Snowflakes

Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday for the next 2 weeks is Snowflakes.

I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

For my snowflakes page, I started by applying Distress Inks using one of my favourite smooshing techniques; I applied some Tumbled Glass and Prize Ribbon Distress Ink to an acrylic block, then I spritzed the block with water and pressed it onto the page gradually building up the layers of ink. When dry, I stamped some snowflakes over the top using a Frozen Fractals stamp set from Simon Says Stamp, and Peacock Feathers and Prize Ribbon Distress Ink. Next I stuck the “Let it snow” wording in place which was a foam sticker and to finish, I added some sparkly snowflake silver outline stickers.

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

I love this time of year and have quite a few snowflake window clings as part of my winter display – Happy Holidays everyone!

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.

For the sake of brevity I am no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

Yuletide Delights over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my distressed snowflake page.

Choose a theme and stamp it challenge over at Stamping Sensations with my Snowflake themed page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #157 – Anything Goes challenge with my let it snow page.

Anything Goes with the option of CAS challenge over at We Love Stamping with my stamped snowflakes.

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Merry Christmoose Card

I can never resist using my favourite Merry Moose Thinlits set at Christmastime; this time he’s on a Christmas card so I can share some “Christmoose” joy with my friends (grin!).

To start, I cut a panel of mixed media paper to fit my greetings card and positioned a circular template from an Inkylicious template and stencil set to mask out the moon. Then I stamped the pretty snowflakes using a Frozen Fractals stamp set from Simon Says Stamp; they were stamped using Versamark Watermark ink and then covered in white Stampendous embossing powder. Next I positioned a hand cut paper template to mask out the foreground. and then I painted the panel using a mixture of Ultramarine Pale, Ultramarine and Turquoise Blue colours Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour paints. When dry, I removed both of the templates and added some colour to the snowflakes in the foreground using the watercolour paints again. I coloured the moon with some Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink and added some texture using a white gel pen and also by stamping some grey dots using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and an Urban Tapestry stamp from Tim Holtz. Then I splattered the whole panel with white acrylic paint.

The tree and moose were die cut using the Merry Moose Thinlets by Tim Holtz and my Big Shot Machine. The tree was cut from some paper that I had used to mop up brown inks and the snow was cut from some white linen textured cardstock. For the Merry Moose, I used some linen card stock which I coloured using Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Inks. His antlers were coloured using Antique Linen Distress Ink and I edged all the pieces with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell maker. His harness was die cut from some blue glitter paper and white cardstock which I had coloured with the Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink. To finish, I added the “Merry Christmas” wording which was from a Christmas sticker book from Tim Holtz; it’s edged using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker before sticking it in place.

I love moose and there are quite a few moose on our Holiday Tree which is decorated with ornaments that we purchased whilst on holiday/vacation. We always enjoy looking at this tree and reminiscing of times gone by; all the decorations hold such happy memories (grin!).

As you can see, these ornaments are from Maine; the wording on this one makes me smile – Merry Christmoose everyone (double grin!).

Stay safe and keep 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 card:

  • Simon Says Stamp Clear Stamp Set (Frozen Fractals SSS101694)
  • Tsukineko Versamark Watermark Ink Pad
  • Stampendous Embossing Powder Basics (Detail White Opaque DP100)
  • Inkylicious Stencil and Template Set (Sun & Moons)
  • Recycled paper
  • Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Ultramarine Pale, Ultramarine, Turquoise Blue)
  • Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Stamp Set (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Antique Linen, Chipped Sapphire)
  • Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
  • Tim Holtz Alterations Sizzix Thinlets (Merry Moose 663103)
  • Recycled paper used to mop up brown inks
  • Craft Sensations (Luxury Card Stock with Linen Texture)
  • Poundland (Glitter Paper Sheets)
  • Zig Memory System Chisel Tip Glue Pen
  • Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Book (Christmas #TH93999)
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 joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Christmoose card.

I’m also pleased to join the Christmas Critters challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Merry Moose Christmas card.

I’m happy to join the # 119 Non-Traditional Christmas Colours challenge over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with the colours that I used on this card.

With my frosty wintery landscape, 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 Christmoose card.

I’m also pleased to join in the LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland challenge over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my Merry Moose walking in his winter wonderland card.

I’m so happy to join in the fun over at the Rudolph Days Challenge where Anything Goes, as long as it’s Christmas with my Merry Moose Christmas card too.

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!

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!

Art Journaling

Hi everyone! I am so delighted to be in the Designer Spotlight this month over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. As this is my last week I want to say a big thank you to everyone for all your support!

This week the theme is Art Journaling.

I’m so very grateful to be able to share my love of art journaling and I’d like to thank Lols and the Simon Says Stamp Team for letting me join them this month! This journal page was inspired by my love of art journaling and some Monarch butterflies that we saw in America at about this time last year.

I started by smooshing the background using Peeled Paint, Peacock Feather and Twisted Citron Distress Ink by stamping the pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page. I did this a number of times drying the page with a heat gun between each application of ink. Next I stamped an Invoice stamp from Finnabair and a letter stamp from Tim Holtz using Black Soot Distress Archival Ink. Then I covered an Interlocking Circles mini stencil from Creative Expressions with Black Soot Distress Ink and pressed it firmly onto the page using a brayer. The leaves are from a Concord & 9th Sophisticated Script stamp set and are stamped using Peeled Paint Distress Ink. I then splattered the page using a white Uni Posca paint pen and also some Black Soot Distress Ink.  I used the Concord & 9th Sophisticated Script stamp set again to stamp the “so very grateful” wording using Black Soot Distress Archival Ink and added highlights to the letters using a white Uni Posca paint pen. My Monarch butterflies are depicted here using Tim Holtz Botanical Layers and I added white text rub-on transfers from Tim Holtz which read “seen”, “memories”, “remember” and “dream” which relate to the butterflies we saw. To finish, I added some Small Talk Stickers from Tim Holtz which read “go where your heart takes you”, “creativity takes courage” and “adventure awaits you”; I chose the wording as it relates to my art journaling journey.

We were lucky enough to see Monarch butterflies for the first time when we visited Maine, USA last October time.

We don’t have this butterfly here in the UK and I was surprised at how big they were and …

… how mesmerising they are when they fly, they look like they are gliding (grin!).

I enjoyed creating this art journal page for the Art Journaling 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.

Challenges

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 so very grateful wishes.

I’m also joining the Die Cuts and Punches challenge over at Moo Mania & More with the die cut butterflies from Tim Holtz that I included on this page.

With my butterflies and inky background this also qualifies for our Inky Wings challenge over at A Vintage Journey where, it would be great to see you there!

Here is a list of materials over at Simon Says Stamp to create this art journal page:

All Things Pink

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 all your support and lovely comments last week!

This week the theme is All Things Pink (Breast Cancer Awareness).

For this challenge I created an art Journal page in tribute to my auntie who has recently recovered from Breast Cancer – I hope you like it!

For the background I covered the page with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink using a blending tool and then sprayed White Linen Dylusions Spray over the top and left it to dry.  Next I used a Tim Holtz Mini Stencil to add the numbers using the Picked Raspberry ink again and then using the same ink and also Hickory Smoke Distress Archival Ink I stamped some Halftone Circles from Altenew. For the flowers, I used my Tim Holtz Stamping Platform to stamp flowers and stems from the Tim Holtz Flower Garden Stamp Set using Hickory Smoke ink onto some watercolour cardstock; stamping the image a few times to achieve a clear precise image. Then I coloured them with Picked Raspberry ink using a watercolour style technique gradually building up the pink shading using a paintbrush. They are fussy cut and stuck in place using a glue stick. The wording is from an Antiquities Sticker Book from Kaisercraft and is mounted onto some of the white watercolour paper before sticking them to the page; they read “Life is beautiful with you”, “Love”, “Faith” and “Hope”. To finish I added some little butterflies which I made using some white paper butterfly wings, recycled pink satin ribbon that I twisted so it looked like the Breast Cancer logo, and finally a small pink gem stone; everything is stuck in place using Ranger Glossy Accents.

I’m pleased to say that my auntie is doing well after being treated with breast cancer, luckily it was diagnosed early; she came to stay recently and we had lots of fun, she particularly enjoyed watching the sunsets.

It seems that pink seems to be prevalent of late as when I went to the hairdressers recently I was treated to a few glasses of this Summer Fruit drink, it was so refreshing! At my hairdressers they usually offer coffee, a range of teas and soft drinks to their clients and sometimes cake too (grin!). As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m pleased to share this drink with the T Gang – Happy T Day!

I enjoyed creating this art journal page for the All Things Pink (Breast Cancer Awareness) 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.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Eileen of The Artful Crafter and her Dreams or Wishes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the dreams and wishes on my page.

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

Here is a list of materials over at Simon Says Stamp to create this art journal page:

Autumn/Fall

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:

Dancing Dragonflies

With the hot sunny days we have been enjoying of late, my page captures light and shade with colourful dragonflies dancing over the water.

I always love to experiment and try different techniques so I had a play around with acrylic paints and stamping to create the background which was fun, therefore my page also serves as a reminder of our 10th Birthday Party at Try it on Tuesday where I hope that you will join in the celebrations and share the art you love to create too!

I started by painting the background with Swedish Blue, Navy, Christmas Green and Cadmium Yellow Liquitex acrylic paint horizontally across the page using a paintbrush. Then I had fun applying the paints again using a scrunched up baby wipe, dabbing the paint onto the page to create light and shade. I stamped some background foliage at the top and bottom of the page which included a reed stamp from Gumpanian using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink, a foliage stamp from Eco Green Crafts using Peeled Paint Distress Ink, and leaves from Simon Says Stamp using Pine Needles and Twisted Citron Distress Ink. To add extra depth, I die cut some Tim Holtz thinlets out of a black patterned paper stock; they are edged with Black Soot Distress Ink and a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck into place in the foreground using a Zig Memory System glue pen. Next I added all the dragonflies which are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel and some small gems to add a little sparkle which finished the page.

Today we are revisiting the Tolkien Trail on a sunshiny day; this walk is called the Toilkien Trail as J.R.R Tolkien stayed in the area whilst writing The Lord of the Rings. It’s a lovely walk with beautiful views of the English countryside and it is said that the author was influenced by  the landscape around Stonyhurst College where he wrote his book. For example a number of names which occur in ‘The Lord of The Rings’ are similar to those found locally including Shire Lane (in Hurst Green) and River Shirebourn (similar to the family name which built Stonyhurst).

J.R.R. Tolkien was renowned for his love of nature and wooded landscapes and this walk takes you though some beautiful woodland. Here we are walking down over one of the many bridges that we encountered along the way …

… and I think Gollum may live under this bridge (grin!).

We walked along the river a few times on the walk, it was so magical and I can just imagine dragonflies dancing over the water during summer 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 from the blog BioArtGal  and her In the Sky/In the Air challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Dancing Dragonflies page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Opposites challenge over at Country View Challenges with the “light” and “shade” depicted on my art journal page.

I’m happy to join in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog and their Creative Artiste’s #49th Challenge: Anything Mixed Media Goes with my mixed media art journal page (which included acrylic, inks, papers, markers and rub-ons).

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 Artist Color Acrylic (Swedish Blue, Navy, Christmas Green, Cadmium Yellow Medium)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, Twisted Citron, Black Soot)
  • Tsukineko Memento Ink (Rich Cocoa)
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
  • Gummiapan Stamp (Reed Plant 14091107)
  • Simon Says Stamp Clear Stamp Set (Leaves And Scribbles SSS101445)
  • Eco Green Crafts Recycled Rubber Stamps (Petal Party)
  • Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206 , Wildflowers 661190)
  • Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (ROY1643G)
  • The Works (Rhinestone Flowers)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium