Stars shine

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing this art journal page as inspiration for this month’s Seeing Stars challenge.

I started by covering the page with white gesso and then added a layer of Bronze Distress Paint. When dry, I used a baby wipe to remove some of the Distress Paint giving the background a grungy distressed look. Next I used an AALL & Create Sparkles stamp set to stamp the starbursts using Elderberry Memento Ink and the Bronze Distress Paint. To finish the background, I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint. The owl panel and wording were cut from a Cosmos Stamperia paper pad and I die cut the stars from the paper using a Snowy Stars Thinlits set by Tim Holtz.

I hope you are inspired to join our Seeing Stars challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts.

The owl on my page reminded me of the one we saw on a walk at Glasson Dock; it was such a surprise to see this Little Owl sitting in the tree looking right at us – we were so lucky that day (smile!).

I hope that you’re 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 join Paperbabe Stamps and their #170 – Anything Goes challenge with my starry page.

Take time

It’s a new month so it’s time to launch our June challenge today over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog which is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by summer days with a sunny golden sky for the bright red flowers and butterflies to bask in – Happy June everyone!

I started by covering the background with Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue Liquitex acrylic paint and then I stamped five different stamps to pattern the background using Memento Inks and Archival Ink. This included three stamps from Kaisercraft using Love Letter and Toffee Crisp Memento Inks, a starburst stamp using Dandelion Memento Ink and a Woodware Craft Collection stamp using black Archival Ink. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a brayer and I splattered the whole page using the yellow and also black acrylic paint. The two flowers were washi tape stickers and the wording was from a Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet. To finish, I added the red ephemera butterflies.

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’ve seen lots of red poppies recently and we discovered these on one of our walks (smile!).

Stay 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:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #169 – Anything Goes challenge with my summer page.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their  It’s Up In The Air theme with my butterflies flying in the summer sky.

LTCCB#68 Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my mixed media journal page celebrating summer.

Bluebells are Bluebells

We have lots of bluebells flowering in our garden this year, so I created this page by recycling some magazine images and sheet music. Bluebells always make me smile as they remind me of my Grandad Westy because he used to sing a song called “Bluebells are bluebells” at family get togethers.

I started by covering the page with Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks and when dry, applying some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a brayer. Next I tore some sheet music paper and added it to the page using a glue stick and I applied some more white gesso over them too. Then I used a Docrafts stamp to add some more music notes using Grape Jelly Memento Ink. The bluebell images and wording were cut from some magazine pages and to finish, I added some purple foam glittery hearts.

Here’s the pretty bluebells flowering in my garden; the fun song that my Grandad Westy used to sing went “Bluebells are bluebells, Bluebells are blue, Bluebells are bluebells when bluebells are blue” (smile!).

I hope that you’re 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

I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Alison the Craftytrog is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and has chosen Play it again Sam where you’re page need to be inspired by a song or movie; so I’m joining her with my Bluebells Are Bluebells song page.

A Study in Contrast challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the contrasting light background and darker bluebell images on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #166 – Anything Goes challenge with my page.

Wild and Wonderful challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the wild and wonderful bluebell images on my page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my bluebell page.

With Love

It’s time for our new challenge this month over at Country View Challenges which is being hosted by the lovely Corrie whose theme is Spring is Coming.

With all the spring flowers starting to grow in my garden it looks like spring is on its way, so with this month’s challenge in mind I created this page “with love” full of spring coloured flowers.

I started by covering the chipboard background using a couple of stamps; the first was from the Etcetera stamp set from Tim Holtz using Moonshine White Brilliance Ink and the second was a Carabelle Studio stamp using black Archival Ink. Then I die cut all the flowers and foliage using a Floral Tropics Sizzix Thinlits set from some Tim Holtz Kraft cardstock and some leftover pieces of linen textured cardstock. I arranged them around a circular die cut piece of white cardstock which I had stuck one of the flowers onto and also the wording “With love” which was created from a Sizzix die set that my sister kindly gifted me (grin!).

For more inspiration please see the amazing Spring creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you’ll join us, it would be lovely to see you there and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the Country View Crafts shop! Before you enter, please read the rules!

It feels like Spring is on its way with all the spring flowers and greenery in our garden – wishing you a Happy April and Spring!

Stay 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 Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #164 – Anything Goes challenge with my spring page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes theme with my spring coloured flowers page.

Mothering Sunday

Today I’m over at Country View Challenges sharing my second page as inspiration for this month’s Mother’s Day challenge.

I started by stamping the chipboard page using an Architecture stamp set by Tim Holtz and Moonlight White Brilliance ink. Then I die cut the flowers from white cardstock using a Brushstroke Flowers #3 Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and I coloured them with Distress Inks; the petals with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink, the stamens with Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Rusty Hinge ink and the leaves with Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn ink. I arranged them on the left-hand side of the page and then I applied Ranger Glossy Accents over the centres of the flowers. To finish, I added the white wording which were Tiny Text Rub-ons by Tim Holtz.

I hope you are inspired to join our Mother’s Day challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts.

I love the pretty flowers and stamped arched windows I created as part of the page design, it reminded me of church and Mothering Sunday – if you didn’t know in the UK we celebrate Mother’s Day on the fourth Sunday of Lent which is also known as Mothering Sunday.

Mother’s Day maybe on a different date depending on where you live: this year in UK and Ireland it’s on Sunday 27th March; in USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand it’s Sunday 8th May; France it’s Sunday 29th May; Spain it’s Sunday 1st May.

If you are interested here are some interesting facts about Mother’s Day in the UK:

• Mothering Sunday in the UK has a religious origin.
• It does not fall on the same date each year due to its connection to Lent.
• England was the first country to dedicate a day to Mothers.
• It’s often celebrated with Simnel Cake or Mothering Cake which dates back to the 18th Century.

I hope that you are staying safe and well, and for those of you celebrating – Happy Mother’s Day wishes!

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

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

The lovely Valerie of Bastelmania is hosting Art Journal Journey and has chosen Spring with my spring Mothering Sunday page.

Rather Blustery Day challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as keeping things clean and not smudging the stamping is often difficult for me hence why a lot of my pages are grungy in design (grin!); for this page I stamped the image and left it to dry overnight – yay, it worked!

Paperbabe Stamps and their #163 – Anything Goes challenge with my Mother’s Day page.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Add Some Green challenge with the green leaves on my page.

Bit O’Green challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the green foliage on my page.

Leave a little sparkle

Sorry for my absence and thank you so much for all your kind thoughts and messages with regards to my dad passing away just before Christmas.

I would also like to thank Craftyfield for kindly covering for me during my absence as it was my turn to host this month’s challenge over at Country View Challenges; to welcome in 2022 I’ve chosen the theme of A Year to Sparkle and Shine.

“We would like to see LOTS of sparkle and shine on your projects, no “token” gems or sequins please; you really need to go sprinkle that sparkle! This means that you can use lots of different sparkly and shiny products (like metallics, sparkly embossing powders, glitters, lustres, foil, glazes, mirror cardstock, mica sprays or paints etc) as part of your designs”

I created this mini art journal page as inspiration; you still have until the end of this month to join me with your sparkly creations. I do hope that you will join in the fun, it would be so lovely to see you there!

I started by applying two coats of Villainous Potion Distress Paint to my chipboard page. Then when dry, I used a stamp from a Christmas Time stamp set by Tim Holtz to add all the starbursts using VersaMark Watermark Ink and two types of Gold Ranger embossing powder.

Next I stamped the wording and added some tiny stars around the page using a new Dovecraft stamp, the Watermark Ink and Gold Ranger embossing powder. Then I stuck the cute sparkly dog in place which I had fussy cut from an old recycled Christmas card and to finish, I used a white Uniball gel pen to add some highlights and the snowy foreground.

You’ll find lots more sparkly and shiny inspiration from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I look forward to visiting you and seeing what you make and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the shop, Country View Crafts! Before you enter your project, please read the rules!

Stay safe and well!

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

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges. , I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey and the lovely Erika from BioArtGal who is hosting this month with her Let’s Face It challenge; I think the sparkly dog’s face looks super cute on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #159 – Anything Goes challenge with my sparkly page.

Love To Scrap Challenge Blog and their LTSCB #153 – Anything Goes challenge with my Leave a little sparkle page.

Out with the Old, in with the New over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the new word stamp and old recycled Christmas card image that I used to create this page.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Four Legged Friends challenge with the sparkly dog I added to my page.

Anything Stamping Goes with the option of Wings challenge over at We Love Stamping with my stamped Leave a little sparkle page.

Yule Tide

It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for December which is Christmas Anything Goes.

This challenge is perfect as I love all things Christmas and I created this Yule Tide page to celebrate and wish you a Happy December and all the very best for the festive season!

I started by covering the page with Christmas Collage Paper from Tim Holtz and then I edged the page using Gold Ranger Embossing Powder. The snowflakes were die cut from some white cardstock using a Mini Paper Snowflakes Thinlits set from Tim Holtz and then covered in the Gold Ranger Embossing Powder.

To finish, I added some word stickers which were from a Tim Holtz Christmas Sticker Book and read “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night”, “Baby it’s cold outside” and “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” and also some images from a Tim Holtz Ephemera Pack which read “Special Delivery” and “December 25”; they were all edged with the Gold Ranger embossing powder before sticking them in place.

For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you are inspired to join our Christmas Anything Goes challenge too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

This Yule Tide page had me yearning for this chocolate Yule Log that we buy every Christmas from a local bakery, it’s so yummy – not long to wait now (double grin!).

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

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

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. You can also check out Country View Crafts as they sell many of the Tim Holtz and Ranger products that I used.

Challenges

As well as Country View Challenges, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:

Yuletide Delights over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with my Yule Tide page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #157 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmas page.

Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Yule Tide page.

Challenge #106 – Anything Christmas Goes over at The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge with my Christmas art journal page.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Sparkle Mode challenge with the gold embossing powder adding sparkle to my page.

Winter Wonderland

It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday which for the next 2 weeks is Winter Wonderland.

As some of you will know I can never resist using my Merry Moose Thinlits set this time of year, so today here he is walking through a winter wonderland at sunset (grin!).

I positioned a circular template from an Inkylicious template and stencil set to mask out the sun and then I painted some Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to mark out the sky and foreground. For the snowy foreground, I added some Ranger Texture Paste using s palette knife and when dry, I painted some Prize Ribbon Distress Ink and Pébéo white gesso over the top. Then I splattered the whole page using the white gesso, which when dry acted as a resist when I added the next layers of colour, forming the snowfall. To create the sunset, I gradually built up the layers of colour by painting the sky with some Abandoned Coral Distress Stain to form the clouds and I reflected some of this colour onto the snowy foreground too. The sun was painted using Mustard Seed Distress Ink and the same Abandoned Coral Distress Stain, and to add a bit of snowy sparkle I also added some Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink over the sun and clouds. I used a Tall Pines Thinlits set to cut the trees from some white cardstock and then I covered them with some Ranger Texture Paste and coloured them using some of the Distress Inks/Stain and white gesso. The “Winter Wonderland” wording was stamped onto some tissue paper using a free stamp set from a magazine and black Archival Ink; it was stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium.

The moose was die cut using the Merry Moose Thinlets from some Classic Kraft Paper, both by Tim Holtz. He was edged using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker, and I added a piece of ribbon for a scarf before sticking him in place. To finish, I splattered the whole page with white acrylic paint.

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

Over the years, I have created tags, journal pages and even Christmas cards using this Merry Moose Thinlits set, here’s some that have a winter wonderland feel about them; they all hold such happy memories of dear friends and my time on Design Teams! I hope you are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

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.

For the sake of brevity I am 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.

