Let’s Party at Try it on Tuesday

We are having a special celebration at Try it on Tuesday as it’s our 10^th Birthday, so why not join us for our Let’s Party challenge. We would like you to have fun, be colourful and share the art that you like to create with us.

You are invited to join our party which lasts for the next two weeks and to celebrate, we also have our 10^th birthday party logo that you can display on your blog too. Our Design Team can’t wait for you to join us so please pop over to our blog and check out the Let’s Party creations.

To commemorate our birthday, I created a colourful art journal page inspired by the colours from our 10th Birthday Party Logo and a fabulous balloon stamp that I found just for this occasion – happy birthday celebrations everyone!

I started by collaging some leftover pieces of Collage Paper from Tim Holtz using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. Then I covered the page with Lemon, Mango and Lavender Faber-Castell Gelatos by scribbling the colours onto the page and smudging them with my finger which I wet with water. The black stars are stencilled using Black Soot Distress Ink. Next I stamped the “happy”, “birthday” and “th” wording which are from a Paperbabes Stamp set, the “10” using a Papermania stamp set and the “Let’s Party” balloons onto white card using black Archival Ink; for this I used my Tim Holtz Stamp Platform which ensured that I achieved a nice dark and crisp stamped image. I fussy cut them all out and stuck them in place using a Zig Memory System glue pen along with some flower, butterflies and word stickers from Kaisercraft; the words I chose were “fun” and “memories” as we always have fun at Try it on Tuesday and we make such happy memories together. I die cut some stars from white card using Snowy Star thinlets from Tim Holtz and my Big Shot machine, and I stuck them in place using the Zig glue pen. To finish, I also stuck some white dots onto the page which were saved from a previous project when I was die cutting white card using the same thinlet set; I love the crisp 3D effect.

I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from the blog BioArtGal  and her In the Sky/In the Air challenge over at Art Journal Journey as you find balloons and butterflies in the air.

As it’s a birthday party what could be better than jelly and ice cream, this is still one of my favourites so I couldn’t resist having a “Blackpool Special” at Notarianni Ice Cream parlour; this is tangerine jelly with two scoops of vanilla ice cream topped with tangerine syrup – delicious! Blackpool Football Club are know as The Tangerines because they play in a tangerine coloured strip and the manager of Notarianni’s is a massive fan, hence the sundae as a tribute.

To continue the birthday theme what could be better than sharing a pint at our local pub and as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this pint of Apricot Fool beer which is brewed by Tiny Rebel, a brewery in Newport, South Wales. This beer is a light blonde beer tasting of apricots, it was so refreshing and was very easy to drink (grin!) – cheers and Happy T Day!

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 (Lemon, Mango, Lavender)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• Star Stencil
• Paperbabe Stamps (Birthday Wishes Stamp Set)
• Papermania Alphamania A-Z Clear Stamps (Leftover Alphabet PMA9071102)
• Love to Craft Stamp Set (Let’s Celebrate LCST001)
• Tim Holtz Stamp Platform
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlets (Snowy Stars 663117)
• Tim Holtz Collage Paper (Botanicals #TH93705, Halloween #TH93727)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS284, Fly Free SS289)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)

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Books

My art journal page was inspired by books, things with wings and some of my favourite quotes about books. I had in mind creating an aged and old look design for this page and also had fun trying out some old and new techniques too!

I started by using one of my favoured techniques to create the wood grain effect background by sprinkling Sandstone, Terracotta, Yellow Ochre and Dark Brown Colourcraft Brusho powders onto the page and applying Liquitex matte gel medium over the top using a paintbrush. The gel medium was watered-down so it was easier to apply and I ensured that I dragged the paintbrush horizontally across the page to create the wood grain; I left it to dry overnight. The book spines are fussy cut from wallpaper and are stuck into place using the matte gel medium. All the book spines were white originally so I coloured them with Cold Grey, Dark Sepia and Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush Markers, smudging the ink with my finger, to give them an old and worn look. Then I added detail to the spines and outlined them using a black Uni Pin marker and a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to add shadows around and under the books. The butterflies and moths are Crowded Attic Salvage Stickers and the three white blocks of wording are Small Talk Stickers, both from the Tim Holtz idea-ology collection. I chose wording that I thought related to books, they read “be amazed”, “live, create, tell the story” and “stay curious”.

I had fun making the small booklet, a first for me (grin!). I cut some old diary pages to size, stamped script on them using a Kaisercraft stamp and black Archival Ink, aged them around the edges using Old Paper Distress Ink and a blending tool, folded the paper in half and then bound them together using thick thread down the centre. I stuck a cover on the front of the booklet which was fussy cut from a Kaisercraft glossy paper, it reads “Once upon a time…”. The booklet is stuck onto the page using double sided tape.

I stuck two of the inside pages together to make them more sturdy so I could add some of my favourite book quotes along with some embellishments. The quotes are stamped using an alphabet stamp from Dovecraft and black Archival Ink and I coloured the letters using Fawn, Boulder and Topaz Spectrum Aqua markers. The first quote reads “Between the pages of a book is a wonderful place to be” and I added an Anthology die cut shape from Kaisercraft which reads “ Today’s Story”.

The second quote is by Neil Gaiman and reads “A book is a dream you hold in your hand”. I used the same Kaisercraft glossy paper to fussy cut the word “dream” which I folded so that the booklet closes, and stuck in place using a UHU Stic.

The third quote reads “Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything” and I added a little butterfly to the bottom right-hand corner.

This page reminds me of Blackpool Central Library, which I have featured before in a previous post, that dates back to 1911 and was built in the Edwardian Baroque style.

The entrance is spectacular with the staircases running either side of the domed roof.

It is such a beautiful airy space and …

… the butterflies and “Once upon a time…” on my page remind me of two of the amazing stained glass windows that can be found in the library too (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from the blog BioArtGal  and her In the Sky/In the Air challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the butterflies and moths that I included on this page.

Over at A Vintage Journey, the theme is Book It! and I’m very pleased to be able to join this challenge too with my Book inspired art journal page, I had so much fun creating the book spines and small book for this Mixed Media style art journal page.

With the butterflies and moths I added to the page, this is also a reminder that you still have until next Tuesday to join our Things with Wings Challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be lovely to see you there!

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:

• Colourcraft Brushos (Sandstone, Terracotta, Yellow Ochre, Dark Brown)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233, Dark Sepia 175 B, Sanguine 188 B, Black 199)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Old Paper)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Aqua Markers (Fawn, Boulder, Topaz)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Wallpaper sample
• Recycled paper from diary
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Salvage Stickers (Crowded Attic #TH92898)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Kaisercraft Collectables (Anthology CT938)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Tulips

I’m so delighted with the new tulips which are currently flowering in our garden that I have created this bright and colourful page to remember them (grin!).

I started by applying Hickory Smoke, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn and Twisted Citron Distress Ink to the page by stamping the ink pads onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page. Then I used the same Distress Inks to stamp some Halftone circles from Altnew and also to add some dots using a blending tool through a stencil. To add some contrast, I stencilled a honeycomb pattern using Black Soot Distress Ink and then I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint. The tulips are fussy cut from an old flower book and stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium and when they were dry, I outlined them using a black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I added the wording to capture the look and feel of the beautiful tulips in my garden: “sunshine”, “April” and “tulips” are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel; “you colour my life”, “this is awesome” and “smile” are from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet.

Our flower bed currently looks like this with the tulips adding some amazing pops of colour alongside the pretty bluebells.

Last October we planted two different types on tulips in assorted colours which are beautiful and they have been flowering for about 4 weeks now (grin!). These are standard tulips …

… and these fringed tulips which have a pretty frilly edge along their petals.

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 Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal  and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I had fun creating this page to remember the beautiful tulips in our garden.

I’m joining the Spring Fever challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my spring tulips page.

I’m also happy to join in the Easter and/or Spring challenge over at Country View Challenges with my spring tulip art journal page.

I’m joining in the Going Around In Circles challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge too as I included stamped, stencilled and sticker circles on my page.

I’m also pleased to join the Flowers/Garden challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my art journal page that was inspired by the tulips in my garden.

Don’t forget that you still have until next Tuesday to join our Springtime Challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be lovely to see you there!

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, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Altnew Clear Stamp Set (Halftone Circles)
• Stencil (Dots)
• That’s Crafty! Dinky Stencil (Reverse Honeycomb Background TC031)
• The Oxford Book of Garden Flowers
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Sentiments (Spring #ROY506, Summer #ROY505)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS284)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Springtime

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

Embrace beautiful chaos

Our new challenge for the next two weeks at Try it on Tuesday is Use a stencil or two and you’ll find some amazing creations from my Design Teamies over at our blog to inspire you (grin!).

I hope that you’ll join us for this challenge by using one or more stencils to create your artwork; I must admit that I had loads of fun creating this page using four different stencils – see what you think!

To start with, I tore a book page into three pieces and stuck them to the page using a glue stick. I then painted the page with Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green and Neutral Gray Liquitex acrylic paint and left it to dry. Next I used a Tim Holtz stencil to add the Bright Aqua Green acrylic paint using a sponge and then some butterflies and circles using a Mini Specimens stencil from The Crafter’s Workshop and Black Soot Distress Ink. The white dots are Pébéo modelling paste which I applied using a craft knife through a dot stencil. When the modelling paste was dry, I added the three large flowers using a mask by Carabelle Studio and Black Soot ink blending the black ink around the edges of the flower into the background. The “embrace beautiful chaos” wording, which I thought was perfect to summarise the look and feel of this page, is a Small Talk Sticker from Tim Holtz and I outlined it using a black Uni Pin Marker. I also applied some rub-on transfers to the page so the images were broken up and depicted the “embrace beautiful chaos” wording more; they are Special Delivery Remnant Rubs from Tim Holtz. To finish, I added three different coloured gems to each of the centre of the flowers.

Last week I had an early birthday treat and spent a wonderful day in Garstang visiting the local garden centre and looking around the town’s market stalls. We also had lunch and a few pints at my favourite pub and then walked along the canal and river – perfect (grin!). I thought this picture was fun, it was taken at the garden centre and shows the amazing wall on the way out of the food hall, I think it ties nicely into my page with the beautiful and chaotic way items have been embedded into it (grin!).

My favourite of course was the teapot! As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and wishing you all a Happy T Day!

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 Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal  and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I always have fun creating art journal pages and this one was especially fun using all the different stencil techniques.

Over at Moo Mania & More their challenge is Colourful so I’m happy to join them to with the bright colours that I used to create this page.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge 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 Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green, Bright Aqua Green, Neutral Gray)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Dot Stencil – unknown
• Tim Holtz Collection Layering Mini Stencil (Set 16 THMST016)
• The Crafter’s Workshop TCW Rebekah Meier Designs 6×6 Stencil (Mini Specimens TCW4545)
• Carabelle Studio Art Mask (2 Flowers)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Special Delivery #TH93188)
• B&M Crafting Goody Bag (Turquoise 321451)

One Spring Night

As I’m hosting Art Journal Journey this month I have created another springtime page for my Hello Springtime theme. I hope you are enjoying the theme so far, we have had so many amazing entries and there is just under a week left for you to join in the fun, I hope to see you there!

This page was created using a pretty greetings card of a hare sitting in the moonlight, and as it reminded me of a tea service that I had seen in a local shop I was also inspired to create an abstract design for this page.

I started by masking off three areas of the page with low tack masking tape and then I painted some pastel blue arylic paint  which I blended with Swedish Blue Liquitex acrylic paint; I chose blue to match the dots on the tag and it was also one of the tea service colours. When the paint was dry I removed the masking tape and edged the blocks of colour using some gold outline border stickers. Then I added some gold flower tiles to the white area of the page and some gold flowers and circles to the blue areas, all of which are outline stickers. The hare moonlit image is fussy cut from the greetings card and the spring daffodil tag is from a wallpaper sample; they are both decorated with a piece of gold outline border sticker and are then stuck in place using double-sided tape which finished the page.

This is the tea service that I saw in one of our local shops; as you can see it influenced my abstract design with the blocks of soft pastel colours, little animals and pretty gold accents.

It must be fun to drink your tea or coffee and see the bunny rabbit at the bottom of the cup (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang with my drink related post and sending you all Happy T Day wishes!

Challenges

I’m joining in the Play With Paint challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as I had fun creating the blocks of colour for this page using masking tape and paint.

As I included flowers on this page, it also serves as a reminder for our Say it with Flowers challenge that is running for another week over at Try it on Tuesday – I hope to see you there too!

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

• Script Ready Mixed Acrylic Paint (Pastels – Blue)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Swedish Blue)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Straight Line Borders Gold ANT8101016)
• Elizabeth Craft Designs Outline Stickers (Gold – 0157, 0442)
• Recycled greetings card – National Trust Moonlit Wood by Caroline Gordon
• Wallpaper sample
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Cheerfulness

It’s time for a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday, so for the next two weeks our challenge is Say it with flowers and you will find plenty of wonderful inspiration from my Design Teamies over at our blog too!

I was inspired by one of my friend’s blogs, the lovely Christine from Foxgloves and Bumblebees, who blogs about Floriography which looks at “The language of flowers” which I thought linked well to our Say it with flowers theme. So as it is spring here, I choose crocus and looked up their meaning, which is “cheerfulness” and created this page – I hope you like it!

To create this page, I started by applying Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page. I gradually built up the colours and dried each layer of ink with my heat gun before applying the next, to create a textured effect of drips and smooshes. Then I fussy cut the crocus which is an image from an old calendar and used the leftover paper, from the image, to die cut the letters using a XCut die set from Docrafts and my Big Shot machine, I also cut some into tiny squares. Everything is stuck to the page using a glue stick and then covered with a thin layer of Liquitex matte gel medium so when dry I could shade them using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker and outline them with a white Uniball gel pen. Then I added some fine splatters of black and white DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush. To finish, I stuck some purple and green square gemstones onto the page and a postage stamp with crocus pictured on it.

This postage stamp is from Poland and was issued in 1967; it was part of my hubby’s childhood collection which he kindly gave to me for my art journaling (grin!).

It was fun looking at Floriography which is the term used to that describe the Victorian flower language. For crocuses, I found that they mean youth and cheerfulness. If you are interested, here are some fun facts about crocus:

• The crocus is one of the first flowers to emerge in the spring.
• They are often referred to as the light bulb flower because of their shape.
• It is a symbol of cheerfulness as it celebrates the return of spring by bringing the landscape alive with colour after winter.
• Saffron from the crocus flower is used as a spice to season foods.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my cup of green tea and a slice of birthday cake that I made for some friends; this was a Victoria sponge cake filled with strawberry jam and buttercream icing covered in dark purple fondant icing just like the purple colour of the crocuses on my page – Happy T day everyone!

Challenges

Over at Art Journal Journey, I’m delighted to be hosting my Hello Springtime challenge this month and as I created my page with spring in mind, I’m pleased to join this challenge – I hope to see you there too!

I’m pleased to join the Close to Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More 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:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Twisted Citron, Mowed lawn)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Docrafts XCut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503286)
• Old Calender
• Postage Stamp from Poland issued 1967 picturing Crocus
• Hobbycraft Self-Adhesive Gems (Assorted Square 5666141000)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 double-sided tape