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

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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

Treasure Map

I enjoyed practicing and experimenting with different techniques and mediums to create this page. As I created this page, it reminded me of the kites at the St. Annes Kite Festival and I was also transported back to my childhood and into the fantasy world of pirates and looking for buried treasure (grin!).

I started by drawing a faint outline of the map using a pencil and then applied some Tea Dye Distress Ink using a blending tool which I then dabbed with a baby wipe to create an old worn look to the map. I then added an outline so the map had a defined edge using a black Uni Pin marker to create a border around the edge of my page. I coloured the border using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker by applying the ink to an acrylic block and painting the inks using a paintbrush. Next I outlined the land with Baked Earth and Willow Derwent Intense pencils by applying the pencil directly to the page and using a wet paintbrush to blend the colours. I also added small dots of Chocolate Spectrum Aqua marker around the edges of the land too. The mountains are drawn using the same Chocolate Spectrum Aqua marker and shaded using a Tan Spectrum Aqua marker. I stamped the pirates ship sitting in Pirates Cove using black Archival Ink and coloured it using Derwent Intense Pencils, I had fun stamping the wording “Yo ho yo ho …” too. In fact I spent quite a bit of time stamping all the wording on this map using individual wooden mounted letter stamps from Dovecraft and black Archival Ink; making up the different names and places was great fun too! I embellished the different places with a crab, starfish and tropical flowers which are rub-on transfers and also a sandcastle, some sea shells, tropical flowers and a treasure chest which are stickers. I made some of the elements from card toppers too, like the sea monster and mermaid tail and the gold in the treasure chest is made from gold outline stickers and pearl gems. All the pirate flags are stamped using black Archival Ink and the palm tree is hand drawn, fussy cut and coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils. The map trail that joins the different places together and big black “X” are also hand drawn using a black Uni Pin marker. Next I painted the sea by concentrating the colour along the shore line and adding the waves using Salty Ocean Distress Ink; I did this by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and using a paintbrush to apply it to the page. Then I stamped a compass by Graphic 45 from Hampton Art using black Archival Ink on the top of the page.  The banner is also a stamp by 7 Gypsies from Hampton Art and is stamped using black Archival Ink onto the page and also onto a piece of white paper. I coloured both of the banners with the Baked Earth and Willow Derwent Intense pencils and stamped “Treasure Map” in the centre of the one I stamped onto the paper using the letter stamps and black Archival Ink. I then cut out the central section of the banner with the wording on it from the paper and stuck it over the one that I had stamped onto the page. To finish, I outlined the banner with a black Uni Pin marker.

We enjoyed the St. Annes Kite Festival last weekend, it started with night kite flying and fireworks on Friday night.

Many of the kites reminded me of my page including this crab …

… these fish bobbing along …

… this parrot who I can just imagine saying “pieces of eight” …

… and of course the many sea monsters (grin!).

New to the festival this year was a land yachting demonstration which was great fun to watch 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 Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my dreams of buried treasure.

I’m pleased to join the Picture Inspiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as I used the rock/pebble colours and you can find beaches and seashores as part of my art journal page design.

As “B” stands for “buried treasure” and “beach”, I’m pleased to join the I spy with my little eye something beginning with “B” challenge over at Stamping Sensations.

As my treasure map goes round and round, I’m also joining the Going Round & Round challenge over at The Artistic Stamper too.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Stamps and Stencils and their It’s been a while … Anything Goes challenge.

As my page links to childhood, I’m reminding you that your still have time to join our Childhood challenge at Try it on Tuesday 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 (Tea Dye, Brushed Corduroy, Salty Ocean)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Derwent Inktense Pencils (Baked Earth 1800. Willow 1900, Poppy Red 400, Field Green 1500)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Chocolate, Tan)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm, 0.5mm, 0.8mm)
• Home Bargains (Mini Stamps & Ink – Pirates)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set upper and lower case (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO135)
• Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Vintage cling mounted rubber stamps (Birdsong ICO151)
• Craft Planet Metallic Waterfall Stickers (Beach PO#9622)
• Eco Craft Go Create (Hunk of Junk Pirate Island)
• Hunkydory Luxury Toppers (Eastern Promise)
• Magenta Style Outline Stickers (Daisy Gold 93326G)
• Home Bargains Sticker Mania (Gel Stone Stickers 74748)
• UHU Stic

Beatrix Potter

Our new challenge theme over at Try it on Tuesday for the next two weeks is Childhood, so I created a page to remember my favourite childhood stories and author, Beatrix Potter.

You’ll find some beautiful inspiration from the Design Team over at Try it on Tuesday too, I hope you will join us!

I started by experimenting with Colourcraft Brushos and making a spray using Dark Brown Brusho powder and water which I mixed in a spritzer bottle. I sprayed it over the page and left it to dry, it gave a lovely pinkish egg-shell colour, which I thought tied in nicely with the Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck. But then I remembered that duck eggs are white! (grin). Then I fussy cut a black and white picture of Beatrix Potter, a colour picture of Hill Top Farm in the Lake District where she lived, her illustration of “Cecily Parsley Makes Cowslip Wine” and some text from an old 2016 magazine article celebrating her 150^th Birthday. I also fussy cut a picture of peas and a picture of the Lake District from the same magazine and I cut The Tale of Peter Rabbit book and my favourite characters from a leaflet, this included: Peter Rabbit; Peter Rabbit being chased by Farmer McGregor; Peter Rabbit jumping into a watering can; Peter Rabbit running on all fours; Appley Dapply; Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle; The Tailor of Gloucester; Mr. Jeremy Fisher; and Jemima Puddle-Duck. I collaged all the fussy cut pieces onto the page using a UHU Stic and when the glue was dry I outlined some of the pieces using a black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I added two pieces of blue ribbon and then stuck a recycled blue button where the ribbons overlapped using Glossy Accents and a pretty blue polka dot flower.

From my page, have you guessed who my all time favourite character was – it was Peter Rabbit! As a child I loved the Beatrix Potter stories and still have many of her books in my craft room which I have been known to sit and read now and then with a cup of tea (grin!). In the front of these books you will see my egg cup from my childhood too, it features Peter Rabbit and I have fond memories of dipping my soldiers (thin strips of toast) into my runny egg yolk (double grin!).

We used to holiday in the Lake District every year when I was a child and I have many happy memories of visiting Hill Top Farm too so I was pleased to include this on my page.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my cup of green tea and a homemade Belgian Bun – Happy T Day!

This was the first time that we have made these buns and they tasted delicious. They are not to be confused with Chelsea Buns that I used to make when I was younger, as they have Lemon Curd filling rather than butter so have less fat content – yay!

Also if you are visiting from the T Gang and like Street Art then you may wish to check out my previous post here.

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Beatrix Potter page as she definitely created fantastical animals for her stories.

I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page.

Over at That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog their theme is Animal Magic so I’m pleased to join this challenge with Beatrix Potter’s magical animals that I included 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:

• Colourcraft Brusho (Dark Brown)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.3mm)
• Old Magazine
• Beatrix Potter Leaflet
• Blue Adhesive Ribbon
• Recycled blue button
• Wilko Stickers (Flower Embellishments)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• UHU Stic

Creative Discoveries

I always enjoy getting creative and my journal pages are often inspired by things I see and do, so today I used my imagination to create a page to celebrate Creative Discoveries.

