Hello Winter

Whilst tidying up, I found this adorable robin image that I had saved from an old calendar and just couldn’t resist creating a page with it straight away; I even abandoned another page that I was creating, oh and also the tidying up (grin!).

I started by covering the background using white acrylic and Speckled Egg Distress Paint. Then I die cut lots of holly and fir branches using a Holiday Greens Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some green coloured cardstock; I added more colour to them using a Dark Green Blend TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker. The cones were die cut using a Funky Festive Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some brown Kraft cardstock – Classic by Tim Holtz. The holly berries were die cut using an old Festive Holly set and the wording using a Sizzix Doodle Alphabet and Letters set; they were all cut from orange paper which I later coloured using Orange and Sunflower Spectrum Aqua markers. I fussy cut the robin and stuck him in place, then I die cut the snowflakes from the remaining calendar paper. All of the foliage and snowflake pieces were arranged onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium and to finish, I splattered the whole page using white acrylic paint.

I love robins and have quite a few beautiful metal robins in my garden; one Christmas my dearest friend in America bought us this pretty red robin sitting in a heart – isn’t it delightful (smile!).

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well, and wishing you a Happy December!

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

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey and the Snowy Winter challenge that I’m hosting this month as their are snowflakes on my wintery scene.

LTSCB #158 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Hello Winter page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #181 – Anything Goes challenge with my winter page.

December Anything Goes Winter Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge with my Hello Winter page.

Challenge #64 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog with my Winter page.

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Merry Moose Wonderland

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.

Bee Wellington Boots

My page today was inspired by some beautiful wellies (Wellington rain boots) that were a surprise present from my mum.

My page design includes a napkin that I received as part of the napkin swap over at T Stand for Tuesday, I think this napkin was from Erika as it has busy bees on it.

If you are interested, I’ve also recycled the washi tape that came as part of the napkin swap, see my page Love you to the moon and back.

I started by creating a hexagon template from some card using a compass; I used this template to draw and then cut out hexagons of the napkin and also some blue paper that was recycled from a book cover. I arranged them onto the page using a glue stick and edged them all using some gold border outline stickers. Next I die cut the honeycomb from some leftover gold cardstock using a Bee Hive Sizzix Thinlits set by Olivia Rose. They were arranged onto the page with some white rub-on transfers for the wording and also some white flower stickers which I also added to decorate the napkins. To finish, I added two bees which were stamped and die cut using a Beehive Buzz Pink Ink Designs set, and were coloured using Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend markers.

Here are the pretty wellies that my mum kindly bought me; the colours, bees and honeycomb inspired my page design.

Wellies is a term that we use in the UK for Wellington boots which are also known as rain boots or gumboots in other parts of the world:

• Wellington boots, or “Wellies” are named after Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington who wore and popularised them here in the UK.
• Wellington’s boots were made of leather, but in 1856, the Scotland-based North British Rubber Company (now known as Hunter Boots) began manufacturing rubber Wellington rain boots. Being made from rubber enhanced the boots by giving them more flexible movement and making them 100% waterproof.
• The nickname “gumboots” is a nod to the natural rubber that rain boots are made from. Natural rubber, which is obtained from trees, is called “gum rubber” hence the name gumboots.

As T Stands for Tuesday and keeping with the bee theme, here’s my apple juice and ginger beer in a glass that we purchased when we visited Maine Mead Works in America which has their bee logo on it – Happy T Day everyone!

Hoping that you all stay safe and well! x

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Neet from Hickydorums is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Fur and/or Feathers so I’m joining her with yet more busy fuzzy bees … ha,ha!

LTSCB#157 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog as I created this page using a scraps of book page and gold cardstock as well as a napkin.

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

Love with all your heart

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing my second art journal page for this month’s Hearts and Flowers challenge.

I started by covering the chipboard background using Botanicals Collage Paper by Tim Holtz and Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry, I coloured the flowers using some colourful Spectrum Noir markers and a white gel pen and then I added some shadows and edged the page using a Ground Espresso Distress Ink. Next I stuck the three sparky Gumdrop Hearts by Tim Holtz onto the page and I added the wording “Love with all your heart” which was from a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker book. To finish, I added some Ranger Glossy Accents to the flowers which highlighted the colours beautifully.

