Enjoy Today

It’s the first of the month so it’s time for a new challenge at Country View Challenges which is Be Sentimental.

The lovely Jane is hosting and she would like to see your crafting makes which include a sentiment and/or some inspiring words.

I started by covering the page with Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint and when dry I stamped a couple of Fragment stamps from a Stamper Anonymous stamp set by Tim Holtz using Moonlight White Brilliance Ink by Archival and Peeled Paint Distress Archival Ink. Next I added the torn pieces of paper and the pretty flowers which were from an Idea-ology Worn Wallpaper Scraps set and then to finish, I added the wording and frames from an Idea-ology Metallic Sticker Book by Tim Holtz.

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

We are looking forward to seeing your makes and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the shop, Country View Crafts! Before you enter your project though, please read the rules!

The flowers on my page reminded me on the Wild Prickly Roses (Rosa Acicularis) which can be found on one of our beach walks; they smell divine in the summer when in bloom and form rose hips later in the year which stay on the plant throughout the winter.

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:

Challenge #66 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog with my Enjoy Today page.

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Erika at her BioArtGal blog who invited me to join her Seeing Red challenge after seeing the flowers on my page; I’m so happy to join you with the touches of burgundy red on the flowers.

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A Christmas Song

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges with my second page for our Christmas Anything Goes challenge this month.

I love robins especially at Christmastime and had lots of fun creating this page using some of my favourite crafting goodies by Tim Holtz.

I started by covering the chipboard page using Twisted Citron and Rustic Wilderness Distress Paint and when dry, I applied some white gesso over the top using a brayer. Then I stamped some fir tree branches over the page using Pine Needles and Rustic Wilderness Distress Ink and a Sketch Greenery stamp set; all by Tim Holtz. The page was splattered using white DecoArt acrylic paint and left to dry. The papers are from a Tim Holtz Worn Wallpaper Christmas set; I tore them into pieces before sticking them in place using a glue stick. The snowflakes were die cut from the same paper using a Paper Snowflakes Mini Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. For my robins I cut three different birds using a Silhouette Birds Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some brown and red Kraft Cardstock – Classic by Tim Holtz and once stuck together added some glitter to their red breasts using Red Stickles and a tiny black gemstone for their eyes. To finish, I added the wording from a Tim Holtz Christmas Sticker book which reads “A Christmas Song” and “Message of Love”.

I hope you are inspired to join our Christmas Anything Goes 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 (grin!).

As you may have seen from a previous post, I always visit our local garden centre for their Christmas evening with my family and this year there was free face painting. I know what you’re thinking this is for kids, but as no one was waiting I asked the lady if she would paint my face and she said yes so of course I couldn’t resist – can you guess what I asked for?

Yes I love robins so much that that’s what I asked for; well maybe it looks like a cross between a robin and a cardinal, but who cares, as you can see it really made me smile – wishing you a Merry Christmas and all the very best for the New Year! 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:

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

December Anything Goes Winter Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge as robins and poinsettias always remind me of winter and Christmastime.

Challenge #65 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog with my a Christmas Song page.

Merry Christmas

It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for December which is Christmas Anything Goes.

This challenge is perfect as I love all things Christmas and as I love all things Tim Holtz too, this page features lots of his products. Wishing you a Happy December and all the very best for the festive season!

I started by covering the page with white gesso using a brayer and then I stenciled some snowflakes using a Mini Layered Christmas Stencil Set #50 by Tim Holtz and Ranger Crackle Texture Paste. When dry I added the festive foliage which was die cut from different colours of Kraft Cardstock-Classic by Tim Holtz using a Funky Festive Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz; they were layered together using matte gel medium. To finish, I added the wording which was die cut from the black Kraft Cardstock-Classic using an Alphanumeric Script Thinlits set by Tim Holtz.

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 Anything Goes challenge too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

I’ve already been decorating for Christmas and here’s one of my Christmas wreaths; this ones on my back door and was hung with a pretty metal robin decoration (smile!).

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well – Happy December! 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:

Art Journal Journey and the Snowy Winter challenge that I’m hosting this month as their are lots of stencilled snowflakes on my page.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #28 where Anything Christmas Goes with my Merry Christmas page.

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

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

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

Tags Only at Country View Challenges

I’m so delighted that it’s my turn to host the challenge over at Country View Challenges this month which is Tags Only.

I chose this theme as I don’t create tags very often and who doesn’t love a tag, they are such fun to make! As the Tags Only title suggests we only want to see tags for this challenge, so no including them on cards, pages or other projects please.

I look forward to seeing what you make and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the shop! Before you enter your project though, please read the rules!

For my first tag, I used an MDF tag by Creative Expressions which I covered with Speckled Egg and Salvaged Patina Distress Paint. When dry, I added some letters to the background using a Tim Holtz Mini Layered Stencil Set #16 and some Speckled Egg Distress Ink. Then I stamped some grungy dots using a Urban Tapestry stamp set for Tim Holtz and some Faded Jeans Distress Archival Ink. Next I stamped numbers and circles using black Archival Ink and a #489 AALL & Create stamp set and I splattered the tag with white DecoArt acrylic paint. Gladys the flamingo was die cut using a Sizzix Time Holtz Thinlits set from different colours of Tim Holtz Kraft Cardstock – Classic. Once stuck in place I added the label sticker by Tim Holtz which reads “You Do You”. To finish, I tied some black paper twine and ribbons to the tag.

I had so much fun using the Gladys Flamingo Sizzix Thinlits set from Tim Holtz to create this MDF tag and here’s the crafting goodies from Country View Crafts that I used (grin!).

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

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

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #179 – Anything Goes with my tag.

Stencil Fun Challenge and their Anything Goes as long as you use a stencil as I used a letter stencil by Tim Holtz on my tag.

LTCCB#71 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my Gladys Flamingo tag.

T Day ATCs and a Big Thank You

I had a lovely surprise in the post, some happy mail from Bleubeard and Elizabeth which contained the napkins from the napkin swap to celebrate T Stands for Tuesday 9^th Anniversary – thank you so much!

Although it wasn’t part of the napkin swap, I created an ATC for each of those taking part; so today I’m sharing how I made them (smile!).

Using some old playing cards as my base, I started by covering the front of 9 cards using some Pébéo white gesso with a brayer and left them to dry. Next I added some torn Dictionary page pieces over the top using Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry, I coloured them using washes of Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Kuretake Watercolour paint and then I stamped them using a Fragments stamp by Tim Holtz and black Archival Ink.

I used a couple of die cut sets to cut out the teacups and saucers, the flowers and little bird from some coloured papers. The teacups and saucers were stamped using the Fragments stamp and Moonlight White Brilliance Ink. Everything was arranged onto the ATCs using Liquitex matte gel medium along with various DoCrafts stickers to create the “T Day” wording and a number “9” which was die cut.

For the reverse of the ATC, I covered the back of the cards with black DecoArt Acrylic paint and I stamped the Fragments stamp using the Moonlight White Brilliance Ink. The wording was printed using a Dymo Letratag Label Maker and I stamped the “Handmade with love…” using black Archival Ink; everything was stuck in place with some of the die cut flowers.

As you may know Bleubeard and Elizabeth kindly sent some amazing postage stamps as part of the napkin swap which you can see here – thanks so much, they are so beautiful!
It looks like I may have the pink flowered international stamp that was mentioned on Bleubeard & Elizabeth’s blog post last week – yippee! Also the black and white washi tape was holding the ATCs together which I plan to recycle.

Of course all the napkins are fabulous and I received so many that I couldn’t fit them all in one photo (grin!).

I can’t wait to get creative with them on my art journal pages – thank you so much to everyone who sent napkins for the swap! Also a big thank you to E and Sharon for organising everything – you’re both stars!!!

I had such a lovely surprise when I found all these stunning ATCs amongst the napkins; from top left to right we have Sharon, Elle, Lisca, Bleubeard & Elizabeth, Chris and Mia). It was so kind and thoughtful of everyone – thanks so much!

All the teacups featured on this post allow me to join this week’s T Day – wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

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.

Challenges

I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

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

LTSCB#157 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my ATCs that I created from old playing cards.

Challenge #62 – Anything Goes at Ally’s Angels with my handmade ATCs.

MIUCB#61 – Anything Goes + Optional Smooshing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my smooshed watercolour background my ATCs.

My Heart

It’s a new month so it’s time to launch a new challenge over at Country View Challenges which is Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness.

The lovely Debs is hosting and says that the title for her challenge is inspired by John Keats ode to Autumn, in particular the first stanza, “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”. So think of the colours, ripened fruit, late flowers, watery sunshine, swelling nuts and gourds, anything you associate with early Autumn.

My page captures autumnal leaves as we’ve noticed on our woodland walks that the leaves are falling early this year, with layers of leaves already forming on the woodland floor.

I started by covering the chipboard page using white gesso and when dry I rubbed some of the gesso off using a baby wipe to give a distressed look. Then I used a Falling Leaves stamp set by Tim Holtz to layer leaves around the edges of the page using quite a few different colours of Memento Ink; the colours included London Fog, Pistachio, Toffee Crunch, Rich Cocoa, Love Letter, Dandelion and Potters Clay Memento Inks. The wording was a sticker which I edged using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker. To finish, I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint and added two sparkly Gumdrop Heart gems.

I created this page with my hubby in mind as he loves autumn and this season brings both birthday and wedding anniversary celebrations – “when I follow my heart it leads to you” (smile).

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges. I hope you’ll join us, it would be lovely to see you there and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the Country View Crafts shop! Before you enter, please read the rules!

Wishing you a Happy September and I hope that you’re staying safe and well! x

Challenges

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

Paperbabe Stamps and their #175 – Anything Goes challenge with my autumnal page.

LTCCB#70 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my autumn love page.

Lake District

When sorting through some boxes at my mums, we came across some old maps from our holidays when I was younger. I have so many fond memories of those holidays that I decided to create this Lake District page (smile!).

I started by stamping a Tiny Dots stamp from Kaisercraft onto the background using Picked Raspberry Distress Archival Ink and black Archival Ink. Next I stamped some ferns over the top, as they are native to the Lake District, using a Leaf Prints stamp from Tim Holtz and some Peeled Paint Distress Archival Ink. Then I applied some white acrylic paint over the top using a brayer to push the images and colours into the background. I ripped a Lake District map, keeping the corner image, “The Lake District” wording and die cutting the birds and branches from it using a Silhouette Birds and also a Small Tattered Florals Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. I edged all the paper pieces using a black Faber-Castell marker and then I stuck them in place using a glue stick. To finish, I added the wording which were from a Kaisercraft Sticker sheet; they read “Happy”, “When I look back I want to remember this moment” and “Beautiful”.

I have fond childhood memories of visiting Kendal, Bowness-on-Windermere, Ambleside, Grasmere, Hawkshead, Keswick and Grange-over-Sands in the Lake District; I think this bird is adorable as he looks like he’s fell walking like we always used to on our holidays (grin!).

Here are the old maps from my childhood that inspired my page – don’t you just love the raven on the English Lakes front cover (smile!).

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 Chris from Pearshapedcrafting is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen When We Were Young so I’m joining her with my Lake District page which was inspired from happy times when I was young.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #174 – Anything Goes challenge with my Lake District page.

LTSCB#156 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with the old maps that I used to create this page.

MIUCB#60 – Anything Goes + optional Clean & Simple over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my simple design of stamping and map pieces on this page.

Use your wings and shine

I’m a bit behind on crafting this month but I wanted to join Art Journal Journey and Wendy‘s fabulous Doors and/or Arches challenge again before the end of the month – so this is only my second entry for this challenge, I’m not sure where July has gone (eek!).

This is also my second post of the day, so as you may be looking for my Make It Feminine inspiration for Try it on Tuesday – please find it here.

I started by covering this chipboard page with Pébéo white gesso (it’s a great medium for the Gelatos that I’m using next) and left it to dry. Then I applied some Lemon, Mango and Lime Faber-Castell Gelatos by scribbling them onto the page and using a wet finger to disperse the colour. I also used a wet wipe to distress and remove some of the Gelatos colour allowing the white to show through. Next I stamped the page using black Archival Ink and an Architecture stamp and a Fragments stamp; both stamp sets were from Tim Holtz. The bird was die cut from some Simple Stories cardstock using a Sizzix die and to finish, I added the wording which were Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz.

To celebrate the 9th Anniversary of T Stands for Tuesday, I shared a breakfast sandwich and some of you were asking if it was a bacon butty. This isn’t what we know in the UK as a bacon butty (although it does contain bacon); this sandwich is something a bit more special and it isn’t typically English either just something I saw on the internet.

A bacon butty is a fairly plain sandwich with bacon in it; usually the bacon is “back” bacon rather than “streaky” bacon as shown here.

The bacon is often served on two slices of white or brown bread along with red or brown sauce. The “butty” part of it is a Northern term here in the UK for a “sandwich”.

Of course, being “up North”, we also have a bacon “barm” or “bap” too which is a type of “bread roll” and a whole other story (smile!) – wishing you all a Happy T Day!

I 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 joining the following challenges:

The lovely Wendy from wendyscraftjournal is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Doors and/or Arches so I’m joining her with the arches that I stamped on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #172 – Anything Goes challenge with my brightly coloured page.

MIUCB#60 – Anything Goes + optional Clean & Simple over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my simply created page using Faber-Castell Gelatos colouring techniques.

You are my happy

It’s a new month so we are launching our July challenge today over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog which is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by some pretty mosaic paper that my sister kindly gifted me; it reminded me of summer holidays in Greece (smile!).

I covered the whole page with a piece of mosaic paper using a glue stick and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top and left it to dry. Next I added some Snow Cone Faber-Castell gelato using a wet finger to smudge the colour over the gesso and paper to give it a washed out look. Then I used a Mosaic Stencil by Tim Holtz to apply some Ranger Crackle Paste to the page using a palette knife. When dry I added the blue flowers which were washi tape stickers, some shiny green gel dome stickers, the “You are my happy” sticker from Kaisercraft and the little white butterflies which were die cut and embellished with some green striped washi tape down the centre.

For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. All you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our mixed media challenge; I hope you are inspired to join us, it would be lovely to see join you there!

This journal page made me think of our holidays to Skiathos, which is one of the Greek islands. This was the view of the town as we approached it by water taxi which picked us up at our hotel.

We always enjoy walking and exploring, so we walked up to the top where the church was and this was the view looking back down towards the port.

We had such a wonderful time exploring the island, it was such a beautiful place; maybe one day we will return (smile!).

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.

Challenges

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

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

Birds and blossom

This page was inspired by all the bird activity in our garden and the beautiful apple blossom on our apple trees (smile!).

I started by covering the page with some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink and White Linen Dylusions Spray. Next I added some Pébéo texture paste through a Lace Tim Holtz stencil and when dry I removed some of it using a craft knife to create a grungy worn lace look. The dots were added using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and a Dot Fade stencil by Tim Holtz. I stamped the birds and sentiment onto some recycled white tissue paper using a couple of Stampendous stamps and black Archival Ink.

The stamped images were stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium and I arranged them onto the page with some Dogwood blossom rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel.

We’ve had lots of blossom on our apple trees so hopefully we’ll get lots of fruit this year too!

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 joining the following challenges:

The lovely Matilde from http://craftowanie.blogspot.com/ is hosting this month at Art Journal Journey and her Birds challenge with the birds on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #168 – Anything Goes challenge with my bird and blossom page.

Stamping Sensations and their Anything stamped with option of Floral and Fauna challenge as I included stamped birds and sentiment along with the pretty blossoms on my page.

Not A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my art journal page.

We Love Stamping and their For a Lady (or Girl) challenge with my pink blossom and bird page.

Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my pretty blossom and bird art journal page.