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

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Dare to be different

Our new challenge over at A Vintage Journey this month is hosted by Annie who has chosen the fantastic theme Inky Wings and here’s the challenge description that Annie kindly provided:

“Make any project you like as long as ink and wings are included in some way. This includes backgrounds, stamped images, art journals, and portions of your project coloured with ink. Any kind of ink is welcome, so let’s get creative within our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk”.

If, like me you want to have fun art journaling with wings and lots of different inks, then why not join our challenge too; it would be great to see you there (grin!).

I started by painting Blueprint Sketch and Twisted Citron Distress Ink onto the background and stamping some Kaisercraft lattice, barcode and tiny dots stamps using black Archival Ink. Then I splattered the page with Carbon Black Liquitex Ink and had fun dripping Black Soot Distress Ink vertically down the page. I added some lacy Halloween collage paper from Tim Holtz using Liquitex matte gel medium, crunching the paper up at the edges to add texture. It is edged with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and also some more of the Black Carbon Liquitex Ink which I spritzed with water so it looked misty. I then stamped more of the tiny dots using black Archival Ink over the edges of the collage paper. I drew a butterfly and outlined it with the black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker then added some drips to the ends of its wings using the Black Carbon Liquitex Ink. For the antennae I used Liquid Pearls and when everything was dry, I painted the butterfly with a thick layer of white gesso. Next I chose some contrasting colours for my butterfly to match the words I used on this page; it is coloured using Spiced Marmalade and Fired Brick Distress Inks and Tangerine and Poppy Red Derwent Inktense pencils. I added more detail to the butterfly wings using a black Derwent marker and a white Uni Posca Paint Pen and then covered it with Ranger Glossy Accents so the colours stood out more. Then I splattered the whole page with some Titanium White Liquitex Ink and to finish, I added the wording which reads “Dare to be Different” which I created using an alphabet die set and my Big Shot machine.

For more inspiration, please pop over to see what my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey created for our Inky Wings challenge, it would be lovely to see you there!

With it being October I seemed to be channelling Halloween hence the dark and moody design, whilst also thinking about this Common Blue butterfly that I saw in our garden; it was amongst a lot of Painted Lady butterflies so it seemed the words “dare to be different” were appropriate (grin!). This one is the female of the species and has the pretty orange dots along the edges of its wings unlike the male which is coloured all blue. These butterflies like grassland habitats such as the coastal dunes where we live.

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 “dare to be different” wishes.

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Blueprint Sketch, Twisted Citron, Black Soot, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Flutter CS853, Mister Fox CS173, Tiny Dots CS360)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Liquitex Ink! (Carbon Black, Titanium White)
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Collage Paper (Halloween #TH93712)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Ranger Liquid Pearls (Ivy Green)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Derwent Inktense Pencils (Tangerine 0300, Poppy Red 0400)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.5mm)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (White)
• White Cardstock
• Docrafts X-Cut Alphabet Die Set (Centurion XCU503083)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)

Be your own kind of beautiful

Today I was inspired by a seahorse mosaic that you can find in St. Anne’s on the Sea where I live; I always love seeing artwork when I’m out and about and this dancing seahorse is one of my favourites!

I started by covering the page with Salty Ocean Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad directly onto a blending mat, spritzing with water and pressing the mat onto the paper a number of times to build up splashes of ink to depict seawater.

Then I applied Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain through a circular stencil from Inkylicious and also blotted the stencil onto the page to mop up the excess Stain. Next I used a mosaic dot stamp using both Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink; firstly through the circle stencil to add more details to the large circles that I stencilled and then to the rest of the background so it looked like bubbles of water. I outlined each of the stencilled circles by stamping white acrylic paint using a plastic tube and then smudged the white gesso over the circle. When the paint was dry I coloured it with the Platinum Planet ink using my finger. I added more bubbles by stamping some dot stamps from Paperbabe Stamps using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink and then I splattered the page with some white acrylic paint which finished the background. The foliage is tissue paper which I die cut using Tim Holtz thinlets and my Big Shot machine which I then stuck to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium; I wasn’t to careful how I stuck them down as I wanted them to look like they were floating and moving in the water.

My dancing seahorse is fussy cut from a colouring book and coloured using Gold, Yellow, Sunset and Amber Spectrum Aqua markers to match the seahorse colours of the mosaic. Then I used a blending tool to blot Rusty Hinge Distress Ink onto the seahorse to add texture and give it more of a 3D look. It is stuck in place using matte gel medium, detailed using some black Derwent Graphik markers and a white Uniball pen for its eye. The words “Be your own beautiful self” are cut from a 3×4” card by Kaisercraft, stuck in place and outlined with a black marker pen. To finish, I added some silver and blue sequins to the background to add some sparkle.

This is the pretty seahorse mosaic and the words say “Golden sun rise on our sands moonlight pass us by. As seahorse dance among the waves. Our sandgrown spirit flies”. I particularly like the words as it mentions being “sandgrown” which applies only to the Flyde coast area where I live and literally means someone born by the seaside; I happen to be a Sandgrown’un too (grin!).

This is the other beautiful mosaic, this time of a pretty mermaid and the verse reads “We dream fondly of seas. Her waves lap softly on our shore. While mermaids songs drift onwards. Our peace to breathe once more”.

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 Erika aka BioArtGal and her Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids and Patterns challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my circle patterns on my background.

I’m also happy to join in the Under the Sea challenge over at Country View Challenges with my seahorse art journal page.

I’m joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my dancing seahorse too.

I’m pleased to be able to join in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog for their Anything Mixed Media Goes with my mixed media art journal page which included inks, paints, papers and sequins.

Don’t forget that you still have until over a week to join our Hot, Hot, Hot! Challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, maybe you can use hot colours like those I used for my seahorse; it would be lovely to see you there!

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Shabby Shutters, Rusty Hinge)
• Inkylicious Stencil (Sun & Moons)
• Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Cracked Pistachio)
• Docrafts Papermania Mini Cards & Stamp Set (Capsule Geometric Krafts PMA105308)
• Tsukineko Brilliance Pigment Ink (Platinum Planet)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Birthday Wishes)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz (Garden Greens 661206, Wildflower Stems #2 664164)
• Recycled dark and light green tissue paper
• Animal Kingdom Suduko & Doodle Book
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Gold, Yellow, Sunset, Amber)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm, 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Kaisercraft 3×4” Cards (Life’s Treasures CM108)
• Poundland (Assorted Sequins)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Ranger Glossy Accents

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

A Cup of Tea at A Vintage Journey

Today sees the start of a new challenge over at A Vintage Journey and I had lots of fun art journaling for Jennie’s fabulous A Cup of Tea for your Art challenge.

Here’s what we would like you to do this month:
Pour yourself an extra cup of tea and use it in your project. In your cup you could dye lace, ribbon, wood, paper and flowers, or use it to create splashes or cup rings on your project. And don’t just limit yourself to “ordinary tea” – there is green tea, yellow tea, black tea, herbal teas and fruit teas – whatever you’ve got in your cup! Just remember to ensure that you create in one of our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.

Inspired by Jennie’s fabulous challenge and some wording on a sign at a local tea shop, I had fun using a cup of Hot Cinnamon Spice tea for my art journaling this month.

I applied the tea using both the teabag …

… and the teacup to create a tea-stained background; drying each layer of tea using my heat gun.

When dry, I stamped a frame and flowers using Urban Tapestry stamps from Tim Holtz and Vintage Photo Distress Archival Ink.

Next I die cut some teacups and the “Everything stops for tea” wording from some Tim Holtz design paper choosing colours that reminded me of the Hot Cinnamon Spice tea. They are all outlined with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck in place using a Zig glue pen.

I arranged the string and label from the teabag so it came out of the single cup. Then to finish, I added some flower and pearl gems around the edge of the page adding some Pumpkin Liquid Pearls to the centre of each flower to add a pop of colour.

You can see how this beautiful tin inspired my page. I always enjoy a cup of Hot Cinnamon Spice tea for breakfast, it’s a wonderful pick me up!

Here’s the sign that inspired the wording on my journal page too (double grin!).

For more inspiration, please pop over to see what my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey created with their cups of tea, 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.

Challenges

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

I’m happy to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

I’m also joining the Tim Holtz challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday as I used lots of Tim Holtz products to create this page.

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

• A cup of Hot Cinnamon Spice tea and teabag
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Vintage Photo)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
• Crafter’s Companion Vintage Tea Party (Toppling Teacups S-VTP-MD-TOPT)
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503286)
• Tim Holtz Paper Stash (Halloween #TH93712)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Poundland (Design Gems)
• Ranger Liquid Pearls (Pumpkin)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Pritt Stick

Happy 6th Anniversary

This page celebrates T Stands for Tuesday’s 6^th Anniversary, where our wonderful hosts Bleubeard and Elizabeth ask us to share a drink related post each week. It’s so much fun meeting up with the T Gang each Tuesday, thanks so much to everyone for making it such a friendly and happy place!

My page was also created to join in our Colours of the Rainbow challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too where you still have until next Tuesday to join in the fun, it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by covering the page with Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain and then stencilling multi-coloured teacups using Distress Ink and a handmade stencil that the lovely Eileen aka The Artful Crafter sent me last year – the design and detail of the teacup is amazing, thank you so much dear friend! The Distress Inks that I used were Festive Berries, Fossilized Amber, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mermaid Lagoon, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Seedless Preserves and Fired Brick. Next I used some Kaisercraft paper and stickers to add: some stripes of colourful patterned paper which I outlined with a black marker pen; die cut teacups using a die from Crafter’s Companion and my Big Shot machine, they are outlined with a black Faber-Castell marker and held in place with some little brads and I also numbered them 1-6, using Tim Holtz Label Letters, to depict each year of T stands for Tuesday 6^th Anniversary; the wording which reads “friends are the sunshine of life” as I am very blessed to have made such wonderful friends and also “These are T Days” which I cut to make the word “T Day” as it originally said “These are the days”. The black teapot, teacups and saucers are outline stickers which I coloured black using a Sharpie marker. To finish, I added some white hearts so they looked like steam floating up from the teacups; they are outline stickers which I outlined with a black marker pen so they stood out more.

My homemade raspberry gin is just the thing to celebrate the 6^th Anniversary at T Stands for Tuesday; our friends told us about making it, all you need to do is soak raspberries (or any fruit of you choice) with some sugar and gin in a Kilner Jar and place it in a dark place for 4 weeks (grin!). It tastes amazing, so delicious! I serve it with either fizzy lime/lemon or fizzy mango drink – yum! Wishing you all a Happy 6th Anniversary this T Day!

Challenges 

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all celebrating T Day’s 6^th Anniversary (grin!).

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Add A Number challenge with the numbers that I added to the teacups.

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 Stain (Cracked Pistachio)
• Teacup Stencil handmade by the lovely Eileen aka The Artful Crafter; you can see all the goodies that she sent me here – thanks very much, so kind!
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Festive Berries, Fossilized Amber, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mermaid Lagoon, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Seedless Preserves, Fired Brick)
• Kaisercraft Design Paper (Fiesta! Collection – Siesta P1859, Fly Free Collection – Confidante P1896)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS284)
• Handwriting Pen (Black)
• Crafter’s Companion Die Set (Vintage Tea Party – Toppling Teacups S-VTP-MD-TOPT)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Craft Sensations (Brads CRO550/A)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Label Letters #TH93072)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Alice in Wonderland ANT810116)
• Craftime Designer Vinyls (B/W Boy & Girl PBDV02)
• Pritt Stick
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Sun, Sand, Surf

We love living by the sea and feel very blessed that our house is only 2-3 minutes walk from the beach, so today’s page is inspired by the Sun, Sand and Surf (grin!).

I started by adding Pébéo modelling paste using a Fossil stencil and then to represent the colours of the sun, sand and sea, I applied Yellow, Fawn and Aquamarine Spectrum Aqua Markers by scribbling them onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block or dripping the ink onto the page. Then I fussy cut the compass, anchor and lighthouse from some design paper and glued them in place, like all of the paper elements, using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. Once dry I outlined them using black Derwent Graphik markers to add more definition and make them stand out from the background more. Next I die cut the letters using a Docrafts die set and my Big Shot machine using design paper by American Crafts and I outlined them using the same Derwent Graphik markers again. I also used the American Crafts Design Paper to frame the postage stamp which I choose as it matched the page colours beautifully; it’s from my hubby’s childhood postage stamp collection that he kindly gifted to me for my art journaling (grin!). I stamped some little bubbles from a stamp set by Paperbabe Stamps using Teal Zeal Memento Ink. To finish, I added some compass stickers and two strips of blue ribbon to the top and bottom of the page.

We often walk or take a tandem ride along the beach front; even in the height of summer on our particular beach, as you can see in the background, there is plenty of space for everyone (the tide often goes out 3km / 1.8miles) …

… and even when the tide is in the views are still stunning, I always pinch myself as I feel blessed to live in such a beautiful place (grin!).

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 Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all going to the beach.

I’m joining the Summer Holidays challenge over at Moo Mania & More my beach art journal page.

I’m joining in the Life On The Ocean Waves challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my Sun, Sand, Surf page.

I’m pleased to be able to join Creative Artiste Challenge Blog for their #51 Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge with all the mixed media I used to create this art journal page.

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

• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• That’s Crafty! Dinky Stencil (Fossil)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Yellow, Fawn, Aquamarine)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Vintage Travels CRO378/18R)
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU03286)
• American Crafts Papers (DIY Shop 366665)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm & 0.1mm)
• Postage Stamp (St. Vincent 1975) from Hubby’s childhood collection
• Paperbabe Stamps stamp set (Oriental Zen)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Teal Zeal)
• Poundland Fun Stickers (Sailor SKU136785)
• Poundworld (Adhesive Ribbon U-80933)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• The Range double-sided foam tape