I hope you are inspired to join our Hearts and Flowers challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts.

This glass heart hangs in my dining room and was gifted me by a very dear friend as a house warming present many years ago; it reminds 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.

For the sake of brevity I am no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link. You can also check out the Tim Holtz products that I used over at Country View Crafts too.

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover over at Art Journal Journey and her What’s Your Style challenge this month with my romantic style page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #160 – Anything Goes challenge with my hearts and flowers page.

Love Is In The Air challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my love inspired page.

Funkie Frilly Valentines over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog with my vintage valentine page of frilly flower petals and glittery hearts.

Always & Forever

It’s time for our new challenge this month over at Country View Challenges which is Hearts and Flowers.

Jane is our host for this month and she would like to see BOTH hearts and flowers on your creations. We look forward to seeing what you make and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the Country View Crafts shop! Before you enter, please read the rules!

I started by painting the background with Brushed Sage Distress Ink which I had watered down like watercolour. Then I added Rustic Wilderness and Twisted Citron Distress Ink using a blending tool through a Heart Cluster Mini Stencil by Creative Expressions. I added the stamping using a Fragments stamp set by Tim Holtz and black Archival Ink. Next I die cut the poinsettias and foliage using a Festive Bouquet Thinlits set from Kraft Paper, both by Tim Holtz, and added more colour and detail using Spectrum Noir markers. The tiny red hearts were created using a Falling Hearts Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and arranged vertically so they cascaded down the page. To finish, I added the wording from a Metallic Sticker Book by Tim Holtz which read “Always & Forever” …”In my heart” and “Love you” … “XOXO”.

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

Here’s a couple of the products from Country View Crafts that I used to create this page. I love the poinsettia Thinlits from this Festive Bouquet set; they turned out so beautifully.

I often have a cuppa whilst crafting so I included my cup of tea to join the T Gang today over at T Stands For Tuesday too – Happy T Day everyone!

Stay safe and well! x

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

Challenges

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

Paperbabe Stamps and their #160 – Anything Goes challenge with my hearts and flower page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes Challenge with my Always and Forever art journal page.

How long is forever?

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Add A Quote; we are not looking for a one or two word greeting.

I created an art journal page inspired by a quote from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Alice asks “How long is forever?” and the White Rabbit replies “Sometimes just one second”.

For the background, I started by stamping the clocks using a Provincial stamp set by Kaisercraft and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink and also a Steampunk stamp set from Docrafts and Vintage Photo Distress Archival Ink. Next I added some cogs and wheels through a stencil by Paperbabe Stamps using Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Then I used the corresponding template from the same Paperbabe Stamps Stencil set to apply Scattered Straw Distress Ink. I sprayed some water over the top and used a kitchen towel to mop it up which gave the background more of a blurry/grungy look. I used a Fragments stamp set from Tim Holtz to add the pretty wallpaper detail, over the Scattered Straw Distress Ink, using Hickory Smoke Distress Archival Ink. I then coloured the clock faces by painting them, like watercolour, with some Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.

The little girl was a Maryleedee in Wonderland stamp from Paperbabe Stamps which Kim kindly sent me as one of my prizes for winning her challenge over at the Paperbabe Stamps blog. She was coloured using Spectrum Noir markers, fussy cut and then stuck in place.

For the quote, I used a Bellissima Alphas stamp set by Docrafts which I stamped on some recycled playing cards; I applied Pébéo white gesso to the playing cards and when dry, the words were stamped over the top using black Archival Ink. I cut the words into tiles and edged them with some Ground Espresso Distress Ink and then I coloured the letters using Spectrum Noir markers before arranging them onto the page.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see all the quotes my Design Teamies used on their wonderful creations too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

My page reminded me of Alices, where we used to go for afternoon tea (grin!). Unfortunately this café closed before the lockdown which is such a shame as it was an amazing place.

There was so much thought and detail with regards to design – there were stairs on the ceiling and chairs as lights, upside down electric plug sockets, beautifully decorated furniture and even the door fittings were back to front!

