Chococo

When we visited our family for the Christmas holidays we went on a chocolate adventure to Chococo, which is a chocolate shop and café. We had such a wonderful time that I created this page to remember it by.

I covered the background with a striped piece of Kaisercraft paper; the bold colours reminded me of the Chococo logo and store. I edged the page with a thin brown washi tape and then cut up a leaflet that I’d picked up there; this included the Chococo logo, gingerbread caramel chocolate and two chocolate lollies with birds on them. They are arranged on the page with some die cut brown hearts, a circular hot chocolate image and some wording which reads “cozy” and “even when it’s cold outside our memories keep us warm”. The wording “sweet” is from Kaisercraft and “an armful of candy boxes” is from Tim Holtz, both of which are stickers. To finish the page, I added three wooden glittery snowflakes as we visited in winter.

Chococo is located in Horsham, West Sussex and celebrates all things chocolate.

They have a chocolate counter with lots of yummy treats and …

… also a café specialising in hot chocolate.

I couldn’t resist having one of their Gingerbread Caramel Hot Chocolates with all the works (whipped cream, marshmallows and chocolate shavings), it was so delicious and was accompanied by one of their award winning gingerbread caramel chocolates – yum yum!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my drink related post with the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

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

Challenges

As this was a new café for us to visit, I’m joining the Something New challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey, it would be great to see you there (grin!).

I’m also happy to join in the Love challenge over at Country View Challenges with my art journal page, who doesn’t love chocolate (double grin!).

I’m also pleased to join the Snowflake challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday with the glittery wooden snowflakes that I included on my page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page too.

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

• Kaisercraft 12×12 Paper Save the Date Collection (Invite P949)
• Washi Tape
• Chococo leaflet – recycled
• The Works Die Cut Book (Winter Feelings)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Havana Nights SS354)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Book (Christmas #TH93999)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• The Craftblog Christmas Village Collection (Glittered Wooden Shapes)
• Stix2 glue dots

Christmas Pudding Tea

Over Christmas we have been enjoying some Christmas Pudding loose leaf tea, so I couldn’t resist creating a page using the packaging and a beautiful Christmas Pudding card that I received from a dear friend a couple of years ago.

For the background I smooshed some Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks onto the page by stamping the ink pads onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the paper. Then I stamped the page with holly leaves using Cottage Ivy and Pistachio Memento Ink and added some leftover pieces of green polka dot washi tape. Next I die cut the snowflakes from some recycled white card, covered them with Versamark ink and some glittery Wow! embossing powder; heating them with my heat gun until the powder turned glossy. I arranged them around the edges of the page and added the large Christmas pudding which was an old Christmas card.

I also added the Christmas pudding tea packaging, some die cut holly leaves and berries and also pieces of tartan which are from a Tim Holtz Christmas sticker book. To finish, I added some baubles suspended by strands of silver which are all stickers.

Here’s the lovely shop that we bought the tea from in Arundel which you may remember me featuring in a post last year called The Tea & Biscuit Club.

Their Christmas Pudding tea is a Christmas spiced black tea with a zesty fruit infusion creating a very festive aromatic blend – it tastes yummy!

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m pleased to share this tea related post with the T Gang! Happy T Day and I hope you all had a lovely Christmastime.

Wishing you a New Year filled with peace, love and happiness!

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 lovely Yvonne, aka Meggymay and her Words and Numbers challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the wording on my page.

I’m happy to join in the Stars challenge over at Country View Challenges with all the stars on the baubles.

I’m also joining in the Party Time challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my T-Party page.

I’m also pleased to be able to join in the fun at Paperbabe Stamps and their #109 – Sketch challenge; I flipped the sketch so the “Paperbabe Stamps” is represented by the “Christmas Pudding” wording and the flower is represented by the other tea packaging and holly leaves.

