Thank you for your part in my journey

I recently won some goodies at Paperbabe Stamps so I thought I would create this page to celebrate. I used some of the stencils, stamps and even the packaging that I received from taking part in their challenges – thank you so much!

I started by painting the background with pink, blue and orange DecoArt Glamour Dust glitter paints. When the paint was dry, I used a blending tool to add Black Soot, Mermaid Lagoon and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink through a mixed media stencil from Paperbabe Stamps. Next I stamped some butterflies, hearts and bubbles from a couple of stamp sets from Paperbabe Stamps, so that they flowed vertically down the page, using black Archival Ink. Then I splattered the page with white DecoArt acrylic paint and dried it with my heat gun. I added a couple of circular stickers and business cards which I layered on top of some round shapes that were die cut from some pink polka dot patterned paper. The stickers and business cards were included as part of the packaging from Paperbabe Stamps; I love the wording “I thank you for your part in my Journey” and the images of the beautiful faces which are examples of what you can create using some of the Paperbabe Stamps templates and stamps.

Here are the goodies that I won recently, I used the Iso Fun stencil for this page and I’m also looking forward to using the alphabet stamp set soon – yay! I’d like to say a big thank you to Kim from Paperbabe Stamps for the goodies and also thanks to all of her design team for their inspiration!

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 patterned background and polka-dot paper.

I’m pleased to be able to join Challenge #101 – Sketch over at Paperbabe Stamps with my art journal page; the layers of die cut circles and business card represent the circle and the sentiment the logo. Thanks so much for all the wonderful crafting goodies!

I’m also joining the Use a Stamp challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my page.

I’m joining in the Stamp It challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with all the stamps that I used on my page.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at the Creative Artiste Challenge and their Challenge #53 – Anything Mixed Media Goes as I included paints, inks, stickers and papers on my page.

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 Glamour Dust Glitter Paint (Celebration Pink, Sapphire Blue, Tiger Orange)
• Paperbabe Stamps Mixed Media Stencils (Iso Fun)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot, Mermaid Lagoon, Picked Raspberry)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Butterfly Pieridae, Birthday Wishes)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Paper Block, Cutting Dies)
• Spellbinders Die Set
• Stickers recycled from Packaging – Paperbabe Stamps
• Business Cards recycled from Packaging – Paperbabe Stamps
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• Pritt Stick

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Hello Spring

As spring is officially here, I was inspired to create this page using a mainly green colour palette to say Hello Spring – I hope you like it!

I started by die cutting a lattice pattern out of some pretty vintage floral paper using a Spellbinders die and my Big Shot machine; I stuck the die cut lattice and resulting tile pieces onto the page using a Pritt Stick and covered them with Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I added some Peeled Paint Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad onto a blending matt, adding water and applying it to the page using a paintbrush; I let the ink run down the page and pool around the die cut pieces. Once the ink was dry, I emphasised the die cut lattice and tiles by shading around them with a Bud Green and Moss Spectrum Aqua Marker, a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and also a black Uni Pin marker, smudging the colours with my finger. I stamped a texture stamp from BoBunny using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker over the background which reminded me of woven willow fencing. Next I die cut some leaves out of green paper using Garden Green thinlets by Tim Holtz and coloured them using Mowed lawn Distress Ink and Cottage Ivy Memento Ink; they are stuck to the page using a Zig Memory System glue pen. I added the pink mini paper flower embellishments using Ranger Glossy Accents and added some mini pearl gemstones to their centres. The wording is cut from a magazine and is mounted on a recycled piece of card. I doodled along the leaf die cut edges and also framed the wording using a black Uni Pin marker and splattered the whole page with Peeled Paint Distress Ink, then black and also white DecoArt acrylic paint. To finish, I added lots of tiny butterfly stickers.

The colours of the pretty flowers on this page remind me of these roses which are adorning my kitchen table at the moment; the shades of pink and cream colours are so beautiful!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey with my Hello Spring page. I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Colour It Green, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with my green spring page.

