Tag Archives: Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Autumn/Fall

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Hi everyone! I am so delighted to be in the Designer Spotlight this month over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. Thanks so much for inviting me!

This week the theme is Autumn/Fall.

As it is the first Monday of the month, Simon Says Stamp are featuring Tim Holtz so I created this birthday card as I have lots of family birthdays this time of year.

For the centre piece of my card, I stamped a maple leaf using a Tim Holtz Maple Sketch stamp and black Archival Ink onto a piece of Ranger Kraft paper which I tore along the edges to give it more of a rustic look and then coloured using a Sanguine and Black Faber-Castell marker. I also added a piece of lace and bound some twine to the bottom of the Kraft panel and attached a button which I threaded using the same twine.

I used the Tim Holtz Maple Sketch stamp again to stamp the maple leaf onto some Watercolour card stock using my Tim Holtz stamping platform. This enabled me to stamp the watercolour card again after I had coloured the leaf using Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. I cut out the leaf, edged it with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck it over the top of the leaf that I stamped on the Kraft panel using double-sided foam tape so it stood out more. The card was completed by mounting the finished Kraft panel onto a 6x4inch card which I made from white cardstock, stamped with a repeating pattern of “Happy Birthday” using Rich Cocoa, Toffee Crunch and Potter’s Clay Memento Ink and then finely splattered with Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.

Maple leaves always reminds me of fall in New England …

… so the colours on my card were inspired by this beautiful tree in Biddeford, Maine that we saw this time last year whilst on vacation to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.

It happens to be our 31st wedding anniversary tomorrow, so as T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing a photo of me and hubby enjoying some samplers of beer at Banded Brewery in Biddeford, Maine which we also visited whilst we were there – cheers and Happy T Day!

Which reminds me to wish Erika a very Happy Anniversary too!

I enjoyed creating this card with my Tim Holtz products for the Autumn/Fall challenge and I hope you will join in the fun too! For more inspiration please check out the fabulous creations from the Design Team over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

Don’t forget that Simon Says Stamp is generously giving away a $50 voucher to shop at the Simon Says Stamp Store! and one lucky participant will be randomly drawn to win this voucher. How amazing is that! Good Luck to everyone!

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

Here is a list of materials to make this card:

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Celebrating Friendship

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Today I find myself thinking of friends so I created an autumnal coloured journal page to celebrate friendship. I feel very blessed for the friendships I have made over the years including those here in blogland – thank you (grin!).

This page is especially poignant as my dear friend who passed away earlier this year is having a remembrance service  this weekend in Maine, USA (where she hails from although she lived here in England) and as she was known for her beautiful smile, I wanted to capture this on my page too.

The background of the page was created using Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade and Scattered Straw Distress Inks; I dragged the ink pads on the paper, spritzed with water, blended them lightly with a paint brush and left them to dry. I stamped an ornate circle stamps from Kaisercraft and also a faux zig-zag stitch and little stitched flower stamp from Urban Stamps using black Archival Ink. Then I splattered the page with white and black acrylic paints using a paint brush. Next I added some pretty stickers from Kaisercraft; this included a border, a butterfly, a patterned doily, flowers, and wording saying “remember”, “love your smile”, “friends fill your life with joy, your soul with sunshine and your heart with love” and “smile”. For the heart, I covered a white heart tag with a border sticker from the same Kaisercraft sticker sheet, cut around the heart shape and edged it with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink and Elderberry Memento Ink. It is stuck to the page using double-sided tape and decorated with a bow which I made from some satin ribbon which finished the page.

Talking of dear friends, we have just picked the grapes from our friend’s garden.

They kindly give them to us every year …

… so we can make grape jelly – thanks so much! As I’ve been making the jelly this week I think the colour of this autumn treat must have inspired the colours of my page 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 Erika aka BioArtGal and her Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids and Patterns challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my patterned background.

I’m joining the Autumn Glory challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my autumnal coloured page.

I’m pleased to join the Stitch It challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as I included faux stitching on my page.

I’m also happy to join #103 – Picture Inspiration Challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as I included some of the autumnal colours on my page.

I’m also pleased to join the Celebrate! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday as my page celebrates friendship.

Don’t forget that you still have until next Tuesday to join our Hot, Hot, Hot! Challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be lovely to see you there!

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 (Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade, Scattered Straw, Seedless Preserves)
  • Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Magnolia Grove CS822)
  • Docrafts Papermania Urban Stamps (Craft Collection – Pastels PMA907222, PMA907223)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Art Discount Acrylic (White)
  • DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
  • Tsukineko Memento Ink (Elderberry)
  • Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Bombay Sunset SS339, Cherry Tree Lane SS329)
  • Kaisercraft Sticker Book (Antiquities SK807)
  • Stix2 double-sided tape

Thank you for your part in my journey

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I recently won some goodies at Paperbabe Stamps so I thought I would create this page to celebrate. I used some of the stencils, stamps and even the packaging that I received from taking part in their challenges – thank you so much!

I started by painting the background with pink, blue and orange DecoArt Glamour Dust glitter paints. When the paint was dry, I used a blending tool to add Black Soot, Mermaid Lagoon and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink through a mixed media stencil from Paperbabe Stamps. Next I stamped some butterflies, hearts and bubbles from a couple of stamp sets from Paperbabe Stamps, so that they flowed vertically down the page, using black Archival Ink. Then I splattered the page with white DecoArt acrylic paint and dried it with my heat gun. I added a couple of circular stickers and business cards which I layered on top of some round shapes that were die cut from some pink polka dot patterned paper. The stickers and business cards were included as part of the packaging from Paperbabe Stamps; I love the wording “I thank you for your part in my Journey” and the images of the beautiful faces which are examples of what you can create using some of the Paperbabe Stamps templates and stamps.

Here are the goodies that I won recently, I used the Iso Fun stencil for this page and I’m also looking forward to using the alphabet stamp set soon – yay! I’d like to say a big thank you to Kim from Paperbabe Stamps for the goodies and also thanks to all of her design team for their inspiration!

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 Erika aka BioArtGal and her Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids and Patterns challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my patterned background and polka-dot paper.

I’m pleased to be able to join Challenge #101 – Sketch over at Paperbabe Stamps with my art journal page; the layers of die cut circles and business card represent the circle and the sentiment the logo. Thanks so much for all the wonderful crafting goodies!

I’m also joining the Use a Stamp challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my page.

I’m joining in the Stamp It challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with all the stamps that I used on my page.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at the Creative Artiste Challenge and their Challenge #53 – Anything Mixed Media Goes as I included paints, inks, stickers and papers on my page.

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:

  • DecoArt Glamour Dust Glitter Paint (Celebration Pink, Sapphire Blue, Tiger Orange)
  • Paperbabe Stamps Mixed Media Stencils (Iso Fun)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot, Mermaid Lagoon, Picked Raspberry)
  • Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Butterfly Pieridae, Birthday Wishes)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
  • The Works M&C Boutique (Paper Block, Cutting Dies)
  • Spellbinders Die Set
  • Stickers recycled from Packaging – Paperbabe Stamps
  • Business Cards recycled from Packaging – Paperbabe Stamps
  • Stix2 double-sided tape
  • Pritt Stick

Blackbird Café

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Today’s page was inspired by lunch at The Blackbird Café which was a special treat for us from our dearest friends for looking after their little puppy; I have to say it was a joy looking after her and we didn’t need to be rewarded in such a way, in fact we should have been paying them (grin!).

I started by adding strips of lime green, butterfly and pink/white decoupage paper onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. Once dry I added more colour using Peach, Watermelon, Guava and Kiwi Faber-Castell gelatos smudging the colour with my finger. Next I used some Kaisercraft stamp sets and black Archival Ink to add the tiny dots to the background, the lace around the edge of the page, the birdcages and the wording which reads “Be happy. Be bright. Be you”, “Times like these are extra special” and “Stop. Smile. Breathe. Life is beautiful”. Then I used the same black ink to add the bird and dots of chain for the birdcages using a couple of Hampton Art stamp sets. To finish, I added clear gems to frame the wording and a tiny white flower to each of the birdcages.

You may remember this café from a previous post.

It has a lovely atmosphere and is decorated in a shabby chic style …

… with lots of birds and birdcages.

For my lunch I had a Chicken and Bacon salad, which was so delicious! You can see I’m also sharing my pot of green tea and …

… as T Stands for Tuesday here’s my hubby’s chocolate milkshake too – yum! Happy T Day everyone!

Of course I couldn’t forget this little miss that we looked after for our friends, her name is Ellie and she is a Cavapoo (a cross between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Miniature Poodle); isn’t she super cute!

Thanks so much for treating us to lunch and allowing us playtime with Ellie 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 Gill from gibbyfrogettcraftations and her Anything with Eyes challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun creating this page and I know how much Gill like birds so I thought I’d join her fabulous challenge.

I’m also happy to join in the Texture challenge over at Country View Challenges with the texture of the decoupage and stamped background as well as the gems.

I’m joining the Letters and/or Numbers challenge over at Moo Mania & More with letters that make up the wording on my page.

I’m also joining in the fun at Simon Says Monday Challenge where the lovely Alison from Words & Pictures is in the Designer Spotlight; the challenge is ‘S’ is for? and in this case S is for Special Treat from our dearest friends as this was the inspiration for my art journal page and also S is for Stamp Sets as I had fun creating the texture, bird design and wording using lots of stamp sets for 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:

  • Poundworld (Patch Paper DS9454)
  • Faber-Castell Gelato (Peach, Watermelon, Guava, Kiwi)
  • Kaisercraft clear stamp (Oh So Lovely CS211, Tiny Dots CS360)
  • Hampton Art cling mounted rubber stamps (7 Gypsies Vintage – Birdsong ICO151, Doodlebug Design Inc. – Thankful ICO162)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Poundland (Design Gems 175751)
  • Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Splatters and Splodges

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It’s time for a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday so today we are launching our Splatters and Splodges Challenge which lasts for the next two weeks.

This is a fun challenge and I really enjoyed stencilling and stamping the splatters and splodges on my page (grin!).

I started by covering the page with white acrylic paint, then I used a mini stencil from Creative Expressions to add layers of splatters and splodges using Festive Berries, Seedless Preserves and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink with a blending tool. I stencilled these Distress Ink colours a couple of times to add more depth to the page. Then I splattered the page with the same Distress Inks by stamping the pad onto an acrylic block, adding water and flicking the diluted ink onto the page using a paintbrush. I added more splatters by stamping a Gummiapan stamp using black Archival Ink. Next I outlined some pretty pink heart toppers with Black Soot Distress Ink and a black Faber-Castell marker and stuck them to the page using a glue stick. To finish, I added three Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers which read “listen to your heart, it will show you the way”, “have an open heart” and “a dream is a wish your heart makes”.

Don’t forget that you can find loads more Splatters and Splodges inspiration from my Design Teamies over at Try it on Tuesday so please pop over to take a look.

After so many of you wanted to make the raspberry gin that I featured last week, I thought I’d share the recipe with you:

  • Raspberries (or any fruit of your choice, maybe blueberry, peach, strawberry, rhubarb)
  • Granulated Sugar
  • Gin (cheap brand such as supermarket own brand as these are not too flavoured)
  • I used 400g (14 oz) fruit to 300g (10 oz) sugar in 750ml (25 US fl oz) of gin

Add them all to a Kilner Jar (or similar). You need to ensure the sugar dissolves so make sure you shake the jar throughout the first day, it dissolves pretty quickly. Then put it in a dark place for 4 weeks, I tend to shake the jar every other day to muddle the fruit. It’s tempting to eat the fruit afterwards, perhaps on ice-cream, however, I tried it and it was far too potent! So I ended up forcing it through a sieve to add more flavour to the gin. One last tip – don’t be tempted to do half a recipe like I did as it goes pretty fast.

Have fun making your fruit flavoured gins and as T Stands for Tuesday wishing you a Happy T Day too!

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 Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all creating splatters and splodges (grin!).

I’m joining in the Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my background of splatters and splodges.

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

I’m joining in the Not A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my art journal page.

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

  • Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
  • Creative Expressions Mini Stencils (Splattered CEMSSPLAT)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Festive Berries, Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry, Black Soot)
  • Gummiapan Stamps (A lot of splats 11050106)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Nit Wit Collection Essentials Toppers (Strawberry Social NWCE-T-SSI)
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
  • Tim Holtz idea-ology (Small Talk #TH93193)

Sun, Sand, Surf

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We love living by the sea and feel very blessed that our house is only 2-3 minutes walk from the beach, so today’s page is inspired by the Sun, Sand and Surf (grin!).

I started by adding Pébéo modelling paste using a Fossil stencil and then to represent the colours of the sun, sand and sea, I applied Yellow, Fawn and Aquamarine Spectrum Aqua Markers by scribbling them onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block or dripping the ink onto the page. Then I fussy cut the compass, anchor and lighthouse from some design paper and glued them in place, like all of the paper elements, using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. Once dry I outlined them using black Derwent Graphik markers to add more definition and make them stand out from the background more. Next I die cut the letters using a Docrafts die set and my Big Shot machine using design paper by American Crafts and I outlined them using the same Derwent Graphik markers again. I also used the American Crafts Design Paper to frame the postage stamp which I choose as it matched the page colours beautifully; it’s from my hubby’s childhood postage stamp collection that he kindly gifted to me for my art journaling (grin!). I stamped some little bubbles from a stamp set by Paperbabe Stamps using Teal Zeal Memento Ink. To finish, I added some compass stickers and two strips of blue ribbon to the top and bottom of the page.

We often walk or take a tandem ride along the beach front; even in the height of summer on our particular beach, as you can see in the background, there is plenty of space for everyone (the tide often goes out 3km / 1.8miles) …

… and even when the tide is in the views are still stunning, I always pinch myself as I feel blessed to live in such a beautiful place (grin!).

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all going to the beach.

I’m joining the Summer Holidays challenge over at Moo Mania & More my beach art journal page.

I’m joining in the Life On The Ocean Waves challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my Sun, Sand, Surf page.

I’m pleased to be able to join Creative Artiste Challenge Blog for their #51 Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge with all the mixed media I used to create this art journal page.

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

  • Pébéo Modeling Paste
  • That’s Crafty! Dinky Stencil (Fossil)
  • Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Yellow, Fawn, Aquamarine)
  • Craft Sensations Design Pad (Vintage Travels CRO378/18R)
  • Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU03286)
  • American Crafts Papers (DIY Shop 366665)
  • Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm & 0.1mm)
  • Postage Stamp (St. Vincent 1975) from Hubby’s childhood collection
  • Paperbabe Stamps stamp set (Oriental Zen)
  • Tsukineko Memento Ink (Teal Zeal)
  • Poundland Fun Stickers (Sailor SKU136785)
  • Poundworld (Adhesive Ribbon U-80933)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • The Range double-sided foam tape

Precious Metal at A Vintage Journey

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Our new challenge over at A Vintage Journey being hosted by Amanda is Precious Metal who has kindly provided the following description:

“For this challenge we would like to see some kind of precious metal feature in your project. Think gold, silver, brass, copper, aluminium, steel….. It could be in the form of embellishments, cardstock, paint, gilding wax, foil, gold leaf or rub ons. Just remember to ensure that you create in one of our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.”

For Amanda’s wonderful Precious Metal challenge I created an art journal page using copper and silver embossing powders. I had lots of fun heat embossing them onto stencilled modelling paste, stamped letters, chipboard pieces and a die cut butterfly – I hope you like it!

I started by stencilling modelling paste using a Specimens stencil and then covered it with copper and silver embossing powder, heating it with a heat gun until it became glossy and 3D. To create more of a grungy look I lightly dragged a Watermark stamp pad over the page and then I covered it using the copper and silver embossing powders heating the powder with my heat gun again. Then to colour the background I applied Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain and also Forest Moss and Twisted Citron Distress Ink which I diluted with water by stamping the ink pad on a blending mat, applying water and applying it to the page using a paint brush.

Next I applied some rub-on transfers to the page so that the images were broken to look like thoughts swirling around the page; they are Special Delivery transfers from Tim Holtz. I stamped some letters from a Tim Holtz stamp set onto tissue paper using black Archival Ink and heat embossed it with copper embossing powder. I cut the letters out and stuck them onto the page using gel medium and then splattered the page using black and white acrylic paint.

I used the copper and silver embossing powder again to edge the wording “Thoughts and Theories” which is a Chip Quote from Tim Holtz, to cover some wooden circular chipboard pieces and also to add silver to a die cut butterfly from the Tim Holtz Botanical collection.

The chipboard pieces are stuck to the page using Ranger Glossy Accents and to finish I stuck the butterfly in place using double-sided tape to stick down the centre and then double-sided foam tape to elevate its wings.

My art journal page reminds me of one of the signs that hangs in my craft room. There are lots of similarities to my page with the green colour palette, circular swirls, similar meaning of the words and pretty copper bell; it’s also made of metal and is very precious to me as I bought it for my craft room when we visited our dear friends in Maine, America last year (grin!).

For more inspiration, please pop over to see the amazing creations from my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey too, it would be lovely to see you there!

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 Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all art journaling.

I’m joining in the Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge too.

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

  • Pébéo Modeling Paste
  • TCW 6×6” Stencil (Mini Specimens TCW4545)
  • Papermania Embossing Powder (Copper, Silver)
  • Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Cracked Pistachio)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Forest Moss, Twisted Citron)
  • Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Special Delivery #TH93188)
  • Leftover Letraset Rub-ons
  • White Tissue Paper
  • Tim Holtz Collection Stampers Anonymous (Documented CMS226)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
  • Boozybear Chipboard pieces
  • Tim Holtz idea-ology (Quote Chips #TH93563)
  • Ranger Glossy Accents
  • Tim Holtz idea-ology Layers (Botancial #TH93554)
  • Stix2 double-sided tape
  • The Range double-sided foam tape