Challenges

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

Art Journal Journey and lovely Chris from http://pearshapedcrafting.blogspot.com/ who is hosting this month with her All Kinds of Weather challenge with all the snow falling on my page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #156 – Anything Goes with my Merry Moose page.

Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the winter wonderland background that I created for this page.

LTSCB #151 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my Winter Wonderland page.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog and their MLCCB #40 – November Anything Christmas Goes with my Winter Wonderland Christmasy page.

Look for the magic

Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Make it Magical.

For this challenge, I sprinkled some fairy dust so this pretty fairy could sit on the moon amongst the stars; I hope are inspired to join our challenge too, it would be lovely to see you there!

For my fairy dust background I used an Airbrush Pen Set to spray purple, green, dark green, magenta and yellow felt tip pens onto the page. Next I stamped the stars using a Christmas Time Tim Holtz stamp set and Lilac Roses, Elderberry and Dandelion Memento Inks. I fussy cut the fairy image and then coloured the moon using Yellow and Sunflower Spectrum Aqua markers, and the fairy using Earth Brown and Golden Brown Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers for her hair and Ice Blue and Turquoise Green TriBlend markers for her wings. The “Look for the magic” wording was from a Sentiments Word Sticker Pad by Finnabair and it was edged with the Ice Blue and Turquoise Green TriBlend markers. To finish, I added a pearl gemstone to the centre of each of the stamped stars.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful Make it Magical creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too.

Using the airbrush set was so much fun; you simply fit one of the felt tip pens into the slot and then press the button to spray the colour. It was a surprise present from my hubby and very easy to use (grin!).

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

For the sake of brevity I am 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.

Challenges

As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today with my page:

Art Journal Journey and lovely Chris from http://pearshapedcrafting.blogspot.com/ who is hosting this month with her All Kinds of Weather challenge with my clear starry night page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #155 – Anything Goes with my magical page.

LTSCB #151 – Anything Goes over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my fairy page.

Mere colours …

As I shared a Halloween page to launch our Autumnal Colours and/or Halloween challenge over at Country View Challenges this month, my second creation is an autumnal art journal page featuring a beautiful quote by Oscar Wilde.

For the background I stuck a piece of kitchen towel onto the page which had been stained with Crackling Campfire, Rusty Hinge, Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso and Peeled Paint Distress Inks. It was stuck down using Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry, I stamped some fern images over the top using a Leaf Prints Tim Holtz stamp set and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. Then I used the fern stamp again to add the gold ferns using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad and some Gold Ranger embossing powder. I edged the page using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker and I stamped the quote using an old alphabet stamp set and some black Archival Ink. To finish, I used a white gel pen to make the letters stand out more; the quote is by Oscar Wilde and reads “Mere colour … can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways”.

I hope you are inspired to join our Autumnal Colours and/or Halloween challenge over at Country View Challenges too, if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

At this time of year, I always find myself thinking for our dearest friends in Maine (America) and the holidays we’ve enjoyed with them. The autumnal colours and ferns remind me of our woodland walks around their lake property.

Like the quote says, the autumnal colours speak to my soul – so breathtaking (grin!).

A few years ago, we even celebrated our wedding anniversary whilst we were there (double grin!). It seems like yesterday that me and my hubby got married but this year we find ourselves celebrating 33 years of marriage – sending my hubby all my love on our Anniversary and always! x

I hope that you are all staying safe and well!

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

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. You can also check out Country View Crafts as they sell many of the Ranger and Tim Holtz products I used too.

Challenges I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today: Art Journal Journey and lovely Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations  who is hosting this month with her My favourite colour is October challenge with my autumnal coloured October page (15x15cm). Fall Gratitude challenge over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog as I’m being thankful and paying homage to the autumn season with my quote and fall colours. Paperbabe Stamps and their Challenge #153 – Anything Goes with my autumnal page. LTSCB #150 – Anything But A Card over at Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my autumnal mini art journal page celebrating autumn. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Not A Card challenge with my autumnal mini chipboard art journal page. Challenge #6 Mixed Media Lovers with my mixed media autumnal page; this is a new challenge so I thought I’d join in the fun!