Tag Archives: Sizzix

Monochromatic

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It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for August which is Monochromatic.

Please ensure that your projects are monochromatic and as such contain only one colour of varying shades. This month’s challenge is being hosted by the lovely Debs.

I had fun art journaling again and as summer is here I created this lush green monochromatic page using Tim Holtz products.

To start, I covered the background with Distress Inks by stamping Mowed Lawn, Bundled Sage and Twisted Citron ink pads onto a blending mat, spritzing with water and then pressing the mat onto the page; I did this a number of times until I achieved the intensity of colour I wanted.

Then I coloured two lots of Ranger Texture Paste; one using Rustic Wilderness and the other using Twisted Citron Distress Paint. I applied them to the page through a Halftone stencil using a palette knife.

Next I stamped some words and numbers from an Etcetera stamp set using Bundled Sage Distress Ink and then I splattered the page using some Forest Moss Distress Ink. When dry, I added some white Tiny Text Remnant Rubs which read “hold on tight to your dream”, “see the world”, “shine brightly”, “own your story”, “listen to your heart”, “see possibility everywhere”, “she is brave” and “make it count”. Then I splattered the whole page using white DecoArt acrylic paint.

The flowers were die cut from some mixed media paper using a Wildflowers Thinlits set and coloured using the Distress Inks before sticking them in place using matte gel medium.

For the dark green wording, I coloured some mixed media paper using the Rustic Wilderness Distress Paint and when dry, I cut out the letters using an Alphanumeric Label Thinlits set. They were stuck in place using matte gel medium which finished the page.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you are inspired to join our Monochromatic challenge too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

The white summer daisies in my garden seem to be enjoying the hot sunny days at the moment. I hope that you are enjoying the sunshine too wherever you are (grin!).

Hoping that you are 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 art journal page:

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Neet from Hickydorums; she has chosen Type as her theme so I’m joining with the typed remnant rubs wording and Alphanumeric wording I used to illustrate my page design.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #149 – Anything Goes with my summery art journal page.

Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my lush green summer page.

Every heart sings a song

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I created this shabby chic vintage page in my mini art journal to join a few of my favourite challenges and, with the birds that I included, to also remind you that there is still another week to join our Feathered Friends challenge over at Try it on Tuesday.

For the background, I cut a piece of Kraft Card and ran it through a Tim Holtz Botanicals embossing folder. Then I stuck it onto the page with a panel of wildflower design paper using Liquitex matte gel medium. I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top of the papers using my finger paying attention to highlight the embossed texture. When dry, I edged the page with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker smudging the ink with my finger. Then I added a piece of lace using double-sided tape between the two panels. I used a Garden Greens Thinlits set from Tim Holtz to die cut the foliage from some leftover mixed media paper that I had coloured with Mowed Lawn, Peeled Painted and Pine Needles Distress Inks. They were arranged onto the page with some white flowers and birds which were fussy cut from Kaisercraft stickers. To finish, I added the beautiful quote by “Plato” which was a Kaisercraft sticker that I cut to fit the page and edged with a Dark Sepia Big Brush Faber-Castell marker; it reads “Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back”.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my cuppa with a home-made Skinny Lemon and Blueberry cupcake; they are a very yummy summer treat – wishing you all a Happy T Day!

Hoping that you are 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 all the materials used to create this art journal page:

  • Docrafts Papermania (Mini Chipboard Album 15x15cm)
  • Kraft Cardstock
  • Sizzix 3D Texture Fades A6 Tim Holtz Alterations (Botanicals 662716)
  • Sizzix Big Shot
  • Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia)
  • Dovecraft Creative Ribbon Sweet Paris (Lace DCCR24)
  • X-Press It! double-sided tape
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Garden Greens 661206)
  • Leftover mixed media paper coloured green with Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles Distress Inks
  • Home Bargains Special Occasions (Mini White Flowers)
  • Kaisercraft Sticker Sheets (Cherry Tree Lane SS329, Pen & Ink SS360)
Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Alison from Words & Pictures; she has chosen Summer Countryside as her theme so I’m joining with my mini art journal page design with the summer botanicals, wildflowers, foliage and birds.

Funkie and Frilly challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog with my design the embossed background, flowers and lace that I used on this shabby chic vintage page.

Out With The Old And In With The New challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge; the old being the embossing folder, thinlits set, leftover coloured papers and flowers, and the new being the wildflower paper, birds, and lace.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #148 – Anything Goes with my pretty mini art journal page.

LTSCB #147 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my botanical page.

Soar

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Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Feathered Friends.

For this challenge, I had fun using my new Scribbly Birds in Flight stamp set by Dina Wakley. My three birds are soaring high in the sky looking down on the lush green countryside filled with pretty flowers.

To start, I stamped the three birds in flight using a stamp set by Dina Wakley and black Archival Ink. Then I painted the sky around the birds using Ultramarine Pale watercolour paints; I also used these Kuretake Watercolours to colour everything on my page except the birds. When dry, I painted the mountains and the countryside foreground using Sap Green, Dark Sap Green, Hooker’s Green and Burnt Sienna paint, blending and layering the colours together. The flowers were created using a Flower Field Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and were die cut from some mixed media paper. I coloured them using the Sap Green Light, Dark Sap and Hooker’s Green paint and when they had dried, I painted the flowers using Cadmium Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, Rose Madder, Colbalt Violet, Red, Ultramarine paint; they were stuck into place using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium.

For the birds, I wanted to try a new technique using clear gesso and marker pens so I covered the birds with a layer of clear gesso and left it to dry. This allowed me to smudge and blend the marker inks by applying the marker colour over the gesso and then smudging it with my finger; the markers were Tri-Blend Spectrum Noir and the colours were Burnt Orange Blend, Gold Brown Blend, Earth Brown Blend and Gold Yellow Blend. I finished the birds by adding eyes and more feather detail with a black Uni Pin Fine Line marker and a white Uniball gel pen. To finish, I added the quote which I stamped onto a Pocket Card by Tim Holtz using an alphabet stamp set from Dovecraft and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. Once stamped, I cut out the wording to fit the page design and stuck them in place using double-sided tape. The quote I used is by William Blake and reads “No bird soars to high, if it soars with his own wings”.

I hope that you are inspired to join our Feathered Friends challenge too, for more amazing inspiration from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies please pop over to Try it on Tuesday.

This page was inspired by the English countryside and reminded me of our walks in the Forest Of Bowland, which is an “area of outstanding natural beauty” located near to the Lake District.

On this particular walk, we passed through beautiful countryside and farmland, woodlands and lakes making our way to a summit called Nicky Nook.

From the summit there are spectacular views across Lancashire; our house is located somewhere on the left-hand side of this picture faraway in the distance by the sea (grin!).

As T Stands for T Day I’m sharing our refreshing iced water that we always enjoy on our walks – Happy T Day everyone!

Hoping 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 all the materials used to create this art journal page:

  • Dina Wakley Media Cling Rubber Stamps (Scribbly Birds In Flight MDR47636)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Ultramarine Pale No:61, Sap Green Light No:51, Sap Green No:53, Hooker’s Green No:52, Burnt Sienna No:46, Cadmium Scarlet No:31, Lemon Yellow No:40, Rose Madder No:34, Cobalt Violet No:139, Red No:32, Ultramarine No:64)
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Dies (Flower Field 665369)
  • Daler-Rowney Mixed Media Paper
  • Pébéo Clear Gesso
  • Tri-Blend Spectrum Noir Markers (Burnt Orange Blend, Gold Brown Blend, Earth Borwn Blend, Gold Yellow Blend)
  • UniPin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
  • Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
  • Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
  • Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Ground Espresso)
  • X-Press It! Double-sided tape
Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Alison from Words & Pictures; she has chosen Summer Countryside as her theme so I’m joining her with my summery countryside page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #149 – Anything Goes with my summery art journal page.

LTCCB #60 – July Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my birds in flight summer page.

T Day – 8th Anniversary

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Today’s page celebrates the 8th Anniversary of T Stands for Tuesday, where our wonderful hosts Bleubeard and Elizabeth ask us to share a drink related post each week.

I always have fun meeting up with the T Gang each Tuesday, thanks so much to our hosts and everyone for making it such a friendly and happy place – Happy T Day!

I started by covering the background with white gesso and leaving it to dry. Then I added Passion Fruit Faber-Castell Gelato to the page in small horizontal lines and used a baby wipe to smudge the colour over the page. I repeated the same technique using Red Cherry Faber-Castell Gelato and then I painted some white acrylic paint over the top.

For the tags, I created a masterboard using some mixed media paper which I coloured with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. Then I stamped and stencilled the number 8 over it using lots of different stamp sets and stencils. The tags were die cut using Tim Holtz Tag Collection Framelits and layered onto the page with the flowers and wording. All the white cardstock was recycled from an old anniversary card along with the fussy cut champagne flutes and “anniversary” wording; they were edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker before sticking them in place. The rest of the silver wording was die cut, using an Alphanumeric Label Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and the number 8 using a X-Cut die set, from some recycled card packaging. All the flowers were die cut using a Small Tattered Florals Thinlits set from Tim Holtz from the recycled white card, some red and pink linen textured cardstock and some of the masterboard that I created; they were layered together using gel medium and finished with gemstone centres.

I thought a glass of this ice cold pink prosecco, that you may remember from my birthday, fits the bill for our celebration and would be perfect served in the champagne glasses on my page – cheers and Happy 8th Anniversary this 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 all the materials used to create this art journal page:

  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Faber-Castell Gelatos (Passion Fruit, Red Cherry)
  • Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
  • Daler-Rowney Mixed Media Paper
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Aged Mahogany)
  • Number 8 Stamps – Papermania (Alphamania PMA9071102), Docrafts Creative Essentials A5 stamp set (Folk Alphabet, Script Alphabet, Alpha Trad), Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Grunge Alphabet CMC008, Documented CMS226), Kaisercraft (Provincial CS243), Craft Sensations (Clear Stamps CR0274/19A1)
  • Number 8 Stencils – Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892, 2 Piece Stencil Set – letters and numbers)
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
  • Recycled Anniversary Card
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Cold Grey)
  • X-Press It! double-sided tape
  • Pritt Stick
  • Recycled silver metallic packaging
  • Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Textured Finish)
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Alphanumeric Label 664177, Small Tattered Florals 661806)
  • Docrafts X-Cut Die Set (Folk Alphabet)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Docrafts Papermania (Adhesive Stones – Red)
  • Hobbycraft (Rose Gem Stones)
  • Mark Richards (Silver Metal Style #1981)
Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #148 – Anything Goes with my journal page.

LTSCB #147 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my celebration page.

MIUCB #51 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Aperture challenge at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the different techniques I used to create this page too.

100 Challenges at Country View Challenges

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Today I’m over at Country View Challenges where I’m sharing this mini art journal page to celebrate 100 Challenges.

As this month marks our 100th Challenge and we couldn’t let that go by without a celebration we are offering two prizes, the first will be for your projects that fit the theme of 100 taking inspiration from one of the Design Team makes, such as a colour scheme, technique, design idea, stamp or die motif and of course, 100 (or One Hundred) must be included on the project. The second prize will be picked from one of the comments left on the Country View Challenges and Design Team blog posts – don’t forget, you can enter as many times as you like.

I hope you feel the love with the 100 hearts that I had fun adding to this page (grin!).

I started by covering the chipboard background with some Driftwood DecoArt acrylic paint. Then I die cut 99 small hearts using the Falling Hearts Thinlits set from Tim Holtz from grey paper and then white, pink and red cardstock; they were arranged onto the page using matte gel medium. The large red heart was die cut using a Love Birds Shadow Box Sizzix Thinlits set and takes the total of hearts on the page to 100. For the black and white wording, I used rub-on transfers from a Tiny Text Remnant Rubs set from Tim Holtz. To finish the page, I added the silver glitter “100” to the large heart and some small dots to the background which were all from the same sticker set.

I hope that you are enjoying our 100 Challenges over at Country View Challenges too; it would be lovely to see you there!

All the red hearts and love reminded me of these beautiful tulips that my sister bought me for my birthday, aren’t they gorgeous (grin!).

Hoping that you are 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 mini art journal page:

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #145 – Anything Goes with my countryside page.

with my art journal page.

Love to Scrap Challenge Blog and their No Rulz 4! theme where their are no rules and you can create anything, so I’m joining in the fun my my mini art journal page.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Mixed Media challenge with my mixed media journal page.

Peregrine Falcon

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It’s a new month so we are launching our June challenge today over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, and as always the theme is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by the Peregrine Falcon that lives locally to us (grin!).

I started by tearing some feather designed paper into pieces and sticking them onto the page using a glue stuck. Then I coloured the rest of the page using Scattered Straw, Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo Distress Inks and applied some Pébéo white gesso over the page using a brayer. When dry, I stencilled a Distressed Sequins stencil from Tando Creative using the Distress Inks again.

The Peregrine Falcon image and other paper pieces were cut from a Stamperia Paper Pad and edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker before sticking them in place using double-sided tape.

I also used the Stamperia paper to create the wording which was embossed using a Typewriter embossing folder by Tim Holtz. I cut the letters out to create small tiles and then I coloured the letters using a Brown Grey Tri-Blend Spectrum Noir marker before sticking them in place.

To finish, I added the grungy metal embellishment which was stuck in place using glue dots.

For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste. To join our mixed media challenge all you need to do is use three different mediums on your projects; I hope that you are inspired to join us, it would be lovely to see you there!

We were lucky to see the Peregrine Falcon flying around near to where we live.

Peregrine falcons are fascinating birds, if your interested here are some facts about them:

  • Peregrine falcons are the fastest creatures on the planet, reaching speeds of over 321 kph (200 mph) as they dive to catch their prey from a great height in a movement called a ‘stoop’.
  • Tower blocks, bridges and cathedrals offer the perfect urban alternative to nesting on cliff tops, and pigeons and starlings provide a reliable source of food which we have in abundance here.
  • Their nostrils guide shock waves of air to stop the high pressure damaging their lungs while they dive. A natural design so that inspired the design of the first jet engines!
  • They have excellent binocular vision which is eight times better than that of a human so they are able to see prey from more than 3 km away.

I 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 all the materials used to create this art journal page:

  • The Works (Paper Pad Sheets with Glitter)
  • Pritt Stick
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo)
  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Ranger Mini Brayer
  • Tando Creative Stencil (Distressed Sequins)
  • Stamperia Double Faced Sheets (Forest)
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175B)
  • X-Press It! Double-sided tape
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades (Typewriter 664760)
  • Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend marker (Brown Grey Blend BG9)
  • The Works (Metal Embellishments)
  • Stix2 glue dots
Challenges

As well as Creative Artiste, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #145 – Anything Goes with my Peregrine Falcon page.

Masculine challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my falcon art journal page.

Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge and their I’m Feeling Like Royalty challenge with my page as the Peregrine Falcon was considered a bird of royalty back when falconry was practiced in ancient times.

Happy 100th at Country View Challenges

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There’s a special celebration at Country View Challenges this month to commemorate our 100 Challenge.

This month marks our 100th Challenge and we couldn’t let that go by without a celebration so we are offering two prizes, the first will be for your projects that fit the theme of 100 taking inspiration from one of the DT makes, such as a colour scheme, technique, design idea, stamp or die motif and of course, 100 (or One Hundred) must be included on the project. The second prize will be picked from one of the comments left on the CVC and DT blog posts – don’t forget, you can enter as many times as you like so make sure it is a comment that makes our DT happy to make them count

I’m celebrating our Happy 100th challenge with this countryside scene which was created using lots of Tim Holtz products.

I started by using one of my favourite techniques, by stamping Salty Ocean and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink pads onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and then pressing the block onto the page.

While the page was drying, I used the Flower Field Thinlits die from Tim Holtz to cut out my flower meadow foreground and then coloured the flowers using a blending tool to apply Seedless Grape, Festive Berries, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed Distress Ink; all the die cuts were cut from mixed media paper and stuck in place using matte gel medium. Then I coloured the foliage with Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress Ink, sprayed some water over the top and pressed some kitchen towel over it to remove the water and some of the ink which added a lovely texture. The little butterflies were created using a Bunny Scene Thinlits set and coloured using Abandoned Coral Distress Ink, a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball gel pen.

The leaves and branches were created using Small Tattered Floral Thinlits set from Tim Holtz; the branches were coloured using Brushed Corduroy and Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the leaves using the Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss inks again. For the Happy 100th banner, I used the colours of the Distress Inks that I used for the flowers to create the squares and then die cut the white letters using the Alphanumeric Bold Thinlits set from Tim Holtz. The banner was arranged over some wax thread and stuck in place using double-sided foam tape and to finish, I added some bows made from was thread.

For more inspiration please see the amazing 100 Challenge creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you are inspired to join our celebration too, i

Remember you must take inspiration from one of the DT makes, such as a colour scheme, technique, design idea, stamp or die motif for your make to be in with the chance to win and, of course, include “100” (or One hundred in any language) for a chance to win a £20 voucher to the Country View Crafts shop. This month there is also a special prize for a commenter on todays’ CVC and DT blog posts. So Hop to it (grin!).

With the change in restrictions, we had a fabulous day at my sister’s over the weekend sitting in the sunshine, catching up, listening to music, and enjoying a BBQ and a few drinks. It was so lovely to be able to spend time with her and finally see her beautiful garden. To celebrate and as T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my fruity drink of gin and tonic with lemon and blueberries which was so very yummy – cheers and Happy T Day everyone!

Hoping that you are 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 art journal page:

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Art Journal Journey and the lovely Mia from Craftartista who is hosting this month with her Butterfly Challenge, as I included lots of tiny butterflies on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #145 – Anything Goes with my countryside page.

Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page.

Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my celebration page.

Paris

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It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for March which is We will always have Paris.

This challenge is being hosted this by the lovely Craftyfield; please ensure the main focus of your designs is Paris or anything that says “France” – think fashion, wine, lavender fields of Provence, old adverts etc.

I started by diagonally ripping a piece of design paper featuring Paris from an Around the World Paper Pack by Stamperia and sticking them in place using a glue stick. Then I mixed some Ranger Texture Paste with some Sapphire Blue Glamour Dust paint from DecoArt and some Mowed Lawn Distress Ink so that it matched the blue/green colour on the paper. It was stencilled across the white area of the page using a stencil from Samperia.

Next I coloured some mixed media paper for the wording, hearts and die cut flowers and leaves; I used Abandoned Coral Distress Ink Spray and White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray for the wording, hearts and blossoms, Fossilised Amber Distress Ink for the flower stamens and Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress Ink for the leaves. When the papers were dry I cut them out using two Sizzix Thinlits sets by Sarah Guilar; the wording and hearts using a Doodle Alphabet & Numbers set and the flowers using the Floral Layers set. I layered the flower pieces together and then stuck everything in place using gel medium which finished the page.

For more inspiration please see the amazing We will always have Paris creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you are inspired to join us too, if you do, you’ll also have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

Paris is a beautiful place to visit and as this theme brought back memories of when we visited in springtime, I added the spring blossoms to my page. I remember the magical Eiffel Tower with its wonderful iron lattice-work; it looks so spectacular all lit up and twinkling at night too, apparently there are 20,000 light bulbs which are used to make the Eiffel Tower sparkle.

Hoping that you are 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 art journal page:

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted this month by the lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat and her Language theme as I used heart symbols from my Alphabet Die Set to mean “love” and the blossoms to represent Spring.

Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #143 – Anything Goes with my Paris page.

MIUCB#49 – Anything Goes + Layering over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the layered paper and stencil background and layered die cut blossoms on my art journal page.

Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Paris page too.

The Singing Ringing Tree

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As you may remember, I was surprised that I had never featured The Singing Ringing Tree before on one of my posts. We visited this sculpture a couple of years ago for my birthday, so it inspired this page – I hope you like it (grin!).

I started by adding the image of The Singing Ringing Tree, which was from an old magazine, using a glue stick; it was edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. I coloured the white areas of the page by stamping a Steampunk Background stamp and the “Explore, Discover, Journey” wording using Hickory Smoke Distress Archival Ink and adding some Hickory Smoke and Salty Ocean Distress Ink. The letters were die cut using Alphanumeric Bold Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and were cut from some silver corrugated cardstock. I covered the letters using Silver Grey lustre wax and black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to give it a grungy metallic appearance. Before sticking them in place I added some Pébéo white gesso over the stamped areas to push the colour back and then I stuck the letters down using Liquitex matte gel medium. I outlined the right-hand side of the letters using a black Uni Pin marker so they stood out more and then to finish, I added three metal music notes using Ranger Glossy Accents.

Reminded of our visit, I also found some of our photos to share with you (grin!). The singing ringing tree is located a little way from the road so we parked and then walked to the sculpture; Panopticon means “structure providing a comprehensive view”.

It was a short trek to The Singing Ringing Tree which is a wind powered sound sculpture resembling a tree and set in the landscape of the Pennine Hill range overlooking Burnley in Lancashire.

This 3-metre (10 ft) tall sculpture was designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu and has amazing views across the Pennine Moors.

It comprises of galvanised steel pipes; some are structural and others are cut across their width to produce sound by harnessing the energy of the wind.

It was a windy day when we visited so we got to hear the haunting sounds of The Singing Ringing Tree, if you are interested to hear the sounds and see more of the view please check out this video.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a photo that you may remember of me with my cup of green tea and a Chorley cake which was actually bought the same day that we visited this sculpture – Happy T Day!

You can find out more about Chorley Cakes which are a sweet treat here in Lancashire on my previous post Use Your Scraps; the title of this post also reminded me to wish Elizabeth a very Happy bEARTHday for later this week!

I hope that you’re 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 all the materials used to create this art journal page:

  • Old magazine image
  • Pritt Stick
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke, Salty Ocean)
  • Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamps (Steampunk Background DCE907128)
  • Royal & Langnickel Clear Choice Stamps (Traveller MIN-CCS103)
  • Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Hickory Smoke)
  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Die Set (Alphanumeric Bold 665205)
  • Wilkos (Corrugated Cardstock – Silver)
  • Craf-T Products Lustre Rub-ons (Color Kit #4 – Silver Grey)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
  • The Works (Metal Musical Notes)
  • Ranger Glossy Accents
Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are:

Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – she is greatly missed! I’m so pleased to be able to remember her by joining AJJ with my page which was inspired by The Singing Ringing Tree.

Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #142 – Anything Goes with my page.

LTCCB#57 – April Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my Singing Ringing Tree mixed media page.

Make a Rainbow

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

For my art journal page, I created a rainbow coloured background of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet with matching die cut flowers. I hope that you are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

For the rainbow background, I painted Kuretake Watercolour paints in the vertical panels onto the page. I did this by applying water to the page first and then adding Red, Cadmium Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, Sap Green Light, Ultramarine, Indigo and Cobalt Violet watercolour paint over the top. Then I splattered the page using white and also black acrylic paint and when dry, I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer to push back the bright rainbow colours into the background more. The different flowers were die cut using three sets of Wildflower Thinlits from Tim Holtz; they were cut from coloured papers and also white cardstock. I layered the coloured and white flower die cuts together so they were slightly off centre and then I arranged them onto the page using a Zig glue pen. The letters for the “rainbow” wording were created the same way using a Docrafts Alphabet die cut set which finished the page.

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

It’s always magical seeing rainbows and whilst creating this page it reminded me of this one; taken through my craft room window last year.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m saying a big welcome to the T Gang and sharing my cuppa with one of my yummy birthday cupcakes that I made (it’s a sponge cake filled with vanilla buttercream and jam then topped with the icing) – wishing you a very 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 (Red, Cadmium Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, Sap Green Light, Ultramarine, Indigo, Cobalt Violet)
  • Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
  • DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Ranger Brayer (Small Roller)
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Wildflowers #1 66190, Wildflower # 2 661808, Wildflower Stems #3 665221)
  • Leon X-Large Coloured Paper Pad
  • White Cardstock
  • Zig Memory System 2-way Glue Pen – Chisel Tip
  • Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Cut Set (Folk Alphabet)
Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are:

Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – she is greatly missed! I’m so pleased to be able to remember her by joining AJJ with my pages this month which was inspired by rainbow wishes (grin!).

MIUCB#48 – Anything Goes + optional No Stamping challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my rainbow page which contains no stamping.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Not a Card challenge with my rainbow art journal page.