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

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Festive Berries)
• Washi Tape
• Docrafts Clear Stamp (Christmas Selection)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Cottage Ivy, Pistachio)
• White card – recycled
• Tonic Studios Die Set (Falling Snowflake Trio 1792e )
• Wow! Glitter Embossing Powder (Singing in the rain)
• Zig Memory System 2-way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Christmas Pudding Card – recycled
• Pritt Stick
• Christmas Pudding Tea Packaging – recycled
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• White paper – recycled
• The Range (5×5 Dies Holly)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Christmas Sticker Book #TH93999)
• Stickers (Silver Borders, Baubles)

Lytham St. Annes

Loving the happy colours of some vintage images of Lytham St. Annes that I found in a magazine, I was inspired to create this happy page to celebrate where we live and sunshiny weather which I have been wishing for of late (grin!).

I started by blending some white and blue Liquitex acrylic paints to cover the background of the page; varying the colours and also adding some Peach Liquitex acrylic paint to produce an aged and worn look. Next I added some blue and white striped washi tape vertically and horizontally onto the page, then lots of rub-on transfers and stickers to build up the design; they include some vintage black and white rub-on transfers, some beach designed stickers and rub-on transfers and also some 3D fabric flower and heart stickers. I used a black Uni Pin marker to outline some of them so they stood out more. To finish, I cut out the Majestic Hotel and Lytham St. Annes images from a local advertising magazine, mounted them onto some black paper and stuck them to the page using double-sided tape or foam tape.

We feel very blessed to live by the sea and there is nothing better than walking along the beach. One of our favourite regular walks is with our very good friend, where we start at Fairhaven Lake …

…. and walk alongside the dunes towards the beach which you can just about see in the distance …

… along the beach passing the beach huts …

…. and past the pier and then back along the promenade returning to Fairhaven Lake. It’s about 4.25 miles and we always see lots along the way whether it’s winter birds or the summer tourists (grin!).

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

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Halle of Halle’s Hobbies and her Words to live by challenge over at Art Journal Journey as the words say Lytham St. Annes is the perfect resort especially when you live here (grin!).

I’m happy to join the #193 Here Comes The Sun challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my sunshiny page.

I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Vacation challenge with my Lytham St. Annes art journal page.

I’m also joining the Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday Summer Vibes! Challenge as this page reminds me of summer.

Don’t forget that you still have over a week to join the It’s a Man’s World challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be lovely to see you there!

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

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Swedish Blue, Navy, Apricot)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.5mm)
• The Works (Washi Tape Set)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Create-A-Collage (Travel Collage #ROY-871)
• Craft Planet Metallic Waterfall Sticker Set (Beach PO#9622)
• Wilko (Let’s Create A5 Stickers)
• Old Magazine
• Coloured Paper (Black)
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Birthday Wishes

As it’s our 10^th birthday at Try it on Tuesday and I always enjoy a lovely cocktail when it’s my birthday, I thought we could raise a glass at the Let’s Party challenge too!

You are invited to join our party which lasts for another week so have fun, be colourful and share the art that you like to create with us. To celebrate we also have our 10^th birthday party logo that you can display on your blog too.

I started with a purple background from a previous project that had gone wrong so I covered it with white gesso and when it was dry I scribbled on some Passion Fruit and Coconut Faber-Castell gelatos over the top and smudged them with my finger which I had wet with water. As gelatos reactivate when wet and I wanted to keep the next layers of colour crisp, I covered the page with Pébéo transparent gesso to fix the gelato colour in place. Next I added three pieces of sheet music using Liquitex matte gel medium and applied some DecoArt white acrylic paint over the page using a brayer. I stencilled some Vivid Lime Green Liquitex acylic paint through an Art Mask from Carabelle Studio and left it to dry. Then I applied some Red Cherry Faber-Castell gelato along the edges of the page and also to define the edges of the sheet music pieces; smudging it with my finger again. Next I cut the tag from some Kaisercraft paper using a Tim Holtz Framelits die and my Big Shot machine, and edged it with Red Cherry and Lime Faber-Castell gelatos. I tied a piece of lime green ribbon to the tag and stuck to the page using a glue stick. I created the large chevron shape on the left-hand side of the page from three pieces of washi tape and added the flowers, circular wording and circles which are stickers from Kaisercraft; some are fussy cut and edged with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. I also edged the page with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and splattered the whole page with black DecoArt acrylic paint. The cocktail image is recycled from an old birthday card; it is fussy cut and stuck in place using a glue stick. I stamped the words “happy”, “birthday wishes” and “sparkle” using a stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps and black Archival Ink. To finish, I added three mini butterflies and also some tiny red gemstones to add more sparkle.

My friend sent me this card as we always celebrate my birthday with a cocktail and she knows that a cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a cosmo happens to be one of my favourites (grin!).

If you are interested it’s made with ½oz Fresh lime juice, 1oz Cranberry juice, ½oz Cointreau, 1½oz Vodka. Place all the ingredients into cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake well and strain into a large cocktail glass – yum (double grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m joining the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

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 flying up my page – maybe wou’d like to join me for a cocktail Erica (grin!).

I’m joining in the Happy Hour challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my birthday cocktail page – cheers!

I’m pleased to join the Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #93 – Sketch as the sketch inspired my page design.

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:

• Pébéo Gesso (White, Transparent)
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Passion Fruit, Coconut, Red Cherry, Lime)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Vivid Lime Green)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Carabelle Studio Art Mask (Sur Fond de Mosaique MA60049)
• Sizzix Framelits Tim Holtz Alterations (Tag Collection 658784)
• Paperbabe Stamps (Birthday Wishes Stamp Set)
• Sheet Music
• Kaisercraft Paper Fiesta! Collection (Siesta P1859)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS284, Say Aloha SS281)
• Recycled Birthday Card
• Michael’ Washi Tape
• Ribbon (Lime Green)
• Docrafts Papermania (Adhesive Stones – Red PMA351607)
• Poundland (Mini Glitter Embellishments 59409)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick

Joy

As my weekend and week so far has been filled with joy, I created this art journal page to celebrate – I hope you like it!

Also I’m so excited that my Guest Designer post has been posted today over at Country View Challenges so if you are looking for my Opposites inspired page you can find it on my blog here, thank you!

I started by adding Turquoise and Gold Spectrum aqua marker to the background by scribbling the marker onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the paper. Then I stamped a Joy Background stamp from Great Impressions using a Slate Spectrum aqua marker over the whole page. Next I stamped the large blue flowers using a foam flower stamp and Bahama Blue Memento Ink and some heart outlines using Angel Pink Memento Ink and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. The flamingos and flowers, which are from Hampton Art, are stamped onto some bright pink and white dots paper which was recycled from a paper bag that my birthday present came in. I fussy cut them and stuck them in place using the matte gel medium; for some of the flowers I reversed the paper bag to give a lighter contrasting tone. I also used the paper bag to punch out pink dots and hearts; they are all stuck into place using Liquitex matte gel medium. I added the pink, yellow and blue foam spotted flowers and some rub-on transfer flowers from Royal & Langnickel. Then used a black Uni Pin marker to add more detail to the dots, hearts and flowers. I added some pieces of pink and white washi tape and the pink glittery hearts, and then to finish I splattered the page with a pink Uni Posca paint pen and black DecoArt acrylic paint.

As it was a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK we’ve been having fun with friends, walking, enjoying birthday treats and touring Lancashire. As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing some beer that we had this weekend. Firstly, here we are visiting Cross Bay Brewing Company Brew House in Morecambe, where they have both Real and Craft Ales on offer.

This beer is their Two-Four beer which is a brown ale made with maple and pecans – delicious!

We also visited The Three Mariners which is located by the river in Lancaster.

Here I had Honey Ale by Fat Cat Brewery in Norwich, I thought Bleubeard and Elizabeth might like the cat on this hand pump clip (grin!) …

… and it tasted very yummy too! Cheers and wishing you a Happy T day!

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 Erika from the blog BioArtGal  and her In the Sky/In the Air challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my blue sky and sunshine coloured page, it feels like ” joy is in the air” .

I’m joining the One Word challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my “Joy” art journal page.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Happy Birthday challenge as my art journal page captures birthday joy – wishing you a Happy 10^th Birthday!

I’m pleased to join the Flowers/Garden challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with all the flowers that I included on my art journal page too.

I’m happy to join Creative Artiste Challenge Blog and their their Creative Artiste’s #49th Challenge: Anything Mixed Media Goes with my mixed media art journal page (which included markers, ink, washi tape, stickers, paper etc).

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 (Aquamarine, Gold, Slate)
• Memento Ink (Bahama Blue, Angel Pink)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (Pink)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO134)
• Hallmark Cards Clear Stamps
• Blue Foam Flower Stamp
• Recycled Paper Bag (pink with white dots)
• Tonic Studios Paper Punch Accent (Hearts Slider 830E)
• Wilko Paper Punch
• Wilko Foam Stickers (Flower Embellishments)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Fab Flowers #ROY1400)
• Michael’s (Washi Tape)
• The Works (Glitter Heart Stickers)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)

Spring in the Garden

With the sunny days we have been having of late, I have found myself pottering around in the garden. Weeding my flowerbeds, planting seeds and preparing everything for summer, so I created this page to celebrate using some pretty crafting goodies that my dear friends Nan and Eileen sent me – thanks so much!

I applied Begonia, Blossom and Peach Spectrum Aqua markers to the background, by scribbling the individual colour onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page.  Then I covered the edges and middle of the page with some Apricot Liquitex acrylic paint using a baby wipe. Next I added the large “spring” wording which is a rub-on transfer by Royal & Langnickel and created a blue border to the page using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker, a Navy Spectrum Aqua marker and a black Uni Pin marker. To create the tags, I stuck some pretty spring stickers from my friend Nan onto some pink tags which I recycled from some lingerie and also onto some flowery tags by Docrafts. They are edged with the Navy Spectrum Aqua marker and stuck in place using double-sided sticky tape over some white thread. I embellished them with the different coloured pastel enamel dots and three wooden craft flowers. The bird boxes and blue bird are from the same rub-on transfer set and to finish I added the three pieces of washi tape, around the edges of the page, which were gifted me by my friend Eileen.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey with my spring in the garden page – I hope to see you there!

I’m joining in the Play with Paint challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as I had fun applying paint to my page using a baby wipe.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my spring page too.

As I included flowers on this page, it also serves as a reminder for our Say it with Flowers challenge over at Try it on Tuesday where you have until next Tuesday to join in the fun!

I feel blessed to have received such kindness and gifts from both Nan and Eileen:

Here’s the happy mail that I received to welcome spring from the lovely Nan, thank you so much I really enjoyed using the beautiful stickers to create this page – perfect!

Here’s the happy mail that I received to celebrate T Stands for Tuesday 5^th Birthday from the lovely Eileen along with some wonderful crafting goodies too – thank you so much!

Their cards and ATC have pride of place in my craft room – thank you from the bottom of my heart (grin!). It was so wonderful to think of you as I was creating this page too and I hope that you like it as much as me!

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 (Begonia, Blossom, Peach, Navy)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Peach)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Recycled Pink Tags
• Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection Tags (Elements Wood PMA174318)
• White thread
• Spring Stickers – thank you Nan!
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Spring is Coming #SUG666)
• The Works (Pastel Enamel Dots, Craft Flowers)
• Washi Tape – thank you Eileen!
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Spring Greetings – Art Journal Cover

I always find that I have a huge selection of scraps leftover from creating art journal pages, which for some reason I just can’t seem to throw away (grin!). I usually try to use them up on my art journal covers and as I often use the same materials that can be found in the journal, the covers then also remind me of the pages that are inside (double grin!).

