Sweet & Cute

Using up leftovers is one of my crafting goals this year, so I used lots of leftover papers and die cuts on this page to create homes for these sweet and cute critters (grin!).

Don’t forget that there is still another week to join our Oh So Cute challenge over at Try it on Tuesday; we are so looking forward to seeing your cute creations!

I started by covering the background with some colourful leftovers papers that have been sitting on my craft desk since Christmas – eek! They were stuck in place, like all the paper elements, using a glue stick. As the papers were quite brightly coloured, I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a brayer.

When dry, I added strips of bunting washi tape that my sister had kindly gifted me. The wording and stars were stickers from Craft Sensations and I outlined them all using a black Uni Pin marker so they stood out more.

Next I raided my stash of leftover die cuts and created little scenes with them for those cute critters which were foam stickers.

This malt loaf may not be cute but it is sweet (grin!). I bought it as a treat, when I was food shopping for my mum and dad, from our local bakery and it was so very yummy!

If you aren’t familiar with malt loaf, it’s a type of sweet leavened bread made with malt extract which originated in Scotland in the United Kingdom. It has a chewy sticky texture, and often contains fruits such as raisins. It’s usually eaten sliced and spread with butter.

We enjoyed it (sliced with butter) for our elevenses and as T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing it today with my cuppa – Happy T 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:

• Docrafts Ultimate Die Cut & Paper Pack (Folk Christmas PMA160933)
• Pritt Stick
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Bunting Washi Tape
• Craft Sensation (Creative paper Collection CRO458/GE)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Leftover die cut pieces – Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Fall Foliage 66955, Garden Greens 661206, Holiday Greens 658759, Funky Florals #1 662700), Papers (Tim Holtz idea-ology Paper Stash – Halloween #TH93712, Paper Bundle from local craft shop – green heart paper and metallic linen textured cardstock, Recycled Notepad Paper, White cardstock), Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron, Scattered Straw, Rusty Hinge)
• Hobby World Foam Craft Stickers (Forest Friends)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the metallic linen textured papers that were used for some of the leaves surrounding the cute hedgehog. I’m pleased to join the Anything But A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my art journal page. I’m happy to join Paperbabe Stamps and their #138 – Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page too. I’m also pleased to join the Favourite Technique challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, as collage, using white gesso to push back the background colour and die cutting are some of my favourite techniques. I’m also joining in the fun over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their #46 – Anything Goes + Fancy Fold challenge with my art journal page; the different techniques I used to create this page included collage, using white gesso to push back the background colour and die cutting.

Miss You

Today’s page was created in memory of my dearest friend; I found myself thinking of her as it was her birthday this week. She passed away two year’s ago after battling ovarian cancer, she was a shining light and I miss her very much!

I started by painting some gold metallic paint over the background and then I stamped a Serpentine stamp from Art Impressions using the same paint and some Black Soot Distress Ink. I recycled one of the papers that I had tested inks and stamps on; this time the paper had black and gold stamping on it so I cut it into pieces and stuck them into place using a glue stick.

I edged paper pieces and also the page using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker smudging the ink with my finger which was fun. All the different words were added using rub-on transfers and I arranged some gold sparkly flower and circle Glitterations stickers which added some lovely texture and finished the page.  

Thinking of my dear friend bought back so many happy memories; here she is, on the far left, the year before she passed when we were celebrating our friend’s wedding (grin!).

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.

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

• Poundland Metallic Acrylic Paint (Gold)
• Art Impressions Wood Mounted Stamp (Serpentine Background T2773)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
• Old paper pieces with gold and black stamping
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• UHU Stic
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Spring Sentiments #ROY506, Motivate Sentiments #ROY510)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Tiny Text #TH93695)
• Docrafts Papermania Glitterations (Gold Flowers ANT8181020, Gold Circle Frames ANT8181028)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the gold elements on this page. I’m joining the LTSCB #142 – Love is … remembering dearest friends so I’m joining the Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Miss You art journal page. I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Add Some Texture challenge with the texture from stamping the acrylic paint and Glitterations stickers. I’m also pleased to join the Favourite Technique challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, as collage and edging the paper pieces by smudging ink with my finger are some of my favourite techniques. I’m happy to join Paperbabe Stamps and their #138 – Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page too.

