My page today is in memory of my dearest friend who passed away last year, it would have been her 50th birthday this month. She was well known for her smile so I created it with this in mind using the quote “I’ve got nothing to do today but smile”.

I started by smooshing the background using Peeled Paint, Peacock Feather, Twisted Citron and Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block and also dripping the ink onto the page. I did this a number of times drying the page with a heat gun between each application of ink. I stamped an Invoice stamp from Finnabair and a letter stamp from Tim Holtz using Black Soot Distress Archival Ink over the background. Then I stencilled some Peeled Paint and Peacock Feather Distress Ink through a Mini Specimens Template by The Crafter’s Workshop. I outlined some of the stencilling with a black Uni Pin marker and then splattered the page using a white Uni Posca paint pen and also some Black Soot Distress Ink. Next I stencilled some Ranger Texture Paste through a tape measure design Tim Holtz Stencil and when dry, coloured it further with a white Uni Posca paint pen. I added some white text rub-on transfers from Tim Holtz which read “Create Art”, “Shine brightly” and “explore”, a large white butterfly and some daisy flowers which are all Botanical Layers from Tim Holtz. To finish, I added two green hearts and the wording “I’ve got nothing to do today but smile” which are all Kaisercraft stickers.

Our days were full of smiles when all the girlies (and their boys) got together, here we are having happy times when we met up in Chester. What happy memories we made over the years – she will always be in my heart (grin!).
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 Hearts challenge over at Art Journal Journey that is being hosted by the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth this month with the hearts I added and sentiment behind this page.
I’m pleased to join in the Splatters, Splashes & Drips challenge over at Country View Challenges with my inky background.
I’m pleased to be able to join the #113 – Sketch challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page too; inspired by the sketch design with the central butterfly and splatters that I included.
I’m joining in the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page too.
Over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog their theme is # 32 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Stenciling, I used two different stencils on this page so I’m pleased to be able to join this challenge too.
Don’t forget that you still have until next Tuesday to join our Go Green or Recycle Something over at Try it on Tuesday 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 Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Peacock Feather, Twisted Citron, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot)
- Prima Marketing Finnabair Clear Stamp 4 (Invoice 966980)
- Tim Holtz Stamp Set (Documented CMS226)
- Distress Archival Ink (Black Soot)
- The Crafter’s Workshop (Mini Specimens Template TCW454S)
- Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.2mm)
- Uni Posca Paint Pen (White)
- Tim Holtz Mini Stencil (Set #16 THMST016)
- Ranger Texture Paste
- Tim Holtz idea-ology (Text Remnant Rubs #TH93695, Botanical Layers #TH93554)
- Stix2 glue dots
- Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289, High Tea SS336)
- Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
- Uniball Gel Pen (White)