Thankful Everyday

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Winter Blues.

My page today was created with lots of blue scraps that I had in my craft stash which included recycled papers from greeting cards, recycled envelopes, recycled book pages, leftover stamped tissue paper, old calendar pages, recycled foil from sweets and a photo from an old magazine. I simply collaged everything together using a glue stick and some Liquitex matte gel medium after edging them all with a black Faber-Castell marker. To finish, I added some measuring tape designed washi tape, a blue washi tape flower and the “Thankful everyday” sticker from Kaisercraft.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing Winter Blues creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my pretty blue mug of tea with a piece of spiced apple cake made with apples from my garden (smile!) – Happy T Day everyone!

Hope that you’re 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

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

LTSCB #159 Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my paper scraps collage page.

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Mia from https://craftartista.blogspot.com/ this month who has chosen Use a Photo; I used pieces of sky and rocks from a photo in a magazine as part of my collage papers which you can see here:

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Traditional Christmas

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Traditional Christmas.

For this challenge, I had fun collaging different papers and cardstock images with some gold leaf to create this page.

I started by ripping some sections out of a piece of burgundy Christmas paper and then I adhered it to the page placing some white Holly tissue paper underneath. Next I stamped the white stars using a Lavinia stamp and Moonlight White Archival Brilliance Ink. I added some dots and splodges of gold leaf to the background paper and also covered the torn paper edges with the gold leaf. Then I splattered the page with some gold Liquitex Acrylic Ink. The two large images of the Christmas tree and presents were layered onto the page with some die cut foliage, buttons, a sledge, some bells, stars and a “Merry Christmas” and a “Season’s Greetings” gold banner wording. Then to finish, I added the die cut clock, robin and gold stars to the background.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the wonderful Traditional Christmas creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

Once winter is here, one of our traditions is to change our garden flag to this beautiful winter robin scene; it always reminds me of Christmas (smile!).

Hope that you’re 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

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

The lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from https://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/ who is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Collage Fodder, Food & Drink or Both so I’m joining her with my collaged Christmas page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #180 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmas page.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #47 – Anything Christmas Goes challenge with my Traditional Christmas page.

Birds and blossom

This page was inspired by all the bird activity in our garden and the beautiful apple blossom on our apple trees (smile!).

I started by covering the page with some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink and White Linen Dylusions Spray. Next I added some Pébéo texture paste through a Lace Tim Holtz stencil and when dry I removed some of it using a craft knife to create a grungy worn lace look. The dots were added using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and a Dot Fade stencil by Tim Holtz. I stamped the birds and sentiment onto some recycled white tissue paper using a couple of Stampendous stamps and black Archival Ink.

The stamped images were stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium and I arranged them onto the page with some Dogwood blossom rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel.

We’ve had lots of blossom on our apple trees so hopefully we’ll get lots of fruit this year too!

Hope that you’re 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 pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Matilde from http://craftowanie.blogspot.com/ is hosting this month at Art Journal Journey and her Birds challenge with the birds on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #168 – Anything Goes challenge with my bird and blossom page.

Stamping Sensations and their Anything stamped with option of Floral and Fauna challenge as I included stamped birds and sentiment along with the pretty blossoms on my page.

Not A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my art journal page.

We Love Stamping and their For a Lady (or Girl) challenge with my pink blossom and bird page.

Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my pretty blossom and bird art journal page.

Happy

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Black and White + 1, where we would like you to use black and white plus one other colour on your entries.

Limiting colour options is always a challenge for me, so I decided to create a black and white collage background and see where my creativity took me; I ended up adding a dark cherry colour as my “plus 1” – what do you think?

I covered the page with leftover pieces of white tissue paper which had been stamped with black Archival Ink and some black and white Botanicals/Halloween Collage papers by Tim Holtz; they were collaged onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. Next I added some pieces of an old magazine page (which was where the cherry coloured inspiration came from) and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer over the whole page and left it to dry. I mixed some Kuretake watercolour paints to match the cherry colour and used it to add a colour wash over the collage pieces and also some splatters. For my flowers, I arranged some white paper flowers onto the page and drew in their stems using a black marker. The leaves were stamped using a Carabelle Studio stamp set and black Archival Ink. To finish, I added the “Happy” wording panel which was by Kaisercraft.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the wonderful creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our mugs of green tea along with my hubby’s favourite Black Forest Gateau (which happens to be cherry like my page … smile!) and my favourite cream filled meringue – Happy T Day everyone!

Hope that you’re 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

As well as Try it on Tuesday , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #162 – Anything Goes challenge with my happy page.

Add A Die Cut over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the die cut paper flowers that I added to my page.

Snowdrops

Wow, I can’t believe that it’s March already but here we are launching March’s challenge today over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog which is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by the snowdrops that are flowering at the moment, especially those on display amongst the woodland leaves at Lytham Hall (grin!).

I started by covering the chipboard page with some old dressmaking pattern tissue paper using Liquitex matte gel medium and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top. When dry, I added some more pieces of the dressmaking tissue paper and I coloured around the edges of them with Ground Espresso Distress Ink using a baby wipe. The snowdrop image was fussy cut from an old garden book and I arranged it on the page with some leftover die cut pieces which were coloured in autumnal coloured ink. Then I splattered the page with white acrylic paint and left it to dry. Next I added the white text, the smaller wording were Field Notes Rub-ons by Tim Holtz and the larger letters were Metallic Stickers by Tim Holtz.

For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too. All you need to do is to use three different mediums on your projects to join our mixed media challenge; I hope you are inspired to join us, it would be lovely to see you there!

We always enjoy walking at Lytham Hall and the snowdrops are looking particularly lovely this year; creating a carpet of white amongst the woodland.

There are so many different snowdrop varieties to be found at Lytham Hall and they all look so beautiful (grin!).

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

As well as Creative Artiste , I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Valerie of Bastelmania is hosting Art Journal Journey and has chosen Spring as her theme and snowdrops to me make me think that spring is on its way.

For The Love of Mixed Media challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my mixed media page portraying my love of snowdrops.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #162 – Anything Goes challenge with my freesia page.

Add A Die Cut over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the die cut pieces I added to my page.

You make my heart smile

As it’s February, here’s the art journal page that I created to wish my hubby a Happy Valentine’s Day this year (grin!).

I started by covering the chipboard page with white tissue paper that I had been previously used to mop up some black acrylic paint; it was stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium building up the layers of tissue paper to create texture for my grungy background. Next I stuck some leftover circle outline stickers onto the background and then I applied gold metallic acrylic paint over the whole page. The hearts were die cut from red cardstock using a Sizzix Bigz Heartfelt die by Tim Holtz. Once in place I added more colour to the hearts and edged them using Derwent Inktense pencils. I stamped the hearts using an Etcetera Tim Holtz stamp and gold metallic paint applying it to the stamp using a brayer. Then I used the same stamp set to add more text to hearts and to the background using black Archival Ink. The page was splattered using black acrylic paint and to finish, I added the “You make my heart smile” wording which was from a Metallic Sticker Book by Tim Holtz.

I love this photo of me and my hubby who always makes my heart smile!

Hope that you’re 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 pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover is hosting this month over at Art Journal Journey and her challenge is What’s Your Style, so I’m joining in the fun with my grungy styled Valentine’s page.

Art Journal at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my Valentine’s art journal page.

For The Love of Mixed Media challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as my mixed media page was created for my hubby who makes my heart smile and I love very dearly.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #162 – Anything Goes challenge with my heart page.

Something Big-Something Small over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge with the large and small Valentine’s hearts on this page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my Valentine’s page.

Don’t forget that you still have another week to join us at Try it on Tuesday for our Add Some Texture challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

Love Hearts

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is All Loved Up.

My art journal page is all loved up with hearts, flowers and words; this time it was created just from collage materials.

I started by covering the page with some stripes of lace, star and old wallpaper designed decoupage and tissue papers using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I stuck a silver outline sticker vertically down the right-hand side of the page and some pink border and flower stickers from Kaisercraft horizontally across the page. Next I added the two large which I intertwined together with some ribbon; they were recycled from a banner. To finish I added the wording and small hearts which were from some Kaisercraft Sticker sheets.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the wonderful All Loved Up creations from our Guest Designers and my Design Teamies too (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!

For the sake of brevity I’m no longer listing the individual items that I used to create my page, however I’m more than happy to let you know which particular product was used if you contact me via comments below or using the following contact me link.

To match my page and as T Stands for Tuesday, here’s my green tea in a mug with a pretty pink heart on it that I often have at my friends house – Happy T Day everyone!

Hope that you’re 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

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover over at Art Journal Journey and her What’s Your Style challenge this month with my collage style page.

#148 – Use Ribbon, Raffia or Twine over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge with the ribbon that I used on my page to intertwine the hearts.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #160 – Anything Goes challenge with my romantic love page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their With Love Challenge with my Love Hearts page.

Love Is In The Air challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my Love Hearts page.

Invisible crown

“Always wear your invisible crown” is such a powerful message; to me it means to maintain self confidence, believe in yourself and be aware of your own self worth. I also like the idea of wearing an invisible crown (grin!) … a symbolic meaning of strength, courage, and respect.

I included this wording on today’s grungy page with some other related positive affirmations – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the page with strips of decoupage papers using a glue stick and Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso and Bright Aqua Green Liquitex acrylic paint over the top using a brayer. When dry, I stencilled some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink onto the page using a Shabby Harlequin stencil from Creative Expressions. I used black Archival Ink to stamp the birds and keys using a Craft Sensations stamp set and the birdcages, crowns and “always wear your invisible crown” wording using a Kaisercraft stamp set. Then I splattered the whole page with black DecoArt and white acrylic paint. The words, filigree diamond shapes and pink flowers were stickers from Kaisercraft which I edged using a black Faber-Castell marker before sticking them in place. To finish, I added a black oval frame to emphasis the central stamped wording.

With summer on its way, I’ve been making raspberry gin again and as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my gin (and Sprite) with the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

If you are interested, here’s the recipe:

• 400 g (14oz) Raspberries – or any fruit of your choice, maybe pineapple, blueberry, peach, strawberry, rhubarb
• 300g (10oz) Granulated Sugar – you can vary this depending on your taste
• 750 mll (25 US fl oz) Gin – a cheap brand such as supermarket own brand as these are not too flavoured

Add them all to a Kilner Jar (or similar). You need to ensure the sugar dissolves so make sure you shake the jar throughout the first day, it dissolves pretty quickly. Then put it in a dark place for 4 weeks, I tend to shake the jar every other day to muddle the fruit. It’s tempting to eat the fruit afterwards, perhaps on ice-cream, however, I tried it and it was far too potent! So I ended up forcing it through a sieve to add more flavour to the gin. One last tip – don’t be tempted to do half a recipe like I did as when you start drinking it you’ll find it goes pretty fast (grin!).

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.

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

• Poundworld (Patch Paper DS9454)
• Pritt Stick
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Bright Aqua Green)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Shabby Harlequin)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Craft Sensations Clear Stamps (CRO274/19A)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Oh So Lovely CS2111)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Arcylic (Black)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• The Works (Frame Stickers)

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat this month and her Language theme with the empowering meaning behind the quote I added to my page. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #144 – Anything Goes with my art journal page. LTSCB#145 – Anything Goes over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my empowering Invisible Crown page. Stecnil It challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the stencilling on my page. Don’t forget that you still have another week to join our Make it Feminine challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too!

Carry your heart with mine

I’m thrilled and honoured to be over at Altered Book Lover with Bleubeard and Elizabeth today as part of her 22 days of recycling leading up to her happy bEARTHday.

One of my goals this year is to recycle and use up leftovers on my art journal pages, so I was delighted to be invited and very happy to join in the fun – thanks so much! 

The background and main images for this page were created using recycled materials; they just seemed too nice to throw away (grin!).

For the background I collaged strips of recycled tissue paper, brown paper packaging and some of the card that I place under my journal pages whilst crafting to catch any excess paints, inks, modelling paste etc; like all the paper elements they were stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry, I outlined the edges of these collaged pieces using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker smudging the ink with my finger. I also added some gold embossing powder to highlight the texture of the tissue paper and to match the gold on the main images. I fussy cut the cute dogs, heart balloons and patterned foreground from a beautiful anniversary card that my mum and dad kindly sent us; I had fun fussy cutting everything which took quite a bit of time. I arranged them on either side of the page and then I added the Kaisercraft sticker wording which reads “Wherever you go, no matter how far, I carry your heart with mine” which finished the page.

I hope that you’re inspired to recycle and repurpose materials for your art creations; there’s lots of inspiration this month over at Altered Book Lover too (grin!).

The little dogs on my page reminded me of this pottery dog that sits on our mantel in the lounge which was from a local gallery. It’s Raku pottery which is my favourite type of decorative pottery and derives from a traditional Japanese process where the fired raku piece is removed from the hot kiln and is allowed to cool in the open air. I believe that this spotty dog was decorated with coloured slips, glazes and metal leaf before it was Raku fired.  

Hope that you’re all 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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

• Recycled white tissue paper
• Recycled brown paper packaging
• Recycled card that I place under my journal pages whilst crafting covered in paints, inks, modelling paste, stencilling, scribbles, washi tape, sticker off cuts etc
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Ranger Embossing Powder (gold)
• Recycled anniversary card
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Havana Nights SS354)

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are: Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – I miss her greatly! I’m so pleased to be able to her challenge and was inspired to recycle; I think the wording “I carry your heart with mine” is perfect to remember Eileen by too! MIUCB#48 – Anything Goes + optional No Stamping challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my recycled page which contains no stamping. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and their Not a Card challenge with my recycled art journal page. LTCCB#57 – April Anything Goes over at Love to Craft Challenge Blog with the recycled materials on my mixed media page.

Hello Spring

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Hello Spring.

With all the bird activity in our garden, it feels like spring is finally here so my page design includes blue skies, birdsong and nesting birds. I hope you’re inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by adding some drops of Speckled Egg Distress Ink, from a re-inker bottle, and then spreading them over the page using an old plastic gift card. When dry, I applied some white gesso over the top using a brayer and then I splattered the page with the Speckled Egg ink. Next I added the birds, foliage and sheet music which were from some Aviary Collage Paper by Tim Holtz; they were stuck in place using a glue stick. I splattered some black DecoArt acrylic paint over background and left it to dry, and then I stamped a documented stamp from Tim Holtz using Vintage Photo Distress Archival Ink. The large “nest and eggs” panel, the nest image in the top left-hand corner, the row of alphabet letters and the fussy cut letters making up the “Hello Spring” wording were all Poster Cards from Tim Holtz. I edged them all using the Vintage Photo ink and they were stuck in place using double-sided tape. To finish, I added a Clippings sticker from Tim Holtz which reads “The pretty little birds chirped”.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful Hello Spring creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, today we are enjoying our cuppa with some homemade chocolate crispy nests – wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

I always make these chocolate treats this time of year; they are Rice Crispies covered with chocolate, filled with a chocolate fudge icing and topped with mini marshmallows, chocolate covered raisins and mini chocolate eggs – yum!

Hope that you’re all 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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

• Tim Holtz Distress Re-Inker (Speckled Egg)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Aviary #TH93706)
• Pritt Stick
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Documented CMS226)
• Tim Holtz Distress Archival Ink (Vintage Photo)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape and foam tape
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Book (Clippings #TH94030)

Challenges As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are: Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #140 – Anything Goes with my Hello Spring page. LTSCB #143 – Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Spring page. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog and their Spring/Easter Mood Board challenge as I included with the eggs and blue skies on my page. MIUCB #47 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Inlaid Die Cut challenge over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques I used to create this spring page. Easter/Spring challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my Hello Spring art journal page.