It’s cold, let’s cuddle

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Oh So Cute.

These really cute owls were recycled from a Christmas card and with all the cold weather we’ve been having of late they are sat in a snowy wonderland. I thought the wording was cute too, it reads “It’s cold, let’s cuddle”.

I hope you’ll join us with your cute creations too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by colouring the background using Bluebird Wendy Vecchi Blendable Ink from Ranger. When dry, I splattered the page with white acrylic paint and left it to dry.

It’s one of my goals this year to recycle and use up any leftovers from previous pages, so I was pleased to recycle these cute owls which were fussy cut from the Christmas card and stuck into place using a glue stick. I arranged them with some white foliage die cuts that were leftover from last year’s Happy January page. The foliage was decorated using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker, a silver metallic pen, some Icicle Stickles from Ranger and also some Inkylicious Fluffy Puffy Stuff which added the lovely texture. The Fluffy Puffy Stuff was a fun product to use as it’s applied and then heated with a heat gun which turns it all puffy and 3-dimensional. The snowflakes were leftover too, having been previously die cut from different patterned papers and white cardstock; they were arranged onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium.

For more Oh So Cute inspiration, please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies (grin!).

So far this month, it’s been cold and we’ve had quite a few snow flurries; I was surprised one morning to find it snowing so I took this photo out of my craft room window – brrrr!

As T Stands for Tuesday and it’s cold outside, I’m sharing our hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows, and also some yummy lebkuchen – 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.

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

• Ranger Wendy Vecchi Blendable Ink (Bluebird)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Recycled Christmas Card
• Pritt Stick
• Leftover foliage pieces – Sizzix Thinlits Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206, Holiday Greens 658759, Woodlands 660978), White cardstock, Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233), Script Metallic Pen (Silver), Ranger Stickles (Icicles), Inkylicious (Fluffy Puffy Stuff)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Leftover Snowflakes – Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Paper Snowflakes Mini 661599), Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (falling Snowflakes 1792e), The Works (Cutting Dies – Snowflake Garland), Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE), White Cardstock, Poundland Design Paper Pad (Purple Swirls)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Challenges I’m pleased to join the Add Some Texture challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the snowy 3D texture on my page. I’m joining LTCCB #55 – February Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my cute page. I’m also joining in the fun over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog and their LTSCB #145 – Love is … all about cuddling your partner when it’s cold as I’ve depicted here on this cute owl page.

Falling in love

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Falling in love.

I’m celebrating falling in love with my romantic shabby chic page using a gorgeous Shabby Chic paper from Studio Light and some very delicate green voile butterflies that my sister kindly gifted me for Christmas (grin!). I hope you like it and are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

Keeping the background colours soft and elegant, I started by lightly painting some Rose Madder, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre and Turquoise blue Kuretake watercolours onto the page. Then I used a Lace stencil from Tim Holtz to apply some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink and a Moroccan Stencil from Creative Expressions to apply some Speckled Egg Distress Ink; both inks were applied using a blending tool. Next I stamped a Gothic Book stamp from Finnabair, which is one of my favourite stamps, and also a delicate Floral Icons stamp from Docrafts using Toffee Crunch Memento Ink.

I cut the Shabby Chic paper to create the different paper pieces including some tags which I die cut using a Tag Collection Framelits die set from Tim Holtz. They were all edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then I arranged them onto the page using double-sided tape. I used Kaisercraft stickers for the wording and I tied some green thread to the tags to match the colour and delicate nature of the butterflies. The metal copper embellishments were held in place using Ranger Glossy Accents; they included a framed picture of the Tower of Pisa, a heart and a love letter envelope.

I used glue dots to stick the delicate green voile butterflies in place and then I added some sparkly green gemstones to the butterflies, metal embellishments and paper pieces which finished the page.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful Falling in Love creations from my Design Teamies too (grin!).

We love Italy and have visited Pisa whilst travelling to Tuscany; the Tower of Pisa was a sight to behold with its four-degree lean which is due to unstable foundations.

As T Stands for Tuesday, here are a couple of glasses Aperol Spritz; it’s a refreshing drink that we always enjoy whilst in Italy! Aperol is an alcoholic Italian aperitif which is bitter in flavour. In this case it has been mixed with prosecco and a splash of soda water then served with ice and a slice of orange – Happy T 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:

• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Rose Madder, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Turquoise Blue)
• Tim Holtz Layering Stencil (Lace THS034)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry, Speckled Egg, Vintage Photo)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan)
• Finnabair Clear Stamp (Gothic Book #966966)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Floral Icons DCE907123)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Toffee Crunch)
• Studio Light 12×12 Paper (Shabby Chic SCRAPSC03)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Everlasting SS376)
• Guterman Thread (Col. 763)
• The Works (Metal Framed Embellishments)
• Crafter’s Companion Parisian Collection (Metal Charms S-PAR-CHAR)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Green Voile Butterflies
• Stix2 glue dots
• Hero Arts Gemstones (Green & Red CH120)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the metal embellishments that I included on my page. I’m so happy to join in the fun over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog and their So Delicate challenge with my delicate and romantic shabby chic page. I’m joining the LTSCB #142 – Love is … challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my love-themed art journal page. I’m also pleased to be able to join Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Love and/or Hearts challenge as my romantic page contains both. I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too.

Frosty Winter

As we live by the sea we don’t get many frosty mornings, but we have seen both frost and snow this month which inspired this frosty winter page.  

I started by recycling a piece of kitchen towel which I had used to mop up blue inks by tearing it into pieces and sticking them in place using some Liquitex matte gel medium; I used the wet gel medium to reactivate the inks which gave some of the white areas a slight bluish tinge. Next I arranged the pretty blue flower images and wording which were from a Paper Collection by Craft Sensations; the wording reads “A beautiful thing is never perfect”.

I continued the frosty theme by adding some glittery silver snowflakes, some Silver Ranger Stickles and also some round blue gems using Ranger Glossy Accents which finished the page.

As we walked along the promenade by the beach, we were surprised to still see a thick frost still lingering in the shadows behind the wall. The jagged edges inspired me to arrange the square corners of the images/wording diagonally across the page.

The flower and plant images that I included on my page were inspired by the frosty silhouette of the palm tree that we found on the slate in our front garden one morning – so amazing (grin!).

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:

• Recycled kitchen towel that was used to mop up Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray (After Midnight), Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Speckled Egg) , DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Docrafts Create Christmas Glitterations (Snowflakes – Silver PMA818917)
• Hobbycraft Decorative Embellishments (Blue Round Gems)
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge this month as seeing the snow and frost is always one of my favourite things I’m so pleased to join the Squares Challenge at Country View Challenges with the square of wording on my page. I’m happy to join The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog and their So Delicate challenge with the delicate wispy edges of the kitchen roll background and pretty snowflakes. I’m also joining the Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the frosty background I created. I’m pleased to join the MITCB #45 – Anything Goes + Bleaching challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my frosty page too. I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their We’re On A Roll challenge with the round blue gems on my page. Don’t forget that you still have over a week to join our Winter Blues challenge at Try it on Tuesday too; it would be lovely to see you there!

Believe

Over at Try it on Tuesday our first challenge of 2021 is Add an Uplifting or Positive Quote.

Adding a positive quote to my page was such a lovely way to start the year; I hope that you are inspired to join us too, and I can’t wait to see the quotes that you add!

I started by colouring circles for the background using Scattered Straw, Antique Linen, Fossilised Amber, Spiced Marmalade and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks through a Sun and Moon stencil from Inkylicious. I also used an Iso Fun stencil from Paperbabe Stamps to add some patterned detail to some of the circles using the same inks. The wording was stamped using black Archival Ink and my favourite Script stamp set from Concord & 9^th. I added some highlights to the letters using a white Uniball gel pen; it reads “all things are possible if you believe”.