There afternoon tea was served on mismatched china and consisted of a delicious selection of sandwiches, crisps (chips) and salad, scones with jam, cream and strawberries as well as a selection of cakes and a big pot of tea – yum! As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m reminiscing about Alices and our afternoon tea with the T Gang and wishing you all a Happy T Day!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

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

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey and the lovely Erika from BioArtGal who is hosting this month with her Let’s Face It challenge as Marydeelee in Wonderland is on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #159 – Anything Goes challenge with my Wonderland page – thanks so much for the stamp!

Love To Scrap Challenge Blog and their LTSCB #153 – Anything Goes challenge with my Alice page.

Out with the Old, in with the New over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the new Marydeelee stamp and old clock stamps and recycled playing cards that I used as part of my design.

Anything Stamping Goes with the option of Wings challenge over at We Love Stamping all the stamping on my art journal page.

Autumn Blessings

I feel very blessed to have won one of the challenges over at Paperbabe Stamps and I choose some Maryleedee stamps from the Paperbabe Stamps shop as my prize, which are just perfect for colouring (grin!).

Today I’m featuring this super cute Maryleedee as part of my windy autumn scene.

I started by covering the background with some leftover Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and then I used Burnt Sienna, Black, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Scarlett and Hooker’s Green Kuretake watercolour paints to paint the autumn trees and green foreground. The leaves were die cut using a Fall Foliage Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some leftover mixed media paper that had been coloured using Tea Dye Distress Ink. I added more colour to the leaves using the Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Scarlett watercolour paints and then I arranged them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium, making them swirl in the wind. I also used the paper that I had die cut the leaves from to stencil Rusty Hinge Distress Ink onto the tree foliage. The wording “Autumn Blessings” was created using some letters from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet.

I stamped the Paperbabe Stamps Marydeelee stamp onto a piece of mixed media paper using black Archival Ink. She was coloured using TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker pens; the colours were Gold Brown Blend for her hair, Alpine Green Blend for her eyes, Fair Skin Blend for her face, arms and legs, Dark Red Blend for her lips and boots, True Blue Blend for her dress and Gold Yellow Blend for the bow. To finish, I cut her out, stuck her in place and added a bit more detail to her dress using a white gel pen.

The Maryleedee stamp was so much fun to use and colour; I love the way she turned out! Aren’t her boots fabulous; my hubby often calls me cute as I tend to hold my feet like that too (grin!).

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.

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey and lovely Chris from http://pearshapedcrafting.blogspot.com/ who is hosting this month with her All Kinds of Weather challenge with my windy autumnal page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #156 – Anything Goes with my Maryleedee page – thanks so much for the stamps!

Trees challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the painted autumnal trees that I added to this page.

Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the autumnal background I created using inks and watercolour for this page.

LTSCB #151 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my Autumn Blessings page.

Look for the magic

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Make it Magical.

For this challenge, I sprinkled some fairy dust so this pretty fairy could sit on the moon amongst the stars; I hope are inspired to join our challenge too, it would be lovely to see you there!

For my fairy dust background I used an Airbrush Pen Set to spray purple, green, dark green, magenta and yellow felt tip pens onto the page. Next I stamped the stars using a Christmas Time Tim Holtz stamp set and Lilac Roses, Elderberry and Dandelion Memento Inks. I fussy cut the fairy image and then coloured the moon using Yellow and Sunflower Spectrum Aqua markers, and the fairy using Earth Brown and Golden Brown Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers for her hair and Ice Blue and Turquoise Green TriBlend markers for her wings. The “Look for the magic” wording was from a Sentiments Word Sticker Pad by Finnabair and it was edged with the Ice Blue and Turquoise Green TriBlend markers. To finish, I added a pearl gemstone to the centre of each of the stamped stars.

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

Using the airbrush set was so much fun; you simply fit one of the felt tip pens into the slot and then press the button to spray the colour. It was a surprise present from my hubby and very easy to use (grin!).

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

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

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey and lovely Chris from http://pearshapedcrafting.blogspot.com/ who is hosting this month with her All Kinds of Weather challenge with my clear starry night page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #155 – Anything Goes with my magical page.

