Thank you so much

As you may know we enjoy walking and often walk with our friends and their dog, Chase. Last weekend we were lucky enough to look after Chase while our friends were away – she is such a lovely companion and a joy to be around!

As a thank you we received a gorgeous metal mushroom ornament for our garden which inspired my page (grin!).

I started by applying Brushed Corduroy, Ground Espresso and Frayed Burlap Distress Ink using a blending tool and then spritzing the page with water to activate the ink so it blended more. I also added splatters to the page by stamping the same inks onto an acrylic block and diluting with water, then using a paintbrush to flick the ink onto the page. Then I applied Pébéo modelling paste through a honeycomb Dinky Stencil from That’s Crafty! using a palette knife and left it to dry overnight. Next I stamped some green leaves from a Crafter’s Companion stamp set using Cottage Ivy and Pistachio Memento Ink; as the green was too bright I covered them with Pébéo white gesso and then used the honeycomb stencil again to apply Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink over the top. Next I used some Kaisercraft clear stamps to add more detail to the background, this included: a Script stamp using black Archival Ink; a flower stamp using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink; and a foliage stamp using Peeled Paint Distress Ink. The mushrooms are fussy cut from an old Nature Book that I bought from a charity shop (thrift store); I only chose ones which can be found in gardens in the UK. They are stuck into place using a UHU Stic and I added more detail using a black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball gel pen as well as some shadows using a Topaz Spectrum Aqua Marker. I added the words “how lovely” from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet which I outlined with a black Uni Pin marker and also some pretty paper flowers. To finish, I added the “Thank you so much” tag which I edged with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink; this tag came attached to the metal mushrooms that we were gifted (grin!).

You may remember Chase from a previous post; here she is sitting in my friend’s garden.

This is the metal mushroom ornament, isn’t it amazing! I love the rusty look and it was the perfect gift because as you may know my goal is to sort out and replant our flower beds this year – this so thoughtful, thank you!

Some of you have expressed a wish to see my flower beds, this is what they look like at the moment. The plants are all new including two apple trees which have replaced some huge shrubs that filled the borders.

I’m aiming for a cottage garden look and to be honest I’m not much of a gardener so it’s been a big learning curve for me, which I love! You can see our beautiful walls and all the flowers which make me smile. We have also seen an increase of butterflies and bees in our garden already so we have their seal of approval too (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 Chris from Pearshapedcrafting, who is hosting the Arts for Art’s Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey.

With the distressed look and feel of my page I’m joining in the fun over at The Artistic Stamper where their challenge is Distress It!

I’m joining the Get Sentimental challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my Mixed Media Style “Thank you so much” page.

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

As this page was inspired by the beautiful mushroom ornament in my garden, I’m also pleased to be able to join the In The Summer Garden challenge over at Country View Challenges.

Over at the That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog, their challenge is Close to Nature so I’m happy to join them with my mushroom art journal page.

I’m also pleased to join the Allsorts Challenge Blog and their In my Garden challenge as this page is inspired by metal mushrooms that you can find in my garden.

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 (Brushed Corduroy, Ground Espresso, Frayed Burlap, Peeled Paint)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Rich Cocoa, Cottage Ivy, Pistachio)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Topaz)
• That’s Crafty! Dinky Stamps (Reverse Honeycomb TC031)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752, Magnolia Grove CS822)
• Crafter’s Companion Signature Collection by Sara Davies (Rustling Leaves S-AUT-ST-RUS)
• The Illustrated Book of Nature
• Kaisercraft Sticker Set (Secret Garden SS283)
• Gift Tag
• UHU Stic
• Stix 2 Mini Craft Dots

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Recycle Something

Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday for the next two weeks is Recycle Something and the design team have created some amazing inspirational projects, so please pop over and take a look.  I hope you will join us as I’m looking forward to seeing all of your recycled creations!

I always have lots of different bits and pieces to recycle in my craft stash so I decided to create an art journal page using recycled packaging, a birthday card insert, magazines, postage stamps, tags, a doily and some buttons.

I started by applying some Dark Sepia Big Brush marker by scribbling the ink onto an acrylic block and using a wet stiff-bristled paintbrush to apply it to the page creating faint lines of colour. I added a piece of bordered paper recycled from a birthday card to the right-hand of the page and then for the first layer of collage, I used some pieces of an old music magazine and box packaging which included an international postage document, some brown strapping tape which had threads running through it and brown corrugated cardboard. I tore these items into pieces and like all the collaged items they are edged with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker and stuck them to the page using a UHU Stic. I also used the threads of the brown strapping tape to add texture by fanning them out on the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium to hold them in place. I arranged them with three British postage stamps, from 1973 and 1974, which I recycled from my hubby’s childhood collection; they were already on torn envelopes which I left as part of the collage so they are exactly the same as my hubby left them as a child which makes them even more special to me. Next I added lines of white and black DecoArt acrylic paint using a recycled gift card to add some depth and interest. The second layer of collage consisted of some more of the brown strapping tape and some turquoise speckled paper from a magazine which I cut into rectangles and layered onto the page. Then I covered the whole page with splatters of white and black DecoArt acrylic paint. The letters are cut from various magazines and once the glue had dried I edged them with a black Derwent Graphik pen. I then added recycled tags from some bath towels, clothing and a birthday present; I adorned the tag holes with some recycled metal press studs which still had cotton threads attached and then I stuck them to the page using either double-sided tape or double-sided foam tape. For the central tag, I used a recycled doily that was used to serve some after dinner mints on from a restaurant we went to; it is torn into quarters and stuck to one of the brown tags, and the butterfly and torn brown card with the metal brad is recycled from a birthday gift tag. To finish, I added the buttons which are recycled from the button stash that I have accumulated from different clothing over the years.

Being Easter this weekend we received a couple of lovely Easter eggs from family, so I used them to make these Easter chocolate nests by melting the chocolate eggs and using it to cover Rice Crispy cereal, then filling each of the nests with homemade chocolate fudge icing and some chocolate mini eggs, chocolate covered raisins and tiny marshmallows – so yummy!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our cup of green tea and chocolate nests that we’ve been having for our elevenses and wishing you all a Happy T Day! I apologise in advance as I’ll probably be late visiting you as it’s my birthday today so we have a few celebrations planned, which I’ll be sure to share with you soon (grin!).

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/Craftytrog, who is hosting the Recycle and Collage challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my recycled collage art journal page!

As I reused materials to create this page, I’m pleased to join the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Pimp It Up! (reuse or alter something) challenge.

I’m happy to be able to join the Simply Neutrals Tuesday party again over at Apple Apricot where a splash of colour is acceptable so I do hope my page of neutrals with the blue is ok.

I’m also joining 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:

• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia B 175)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.3mm)
• Recycled Birthday card – paper insert
• Recycled packaging box – document, strapping tape, corrugated box
• Old magazines – music, letters, turquoise splattered paper
• Postage Stamps (British 4.5p from 1973 and two x 6.5p from 1974) – recycled from hubby’s childhood collection
• Recycled Tags – towels, clothing, birthday with butterfly and brad
• Doily recycled from restaurant
• Recycled Metal Press Studs with cotton threads from clothing they were removed from
• Buttons
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Melt It! – Four Seasons

I’m so excited and honoured to be a Pinworthy Guest Designer over at A Vintage Journey and my seasonal heart decorations are inspired by their challenge – Melt It! Julia is the host for this challenge and kindly provided the following brief:

This month we’re asking everyone to MELT IT! Get out the UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel), beeswax, encaustic wax, embossing powders or good old wax crayons and a heat tool and get melting to create something in a vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journaling; industrial, timeworn or steampunk style.

So today I’m sharing how I created a heart decoration for each of the four seasons and as I love creating my art journal pages and projects using mixed media, I chose to create these decorations in the Mixed Media Style for A Vintage Journey. I had so much fun melting both embossing powder for the backgrounds and also embossing enamels for the birds on my Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter decorations (grin!).

These decorations are wonderful additions to the seasonal window displays that I create throughout the year, which you may be aware of from my previous post.

I started by stamping the heart tags with different stamps using Emboss ink, the stamps included: a rose design from a Penny Black stamp set for spring; flowers and swirls from the same Penny Black stamp set and also a flower design from Hampton Art for summer; some leaves from Royal & Langnickel for autumn and finally snowflakes from BoBunny for winter. I covered each of them with white Stampendous embossing powder, shook off the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper and also tapped the heart to make sure any stray powder was removed. Then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder by sweeping the gun over the stamped images, taking care not to direct the heat in one area for too long until the embossing powder melted to a glossy finish and became smooth and dimensional. I repeated the same process to decorate the back of the heart too, making sure I suspended the heart when heating the embossing powder to ensure the reverse side did not stick to my craft mat. Next I applied two different Memento Inks for each of the hearts using a blending tool, which emphasised the melted embossing powder beautifully. The ink colours I used were Pistachio and Angel Pink for spring, Lilac Posies and Dandelion for summer, Morocco and Toffee Crunch for autumn and Summer Sky and London Fog for winter.

The branches and foliage for spring, autumn and winter are die cut using Garden Greens Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz from different design papers with my new Big Shot machine. They are coloured using Spectrum Aqua markers which I applied like watercolour by scribbling the marker onto an acrylic block and picking up the ink with a wet paintbrush; the colours I used were Bud Green and Moss for spring, Chestnut and Sepia for autumn and Chocolate for winter. I used some tiny maple leaves that I had in my craft stash to decorate the autumn branch which I coloured using Crimson, Orange and Gold Spectrum Aqua Markers. All of these paper elements are stuck to the heart using a Zig Memory System glue pen. For summer, I used some sunflower border stickers by Docrafts Papermania.

For the birds, I used some wooden bird shapes which I covered in Emboss ink and Stampendous Frantage embossing enamel; this enamel was a Christmas present so this is the first time I had used it and I love it, it’s such an amazing medium to use (grin!). I shook off the excess enamel pieces and then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing enamel until it melted to a smooth glossy finish. Be careful not to touch the melted embossing enamel until cooled as it gets very hot when heated. For spring I used Aged Hunter, for summer Aged Silver, for autumn Aged Marine and winter Aged Scarlet. The birds are stuck in place using Ranger Glossy Accents.

Next I embellished the spring branches with some pretty flower beads to represent spring blossoms using Glossy Accents and the winter berries using Christmas Red Stickles from Ranger. The wording is stamped onto thick paper using a Dovecraft alphabet stamp set and different Memento Inks; Rich Cocoa for spring, Cottage Ivy for summer, Elderberry for autumn and Blue Danube for winter. They are stuck down using the Zig Memory System glue pen. To finish, I added a piece of white paper twine and also threaded some flower, metal and bevelled glass beads on a piece of thread and tied them with some ribbons around the twine.

I really enjoyed joining A Vintage Journey to Melt It! and create my Four Seasons heart decorations. I hope you are inspired by this month’s challenge too and are able to join in the fun!

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 these decorations:

• Tsukeniko Emboss Embossing Ink Pad (Clear)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Toffee Crunch, Angel Pink, Rich Cocoa, Lilac Posies, Dandelion, Cottage Ivy, Morocco, Toffee Crunch, Elderberry, Summer Sky, London Fog, Danube Blue)
• Stampendous Frantage Embossing Enamel Holiday Kit (Aged Hunter, Aged Silver, Aged Marine, Aged Scarlet)
• Spectrum Aqua Markers (Bud Green, Moss, Crimson, Orange, Gold, Chestnut, Sepia, Chocolate)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Penny Black Stamp Set (Clearly in Love 30-009)
• Hampton Art Studio G Clear Stamps (Series 11 VS4911)
• Royal & Langnickel Clear Choice Stamps (Pressed Leaves MIN-CCS102)
• BoBunny Stamps (Snow Day 13705563)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Crafter’s Companion Luxury Designer Paper Pad (Angelica & Adam Collection A&A-PAP6-M)
• The Works M&C Boutique (Design Block)
• Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CR0701/16PL1)
• Wilko (5 Heart Gift Tags)
• Craft for Occasions (C2026 – wooden bird and bunnies)
• Docrafts Papermania Signature 3D Floral Borders (Sunflower Burst PMA8011000)
• The Brighton Bead Shop (Assorted beads – flower, glass, metal, bevelled)
• Thick black thread
• Recycled ribbons from Christmas Crackers
• Satin ribbon (Green, Pink, Tan, Blue)
• Ranger Stickles (Christmas Red)
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (The Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• UHU Glue Pen

A Sprinkle of Magic

I couldn’t wait to use my new Big Shot die cutting machine which I received for Christmas so I created this page (grin!).

You may have seen that I referred to it in my last post and I was amazed at how many of you guessed correctly (double grin!). I’d also like to thank everyone for all their lovely wishes of congratulations when I became a member of the Try it on Tuesday Design Team too, I’m overwhelmed by your kindness, thank you!

To create the background, I added Hickory Smoke, Tea Dye and Milled Lavender Distress Inks by applying the ink pads to an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page. Then I stamped a couple of snowflake designs from BoBunny using London Fog, Toffee Crunch and Lulu Lavender Memento Inks. Next I created all the lovely leaves from different design papers using my new Big Shot; I chose a blue colour palette to give a wintry and frosty feel to the page. I used a holly die to create the leaves and had such fun using the Big Shot to produce them all, as you can see I made quite a few (grin!). I edged each of the leaves with a grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to make them stand out a bit more from the background, which took quite some time! Then I layered them onto the page using glue dots or double-sided foam tape and a Zig Memory System glue pen. Once in place I also curled the leaves so they looked more dimensional. The pretty bird and fence posts are fussy cut from last year’s calendar and are edged with grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker; the calendar features British Birds and this one is called a Great Tit which frequents woodland and gardens alike. They are stuck down using a UHU Stic and I added some of the leaves around them too. Next I added a pretty winter scene tag by Pion Designs, a sticker from Graphic 45 and also some words which I cut from an old magazine, mounted onto a piece of thick paper and stuck into place using double-sided foam tape. The words read “A sprinkle of magic” which reminds me of frost and snow this time of year. To finish, I added Icicle Sparkles to the snow on the fence posts and lots of blue gems using Glossy Accents.

I had so much fun using my Big Shot and having never used a die cutting machine before, I had a fun adventure finding out how it worked and how to use it (grin!). I have a very limited supply of dies at the moment but couldn’t wait to get creative so made do with what I had and I love the page that resulted!

If you have any suggestions of brands or actual dies that you would recommend and couldn’t live without, then please let me know by leaving a comment below. This will help me decide what to put on my wish list as I really don’t know where to start (double grin!).

As I included my cuppa in the photo above, I’m pleased to join Bleubeard and Elizabeth and the rest of the T Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday – sending you all Happy T day wishes!

If you are wondering, here’s the photo of my craft room from my last post, you can see my new Big Shot on the left-hand side (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 Erika N, also known as BioArtGal, who is hosting the New Year, New Adventures challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my winter page that I created on my Big Shot adventure (grin!).

With my wintry page I’m pleased to join Moo Mania & More and their Frosty Winter challenge .

With the blue colours that I used to create this page, I’m also happy to join Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Winter Blues challenge.

Including stamping means I’m also able to join in the fun over at The Artistic Stamper and their Anything Goes challenge.

I’m also pleased to be able to join Country View Challenges and this month’s Anything Goes challenge.

As I used stamping and other mixed media to create my art journal page, I’m pleased to join the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge and their January Challenge: Anything Goes!: (stamping MUST be included). 

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, Tea Dye, Milled Lavender)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (London Fog, Toffee Crunch, Lulu Lavender)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• BoBunny Stamps (Snow Day #13705563)
• The Range Festive Collection (5×5 Dies Holly)
• Poundland Design Pad (Pure Frozen CRO701/16PL4, Contemporary Christmas CRO701K/P4)
• Festive Silhouettes free with magazine (Luxury Stamp Set and Foiled Paper)
• Poundland (Glitter Sheets 116432)
• British Birds Calendar 2017 – recycled
• Pion Design Glistening Season 12×12” paper sheet (Tags – PD6612)
• Graphic 45 Cardstock Stickers (Place in Time 4500617)
• Hobbycraft Decorative Embellishments (Blue Round Gems 566538101)
• Ranger Stickles (Icicle)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (The Dual Action Glue Pen)
• UHU Stic
• Wilko (Sticky Dots)
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

My Favourite Things

I’m thrilled and honoured to be able to join the Design Team at Try it on Tuesday and I’d like to thank the wonderful team for inviting me. Being part of this team is very special to me as Try it on Tuesday is one of the first challenge blogs that I ever joined and I have very fond memories of when I made their “Top 5” and was subsequently asked to be a guest designer for one of the challenges!

A little about me:
I live by the sea in the North West of England with my hubby and I started Art Journaling just over 2 years ago as a way of expressing my life through words and pictures. I love using mixed media and I’m captivated by the variety of techniques and materials that can be used to create so many different styles of art. I’ve always been a creative person, and this has now become a passion of mine which I like to share with others.

Here at Try it on Tuesday we have a new challenge theme every two weeks and we would love for you to join us. Today we are launching the My Favourite Things theme where you are asked to use a favourite technique, stamp, stencil, ink or paint etc, which gave me lots of inspiration when I created this page.

I started the page using one of my favourite techniques using Spectrum Aqua Markers and an acrylic block; I did this by scribbling Sea Green, Kingfisher and Peacock Blue onto an acrylic block, spritzing the block with water then pressing it onto the page. I love the way the ink blends and imprints the page with colour creating some lovely textures. Next I selected my favourite hearts and circle stamp from Sugarloaf Inc. and stamped it on the page using Bahama Blue Memento Ink. Then I used an “Art is” stencil by The Crafter’s Workshop to stencil some black DecoArt acrylic paint using a sponge and I also splattered some of this paint over the page using a paintbrush. This stencil is a favourite of mine as I can really relate to the words which read:

When the paint had dried I used the stencil again to add Pébéo modelling paste over the top of the black paint using a palette knife. After the paste had dried I coloured it with Black Soot Distress Ink using a blending tool and then some Boysenberry, Snow Cone, Coconut and Kiwi Faber-Castell Gelatos by simply brushing the gelato directly over the top; gelatos are one of my favourite mediums too. Then I splattered the page using a white Uni Posca paint pen. Next I chose another of my favourite stamps to stamp the birds sitting on a branch directly onto the page and also onto a piece of patterned paper from a Design Pad from Crafter’s Companion. I fussy cut the birds out of the paper and stuck them over the stamped bird images on the page using double-sided tape. The “My Favourite Things” wording is formed from Label Letters from idea-ology by Tim Holtz which I mounted on three tags. The tags are covered with the appropriate word definition from my old school Oxford Pocket Dictionary using a UHU Stic; the edges of which are stamped with the heart and circle design from Sugarloaf Inc. using the Bahama Blue Memento Ink and Twisted Citron Distress Ink. They are edged with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker as well as Black Soot Distress Ink using a blending tool and then stuck to the page using double-sided tape. I also punched some hearts from the dictionary paper using a Tonic Studio paper punch; they are stamped, edged and stuck to the page the same way as the tags. I used the Label Letters again to add the names of the favourite things I used, to remind me of how I created this page. To finish, I stuck some paper flowers next to each of the words using Ranger Glossy Accents.

I thought you may like to see where I create my art, here’s my craft room. My hubby built the units for me and I painted them with chalk paint – I love it! My new Christmas present is on display too, can you guess what it might be (grin!).

I had fun using some of my favourite techniques, inks, paints, stamps, stencils, and labels to create this page. I hope you will join in the fun over at Try it on Tuesday too, if you need more inspiration take a look at the wonderful creations from my fellow design team members.

I’m so looking forward to finding out what your favourite things are too!

How to join us:

• As long as you stay within the challenge theme you can make whatever you like such as a card, altered project, ATC, scrapbook page, tag, mixed media or anything else you might like to try, including digital art.
• Simply go to our Try it on Tuesday blog and use the “Inklinkz” tool to link directly to your post (and not just to your blog).
• Remember to incorporate our Try it on Tuesday link in your blog post too.
• You can find the full set of guidelines here.

I’m also joining the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge and their January Challenge: Anything Goes!: (stamping MUST be included).

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 (Sea Green, Kingfisher, Peacock Blue)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Bahama Blue)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Boysenberry, Snow Cone, Coconut, Kiwi)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot, Twisted Citron)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (White)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• The Crafter’s Workshop 6×6” Stencil, Designs by Jamie (Mini Art Is TCW261S)
• Craft Sensations (Clear Stamps CRO274/16R1)
• Sugarloaf Inc. wood mounted rubber stamp (26645)
• Crafter’s Companion Angelica & Adam Collection (Luxury Designer paper Pad A&A-PAP6-M)
• The Pocket Oxford Doctionary
• White card
• The Works (24 Assorted Craft Tags)
• Poundworld (Gem Florettes 117128)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Label Letters #TH93072)
• Tonic Studios Paper Punch (Classic Heart Sider 858E)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Vintage Christmas

Tidings of Comfort and Joy!

I hope you’re having a wonderful Christmastime and wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

Today’s page is inspired by Christmastime and all things vintage! I started by covering the page with a music sheet from a book of Christmas carols that I picked up in a charity shop (thrift store); you may know the carol and I liked that the title referenced both Christmas and the New Year. I ripped the page into three pieces and stuck them down along with some gold, gold star and gold holly tissue papers using a UHU Stic. When the glue had dried I added Toffee Crunch and Rich Cocoa Memento Inks to the edge of the page and papers using a blending tool. Next I stamped a snowflake design from the Woodware Craft Collection using Emboss ink, then I covered it with white Stampendous embossing powder and shook off the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper. I also tapped the page to make sure any stray powder was removed and then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder. I swept the gun over the stamped images, taking care not to direct the heat in one area for too long until the embossing powder changed to a glossy finish becoming smooth and dimensional. The gold trees are relief stickers by Crelando and the vintage images are cut using serrated scissors from an old magazine and a 12×12” paper sheet of Tags from the Glistening Season collection from Pion Designs; they are edged with the Toffee Crunch ink and arranged on the page using double-sided tape and some fabric washi tape. The “December 25” sign is a Victorian Christmas 3D sticker from Docrafts Papermania which I stuck down with a glass candy cane decoration. The candy cane is from an incomplete set of wine charms purchased at a charity shop; wine charms are small ornaments that you attach to a wine glass at a party so you know which glass is yours. I also tied some white paper twine to a round wooden tree tag and added it to the page. The white ribbon is recycled from a Christmas cracker and I tied it into a bow. To finish, I added lots of glittery gold snowflakes which are stickers.

I’d also like to thank the Allsorts Challenge Blog for my early Christmas present of the Pion Design paper and the Toffee Crunch Memento Ink that I used to create this page. I won them over at their challenge from Swedish House Crafts, along with some other goodies too (grin!).

I love Christmas music and play it at every opportunity this time of year (grin!), so I was really pleased to find a book of carols in my local charity shop. The carol I used for my page is “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen”, if you are interested:

• This carol is also known as “Tidings of Comfort and Joy”.
• It is a traditional English Christmas carol which is thought to date back to the 16^th Century. It was first published by William Sandys in 1833.
• This carol is referred to in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, 1843:  “… at the first sound of ‘God bless you, merry gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!’, Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost.”
• There have been many covers of this carol including Bing Crosby in 1947,  Nat King Cole in 1960, Nancy Sinatra in 1991, Mariah Carey in 1994, Glee in 2010 and many more. Each of the names is a link to their version of the carol – now I’m wondering which one you would choose to listen too?

I received a lovely surprise from my hubby, look what was waiting for me at elevenses with my cup of green tea – a yummy gingerbread Christmas Tree (grin!). As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and wishing you all a very Christmassy T Day!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with so much inspiration for my pages and it’s a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people too. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Sheila from Orange Esmeralda who is hosting the “Let’s Celebrate” challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my Vintage Christmas celebration!

I’m joining the Christmas” fun over at Country View Challenges where the theme is “Christmas with optional Reds, Greens and Rust”.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge the theme is “Party!” so I’m pleased to join them with my Vintage Christmas party!

I’m pleased to join the “Winter Wonderland” challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my vintage style page inspired by Christmastime, snow, carols and vintage wintry scenes.

I’m also joining the “Believe” challenge over at the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge with my vintage Christmas page as my design and colour palette was influenced by their inspirational photo – Merry Christmas!

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:

• Tsukeniko Memento Ink (Toffee Crunch, Rich Cocoa)
• Emboss Embossing Ink Pad (Clear)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque)
• Woodware Craft Collection Clear Magic Singles (Snowflakes FRS027)
• Tissue Paper (Gold, Gold Star, Gold Holly)
• The Oxford Book of Carols
• Pion Design Glistening Season 12×12” sheet (Tags – PD6612)
• Old Magazine
• Poundland (Fabric Tape 156456-GE16)
• The Works (Pack of 9 Wooden Tags)
• Docrafts Papermania Victorian Christmas (3D Christmas Stickers PMA805801)
• Wilko (Paper Twine)
• Re-cycled ribbon (White)
• Crelando Relief Stickers Christmas designs (12 Sheets IAN289011)
• The Pier (Wine Charms PLU2010838)
• Christmas-Craft (Glitter Embellishments Gold XCR0037)
• Fun Cut Scissors – serrated
• UHU Stic
• Docrafts Stick It! double-sided tape

Live, Laugh, Love

My journal page today is inspired by a sign we have hung in our kitchen “Live, Laugh, Love”. I’ve created it using some new bird stamps and two of my favourite colours of Distress Ink.

I started by stamping a Script stamp by Kaisercraft in the bottom left and top right corners of the page using black Archival Ink. Then to create glossy silhouettes, I stamped some filigree shapes from 7 Gypsies at Hampton Art using black Versafine Ink and applied black Papermania embossing powder over the top. I shook the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper and tapped the page against the table to make sure I had removed any stray powder. Once the excess powder was safely returned to its container, I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder. I swept the gun over the images, taking care not to direct the heat in one area for too long, until the embossing powder changed to a glossy finish becoming smooth and dimensional. Next I covered the page in Twisted Citron and Salty Ocean Distress Inks using a blending tool overlapping the colours and blending them together. I applied modelling paste through a stencil from Creative Expressions using a palette knife and left it to dry. Then I stamped a series of tiny heart outlines from a Christmas stamp set by Hallmark Cards and also some pretty birds sitting on branches by Craft Sensations using the black Archival Ink again. I really like the bird stamps as they look like they have been sketched onto the page and it was easy for me to mimic the stamp design using a black Derwent Graphik marker when I extended the branches to the edge of the page. The black chalkboard heart is a wooden tag on which I applied a rub-on transfer by Kaisercraft, I really like the distressed look of the sentiment which reads:

“LAUGH as much as you breathe and LOVE as long as you LIVE”

For the other sign, I got creative and used a thick piece of black card, which was recycled from some old packaging. I distressed the edges with scissors and stained them with a Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to match the colour of the heart edging. Next I fussy cut the “Live, Laugh, Love” wording from a vintage die cut shape and edged it with a green border using the rub-on transfers by Kaisercraft. I stuck it to the black card using a UHU Stic and then I used a black Derwent Graphik marker to give it a distressed look and drew a stitch pattern around the edge using a white Pentel gel pen. I’m pleased how these details helped the sign to match with the heart design. Both the heart and sign are stuck to the page using Glossy Accents. I finished the page by adding some blue and yellow paper flowers using the Glossy Accents again and adding some small black glossy flower and heart designer vinyl stickers by Craftime.

I think both sentiments on this page are great mottos to live by and even have a sign in our kitchen with the “Live, Laugh, Love” saying (grin!). This saying seems to be very common in homes today as it is often used on signs and mugs. It originated from a beautiful poem called “Success” written by Bessie Anderson Stanley in 1904 and is in essence a summary of the very first line:

“He achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; Who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; Who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; Who has never lacked appreciation of Earth’s beauty or failed to express it; Who has left the world better than he found it, Whether an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; Who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; Whose life was an inspiration; Whose memory a benediction”.

Challenges

I always enjoy using stencils on my pages so I’m joining in the fun over at Moo Mania & More with their “Put a Stencil On It” challenge and also Country View Challenges with their “Stencils” challenge.

As I used a lot of stamps to create this journal page, I’m also pleased to be able to join in the “November Challenge: Anything Goes!: (stamping MUST be included)” at the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge.

The faux stitching around the heart and sign means I’m also joining the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their “It’s A Stitch Up” theme.

Including and creating the glossy silhouettes was fun so I’m pleased to join the “Silhouettes” challenge over at the Mixed Media Monthly 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:

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tsukineko Versafine Ink (Onyx Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Twisted Citron, Salty Ocean)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199, Sanguine 188)
• Pentel Hybrid Grip Gel pen (White)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black PMA4021006)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Vintage cling mounted rubber stamps (Birdsong ICO151)
• Hallmark Cards Christmas clear stamp set
• Craft Sensations (Clear Stamps CRO274/16R1)
• Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan)
• The Works (Chalkboard Tags)
• The Works (Vintage Die Cut Shapes)
• Black cardboard – recycled packaging
• Kaisercraft Rub-on Transfers (Up, Up & Away Collection RB870, Lush Collection RB868)
• Craftime Designer Vinyls (B/W Boy & Girl PBDV02)
• The Works (Mini Paper Flower Embellishments)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• UHU Stic