For the pretty fairy, I stamped a Frost Fairy stamp from Paperbabe Stamps that I won – thanks so much! I stamped the fairy using black Archival Ink and then I had fun colouring her with my new Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers; the dress was coloured using Ice Grey Blend and Dark Red Blend, her hair using Pink Violet Blend, skin using Fair Skin Blend, lips using Pale Pink Blend, eyes using Alpine Green Blend and her wings were highlighted using True Blue Blend. I also added more detail using a black Uni Pin fine line marker and white Uniball gel pen, then I fussy cut the fairy out and coloured the two starbursts using Fossilised Amber Distress Ink.

I was really pleased with how she turned out and thought she would be perfect for the quote I’d chosen; she was stuck onto the page using a glue stick. To finish, I stamped some starbursts onto the background from the same Frost Fairy stamp set using black Archival Ink.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the uplifting and positive quotes my Design Teamies have added to their amazing creations (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our New Year’s drinks which are Poinsettia cocktails; they are made with 1 part Cointreau (orange liqueur), 3 parts prosecco and 3 parts cranberry juice. Happy T Day – cheers!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!
Wishing you all the very best for 2021 – Happy New Year! x

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:

• Inkylicious! Stencil & Template Set (Sun & Moon)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Antique Linen, Fossilised Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry)
• Paperbabe Stamps Mixed Media Stencil (Iso Fun)
• Concord & 9^th Stamp Set (Sophisticated Script 10056)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Frost Fairy)
• Spectrum Noir TriBlend Markers (Ice Grey Blend, Dark Red Blend, Pink Violet Blend, Fair Skin Blend, Pale Pink Blend, Alpine Green Blend, True Blue Blend)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Pritt Stick

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, 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 Erika from BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge this month as I used my favourite script stamp set from Concord & 9th for the quote on this page. I’m pleased to be able to join Paperbabe Stamps too and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page – thank you for the crafting goodies (grin!). I’m also pleased to join the Use a New/Unused Product challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I used my new Frost Fairy stamp and Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers for this page. I’m so happy to join the LTSCB #141 – Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Believe art journal page too. I’m also joining the Sparkle and Shine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too with my bright sparkly fairy page.

Celebrating the New Year

I created this page to welcome the New Year with fireworks lighting up the sky and a row of very pretty houses (grin!). I hope that 2021 is a better year for everyone and as the words say “may love and laughter light your days and warm your heart”.

I started by painting the background with purple and silver acrylic paints to create my night sky, making sure the brush strokes were pulled from the edges to the centre of the page so it looked like explosions of light.

Next I stencilled the fireworks using a Creative Expressions stencil and Ranger Texture Paste. The wording was from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet and I die cut the “2021” using a Folk Alphabet die set from Docrafts.

To finish, I fussy cut the houses from an old Christmas card and arranged them onto the page using double-sided tape.

These houses are so beautifully drawn and wonderfully detailed. The front doors reminded me of my family’s tradition of welcoming the New Year; on New Year’s Eve at the stroke of midnight one of us knocks on the front door and when invited in, enters the house carrying a piece of coal which is said to bring good luck for the coming year (grin!).

This tradition stems from when, on the stroke of midnight people opened the back door (to let the old year out) and asked the first dark haired man to be seen, to come through the front door carrying salt, coal and bread. This meant that the following year everyone in the house will have enough to eat (bread), enough money (salt) and be warm enough (coal).

Do you have any New Year traditions?

Wishing you all the very best for 2021 – Happy New Year!
Stay safe! x

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:

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic (Dioxazine Purple)
• Poundland Metallic Acrylic (Silver)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Fireworks)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Old Christmas Card
• White Cardstock
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU 503286)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Pen & Ink SS360)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, 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 Erika from BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge this month as I love to celebrate the New Year and recycled one of my favourite Christmas cards to create this page. I’m joining the Celebrate challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I’m celebrating the New Year with my page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Squares challenge with all the squares detailed on the houses especially the windows. I’m pleased to be able to join Paperbabe Stamps too and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my 2021 page. I’m pleased to join the Sparkle and Shine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too with all the shine from the silver metallic paint in the background and sparkle from the glittery snow on the houses.