I started by painting Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink and Aquamarine Spectrum Aqua marker to the page by applying the inks to an acrylic block, spritzing with water and using a paintbrush. I also scribbled the Aquamarine Spectrum Aqua marker onto the acrylic block, added a little water and then used a dry paintbrush to drag the ink over the page, which created a lovely marbling effect. I repeated this process using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker too. Next I stamped the black flowers and dots from a Woodware Craft Collection stamp set using black Archival Ink so they flowed in lines over the page. Then I used a Distressed Dots stencil from Creative Expressions to apply Pébéo modelling paste mixed with Pébéo white gesso. When the paste had dried, I added some stickers of a flower, a pear and some sparkly dots, along with various embellishments by Little Yellow Bicycle, this included; two fabric banners; three pink flower dots which have either “Free”, “Yourself” or “Beautiful” written in the centre; two different sentiments which read “Hello, World” and “You can find me here” which I thought were relevant to my art journaling; some letter stickers which I used to make the word “creative” which I mounted onto some card and stuck to the page using double-sided foam tape; and a fabric “Discoveries”.

When we visit Blackpool we always make new discoveries, like this lovely street art near one of my favourite art shops.

There are quite a few other art installations in this area including this amazing panel which is just around the corner at Winter Gardens and it can be found alongside these:

 

 

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my imaginative page of Creative Discoveries.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my Creative Discoveries art journal page.

My lovely friend Bleubeard and Elizabeth suggested that I join Sami over at Colourfulworld with my street art, so I’m also pleased to join the Monday Mural fun 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 (Cracked Pistachio)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Aquamarine)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Woodware Craft Collection Wood Set (Flower Style FRSWS003)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Distressed Dots)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Soft Sweetness 154897)
• Recycled white card
• Home Bargains (Room Décor Embellishments)
• Little Yellow Bicycle (Fabric Favourites PD-220, Cardstock Stickers PD-140)
• The Range double-sided foam tape

St. Thomas

With the Jazz & Blues Festival held in Blackpool last month and also the Inspired by a song theme over at Try it on Tuesday, I have found myself reminiscing about some of my favourite songs of late.

When it comes to music, I have quite an eclectic taste and always listen to music whilst crafting so I created a page which reminds me of a song called St. Thomas; it is an instrumental piece of music and has a Caribbean tropical vibe which influenced my page.

I started by covering the page in Raw Sienna Rowney Georgian Water Colour paint using a baby wipe and once dry, I stencilled leaves using Tea Dye Distress Ink and also a trellis pattern using Vintage Photo Distress Ink; I was thinking of sand on tropical shores when I chose this colour palette. Then I covered the page with some Pébéo white gesso using my finger to give a sun-bleached look. Next I applied some sheet music washi tape to the page which depicts the instrumental music and also some colourful polka dot paper washi tape to depict the happiness of the music and tropical vibe. I grouped different colours of washi tape together which were orange, purple and pink and also yellow, green and blue; they are layered on top of each other and then finished with a piece of the sheet music washi tape on the very top. I outlined them using a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball pen to make them stand out more from the background. The tropical flowers are fussy cut from a wallpaper sample and stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium; once dry I added more detail using the black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball pen and also threaded some bright pink stamens, which I threaded through the page securing them on the back with tape, to give their centres a 3D look. I added some pink metallic stickers with tropical leaves, palm trees and flamingos on them and outlined them with the black marker, white gel pen and then an orange, purple or dark green Uni Posca paint pen. I stamped two butterflies using a Graphic 45 stamp set by Hampton Art and black Archival Ink and then I added some white cardboard letters to spell out the title of the song which I decorated with dots using orange, purple, pink, yellow, light green and light blue Uni Posca paint pens to match the colourful washi tapes I had used.

I love the St. Thomas music, this is the Jazz version and although you may not recognise the name, when you hear the music you will probably know the song (grin!).

I have to say I love this steel drum (or steel pan) version more, it fills me with happiness when I hear it and makes me want to dance (grin!). I particularly like this version by Joseph Peck and play it on loop all the time! I have to say a big shout out and THANK YOU to my lovely friend Bleubeard & Elizabeth who introduced me to this fabulous musician and often mentions him on her blog. I love steel drum/steel pan, so quickly fell in love with his amazing music too (double 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:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover, who is hosting the Count your blessings challenge over at Art Journal Journey. My page celebrates music and it is a blessing to have blog friends like Bleubeard & Elizabeth who kindly introduced me to this amazing musician!

