Hello March

It’s the first Friday of a new month, so it’s time for a new challenge over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, which as always is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I would also like to send a warm welcome to the lovely Fiona from http://www.craftystamping.blogspot.com/ who has joined our Design Team; please be sure to visit her blog and show her some love!

My mixed media page is saying “Hello March” and celebrating the pretty crocus that flower this time of year!

I started by covering the background with a couple of cyclopaedia book pages and then covered them with some Villainous Potion Distress Paint applying it like watercolour. When dry, I applied some Yellow Ochre Kuretake Watercolour and I stamped some foliage and a circular filigree stamp using a Magnolia Grove stamp set by Kaisercraft, black Archival Ink and Dusty Concord Distress Archival Ink. Next I added some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a brayer and layered some more of the stamping over the top, to create a distressed grungy look. Then I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint. The crocus were fussy cut from an old garden flower book, edged with a black Faber-Castell marker and stuck in place using a glue stick. I stamped the “Hello March” wording using a Sophisticated Script stamp set by Concord & 9th and black Archival Ink, then to finish I highlighted the letters with a white Uniball gel pen.

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 join you there!

Every year, there is a beautiful display of crocus’ at the church in Poulton-de-Fylde; which is a small town near to where we live.

These little crocus flowers look so amazing and it’s always such a beautiful sight as they cover the church yard in so much colour!

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

Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Valerie of Bastelmania and her Anything Goes challenge with my Hello March page.

MIUCB #64 – Anything Goes + optional Distressing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my distressed background crocus page.

Triple B Challenge where everything is about Birds, Blooms and Butterflies so as their March challenge blog was launched this month, I’m joining them with my spring blooms.

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Christmas Robins

I was kindly gifted some part-used topper and cardstock sets by M, my very dear MIL, which were from a charity shop. Of course, I fell in love with the robin designs as soon as I saw them, so I created this simple, fun page (smile!).

I started by covering the whole page with a piece of cardstock, that had lots of robins sitting on a branch hanging their stockings. Then I had fun adding all the hanging baubles and bells from the branches using some coloured baubles stickers and some thin strips of silver border outline stickers. To finish, I used the toppers from the same robin pack to create the signage which reads “Flying by to wish you a Merry Christmas”.

It was so kind of M to think of me and gift me such gorgeous cardstock and toppers for my art journal pages (smile!); I’m looking forward to creating more pages with these goodies!

Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well and Happy Journaling! Hugs Jo 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 join the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey which I’m having fun hosting this month; I chose the challenge theme Snowy Winter so like me all you need to do is add snowflakes and/or snow on your pages. I hope to see you there!

Paperbabe Stamps and their #182 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmas page.

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

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #29 where Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas Robins page.

Double D Challenges and their Christmas Stockings challenge with the robins’ Christmas stocking on this page.

Snowy Winter at Art Journal Journey

I am so delighted to be guest hosting Art Journal Journey this month with my Snowy Winter theme.

As winter is here, we’re looking for snow and snowflakes on your pages; this could be linked to a winter scene or even Christmas as it’s now December.

For my page, I started by using a Stencil Template set by Inkylicious for the moon and a Stencil Mask by Marianne Designs for the trees, and painting Seedless Grape Distress Ink like watercolour onto the page. Then I coloured the moon using the Inkylicious Stencil using the same Seedless Grape Ink and then the trees using Pine Needles Distress Ink. Next I used a Cozy Winter Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz to die cut the snowflakes, adorable bear, branch and woodpecker from some white cardstock and different colours of Tim Holtz Kraft Cardstock – Classic. I die cut some pine needles to add to the branch using a Holiday Greens Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and then I layered everything together and stuck them onto the page. I splattered the page with white acrylic paint and to finish, I added the wording “a white Christmas appeared” which was from a Christmas Sticker Book by Tim Holtz.

I hope that you are inspired to join in the fun this month too! I’m really looking forward to visiting you and seeing all your wonderful Snowy Winter creations; please, don’t forget to take a look at the RULES.