I’m joining in the Miniature/Tiny Things challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the tiny butterflies I added to my page.

I’m also happy to join in the fun over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their theme Anything + optional twist of inked background with my inked background Hello Spring page.

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 (Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
• Spectrum Aqua Markers (Bud Green, Moss)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Spellbinders Die – unknown
• BoBunny Stamp (Rough It Up 12105155)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Design Block 25 x 25cm, Mini Paper Flower Embellishments)
• Crafter’s Companion Designer Paper Pad (Angelica & Adam Collection A&A-PAP6-M)
• Old Magazine
• Recycled white card
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Fancy Sticker Sheet (Flowers & Butterflies 28965)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Happy January

I love the snow so had the idea of creating an all white page with some fabulous new Tim Holtz Thinlets and this lovely black and white photo of a little girl in the snow – Happy January everyone!

I started by covering the background in snowfall, firstly by layering a snowflake stamp and a snow dot stamp by Sheena Douglas using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink, London Fog Memento Ink and Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink. Then I stamped the circular snow stamps from BoBunny using Black Archival Ink by stamping the image on a piece of card first then onto the page to create a lighter image. With the background finished, I added the photo of the pretty little girl in the snow which is recycled from an old magazine and mounted onto a piece of card. As you may have noticed, the circular BoBunny stamps in the background have words on them which say “Frozen, Love, Snow, Sled, Winter” which seemed the perfect match for the little girl image.

I added the word “January” which is also recycled, this time from an old calendar. Then I decorated the page with some snowflakes from a Tonic Studios die set, a Spellbinders leaf swirl die and lots of Tim Holtz foliage and Tim Holtz tree thinlets, all of which are cut out of white card stock using my Big Shot machine. The Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets that I used to create the foliage included Garden Greens and also a new addition to my craft stash, the Holiday Greens Thinlet set (grin!).

The trees were also created using a new set of Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets called Woodlands (double grin!).

Some of the die cuts are coloured using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker and a silver metallic pen, and I also used some Inkylicious Fluffy Puffy Stuff to add some texture; simply added the Fluffy Puffy Stuff to the die cut and then comes the fun part, heat it with a heat gun which makes it puffy and 3-dimensional. To finish the die cuts, I also added some glitter using Icicle Stickles and then I arranged and layered them onto the page using some glue dots and a Zig Memory System glue pen.

This page captures the magic of a beautiful decoration that we had on display over Christmas, I think it looks so pretty with the snow and trees …

… whether it is lit up or not (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:

The lovely Alison/Craftytrog is hosting her Geometric Shapes challenge over at Art Journal Journey so I’m pleased to be able to join in the fun with all the circular snow stamps that I used on my page.

As this page captures the snow and frost of January days, I’m joining the Cold and Frosty Colours challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

I’m also joining the lovely Wen and her Simply Neutrals Tuesday party over at Apple Apricot with my neutral Happy January art journal page.

Inspired to create this page by my love of snow, I’m happy to join the Put Your Stamp On It challenge over at A Vintage Journey as I used more than one stamp for the background of my Mixed Media Style page.

I’m pleased to join the “New” (Fresh Start) challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as my page was created to using new die cut sets.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge their challenge is Use Something New challenge so I’m pleased to join them as I used some new Tim Holtz products to create this page.

Don’t forget that you still have well over a week to join the Something Old … Something New challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, 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.

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (London Fog)
• Tsukineko Brilliance Ink (Platinum Planet)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Script Metallic Pen (Silver)
• Inkylicious (Fluffy Puffy Stuff)
• Stickles (Icicles)
• Sheena by Sheena Douglas Clear Stamp Set (Winter Woodland) – Creative Stamping Magazine Issue 62
• BoBunny Stamps (Snow Days Clear Stamps 13705563)
• Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (Falling Snowflakes 1792e)
• Spellbinders – Swirl Leaf Die
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206, Holiday Greens 658759, Woodlands 660978)
• White Card Stock
• Old Magazine – image
• Old Calender – wording
• Recycled white card
• Stix2 double-sided tape and mini glue dots
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)

Good Wishes for Christmas

I’m so delighted to be guest designing over at Swedish House Crafts today!

With the Christmas season almost upon us, I created an art journal page inspired by the Glistening Season Pion Design papers, a Gummiapan stamp, some of my favourite colours of Tsukineko Inks and also some pretty Swedish House Crafts Fabric Flowers – I hope you like it!

If you would like to see how this page came together, the full process is detailed below.

To start I tried out a new technique which was great fun; I stamped the Reed Plant stamp from Gummiapan onto the background of the page using Versamark Watermark ink which I dried using a heat gun (I found drying the ink with a heat gun achieved better watermark images). Then I applied Paris Dusk and Teal Zeal Memento Inks using a blending tool, gradually building up the colour which made the reed images that I had stamped appear (grin!).

Next I stamped the Gummiapan stamp over the page again using the Paris Dusk and Teal Zeal Memento Inks. As I wanted more of a grungy vintage look, I dragged Rich Cocoa Memento ink pad over the edges of the page, then I applied the same ink to a blending mat, spritzed with water and pressed the mat onto the page. I also flicked some of this watered down ink using a paintbrush onto the page, along with some splatters of Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint.

With my background complete, I cut out some of the tags and images from the Glistening Seasons Pion Design paper and used scissors and Rich Cocoa and Toffee Crunch Memento Ink to distress the edges. Then I arranged these papers onto the page with some pieces of doily and die cut foliage using double-sided tape; for the foliage I used the reverse side of the Pion Design paper which was a lovely silver-grey colour and also some dark green paper from my craft stash.

I used the reverse side of the Pion Design paper again to create my snowflakes along with some blue vellum that was left over from a previous project using a die cut and my Big Shot machine. I also created a wreath and little fir-tree twigs from the remnants of the holly die cuts which was fun and a bit fiddly (grin!).

To finish the page, I added the snowflakes, wreath and twigs to the page along with some little blue gems, a bow, the blue Swedish House Crafts Fabric Flowers and three hearts which were cut from the Pion Design paper.

I’d like to thank Swedish House Crafts for having me as part of their Guest Design Team – Happy Crafting!

The Glistening Season paper design, that I used on my page, reminded me of some Christmas displays at a Garden Centre that we visit every year with family, isn’t this winter scene beautiful!

These little gnomes were really cute too …

… and not forgetting Santa Claus (grin!).

It’s hard to believe that there are only five weeks left until Christmas, but before I get carried away with thinking about Christmas … I just wanted to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who are celebrating today!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from BioArtGal, who is hosting the Vintage or Modern challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my vintage Christmas page!

I’m joining in the fun over at Moo Mania & More and their Tic, Tac, Toe theme (Designer Paper – Glistening Season from Pion Design, Die-Cut – foliage and snowflakes, Circles – snowflakes and gems).

I’m also pleased to join A Vintage Journey and this month’s Paper Stash challenge as I was inspired by the pretty Glistening Season Pion Design papers to create my Vintage style page.

Over at That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog their theme is Winter Wonderland so I’m pleased to join this challenge with my wintry Christmas page.

I’m also joining the lovely Wen and her Simply Neutrals Tuesday party over at Apple Apricot with my neutral Christmas focal papers (I hope you don’t mind the pop of colour from my blue wintry background).

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Baby It’s Cold Outside challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my frosty snowy art journal page.

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:

• Tsukineko Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Paris Dusk, Team Zeal, Rich Cocoa)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Gummiapan Stamps (Reed Plant
• Foliage Dies – Spellbinders (unknown), Cut & Create (Holly, Wreath)
• Snowflake Dies – Dovecraft (Merry Christmas DCDIE052X16)
• Pion Design Glistening Season Collection (Tags – PD6612)
• Doily
• Dark green paper
• Blue Vellum
• Swedish House Crafts (Fabric Flower Spots)
• Blue round gems
• Zig Memory System 2-way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Stix2 double-sided tape and mini glue dots
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Mr. and Mrs.