As my journal holds some of the springtime pages that I created for my Hello Springtime theme over at Art Journal Journey that I am hosting, I gave the cover a springtime feel too – I hope you like it!

I started by covering the background with a book page that I recycled from a part-work magazine, using as I did to stick all the paper elements, Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I used some washi tape, with a tape measure design on it, over the seam where two pieces of the book pages joined together. Next I stuck some lattice die cut pieces, remnants of a recycled brown bag, leftover pieces of teabag and also scrap pieces of wallpaper to the page. I added the robin, branches and leaves which are ripped pieces of tissue and then the scene started looking more like springtime, so I coloured the leaves using a Bud Green Spectrum Aqua Marker. The flowers are cobbled-together using leftover pieces of hydrangea flowers from a wallpaper sample and rub-on transfers of violets by Royal & Langnickel, along with some stamped hydrangea flowers using Elderberry Memento Ink. They are loosely coloured with watered down Purple and Navy Spectrum Aqua Markers so the flowers blended together. I also stamped the “My Art Journal” wording using the Elderberry Memento Ink and added more colour to the lettering using the Purple and Navy Spectrum aqua markers again. The “spring greetings” banner, “grow” tag and “plant a garden” banner are Graphic 45 Cardstock Stickers and I used the tape measure washi tape to bind and finish the edges of the page.

As you probably know by now, I love robins and this page reminded me of a robin we saw on a springtime walk last year. I think he had stopped by to say “hello”, isn’t he adorable (grin!).

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Art Journal Journey, 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 also joining the Close to Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my springtime art journal cover.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Create a Scene 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:

• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Elderberry)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Purple, Navy, Bud Green)
• Craft Sensations (Clear Stamps 154884)
• Clarity Stamp (Word Chain STA-WO-10048-XX)
• Leftover papers – lattice die cuts, recycled brown bag, teabag paper, wallpaper sample, tissue
• Recycled book page from part-work magazine
• Graphic 45 Cardstock Stickers (Place in Time 4500617, Seasons 4501629)
• Michael’s (Washi Tape)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Loving Life

I always find that I have a huge selection of tissue paper and paper leftover from creating other art journal pages, which I have either coloured or stamped. So in an attempt to tidy up a little (it hasn’t helped much – grin!), I decided to use some of them to create today’s page. I was also inspired by some challenge blogs too and as such, I hope you like the resulting page as much as I do!

I selected a black, white and yellow colour scheme for this page and collaged leftover pieces of white paper and tissue paper that had been stamped, whilst creating other pages, using black Archival Ink. Like all the collaged pieces they are stuck on the page using a glue stick. These stamped images included: grass and fern fronds from a Carabelle Studio stamp set; postage marks and bees from Hampton Art; postage marks from The Works; Vintage Circles from Woodware Craft Collection; blossoms from Stampendous; “kindness” wording from Docrafts; “discover” wording from Royal & Langnickel; script from Kaisercraft; and also a dragonfly from Eco Green Crafts. I arranged them on the page with some paper coloured with Yellow Colourcraft Brusho powders which were remnants of another journal page. Once the collage was complete, I covered the page with a layer of Liquitex Matte Gel Medium which allowed me to outline all the paper pieces using a black Uni Pin marker smudging the ink with my finger.

I added a pretty “yellow wagtail” bird that I fussy cut from my old nature book; he is stood on some torn pieces of black and white washi tape. I then added more pieces of the washi tape to the page background as well.