Tis the season to be … fluffy

As you probably know by now I love robins so I just couldn’t resist using this beautiful robin image, it reminded me of the fun saying “tis the season to be …fluffy”.

I coloured the page using an Earl Grey Faber-Castell Gelato to match the grey background of the robin image. The Gelato was scribbled onto the background and smudged with my finger which I had wet with a little water. The robin image was fussy cut from an old magazine that a dear friend gifted me for art journaling. Once stuck in place using a glue stick, I trimmed the image to fit the page. I arranged some of the trimmed pieces of leaves around the edges of page creating my wintry scene. For the wording I used some silver glitter stickers and then to finish, I splattered the page with both white and metallic silver acrylic paints.

As T Stands for Tuesday and to wish you all a Happy T Day, I’m sharing another fluffy robin that is on my winter mug.

If you’re wondering why robins sometimes look fluffy, it’s because on chilly days they puff out their feathers to keep warm. This puffing fluffs out their down feathers, giving some insulation to help the robin maintain its body temperature. So when winter’s here – “tis the season to be …fluffy (grin!).

Over Christmas we’ve also been enjoying this chocolate Yule Log from a local bakery, it was so very yummy! Not too sweet and covered in a thick layer of chocolate, and if you look closely…

…there’s even a little robin on the top (double grin!).

I hope you’ve had a safe and happy Christmas. Wishing you all the very best for 2021!

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:

• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Earl Grey)
• Old magazine
• Pritt Stick
• The Range (Alphabet Stickers – Silver Glitter)
• Poundland Metallic Acrylic (Silver)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, 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 created this page to celebrate the winter season and fluffy robins. I’m joining the Celebrate challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I’m celebrating the winter season with my fluffy robin page. I’m pleased to be able to join the fun LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my fluffy robin sitting in his winter wonderland. I’m also pleased to join the Sparkle and Shine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too with all the sparkle from the glitter letters and silver metallic paint on my page. I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my “tis the season to be … fluffy” robin page. I’m happy to join the MIUCB #44 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Clean and Simple challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques for my simply constructed page too.

Christmas Wishes

I created today’s art journal page to send you Christmas wishes – wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas filled with peace and love!

I started by covering the page with Pébéo white gesso and then I spread some clear glitter glue over the top using a palette knife. All the festive images were cut from old magazines and stuck in place using a glue stick.  I splattered white acrylic paint around the edges of the images and left it to dry.

The black circles were stamped onto some white tissue paper using a Snow Day stamp set from BoBunny, some black Archival Ink and black Papermania Embossing Powder; they were stuck down using a glue stick. I added some texture over the white background around the images by applying Ranger Texture Paste though a Sparkle stencil from Tim Holtz; I love the white on white effect that this created. When dry, I finished the page by adding the “Christmas Wishes” wording which was recycled from an old Christmas card.

One of our Christmas traditions is to treat ourselves to a Festive Feast sandwich from our local deli in town; it’s filled with stuffing, turkey, bacon, sausage, cranberry sauce and mayonnaise (grin!).

They make sandwiches to takeaway so we bought the sandwich home to enjoy with one of the beers from our homemade advent calendar. This Belgian IPA had a fruity finish and tasted of coriander and orange peel, and both the beer and the sandwich were very yummy (double grin!).

This past week, we’ve loved all of the beers that we have tried from our advent calendar so as T Stands for Tuesday, I thought I’d share some of the other beers with you and say a big hello to the T Gang – cheers and Happy T day!

This one is specially brewed for Aldi by Brewdog Brewery and there is an interesting story behind this beer. It started with Aldi supermarket selling a copy of Brewdog’s flagship beer, so Brewdog then made a beer called YALDI IPA and launched it on Twitter (Brewdog is in Scotland and “yaldi” is apparently slang for happiness). Aldi replied on Twitter to Brewdog saying “would have gone with ALD IPA, send us a crate and we’ll talk”. Apparently the customer enquiries went through the roof after their conversation on Twitter, so they got together and Aldi now sell this beer as a special edition; it’s marketed as their “own label IPA”.

Erika will be pleased that we have tried this Push Pineapple beer too; I was looking forward to trying this one myself and it didn’t disappoint! This is a Pineapple Milkshake IPA; it is called “milkshake” as it contains lactose which gives a creamier mouth feel and makes the beer sweeter as brewer’s yeast can’t ferment it. Lactose is traditionally used in stouts to give them a sweeter and creamer taste. This beer had a lovely pineapple flavoured finish too – so delicious (grin!).

Wishing you all a safe and happy 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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Glitter Glue (Clear)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Old magazines
• Pritt Stick
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Mixed Media Stencil (Sparkle THS132)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Recycled white tissue paper
• BoBunny Stamp Set (Snow Day)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black)
• Recycled Christmas Card Topper
• X-Press It! double-sided foam tape

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, 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 created this page to send you happy Christmas wishes. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Christmas page. I’m also pleased to join the Celebrate challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I’m celebrating Christmas with this page. I’m happy to join the MIUCB #44 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Clean and Simple challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques I used to create the clean and simple white on white background. I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmas Wishes page. I’m also pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas page too.

Frosty Snowflakes

I love winter so to wish you a Happy Christmas I created this frosty page, using a variety of techniques to build up layers of snowflakes – I hope you like it (grin!).

I started by stamping snowflakes onto the background using a Versamark Watermark stamp pad and then heating it with a heat gun to fix the Watermark ink onto the page. Then I used some Distress Ink re-inkers to apply drops of Speckled Egg and Peacock Feathers inks, spritzed them with water to disperse and blend the inks over the background and left it to dry.

I stamped my second layer of snowflakes using a Woodland Christmas stamp set and Peacock Feather Distress Ink, Teal Zeal and London Fog Memento Inks. Next I die cut some snowflakes from three different coloured tissue papers using a Paper Snowflakes Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and layered them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. I love how frosty this page looks with the different layers of snowflakes. Next I added lots of sequins from Simon Says Stamp and some glittery wooden stars; all of which are stuck down using Ranger Glossy Accents.  Then to finish, I added a silver sticker to wish you all “Happy Christmas”.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing some of our beers from our advent calendar – cheers and Happy T Day!

Here are some of the ones we’ve had so far; the Ruby Ale has been my favourite so far, probably because it is a classic British dark beer with a toffee malt and chocolate flavour which I prefer. We have had quite a few Craft Beer IPAs too; they tend to have a distinctive sharp citrus finish due to the big flavour American hops and so far my favourite has to be the Talking Head Extra Pale Ale, which had a lovely tropical mango flavour.

This Buckhorn Stateside IPA was also refreshing and had a smoother hoppy finish.

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 all the materials used to create this page:

• Tsukineko Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• The Works Clear Stamps (CRO274/TW1)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Speckled Egg, Peacock Feathers)
• Clear Impressions (Woodland Christmas)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Teal Zeal, London Fog)
• Poundworld (Patch Paper DS9454)
• Teal Blue Tissue Paper
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Paper Snowflakes 661599)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Simon Says Stamp (Winter Sequins Mix, Snowflake Sequins)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Wooden Glitter Stars
• The Works (Christmas Embellishments)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, 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 created this page to wish you a Happy Christmas. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my frosty Christmas page. I’m also pleased to join the Let It Snow challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my snowflake design. I’m happy to join the # 119 Non-Traditional Christmas Colours challenge over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with the frosty colours that I used. With my frosty colours and snowflakes, I’m also pleased to join the Ice Cold challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my Frosty Christmas page. As I used lots of different techniques to create all the frosty texture and snowflakes on this page, I’m also joining the MIUCB #44 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Clean and Simple challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog. Don’t forget there is still another week to join our Christmas Sparkle challenge at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be lovely to see you there!