Having recently attended my friend’s wedding, I kept some of the table stationary and decorations as I wanted to create a journal page to keep them safe and remember the wonderful time that we had.

The question was how to include the menu, name cards and gift envelopes on my page so I could take them out and look at them in the future … then I remembered a tutorial about making Junk Journal corner pockets that my dear friend Astrid from Astrid’s Artistic Efforts published the other day and viola my problem was solved – here’s my page (grin!).

The background is stamped using three different stamps from Docrafts and three different inks, this included: a rose flower stamp using Dandelion Memento Ink as yellow roses featured in the brides bouquet, grooms lapel and table centrepieces; a rose garland stamp using Summer Sky Memento Ink as the wedding stationary was blue and white; and a music stamp using black Archival Ink as the music at the wedding was amazing with the violinists and also the band in the evening. Then continuing the yellow rose theme, I fussy cut one from an old garden book and stuck it to the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. When the gel medium was dry, I outlined the stem and leaves with a black Uni Pin marker. The lace, which reminds me of the bride’s dress, is fussy cut from some design paper and has a bleached out wood grain background which looks like the old wooden beams of the barn where the wedding was held.

For the corner pocket I used white cardstock and followed Astrid’s tutorial which you can find here; I have to say it worked like a dream – thanks so much! As you can see, I embellished the outer flap of the corner pocket using a Spellbinders die cut to add a pattern and inserted a piece of the wood grain design paper. The die was kindly gifted to me by Astrid too, thank you! I also added a piece of the fussy cut lace and then along the bottom edge I stamped yellow roses from the Docrafts stamp set using the Dandelion Memento Ink again. I finished the corner pocket with a piece of blue satin ribbon which I recycled from a birthday card. I used glue to stick the pocket in place and then added some tiny clear gems to add some sparkle and also the wooden Mr. & Mrs. and heart decorations that were on our table. To finish, I inserted the wedding menu, place markers and gift envelopes into the pocket for safe keeping (grin!).

The flowers were so beautiful at the wedding; this was our table centre piece!

As you can see the pretty yellow roses also featured on the wedding cake which looked and tasted amazing too!

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 Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I tried a new technique to create the corner pocket for my journal page using Astrid’s tutorial .

Over at Moo Mania & More the theme is Sheet Music so I’m pleased to join their challenge too with my music sheet stamped background.

With all the flowers that I included on my page, I’m joining in the fun over the Allsorts Challenge Blog and their Flowers all over challenge.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my Mr. and Mrs. art journal page.

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:

• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Dandelion, Summer Sky)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Musicality DCE907112, Floral Icons DCE907123)
• Spellbinders Die Cut Systems Samantha Walker (Botanical & Accents)
• The Oxford Book of Garden Flowers
• Design paper bundle from local Craft Shop
• White cardstock
• Wedding Stationary – menu, name cards, gift envelopes
• Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
• Blue satin ribbon – recycled from a birthday card
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic

Time is …

Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday is Add a Quote, and this time we are looking for your creations to include a quote rather than a sentiment. You’ll also find lots of wonderful inspiration from my fellow Design Team over at Try it on Tuesday.

Today my art journal page was inspired by the quote “Time is the most valuable thing one can spend”; it’s by Theophrastus who was an ancient Greek philosopher and pupil of Aristotle.

The quote inspired my clock background which is created using a new Kaisercraft stamp called Tic Toc and Ground Espresso Distress Ink. Next I fussy cut three rulers from a design paper sheet by American Crafts and stuck them to the page using a UHU Stic; they are outlined and distressed, like all of the paper elements, using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker, a Baked Earth Derwent Inktense pencil, a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball gel pen. I added patches of the Baked Earth Derwent Inktense pencil to the edges and background of the page, applying water over the top using a paintbrush to blend the colour. I also added some drips of Antique Linen Distress Ink by stamping the pad on an acrylic block and spritzing with water so it dripped onto the page; I love the distressed look that resulted as the inks merged together. Then I edged the page with a Sanguine and Dark Sepia Big Brush Marker. The satchel/briefcase, pocket watch and pen are rub-on transfers from Royal & Langnickel which I defined with a black Uni Pin marker so they stood out from the background more. The “Dream” butterfly ticket, chair and two flower pictures are all stickers and the different metal frames are fussy cut from a die cut topper set and stuck in place using a UHU Stic.

I added a wooden die cut decoration which says “memories” and for the quote, I cut a piece of white card and added the wording which is a rub-on transfer. Then I distressed the white card using the Antique Linen Distress Ink and mounted it onto a frame which I had die cut from some recycled paper and edged with brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. It is stuck in place using double-sided tape and edged with black Glitterations border stickers. To finish, I splattered the page with white and also black DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing an unexpected treat that I had whilst having my hair cut and coloured last week, a yummy piece of chocolate cake lovingly made by my hairdresser served with a glass of cold water – it was so rich and delicious!

Wishing you all a Happy T Day!

I know some of the T Gang requested to see some photos of the flower beds in my garden that I have been sorting out and replanting this year – if you are interested you’ll find some photos on my previous post here (grin!) – enjoy!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, Try it on Tuesday, 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 Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun creating the distressed look and using my new craft supplies.

With the distressed look and feel of my page I’m joining the  Distress It! challenge over at The Artistic Stamper too.

I’m also joining the Get Sentimental challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my quote inspired page which I created in their Mixed Media and Vintage Styles.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Paperbabe Stamps and their Photo Inspiration challenge as I enjoyed incorporating the lovely colour palette for my design.

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 (Ground Espresso, Antique Linen)
• Derwent Inktense Pencil (Baked Earth 1800)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188 B, Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.3mm, 0.8mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Tic Toc CS796)
• Spellbinders Die Cut System (Marvellous Squares 1122)
• Brown Paper – recycled from an old notebook
• White card – Docrafts Papermania Mini Cards & Stamp Set (Capsule Geometric Krafts PMA105308)
• Royal & Langnickel Create A Collage Rub-on Transfers (Men’s Accessories #ROY-853)
• DécoTime (3D Stickers 54742)
• Craftime Colour Connection Stickers (Enchanted Brown ACO155E)
• Docrafts A5 Die Cut Toppers & Sentiments (Mr. Smith’s Workshop PMA157261)
• The Works The Crafts Place (Wooden Decorations)
• Colorbok Rub-ons (Memories Made Easy)
• Docrafts Papermania Glitterations (Black Borders ANT8181015)
• UHU Stic
• Stix 2 double-sided tape

Mr. Finch

I’m really enjoyed creating the masculine page that I posted on Tuesday so I thought I would continue with the masculine theme and create a page with the additional inspiration of the goldfinches that we have seen a number of times this year, both in our garden and on our walks. So here’s my fun steampunk page which showcases the fabulous Mr. Finch (grin!).

I started by covering the page with Peeled Paint and Antique Linen Distress Ink using a blending tool and then spritzing the page with water to give a soft covering of colour. While the background was still wet I used a stamp from BoBunny to add the crackle texture mainly around the edges of the page using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink; the wet page blended the inks so the stamp looks smudged in places which I love. Then I used a stencil from Craft Sensations to add the numbers using Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and a blending tool. The black wheels are also stencilled using a Dina Wakley stencil from Ranger and I varied the depth of the Black Soot Distress Ink that I applied to give more of a distressed look and to add some dimension. I then splattered the page with the Black Soot Distress Ink using a paintbrush. The fountain pen and pocket watch are rub-on transfers by Royal and Langnickel and I also applied some leftover black letters from a Letraset transfer set to use them up. Next I fussy cut the roses from some design paper and stuck them in place, like all of the paper elements, using Liquitex matte gel medium.

