Springtime

Posted on April 16, 2019 by Let's Art Journal

Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday is Springtime.

As usual, you have two weeks to create your art, you can use any medium and digital is always welcome. Don’t forget to check out the wonderful inspiration provided by the Design Team over at the blog too!

Inspired by springtime flowers, I collaged the background of the page using Tim Holtz Collage Paper and some white paper that I had stamped using a lilac stamp; they are stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. As I was experimenting stamping the lilacs using Magenta, Purple, Moss, Bud Green and Chocolate Spectrum Aqua Markers to give a watercolour effect I thought I would use them on this page rather than throw them away. Then using black Versafine Ink, I stamped the “springtime” wording using an alphabet stamp and also added some clocks, both from Docrafts, as well as some bees and butterflies from Hampton Arts. The daffodils are fussy cut from an old flower book and stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. When the gel medium was dry, I outlined them with a black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I coloured the wording using light green, yellow and pink Uni Posca paint pens and then covered each of the letters with Ranger Glossy Accents to give a 3D effect.

Whilst out walking around Glasson Dock for my birthday we saw lots of beautiful daffodils along the roadside.

These daffodils look just like the ones on my page (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing our pot of green tea that we had at a lovely café in Glasson Dock – Happy T Day everyone!

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 Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as my page links to having springtime fun.

I’m happy to be able to join the Easter and/or Spring challenge over at Country View Challenges with my springtime page.

I’m also joining in the Beautiful Blooms challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the stamped lilacs and pretty daffodils on my page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is New Growth, so I’m pleased to join this challenge too with my springtime 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:

Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Magenta, Purple, Moss, Bud Green, Chocolate)
Versafine Ink (Onyx Black)
Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
Uni Posca Paint Pen (Light Green, Pink, Yellow)
Docrafts Papermanina Tina Higgins wooden stamp (Lilac PMA9061108)
Docrafts Creative Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Steampunk DCE9071102)
Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO134)
Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Vintage cling mounted rubber stamps (Birdsong ICO151)
Lion White Paper
Tim Holtz Collage Paper (Halloween #TH93727)
Oxford Book of Flowers
Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Wild and Free

Posted on April 12, 2019 by Let's Art Journal

With the warmer weather of late we have been having fun in the garden. We have weeded our flower beds and added a mulch of bark and have been watching the spring flowers grow and new foliage shoot up. So I created this happy page to celebrate, using some soft spring colours as well as some fun techniques and the wording “all good things are wild and free” (grin!).

I started by stamping the page with a dot stamp from Woodware Craft Collection using Rose Bud Memento Ink and a flower stamp by Hampton Arts using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink. Then I covered the page with pastel shades of pink, turquoise and orange acrylic paint and also Pébéo white gesso; they are all applied using a brayer to build up layers of colour. Once dry I added the large flower sticker and some leftover letters and frame stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle.

The wording “all good things are wild and free by Henry David Thoreau” and “Just be” which included a sweet little bird are from the same sticker set; the little bird with the flower in his beak reminded me of some Goldfinches that come into our garden to take pieces of a silver leaved plant called Cineraria, not sure why they want it, but it’s fun to watch them (grin!). Then I outlined all of these stickers using a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball gel pen so they stood out more and had fun doodling all the dots using black, white and pink Uni Posca paint pens. To continue the spring theme I added more little birds, flowers and as we are making lots of new discoveries this year in our garden I also added the “Discoveries” wording which are all fabric stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle.

As you may remember we replanted our flower beds last year and here’s what they look like at the moment. The apple trees are sprouting and should be in bloom soon, the bluebells are out in force and the bark mulch looks great – I love it!

We discovered that we had crocus in our garden and along with daffodils they have finished flowering but we do have some tulips starting to bloom that we planted in October last year. This beautiful pink frilly variety reminded me of my page (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as my page represents having fun gardening.

I’m joining the Polka Dots challenge over at Moo Mania & More with the polka dot stickers and dots on this page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Easter and/or Spring challenge over at Country View Challenges with my spring pastel coloured page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is New Growth, so I’m also joining this challenge too with my springtime flower page.

I’m also pleased to join the Spring Flowers! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday with happy spring flower inspired 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:

Tsukineko Memento Ink (Rose Bud, Rich Cocoa)
Script Ready Made Paint (Pastels)
Pébéo White Gesso
Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
Uni Posca Paint Pens (Black, White, Pink)
Hampton Art Bella Blvd cling mounted rubber stamps (Sand & Surf ICO226)
Woodware Craft Collections Francoise Collection Stamp Set (Flower Style FRSWS003)
Home Bargains (Room Décor Embellishment Art 01194)
Little Yellow Bicycle (Cardstock Stickers Fresh Verse PD-140, Fabric Favourites PD-220)

Hello Spring

Posted on March 24, 2019 by Let's Art Journal

As spring is officially here, I was inspired to create this page using a mainly green colour palette to say Hello Spring – I hope you like it!

I started by die cutting a lattice pattern out of some pretty vintage floral paper using a Spellbinders die and my Big Shot machine; I stuck the die cut lattice and resulting tile pieces onto the page using a Pritt Stick and covered them with Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I added some Peeled Paint Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad onto a blending matt, adding water and applying it to the page using a paintbrush; I let the ink run down the page and pool around the die cut pieces. Once the ink was dry, I emphasised the die cut lattice and tiles by shading around them with a Bud Green and Moss Spectrum Aqua Marker, a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and also a black Uni Pin marker, smudging the colours with my finger. I stamped a texture stamp from BoBunny using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker over the background which reminded me of woven willow fencing. Next I die cut some leaves out of green paper using Garden Green thinlets by Tim Holtz and coloured them using Mowed lawn Distress Ink and Cottage Ivy Memento Ink; they are stuck to the page using a Zig Memory System glue pen. I added the pink mini paper flower embellishments using Ranger Glossy Accents and added some mini pearl gemstones to their centres. The wording is cut from a magazine and is mounted on a recycled piece of card. I doodled along the leaf die cut edges and also framed the wording using a black Uni Pin marker and splattered the whole page with Peeled Paint Distress Ink, then black and also white DecoArt acrylic paint. To finish, I added lots of tiny butterfly stickers.

The colours of the pretty flowers on this page remind me of these roses which are adorning my kitchen table at the moment; the shades of pink and cream colours are so beautiful!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey with my Hello Spring page. I hope you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Colour It Green, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with my green spring page.

I’m joining in the Miniature/Tiny Things challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the tiny butterflies I added to my page.

I’m also happy to join in the fun over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their theme Anything + optional twist of inked background with my inked background Hello Spring 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 (Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn)
Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy)
Spectrum Aqua Markers (Bud Green, Moss)
Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
Spellbinders Die – unknown
BoBunny Stamp (Rough It Up 12105155)
Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Garden Greens 661206)
The Works M&C Boutique (Design Block 25 x 25cm, Mini Paper Flower Embellishments)
Crafter’s Companion Designer Paper Pad (Angelica & Adam Collection A&A-PAP6-M)
Old Magazine
Recycled white card
Home Bargains Special Occasion (Mini Decorative Stickers 22740)
Fancy Sticker Sheet (Flowers & Butterflies 28965)
Pritt Stick
Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
Ranger Glossy Accents

The Journey

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Let's Art Journal

My springtime page today features a white hydrangea, pretty butterflies and a quote which reads “The Journey is never truly over it just changed course”. I find that this quote applies not only to life but also to my art journaling as I often start with one idea for a particular page which then changes course as I create it (grin!), do you find this happens to you too?

For the background, I started by collaging pieces of dictionary pages, dressmaking pattern tissue paper and some homemade decoupage paper to the page using matt gel medium; I wanted a grungy look, so I let the tissue papers crease as I applied them to the page.

I had fun making the decoupage papers and for the one I used on this page, I stamped recycled brown tissue paper using a Script stamp from Kaisercraft and black Archival Ink (pictured at the bottom of the photo).

Once the gel medium had dried, I blended Parchment, Cadmium Yellow, Navy and Green Liquitex acrylic paints to create different shades of green and then stippled and splattered them onto the page using a paintbrush to build up the background colour. When the paint way dry, I added Peeled Paint and Black Soot Distress Ink to emphasise the grunge look using a baby wipe and then I added some Pébéo white gesso using a paint brush. When the page was dry, I applied Peacock Feathers Distress Ink with a baby wipe over the white gesso giving it a blue tinge. Next I stencilled splatters using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool through a textured template from The Crafter’s Workshop. I used the same template to add splatters of Ranger Texture Paste and when dry covered the paste using DecoArt white acrylic paint so it stood out more. The letters are cut from an old magazine and stuck to the page using the matte gel medium; they are outlined using a black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball gel pen. I stuck the pretty die cut hydrangea in place and added the butterflies which are rub-on transfers; I thought the butterflies went well with the “The Journey is never truly over it just changed course” quote that I selected for the page. To finish, I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

This page reminds me of a pretty hydrangea that we saw at a local garden centre, this is a tree variety and has the most beautiful snowy lime flowers – I love it (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to link my art journal page to the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey with my springtime page – I hope to see you there!

