Be Thankful

I have plenty to be thankful for including the wonderful life with my hubby and my dearest friends; so as its Thanksgiving next week I had fun creating this autumnal thankful page.

I’m sending Happy Thanksgiving wishes to those of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving next week, have a wonderful time!

To start, I painted the page with Hooker’s Green, Yellow Oxide and Raw Umber Liquitex acrylic paint and then applied Pébéo white gesso over the top with a brayer. When dry, I stamped some leaves by Tim Holtz using Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso and Hickory Smoke Distress Archival Ink and a grid design by Sheena Douglass using Potter’s Clay, Cottage Green and Rich Cocoa Memento Ink. I also stamped some grungy dots using black Archival Ink and both of the above Distress Archival Inks and then I splattered the page with white gesso. Next I recycled some thanksgiving magazine images of a dinner service portraying a turkey, duck, pheasant and partridge; they are fussy cut, edged with a Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck to the page using a UHU Stic. They are arranged with some pretty acrylic daisy flowers and autumnal coloured leaves which I die cut using Tim Holtz thinlets. The leaves are cut from some textured metallic papers, edged using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and a blending tool, and stuck into place using glue dots. To finish, I added the “Be Thankful” wording which is a piece of washi tape which I stuck onto some white card and stuck into place using double-sided tape.

The autumn leaves seemed to have been and gone quickly this year; when we walked around Lytham Hall with our friends this week we found that most of the trees had lost their leaves so there was a thick coating of leaves along the pathways. There were really only these Beech trees which still retained their beautiful autumnal leaves.

Of course, little Ellie was in her element chasing leaves and picking up sticks, although I think this stick may have been a little big for her. As you can see her coat has got quite long so she’s off for a trim at the doggie stylists this week (grin!).

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

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 Peace & Tranquility challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my reflective Be Thankful page.

I’m joining in the Recycle challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as I recycled magazine Thanksgiving images on this page.

I’m also pleased to join Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday and the Autumn & Gratitude theme with Be Thankful autumnal designed page.

I’m pleased to be able to join in the fun over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog for their Anything Goes + Watercoloring with my autumnal mixed media art journal page.

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

• Liquitex Basic Acrylic Color (Hooker’s Green, Yellow Oxide, Raw Umber)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Falling Leaves CMS097)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Hickory Smoke)
• Sheena by Sheena Douglass Create a Flower Rubber Stamps (Funky Textures 2)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Potter’s Clay, Cottage Ivy, Rich Cocoa)
• Creative Stamping Magazine Issue #61 (Autumnal Treasures)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Recycled images from Old Magazine
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188 B)
• UHU Stic
• Crafty Things (Acrylic Daisy Stickers)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Fall Foilage 660955)
• Paper Bundle from local Craft Shop
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ground Espresso)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Washi tape
• Recycled white cardstock
• X-Press It! double-sided tape

Every Leaf

I love autumn and I find there’s nothing better then walking on crunchy leaves, so today’s page is inspired by sunny autumnal days and one of my favourite quotes by Emily Brontë:

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree”.

The background was started sometime ago. I had some green and brown Distress Inks leftover whilst creating another page which I didn’t want to waste, so I smooshed it onto a blank page and used some stamps to move the colour around. I covered it with some white acrylic paint and then to create the layers of leaves, I started by stencilling some large leaves using a Sheena Douglass stencil and Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Ink. The smaller leaves are stamped using Potter’s Clay, Rich Cocoa and Toffee Crunch Memento Inks and I also added some stamped splatters using black Archival Ink. To enhance the grungy look I also splattered the page with white and black acrylic paint. Then I added some more white acrylic paint and when dry I repeated the stencilling and stamping of the leaves again and I also used a Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to colour the areas where the white acrylic paint covered the large leaves so they stood out more.

I used a stitched edge circle die and my Big Shot machine to cut out the circles from mixed media paper and coloured them using Fossilized Amber and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks with a blending tool. Then I used my Tim Holtz stamping platform to stamp the acorn, quote, leaves, bird, hedgehog and berries using black Archival Ink and then stuck them to the page using a UHU Stic. I also added some yellow and white enamel dots which finished the page.

There is someone else who like leaves, especially chasing them although little Ellie also sometimes eats them too (grin!). Ellie is our friend’s dog, she is a cavapoo and still a puppy, isn’t she super sweet (double grin!).

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

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 also happy to join in the Hand Stamped challenge hosted by the lovely Craftyfield over at Country View Challenges with my autumnal stamped art journal page.

I’m pleased to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and her Fruit and Veggies challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the acorn on my page.

I’m also happy to join the Peace & Tranquility challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my peaceful autumnal page.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday and the Autumn & Gratitude with my autumnal page.

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

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

• Background – leftover Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo Distress Ink
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Sheena Douglass Create a Flower Stencil (Just leaf It!)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Fossilized Amber)
• Creative Stamping Magazine Issue 61 (Autumnal Treasures)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Potter’s Clay, Rich Cocoa, Toffee Crunch)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Mixed Media Paper
• The Works (Cutting Dies, Pastel Enamel Dots)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188 B)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• UHU Stic

Blessed

This time of year I always think of my dear American friends who will be celebrating Thanksgiving the last Thursday of November.

I feel very blessed to have them as my friends so today’s page is a tribute to them and the beautiful autumnal garden flag that they gifted us. The flag influenced the background design, autumnal leaves and golden pears that I created on this page and the wording relates to my dearest friends (grin!).

For the white and grey background, I applied some Hickory Smoke Distress Ink using a mini stencil from TCW and I then layered a postage mark stamp from Kaisercraft and a leaf stamp from Tim Holtz using Hickory Smoke Distress Archival Ink. I coloured the stamped leaves using Fossilized Amber Distress Ink by applying the ink pad to a blending mat and picking up the ink with a paintbrush. The page is also splattered with the Fossilized Amber Distress Ink. Next I fussy cut the pears from a magazine, edged them with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck them in place using a UHU Stic. They are arranged on the page with some flowers, a butterfly, a clock and some wording which are all stickers from Kaisercraft; they are edged using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and a blending tool before sticking them into place. The wording reads “blessed”, “moments”, “you & me” and “love”.

This is the garden flag that lead me to include a script and postage mark grey on white background, some autumnal leaves and golden pears as part of my page design. I see this flag everyday as it sits right outside my kitchen window which is a joy (grin!).

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

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 Rike from rike’s art and her Fruit and Veggies challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I included the golden pears on my page.

I’m happy to join the #203 – Circles challenge over at Moo Mania & More with the circular stickers and stamped postage marks on my page, the pears have a circular feel to them too (grin!).

I’m joining in the Thanks/Thanksgiving challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as I’m giving thanks for my friends with my Blessed art journal page.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday and the Autumn & Gratitude with my autumnal and grateful for friends inspired page.

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

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

• The Crafter’s Workshop 6×6 Stencil (Mini Art is TCW261s)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke, Fossilized Amber, Peacock Feathers)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Provincial CS243)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Falling Leaves CMS097)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Hickory Smoke)
• Old Magazine
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Book (Antiquities SK807)
• UHU Stic

Love that smile

As autumn is one of my favourite seasons I created this fun page with a happy moose standing in a big pile of leaves. I hope this makes you smile as much as me (grin!).

With my autumnal colours I also wanted to remind you that there is still another week to join us over at Try it on Tuesday for our Colours of Autumn challenge too, it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by stamping the page with leaves from a Falling Leaves stamp set from Tim Holtz using Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink and Potter’s Clay Memento Ink. Then I added a pretty pumpkin napkin which I received from my good friend Erika aka BioArtGal last year – thank you so much! I tore the napkin on the diagonal and also added small pieces of the napkin inbetween the stamped leaves; it’s stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I fussy cut the moose from a magazine and stuck him to the page using a UHU stic. Next I added lots of leaves which I die cut using a Fall Foliage thinlet set from Tim Holtz. They are cut from three different papers and edged using Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. The “love that smile” wording is a sticker from Kaisercraft which is mounted onto the same three papers that I die cut the leaves from. To finish, I used a white gel pen to add two white dots to the moose’s eyes.

When my hubby saw this page he immediately thought of the tin moose that we have in our lounge, isn’t he a cutie (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday and it’s the season for everything pumpkin, here’s a piece of my homemade pumpkin roll with my friend’s coffee – Happy T day everyone!

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 Rike from rike’s art and her Fruit and Veggies challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I included lots of pumpkins on my page.

I’m pleased to join the Sketch challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as the foreground on my art journal page runs diagonally across the page, the “Paperbabe stamps” is represented by my “love that smile” wording and the flowers are represented by the smiley moose.

I’m joining the Autumn & Gratitude challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday with my autumnal “Love that smile” page.

I’m pleased to be able to join in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog for their #55 – Anything Mixed Media Goes with my mixed media art journal page

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes 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:

• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Falling Leaves CMS097)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Rich Potter’s Clay)
• Pumpkin Napkin – thank you Erika!
• Old magazine
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Fall Foliage 660955)
• Paper Pack from local craft shop
• Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CRO701/16PL1)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Havana Nights SS354)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• UHU Glue Pen
• X-Press It double-sided tape

My One & Only

As you may be aware it was our wedding anniversary this week so I thought I’d create a page to celebrate; my design was influenced by my hubby who loves bright colours and I chose some romantic wording too.

Inspired by the lovely Design Team at Country View Challenges I also wanted to try out a new technique to create a Bokeh effect on my page too, I love the results – what do you think?

To create my bokeh background, I covered the page with Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed and Fired Brick Distress Ink using a blending tool and dried the page thoroughly with my heat gun. Then I applied the circles using a Sun & Moon stencil and white pigment ink, slightly overlapping some of the circles as I went. For the flowers, I stamped a large Halftone Circle stamp onto some white cardstock using Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn, Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. Then I used a Wildflower Thinlet from Tim Holtz to cut out the flowers using my Big Shot machine and stuck them onto the page using a Zig glue pen. The wording are stickers from Kaisercraft which I backed with some of the white card and then stuck to the page using double-sided tape, they read “my one & only”, “you will forever be my always” and “always in my heart”. I used a paper punch to create some hearts out of black paper and stuck them in place. Then I added some pink and orange sequins using Ranger Glossy Accents which finished the page.

Here I am with “my one and only” celebrating our anniversary at Notarianni Ice Cream parlour where we treated ourselves to a sundae; these are tangerine jelly with two scoops of vanilla ice cream topped with tangerine syrup – so yummy!

Thank you for all your Happy Anniversary wishes earlier in the week (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 Eileen of The Artful Crafter and her Dreams or Wishes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my anniversary dreams and wishes.

I’m so happy to join in the Bokeh challenge over at Country View Challenges, thanks so much for the inspiration, it was a fun technique and I love the results; I will definitely be using it again to create some cards (grin!)

I’m also joining the Count Your Blessings challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my anniversary page.

I’m pleased to join the Celebrate! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday as my page celebrates our wedding anniversary 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Fired Brick, Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn)
• Docrafts Artiste Pigment Ink (White)
• Inkylicious Stencil and Template Set (Sun & Moon)
• White Cardstock
• Altenew Clear Stamp Set (Halftone Circles)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflowers 661190)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Everlasting SS376)
• X-Press It double-sided tape
• Leon (X-large Colour Paper Pad)
• Tonic Studios Paper Punch (Classic Heart 858E)
• Poundland (Assorted Sequins)
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Celebrating Friendship

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

Card Making Tutorial at A Vintage Journey

Hello Everyone!

Today I’m over at A Vintage Journey with this month’s card making post.

I always make cards for family and friends, so I’m pleased to be sharing a Shabby Chic style card that I made for a forever friend of mine.

I hope that you’ll pop over to A Vintage Journey to see my tutorial which includes lots more photos and full details of how this card came together. If you are interested, you can also find a full list of materials that I used below.

As I’ve been enjoying the summer flowers in my garden and we have lots of lavender flowering at the moment, I was inspired to included lavender as part of my card design.

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

Happy and creative wishes! Jo x

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Gold challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the gold ribbon I added to this card.

I’m also pleased to join the Tim Holtz challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday with all the Tim Holtz products I used to make this card.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this card:

• Kraft Cardstock
• Sizzix 3D Texture Fades A6 Tim Holtz Alterations (Botanicals 662716)
• Annie Sloane Chalk Paint (Old White 01)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Mowed Lawn, Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves, Mowed Lawn)
• White Cardstock
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Botanical #TH93705, Halloween #TH93727)
• Recycled white paper coloured green with Mowed Lawn, Forest Moss, Pine Needles and Twisted Citron Distress Ink and purple with Milled Lavender and Seedless Preserves Distress Ink)
• Sizzix Thinkets Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflowers 661190, Wildflower Stems #2 664164)
• Recycled Purple Chiffon Ribbon
• Cream Lace
• Recycled Gold Ribbon dyed using Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress Ink
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Quote Chips #TH93563)
• Home Bargains (Sweet Hearts)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Stix2 double-sided tape