Wishing you a very Happy December and Happy Journaling! Hugs Jo x

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

Challenges

As well as Art Journal Journey, I’m pleased to be joining the following challenges:

Challenge #64 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels Challenge Blog with my Snowy Winter Christmas page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #181 – Anything Goes challenge with my winter page.

Stencil Fun Challenge and their December Stencil Fun – Anything Goes as long as you use a stencil with the stencils that I used to create the background on my wintery page.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #28 where Anything Christmas Goes with my winter Christmas page.

Be Thankful

Today I’m sharing a thankful journal page and wishing all of you that are celebrating this week – a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I started by covering the chipboard page with some scraps of neutral coloured papers; I cut the papers into triangles before collaging them onto the page and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top using my finger. I added the framed wording “when I count my blessings I count you twice” which was a sticker from Kaisercraft and the “Be thankful” wording which was washi tape. Next I added two flowers from a Tim Holtz Ephemera pack and two die cut autumnal leaves that were coloured using Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. To finish, I added two little chipboard owls.

For our wedding anniversary last month, we went to a new local Chinese restaurant called “Blessings House” and had the most amazing time (smile!).

The beautiful picture on the wall is cross stitch and was sewn by one of the restaurant’s family – it was very detailed and must have taken ages to create!

We had the lunch buffet with starters and soup; our choices were Sweetcorn and Crabmeat soup and one of each of the starters which were Curry Samosas, Spring Rolls, Salt and Pepper Chicken, Spare Ribs, Chicken Satay, Prawn Toast and Seaweed.

We shared our mains of Chicken in Satay Sauce, Sweet and Sour Pork and Chicken with Mushrooms – it was all so yummy and very filling!

I forgot to take photos of our drinks at the restaurant, so as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a couple of pints that we enjoyed at the pub around the corner on our way home (smile!) – Happy T Day everyone!

I hope 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

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 collage fodder page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #181 – Anything Goes challenge with my thankful page.

LTSCB#158 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Be Thankful page; I used lots of scraps to create this one.

November Anything Goes Fall Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge with my autumnal thankful page.

Winter Village

Today I’m sharing a page that I created with two beautiful stamps, one of the Winter Village scene and the other of Santa’s sleigh, that I won over at Stamped Smiles. I was so thrilled to win and receive this special gift, especially as Vicki kindly sent them to me all the way from America – thank you so much!

I started by using an Airbrush Pen Set to spray purple, green, magenta and black felt tip pens onto a piece of mixed media paper. When fully dry, I ripped the mixed media paper into pieces and collaged the darker pieces onto the top of a chipboard page using a glue stick; creating the night sky. I coloured the white torn edges of the paper using the Airbrush Pen Set and then covered them with some Black Mirage Cosmic Shimmer Brilliant Sparkle Embossing Powder. I collaged the lighter coloured paper pieces to create the foreground stamping the houses and trees over the top using the Winter Village stamp, VersaMark Watermark ink pad and some Detailed White Stampendous embossing powder.

I stamped Santa’s sleigh using the VersaMark Ink Pad and the white Stampendous embossing powder. To finish, I added a small dot of Red Ranger Stickles to Rudolph the reindeer which gave him a very shiny nose (smile!).

Here are the stamps that Vicki kindly sent me along with a very pretty card; the Winter Village stamp is gorgeous and goes so beautifully with the surprise Santa’s sleigh stamp – thanks so much! They were both such fun to use and I’m sure I’ll be using them again soon.

Challenges

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 page.

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

MIUCB #61 – Anything Goes + Optional Open Technique over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my Christmassy page using a collage technique.

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

Mischievous Cats

Today I’m sharing my fourth page using a napkin from the napkin swap over at T Stands for Tuesday. I used a pretty scalloped edge napkin full of autumnal colours and I decided to pair it with some Mischievous cats from Tim Holtz; I hope you like it (smile!).

I started by cutting the round napkin into quarters and tearing some of the napkin to create individual flowers, and then I collaged all the napkin pieces onto the page using a glue stick. The pretty cats were cut from some black Kraft cardstock – Classic by Tim Holtz using my new Mischievous Cats Sizzix Thinlits set, also by Tim Holtz. I layered them together and added them to the page with a sticker by Kaisercraft that reads “being together is the best gift of all”. To finish, I added some green, gold and blue gemstones to the cats for their eyes – aren’t they adorable!

Creating pages using the napkins from the T Day napkin swap is so much fun! If you’re interested you can find them here:

1. Bee Wellington Boots – Bee napkin from Erika
2. Time for Tea – Alice napkin from Lisca
3. Autumn Greetings – Autumnal napkin from Chris
4. Mischievous Cats – Scalloped napkin which I believe was from Elle (I thought you may like the cats, smile!) – this post

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my Bad Kitty beer that I had at our local beer festival which was held in October this year instead of February. Me and my hubby always volunteer at this festival and we had lots of fun meeting people, serving and chatting to customers and of course trying all the beers.

Bad Kitty is from Brass Castle Brewery in Yorkshire; it’s a Vanilla Porter with a 5.5% ABV described as a “chewy chocolate-vanilla dream of a porter” and was very yummy! I thought it was the “purr-fect” accompaniment to my page this T Day as I know Bleubeard and Elizabeth like Porters and the brewery says “Bad Kitty earned its name from the antics of the two original brewhouse cats, who delighted in mischievously supervising proceedings”.

Cheers and Happy T Day! 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 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 napkin collaged page (smile!).

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

LTSCB#158 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Mischievous Cats page.

November Anything Goes Fall Challenge over at The Four Seasons Challenge with my autumnal coloured page.

Autumn Greetings

I’m having so much fun creating pages using the beautiful napkins that I received as part of the napkin swap over at T Stands for Tuesday. So today I’m sharing my third page, this time I used an autumnal mushroom designed napkin to send you all Autumn Greetings!

I started by painting the edge of the page with Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre Kuretake watercolours. When dry, I stamped a crackle design by BoBunny, over the top of the watercolours, using black Archival Ink. Then I stencilled the ivy using Black Soot Distress Ink; the stencil template was created using an ivy die cut from a Garden Greens Thinlits by Tim Holtz. Next I carefully tore the napkin, around the autumnal mushroom image, and stuck it in place using a glue stick. To finish, I stamped the “Autumn Greetings” wording using Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink.

It was my hubby’s birthday last week which happened to coincide with a Beer Festival at one of our local pubs. With my autumnal page and as T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing one this “All the leaves are brown” ale – it’s by Brewster’s Brewery and is a California Common Style beer at 4.8% ABV made with British malt and hops; it’s amber coloured, zesty and fruity.

We also both had a BBQ Fried Buttermilk Chicken Burger topped with maple-cured bacon and cheese, and served with BBQ sauce, onion rings and chips – so yummy!

Cheers and Happy T Day!

Creating pages using the napkins from the T Day napkin swap is so much fun! If you’re interested you can find them here:

1. Bee Wellington Boots – Bee napkin from Erika
2. Time for Tea – Alice napkin from Lisca
3. Autumn Greeting – Autumnal napkin from Chris – this post
4. Mischievous Cats – to be posted in November

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 Elle from Empire of the Cat is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Fairytales, Folklore & Fables – Tell Me A Story so I’m joining her with my autumnal page as mushrooms have a long history in Magic and Folklore; in the UK it is often thought fairies live in them (smile!).

Paperbabe Stamps and their #179 – Anything Goes challenge with my autumnal page.

Challenge #63 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels with my Autumn Greetings page.

Stencil Fun Challenge which is Anything Goes as long as you use a stencil (with optional Halloween Colours); with the stencil which was created from a Tim Holtz die set that I used on my page.

Spooky Halloween

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

For my page, I recycled a magazine page with a beautiful spooky image of “Día de los Muertos” or “Day of the Dead“.