I’m joining the Close to Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my springtime page of butterflies and flowers.

I’m also pleased to join the Embrace The Journey challenge over at A Vintage Journey as the quote that I used applies to my creative journey which inspired my Mixed Media Style page – Happy 5^th Birthday!

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Colour It Green, so I’m pleased to join this challenge too with my green and grungy springtime page.

I’m also joining the Letters and/or Numbers challenge over at Country View Challenges with the recycled magazine letters that I used for the quote and those that can be found on the background.

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)
Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Navy, Christmas Green)
Pébéo White Gesso
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Black Soot, Peacock Feathers)
Ranger Texture Paste
DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Script CS752)
The Crafter’s Workshop Ronda Palazzari Designs (Texturized 12×12 Template)
The Pocket Oxford Dictionary
Style Dressmaking Pattern
Brown Tissue Paper
Old Magazine
K & Company Susan Winget (Floral Die-Cut Cardstock)
Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (LAN1236G)
Winsor & Newton Matt Gel Medium

Dark Side of the Moose

Posted on February 26, 2019 by Let's Art Journal

Today’s art journal page pays homage to one of my favourite beers at the Beer Festival earlier this month, which is called Dark Side of the Moose. It’s brewed by Purple Moose Brewery in Wales which I have visited a number of times – such fun!

To start, I positioned some circular templates by Inkylicious onto the page to depict the moons and painted the sky background using some watered down Elderberry Memento Ink using a paintbrush. I left the templates in place so I could also add a heart and circle design stamp by Sugarloaf Inc. using Grape Jelly Memento Ink; to shade around the moons I used the ink that remained on the template after stamping, wiping the ink in a circular motion around the edges whilst the template was still on the page. Then I used the corresponding circular stencils from the Inkylicious template and stencil set to colour the moons; first with Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed Distress Ink and then by adding a Tim Holtz texture stamp using the Elderberry Memento Ink again. The Purple Moose sticker is taken from the hand pump clip which came with the beer from the brewery; the writing surrounding the moose details the name of the beer in both English and Welsh. The moose and trees are die cut using the Merry Moose Thinlets by Tim Holtz from Sizzix and my Big Shot Machine. I used some purple paper for my moose which I shaded with the Elderberry ink and then some brown paper for the trees which I edged with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. They are stuck to the page, like all the paper elements, using a Zig Memory glue pen and I used some ripped pieces of red dot washi tape for the ground beneath them. To finish, the hearts were created using the same red dot washi tape which I stuck to white paper and then cut using a Tonic Studios paper punch.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and sharing my Dark Side of the Moose beer. This is delicious dark ale with a ABV (Alcohol by Volume) of 4.6%, it has a deep malt flavour and a fruity bitterness, and is brewed by Purple Moose Brewery in Porthmadog, Gwynedd, Wales – wishing you all a very happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m pleased to be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the yellow moons I added to my art journal page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Heart It!, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with all the stamped and paper punched hearts that I added to my page.

I’m also pleased to join A Vintage Journey and their Heart’s Desire challenge as I was inspired by my love of beer and used stamped and paper punched hearts to create my Art Journaling style 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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

Tsukineko Memento Ink (Elderberry, Grape Jelly)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed)
Faber-Castell Craft Stamper Big Brush Pen (Dark Sepia 175 B, Black 199)
Inkylicious Stencil (Sun & Moons)
Sugarloaf Inc. Anita’s Wood Mounted Stamp (48721)
Tim Holtz Collection Stampers Anonymous (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Merry Moose 663103)
Tonic Studios Paper Punch Accent (Hearts Sider 830E)
Pump clip – Purple Moose
Craft Sensations Design Pad (Bright Colours CRO730/R)
Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CRO701/16PL1)
Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection (Spots & Stripes festive PMA462302)
Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Chisel Tip Glue Pen)
Sizzix Big Shot

Loving Life

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Let's Art Journal

I always find that I have a huge selection of tissue paper and paper leftover from creating other art journal pages, which I have either coloured or stamped. So in an attempt to tidy up a little (it hasn’t helped much – grin!), I decided to use some of them to create today’s page. I was also inspired by some challenge blogs too and as such, I hope you like the resulting page as much as I do!

