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!

Soar

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.

Peregrine Falcon

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.

Bee Extraordinary

It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for April which is The Birds and The Bees.

Please ensure that birds and/or bees are the main focus of your projects when you join this challenge which is being hosted this month by the lovely Sue.

This page was created in my mini art journal, so I started by covering the chipboard page with a coat of white gesso and then I stamped the beehive image using black Archival Ink and a Beehive Buzz stamp and die set from Pink Ink Designs. Next I added the hexagonal pattern to the background using Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo Distress Ink and an old hexagon stamp. Then I used an Interlocking Circles stencil from Creative Expressions as a stamp by covering it with Black Soot Distress Ink, spritzing it with water and then pressing the stencil onto the page. When dry, I used some black Archival Ink and the hexagon stamp again around the edges of the page to frame it. The beehive was coloured and shaded using a blue Tri-Blend marker and some Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo Distress Ink which I applied like watercolour.

I stamped the bees onto some mixed media paper and then I used the Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Salty Ocean Distress Inks again to colour them. They were die cut using the dies from the Beehive Buzz set and then stuck in place using glue dots.

I added three blue dome stickers and used the stamp and die set to create the “Bee Extraordinary” wording which finished the page.

I hope that you will join The Birds and The Bees challenge over at Country View Challenges too; it would be lovely to see you there, and if you do join us then you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts website too (grin!).

This beehive page brought back memories of some colourful beehives that we saw whilst on holiday in Skiathos, Greece.

We saw them whilst out walking along a cliff top trail; they were overlooking the sea and had this beautiful view!

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:

• Pink Ink Designs – Stamp & Die Set – A Cut Above – Beehive Buzz
• Ranger Archival Ink Pad, Jet Black – 90mm X 62mm
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Mustard Seed
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil – Interlocking Circles
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Black Soot
• Ranger Roller – Small Brayer 2 1/4
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Salty Ocean
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Spiced Marmalade, Vintage Photo)
• Docrafts Papermania (Mini Chipboard Album 15x15cm)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Hexagon Clear Stamp
• Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend (True Blue Blend)
• Mixed Media Paper
• Stix2 Glue Dots
• Dome Stickers

Challenges I’m so pleased to be able to join 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. It’s so heart breaking that she won’t be joining us as she passed away last month shortly after her heart surgery – she will be greatly missed and I’m so pleased to be able to remember her throughout the month by joining AJJ! My page was inspired by bees and beehives, and I’m sure Eileen would have loved the positive wording “Bee Extraordinary” too!

May all your wishes come true

It’s time for our first challenge of the year over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, this is a monthly challenge and as always the theme is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I had fun creating this mixed media page using my favourite Frost Fairy stamp from Paperbabe Stamps; she seems to be casting a spell – may all your wishes come true!

I started by applying black DecoArt acrylic paint to the edges of the page and blending it towards the centre. When dry, I applied the gold stars over the top using Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad, a Sparkles stencil by Tim Holtz and Gold Ranger embossing powder. The centre of the page was coloured using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the wording was created using foam letter stickers.

The Frost Fairy from Paperbabe Stamps was stamped using black Archival Ink onto some mixed media paper. Then I coloured her using Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers; the dress was coloured using Green Turquoise Blend, the ribbon using Yellow Gold Blend, her hair using Dark Red Blend, her skin using a Fair Skin Blend marker, her lips using Pale Pink Blend, her eyes using True Blue Blend and her wings using Iced Grey Blend. I also added more detail using a black Uni Pin fine line marker and white Uniball gel pen. Then I cut her out and added the Gold Ranger embossing powder using a Versamark Watermark Pen to create the stars. She was stuck in place using a glue stick which finished the page.

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!

I was reminded of this beautiful glass angel that we bought when we visited Prague, there is room to place a tealight behind her and being made from glass she looks so delicate and pretty (grin!).

I hope 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:

• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Sparkles THS132)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Ranger Embossing Powder (Gold)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (MLD Frost Fairy)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Noir TriBlend Markers (Green Turquoise Blend, Yellow Gold Blend, Dark Red Blend, Fair Skin Blend, Pale Pink Blend, True Blue Blend, Iced Grey Blend)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Pen)
• Pritt Stick
• Simply Creative Alphabet & Number Stickers (Glitter SCSTK025)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the golden stars that I included on my page. I’m pleased to be able to join the Groundhog Day over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I couldn’t resist using my Frost Fairy stamp and TriBlends again (you may remember on my Believe page that I created last month) and of course the background may look familiar too, it’s from an ATC that I created in December, I just had to create it on a bigger scale (grin!). I’m also pleased to join the #136 – Patterns challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the pattern of stencilled stars on my page. I’m also joining MIUCB #46 – Anything Goes + Fancy Fold over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with all the different techniques I used; I’m still perfecting my colouring and blending techniques using the TriBlend markers.

Believe

Over at Try it on Tuesday our first challenge of 2021 is Add an Uplifting or Positive Quote.

Adding a positive quote to my page was such a lovely way to start the year; I hope that you are inspired to join us too, and I can’t wait to see the quotes that you add!

I started by colouring circles for the background using Scattered Straw, Antique Linen, Fossilised Amber, Spiced Marmalade and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks through a Sun and Moon stencil from Inkylicious. I also used an Iso Fun stencil from Paperbabe Stamps to add some patterned detail to some of the circles using the same inks. The wording was stamped using black Archival Ink and my favourite Script stamp set from Concord & 9^th. I added some highlights to the letters using a white Uniball gel pen; it reads “all things are possible if you believe”.

For the pretty fairy, I stamped a Frost Fairy stamp from Paperbabe Stamps that I won – thanks so much! I stamped the fairy using black Archival Ink and then I had fun colouring her with my new Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers; the dress was coloured using Ice Grey Blend and Dark Red Blend, her hair using Pink Violet Blend, skin using Fair Skin Blend, lips using Pale Pink Blend, eyes using Alpine Green Blend and her wings were highlighted using True Blue Blend. I also added more detail using a black Uni Pin fine line marker and white Uniball gel pen, then I fussy cut the fairy out and coloured the two starbursts using Fossilised Amber Distress Ink.

I was really pleased with how she turned out and thought she would be perfect for the quote I’d chosen; she was stuck onto the page using a glue stick. To finish, I stamped some starbursts onto the background from the same Frost Fairy stamp set using black Archival Ink.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the uplifting and positive quotes my Design Teamies have added to their amazing creations (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our New Year’s drinks which are Poinsettia cocktails; they are made with 1 part Cointreau (orange liqueur), 3 parts prosecco and 3 parts cranberry juice. Happy T Day – cheers!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!
Wishing you all the very best for 2021 – Happy New Year! 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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

• Inkylicious! Stencil & Template Set (Sun & Moon)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Antique Linen, Fossilised Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry)
• Paperbabe Stamps Mixed Media Stencil (Iso Fun)
• Concord & 9^th Stamp Set (Sophisticated Script 10056)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Frost Fairy)
• Spectrum Noir TriBlend Markers (Ice Grey Blend, Dark Red Blend, Pink Violet Blend, Fair Skin Blend, Pale Pink Blend, Alpine Green Blend, True Blue Blend)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Pritt Stick

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as they provide me with inspiration 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 from BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge this month as I used my favourite script stamp set from Concord & 9th for the quote on this page. I’m pleased to be able to join Paperbabe Stamps too and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page – thank you for the crafting goodies (grin!). I’m also pleased to join the Use a New/Unused Product challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I used my new Frost Fairy stamp and Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers for this page. I’m so happy to join the LTSCB #141 – Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Believe art journal page too. I’m also joining the Sparkle and Shine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too with my bright sparkly fairy page.

Noël

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

I hope you’ll join in the fun too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I love Christmas so I created this art journal page to wish you happiness this Christmastime!

Having made my Christmas cards I had a pile of paper which I had used to die cut fir tree branches from using a Tim Holtz Thinlits set, so rather than throw them away I used them to create my background. They had been coloured using Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles Distress Inks and I stuck them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium.

When dry, I added some green highlights to background pieces using an Alpine Green Blend coloured TriBlend alcohol marker from Spectrum Noir. The birds, branches and baubles were fussy cut from some design paper by Docrafts and arranged onto the page with a tag from the same Docrafts paper and die cut set.

I added the “Noël” wording and a snowflake to the tag and then I stuck the tag onto the page using double-sided foam tape. The bow was made from some red and white striped ribbon and stuck onto the tag using Ranger Glossy Accents. To finish, I added lots of green glittery snowflake foam stickers.

I hope that you are inspired to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge too, you just need to use 3 different mediums to enter so I kept it simple and only used Distress Inks, alcohol markers, design paper, ribbon and stickers this time.

For more amazing inspiration please check out the fabulous creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too.

I love Christmas and have been enjoying putting up our Christmas decorations this week; here I am in our Christmas robin themed room that I have just finished decorating (grin!).

Merry Christmas and stay safe!

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:

• Die cut off cuts
  • Recycled white paper
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles)
  • Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Holiday Greens 658759)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Spectrum Noir TriBlend (Alpine Green Blend)
• Docrafts Papermania A4 Ultimate Die Cut & Paper Pack (Folk Christmas PMA160933)
• Ribbon
• Poundland (Christmas Craft Pack – snowflake stickers)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Creative Artiste, as they provide me with inspiration 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 Tracey over at Art Journal Journey and her Meaning of challenge this month as I love Christmas and also the meaning of the French word Noël is Christmas. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with Christmas art journal page. I’m pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my Noël page too. I’m also happy to join the A Time to be Grateful challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I’m always thankful when Christmas is here – I love it! I’m also pleased to join the Fun With Dies challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the die cut pieces I used to create the background and die cut tag on this page.

Love, Peace, Joy

To join in the fun over at the 25 Days of Christmas Tags I made a tag and then decided to create an art journal page using the tag, as its colours matched my brand new Winter Holidays TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker set perfectly – I hope you like it!

I’d also like to say a special thank you to lovely Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations for her insight into alcohol markers which helped me decide on these TriBlend markers that I used for the first time on this page – such fun!

For the tag, I started by cutting a piece of Kraft cardstock using the largest tag design from the Framelits Tag Collection from Tim Holtz. I covered it with white gesso and when dry, I edged the tag using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. Then I splattered it with white gesso to give a snowy effect and added grungy dots using a Spritz & Speckles stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps and some Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. The “love, peace, joy” wording were stickers from Kaisercraft and the large snowflakes were cut out of two green-blue glitter papers and some corrugated silver cardstock using a Tonic Studios die cut set. They are layered together with some pretty pearl snowflake gems from Habico and to finish I tied a piece of recycled brown ribbon to the tag.

I’m pleased to be able to join the 25 Days of Christmas Tags with my tag which was inspired by Tracey McNeely’s snowflake tag posted on Day 11 of the challenge.

For my journal page, I started by stamping the bird onto the page using a Winter Woodland stamp set and some black Archival Ink. Then I coloured the bird and branch image using the TriBlend Spectrum Noir markers; the colours I used were Green Turquoise Blend, Gold Yellow Blend, Earth Brown Blend and Alpine Green Blend. I created a template to cover the bird and branches so I could stamp the background with the “joy” wording using Hickory Smoke and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. Then I applied some white gesso to the stamped wording to push it into the background more. I created some 3D snow on the branches using some Fluffy Puffy Stuff from Inkylicious which is always fun to use as you heat it using a heat gun so it became fluffy and puffy (grin!). I stuck the tag in place and then I cut some little snowflakes from the glitter paper using a Thinlits set from Tim Holtz and layered them together with some of the pearl snowflake gems which finished the page.

I treated myself to these TriBlend pens recently after some discussions with Tracey and they are great to use although I still have a lot to master when applying and blending them. As this was new to me I started off small, creating this snowy bird scene which was a great learning experience. I’m looking forward to using them again soon – thanks again Tracey for all your help and insight, you’re a star!

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:

• Kraft cardstock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ground Espresso)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Spritz & Speckles)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Ground Espresso, Hickory Smoke)
• Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (Falling Snowflakes 1792e)
• Poundland (Glitter Paper)
• Wilkos (Corrugated Cardstock – Silver)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Habico Signature Collection (PP1100  – Pearl Snowflakes)
• Recycled brown ribbon
• Creative Stamping Magazine Issue: 62 (Sheena by Sheena Douglass – Winter Wonderland Stamp Set)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Noir TriBlend (Green Turquoise Blend, Gold Yellow Blend, Earth Brown Blend, Alpine Green Blend)
• Great Impressions Wood-mounted Stamp (Joy Background J87)
• Inkylicious (Fluffy Puffy Stuff)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Paper Snowflakes 661599)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as I always enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration 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 Wendy K over at Art Journal Journey and her Birds challenge this month with the bird that I included on this page. I’m so happy to be able to join the #132 – Frosty Feels or Cool Tones challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my frosty snowflake scene. I’m pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – November Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas season page. I’m also joining in the fun at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge and their Happy Holidays challenge with my Love, Peace, Joy tag and page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything But A Card challenge with my tag and page. I’m also joining the Challenge # 118 – Gold or Silver or Glitter over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with the silver and glitter papers that I used. I’m also pleased to join Challenge #83 – Anything Christmas Goes over at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge with my Love, Peace, Joy art journal page. I’m also pleased to join the Christmas challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too.