For my steampunk Mr. Finch, I used a bird stamp from Stampendous, a Steampunk stamp set by Docrafts and black Archival Ink. I started by stamping the bird onto thick paper and fussy cutting it out, and then I distressed this image by covering it with some watered down white gesso using a baby wipe. Once dry I stamped the cog images over his breast and head and also a feather image over his back and wings to add more texture. I also stamped his steampunk style top hat and his wheels onto another piece of design paper; his wheels are from the Penny Farthing stamp which I stamped twice and then fussy cut out. I added three strips of music washi tape horizontally on the page and then I layered his wheels, body and hat together so Mr. Finch is rolling along one of these strips.

Inspired by seeing the goldfinches, I painted his cog design and added detail to his feathers using Iridescent Gold Liquitex Ink. As goldfinches also have red feathers on their heads that look like a mask, I also thought it would be fun to paint the goggles on his top hat with a Poppy Red Derwent Inktense pencil. I used a black Derwent marker, white gel pen and also the gold Liquitex Ink and red Inktense pencil to add further colour and detail to the design including his mask, hat, wheels and cogs. For his eye I added a black gem and coloured some of it white using a Uniball gel pen. Next I die cut three small labels using my Big Shot machine and stamped “Explore” using black Archival Ink. Once stuck in place, I coloured the edges using the red Inktense pencil and gold Liquitex Ink and then outlined them using a black Derwent marker and a white Uniball gel pen to frame the words, and then I embellished them with some round black brads. To finish, I splattered black and white DecoArt acrylic paint and also gold Liquitex Ink using a paintbrush over the page.

Here is one of the goldfinches that we saw on one of our walks along by the sand dunes, isn’t he magnificent!

If you are interested here are some facts about this bird:

• There are just three species of goldfinches in the world – our European goldfinch, the widespread American goldfinch and Lawrence’s goldfinch which is found in the southwest USA.
• The European goldfinch is a highly coloured finch with a bright red face and yellow wing patch.
• They are very sociable birds, often seen in large groups and have a delightful liquid twittering song and call. The collective name for goldfinches is a charm and is derived from the old English c’irm which describes the birds’ twittering song.
• The shape of their beak allows them to extract seeds from thistles and teasels.

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 Gill from gibbyfrogettcraftations who is hosting the Inspired by … challenge over at Art Journal Journey I took inspiration from seeing the goldfinches to create steampunk page.

With the focal image of Mr. Finch being created using different stamps, I’m happy to be able to join Stamping Sensations and their Anything Goes challenge.

I’m so pleased to join the lovely Maura who is on the design team and is co-hosting over at SanDee & amelie’s Steampunk Challenges this month for their Anything Goes – Steampunk/Industrial challenge.

Over at A Vintage Journey this month the challenge is Stencil It so I’m pleased to join this challenge with my goldfinch inspired page fits their challenge focus with its Steampunk and Mixed Media Style.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Written Word (add some text in some form) challenge over at Country View Challenges with stamped wording I added to this page.

I’m joining in the fun at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Anything But A Card challenge with Mr. Finch art journal page.

I’m also joining the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge and their June Challenge: Anything Goes!: (stamping MUST be included) with my unique, one of a kind Mr. Finch.

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 (Peeled Paint, Antique Linen, Hickory Smoke, Frayed Burlap, Black Soot)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Liquitex Inks! (Iridescent Bright Gold)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Derwent Inktense Pencil (Poppy Red 0400)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Ranger Dina Wakley Media Stencil (Wheels MDS45588)
• BoBunny Stamp (Rough it up 12105155)
• Stampendous Cling Rubber Stamps (Jumbo Songbird CRS5029)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Steampunk DCE907125)
• Spellbinders Nestabilities Card Creator (A-2 Fancy Ribbon Threader S5-135)
• Royal & Langnickel Clear Choice Stamps (Journey MIN- CCS104)
• American Crafts (DIY Shop)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Soft Colours CRO730/R, Authentic Vintage CRO730/R)
• Royal & Langnickel Create-A-Collage Rub-on Transfers (Men’s Accessories #ROY-853)
• Letraset Transfers (Helvetica Bold Condensed 5mm DCO251)
• Hobbycraft (Assorted Black & White Decorative Tape 5971481007)
• Poundland (Design Gems 175751)
• Brads (Round Black)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium