Smiles and Goals

At the start of the New Year I like to look back at what we have achieved and also set new goals for the year, so I don’t forget this year I’ve captured them on this art journal page – I hope you like it!

My background was created using three different colours of Liquitex acrylic paints; these were Christmas Green, Vivid Lime Green and Bright Aqua Green. My first layer of paint was a mixture of Christmas Green and Aqua Green, I covered the whole page using a paintbrush. Then I added patches of all three paints to the page, blending the paints together at the edges so they merged together. Next I used a different stencil to apply each of the paints with a sponge; a diamond stencil for the Christmas Green, a circle stencil for the Lime Green and a hexagon stencil for the Aqua Green. Then I stamped a Script stamp by Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink over the page and added splatters of white DecoArt acrylic paint. I die cut some black card with a geometric design on it, that I had recycled from some cookie packaging, using Tim Holtz Sizzix Wildflower thinlets and stuck them to the page using a Zig Memory System glue pen. Then I stamped some little butterflies onto the page and also onto some white card stock using black Archival Ink. I fussy cut the butterflies out of the card stock and then stuck them over the butterflies that I had stamped on the page. The two sentiment cards are cut from a 12x12in design paper by Kaisercraft; the sentiments seemed perfect as they depict looking back at achievements for 2018 and looking forward at goals for 2019; which I wrote on the reverse of each card. As I wanted them to be easily removed so I could look at the information I had written on the reverse, they are attached to the page using some photo corners which I coloured black using a Faber-Castell Big Brush marker (grin!).

Looking back, I have lots to be thankful for during 2018 which includes celebrating significant milestones like my birthday and our Wedding Anniversary, getting things done like our garden renovations, making new friends and meeting up with old friends like on our trip to America.

2018 has been a really special year for me with regards to blogging too as I was lucky enough to join the amazing Design Team at Try it on Tuesday, as well as hosting and guest designing at different Blog Challenges and making some wonderful new friends along the way –  I had so much fun, and if you are interested you can find all my blogging awards and achievements here. A big thank you to everyone involved in making 2018 so special!

I definitely found the sentiment “I’ll look back on this & smile” to be true!

I’m sure 2019 will be as much fun and as always I’ll be sharing these moments with you on my blog throughout the year as I capture them on my art journal pages, so I’m looking forward to fulfilling the sentiment “Smile, Laugh, Love, Live, Grow, Happy Today”.

Wishing you all the very best for 2019 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 Alison/Craftytrog and the Geometric Shapes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the different geometric shapes that can be found stencilled in the background and within the papers I used to create this page.

As it’s a new start to the year, I’m pleased to be able to join a new challenge blog today; over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog, their theme is Anything Goes + optional twist of Sentiment As Main Focus so I’m joining in the fun with my art journal page (grin!).

I’m happy to join the Put Your Stamp On It challenge over at A Vintage Journey as I used stamps in the background and for the pretty butterflies on this page; I was inspired by the New Year to capture my goals and create my Art Journaling style page.

I’m pleased to join the “New” (Fresh Start) challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as my page was created to capture Smiles of 2018 and my New Year Goals for the coming year (grin!).

I’m joining in the Let’s Party! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as my page celebrates past achievements and looks forward to 2019!

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Something New challenge as I used new design paper from Kaisercraft to create this page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Anything Goes, so I’m pleased to join this challenge too as my page fits their criteria of matching the theme and including stamping 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:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Christmas Green)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Vintage Diamonds CEMSDIAM)
• Circle Stencil
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlets (Wildflowers 66190)
• Crafter’s Companion Signature Collection by Sara Davies stamp set (Just for You – Butterfly Lullaby S-BL-ST-JUS)
• Recycled Card – Cookie packaging
• White Card Stock
• Kaisercraft Hello Today Collection (New P1665)
• Poundland (Fairy Stickers 29236)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)

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Happy New Year 2019

Wishing you a very Happy New Year; may your year be filled with peace, love, and happiness!

To start my sparkly New Year page, I painted some gold metallic acrylic paint around the edges of the page and blended it into the centre with some Pébéo white gesso. I then layered the background by stamping some snowflakes with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink using a Woodware Collection stamp and then stencilling Festive Berries Distress Ink with a blending tool. The stencil is a Decorative Flowers stencil which I won over at That’s Crafty Challenge Blog – thank you! I stamped more snowflakes from a BoBunny stamp set using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which I also used to edge the page and then I added another layer of white gesso using a palette knife. I used the same Decorative flower stencil to add some Pébéo modelling paste and once dry I painted some Titanium White Liquitex Ink over the top. I stencilled more Festive Berries ink and stamped snowflakes again, this time using Potter’s Clay Memento Ink to get a clearer image which finished the background. Next I die cut the wording from grey design paper using a Docrafts die set and my Big Shot machine.

I used the same grey paper to back some bell and star-shaped outline stickers and cut them out; they are stuck to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. I suspended some of them from silver strands which are outline border stickers and also a red ribbon and bow which are recycled from an old Christmas card. I decorated the page with silver glittery stars and more silver outline stickers including some scrollwork, small stars and holly. To finish, I added more sparkle to the wording using silver Stickles and to the holly berries making them red to match the ribbon and bow using Christmas Red Stickles.

As T Stands for Tuesday, maybe you would like to celebrate the New Year with us by trying some of our homebrewed pumpkin beer. As you can see we have plenty for everyone – Cheers and Happy T Day!

Wishing you all the very best for 2019!

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 Alison/Craftytrog and her Geometric Shapes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with all the star shapes that I included on my page.

I’m happy to join the Star Light Star Bright challenge over at A Vintage Journey as I had fun adding all the sparkly stars; I was inspired by the New Year to create this Art Journalling style page.

I’m joining in the Party Time! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as my page celebrates the New Year!

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

As I included stamping on this page, I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at The Artistic Stamper – Happy New Year!

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes! challenge with my New Year’s 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:

• Poundland Metallic Acrylic Paint (Gold)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Festive Berries, Rusty Hinge)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Potter’s Clay)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 233 B)
• Liquitex Ink! (Titanium White)
• That’s Crafty! 8x8in Stencil (Decorative Flower – TC8039)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Snowflakes FRS027)
• BoBunny Clear Stamps (Snow Day #13705563)
• Clear Impressions (Woodland Christmas) – free with magazine
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503284)
• Poundland Design Pad (Purple Paradise CRO701/PL3)
• Crelando Relief Sticker Set (IAN289011)
• Silver Border Outline Stickers (© DD6572)
• The Works (Christmas Glitter Stickers)
• Ranger Stickles (Silver, Christmas Red)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Robin Poem

This vintage page was inspired by a dear friend who gave me some pretty cream and gold napkins (thanks very much!), the new bird feeders that we have in our garden and a beautiful poem that I found which celebrates robins across the different seasons – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the page with one of the pretty napkins that my friend gave me using a glue stick and Liquitex Matte Gel Medium to stick it into place. Then I added some pieces of bright gold doily using a Zig Memory System 2-way glue pen. The circular bird image and poem are die cut using a circular and square die from a book page that was in an old Christmas book. They are layered over the top of the gold doily along with a tag that I recycled from an old Christmas card which matched the circular bird image beautifully. Next I added the lace around the edges of the page and embellished them with some gold gems. To finish, I added a white bow to the tag which I made from ribbon that I recycled from a Christmas cracker and also a 3D sticker of a white rose.

I loved this poem as soon as I read it, it’s by an anonymous author who writes:

Robin sang sweetly
When the days were bright
“Thanks! Thanks for Summer!”
He sang with all his might.

Robin sang sweetly
In the Autumn Days
“There is fruit for everyone,
Let all give praise.”

In the cold and wintry weather
Still hear his song.
“Someone must sing”, said Robin,
“Or Winter will seem long.”

When the Spring came back again
He sang: “I told you so!
Keep on singing through the Winter;
It will always go!”

Here’s a close up of the napkin, the design is so beautiful with the holly leaves, ferns, mistletoe, wrens and robins.

Our new bird feeders are attracting lots of different birds, including our resident robin who seems to be enjoying both the fat balls and seed.

As we haven’t managed to capture a picture of our robin as yet, I thought I would share the garden flag that was kindly sent to us from our friends in America; this is our winter robin flag, isn’t it gorgeous!

Garden flags are not really seen here in the UK, they are far more popular in America. I loved the ones that we saw when we visited America this year, so our dear friends kindly bought us a flag for each season with a different robin on it – a perfect gift (grin!).

As this is my last post of 2018, I also wanted to thank you for all your support and kindness this year! You have made it very special and I am very grateful for your friendship and all your lovely comments – thanks so much! Wishing you all the fun of the Holiday Season and a very Happy New Year!

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:

Bleubeard and Elizabeth who blog at Altered Book Lover are hosting My Favorite Season, or ‘Tis the Season challenge over at Art Journal Journey, so I’m pleased to join them with my page which showcases a poem that celebrates all the seasons as I love them all (grin!).

I’m so happy to be able to join the lovely Wen and her Simply Neutrals Tuesday party over at Apple Apricot with my neutral vintage robin page.

I’m also pleased to join the Christmas challenge over at Country View Challenges with my vintage Christmassy page as robins capture the Christmas season for me.

I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my art journal 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:

• RSPB Napkin from my dear friend – thank you!
• Woolworths (Gold Doyleys) – from Charity Shop
• A Golden Christmas Treasury – book from Charity Shop
• Recycled tag from old Christmas Card
• The Works Die Cutting – circles and squares
• The Range (Crafting Lace CR0546)
• Poundland (504 Gems 128133)
• Recycled white ribbon from a Christmas cracker
• Docrafts Papermania 3D Christmas Stickers (Victorian Christmas PMA805801)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 double-sided tape and mini glue dots
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Friends and Family

Its time for a new challenge over at Try it On Tuesday and our theme for the next two weeks, is Friends and Family.

You’ll find some beautiful inspiration from my Design Team teamies over at Try it on Tuesday too. My art journal page today celebrate Friends, Family and Life – I hope you like it!

I started by stencilling the background of leaves using a Falling Leaves stencil from Newton’s Nook and six different colours of Distress Ink. I blended and shaded the colours so that the Vintage Photo and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink were around the edges of the page, then as I worked towards the centre I added Seedless Preserves, Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade and finally finished with Mustard Seed Distress Ink in the centre of the page. I also positioned the stencil so that the larger leaves were around the outside of the page and the smaller leaves were in the centre. Then I stamped a maple leaf stamp and oak leaf stamp from Tim Holtz Autumn Blueprints stamp set onto the page using black Archival Ink. I coloured the leaves and also the leaf names using the Seedless Preserve, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed Distress Ink with a paintbrush. Then I shaded under the bottom edge of each leaf using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to give them a shadow so they had a 3D look. Next I added some Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers which read “let life surprise you”, “live your life” and “life is good”. I drew boxes and arrows around them to match the blueprint design of the leaves using a black Derwent Graphik marker. The large sentiment which reads “Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful” is a Pocket Card from Tim Holtz and is stuck to the page using double-sided  foam tape. I also added the words “Thankful”, “Friends” and “Family” using Tim Holtz Letter Labels and used the Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to add a shadow under them which finished the page.

The bands and shades of colour on my page reminds me of the beautiful mat that our forever friend’s bought us for our wedding anniversary present; it travelled back from America with us and now sits in my hallway at the bottom of the stairs. It is such a happy reminder of the time we spent with them (grin!).

On our wedding anniversary we also had an amazing Maine lobster dinner at their house too, which was so delicious!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and sharing our drinks, red wine, iced water or a beer which as you can see is served in my special Red Sox Beer cooler (grin!) – Happy T day!

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 Erika from BioArtGal, who is hosting the Vintage or Modern challenge over at Art Journal Journey as this page celebrates happy memories with friends and family!

As I incorporate squares into the design of this page with the frames of colour from the stencilled background, stamped Autumn BluePrint leaf images and also the sentiments, I’m pleased to join the Square It challenge over at The Artistic Stamper.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Thanks/Thanksgiving challenge with my art journal page.

I’m also pleased to join the November Link Party #45 – Anything Goes over at Cropstop Blog with my page of fall leaves too.

Don’t forget that over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge the theme is Thanks/Thanksgiving this week, 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 (Vintage Photo, Mowed Lawn, Seedless Preserves, Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Newton’s Nook Designs Purr-fect Stencil (Falling Leaves NN1709T01)
• Tim Holtz Collection Stamper’s Anonymous (Autumn Blueprint CMS133)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193, Label Letters #TH93072)
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Hot Chocolate and Donuts

Today my fun page celebrates the seasonal sweet treats and all things pumpkin at Dunkin’ Donuts – yum!

So you may be wondering why I’m so excited about Dunkin’ Donuts, well in the UK we don’t have these stores at all and as a country we don’t really celebrate all things pumpkin like in the US. So for me having a hot chocolate with pumpkin syrup and a pumpkin donut was such a special treat on my American holiday/vacation!

To start, I covered the page with a napkin, which I had collected from our visits to Dunkin’ Donuts, which is stuck in place using a glue stick. While it was drying I die cut two circles with a stitched edge from the brown paper bag our donuts were packaged in; the larger circle encompassing the Dunkin’ Donuts logo and slogan, and the second smaller circle just of plain paper. I stamped our drink order onto this smaller circle using black Archival Ink and an alphabet stamp set from Dovecraft. I used the same stamp set and ink to stamp the “with” onto some card to emphasis that we asked for the pumpkin syrup to be added to our drink. The letters are coloured with an orange and a pink Uni Posca paint pen; I alternated the colours to add more interest. The circles are arranged with images that remind me of our yummy treats, this included: some pretty doughnut stickers with some cool fun sayings reminding me of the doughnuts we sometimes had with our drinks; some autumn leaves and a pumpkin which are rub-on transfers as I wanted to emphasise that we visited in the fall when pumpkin treats are available; and finally the days of the week which are cut from a Tim Holtz idea-ology poster card and edged with a black Derwent Graphic marker and orange or pink Uni Posca paint pen, they remind me that we had a hot chocolate more or less everyday when we passed by a Dunkin’ Donuts. To finish, I added some pink and white Chevron washi tape to the top and bottom edge of the page which I bought in the US whilst on holiday.

Here’s our hot chocolate with pumpkin syrup and …

…who couldn’t resist a pumpkin donut or Boston Creme donut – yummy yum yum!

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my drink and art journal page; wishing you all a Happy T Day!

This special treat was particularly welcome after our walks and on one of the colder mornings we walked along the Eastern Trail so it was very much appreciated (grin!).

The Eastern Trail is over six miles of flat, easy, and scenic terrain connecting Biddeford, Arundel, and Kennebunk. I thought you may wish to walk with us and see some of the beautiful foliage along the trail …

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed walking some of the trail and seeing the autumnal foliage as much as we did – wishing you a great day!

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 Linda from heARTfullyinspiredby Linda, who is hosting the Creature Comforts challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I find these sweet treats very comforting (grin!).

As this page is a happy memory of autumn treats, I’m also joining the Autumn challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

As the autumn leaves, acorns, pumpkins and hot chocolate reminds brings fall to mind to me, I’m also joining the Autumn Splendour challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my holiday/vacation inspired Art Journaling Style page.

I’m also pleased to join 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:

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (Orange, Pink)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• The Works (Cutting Dies – Stitched Circles)
• Recycled Dunkin’ Donuts napkin and brown bag
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Tricks’n’Treats #SCH688N)
• Home Bargains (Sweet like … Puffy Sticker Sheets 14277)
• Washi Tape
• Pritt Stick

30th Wedding Anniversary

As it’s our 30^th Wedding Anniversary or Pearl Wedding Anniversary, I thought I’d celebrate by creating another page, this time using pearls and also cream and peach colour tones to reflect the colour scheme at our wedding.

Thank you to everyone who left Happy Anniversary wishes on my previous post, that’s so kind of you (grin!).

I started by stamping the butterflies using a layering stamp set by Paperbabe Stamps called Butterfly Pieridae. Firstly, I stamped the butterfly wings with the background stamp using Peach Spectrum Aqua Marker and also Scattered Straw Distress Ink; I masked some of the wings that I stamped to create the different butterfly positions. Then I stamped three separate stamps to define the butterfly using Black Archival Ink this included the wing detail, the butterfly’s body and also the antennae. Next I stamped some hearts from the same Paperbabe stamp set using the Peach Spectrum Aqua Marker and the Scattered Straw Distress Ink again. Then I applied Parchment Liquitex acrylic paint through a Flourish Stencil from That’s Crafty using a sponge over the background. When dry, I added some torn pieces of Dictionary page using a glue stick; the words I chose were “wedding”, “marriage” and “anniversary”, and I outlined them using a black Derwent Graphik marker so they stood out more. I also cut some hearts from the dictionary pages using a paper punch; they are edged with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck down using a glue stick. The central heart is created using a doily, some gold glitter stickers, pearl gems, pearl roses and two pearl hearts; each of which were individually placed to build up the design, it is stuck in place using Ranger Glossy Accents. Then I added the gold glitter flowers and wording using the same stickers that I had used on the doily heart. To finish, I added some cream coloured felt swirls and embellished them with the pearl gems and roses.

It doesn’t seem like yesterday that we got married and the years seem to have flown by, well they do say “time flies when you’re having fun” and we certainly have had lots of fun over the years. So as T Stands for Tuesday we are toasting our anniversary with a glass of champagne – cheers and Happy T Day!

Sending Happy 30^th Anniversary wishes to Erika and her hubby too!

I’m pleased to join the lovely Linda, who is hosting Creature Comforts challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Happy Anniversary page.

I’m also joining the lovely Wen and her Simply Neutrals Tuesday party over at Apple Apricot with my neutral coloured wedding anniversary page.

I’m also pleased to join the September Link Party #44 – Anything Goes over at Cropstop Blogwith my page as I included some products from companies that they carry in their store.

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:

• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Peach)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• Paperbabe Stamps (Butterfly Pieridae Stamp Set)
• That’s Crafty! 8x8ins Stencil (Flourish TC8024)
• The Oxford Pocket Dictionary
• Woodware Craft Collection Paper Doily (Heart JL961)
• Self-Adhesive Felt Border (Scrolls FE196)
• The Range (Adhesive Pearls LCDOT002, Alphabet & Number Stickers Glitter SCSTK013)
• Home Bargains (Special Occasion – Mini Decorative Stickers 22740, Sweet Hearts 22809, Sticker Mania – Gel Stone Stickers 74749)
• Poundworld (Pearl Embellishments 137920-A)
• Craft Sensations (Ivory Deco Flowers CR0736-GE)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Pritt Stick

Black, white and one other colour

Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday is Black, white and one other colour. To inspire you further please see the fabulous Design Team creations over at our blog.

It was quite a dilemma choosing the one other colour for my art journal page (grin!), in the end I decided on Abandoned Coral in the form of both a Distress Spray and Distress Stain. I’m really looking forward to seeing which one other colour you choose too!

I started by covering the page with white gesso and when dry I applied Pébéo modelling paste with a palette knife, over the top using a Floral stencil by Tim Holtz. Next I used a Rossi Belle stamp set to stamp some images onto the background using black Archival Ink and rubbed the images with a baby wipe which removed some of the ink giving a distressed look. Then I sprayed Abandoned Coral Distress Spray over the flowers that I had stencilled and left it to dry. Once dry I layered some more white gesso over the background and then applied some Abandoned Coral Distress Stain, repeating the layers until I reached the look I was after; I let the white gesso and Distress Stain dry between each application so they didn’t blend together and become a muddy mess. Next I added some black DecoArt acrylic paint, firstly through a stencil from Creative Expressions using a sponge and then by adding black splatters using a paintbrush. I used some bubble wrap and a cardboard tube to stamp white DecoArt acrylic paint onto the page and then splattered the page with the white paint too. The flowers are cut from black and white numbered card from Kanban using the Wildflower Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz and my Big Shot machine. They are edged with black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and then stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. To finish, I added three Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz and outlined them with a black Derwent Graphik marker; I thought the wording was appropriate for this page considering my colour palette was limited to black, white and one other colour, they read “out of limitations comes creativity”, “be fearless” and “creativity take courage”.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my pot of green tea at a café in town called Elbourne’s Tea Emporium. I thought it matched the black white and one colour scheme with the red wrapper of the biscuit and heart hanging from the teapot, the white tea service and the black table. In case you are wondering, the little red heart is attached to the tea infuser as they use loose leaf tea. In the photo, you can also see a cup of Earl Grey tea, a glass of cloudy lemonade and a glass of ice water too but the cappuccino is hiding behind the plant (grin!) – Happy T Day!

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, who is hosting Creature Comforts challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the soothing warmth of colour that I included on my art journal page.

Over at Country View Challenges their challenge is Plant-tastic so I’m pleased to join them with the flowers on my art journal page.

I’m pleased to join their Back To Nature challenge over at A Vintage Journey, as I was inspired by my limited colour palette to create this floral Mixed Media style page.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, their challenge is Anything Goes so I’m pleased to join this challenge too.

I’m also joining the anything goes theme called It’s been a while… over at Stamps & Stencils 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:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Pébéo Modelling Paste
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Spray (Abandoned Coral)
• Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Abandoned Coral)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.1 mm)
• Tim Holtz Layering Stencil (Floral THS077)
• Prima Marketing Clear Stamps (Rossi Belle 587499)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan)
• Recycled cardboard tube – stamp
• Recycled bubble wrap – stamp
• Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflowers 661190)
• Kanban (Mackenzie Numbers Black Background Card CRD1763)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium