Great Opportunities

Over at Try it On Tuesday we have a masculine theme for the next two weeks called For the Boys. Maybe your creations could be for a baby boy, boys, teenagers, adults, sons, dads or grandfathers, if you need more inspiration please check out the fabulous creations from our Design Team.

I created a masculine page with an industrial look using some inks, stamps, stencils, design paper, stickers and recycled magazine images.

I started by building up layers of colour using Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Hickory Smoke Distress Inks. I did this by applying the ink pads to an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page then drying each colour with a heat gun before applying the next. I stamped some cogs from a Steampunk stamp set from Docrafts using Toffee Crunch Memento Ink and then a ruler and also a bingo card stamp from Tim Holtz using black Archival Ink. Then I stenciled some Geometric Tile squares around the edge of the page using a Dutch Doobadoo mask and black Archival Ink.  Next I fussy cut the lightbulbs, clocks and metal semicircle door from a couple of old magazines and, like all of the paper elements, edged them with black Faber-Castell marker and stuck them in place using a UHU Stic. The world map pieces are cut from a sheet of design paper by Kaisercraft and the “402” is a Salvage Sticker by Tim Holtz which I embellished with two brown brads. To finish, I added the wording using double-sided foam tape which reads “each day holds the possibility for great opportunities”.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing a recent visit to Dahlia’s Kitchen which is a restaurant nearby, it’s attached to a garden centre so it was fun morning out (grin!).

As it was a hot sunny day we sat outside on their new patio near this beautiful water feature made from recycled metal, it looks a bit industrial like my page although I’m not sure what it is – any ideas?

I went with my sister who had a strawberry milkshake, I had my usual pot of green tea and we shared a huge piece of ginger and lemon cake which was delicious – 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 be able to join the lovely Gill from gibbyfrogettcraftations who is hosting the Inspired by … challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my masculine inspired page.

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

As I enjoyed stenciling the black square design around the edge of this page, I’m also joining the lovely Astrid who is hosting A Vintage Journey this month where the challenge is Stencil It. My masculine inspired page fits their challenge focus with it’s Industrial and Mixed Media Style.

I’m also happy to join in the fun over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Anything But A Card challenge with my art journal page.

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

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Hickory Smoke)
• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Toffee Crunch)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.3mm)
• Dutch Doobadoo Dutch Mask Art A5 (Geometric Tiles)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Steampunk DCE907125)
• Tim Holtz {Components} Collection (COM013 CAR)
• Old Magazines
• Kaisercraft Timeless Collection 12×12 Design Paper (Postmarks P853)
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Salvage Stickers (Crowded Attic #TH92898)
• Little Yellow Bicycle Cardstock Stickers (Fresh Verse PD-140)
• Craft Sensations (Brads CRO550/A)
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape

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Doodled Flowers

This page has been painted on the cardboard cover of my finished art journal book. I wanted to get creative with some new paints and just doodle a little; to be honest it started as a fun experiment as I don’t usually paint or doodle that much (grin!). I liked the way my page turned out so I thought I’d share it with you today.

I started by applying a dark grey acrylic paint onto the thick cardboard cover; I had intended to make a dark purple paint for another project but I added way too much dark blue so rather than waste this paint I covered this page with it. I also had some orange paint left over from the same project which I splattered using a paintbrush over the top. Next I doodled some large flower shapes using a white Uniball gel pen and coloured them using Vivid Lime Green, Neutral Gray and Bright Aqua Green Liquitex acrylic paints. It’s the first time I have used these paints which were a gift and as they are “heavy body” paints the flowers painted have a lovely 3D look which I love! I also added some of the different paint colours along the edges of the flower petals and in centre of the flowers. Then I used up any excess paint on the background of the page to break up the dark grey so that hints of these colours can be seen throughout the background. Next I used my brayer to apply white DecoArt acrylic paint to a diamond background stamp from Art Impressions and stamped it around the flowers. I also used the brayer to add white acrylic paint along the edge of the page too. I then cleaned the brayer and stamp and used them again to apply the Vivid Lime Green Liquitex acrylic paint onto the flower petals. When the paint was dry I doodled on the flowers with a black Derwent Graphik marker, defining the flower petals and stamens and I used the white gel pen to touch up the flower outlines and also a white Uni Posca paint pen to colour the stamens in the centre. To finish, I added three stickers by Kaisercraft which reminded of the happy time I had creating this page, which read “Smile”, “Create happiness” and “Live in the moment”.

Talking of flowers, these pretty Delphinium could be found flowering in our garden this time last year, unfortunately they did not survive our unusually cold snowy winter. Luckily I have some photos to remember how beautiful they were which makes me smile!

Of course you may remember these flowers from a previous post, they are my one of my favourite flowers called Mesembryanthemum which is a really hard one to pronounce, so I just refer to them as “pretties”; you may also know then as Livingston Daisies. I buy them every year and this year we have a big pot of them on our patio, so I’m really looking forward to seeing them flower as I’m sat relaxing in the garden (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Gill from gibbyfrogettcraftations who is hosting the Inspired by … challenge over at Art Journal Journey as my inspiration for this page was to have some fun experimenting with new paints and doodling.

I’m pleased to be able to join Paperbabe Stamps and their Doodles challenge: thanks I had so much fun doodling to join your challenge (grin!).

I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their All Things Bright and Beautiful challenge with my colourful flower art journal page, where the lovely Chris is in the Designer Spotlight this month and created an amazing little book of flowers to inspire us for this particular challenge.

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

I’m also joining the Colour it Blue challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with my painted blue flowers.

As I created my Doodled Flowers on my art journal cover, I’m also pleased to join the lovely Lulu over at Stamps and Stencils and their Do judge a book by its cover! challenge.

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:

• Leftover acrylic paint from previous project (Dark Grey, Orange)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green, Neutral Gray 5, Bright Aqua Green)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Derwent Graphik Line marker (Black 0.5mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (White)
• Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Diamond Background T-3335)
• Ranger Brayer
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)

Hummingbird and Orchids

Inspired by the beautiful hummingbirds that have been featured by some of my blog-friends recently, I created this hummingbird and pretty orchid page for the Flora and Fauna challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month.

I’ve been overwhelmed with the participation and support shown for my theme over at Art Journal Journey, thank you! There is still time to join in the fun this month and I hope to see you there!

I started by painting the page with Liquitex Acrylic paints; the colours I used were Christmas Green, Cadmium Yellow and Parchment. Once the paint had dried, I added some gold acrylic paint and splattered the page with black and white acrylic paints using a paintbrush. Then I covered the page with some Pébéo white gesso using a baby wipe and also my finger to tone down the colours so the images I added next stood out more. The orchids are fussy cut from a napkin and stuck to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium, once the gel medium had dried I outlined and doodled on them using a black UniPin marker and a white Uniball gel pen to add more definition and detail; this took quite a while as there are so many of them (grin!). The hummingbird and pink flower buds are rub-on transfers from Royal & Langnickel which I layered around and onto the orchids. I added a cardstock sticker which says “Fly Free” and I finished the page by adding some pretty green sequin flowers, using Glossy Accents, to add some sparkle.

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Even More Flowers! so I’m pleased to join this challenge too, with the pretty orchids that I included on my page.

We visited a garden centre recently and I was mesmerised by these pretty orchids which are similar to the ones on my page, aren’t they stunning!

We often visit the café at this garden centre and here we are having my favourite – a pot of green tea with a bacon butty/sandwich (grin!). So I’m joining the T Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday and wishing you all a Happy T Day!

We have some lovely garden centres in our area which have the most beautiful displays – I love this majestic looking stag and large turquoise pottery urn surrounded by all the delicate hydrangeas!

