Happy Mother’s Day Card

Posted on March 15, 2023 by Let's Art Journal

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Clean And Simple.

As it’s Mother’s Day here in the UK this coming weekend, I thought my new Thinlits sets by Olivia Rose would be perfect to keep these Mother’s Day card designs clean and simple (smile!).

Using a Romantic Layers Sizzix Thinlits die set by Olivia Rose, I cut three circular designs from some linen textured and turquoise blue design papers. Then I layered them all together using some glue tape from Crafters Companion and to finish, I added the wording which was die cut using an All Occasions Sizzix Thinlits set by Olivia Rose.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing papercraft projects from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us. Please be sure to check out the rules here.

I followed the same method to create a second Mother’s Day Card; this time in a purple colour palette (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Birthstone Challenges and their BSC #2 Anything Goes with Aquamarine & Diamond Colors as my aquamarine birthstone Mother’s Day card. Please be sure to check out this challenge blog as it’s new (smile!).

LTSCB #160 Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my Mother’s Day card.

Be Calm, Be Strong

Posted on February 15, 2023 by Let's Art Journal

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Men Only.

This journal page was created using Sir Vagabond in Japan papers and Backgrounds papers by Stamperia. I started by cutting a piece of blue paper, from the Sir Vagabond in Japan – Backgrounds paper pad, to fit the page. Then I layered some leftover Japanese written plaque paper pieces and the Japanese warrior over the top; he was fussy cut from the Sir Vagabond in Japan pad. The circular dragon was a topper from Hunkydory Crafts and the words “Be Calm, Be Strong” were from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet. To finish, I added the pretty gold flowers which were outline stickers.

I always find it hard to create masculine pages, but I had so much fun using these Stamperia papers to create this page and I love how it turned out; I hope you like it too!

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Erika at her BioArtGal blog and she has chosen Seeing Red as her challenge; my Japanese warrior is wearing red.

Challenge #67 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog with my papercraft page.

Gnome for Christmas

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Gnome Home For The Holidays.

I had so much fun creating this colourful Christmas Gnome page, I hope you like it too (smile!).

I started by drawing the top of the toadstool onto to some red and white dot Christmas paper and cutting it out. Then I created the fronds and bottom of the toadstool out of white cardstock, which I coloured in a Brown Grey TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker and a black UniPen fine line marker. I also drew the door, fussy cut it out and coloured it using a Dark Brown Blend TriBlend marker and a black UniPen marker to create the wood effect and a Gold Spectrum Aqua Marker for the door handle. For the snow on the toadstool roof and in the foreground, I cut the shapes from some white cardstock and then I added some detail using a Ice Grey Blend TriBlend marker. I covered the chipboard page using some blue snowflake cardstock before sticking everything in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. The glittery Christmas trees on the right-hand and left-hand side of the page were layered together from a sticker pack. I stamped the cute Gnome using a Woodware Crafts stamp set and I coloured him using Alpine Green Blend, Dark Red Blend, Ice Grey Blend, Brown Grey Blend and Pale Pink Blend TriBlend markers and a also Yellow marker for the pom pom on his hat. To finish, I added the “Merry Christmas” wording which I framed with two gold coloured star gems.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing projects from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

I love Christmas and saw these cute gnomes whilst visiting a garden centre with family last week, they reminded me of my page.

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which I’m having fun hosting this month; I chose the challenge theme Snowy Winter so like me all you need to do is add snowflakes and/or snow on your pages. I hope to see you there!

Paperbabe Stamps and their #182 – Anything Goes challenge with my Gnome page.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #29 where Anything Christmas Goes with my Gnome for Christmas page.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes challenge with my fun Gnome for Christmas page.

Merry Moose Wonderland

Posted on November 15, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

I’m so delighted to be hosting this month’s challenge over at Sparkles Monthly Challenges choosing #158 – Die Cuts and/or Punches as my theme.

I love nothing better than using die cuts for my papercraft projects and I used quite a few die cuts for this page including one of my favourites – the Merry Moose Sizzix Thinlits by Tim Holtz.

It looks like Merry Moose is looking forward to Christmas this year while walking through a winter wonderland; I hope you’ll join in the fun too, it would be lovely to see you there (smile!).

I started by covering the chipboard page with a layer of Speckled Egg Distress Paint and left it to dry. Then I used lots of Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits to create the scene; this included a Branched Birch Thinlits Set which was cut from some white linen cardstock, a Woodlands Thinlits set for the fir trees cut from some green foil corrugated cardstock, a Merry Moose Thinlits set from some cream linen cardstock and a Winter Wardrobe Thinlits set for his bow from white linen cardstock. I layered the trees together using double-sided tape and I cut out the snowy foreground from some of the white linen cardstock. The Merry Moose was coloured using Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso and Antique Linen Distress Ink and his bow using a Dark Red Blend TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker. The two little robins, flying across the page, were stamped using a Picket Fence Studios stamp set and black Archival Ink; they were coloured using a Earth Brown Blend and the Dark Red Blend TriBlend Spectrum Noir markers and then fussy cut out. To finish, I added the “walking in a winter wonderland” wording which was a die cut sticker from a Christmas Sticker Book by Tim Holtz.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenges, and for more inspiration please check out the amazing Die Cuts and/or Punches projects from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

Here are all the Thinlits sets I used to create my Merry Moose Wonderland page.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a couple of pints of Dark Side of the Moose beer; it’s from Purple Moose brewery in Porthmadog, Wales and we enjoyed it last week at one of our local pubs – Cheers and Happy T Day everyone!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #180 – Anything Goes challenge with my Merry Moose page.

MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes over at Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog with my Merry Moose Wonderland page.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #27 where Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas Merry Moose page.

Happy Halloween Owl Card

Posted on October 15, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Owls.

I loved creating this fun Halloween owl card (smile!).

The owl was die cut using an Arthur Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from coloured papers and cardstock; this included two purples for his face, bib, feet and tail, a pretty patterned paper for his body, some white paper that I covered in blue glitter, as well as blue, yellow, orange, black and white for his facial features. I edged some of the die cut pieces using Black Soot Distress Ink before sticking everything together using Liquitex matte gel medium.

The branch, leaves and ivy were die cut using the same Arthur Thinlits set and also a Garden Greens Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from black, orange and brown coloured paper. Some of them were edged using Ground Espresso Distress Ink before sticking them onto a 6×4″ white greetings card using Liquitex matte gel medium. To finish, I added the “Happy Halloween” wording which was a piece of washi tape that I mounted onto some card before sticking it in place.

I love owls and have some cute ones on my autumnal window display; they usually stay on the branches over winter too until spring arrives (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

OCTOBER – Anything Halloween challenge over at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge with my Happy Halloween Owl card.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #178 – Anything Goes challenge with my Halloween Owl card.

Challenge #63 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels with my Happy Halloween card.

LTCCB#69 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my card.

Look for the magic

Posted on September 15, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Mushrooms and other Fungi.

I had fun creating this art journal page of mushrooms and autumn leaves which was inspired by a red-capped mushroom that we saw on one of our walks around Lytham Hall.

I started by stencilling Vintage Photo Distress Ink onto the page using a stencil from Creative Expressions. Next I stuck the mushrooms in place which were washi tape stickers and for the foreground, I arranged some leftover papers and autumnal leaves; the leaves were either die cut or stamped and cut out from papers coloured with Brushos or Distress Inks. I used the Vintage Photo Distress Ink to colour the wording, which was a Sentiments sticker by Finnabair. To finish, I had fun highlighting the mushrooms with a white gel pen and then I splattered the page with both white and black DecoArt acrylic paint.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing Mushrooms and other Fungi designs from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

This is the red-capped mushroom that we saw on our walk at Lytham Hall; it seems all we needed to do was “look for the magic” (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #176 – Anything Goes challenge with my autumnal page.

LTCCB#71 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my mushroom page celebrating autumn.

Life’s a beach

Posted on August 15, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is At The Beach.

“Life’s a beach” for me as I’m lucky enough to live right by the beach with my hubby in the North West of England; we love living here and feel very blessed. So I’m sharing this beautiful beach view with some beach related postage stamps (smile!).

I started by covering the page with a piece of Stamperia paper showing a beautiful beach view; it was from an “Around the World” paper pad. Next I cut some letters to size which were salvage stickers by Tim Holtz, edged them all with a black Faber-Castell marker and stuck them in place to read “Life’s a beach”.

To finish, I added the Australian postage stamps, featuring a Lobster Crab, Banded Coral Shrimp and Anemone Fish, which were from my hubby’s childhood collection that he kindly gifted me for art journaling (smile!).

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing At The Beach designs from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

Our beach is quite extensive with miles of beautiful beach, some of which is pictured here with the pier in the background. We love living here and I think that I was drawn back this part of the world as I was born here on the Fylde coast; locally I’m called a “Sandgrown’un” which literally means someone born by the seaside (grin!).

You’ll also find sand dunes along the beach front too.

As well as a promenade and these beach huts which have a lovely outlook overlooking the beach and can be rented for the day.

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Chris from Pearshapedcrafting is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen When We Were Young so I’m joining her with my Life’s A Beach page as I was born and lived near the beach growing up and also some of my hubby’s childhood postage stamps are featured on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #174 – Anything Goes challenge with my Life’s A Beach page.

LTCCB#69 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my papercraft art journal page.

Ally’s Angels and their Challenge #61- Anything Goes; I’m happy to join this challenge with my beach page, thanks Leslie for the invite at your sister challenges (smile!).

All the cake

Posted on July 15, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

It’s time for a new challenge over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge which Shaker Card/Project.

I’ve never created anything Shaker designed before so this was a first for me, so I decided to create this fun mini art journal page – see what you think (smile!).

I started by covering the chipboard page with a couple of layers of Bronze Distress Paint. When dry, I stamped the circles and starbursts using Fossilized Amber Distress Archival Ink and a Sparkles stamp set from AALL & Create. The “All the Cake” frame was from Simple Stories and I cut it to size, layering all the cakes together, to fit the page.

I added some prettily decorated film to the inside of the frame and filled it with lots of colourful sequins. The frame was layered onto the page with some balloons which were die cut from coloured paper using a Sizzix die set. To finish I added some tiny red stars to the background, which were from the same sequin pack, sticking them into place using Ranger Glossy Accents.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing Shaker designs from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

When asked I often make Birthday cakes for people and this year I made this cake for one of my dearest friends.

It was fun to make and you may recognise the little dog on the top that I created as the likeness was based my friend’s dog, Ellie (smile!).

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #171 – Anything Goes challenge with my shaker page.

LTCCB#69- Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with my fun “All the Cake” page.

Things with Wings

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Things with Wings.

So today I’m sharing the birthday card, that I made for my mum this year, featuring a huge Thinlits butterfly from Tim Holtz (smile!).

I started by creating a masterboard from watercolour paper smooshing it using Salty Ocean and Peacock Feather Distress Inks. When dry, I cut a panel from the masterboard and stuck it onto a 6×6” card using double-sided tape. Next I added some white rub-on transfers from a Remnant Rubs set by Tim Holtz and used some outline stickers to add some silver dots and a silver border around the panel. The large butterfly was die cut from white cardstock using a Perspective Butterfly Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and to finish, I added the “On Your Birthday” wording which was from a topper set.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing Things with Wings designs from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

This is the gate that greets you at my mum’s house and as you can see it features many “things with wings” (smile!).

I hope that you’re staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

MIUCB #59 Anything Goes + Optional 3-D over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different techniques that I used to create my 3-D butterfly card.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #169 – Anything Goes challenge with my butterfly card.

Floral Frenzy at Sparkles Monthly Challenge

Posted on May 15, 2022 by Let's Art Journal

Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge, we are launching a new challenge today which is Floral Frenzy.

I had fun creating this page full of flowers using lots of different papers (smile!).

I started by applying a thin coat of Pébéo white gesso to the chipboard page and then I created a panel using some watercolour paper by smooshing some Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron and Rustic Wilderness Distress Inks onto it. When dry, I tore the edges of the paper panel and stuck it to the page using a glue stick.

Next I created the large flowers; I stamped the flowers onto three different pink design papers using a Flower Garden stamp set from Tim Holtz and black Archival Ink. Then I fussy cut them out and cut out some of the petals and stuck them together to create a single flower of patchwork petals. I also cut some smaller flowers from the pink papers using a Small Tattered Florals Thinlits set from Tim Holtz. Then I arranged them onto the page with some leaves that were die cut from two different green design papers using Wildflowers Stems #1 Thinlits set by Tim Holtz; everything was stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry, I coloured the centre of each of the flowers using a Yellow Promarker pen. To finish, I added the wording “so happy together” which was a Kaisercraft sticker.

I hope you’ll join us at Sparkles Monthly Challenge too, for more inspiration please check out the amazing Floral Frenzy designs from my Sparkles Buddies in the Design Team too; we would love for you to join us so please be sure to check out the rules here.

Like on my page, there’s a floral frenzy going on in my garden at the moment – I love this time of year as all the plants are flowering so beautifully (smile!). This is a glimpse at some the flowers in our garden at the moment – top left is Aquilegia or Ladies Bonnet, top right is Armeria Maritima or Thrift and bottom left is Tulip.

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Sparkles Monthly Challenge , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #167 – Anything Goes challenge with my floral page.

Stamping Sensations and their Anything stamped with option of Floral and Fauna challenge as I included stamped flowers on my page.

Alcohol challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the Promarker alcohol ink pens that I used as part of my design.

We Love Stamping and their For a Lady (or Girl) challenge with all the pretty stamped flowers on my page.

Not A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my mini art journal page of flowers.