flowers and foliage which I coloured using Vintage Photo, Rusty Hinge, Ground Espresso, Spiced Marmalade, Mowed Lawn, Shabby Shutters and Twisted Citron Distress inks.

For the Valentine design I used the texture paste again, this time using a heart stencil that I made from a Falling Hearts Thinlet set from Tim Holtz. The wording is Alphanumeric Label Thinlets and I used the Funky Florals #2 Thinlets for the flower stems which are coloured using Mowed Lawn, Shabby Shutters and Twisted Citron Distress inks. All the hearts are from the Falling Hearts Thinlet set and are coloured using Fired Brick and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. To finish, I doodled a stitched border around the edges of the large heart flowers using a white Uniball gel pen.

To finish, I added an eyelet with my Crop-A-Dile machine which reinforced the hole as I’m using a book ring to secure all of my double-sided tags together when they are finished in my Tag Journal.

For more Tag Friday inspiration, please pop over to A Vintage Journey where you’ll find some fabulous tags created by my fellow Creative Guides. I hope you are inspired to join us as I’m so looking forward to seeing your tag designs!

We were surprised to see snowdrops out already as it’s only January …

… especially whilst walking around Lytham Hall, this will be what they look like in full bloom – don’t they look beautiful (grin!).

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

Challenges

I’m joining in the fun at Country View Challenges and their Love Challenge with my Valentine tag.

I’m pleased to join the All Loved Up challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my Valentine tag.

I’m also happy to join Paperbabe Stamps and their #111- Picture Inspiration challenge with the colour palette of browns, reds and white that I used for my Valentine tag.

I’m joining in the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too.

Over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog their theme is #33 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Paper Piecing, so I’m pleased to be able to join this challenge too.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this double-sided tag:     

• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208, Crowded Attic Salvage Stickers #TH92898)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo, Rusty Hinge, Ground Espresso, Spiced Marmalade, Mowed Lawn, Shabby Shutters, Twisted Citron, Fired Brick, Picked Raspberry)
• Ranger Dylusions by Dyan Reaveley Stencil (Snowflake – Large DYS63742)
• Recycled cardstock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Falling Hearts 664415, Alphanumeric Label 664177, Funky Florals #2 662701)
• Ranger Texture Paste (Opaque Matte)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (White)
• Craft Sensations Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture (White CRO240/GE)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 Glue Dots
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• American Crafts We r Memory Keepers (Crop-A-Dile and Standard Eyelets 41582-4)

Love

Today I’m joining the Something New challenge that I’m hosting this month over at Art Journal Journey with a new technique using a hot glue gun that I’ve wanted to try for a while. Here’s the journal page that I created, what do you think?

Whilst the glue gun was heating up, I doodled an abstract heart design onto the page using a pencil.

Once the glue gun was heated to temperature, I applied the hot glue over the pencil marks and also added some dots of glue and then I left the glue to cool and dry.

I then applied Aged Ivory Stampendous embossing enamel powder over the top of the glue by carefully heating the surface of the glue up again with my heat gun (it takes seconds) and then covering it with the embossing enamel powder; it’s important that you don’t heat the glue too much as it will flatten and loose its 3D shape. I left the glue to dry and harden again before I carefully heated it again using the heat gun to melt the embossing enamel. Next I painted the page using Kuretake watercolour paints; using Red for the hearts and for the rest of the page using Rose Madder and Colbalt Violet coloured paints.

When dry, I coloured the embossed hot glue with a glittery gold lustre polish (which was new to my craft stash) using a paintbrush. The words are rub-on transfers from Tim Holtz and read “Love”, “Love you to the moon & back”, “always & forever” and “better together”. To finish, I splattered the page using some black DecoArt acrylic paint.

As Valentine’s is approaching, my winter window display, like my page, gets a smattering of red hearts which provides a lovely contrast to the white decorations (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a pint of Lancaster Red beer which we enjoyed at one of our favourite pubs – cheers and wishing you all much love this T day!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Love challenge over at Country View Challenges with my Love art journal page.

I’m joining in the All Loved Up challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as with my love and hearts designed art journal page.

Over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog their theme is # 33 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Paper Piecing, so I’m pleased to be able to join this challenge too.

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

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

• Bostik Hot Glue Pen & Glue
• Stampendous Embossing Enamel (Aged Ivory)
• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Red No. 32, Rose Madder No. 34, Rose Madder Deep No. 36, Colbalt Violet No. 139)
• Creative Expressions Lustre Polish (Glistening Gold)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Tiny Text #TH93695)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)

Wander-Found-Noted

Today’s page sees me creating rust again, this time building up the layers of colour and using a new technique with texture paste and a piece of plastic bag from some packaging.

I started by applying some Neutral Gray and Bright Aqua Green Heavy Body Liquitex paints quite thickly to the page with a paintbrush. Then when dry I added some Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo Distress Ink using a blending tool concentrating the ink colours where I hadn’t painted any colour.

Next I applied some Ranger Texture Paste to the page by placing some of the paste onto a piece of plastic bag then pressing it onto the page, crinkling the bag and lifting it off the page; I then transferred the paste around the page using the same technique to create the raised texture. When dry I added more of the Rusty Hinge Distress Ink over the top of the texture paste using a blending tool and used a Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. Then I applied some Iced Chai and Iced Coffee Metallic Faber-Castell gelatos to emphasis the texture more; smudging the colour with my finger. I repeated all the layers of Rusty Hinge, Sanguine, Iced Chai and Iced Coffee colours until I got the look I wanted.

To add to the rusty vintage feel, I added two moth stickers, some word stickers and some quote chips all of which are from Tim Holtz; they read “Wander – To Dreamland – All the beautiful stars of the sky”, “Found – A fortunate find – And let it fly away” and “Noted – The most beautiful thing – Till morning light”.

Living by the beach as we do, we have quite a few metal sculptures which are worn and weathered creating beautiful rusty artworks. This one is called Desire and can be found along Blackpool South promenade and casts a shadow of a heart at certain times of the day, it represents beach holiday romances.

This one is the High Tide Organ which is played by the sea at high tide through pipes attached to the sea wall, such fun (grin!).

Challenges

I’m joining the Something New challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey as I used a new technique to create the rusty background and also my new Ranger Texture Paste (grin!).

I’m joining in the Rust It Up challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my rusty background, thanks for the inspiration!

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

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

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

• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Neutral Gray 5, Vivid Aqua Green)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Recycled plastic bag
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188 B)
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Iced Chai, Iced Coffee)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Salvage Stickers Crowded Attic #TH2898, Clipping Stickers #TH93583, Quote Chips #TH93563)
• UHU Glue Pen

Warm Winter Wishes

I tried a new technique on my art journal page for the Something New challenge that I’m hosting this month over at Art Journal Journey.

The new technique was for the background and involved watercolour paints and sea salt crystals; I have to say it was a fun and easy technique to do (grin!).

I flooded the page with water and added Indigo, Ultramarine, Turquoise Blue, Cobalt Violet and White Kuretake watercolour paints, graduating the colours down the page to white at the bottom. Then while the paint was still wet I sprinkled coarse sea salt crystals over the top and left it to dry.

When dry I brushed the salt crystals off the page and a beautiful mottled effect was left where the crystals had reacted with the paint.

Next I fussy cut the owl sitting on a bench from an old Christmas card and arranged him onto the page so it looked like the bench was disappearing under a bank of snow. The snowflakes were die cut using my new Thinlet Set by Tim Holtz from white linen textured paper and some glittery blue/purple coloured papers. I added some wording from a sticker book by Tim Holtz which reads “a wondrous sight”, “the wintry landscape” and “covered with snow”. I die cut two labels from the blue/purple and also from white linen paper using a Tim Holtz tag die set. Then I cut the white paper label slightly smaller, stamped “warm winter wishes” using Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink and an alphabet stamp set and layered the two labels together before sticking them in place, which finished the page.

Whilst on a winter walk around Glasson Dock we saw a strange shape in a tree and took some pictures, to our surprise when we looked through our camera lens there was this Little Owl sat there looking at us. My hubby took this picture before he flew away – isn’t he adorable (grin!).

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

Challenges

I’m joining in the Something New challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the new technique and Snowflake Thinlet set that I used on this page.

I’m so happy to join the #109 – Sketch challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps; the “paperbabe stamps” is represented by the “a wondrous sight” wording and the “flower” by the “owl” image, also the snow bank divides the page into two. 

I’m also pleased to join the Snowflakes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday with all the snowflakes that I added to my page.

Don’t forget that you still have over a week to join our What a cutie/Make someone smile challenge 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:

• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Indigo No.67, Ultramarine No.64, Turquoise Blue No.62, Cobalt Violet No. 139, White No.10)
• Course Sea Salt Crystals
• Old Christmas Card
• Pritt Stick
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz (Paper Snowflakes, Mini 661599)
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture – White CRO240/GE)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Paper Pad)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Zig Memory System 2-way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Sizzix Framelits Tim Holtz (Tag Collection 658784)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Ground Espresso)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• X-Press double-sided tape

Christmas Pudding Tea

Over Christmas we have been enjoying some Christmas Pudding loose leaf tea, so I couldn’t resist creating a page using the packaging and a beautiful Christmas Pudding card that I received from a dear friend a couple of years ago.

For the background I smooshed some Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks onto the page by stamping the ink pads onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the paper. Then I stamped the page with holly leaves using Cottage Ivy and Pistachio Memento Ink and added some leftover pieces of green polka dot washi tape. Next I die cut the snowflakes from some recycled white card, covered them with Versamark ink and some glittery Wow! embossing powder; heating them with my heat gun until the powder turned glossy. I arranged them around the edges of the page and added the large Christmas pudding which was an old Christmas card.

I also added the Christmas pudding tea packaging, some die cut holly leaves and berries and also pieces of tartan which are from a Tim Holtz Christmas sticker book. To finish, I added some baubles suspended by strands of silver which are all stickers.

Here’s the lovely shop that we bought the tea from in Arundel which you may remember me featuring in a post last year called The Tea & Biscuit Club.

Their Christmas Pudding tea is a Christmas spiced black tea with a zesty fruit infusion creating a very festive aromatic blend – it tastes yummy!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m pleased to share this tea related post with the T Gang! Happy T Day and I hope you all had a lovely Christmastime.

Wishing you a New Year filled with peace, love and happiness!

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 Yvonne, aka Meggymay and her Words and Numbers challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the wording on my page.

I’m happy to join in the Stars challenge over at Country View Challenges with all the stars on the baubles.

I’m also joining in the Party Time challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my T-Party page.

I’m also pleased to be able to join in the fun at Paperbabe Stamps and their #109 – Sketch challenge; I flipped the sketch so the “Paperbabe Stamps” is represented by the “Christmas Pudding” wording and the flower is represented by the other tea packaging and holly leaves.

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Festive Berries)
• Washi Tape
• Docrafts Clear Stamp (Christmas Selection)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy, Pistachio)
• White card – recycled
• Tonic Studios Die Set (Falling Snowflake Trio 1792e )
• Wow! Glitter Embossing Powder (Singing in the rain)
• Zig Memory System 2-way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Christmas Pudding Card – recycled
• Pritt Stick
• Christmas Pudding Tea Packaging – recycled
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• White paper – recycled
• The Range (5×5 Dies Holly)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Christmas Sticker Book #TH93999)
• Stickers (Silver Borders, Baubles)