I’m glad this huge snail isn’t real as it would swallow up my garden in one bite (grin!).

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, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Parchment)
• Colvin & Co Artist’s Acrylic (White)
• Poundland Metallic Paint (Gold)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• The New York Botanical Gardens Napkin
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Sentiments (TIP1642G)
• Little Yellow Bicycle Cardstock Stickers (Fresh Verse PD-140)
• Poundland (Assorted Sequins)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Art is …

Whilst out walking in the glorious sunshine recently, we saw some beautiful butterflies. So this page is inspired by sunny days, flowers and butterflies!

To remind me of sunny days, I started by blending yellow and parchment Liquitex acrylic paint to make a soft yellow colour and applied it to the page using a baby wipe. I then stamped three different circular images using Memento Inks; these are a doily stamp by Dovecraft using London Fog ink, a circle of swirls which is actually part of a tree by Personal Impressions using Bahama Blue ink and finally a small flower stamp by Woodware Craft which I clustered into a circle using Lulu Lilac ink. Then I used a paintbrush to add very fine splatters of black acrylic paint and large splatters of white acrylic paint. The quote is a stencil from The Crafters Workshop and I used Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool to apply it straight onto the background; I like the dreamy look this achieved. Enjoying art journaling as I do, this quote really speaks to me and it reads:

“Art is just another way of expressing our inner most thoughts onto concrete media. Where form and function come together in beauty colour and shape”.

The three main butterfly images are: a tag which I tied with a string bow, a Belize postage stamp from my hubby’s childhood collection and a picture that I fussy cut from an encyclopaedia. They are all stuck to the page using double-sided foam tape. To finish, I added lots of small flower stickers to add some sparkle.

I’m joining the Flora and Fauna theme over at Art Journal Journey and I hope you are inspired by this theme too, it would be great to see you there!

Here is one of the wonderful butterflies we photographed whilst on one of our walks along the Lancaster Canal. This delicate small butterfly is called a Gatekeeper and was basking in the sunshine on the bank of the canal. Some fun facts about this butterfly are:

• Gatekeepers are common and widespread in Europe and the British Isles which has its own subspecies (britanniae).
• The gatekeeper got its name from patrolling hedges and verges, aided so they say, by the sharp black eyespots on its forewings, which have two white pupils.
• As gatekeeper butterflies are commonly found around hedgerows and field gates, they are also known as a “hedge brown”.
• The nectar of bramble/blackberry flowers provides a valuable food source for these butterflies so they are more abundant in the height of summer.

Challenges

As you may know, I enjoy taking part in blog challenges as they provide me with inspiration (whether it be colours, techniques or images) for my pages and they are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

With all the pretty flowers on my page, I’m pleased to join the challenge over at Moo Mania and More where their theme is Even More Flowers.

I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Stencil It challenge with my “Art is …” stencilled art journal page.

I’m joining a new challenge today where the lovely Tracey is on the Design Team; it’s over at Paperbabe Stamps and from their #73 Challenge … Picture Inspiration, I choose to create my page of yellow and included the flowers and butterflies too.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Stencil It challenge with the stencilling I used on my art journal page.

I’m also joining Mixed Media World and their theme is Anything Goes…optional Pink; there are a few pink touches o this 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:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow Medium, Parchment, Ivory Black)
• Colvin & Co acrylic paint (White Titanium)
• Memento Ink (London Fog, Bahama Blue, Lulu Liliac)
• Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Black Soot)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Dovecraft Curiosity Corner Clear Stamps (Lace & Doile DCCS009)
• Personal Impressions Marion Emberson Designs (Birds and Trees PICSA6179)
• Woodware Craft Collection Francoise Collection Stamp Set (Flower Style Wood Set FRSWS003)
• The Crafters Workshop Jaime 6×6 Stencil (Mini Art Is TCW261S)
• The Range Craft Tags (CRO740)
• The Dorling Kindersley Illustrated Family Encyclopaedia
• Postage Stamp (Belize 1974)
• Fancy Stickers Sheet (Flowers & Butterflies 28965)
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Jungle Paradise

When I saw the front cover of a free in-store advertising magazine I thought it would be perfect for some challenges, including the Flora and Fauna theme that I am hosting at Art Journal Journey (grin!).

I started by ripping the back page of the magazine into strips and sticking them vertically down the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. I used a Navy Spectrum Aqua marker to colour the white edges of the torn paper, shading the colour from light to dark to compliment the design. As I wanted more of a glossy finish to show off the bright colours, I covered the whole page with a thin layer of PVA glue. From the front cover and inside pages of the magazine, I fussy cut the monkey and leopard images, the circular image of the elephant, the leaf semi-circle and a circular leaf background; the monkey image is stuck on top of the leaf background using UHU Stic. I edged all the circular images with gold Glitterations stickers and stuck them onto the page using double-sided foam tape. To finish, I added the gold flowers and dots which are also Glitterations stickers.

When I created this page, the elephant reminded me of this cute little statue that we discovered in Chester (grin!).

It is situated near to Chester Cathedral, which is such a lovely place to visit.

The interior of the cathedral is spectacular as it has quite a varied history with the original church being built in a Romanesque or Norman style, and then subsequently rebuilt from around 1250 onward in the Gothic style which we discovered took around 275 years.

The alter looked amazing with its ornate carvings and gold leaf …

… and the windows were stunning with the sun streaming in through them.

Although this is not a Jungle Paradise you will find this garden paradise in a courtyard within the cathedral, it was such a wonderful surprise and a lovely place to sit and relax.

The new green leaves seem so vibrant this time of year and the central water feature was so beautiful too!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Art Journal Journey 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 the flower images in my background I’m pleased to join the challenge over at Moo Mania and More where their theme is Flowers.

I’m also joining Mixed Media World and their theme is Anything Goes…optional Pink.

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 (Navy)
• Free In-Store Advertising Magazine from a home furnishing store.
• Anita’s Glitterations (Frame Circles – Gold ANT8181028)
• Docrafts Papermania Glitterations (Gold Flowers ANT8181020)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• Everbuild 501 Universal PVA Bond
• The Range double-sided tape

Say it with Flowers

I’m looking forward to seeing the flowers bloom in my garden over the summer, so I thought I’d celebrate by creating this colourful summery flower page using some of my favourite colours of Distress Ink (grin!).

For the background I used Peacock Feathers, Peeled Paint and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks. I used one of my favourite techniques to apply them to the page which is to stamp the ink pad directly into an acrylic block, spritz the block with water and press it into the page. I really like the vibrant colours and blotting paper effect which results. Next I added white and black splatters of acrylic paint using a paintbrush. Using black Archival Ink I stamped flower images by Hampton Art over the page, I then created the stems using a dotty border stamp, masking the flowers as needed so the stems are behind the flower heads. I added a leaf stamp, again by Hampton Art, to the stems too. Then I added the butterflies and four sayings to the page using a stamp set by Crafter’s Companion and the same black ink. They read “All things grow with love”, “Flowers whisper what words cannot say”, “Take time to smell the flowers” and “The earth laughs in flowers”. I doodled some white flowers and added details to the stamped butterflies, flowers and leaves using a white Uniball gel pen and a black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I added some Rhinestone Flower stickers to the centre of some of the white flowers I had doodled.

I’m pleased to join the Flora and Fauna challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month, it would be great to see you there!

My page reminds me of two types of flower that can be found in my garden, firstly perennial Daisy (Leucanthemum), that this was a new addition to my garden a couple of years ago and last year the plant had doubled in size giving this lovely display of white flowers.

These annuals are called mesembryanthemum and I buy them every year, they can be found in the same flower bed normally growing under my pottery toadstool which is a similar colour to my page (grin!). I like that this flower only opens when the sun is on them and the petals close up for the night – don’t they look spectacular! The official name is a really hard one to pronounce, so I just refer to them as “pretties” (double grin!).

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Art Journal Journey, 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:

Over at Moo Mania and More the theme is Flowers so I’m pleased to join this theme with my Say it with Flowers art journal page.

I enjoyed creating the background using my favourite technique to apply colours of Distress Ink and stamping all the flowers, so I’m also pleased to join the Backgrounds challenge over at The Artistic Stamper.

I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Time Out challenge with my flowers and “Take time to smell the flowers” sentiment.

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

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Peacock Feathers, Peeled Paint, Chipped Sapphire)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Ivory Black)
• Colvin & Co Artists Acrylic (Titanium White)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Hampton Art Bella Blvd cling mounted rubber stamps (Sand & Surf ICO226)
• Hampton Art Doodlebug Design Inc. cling mounted rubber stamps (Thankful! ICO162)
• Crafter’s Companion Signature Collection by Sara Davies stamp set (Just for You – Butterfly Lullaby S-BL-ST-JUS)
• The Works (Rhinestone Flower Stickers)

Captured Moments

Over at Try it on Tuesday our new theme for the next two weeks is Stencil, Die Cuts or Both. I decided to have some fun and use both of these to create my Captured Moments art journal page!

I hope you will join in the fun too and for further inspiration why not check out the wonderful creations of my fellow Design Team over at Try it on Tuesday!

To start I lightly rubbed an ink pad of Hickory Smoke Distress Ink vertically down the page and spritzed it with water to give a washed out effect. For my stencils I chose a fleur-de-lis design which I applied using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and a blending tool and also a Shabby Diamond stencil using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink, again using a blending tool. I also stamped a Script stamp by Kaisercraft using Ground Espresso Distress Ink. I left quite a lot of white space in my background to showcase some lovely fabric and papers that I added next. So with the background complete, I added a strip of fabric to the page using a UHU glue pen. Then I selected a Spellbinders die cut set and used my Big Shot machine to cut out some circular shapes from the same fabric which I had backed with card, and I also die cut some dark brown, pink dotted and grey-brown patterned papers. I edged all the paper pieces with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and arranged them on the page using a UHU Stic and then I layered the fabric die cut pieces on top. I added some pearl embellishments and a circular image of a pretty lady which is a sticker from Graphic 45. To finish, I added two lace butterflies which are stuck in place using a UHU glue pen, some pearls and a “Captured Moments” die cut using double-sided foam tape.

This page reminds me of a beautiful chandelier glass lamp that we saw at our local auction room Gerrards, and I think the pretty lady on my art journal page may have owned one like this. I was very tempted to purchase it myself but in the end refrained as pink really doesn’t match any of the rooms in our house.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m also sharing this array of pretty china teacups which were also for sale at the auction rooms. As I write this post I’m thinking that I shouldn’t go to the auction rooms so often, it’s far too tempting, don’t you think (grin!). Wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

If you are looking for my post featuring the Flora and Fauna challenge over at Art Journal Journey that I am hosting this month, please click here.

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:

As I included the flower designs and lace butterflies on my page I’m pleased to join Art Journal Journey where I’m hosting the Flora and Fauna challenge this month; it would be great to see you there!

I’m pleased to be able to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Time Out challenge with my Captured Moments art journal page.

I’m also pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

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

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke, Shabby Shutters, Ground Espresso)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia B 175)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Spellbinders Die Cutting Set (Unknown)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Fabric Roll)
• Poundland Design Pad (Urban Style CR0701/16PL2, Pretty Pastels CR0701/PL1)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Design Block)
• The Works M&C Boutique (4 Crochet Butterflies)
• Poundworld (Pearl Embellishments U-80929)
• Home Bargains Sticker Mania (Gel Stone Stickers 74749)
• UHU Stic
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape