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.

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Floral Frenzy at Sparkles Monthly Challenge

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

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

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

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

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

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

I hope that you are staying safe and well!

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

Challenges

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

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

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

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

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

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

Feeling Good

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is I Can Hear Music where we would like your entries to be inspired by a song.

We hope that you’ll join in the fun too and as you can see my song inspiration was “Feeling Good” but please be sure to let us know what song inspired your project if it’s not obvious.

To portray the first lines of the song, I started by sectioning the page into three panels. For the “Birds flying high” panel, I applied Salty Ocean and Speckled Egg Distress Ink using a Slimeline Starburst A4 Mask Stencil by Marianne Designs to create all the clouds. Then I stamped the Scribbly Birds in Flight by Dina Wakley over the top using black Archival Ink and I coloured them using Burnt Sienna and a mixture of black and white Kuretake watercolour paints. For the “Sun in the sky” panel, I used the same Marianne Designs stencil to apply Mustard Seed Distress Ink and I coloured between the sun rays using Salty Ocean Distress Ink. For the “Breeze Driftin’ by” panel, I used the same stencil to create the foreground using Rustic Wilderness Distress Ink and the clouds using the Speckled Egg and Salty Ocean Distress Inks again. The dandelions were stamped using a Molly Blooms Dandelion Clock Flower stamp and coloured using Sap Green and touches of Burnt Sienna, black and white Kuretake watercolours. I separated the panels using black Glitterations outline stickers and to finish, I added the song lyrics which were printed using a Dymo Label maker.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the wonderful song related creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

This “Peeling Good” beer inspired me to create this page as it always has me singing “Feeling Good” when I see it. This beer is a chocolate and orange stout, it’s rich and smooth with a lovely orange flavour and aroma. As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this beer with the T Gang too and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

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

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

The lovely  Alison the Craftytrog is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Play it again Sam so I’m joining her with my “Feeling Good” page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #165 – Anything Goes challenge with my song inspired page.

The “I Love …..” challenge over at Stamping Sensations as I love Art Journaling and enjoyed using all the stamps to create this page.

We Love Stamping and their Favourite Stamps challenge, as Scribbly Birds in Flight stamp set by Dina Wakely is one of my favourite stamps, I was so pleased when it was re-released so I could buy it (smile!).

Whatever The Weather challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the clouds and sunshine on my page.

Snowflakes

Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday for the next 2 weeks is Snowflakes.

I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

For my snowflakes page, I started by applying Distress Inks using one of my favourite smooshing techniques; I applied some Tumbled Glass and Prize Ribbon Distress Ink to an acrylic block, then I spritzed the block with water and pressed it onto the page gradually building up the layers of ink. When dry, I stamped some snowflakes over the top using a Frozen Fractals stamp set from Simon Says Stamp, and Peacock Feathers and Prize Ribbon Distress Ink. Next I stuck the “Let it snow” wording in place which was a foam sticker and to finish, I added some sparkly snowflake silver outline stickers.

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

I love this time of year and have quite a few snowflake window clings as part of my winter display – Happy Holidays everyone!

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 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 join the following challenges:

Yuletide Delights over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my distressed snowflake page.

Choose a theme and stamp it challenge over at Stamping Sensations with my Snowflake themed page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #157 – Anything Goes challenge with my let it snow page.

Anything Goes with the option of CAS challenge over at We Love Stamping with my stamped snowflakes.

Christmas Gift Bag

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing these pretty Christmas gift bags for this month’s Christmas Gifting challenge. I’ve filled them with a couple of Christmas presents already – perfect (grin!).

Each bag was created from a piece of white A4 cardstock using an easy and fun folding method – please see full instructions below.

I started by stamping the poinsettias onto a piece of white A4 cardstock using a Christmas Time stamp set from Tim Holtz with Crackling Campfire and Rustic Wildness Distress Inks.

To create the bags, place the cardstock in front of you on a flat surface, making sure to place it in “portrait” orientation so that the top of the bag is on the right-hand side, then use a metal ruler and a stylus to score a crease mark 4cm wide down the left-hand side of the cardstock. When you’re done leave this unfolded as it will later become the bottom of the bag.

Of course if you have them, you may find it easier to use the groove on a Tonic Studios trimmer with a bone folder to make all the fold marks instead (this photo shows the 4cm wide crease mark).

Next turn the cardstock so it’s “landscape” in orientation and place a crease mark 1cm wide along the right-hand edge of the cardstock and sharply crease the fold. Keeping the cardstock in “landscape” orientation and leaving the 1cm folded, score a crease mark in the centre of the cardstock and then sharply fold.

Run a bead of glue along the 1cm fold and press the cardstock together where they overlap, weight down and leave to dry.

Orientate the bag so the openings are at the top and bottom and then make a 2cm wide score mark vertically down each side of the bag, which will crease mark both the front and back of the bag. Open the folds and use the crease marks to fold the bag inwards to create an accordion effect.

Next create the bottom of the bag using the scored crease lines to fold the left and then the right-hand sides inwards making sure you crease the bottom folds all the way to the corners to create a triangle of folded paper on either side; I sharply creased the triangle folds using a bone folder.

Then fold the triangles over each other like an envelope and stick them in place using a bead of glue and leave it to dry.

To finish, I punched two holes in the top of the bag using a We R Memory Keepers Tools Crop-A-Dile Hole Punch & Eyelet Setter; the holes are 4cm from each edge of the bag. Then I attached a tag using some red recycled ribbon; the tag was created using some of the white cardstock, the Christmas Time stamp set and Distress Inks again and embellished with a gold bell.

I hope you are inspired to join our Christmas Gifting challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the  (grin!).

I hope 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 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 find most of the products that I used over at Country View Crafts too.

Challenges

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

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #156 – Anything Goes with my Christmas gift bags.

MIUCB #55 – Anything Goes + 3-D Project over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the folding techniques I used to create this 3-D gift bag.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog and their MLCCB #40 – November Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas gift bags.

Challenge 130 – Christmas Presents over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with my Christmas bags that I created for presents this year.

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and their Challenge #105 – Anything Christmas Goes with my pretty Christmas gift bags.

Stamping Sensations and their Christmas challenge with my stamped Christmas gift bag and tags.

Christmas challenge over at We Love Stamping with my stamped Christmas gift bags and tags – thanks so much Brenda for highlighting this challenge in your lovely comment!

So Delicate at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

I’m so pleased and honoured to be Guest Designer over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog for their So Delicate challenge.

Jenny is hosting, here’s what she has to say about this challenge:
“Although it’s not always evident in my projects, I have a real passion for delicate laces, fragile flowers, fine stitching, intricate artwork and exquisite architecture. For this challenge create something delicate or a vintage/shabby chic project that features delicate things in it.”

I enjoyed using different techniques and mediums to create this delicate page starting with the delicately painted background. I covered the background with water first and then added Kuretake watercolours over the top using a paintbrush; the colours I used were Ultramarine Pale, Yellow Ochre, Sap Green and a mixture of Black and White.

The elegant lace flower heads were stamped using one of my favourite stamps from Carabelle Studio and black Archival Ink. The flower heads were coloured using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and then I added lots of sparkle using some Silver Stickles from Ranger.

For the wording and butterflies, I coloured some white tissue paper using Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks. I did this by stamping the ink pads onto a blending mat, spritzing with water and pressing the tissue paper over the top. When dry, I die cut the letters for the wording using Alphanumeric Label Thinlits set and the butterflies using Springtime Sidekick Thinlits set from Tim Holtz.

I glued the wording onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium which was a bit fiddly as the letters were so fine; it reads “be still and listen, the earth is singing”. To finish, I arranged the butterflies around the page using some glue dots. I love how the tissue paper butterflies and wording look so fragile and delicate (grin!).

Thanks so much to The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog  for having me as Guest Designer! I hope that you are inspired by the So Delicate challenge too and are able to join in the fun (grin!).

There are so many delicate things to observe in nature and as I live by the sea, my watercolour background was inspired by this sea view with its pale colours and soft lighting; this was taken whilst walking along the beach near our house .

The lace flower heads, touches of green and pretty butterflies on my page were inspired by our garden. It reminded me of all the Painted Lady butterflies that visited last summer; here are a couple on the lavender (grin!).

I hope that you’re 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:

• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Ultramarine Pale, Yellow Ochre, Sap Green, Black, White)
• Carabelle Studio Art Stamp (Dans la nature, il y a … SA60175
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Ranger Stickles (Silver)
• Recycled white tissue paper
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed, Chipped Sapphire)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlit (Alphanumeric Label 664177)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Sidekick Thinlit (Springtime 662711)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Stix2 glue dots

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like it The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog , 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 from BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge as I used one of my favourite flower stamp sets. As I used my favourite Carabelle Studio stamp set to create the lace flowers on my page, I’m also pleased to be able to join Stamping Sensations and their Favourite Stamps challenge too. I’m also joining the Beautiful Blooms challenge over at the Allsorts Challenge with the pretty sparkly flowers on my page. I’m happy to join in the LTSCB #141 – Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my delicate nature page. I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page too. I’m joining the MIUCB #45 – Anything Goes + Bleaching challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my page too.

Saying Hello to Autumn

I love this time of the year, so I created this page to say hello to autumn and join a few challenge blogs – I hope you like it!

I started by creating the grungy background using a Spritz and Speckles stamp set by Paperbabes Stamps and Toffee Crunch, Rich Cocoa and Potter’s Clay Memento Inks. Then I used the same inks to add the leaves using an Autumnal Treasures stamp set that was free with a magazine. Next I stuck the horizontal decorative strip across the page which is from some Graphic 45 Autumn Collective paper using double-sided tape and then edged it with black Glitterations border stickers so it stood out more.

The circle was die cut from Lemon linen textured cardstock and then coloured using Fossilized Amber and Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Like the background, it was stamped using the Spritz and Speckles stamp set and the leaf stamp and the Memento Inks. The little bird was from the Autumnal Treasures stamp set and was stamped using black Archival Ink; I used a stamping platform to get a clear and bold finish. The “Life began in a garden” wording was cut from the Graphic 45 paper and I edged both the wording and the circle using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker before sticking them in place. To finish, I added some crystal gems to the page to add some sparkle.

Walks around Lytham Hall are always pretty this time of year with all the changing leaves and the colours on my page reminded me of these beautiful trees we saw there (grin!).

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.

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

• Paperbabes Stamps (Spritz & Speckles Stamp Set)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Toffee Crunch, Rich Cocoa, Potter’s Clay)
• Creative Stamping Magazine Issue 161 (Autumn Treasures Stamp Set)
• Graphic 45 Seasons Collection (Autumn Collective #4501622)
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• Docrafts Papermaina Glitterations (Black Borders ANT8181015)
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CR0241/GE)
• The Works (8 Cutting Dies)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo)
• Ranger Stamping Platform
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Crystal Stickers by Mark Richards (Cluster Combo Style #5454C)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris aka Pearshapedchris, who is hosting the Hold The Line challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the decorative strip that creates a line across my page. I’m so pleased to be able to join in the #129 – Sketch challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps which inspired the design of my page (grin!). I’m also pleased to join the LTSCB #138 – Fall Back over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my autumnal page. I’m happy to join the Autumn Glory Challenge over at Stamping Sensations where the lovely Avril has just joined the Design Team with my stamped page – Many congratulations! I’m also joining in the fun at Stinkin’ Inkers Challenge Blog and their Shades of Fall challenge with all the fall colours on my page.

Believe in the Magic of Christmas – Card

Today I’m sharing one of the Christmas card designs that I made for family and friends this year and some treats from the Garstang Victorian Christmas Festival that we went too a couple of weeks ago – Happy Christmas!

This card is designed with an embossing folder and stamp set that came free with a crafting magazine. To start, I embossed some white blank cards using a village scene embossing folder and my Big Shot machine. Then I stamped Santa and his reindeer flying across the sky and the wording “Believe in the Magic of Christmas” using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad which I then covered with Tinsel Red embossing powder. I shook and tapped off any excess powder and used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder until it became dimensional with a sparkly glossy finish.

Next I used my Big Shot machine to die cut some snowflakes out of some festive design paper; I adhered a single snowflake to the front of each card adding a gem to the centre. Then I stamped some snowflakes around the snowflake and wording using Love Letter Memento Ink.

To finish, I also decorated the inside of the cards using a panel of the design paper that matched the die cut snowflake, another one of the die cut snowflakes and the snowflake stamp using the Love Letter ink again.

The Garstang Victorian Christmas Festival was wonderful! We enjoyed walking around listening to the music, shopping, sampling the food and taking in the joyous atmosphere. We particularly enjoyed these German marshmallow treats called ” Schokokuss” or “Christmas Kisses”.

We bought a box home with us; the flavours we chose were Caramel, Cherry, Rum and Raisin, Cinnamon and Baileys. If you are interested you can tour the factory and see how they are made here.

This is what they look like inside, so light and yummy! They were a lovely treat for our elevensies with our green tea being served in our new mugs (grin!). As T Stands for Tuesday I’m pleased to join the T Gang and wish you all a very Happy T Day and Happy Holidays!

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:

With my wintry village scene, I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Winter challenge.

As the challenge over at Country View Challenges is Christmas, I’m pleased to join them with my Believe in the Magic of Christmas card.

With all the stamping and sparkly Tinsel Red embossing, I’m also joining the Winter Sparkle challenge over at Stamping Sensations.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Christmas Challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with my Believe in the Magic of Christmas card too.

As this is the first time I have used an embossing folder, I’m joining the Try Something NEW! Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Picture Inspiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps too with the red and white colours and snowy village scene that I included on my card.

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
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Tinsel Red)
• Memento Ink (Love Letter)
• Winter Wonderland embossing folder and stamp set- free with magazine
• Dovecraft Cutting Dies (Merry Christmas DCDIE052X16)
• White card stock
• Poundland (Christmas Craft Pack)
• Oaktree UK Eleganza Craft Stickers (3mm 418 Gems Red No. 16)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Christmas Robin – Card

As you are probably aware I love robins, especially at Christmas, so today I created a Robin Christmas card using a Tim Holtz stamp and a pretty wintry background that was leftover from a previous project.

The leftover background was previously created using mixed media paper which I stamped with snowflakes using Simon Says Stamp Frozen Fractals stamp set and VersaMark Watermark ink and then covered with white Stampendous embossing powder. I shook and tapped off any excess powder and used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder until it became smooth and dimensional with a glossy finish. Next I used Milled Lavender, Chipped Sapphire and Salty Ocean Distress Ink to colour the background by spritzing the panel with water then applying the inks. Then I created my robin by stamping the bird on a branch stamp from Tim Holtz Urban Tapestry stamp set using Brushed Corduroy and Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I coloured the bird using Poppy Red and Charcoal Grey Derwent Inktense pencils and also added more details to the feathers, eye and beak using a black Derwent Graphik marker, white Uniball gel pen and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. The foliage is stamped using the Urban Tapestry stamp set and the same brown inks too. I die cut the berry branches using Tim Holtz Sizzix Garden Greens Thinlets and my Big Shot machine from white card stock and also a brown design paper. They are layered together slightly off centre making the white card stock look like a coating of snow, then I added Christmas Red Stickles to the berries to give them a glittery finish. I also die cut the “Merry Christmas” wording from the white card stock and brown design paper again as well as some blue vellum. I layered the three pieces together slightly off centre so the white card stock was on the bottom, the blue vellum was in the middle then the brown paper was on the top using a Zig Memory glue pen. To finish, I edged the panel with the Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker, then I stuck the berry branches and wording in place using mini glue dots and the Zig glue pen.

I have a number of robin Christmas decorations around the house too, some of which you may be able to see in this photo of me and my hubby – we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

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 so happy to be able to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Winter challenge with my wintry Christmas Robin stamped card.

As the challenge over at Country View Challenges is Christmas, I’m pleased to join them too as my Christmas robin fits this theme.

With all the stamping, the red glittery Stickles and shiny white embossing, I’m also joining the Winter Sparkle challenge over at Stamping Sensations.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Christmas Challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with my stamped Christmas Robin.

Over at That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog their theme is Anything Goes so I’m also joining this challenge.

I’m pleased to join in the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps too.

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:

• Simon Says Stamp Clear Stamp Set (Frozen Fractals SSS101694)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Cling Rubber Stamps (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
• Tsukineko VersaMark Watermark Ink Pad
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Milled Lavender, Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo)
• Derwent Inktense Pencils (Poppy Red, Charcoal Grey)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Faber-Castell Craft Stamper Big Brush Pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Garden Greens 661206)
• Dovecraft Cutting Dies (Merry Christmas DCDIE052X16)
• White Card Stock
• Simon Says Stamp (Blue Vellum)
• Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CR0701/16PL1)
• Ranger Stickles (Christmas Red)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 mini glue dots

Trick or Treat … and a special T Day Meet

For the next two weeks our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday is Trick or Treat …It’s Halloween, so it’s time to join us with your Halloween creations.

I had so much fun creating my spooky art journal page by layering lots of colours using stencils/stamps and getting messy with black ink drips (grin!).  I hope you’ll join in the fun too and if you need more inspiration please check out the wonderful Design Team creations over at Try it on Tuesday!

I started by layering different stencils by Craft Sensations and using Distress Inks to create the background; this included a number stencil using Antique Linen ink, a Chevron stencil using Hickory Smoke ink, a rose stencil using Rusty Hinge ink, a clock and a cogs stencil using Vintage Photo and Brushed Corduroy ink. Then I stamped a Diamond Background stamp from Art Impressions and a homemade grid stamp using black Archival Ink and applied white gesso over the top to tone them down a little. Next I added the lines and drips of Carbon Black Liquitex Ink and I also splattered the page with the ink; I love the grungy look this gave the page. The filigree swirls, crow and birdcage are all stamped with black Archival Ink using a stamp set by 7 Gypsies from Hampton Art, and the trick or treat wording is stamped using the same ink and an alphabet stamp set, also by Hampton Art. To finish, I added some drops of Pumpkin Liquid Pearls by Ranger to the filigree swirls, crow, birdcage and wording.

Talking of treats, as you may be aware we have recently been on holiday in Maine, USA for the last couple of weeks visiting our friends. We were visiting Portsmouth in New Hampshire so I just couldn’t miss the opportunity to meet up with my lovely blog friend Erika aka BioArtGal – yay!

As T Stands for Tuesday, we purposely chose a Tuesday to meet up and honour T Day (grin!). I’m saying a big hello and welcome to the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

We met at the Portsmouth Brewery for a pint and a catch up, thank you Erika for choosing such a fabulous place to meet! My hubby joined us too and we all got on so well that we chatted for some time over a beer or two and then decided to have dinner together – I can highly recommend their yummy pastrami sandwich!

We sat in a booth that had this beautiful wall art above it …

… and found that they had a large beer selection; myself and Erika had the Murphy’s Law Red Ale and my hubby had the Dirty Blonde Ale.

The actual brewery can be seen through the glass as you sit and enjoy your food and drink …

… and even the toilet/restroom doors are made from recycled metal brewing vessels – so cool!

Erika even kindly gifted me a bag of crafting goodies too, I can’t wait to use them! Thank you so much for your kindness and wonderful company, we had the most amazing time!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like 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 Linda from heARTfullyinspiredby Linda, who is hosting the Creature Comforts challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my creepy Halloween page.

I’m joining the Inktober challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with all the layers of inks and stamping I used to create this page.

Over at That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog their theme is Spookilicious so I’m also pleased to join this challenge with my spooky Trick or Treat page.

Over at Stamps and Stencils their challenge is Spooky Fun with an Autumnal Twist so I’m joining in the Halloween autumnal fun too with my Trick or Treat page.

I’m also joining the Shades of Autumn challenge over at Stamping Sensations as I used autumnal tones to create my page.

With my Halloween inspired art journal page, I’m pleased to join over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything But A Card challenge.

I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my spooky Halloween page too.

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 (Antique Linen, Hickory Smoke, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, Brushed Corduroy)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Liquitex Ink! (Carbon Black)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Vintage cling mounted rubber stamps (Birdsong ICO151)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Diamond Background T-3335)
• Homemade Stamp – wooden block and Drywall Tape
• Hampton Art Ki (Alphabet Stamp Set WM1037)
• Ranger Liquid Pearls (Pumpkin)