Hello Spring

As spring is officially here, I was inspired to create this page using a mainly green colour palette to say Hello Spring – I hope you like it!

I started by die cutting a lattice pattern out of some pretty vintage floral paper using a Spellbinders die and my Big Shot machine; I stuck the die cut lattice and resulting tile pieces onto the page using a Pritt Stick and covered them with Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I added some Peeled Paint Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad onto a blending matt, adding water and applying it to the page using a paintbrush; I let the ink run down the page and pool around the die cut pieces. Once the ink was dry, I emphasised the die cut lattice and tiles by shading around them with a Bud Green and Moss Spectrum Aqua Marker, a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and also a black Uni Pin marker, smudging the colours with my finger. I stamped a texture stamp from BoBunny using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker over the background which reminded me of woven willow fencing. Next I die cut some leaves out of green paper using Garden Green thinlets by Tim Holtz and coloured them using Mowed lawn Distress Ink and Cottage Ivy Memento Ink; they are stuck to the page using a Zig Memory System glue pen. I added the pink mini paper flower embellishments using Ranger Glossy Accents and added some mini pearl gemstones to their centres. The wording is cut from a magazine and is mounted on a recycled piece of card. I doodled along the leaf die cut edges and also framed the wording using a black Uni Pin marker and splattered the whole page with Peeled Paint Distress Ink, then black and also white DecoArt acrylic paint. To finish, I added lots of tiny butterfly stickers.

The colours of the pretty flowers on this page remind me of these roses which are adorning my kitchen table at the moment; the shades of pink and cream colours are so beautiful!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey with my Hello Spring page. I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Colour It Green, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with my green spring page.

I’m joining in the Miniature/Tiny Things challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the tiny butterflies I added to my page.

I’m also happy to join in the fun over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their theme Anything + optional twist of inked background with my inked background Hello Spring 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
• Spectrum Aqua Markers (Bud Green, Moss)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Spellbinders Die – unknown
• BoBunny Stamp (Rough It Up 12105155)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Design Block 25 x 25cm, Mini Paper Flower Embellishments)
• Crafter’s Companion Designer Paper Pad (Angelica & Adam Collection A&A-PAP6-M)
• Old Magazine
• Recycled white card
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Fancy Sticker Sheet (Flowers & Butterflies 28965)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Ranger Glossy Accents

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Everyday is a New Beginning

Now spring has arrived, the evenings are getting lighter, we have had more sunshine and blue skies, spring flowers are blooming, there are new shoots on trees and new plants are sprouting up from the ground.

So my page today is celebrating these new beginnings to say Hello Springtime over at Art Journal Journey where I’m guest host this month. I’ve been amazed by all your support and wonderful creations, thanks so much!

I started this page by stencilling a clock face on brown cardboard that I recycled from some packaging using Pébéo modelling paste and left it to dry. Then I die cut some trellis with a pretty flower design out of some recycled paper using my Big Shot machine and stuck it in place using Liquitex matte gel medium so that it filled the centre diagonal of the page. I cut the clock face out of the cardboard and stuck it to the page along with some cardboard number stickers that I had, and then I covered everything with Pébéo white gesso. When the page was dry, I stuck a piece of pretty design paper which I had torn in half to the top left and bottom right hand corners of the page using a glue stick; they are edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which I smudged with my finger. Next I applied Fig, Snow Cone, Caramel, Coconut and Earl Grey Faber-Castell Gelatos to the trellis-work to highlight the texture and pattern. The numbers stickers and clock face are both coloured using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which I applied and then smudged with my finger. I also used the same four Faber-Castell Gelato colours to highlight the numer stickers and modelling paste. The clock face numbers are coloured using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and I applied some of the Coconut Faber-Castell Gelato over the top to give them a worn look. Next I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt acrylic paint and then to finish, I added some paper flowers, a pretty blue butterfly and a sticker from Kaisercraft which reads “Everyday is a new beginning”.

My springtime colours were inspired by the beautiful glass domed roof at the Marine Hall where the Fleetwood Beer Festival is held. The Marine Hall sits on the sea front and the building dates back to the 1930s so has an art deco heritage which includes this beautiful glass domed roof.