Next I stuck a yellow skeleton leaf onto the page along with a small glittery yellow flower which I embellished with a black gemstone in the centre. The yellow and white wording is from a Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet and they read “loving life” and “our story starts here”; they are both edged with a black Uni Pin marker and I stamped some small hearts onto them using black Archival Ink. I also stamped the hearts onto two small squares of leftover yellow sticker to make two small heart embellishments for my page. The black and white “love” wording is created using circular button letter stickers and the “love with all your heart” and “and so the adventure begins” wording are from a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker set; they are all outlined using the black Uni Pin marker. To finish, I splattered the page with black, white and yellow acrylic paint.

My page reminds me to love life and appreciate the simple things like the pretty yellow flowers that we have in our garden at the moment. You may remember that we replanted our flower beds last year and as such we added these miniature daffodils which seem to be a bit early flowering (grin!) – aren’t they adorable!

We were also surprised to see these pretty crocus in our flower bed too, we didn’t even know they there (double grin!)

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 be able to join the lovely Rike from rike’s art and her The Colour Yellow challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the yellow I added.

I’m joining the Love is in the Air challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my Loving Life page.

Over at Country View Challenges their challenge is Black & White Plus One, so I’m happy to join this challenge to with my black, white and yellow page.

As I used black, white and yellow to create this page, I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Black, White + One Other Colour challenge.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Heart It!, so I’m pleased to join this challenge with all the stamped elements, love and hearts.

As the lovely Tracey is Guest Designing over at Frilly and Funkie, I’m also happy to be join the Frilly and Funkie Challenge which is Let Me Count The Ways, as I used three stamped Vintage Circles and three colours (black, white and yellow) on my 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:

• Leftover tissue paper and papers stamped using various stamp sets and Jet Black Ranger Archival Ink
• Leftover white paper coloured with Yellow Colourcraft Brusho Colour
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow Medium)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White, Black)
• Hallmark Cards Stamp Set  (Unknown – Heart)
• Old book – The Illustrated Book of Nature
• Michael’s (Washi Tape)
• Nature’s Touch of Art (Skeleton Leaves Yellow)
• Poundland (Accessories Pack 60911, Design Gems 175751)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS738)
• Home Bargains (Love Letters 22738)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Set (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Romance

Over at Try it on Tuesday for the next two weeks our challenge is Romance. With it being February and Valentine’s Day soon, I hope that you are in the mood for Romance too, it would be great to see you there!

My Design Teamies have created some amazing pieces to inspire you so please pop over to our blog and take a look. Today my page is a vintage gothic style, designed with romantic hearts and a wire garland of red roses (grin!).

I started by covering the page with scraps of teabag, brown tissue paper and also white tissue paper which I had stamped whilst designing previous pages using either black or red ink; I often find stamping some images on tissue paper helps me position them on my pages easier and decide on the design before I stamp them directly onto the page. Then I stamped some lovely lace filigree hearts by Penny Black using black Archival Ink and I added some pieces of red and also black washi tape both of which had a rose design on them, and also some pieces of black decorative lace border tape. Next I covered the page with Pébéo white gesso and once dry I applied some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink, as well as Dark Sepia and Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush markers around the edges of the page using my finger to blend out the colour. I scribbled some Iced Rosé, Iced Currant and Iced Chai Faber-Castell Gelatos over the edges of the page too and then smudged the colour using my finger again which I wet with a baby wipe. Then I added some more white gesso to tone down the colours to give a worn and distressed look and stamped a Script stamp by Kaisercraft using Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and also Black Archival Ink. The word “Romance” is die cut from some pretty textured paper from a Halloween paper pad by Tim Holtz using a Docrafts alphabet Die set and my Big Shot machine. I edged the wording with a Black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker so it stood out more from the background and then cut two strips off either side of the die cut paper and arranged them all on the left-hand side of the page using a glue stick.