LTSCB #151 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my fairy page.

Mr Frost Tags

It’s a new month so we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for November which is Christmas Gifting (anything but a card).

This challenge is being hosted this month by the lovely Miriam who says “this could be a handmade gift or even packaging for a Christmas gift – no cards this month”.

I can’t believe that Christmas is nearly here so it was nice to get a head start making these fun Snowman Tags for this years Christmas presents.

I started by die cutting the snowman using a Mr. Frost Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some white and black linen textured the paper. I also die cut the main body of the snowman, hat and scarf again from some cardstock to back the tag and provide more strength.

I coloured the edges of the main body of the snowman with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink using a blending tool, the scarf and hat band using red and green TriBlend Spectrum Noir markers, his carrot nose using Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink and the twig arms using Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The die cut pieces were layered together using Liquitex matte gel medium and I added a holly gemstone embellishment to the hat.

I used a We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile Hole Punch & Eyelet Setter to punch a hole in the hat and threaded through a piece of black paper twine. The wording on the back of the tags was stamped using a Sketch Greenery stamp set from Tim Holtz and black Archival Ink.

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 Christmas Gifting (anything but a card) challenge too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

I love how these tags turned out and can’t wait to add them to Christmas Presents this year. Here’s how they are currently displayed in my craft room; it looks like they will make wonderful Christmas tree decorations too (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.

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

Country View Crafts also sell both the Mr. Frost Sizzix Thinlits Set by Tim Holtz and the Sketch Greenery stamp set by Tim Holtz that I used to create these tags.

Challenges

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

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and their Challenge #104 – Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas tags.

Any Holiday Occasion over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my snowman Christmas tags.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #155 – Anything Goes with my festive tags.

MLCCB #40 – Anything Christmas Goes over at Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog with my Mr. Frost Christmas tags.

Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog with my Mr. Frost tags.

Be forever happy

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

I created a mixed media page using lots of leftovers from previous art journal pages; I hope you like it!

I started by covering the background of the page with the letters using one of stencils from a #16 mini stencil set by Tim Holtz and some leftover Iced Coffee Faber-Castell Gelato which was applied with a baby wipe.

Next I edged 4 Poster Cards from Tim Holtz, like I did all the paper elements on this page, using a black Faber-Castell marker and arranged them onto the page using double-sided tape. Then I added lots of leftover bits and pieces; this included a piece of mixed media paper which had been coloured using green Distress Inks, some flowers and foliage that had been die cut using Tim Holtz Thinlits and coloured using Distress Inks, some ribbon, some torn paper, some tissue paper and note paper that had been stamped using Finnabair stamps and black Archival Ink, a ruler from a Kaisercraft Journal Card and some die cut pieces of trellis that had been covered with Aged Silver Stampendous Embossing Enamel.

They were arranged onto the page using a glue stick or double-sided tape, and I layered together a doily, a recycled butterfly gift tag and some leftover die cut letters and wording to read “Be forever happy”. I added some sparkly gems to the centre of the yellow flowers and a green wooden bird and then to finish, I coloured the “Aug” and “Sept” wording on the Poster Card using Tri-Blend Spectrum Noir markers.

As you can see I used lots of different mediums to create this page but all you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge.

For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

This page was inspired by our walks at Lytham Hall that we enjoyed over the summer (grin!).

There are lots of woodland walks so we were able to stay cool in the shade and out of the summer heat. I’m now looking forward to seeing the leaves change to their colours over the coming months with the autumn on its way.

Our walks also take us by these flower borders in the walled gardens which always look so beautiful (grin!).

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.

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

Challenges As well as Creative Artiste, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #151 – Anything Goes with my nature art journal page. De-stress with distressing over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my distressed grungy stencilled background, Distress Inks, and also the torn papers, trellis and ribbon. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Glimmer and Sparkle challenge with the glimmer and sparkle of the yellow flowers with their glittery gem centres. LTSCB #149 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my leftovers page. Mixed Media Lovers and their Challenge #5 Mixed Media Lovers as I used lots of mixed media to create this nature page; this is a new challenge blog so why not join in the fun too!