I selected a black, white and yellow colour scheme for this page and collaged leftover pieces of white paper and tissue paper that had been stamped, whilst creating other pages, using black Archival Ink. Like all the collaged pieces they are stuck on the page using a glue stick. These stamped images included: grass and fern fronds from a Carabelle Studio stamp set; postage marks and bees from Hampton Art; postage marks from The Works; Vintage Circles from Woodware Craft Collection; blossoms from Stampendous; “kindness” wording from Docrafts; “discover” wording from Royal & Langnickel; script from Kaisercraft; and also a dragonfly from Eco Green Crafts. I arranged them on the page with some paper coloured with Yellow Colourcraft Brusho powders which were remnants of another journal page. Once the collage was complete, I covered the page with a layer of Liquitex Matte Gel Medium which allowed me to outline all the paper pieces using a black Uni Pin marker smudging the ink with my finger.

I added a pretty “yellow wagtail” bird that I fussy cut from my old nature book; he is stood on some torn pieces of black and white washi tape. I then added more pieces of the washi tape to the page background as well.

Next I stuck a yellow skeleton leaf onto the page along with a small glittery yellow flower which I embellished with a black gemstone in the centre. The yellow and white wording is from a Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet and they read “loving life” and “our story starts here”; they are both edged with a black Uni Pin marker and I stamped some small hearts onto them using black Archival Ink. I also stamped the hearts onto two small squares of leftover yellow sticker to make two small heart embellishments for my page. The black and white “love” wording is created using circular button letter stickers and the “love with all your heart” and “and so the adventure begins” wording are from a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker set; they are all outlined using the black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I splattered the page with black, white and yellow acrylic paint.

My page reminds me to love life and appreciate the simple things like the pretty yellow flowers that we have in our garden at the moment. You may remember that we replanted our flower beds last year and as such we added these miniature daffodils which seem to be a bit early flowering (grin!) – aren’t they adorable!

We were also surprised to see these pretty crocus in our flower bed too, we didn’t even know they there (double grin!)

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the yellow I added.

I’m joining the Love is in the Air challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my Loving Life page.

Over at Country View Challenges their challenge is Black & White Plus One, so I’m happy to join this challenge to with my black, white and yellow page.

As I used black, white and yellow to create this page, I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Black, White + One Other Colour challenge.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Heart It!, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with all the stamped elements, love and hearts.

As the lovely Tracey is Guest Designing over at Frilly and Funkie, I’m also happy to be join the Frilly and Funkie Challenge which is Let Me Count The Ways, as I used three stamped Vintage Circles and three colours (black, white and yellow) on my page.

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

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

Leftover tissue paper and papers stamped using various stamp sets and Jet Black Ranger Archival Ink
Leftover white paper coloured with Yellow Colourcraft Brusho Colour
Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.8mm)
Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow Medium)
DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
Hallmark Cards Stamp Set (Unknown – Heart)
Old book – The Illustrated Book of Nature
Michael’s (Washi Tape)
Nature’s Touch of Art (Skeleton Leaves Yellow)
Poundland (Accessories Pack 60911, Design Gems 175751)
Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS738)
Home Bargains (Love Letters 22738)
Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Set (Small Talk #TH93193)
Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
Pritt Stick
Ranger Glossy Accents

Romance

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Let's Art Journal

Over at Try it on Tuesday for the next two weeks our challenge is Romance. With it being February and Valentine’s Day soon, I hope that you are in the mood for Romance too, it would be great to see you there!

My Design Teamies have created some amazing pieces to inspire you so please pop over to our blog and take a look. Today my page is a vintage gothic style, designed with romantic hearts and a wire garland of red roses (grin!).

I started by covering the page with scraps of teabag, brown tissue paper and also white tissue paper which I had stamped whilst designing previous pages using either black or red ink; I often find stamping some images on tissue paper helps me position them on my pages easier and decide on the design before I stamp them directly onto the page. Then I stamped some lovely lace filigree hearts by Penny Black using black Archival Ink and I added some pieces of red and also black washi tape both of which had a rose design on them, and also some pieces of black decorative lace border tape. Next I covered the page with Pébéo white gesso and once dry I applied some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink, as well as Dark Sepia and Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush markers around the edges of the page using my finger to blend out the colour. I scribbled some Iced Rosé, Iced Currant and Iced Chai Faber-Castell Gelatos over the edges of the page too and then smudged the colour using my finger again which I wet with a baby wipe. Then I added some more white gesso to tone down the colours to give a worn and distressed look and stamped a Script stamp by Kaisercraft using Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and also Black Archival Ink. The word “Romance” is die cut from some pretty textured paper from a Halloween paper pad by Tim Holtz using a Docrafts alphabet Die set and my Big Shot machine. I edged the wording with a Black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker so it stood out more from the background and then cut two strips off either side of the die cut paper and arranged them all on the left-hand side of the page using a glue stick.

I also cut out a heart shape from the Tim Holtz paper and I added some more lace filigree hearts using the Penny Black stamp and back Archival Ink and stuck the paper heart in place using a glue stick. The left-hand side of the paper columns and heart are edged using a black Derwent Inktense pencil and then I arranged some rose garland wire over the top using Ranger Glossy Accents to stick it in place. To finish, I threaded some of the wire through a metal key and added it to my page.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this romantic Valentine’s dessert from Lytham Hall; it is so pretty with the white teacup which is filled with a chocolate cupcake and topped with pink icing and the dark chocolate wording! It almost looks too good to eat – Happy T day!

Challenges

As I included hearts as part of my design, I’m happy to join the Your Hearts Desire challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my romance inspired Vintage and Mixed Media Style page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Heart It! so I’m pleased to join this challenge too with the stamped and paper hearts on my page.

As my page is black, white and red I’m also joining the Black & White Plus One challenge over at Country View Challenges.

I’m also joining in the Add Some Red challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the red roses that I added to my page.

I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my romantic art journal page too.

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

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

Pébéo White Gesso
Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge)
Faber-Castell Gelato (Iced Rosé, Iced Currant, Iced Chai)
Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B, Sanguine 188 B, Black 199)
Derwent Inktense Pencil (Black 2200)
Penny Black Stamp Set (Clearly In Love 30-009)
Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503286)
Leftover pieces of stamped teabags and tissue paper
Tim Holtz paper Stash (Halloween #TH93712)
The Range (Rose Garland, Key Embellishments)
Michael’s (Washi Tape x 2)
Poundland (Decorative Border Tape 77513)
Ranger Glossy Accents
Pritt Stick

Live a colourful life

Posted on January 25, 2019 by Let's Art Journal

In January we always start to fill our calendar with things to do during the year which are often the things that inspire my art journal pages (grin!). So to capture my excitement and happy feelings, I created this colourful page.

I started by covering the page with some music sheet pieces which were left over from another project using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. Once the gel medium was dry I scribbled Red Cherry, Watermelon, Mango, Peach, Guava, Kiwi and Lemon Faber-Castell Gelatos over the page and used my finger which I wet using a baby wipe to smudge and blend the colour. I used a Geometric Tiles stencil from Dutch Doobadoo to remove some of the gelato colour, using a baby wipe, to create the blocks of white circles. Then I stamped three different Gummiapan stamps using black Archival Ink to create my landscape of flowers; the stamps were Worn Rings 2, A Lot of Splats and Large Rudbeckia. To finish, I added the wording “Live a colouful life”, which is from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet, and outlined it with a black Sharpie marker.

There is so much that we are looking forward to this year: spring calls as we always enjoy visiting Lytham Hall to see the snowdrops.

At the start of summer we have the St. Anne’s Carnival to look forward to and then the summer ends with the St. Anne’s International Kite Festival.

In autumn there are the International Firework Championships.

Then, in winter we always enjoy the Victorian Festivals too!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Alison/Craftytrog and her Geometric Shapes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the circles from the Geometric Tile stencil and Worn Ring stamp that I used to create my page.

Over at A Vintage Journey their challenge is Put Your Stamp On It so I’m pleased to join this challenge too as I used quite a few stamps to create my happiness inspired colourful Mixed Media Style Art Journal page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the Landscapes/Cityscapes challenge over at Country View Challenges with my colourful landscape of flowers.

I enjoyed using all the stamping to create this page so I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at The Artistic Stamper.

With the focal images being stamped, I’m also joining Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their Anything Goes challenge.

I’m also happy to join the Anything Goes + optional twist of Sentiment As Main Focus over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my art journal page too.

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

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

Faber-Castell Gelato (Red Cherry, Watermelon, Mango, Peach, Guava, Kiwi, Lemon)
Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
Sharpie Permanent Fine Point Marker (Black)
Dutch Doobadoo Dutch Mask Art A5 (Geometric Tiles)
Gummiapan Stamps (Worn Rings 2 11050601, A Lot of Splats 11050106, Large Rudbeckia 15030501)
Music Sheet – Bosworth Violin Studies
Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS284)
Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Smiles and Goals

Posted on January 4, 2019 by Let's Art Journal

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wishing you all the very best for 2019 too!

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Alison/Craftytrog and the Geometric Shapes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the different geometric shapes that can be found stencilled in the background and within the papers I used to create this page.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy New Year 2019

Posted on January 1, 2019 by Let's Art Journal

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

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

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

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

Wishing you all the very best for 2019!

Challenges

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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