The Festival Beer Bar is situated right under this dome and I actually had to lie on the floor in the centre of the two bars to take this picture, luckily no one saw me as I was well hidden by the bars (grin!).

Challenges 

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Art Journal Journey, 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 very happy to be able to join the Letters and/or Numbers challenge over at Country View Challenges as I had fun adding the numbers and letters to this page.

I’m also joining the Embrace The Journey challenge over at A Vintage Journey where they are celebrating their 5^th Birthday as my Mixed Media Style page depicts the journey of springtime where “Everyday is a new beginning” – Happy Birthday!

I’m joining in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog and their Creative Artiste’s #47th Challenge – Anything Mixed Media Goes with all the different mediums (listed below) that I used to create this 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:

• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Fig, Snow Cone, Caramel, Coconut, Earl Grey)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• The Works M & C Boutique (Cutting Dies)
• Recycled brown cardboard packaging
• Recycled paper
• The Works Design Pad (Vintage Love CRO707/TW25
• Leftover cardboard numbers from a Hobbycraft  Alphabet Letters set
• Poundland (Gem Florettes 117128, Accessories Pack 60911)
• The Works (Make Your Own 3D Butterflies – Assorted)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick

Spring Hare

This page was inspired by an image from a magazine of a hare sitting in a lush green meadow and from that sprang the idea of extending the scene so the meadow filled my page – I hope you like it!

As this page was created with spring in mind, I’m pleased to join the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey too. I’d like to thank all of you for your lovely comments and wonderful creations so far, I hope you are having fun getting creative with this theme as much as I am (grin!).

To start I coloured some white paper with inks to match the colours on the magazine image; first I applied Mowed Lawn, Pine Needles, Twisted Citron and Forest Moss Distress Ink to a blending mat, spritzed with water and pressed the matt onto the white paper to create a green mottled effect.

I repeated the process using Fozzilized Amber, Mustard Seed and Scattered Straw Distress Ink, then Old Paper, Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo Distress Ink and finally Elderberry Memento Ink, Milled Lavender and Seedless Grape Distress Ink. When the papers were dry, I used the green mottled effect paper to cover the background by ripping the paper on the diagonal and layering it onto the page so the white edges formed part of the design to look more like fabric; it is stuck down using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I ripped the magazine image and stuck it on the left-hand side of the page.

Next I die cut some flowers using a Wildflower thinlet from Tim Holtz from the yellow and purple paper I had made. I intensified the colour of the yellow flowers using Fossilized Amber and then arranged them with foliage that I created using some brown string, embroidery silk thread and pieces of green and rusty-brown baby wipe that had been used to mop up inks and paints from previous projects. They are all stuck into place using Liquitex matte gel medium and once dry, I coloured the green pieces of baby wipe further with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink so they looked like blades of grass. I also added some white thread, die cut purple pieces and purple/blue used baby wipe to the top of the page to match the image design. To finish, I added the word “Spring” which is a rub-on transfer from Royal & Langnickel and then splattered the page with black and white DecoArt acrylic paints.

One springtime walk around Glasson Dock we were lucky enough to see hares in the fields; if you look very closely you can just see a hare in profile sitting on the bottom left-hand side of the picture.

The hares were fun to watch although they didn’t really stay still very long to get a good shot of them (grin!).

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Art Journal Journey, 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:

As my page captures nature at springtime, I’m joining the Close To Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

I’m also happy to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Create A Scene challenge with my Spring Hare scene.

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their theme Anything + optional twist of inked background with my inked background mixed media page.

As I used more than three mediums (inks, paints, paper, baby wipes, string, etc) to create my page, I’m also joining the Creative Artisite Challenge #47 – Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog.

I’m also pleased to join the Green & Gold challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday as I used these colours 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mowed Lawn, Pine Needles, Twisted Citron, Forest Moss, Fozzilized Amber, Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Old Paper, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, Milled Lavender, Seedless Grape)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Elderberry)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Sizzix Thinkets Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflowers 661190)
• Recycled white paper
• Old magazine
• Recycled used baby wipes
• Brown String
• Embroidery Silk Houline Stranded (0369)
• Recycled cotton thread
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Sentiments (Spring #ROY-506)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick

Change

Our new challenge for the next two weeks at Try it on Tuesday is Inspired by a Word – please note on your blog post which word you used for your inspiration.

Please check out the creations and words that my Design Teamies chose over at Try it on Tuesday too; we hope to see you there!

This time I got my hubby to choose a word for me which was “Change”, so I created a page based on the changing winter to spring seasons (grin!).

I started by stamping a letter stamp from Carabelle Studios using black Archival Ink onto the page, concentrating the letters at the bottom of the page to depict the ground. Then I covered the page with thin layers of Windsor & Newton watercolour paints using a baby wipe; I coloured the left-hand winter side of the page with Payne’s Gray and the right-hand spring side with Ultramarine watercolour paint. Then I covered the Payne’s Gray with Platinum Planet brilliance Ink which gave it a lovely shine of frosty grey and the Ultramarine with a wash of Salty Ocean Distress Ink so it was a sunshiny blue. For the foreground I added some white DecoArt acrylic paint to my winter scene and some watered down Cottage Ivy and Dandelion Memento Ink to the spring scene. Next I stamped the two trees from Docrafts Build a tree stamp set using black Archival Ink which gave an outline of the tree shapes.

For the winter tree I stamped lots of snowflakes from three different stamp sets using Bahama Blue, Summer Sky, Paris Dusk, Danube Blue and Teal Zeal Memento Ink. I coloured the tree trunk and branches using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker. Then I die cut some snowflakes from glitter paper and arranged them onto the tree with some silver snowflake relief stickers and some clear and blue gems. To finish the tree I stamped a festive ornament and tiny star from one of the branches using black Archival Ink decorating it with a blue gem.

For the spring tree I stamped the leaves and flowers using the same Tree stamp set from Docrafts using: Cottage Green and Dandelion Memento Ink for the leaves which I blended together on a blending mat before applying to the stamp; Rose Bud Memento Ink for the flowers. I coloured the tree trunk and branches using the Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker and then I added a couple of pink flower paper embellishments and some pink gems. To finish the tree, I stamped a bird house using black Archival Ink and decorated it with a blue gem.

Next I die cut the “Change” letters from some recycled black packaging paper using a Folk Alphabet die set from Docrafts and my Big Shot machine. They are stuck down the centre of the page using a Zig Memory System glue pen. To finish, I stamped the Carabelle Studio letter stamp using black Archival Ink over the bottom of the tree trunks so they blended in more, and added two Kaisercraft stickers with the words to describe the change in the seasons as it was a “Happy” Winter and I “Love” Spring (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday and with the change in the seasons I changed my drink choice when I was out and about with my mum recently; so instead of drinking my normal hot chocolate (pictured on the left), I enjoyed a chocolate frappe (pictured on the right) – yum! Wishing you all a Happy T day!

Challenges

I’m pleased to link my art journal page to the Hello Springtime challenge that I am hosting over at Art Journal Journey as it depicts the change of the seasons from winter to spring. I hope you are inspired to say hello to springtime too, it would be lovely to see you there!

I’m pleased to be able to join the Letters and/or Number challenge over at Country View Challenges with the letter background that I created and die cut lettering.

As I used snowflakes to represent winter and sunny blue skies to represent Spring I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Whatever The Weather 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:

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colours (Payne’s Gray, Aquamarine)
• Tsukineko Brilliance Pigment Ink (Platinum Planet)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Salty Ocean)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Bahama Blue, Summer Sky, Paris Dusk, Danube Blue, Teal Zeal, Cottage Ivy, Dandelion, Rose Bud)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Carabelle Studio Art Stamp (Background – avec des letters SA60233)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials Clear Stamps (Build a tree DCE907130)
• Free with magazine Embossing Folder & Stamp Set (Winter Wonderland)
• Sheena Douglass Stamp Set (Winter Woodland) – free with Creative Stamping magazine Issue 62
• The Works (Clear Stamps CRO274K/TW1)
• Kars Clear Stamps (Christmas Hanger 180009/2024)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Cutting Dies, Mini Paper Flower Embellishment)
• Docrafts XCut A5 Dies Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503286)
• Recycled black packaging paper
• Poundland (Glitter Sheets 116432)
• Crelando Relief Sticker Set (IAN289011)
• B&M Craft Goody Bag (Turquoise 321451)
• Hobbycraft (Rose Gem Stones 5666091006)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Secret Garden SS283)
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)

Dark Side of the Moose

Today’s art journal page pays homage to one of my favourite beers at the Beer Festival earlier this month, which is called Dark Side of the Moose. It’s brewed by Purple Moose Brewery in Wales which I have visited a number of times – such fun!

To start, I positioned some circular templates by Inkylicious onto the page to depict the moons and painted the sky background using some watered down Elderberry Memento Ink using a paintbrush. I left the templates in place so I could also add a heart and circle design stamp by Sugarloaf Inc. using Grape Jelly Memento Ink; to shade around the moons I used the ink that remained on the template after stamping, wiping the ink in a circular motion around the edges whilst the template was still on the page. Then I used the corresponding circular stencils from the Inkylicious template and stencil set to colour the moons; first with Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed Distress Ink and then by adding a Tim Holtz texture stamp using the Elderberry Memento Ink again. The Purple Moose sticker is taken from the hand pump clip which came with the beer from the brewery; the writing surrounding the moose details the name of the beer in both English and Welsh. The moose and trees are die cut using the Merry Moose Thinlets by Tim Holtz from Sizzix and my Big Shot Machine. I used some purple paper for my moose which I shaded with the Elderberry ink and then some brown paper for the trees which I edged with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. They are stuck to the page, like all the paper elements, using a Zig Memory glue pen and I used some ripped pieces of red dot washi tape for the ground beneath them. To finish, the hearts were created using the same red dot washi tape which I stuck to white paper and then cut using a Tonic Studios paper punch.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and sharing my Dark Side of the Moose beer. This is delicious dark ale with a ABV (Alcohol by Volume) of 4.6%, it has a deep malt flavour and a fruity bitterness, and is brewed by Purple Moose Brewery in Porthmadog, Gwynedd, Wales – wishing you all a very happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the yellow moons I added to my art journal page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Heart It!, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with all the stamped and paper punched hearts that I added to my page.

I’m also pleased to join A Vintage Journey and their Heart’s Desire challenge as I was inspired by my love of beer and used stamped and paper punched hearts to create my Art Journaling style 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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Elderberry, Grape Jelly)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed)
• Faber-Castell Craft Stamper Big Brush Pen (Dark Sepia 175 B, Black 199)
• Inkylicious Stencil (Sun & Moons)
• Sugarloaf Inc. Anita’s Wood Mounted Stamp (48721)
• Tim Holtz Collection Stampers Anonymous (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Merry Moose 663103)
• Tonic Studios Paper Punch Accent (Hearts Sider 830E)
• Pump clip – Purple Moose
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Bright Colours CRO730/R)
• Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CRO701/16PL1)
• Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection (Spots & Stripes festive PMA462302)
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Chisel Tip Glue Pen)
• Sizzix Big Shot

I love us

I feel very blessed to have married my soulmate and to have spent many happy and fulfilling years together so with Valentine’s fast approaching I created this page for my dear hubby to say “I love us” (grin!).

I started by adding some pieces of old dictionary pages using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium, then I coloured the background using some Cadmium Yellow Liquitex Acyclic paint and some Pébéo white gesso. When the paint was dry, I stencilled a lattice pattern using some Scattered Straw Distress Ink and a blending tool. Then I used the stencil to stamp the lattice pattern using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and also applied some DecoArt white acrylic paint with a sponge through the same stencil. I die cut some wildflowers from paper by Tim Holtz using a Tim Holtz thinlet set with my Big Shot machine and stuck them to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. When the gel medium was dry I outlined them with a black Uni Pin Fine Line marker so they stood out more and then I stuck three pieces of pretty green lace vertically onto the page.

For the heart, I used a wooden heart tag which I covered in Emboss ink and Chunky Silver Stampendous Frantage embossing enamel. I used a heat gun to melt the embossing enamel to a smooth glossy finish and before the enamel had cooled fully, I imprinted it using a Serpentine Background stamp; being careful not to touch the enamel with my fingers as it gets super hot. I also covered the word “Love” which is a wooden embellishment with the same embossing enamel using the Emboss ink.

I tied a piece of green ribbon to the heart tag and arranged it with the “love” embellishment onto the page using Ranger Glossy Accents along with a vintage Tim Holtz Pocket card, a white doily and a metal decorative embellishment. To finish, I added two Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers which are outlined using a black Derwent marker; they say “I’m happiest when I’m with you” and “I love us”.

Me and my hubby are thankful for every day and always enjoy the time we have together, whether we are at home …

… making discoveries on our walks, like this pretty yellow sunflower that magically appeared on the beach front which is just around the corner from our house …

… or out and about like at this local beer festival (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 be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my appropriately coloured art journal page.

As this page captures love and romance, I’m joining the Love is in the Air challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

I’m happy to join the Your Hearts Desire challenge over at A Vintage Journey as I was inspired to create this romantic Mixed Media Style page for my hubby which includes hearts.

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

Don’t forget that you still have plenty of time to join our Romance challenge at Try it on Tuesday too.

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

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

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow Medium)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Ground Espresso)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Tsukineko Emboss Embossing Stamp Pad (Clear)
• Stampendous Frantage Embossing Enamel (Chunky Silver)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflowers 661190)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Serpentine Background T-2773)
• The Pocket Oxford Dictionary
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Paper Stash (Halloween #TH93712)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Dovecrafts Premium Paper Doilies (Painted Blooms DCDLS010)
• Docrafts Papermania Adhesive Lace Trim (Botanicals PMA358334)
• The Works (Chalkboard Tags, 5 Embellishments, Wooden Craft Words)
• Thin Satin Ribbon (Green)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Sweet Winter Season

It’s been very cold and frosty this week, we even had a light sprinkling of snow, so I thought I’d create a page to capture the pretty frozen landscape.

I started by covering the centre of the page with Pébéo white gesso and then I added some Silver Metallic acrylic paint around the edges, gradually blending the gesso and acrylic into each other where they met. Next I arranged some images, wording, flowers and leaves from a Sweet Winter Season decoupage book and die cut some branches using Garden Greens Thinlets by Tim Holtz from some pink and brown paper using my Big Shot machine. They are all layered and arranged onto the page using double-sided tape or a Zig glue pen. I also die cut some snowflakes from grey/pink paper using two different die sets and stuck them onto the background along with silver snowflake relief stickers. I used some of the smaller snowflake relief stickers to decorate a few of the decoupage pieces, then to finish I added some tiny clear gemstones to add a bit of extra sparkle.

With it being so cold out, our bird feeder has been working overtime. We have had an array of birds visiting including a pair of Coal Tits; they have a distinctive grey back, black cap, and white patch at the back of their neck with beautiful creamy peachy coloured breast-feathers.

Coal Tits look similar to this Chickadee that we saw in the US when we visited last year. I have included a squirrel on my page but luckily we don’t have them raiding our bird feeder, unlike our friends in America who get chipmunks as well as red and grey squirrels on their feeders.

This little guy with his pretty grey and brown feathers is a Dunnock and reminds me of the little bird on my page; we see him in our garden on a daily basis feeding underneath our bird feeders.

Of course I wanted to also show you our resident Robin, although this isn’t the best of photos he still looks so sweet (grin!).

Challenges

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

I’m also joining 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:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Poundland Metallic Acrylic Paint (Silver)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush marker (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206)
• Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (falling Snowflakes 1792e)
• The Works Cutting Dies (Snowflake Garland)
• The Works 3D Decoupage Book (Sweet Winter Season)
• Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CRO701/16PL1)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Endless Love CRO206/A)
• Crelando Relief Stickers (IAN289011)
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 double-sided tape