I started by stencilling large circles onto the page using the white acrylic paint. When dry, I coloured between the circles using Villainous Potion Distress Paint. Then I applied some more white acrylic paint to the circles mixing in some of the Distress Paint to add texture and depth. Then I splattered the page using the same Distress Paint.

Next I added the image, circles and wording which were all recycled from a magazine page; I loved the spooky makeup and rich colours. The image and circles were die cut and then layered together with the wording using a glue stick. To finish, I added some sparkly pink gemstones.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the wonderful texture 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!

As T Stands for Tuesday and with the cooler autumn temperatures, I’m sharing my yummy hot chocolate and saying a big hello to the T Gang – wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

I’ve had such fun creating pages using the napkins from the T Day napkin swap this year, as you may know I’ve created two pages so far and if you’re interested you can find them here:

1. Bee Wellington Boots
2. Time for Tea
3. Autumn Greetings – to be posted next week

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:

The lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Fairytales, Folklore & Fables – Tell Me A Story so I’m joining her with my”Día de los Muertos” or “Day of the Dead” page.

I’m also joining a new challenge blog that’s just started this month called Stencil Fun Challenge which is Anything Goes as long as you use a stencil (with optional Halloween Colours); I used a circle stencil to create the background for my Halloween page – Happy Stencilling!

OCTOBER – Anything Halloween challenge over at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge with my Spooky Halloween page.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #178 – Anything Goes challenge with my spooky page.

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Deeply Loved

As it’s the first Friday of the month, we are launching our October challenge over at Creative Artiste today. As always our challenge is Anything Mixed Media Goes.

My mixed media page was inspired by my hubby; it’s our wedding anniversary tomorrow (smile!).

I started by adding water to the page and then some Orange Kuretake watercolour paint gradually building up washes of colour to give a smooshed effect. Then I splattered the page using the same paint and some white acrylic paint. Next I fussy cut the flowers and foliage from some decoupage paper and stuck them in place using a glue stick. The wording was a Kaisercraft sticker and reads “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage”; it was edged with a black Faber-Castell marker. To finish, I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint.

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 join you there!

Here’s my hubby and me, I can’t believe that we’ve been married 34 years – time sure does fly when you’re having fun!

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:

Paperbabe Stamps and their #178 – Anything Goes challenge with my anniversary page.

MIUCB #61 – Anything Goes + Optional Smooshing over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my smooshed background that I created using watercolour techniques.

Challenge #62 – Anything Goes over at Ally’s Angels with my Deeply Loved page.

Pumpkin Patch Halloween

It’s a new month so it’s time to launch a new challenge over at Country View Challenges which is Halloween or Harvest, which is being hosted by the lovely Miriam.

For this challenge, I’m had fun creating this Pumpkin Patch Halloween page using Sizzix Thinlits by Tim Holtz.

The chipboard page was covered with a square of mixed media paper using a glue stick, which was first stamped using a Doorway Finnabair stamp and black Archival Ink. Then I stencilled the large moon using white DecoArt acrylic paint and I coloured the night sky around it using Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot Distress Inks with a blending tool. I used the same Distress Inks to add some texture to the moon itself and I added the black foreground using black DecoArt acrylic paint.

The bats and pumpkins were die cut using a Pumpkin Patch Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from different coloured Kraft Stock Classic paper pad by Tim Holtz. To finish, I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

For more inspiration please see the amazing 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.

There seems to be some spooky goings on at Lytham Hall with pumpkin banners.

As well as this fabulous pottery pumpkin guarding the pumpkin patch.

Wishing you a Happy October and 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.

Challenge

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

The lovely Elle from Empire of the Cat is hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month and her theme is Fairytales, Folklore & Fables – Tell Me A Story so I’m joining her with my Pumpkin Patch page as Jack-o’-lanterns are part of folklore tradition.

Paperbabe Stamps and their #177 – Anything Goes challenge with my Halloween page.

LTCCB#71 – Anything Goes over at Love To Craft Challenge Blog with my Pumpkin Patch page.

OCTOBER – Anything Halloween challenge over at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge with my Pumpkin Patch Halloween page.