I also cut out a heart shape from the Tim Holtz paper and I added some more lace filigree hearts using the Penny Black stamp and back Archival Ink and stuck the paper heart in place using a glue stick. The left-hand side of the paper columns and heart are edged using a black Derwent Inktense pencil and then I arranged some rose garland wire over the top using Ranger Glossy Accents to stick it in place. To finish, I threaded some of the wire through a metal key and added it to my page.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this romantic Valentine’s dessert from Lytham Hall; it is so pretty with the white teacup which is filled with a chocolate cupcake and topped with pink icing and the dark chocolate wording! It almost looks too good to eat – 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:

As I included hearts as part of my design, I’m happy to join the Your Hearts Desire challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my romance inspired Vintage and Mixed Media Style page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Heart It! so I’m pleased to join this challenge too with the stamped and paper hearts on my page.

As my page is black, white and red I’m also joining the Black & White Plus One challenge over at Country View Challenges.

I’m also joining in the Add Some Red challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the red roses that I added to my page.

I’m pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my romantic art journal page 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:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge)
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Iced Rosé, Iced Currant, Iced Chai)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B, Sanguine 188 B, Black 199)
• Derwent Inktense Pencil (Black 2200)
• Penny Black Stamp Set (Clearly In Love 30-009)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Script CS752)
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503286)
• Leftover pieces of stamped teabags and tissue paper
• Tim Holtz paper Stash (Halloween #TH93712)
• The Range (Rose Garland, Key Embellishments)
• Michael’s (Washi  Tape x 2)
• Poundland (Decorative Border Tape 77513)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Pritt Stick

Double Cab Pick Up Truck

I’m still capturing happy memories on my art journal pages of our holiday last year when we visited our dearest friends in Maine. Having visited America a number of times, my favourite vehicle ever is a double cab pick up truck so you can imagine my delight to see my friends had one (grin!).

I started by recycling pages from a couple of truck advertising magazines by cutting them into tile shapes; as our friends truck was blue I selected blue truck images and blue happens to be my favourite colour too – Happy Serendipity! I also used some of the texture photographed on the pages to create the tiles too, like pressed metal images. Then I created some rectangular diagonally striped tiles using white card stock which I coloured using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and stencilled using Black Soot Distress Ink. From the magazine cover I die cut the wording using an X-Cut alphabet die set and my Big Shot machine. Then I mounted the wording onto pieces of the magazine cover using a Zig Memory Glue Pen and cut them into their tile shapes. I arranged all of the tiles onto the page using double-sided tape and included some black and white striped washi tape in the design. For the washi tape, I stamped an arrow design from a Hampton Art stamp set underneath using black Archival Ink. To finish the page, I edged all the tiles using silver straight line border outline stickers from Docrafts to mimic the chrome of the truck.

I was so excited to see the truck parked on the driveway when we arrived, I’ve always loved them! They are bigger and more popular in the US than in the UK, although they seem to be growing in popularity over here too.

I did actually manage to get in the truck without assistance, although being 5 foot tall it was a little bit of a challenge (grin!). The boys thought it would be great fun to put a bucket on the floor to help me get out (double grin!).

As you can see the back of the truck is very spacious!

I had so much fun exploring the truck and probably because I was so enthusiastic to go out in it, we used it quite a few times to run errands, such as Dunkin Donuts, into town, the sandwich shop and even to some walking trails and also a very interesting place, the local Transfer Station (or Recycling Centre) to dispose of the household rubbish (triple grin!).

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 Alison/Craftytrog and her Geometric Shapes challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the square and rectangular tiles collage on my page.

With the silver, greys and blues on this page, I’m happy to join the Cold and Frosty Colours challenge over at Moo Mania & More.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Clean and Simple challenge with my tile design page.

Recycling the advertising magazines was fun so I’m pleased to join the Recycle Something challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday 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:

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke, Black Soot)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503286)
• Hampton Bella Blvd Cling Stamps (Sand & Surf ICO226)
• Recycled Truck Advertising Magazines
• White Card Stock
• Michael’s (Washi Tape)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Straight Line Borders Silver ANT8101017)
• Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 double-sided tape