Winter Wonderland

At Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Winter Wonderland.

My winter wonderland page was created using a fun technique with acrylic paint and cling film which made the perfect background for the pretty deer, snowflakes and trees. I really enjoyed creating this page and I can’t wait to see your winter wonderland creations too!

For the background, I started by painting horizontal lines of Navy, Swedish Blue and Aqua Green Liquitex Acrylic paints onto the page. Then I placed scrunched up cling film (plastic food wrap) over the top, moved it around and left it to dry. When the paint was nearly dry I peeled the plastic wrap off and then applied some white paint to the same piece of cling film and placed it onto the page, over the other paints, scrunching it up and then I left it to dry overnight. When I peeled the cling film off the page it left some fabulous patterns which formed my winter wonderland.

The deer and snowflakes are stickers and I added lots of white dots in the sky using a white Uni Posca paint pen to create more snowfall which took a while (grin!).

I die cut the trees and star from some white cardstock using a couple of Thinlits sets from Tim Holtz and pressed them into a Versamark Watermark stamp pad. Then I covered them with Wow! embossing glitter and heated them using a heat gun until they turned glossy; they are stuck in place using a glue stick. Next I created the “winter wonderland” wording which is cut from white card, which I had covered in the Wow! embossing glitter, using an Alphanumeric Label Thinlits set from Tim Holtz. The letters were mounted onto some recycled navy cardstock which was cut to shape using a Tag Collection Framelits set from Tim Holtz; this finished the page.

I hope that you are inspired to join Winter Wonderland Challenge too! For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Teamies over at Try it on Tuesday too.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing our mugs of tea; as you may remember I shared my new robin mug a couple of weeks ago so I thought I’d share my hubby’s matching deer mug as my page has deer on it, although they aren’t wearing scarves (grin!) – wishing you a very Happy T day!

Hoping that you all stay 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:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Navy, Swedish Blue)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Bright Aqua Green)
• Cling film
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• White Cardstock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Woodlands 660978, Snowy Stars 663117, Alphanumeric Label 664177)
• Wow! Embossing Glitter (Singing in the rain WS183R)
• Pritt Stick
• Home Bargains (Wall Stickers #16221 – deer & snowflakes)
• Recycled navy cardstock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as I always enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration 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 join the #132 – Frosty Feels or Cool Tones challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my winter wonderland scene. I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything But A Card challenge with my wintery art journal page. I’m pleased to join MIUCB #43 – Anything Goes + Making Your Own Background over at the Mix It UP Challenge Blog with the fun cling film and paint technique that I used to create my background. I’m also pleased to join the Christmas challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my winter wonderland page too.

Love, Peace, Joy

To join in the fun over at the 25 Days of Christmas Tags I made a tag and then decided to create an art journal page using the tag, as its colours matched my brand new Winter Holidays TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker set perfectly – I hope you like it!

I’d also like to say a special thank you to lovely Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations for her insight into alcohol markers which helped me decide on these TriBlend markers that I used for the first time on this page – such fun!

For the tag, I started by cutting a piece of Kraft cardstock using the largest tag design from the Framelits Tag Collection from Tim Holtz. I covered it with white gesso and when dry, I edged the tag using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. Then I splattered it with white gesso to give a snowy effect and added grungy dots using a Spritz & Speckles stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps and some Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. The “love, peace, joy” wording were stickers from Kaisercraft and the large snowflakes were cut out of two green-blue glitter papers and some corrugated silver cardstock using a Tonic Studios die cut set. They are layered together with some pretty pearl snowflake gems from Habico and to finish I tied a piece of recycled brown ribbon to the tag.

I’m pleased to be able to join the 25 Days of Christmas Tags with my tag which was inspired by Tracey McNeely’s snowflake tag posted on Day 11 of the challenge.

For my journal page, I started by stamping the bird onto the page using a Winter Woodland stamp set and some black Archival Ink. Then I coloured the bird and branch image using the TriBlend Spectrum Noir markers; the colours I used were Green Turquoise Blend, Gold Yellow Blend, Earth Brown Blend and Alpine Green Blend. I created a template to cover the bird and branches so I could stamp the background with the “joy” wording using Hickory Smoke and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. Then I applied some white gesso to the stamped wording to push it into the background more. I created some 3D snow on the branches using some Fluffy Puffy Stuff from Inkylicious which is always fun to use as you heat it using a heat gun so it became fluffy and puffy (grin!). I stuck the tag in place and then I cut some little snowflakes from the glitter paper using a Thinlits set from Tim Holtz and layered them together with some of the pearl snowflake gems which finished the page.

I treated myself to these TriBlend pens recently after some discussions with Tracey and they are great to use although I still have a lot to master when applying and blending them. As this was new to me I started off small, creating this snowy bird scene which was a great learning experience. I’m looking forward to using them again soon – thanks again Tracey for all your help and insight, you’re a star!

Hoping 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.

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

• Kraft cardstock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ground Espresso)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Spritz & Speckles)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Ground Espresso, Hickory Smoke)
• Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (Falling Snowflakes 1792e)
• Poundland (Glitter Paper)
• Wilkos (Corrugated Cardstock – Silver)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Habico Signature Collection (PP1100  – Pearl Snowflakes)
• Recycled brown ribbon
• Creative Stamping Magazine Issue: 62 (Sheena by Sheena Douglass – Winter Wonderland Stamp Set)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Noir TriBlend (Green Turquoise Blend, Gold Yellow Blend, Earth Brown Blend, Alpine Green Blend)
• Great Impressions Wood-mounted Stamp (Joy Background J87)
• Inkylicious (Fluffy Puffy Stuff)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Paper Snowflakes 661599)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as I always enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration 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 Wendy K over at Art Journal Journey and her Birds challenge this month with the bird that I included on this page. I’m so happy to be able to join the #132 – Frosty Feels or Cool Tones challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my frosty snowflake scene. I’m pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – November Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas season page. I’m also joining in the fun at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge and their Happy Holidays challenge with my Love, Peace, Joy tag and page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything But A Card challenge with my tag and page. I’m also joining the Challenge # 118 – Gold or Silver or Glitter over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with the silver and glitter papers that I used. I’m also pleased to join Challenge #83 – Anything Christmas Goes over at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge with my Love, Peace, Joy art journal page. I’m also pleased to join the Christmas challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too.

Peek a Boo!

Today I’m celebrating autumn and Halloween over at A Vintage Journey with a double-sided tag featuring the Arthur Thinlits from Tim Holtz, as you can see my ghostly owl is having fun playing Peek a Boo!

I used some Tim Holtz Poster Card to create my double-sided tag and added a metal eyelet to reinforce the hole using a Crop-A-Dile punch. My plan was to create the owl peeking out of the hollow of the tree and then appearing to say “boo!” so both sides of the tag were created in the same way except for the owl of course (grin!).

First I applied some white gesso to the backgrounds and then to form the hollow of the tree for my owl to hide in I stuck an oval piece of Tim Holtz Halloween Collage Paper onto the tag using matte gel medium. I coloured the collage paper black using a Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and then edged it with Ranger Texture paste to give it a 3D look. When Dry, I coloured the texture paste with Dark Sepia and Black Faber-Castell markers and defined the inside edges of the hollow using a white UniBall gel pen to add depth. Next I created a wood effect using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and matte gel medium by dragging the ink pad vertically over the background and then applying matte gel medium vertically over the top. When dry, I added more detail to the woodgrain using the Dark Sepia and Sanguine Big Brush markers and a black Uni Pin marker smudging the inks with my finger.

Next I die cut some ivy leaves from black paper using a Garden Greens Thinlits set from Tim Holtz. They are stuck in place using matte gel medium and when dry I edged the leaves with the white gel pen to give them more definition; I like the spooky look.

The autumnal leaves were created using another Tim Holtz Thinlits set called Fall Foliage; they were cut from some white paper that I coloured using Yellow, Sandstone, Orange, Brilliant Red, Moss Green and Dark Brown Colourcraft Brushos.

For the owls and branches, I used the Arthur Thinlits die set; cutting the owl pieces from different coloured papers, edging them with some Black Soot Distress Ink using a blending tool and then piecing them altogether. For the “Peek A …” owl, I cut out the eyes and stuck them in place and edged them with some collage paper so they looked like the owl was peeking out of the hollow.

As you can see the naughty owl jumped out of the hollow onto the branch to say “Boo!”. Once the owl was pieced together, I coloured the small feather detail using the white gel pen or a pencil. To finish, I added the wording which I die cut from orange paper using a Sizzix Thinlit alphabet die set.

Please pop over to A Vintage Journey where you’ll find some fabulous tags created by my fellow Creative Guides too and don’t forget there is still another week to join our Numbers challenge too.

I recently bought these cute owls from the supermarket when I was food shopping, I thought that they’d make a lovely addition to my autumnal and winter displays – aren’t they adorable!

Of course, I based the design of the ghostly white owl that is on my tag on this one although he is more cute than grumpy (grin!).

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.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this double-sided tag:     

• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Halloween #TH93727)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199, Dark Sepia 175 B, Sanguine 233 B)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Leon X-Large Coloured Paper (Black, Orange, Light Blue, Dark Blue, Beige)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Garden Green 661206, Fall Foilage 660955, Arthur 664730)
• Recycled white paper
• Colourcraft Brusho Colours (Yellow, Sandstone, Orange, Brilliant Red, Moss Green, Dark Brown)
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CR0240/GE)
• Stix2 Glue Dots
• Recycled grey and lined paper from old diary
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
• Spectrum Aqua Marker (Topaz)
• Pritt Stick
• Sizzix Thinlits Die Set by Sophie Guilar (Doodle Alphabet & Numbers #663408)
• American Crafts We R Memory Keepers (Crop-A-Dile and Standard Eyelets 41582-4)

Challenges I’m so pleased to join in the fun over at Tag Tuesday and their All Hallow’s Eve challenge with my ghostly owl tag – Boo! I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Halloween challenge with my Peek-a-Boo owl tags. I’m also pleased to join the LTSCB #138 – Fall Back over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Halloween tag. I’m so pleased to be able to join in the Anything Goes over at Paperbabe Stamps with my fun double-sided tag. I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my tag too.

Summer Fun

I received another lovely surprise in the post, a gorgeous summer vibe card from my dear friend Nan. She knows how much I love the beach and ice cream so her card is perfect – thanks so much!

My page was inspired by Nan’s fabulous card design with the pastel-shade colours, the beach and summer vibe, the words/text, and of course the ice cream (grin!).

I coloured the background using Spectrum Aqua markers by scribbling the marker onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and then pressing the block or dripping the ink onto the page. I mopped up wet ink with a piece of kitchen towel so the colours merged into each other; the Spectrum Aqua colours I applied were Yellow, Sea Green, Topaz, Aquamarine, Orange, Crimson, Purple and Gold. My hubby says it looks like melted ice cream (grin!).

When dry I added lots of words related to summer which are rub-on transfers. I stamped the beach huts onto some mixed media paper using black Archival Ink and then coloured them with Uni Posca paint pens; the colours I used were Violet, Pink, Yellow, Light Blue, Red, Orange and Light Green. I fussy cut them out and stuck them to the page using a glue stick. The little tags were cut from white linen textured card stock using Tag Collection Framelits from Tim Holtz and edged using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker.

I added some little hearts to the tags which were cut from some different colours of Sizzix adhesive backed cardstock that was kindly sent to me by Nan, using a heart punch kindly gifted by CJ – thank you both! To finish, I added some black brads to the tags and then some ice-lolly/popsicle stickers.

With Nan’s amazing writing and adornments, my hubby instantly knew who the card was from when he saw the envelope on the door mat; he was all smiles when he told me something had arrived in the post (grin!). On opening it he noticed the ice cream van straight away, not surprising as he loves ice cream so much (double grin!). It’s so kind and thoughtful of Nan and very much appreciated – thanks very much!

Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Alison AKA Craftytrog over at Art Journal Journey and her Pockets and Tags challenge this month; the hearts on my tiny tags were inspired by Alison’s journal pages – thank you!

I’m joining in the fun I do like to be beside the seaside challenge over at Country View Challenges with my summer beach vibe page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the #126 – Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page.

I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too.

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

• Spectrum Aqua Artist Markers (Yellow, Sea Green, Topaz, Aquamarine, Orange, Crimson, Purple, Gold)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Summer Sentiments #ROY-505)
• Daler-Rowney Mixed Media Paper
• Hobbycraft Clear Stamp (Beach Huts 50254HC)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Posca Paint Pens (Violet, Pink, Yellow, Light Blue, Red, Orange, Light Green)
• Pritt Stick
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Linen Textured Cardstock CR0240/GE)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Artist Pen (Black 199)
• Heart punch – thanks CJ!
• Sizzix adhesive backed cardstock – thanks Nan!
• Home Bargains (Puffy Sticker Sheets – Sweet Like … 14227)

Cherry Beer

I had a lovely surprise as my hubby kindly bought me a bottle of cherry beer; this particular one comes with a paper wrap which he thought would be perfect to use on a journal page – how cool is that!

I really enjoyed using the paper wrap from the beer (grin!). I started by creating lots of tags and panels out of the paper wrap using a square die cut set and a Tim Holtz Framelit set; I mounted them onto some recycled card using a glue stick and then edged them using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker.

The background was created using the leftover pieces of the paper wrap which I collaged with some brown paper recycled from the parcel of goodies that CJ kindly sent to me. I lined the edges of the collaged papers using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker and then added some Pébéo white gesso using my finger. When dry, I gave it worn grungy look using some Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Then I arranged the tags and panels onto the background using either double-sided tape or double-sided foam tape. To finish, I added three large gold brads through the holes in the tags.

This beer is Bacchus Kriekenbier which is a Belgian fruit beer based on “Bacchus Oud Vlaams Bruin” (Old Flemish Brown) with the addition of “krieks” (Morello cherries). 

Flemish Old Brown is a dark brown beer flavoured with 15 % cherries which is matured in oak casks. It has a pleasant sour cherry taste  – so delicious!

As T Stands for Tuesday, my cherry beer is perfect to share with the T Gang too – Happy T Day everyone!

I hope that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

Challenges

I’m 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 AKA Craftytrog over at Art Journal Journey and her Pockets and Tags challenge this month with my cherry beer page.

I’m joining the It’s A Wrap challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the beer paper wrap that I used to create this page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page.

Don’t forget that you still have time to join our Tag You’re It challenge this month over at A Vintage Journey too, it would be lovely to see you there!

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

• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• The Works (Die Cutting Set – Squares)
• Paper wrap from Bacchus Cherry Beer
• Recycled card
• Pritt Stick
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Recycled brown paper – thanks CJ!
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape and foam tape
• Wilkos (Brads – Gold)

Just Perfect

I recently won one of the challenges over at Paperbabe Stamps so I was very excited to use the new stamp set that I chose as my prize – thanks so much!

The Paperbabes Stamp Set was “just perfect” for decorating the recycled tags on my page which I found when I was tidying my craft room; the tags were from clothing as well as towels and pottery.

I started by adding lots of the tags to the page using a glue stick and then covered them with several layers of Pébéo white gesso, letting each layer of gesso dry before adding the next.

Then I edged the tags with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker, smudging the ink with my finger. I added some washi tape to some of the tags and splattered the page then coloured the tags using Cerulean Blue Winsor & Newton watercolour paint. When the paint was dry I edged the tags and washi tape using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. Using black Archival Ink, I stamped the tags using a Spritz & Speckles stamp set, also from Paperbabe Stamps and then using a Gothic Book stamp from Finnabair. I stamped the tags using a Floral Icons stamp from Docrafts and Teal Zeal Memento Ink and then I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint. To finish, I added three copper butterflies and also a Kaisercraft sticker which reads “Just Perfect”.   

The washi tape and watercolours that I used for this page were part of the fabulous goodies that I received from CJ over at CJ & Ink – thanks very much!

Here’s the Spritz & Speckles stamp set that I won from Paperbabe Stamps too, I’m sure I’ll use this one a lot as it adds such lovely textures and grungy effects – thanks so much!

Hoping that you all stay safe and well! x

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Alison AKA Craftytrog over at Art Journal Journey and her Pockets and Tags challenge this month with all the tags on my page.

I’m joining in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Grunge It Up challenge with my grungy art journal page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the #126 – Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page.

Don’t forget that you still have time to join our Tag You’re It challenge this month over at A Vintage Journey too, it would be lovely to see you there!

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

• Recycled tags from clothing, towels and pottery
• Pritt Stick
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
• Winsor & Newton Watercolour Paint Set (Cerulean Blue)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Spritz & Speckles)
• Prima Marketing Finnabair Clear Stamp (Gothic Book 966966)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Floral Icons DCE907123)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Team Zeal)
• The Range (Craft Butterflies Stickers CRO420)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Pen & Ink SS360)

Love to Create

Our new challenge for the next two weeks over at Try it on Tuesday is Splash & Splatter.

I had so much fun splashing and splattering inks to create this page which compliments some beautiful postage stamps and paper that I received from CJ as a result of winning her prize draw, thank you so much for all the fabulous goodies – it’s very kind and much appreciated (grin!).

I started making the splashes and splatters of ink using Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks and Rose Bud and Bahama Blue Memento Inks. I did this by applying the ink pad to an acrylic block, holding the block over the page and then spritzing the ink with water until it dripped from the block, splashing and splattering onto the page; I applied the Distress Inks first and when dry I added the Memento Inks drying each of the inks using a heat gun before adding the next one. The wording was cut from some black paper and some pretty aqua green paper that CJ kindly sent to me, using Shadow Script Thinlet set from Tim Holtz; you may be aware that this particular Thinlet set doesn’t contain the word “to” so I cut it out from the word “story”.  

As part of my design I choose to use some beautiful birds and flowers postage stamps from CJ. I made some tags using recycled clothes packaging which I coloured using the two Memento Inks and some leftover off-cuts of the pretty aqua green paper.

The tags were edged with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and splattered with black DecoArt acrylic paint. After mounting the postage stamps onto some white card to give them more stability, I stuck them onto the tags using double-sided tape and then used the same tape to stick the tags in place which finished the page.

For more inspiration, my fellow Design Teamies have also been having fun with our Splash and Splatter challenge, so please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see their wonderful creations!

As you may remember, CJ kindly had a prize draw to share some of her goodies with us and kindly agreed to send some goodies to someone outside the US too. I was so thrilled to have won and received this gift box, full of amazing goodies! Even the lovely tissue paper is something I’ll be using for my pages too (grin!).

Here’s what the box contained as you can see it was jam packed – thank you so very much!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my water flask that I take with me whilst out walking, this was a recent visit to Lytham Hall as you can see the flower beds are full of gorgeous colour (grin!). Wishing you a very Happy T Day!

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.

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 Alison AKA Craftytrog over at Art Journal Journey and her Pockets and Tags challenge this month with the tags that I created for this page.

I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their  Midsummer Blues challenge with the blue splashes of ink and pretty blue bird on my page.

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

• Tim Holtz idea-ology Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean, Cracked Pistachio)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Rose Bud, Bahama Blue)
• Ranger Mini Spritzer
• Gift from CJ – thank you so much!
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Shadow Script #1 662684)
• Leon X-Large Coloured Paper Pad (Black)
• Recycled packaging from socks
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Artist Pitt Pen (Black 199)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• White card stock
• Pritt Stick
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Let nature be your calming breath

This month over at A Vintage Journey our challenge is Tag You’re It, which is being hosted by the lovely Amanda. Here’s what it’s all about:

“We would love to see what you create with, or on, hang tags. Your hang tags can be created from any material or be any size. We would just love to see that iconic hang shape front and centre in your design.  Just remember to create your project in one of our preferred styles: vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk”.

Creating tags for an art journal page is always fun, so, inspired by nature I designed these layered tags – I love the way they turned out (grin!).

For the main hang tag on my art journal page design, I cut out the largest tag from Kraft card stock from the Tag Collection Framelit set by Tim Holtz. Like all the tags, I coloured the inside panel of the tag using a white Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and edged it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink using a blending tool and a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. I also die cut the tag-hole reinforcement using the same Framelit set from butterfly/script design paper.

To embellish this tag I cut three panels from the same Kraft card stock and then layered papers over the top of them using a glue stick. The papers included: some embossed gold napkin; some dressmaking tissue paper which I had stamped using a Finnabair stamp and some black Archival ink; and some torn pieces of the butterfly/script design paper. I layered some Field Notes ephemera from Tim Holtz over the top and added some tiny leaves; the leaves were cut using some Funky Florals Thinlets by Tim Holtz from some recycled notepaper which I had coloured with Mowed lawn, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles Distress Ink. On the top and bottom panels I added the white wording “Live simple” and “Love this life” which are rub-on transfers from Tim Holtz. The three panels were stuck to the hang tag using double-sided tape.

I followed the same process to create the other tags layering them together with the ephemera and leaves – I love the pretty dragonfly! The letters creating the “Let nature be your calming breath” wording were cut from the same green paper that I used for the leaves using an Alphanumeric Labels Thinlet set by Tim Holtz and once glued in place they were outlined using a white gel pen and a black Uni Pin marker so they stood out more.

I mounted all the tags on my page which was covered with the same embossed gold napkin, dressmaking tissue paper (stamped using a Finnabair stamp and some black Archival ink) and butterfly/script design paper that I had used on the tags. Then to finish, I splattered the whole page with some Pébéo white gesso.

I hope you are inspired to join in the Tag You’re It challenge over at A Vintage Journey too, for more inspiration you’ll find some amazing creations from my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey, it would be lovely to see you there!

As you may know, my favourite colour is blue and this plant in particular from my garden reminded me of my page, it’s a Salvia nemorosa called “Blue Marvel” and the bees and insects love it!

My page also reminds me of a frequent visitor to our garden, a small blue butterfly called Common Blue which has proved difficult to photograph. So I was pleased when my dear friend who we walk with, shared this photo of a Large Blue which it is related to and this is one of the rarest blue butterflies in the UK.

I hope that you’re all keeping 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 join the lovely Alison AKA Craftytrog over at Art Journal Journey and her Pockets and Tags challenge this month with the nature inspired tags on this page.

I’m also pleased to join the Use Your Favourite Tool challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge as I wouldn’t be without my Tim Holtz Thinlets and Big Shot machine that I used to created my page.

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

• Kraft card stock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt Artist Pen (White 101, Cold Grey IV 233)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles)
• Napkin
• Style Dressmaking Pattern Tissue Paper
• Prima Marketing Finnabair Clear Stamp (Gothic Book 966966)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Butterfly/Script Design Paper – local craft shop
• Pritt Stick
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Ephemera Pack (Field Notes #TH94051)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Funky Florals #2 662701, Alphanumeric Label 664177)
• Recycled Notebook Paper
• Stix2 double sided-tape
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Pébéo White Gesso

Create Art/Be Brave Tag

Today over at A Vintage Journey it’s Tag Friday, there is no particular theme as it’s all about creating something you love, experimenting and having fun! I hope that you will join our tag challenge, it would be lovely to see you there!

Spending more time in my garden means that my art is being inspired by some of the beautiful flowers which are blooming at the moment, so today’s double-sided tag features purple poppies and rudbeckia.

The tag itself was made from a large Poster Card by Tim Holtz and I added some texture and colour to the edges of it by applying some Broken China Distress Embossing Glaze and then some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. As I planned to use Faber-Castell Gelatos on both tags, I applied some white gesso to the tag first; this enhanced the colours and made it easier to apply the Gelatos. When the gesso was dry, I scribbled Kiwi and Aqua Dolce Faber-Castell Gelatos over the top smudging the colour with my finger.

Next I removed some of the Gelato colours using a baby wipe through a Halftone stencil from Tim Holtz and I used the stencil again to add some Memento Inks; I used Cottage Ivy ink for the poppy background and Paris Dusk ink for the rudbeckia background.

I stamped a document stamp and a grunge stamp from two different Tim Holtz stamp sets using black Archival Ink and then some leaf stamps from Carabelle Studios using Cottage Ivy Memento Ink for the poppy tag and London Fog Memento Ink for the rudbeckia tag. To finish the backgrounds, I added some rub-on transfers from a Specimen Remnant Rubs set by Tim Holtz.

The flowers were stamped onto some Mixed Media paper using a Stamping Platform to ensure a clear crisp finish. The stamps are from a Flower Garden stamp set by Tim Holtz and are stamped using black Archival Ink. The foliage was coloured using Sap Green Kuretake watercolour paint and highlighted using Lime Green and Forest Green Winsor & Newton Promarkers.

I had fun painting the poppy using Colbalt Violet, Black and White Kuretake watercolour paints and I coloured the edges of the petals using Amethyst Winsor & Newton Promarker. I used Lime Green and Canary Promarkers to colour the centre of the flower and a white Uniball gel pen, a black Uni Pin marker and a Cool Grey Promarker for the stamens. The flower was stuck in place using a glue stick and some glue dots and I added the “Create Art” wording which was a Quote Chip from Tim Holtz that was edged using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker.

The rudbeckia flower was painted using Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Scarlet, Black, White and Burnt Umber Sienna Kuretake watercolour paints and a Canary Promarker. I used a black Uni Posca paint pen and a black Uni Pin marker to add the texture to the stamens. I added the “Be Brave” wording and edged both tags using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. To finish, I added an eyelet with my Crop-A-Dile machine to reinforce the hole as I’m using a book ring to secure all of my double-sided tags together as part of my Tag Journal (grin!).

For more Tag Friday inspiration, please pop over to A Vintage Journey where you’ll find some fabulous tags created by my fellow Creative Guides. I hope you are inspired to join us as I’m so looking forward to seeing your tag designs!

These purple poppies are a welcome addition to our flower bed and were totally unplanned; I think the birds must have brought them into the garden (grin!). They have been flowering non-stop since the beginning of July. I’m featuring them again as some of you had never seen them before so I thought I’d share some more information about them:

• This particular poppy is called Papaver Somniferum “Hungarian Blue” and is an heirloom variety with single flowers.
• They are gorgeous purple-violet shades with dark inner markings on each petal.
• They are easy to grow being ideal as a cut flower and the dried seed pods can also be used in flower arranging.
• They grow to a height of 90cm.

The rudbeckia has just started flowering and adds a happy vibrant yellow to our flower bed; this particular one is Rudbeckia Fulgida ”Goldsturm” and is also known as the Golden Cone Flower or Black Eyed Susan.

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

I’m pleased to join the Summer challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my summer flower tags.

I’m joining in the fun at Country View Challenges and their Do What Makes You Happy Challenge with my flower tags as although I always find making tags a bit daunting I always enjoy making them; they also make me smile when I look at them as they are always on display in my craft room.

I’m joining in the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this double-sided tag:     

• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Glaze (Broken China)
• Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Kiwi, Aqua Dolce)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Halftone THS144)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy, Paris Dusk, London Fog)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Stamp Set (Documented CMS226, Urban Tapestry CMS061, Flower Garden CMS215)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Carabelle Studios Art Stamp (Dans la nature, il y a … SA60175)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Specimen #TH94047)
• Daler-Rowney Mixed Media Paper
• Ranger Tonic Studios Stamping Platform
• Kuretake Gambai Watercolour Paints (Sap Green No.53, Colbalt Violet No.139, Black No.20, White No.10, Lemon Yellow No.40, Cadmium Scarlet No.31, Burnt Sienna No.46)
• Winsor & Newton Promarkers (Lime Green G178, Forest Green G356, Amethyst V626, Cool Grey 4 CG4, Canary Y367)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (Black)
• Pritt Stick
• Stix2 Glue Dots
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Quote Chips #TH96563)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt Artist Pen (Black 199)
• American Crafts Crop-A-Dile (Hole Punch & Eyelet Setter, Standard Eyelets – Black)

Sewing Bee

I always enjoy watching The Great British Sewing Bee on the TV and now it’s finished it inspired my to create this vintage sewing page – such fun!

I started by covering the page with an old napkin using a glue stick and when dry I edged the page with Vintage Photo Distress Ink using a blending tool. I added some vintage sewing designed gold outline stickers which included a pair of scissors, a thimble, needles and pins, cross-stitches, flower shapes, a cotton reel, a pin cushion and a sewing machine. The “Sewing Bee” wording was constructed using letter outline stickers too.

For the tags I covered a piece of white card with some dressmaking pattern tissue paper and some of the napkin that I used on the page background. Then I cut three different sizes of tag and some circular reinforcements using the Tim Holtz Tag Collection Framelits and my Big Shot machine. I applied some Vintage Photo Distress Ink using a blending tool to each of the die cut pieces and then collaged some sewing related Tim Holtz stickers onto the tags which I edged with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker so they stood out more. I added a circular reinforcement to each tag and threaded some cotton through them; the threads were leftover from some sewing that I’ve been doing. To finish, I added some outline stickers of cross-stitches, needles and pins and some the lace and silk flowers to the tags; they are stuck in place using double-sided foam tape.

If you haven’t seen or heard of The Great British Sewing Bee it’s a television programme on BBC1. It’s a spin off of The Great British Bake Off and is a reality show where amateur sewers compete to be named “Britain’s best home sewer”; they compete in a Pattern challenge, Alteration challenge and Made-to-measure challenge each week.

If you are interested you may be able to access the programmes here BBC programmes – The Great British Sewing Bee (this link may only be available to those of you who live in the UK).

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m showing you my cuppa by my sewing machine, like everyone I’ve been making face masks (that’s where the leftover threads came from for my page); the material is recycled from one of my hubby’s old summer shirts (grin!).

Hope that you are all staying safe and well! x

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

Challenges

I’m 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 Halle from Halle’s Hobbies over at Art Journal Journey and her A Stitch In Time challenge this month with my Sewing Bee page.

I’m joining the Cattywampus challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the askew tags and stickers on this page.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

I’m also happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my Sewing Bee art journal page.

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

• Napkin
• Pritt Stick
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Sew Retro – Gold ANT810136, Flower Blossom –Gold ANT810143)
• Outline Stickers (Alphabet – Gold)
• White Cardstock
• Style Dressmaking Pattern Tissue Paper
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Salvage Stickers (Crowded Attic #TH92898)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt Artist Pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• The Works (Self-Adhesive Lace Trim)
• The Range (Crafting Flowers)
• X-Press It! double-sided foam tape