What could be better than tropical shores on a summer day so I’m joining in the fun over at Moo Mania and More and their theme is Summertime challenge too.

I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Tape It Up challenge with the sheet music and colourful paper washi tapes that I used on my art journal page.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Sun, Sea and Sand challenge over at Country View Challenges with my tropical vibe art journal page.

Don’t forget there is well cover a week to join our Inspired by a song 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:

• Rowney Georgian Water Colour (Raw Sienna)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Vintage Photo)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm & 0.5mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (Orange, Purple, Dark Green, Pink, Yellow, Light Green, Light Blue)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 77106)
• Dutch Doobadoo Dutch Mask Art A5 (Vintage)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO135)
• Wallpaper sample
• Hobbycraft Decorative Tape (Assorted Black & White 5971471007)
• The Works The Craft Place (Spotted Paper Tapes)
• Craft Sensations (Paper Flowers CRO344/R)
• The Range (Craft Stickers CR1243)
• Hobbycraft (Alphabet Cardboard Stickers)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Masking tape

Earth’s Music

Today I was inspired by nature and my lovely friend Alison from Craftytrog’s Arty Adventures who is undertaking a challenge to create 5 minute journal pages – thank you!

I wanted to use some leftover papers and paints in my craft area so with the drying time of paints and glues and my finishing touches, I cannot claim this is a 5 minute page – my time actually ran out after the stencilling (grin!).  I had so much fun though and it is one of the simplest and quickest pages I have created which makes me happy – see what you think!

For the background I added some leftover book papers that were on my craft desk, it’s from some old books and some of it was die cut from a previous project. I used a UHU Stic to stick it onto the page and then I stamped some clocks from Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink. Next I used Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Red Liquitex acrylic paints and also white and black DecoArt arcylic paints to colour the background; some of which were already in my paint palette. I mixed the paints to create a pale yellow and also an orange colour and applied them to the page using a baby wipe concentrating the yellow near the centre of the page and the orange around the edges. I used up any leftover paint by applying it through a trellis stencil by Creative Expressions with a sponge and then. I die cut some flowers from sheet music using Sizzix Wildflower Thinlets by Tim Holtz and my Big Shot Machine. When the paint was dry I stamped a crackle stamp by BoBunny around the edges of the page using black Archival Ink. I stuck the sheet music flowers in place using Liquitex matte gel medium and once the gel medium was dry, I outlined them with a black Uni Pin marker.  To finish, I added a quote by George Santayana using Letter Labels by Tim Holtz which I thought matched the sheet music flower beautifully, it reads “The earth has music for those who listen”.

I love nature and when I die cut some of the Thinlet wildflowers for this page they reminded me of some of the flowers in my new garden border. This included the Achillea and Rudbeckia …

… and also the poppies; we have quite a few this year and the seed flower heads provide some lovely structure to the border 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 Bleubeard & Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover, who is hosting the Count your blessings challenge over at Art Journal Journey as nature makes me happy and when I look at my garden I feel blessed.

As I enjoyed using the stamps as part of my design, I’m joining the Anything Goes Challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with my art journal page.

I’m joining the Wild Thing challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the wildflowers dies that I added to my art journal page.

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Sheet Music so I’m pleased to join their challenge too.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Make your own Background challenge with the layered book pages, stamping, paint and stencilling that I used to create my background for this art journal page.

I’m also pleased to join the July Link Party #41 over at Cropstop Blog with my art journal page as I included some products from companies that they carry in their store.

Over at Try it on Tuesday the theme is Use Book Paper and there is a few days left to join in the fun, I hope 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:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Provincial CS243)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencils (Ornate Trellis CEMSTRELLIS)
• BoBunny Stamp (Rough it up 12105155)
• Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflowers 66190)
• Book papers – leftovers
• Bosworth Violin Studies – Sheet Music
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology (Label Letters #TH93072)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic