Tag Archives: watercolour

Make your own background … for Simon Says Stamp

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Hi everyone! I am so delighted and honoured to be in the Designer Spotlight this month over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

This week the theme is Make Your Own Background.

As it is the first Monday of the month Simon Says Stamp are featuring Carabelle Studios Products, so I had fun using some of their products to create this art journal page and you’ll find the details of how I created this page below.

I had fun making my own background and to start I added some pieces of torn dictionary pages to add some interest. Then I spritzed the page with water and applied three Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints (paint colours were No.34, No.64 and No.139) using a paintbrush.

Next I applied some white gesso using my finger and then I used a Carabelle Studio stencil, called Sur Fond De Mosaïque, to add Picked Raspberry and also Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink using a blending tool. I added more of the same watercolour paints to further define the edges of the colours and to finish my background, I stamped a Carabelle Studio stamp, called Background Avec Des Lettres, using black Archival Ink.

For the flowers, I stamped the Carabelle Studio Fleurs Dalex Cling Stamp Set using black Archival Ink onto white cardstock.

I coloured them using Spectrum Aqua Markers which I blended with a wet paintbrush; the colours were Yellow, Gold, Sunflower, Bud Green and Leaf Green. Then I cut them out which took some time (grin!).

I also used the same white cardstock to create the Inspire wording, which I drew using some magazine letters as a template, cut out and coloured using the yellow shades of Spectrum Aqua Markers and a white Uni Posca Paint Pen creating an ombré effect.

The flowers, wording and “Channel your inner Picasso” are edged using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush Pen and a black fine line marker, and then they are stuck into place using a Zig Glue Pen. To finish, I coloured the stamens of the flowers using a white Uni Posca Paint Pen and then outlined them with the black fine line marker.

I had such fun creating my page for this challenge and I hope you will join in the fun too! For more inspiration check out the amazing creations from the Design Team over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge (grin!).

Don’t forget that Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a $50 voucher to shop at the Simon Says Stamp Store! and one lucky participant will be randomly drawn to win this voucher. How amazing is that! Good Luck to everyone!

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

Here is a list of the materials over at Simon Says Stamp that were used to create this art journal page:

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Delicious Autumn

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Autumn is one of my favourite months and finding this pretty tissue of a robin sat amongst autumn leaves I decided to create a page using some leaves that I had pressed and a beautiful quote from a poem by George Eliot.

I started by ripping the tissue into pieces around the robin, leaf and branch images and adhering them to the page using a glue stick and matte gel medium. Next I applied DecoArt crackle glaze using a palette knife in between the tissue pieces and left it to dry overnight.

To highlight the crackle effect, I painted Yellow Ochre from my Kuratake watercolour paint set onto the page and also Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker by scribbling the pen onto an acrylic block and picking the ink up with a paintbrush. I also added droplets of Carbon Black Liquitex Ink and then applied water with a paintbrush making it spread between the cracks. I repeated this process using Black Soot Distress Ink too. For the wording, I used my new label maker, which was fun (grin!). The quote is from a poem by George Eliot who wrote “Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns”. I distressed the edges of the labels with scissors and used Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Inks to edge and colour them; once they were stuck in place I outlined them using a black Uni Pin marker. Then I added some leaves to the branches which I collected last year and had dried and pressed; they are stuck down using wood adhesive. To finish, I applied some little dots of Pumpkin Liquid Pearls to add a pop of bright autumnal colour.

I love the quote from George Eliot too; wouldn’t it be amazing to be a bird and fly about the earth experiencing one autumn after the other (grin!). There is so much I enjoy about autumn especially the colours of autumn which can be seen in this beautiful view of the River Yarrow when we visited Duxbury Woods.

One of my favourite places for autumn/fall foliage with its amazing reds, oranges and yellows is New England. This photo was taken a few years ago, it’s lovely to be transported back there and maybe it is possible to chase those successive autumns after all!

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 Yvonne from Meggy’s way, who is hosting A World of Fantasy challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my successive autumn wishes, wouldn’t it be amazing to experience one autumn after another!

I’m pleased to join their Back To Nature challenge over at A Vintage Journey, as their brief for this challenge inspired me to use the leaves that I had collected last year and dried. I hope you like my Art Journaling and Mixed Media style page.

Over at That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog their theme is Forever Autumn so I’m pleased to join this challenge with my Delicious Autumn page.

I’m also joining the lovely Wen and her Simply Neutrals Tuesday party over at Apple Apricot with my seasonal nature page.

I’m joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my autumnal art journal 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:

  • DecoArt Medium Crackle Glaze
  • Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Yellow Ochre)
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
  • Liquitex ink! (Carbon Black)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo)
  • Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
  • IHR Ideal Home Range tissues (Red Robin PT89600)
  • Dymo LetraTag Personal Label Maker LT-100H
  • Dymo LetraTag Tape 12mm (White Paper)
  • Dried and pressed leaves
  • Ranger Liquid Pearls (Pumpkin)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Pritt Stick
  • Evo-Stik Wood Adhesive

Bee Happy

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Today I’m sharing my first attempt at painting with my new Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour paint set. I think I’ll be using them again soon as the vibrancy of the colours is amazing and I love how they blend together to create this summery page.

I also used a new bee stamp set and the “Don’t worry bee happy” sentiment which made me smile as it reminds me of the “Don’t worry, be happy” song. Don’t forget that you still have a week to join the Inspired by a Song challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, it would be great to see you there.

I started by die cutting some flowers out of pages from of my old pocket dictionary using my Big Shot machine.  On the page I stuck both the die cuts and the page they were cut from, so as to get a positive and negative flower image, using Liquitex matte gel medium. I also stuck some pieces of leftover decoupage paper and white leftover tissue paper that were sitting on my craft desk, which already had a floral stamp from Docrafts, a Sheet Music stamp from Woodware, a Vintage-Believe stamp and a Script stamp from Kaisercraft stamped on them using black Archival Ink. When the gel medium was dry, I wet the page with water using a paintbrush and then I added Rose Madder, Sap Green Light, Viridian, Ultrmarine, Turquiose Blue and Colbalt Violet watercolour paints over the top using a paintbrush; it was fun as I learnt how to apply the paints. I concentrated the Rose Madder paint over the flower shapes and added Lemon Yellow to their centres. They are outlined using Black watercolour paint and later with some black Uni Pin markers to add more detail. Next I stencilled a honeycomb pattern using modelling paste and stamped a hexagonalGeometric hexagonal stamp using black Archival Ink. I applied some white gesso to the page using my finger to dull the black stamping and some of the watercolour which added more depth and dimension to the page. The heart was a leftover piece of dictionary page which already had a heart shape punched out of it, I coloured it using the Rose Madder and Lemon Yellow watercolour paints and outlined it as I did the flowers. I also used the top of my spritzer bottle to stamp the small round circles using black Archival Ink and they are painted using Rose Madder, Colbalt Violet and Lemon Yellow watercolour paint. Next I stamped the bees onto some white card three times and also onto the page. For the ones that I stamped on the card, I coloured their body using Lemon Yellow watercolour paint and an extremely diluted Ultramarine Pale watercolour on their wings, then fussy cut the body, head and wings out. I then coloured the legs of the ones that I had stamped on the page using a brown Uni Posca paint pen and stuck the body and wings over the top using a UHU Stic, bending the wings upwards so they looked more 3D. As this page is so bright and cheery, I added the sentiment “Don’t worry bee happy” using black Archival Ink which is from the same stamp set as the bees; this finished the page.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m showing a drink of apple juice and ginger beer again, you may remember it from last week (grin!). Well, following all of the comments from the T Gang I was getting a bit confused until my lovely friend from Drivers and Sundry made me realise that Ginger Beer here in the UK is similar to Ginger Ale in America. They are both non-alcoholic soft drinks although ginger beer is spicier with a more fiery ginger flavour than ginger ale, so as an alternative half apple juice and half ginger ale will work too – Happy T Day!

Also if you look at my glass closely you will see a bee etched upon it, which links back to today’s page (double grin!).

In case you are wondering, this is my box of new Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint; I’m looking forward to using them some more and trying our new techniques too.

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. As well as Try it on Tuesday, here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover, who is hosting the Count your blessings challenge over at Art Journal Journey as I feel very blessed to be able to create art and share it with others.

I’m joining in the fun over at Moo Mania & More and their theme is Summertime challenge with my summery watercolour page.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday the challenge is Watercolour! so I’m pleased to join this challenge too.

I’m also happy to join the Anything Goes! challenge over at The Artistic Stamper with my Bee Happy stamped art journal page.

With the bees and stamping, I’m also pleased to be able to join Fashionable Stamping Challenges and their It’s A Bugs Life challenge.

I love my new bee stamp so I’m also joining the Use your ‘current’ favourite stamp challenge over at Stamping Sensations 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:

  • Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Rose Madder, Sap Green Light, Viridian, Ultrmarine, Turquiose Blue, Colbalt Violet, Lemon Yellow, Black)
  • Pébéo Modeling Paste
  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm & 0.5mm)
  • Uni Posca Paint Pen (Brown)
  • That’s Crafty Dinky Stencil (Reversed Honeycomb)
  • Docrafts Papermania Capsule Clear Stamps (Geometric Mono)
  • Dovecraft Premium Clear Stamps (Bee Happy DCSTP129)
  • The Oxford Pocket Dictionary
  • Leftover decoupage paper
  • Leftover stamped white tissue paper
  • Cardstock (White)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • UHU Stic

St. Thomas

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With the Jazz & Blues Festival held in Blackpool last month and also the Inspired by a song theme over at Try it on Tuesday, I have found myself reminiscing about some of my favourite songs of late.

When it comes to music, I have quite an eclectic taste and always listen to music whilst crafting so I created a page which reminds me of a song called St. Thomas; it is an instrumental piece of music and has a Caribbean tropical vibe which influenced my page.

I started by covering the page in Raw Sienna Rowney Georgian Water Colour paint using a baby wipe and once dry, I stencilled leaves using Tea Dye Distress Ink and also a trellis pattern using Vintage Photo Distress Ink; I was thinking of sand on tropical shores when I chose this colour palette. Then I covered the page with some Pébéo white gesso using my finger to give a sun-bleached look. Next I applied some sheet music washi tape to the page which depicts the instrumental music and also some colourful polka dot paper washi tape to depict the happiness of the music and tropical vibe. I grouped different colours of washi tape together which were orange, purple and pink and also yellow, green and blue; they are layered on top of each other and then finished with a piece of the sheet music washi tape on the very top. I outlined them using a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball pen to make them stand out more from the background. The tropical flowers are fussy cut from a wallpaper sample and stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium; once dry I added more detail using the black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball pen and also threaded some bright pink stamens, which I threaded through the page securing them on the back with tape, to give their centres a 3D look. I added some pink metallic stickers with tropical leaves, palm trees and flamingos on them and outlined them with the black marker, white gel pen and then an orange, purple or dark green Uni Posca paint pen. I stamped two butterflies using a Graphic 45 stamp set by Hampton Art and black Archival Ink and then I added some white cardboard letters to spell out the title of the song which I decorated with dots using orange, purple, pink, yellow, light green and light blue Uni Posca paint pens to match the colourful washi tapes I had used.

I love the St. Thomas music, this is the Jazz version and although you may not recognise the name, when you hear the music you will probably know the song (grin!).

I have to say I love this steel drum (or steel pan) version more, it fills me with happiness when I hear it and makes me want to dance (grin!). I particularly like this version by Joseph Peck and play it on loop all the time! I have to say a big shout out and THANK YOU to my lovely friend Bleubeard & Elizabeth who introduced me to this fabulous musician and often mentions him on her blog. I love steel drum/steel pan, so quickly fell in love with his amazing music too (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 join the lovely Bleubeard & Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover, who is hosting the Count your blessings challenge over at Art Journal Journey. My page celebrates music and it is a blessing to have blog friends like Bleubeard & Elizabeth who kindly introduced me to this amazing musician!

What could be better than tropical shores on a summer day so I’m joining in the fun over at Moo Mania and More and their theme is Summertime challenge too.

I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Tape It Up challenge with the sheet music and colourful paper washi tapes that I used on my art journal page.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the Sun, Sea and Sand challenge over at Country View Challenges with my tropical vibe art journal page.

Don’t forget there is well cover a week to join our Inspired by a song 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:

  • Rowney Georgian Water Colour (Raw Sienna)
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Vintage Photo)
  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm & 0.5mm)
  • Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Uni Posca Paint Pen (Orange, Purple, Dark Green, Pink, Yellow, Light Green, Light Blue)
  • Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 77106)
  • Dutch Doobadoo Dutch Mask Art A5 (Vintage)
  • Hampton Art Graphic 45 cling mounted rubber stamps (Tropical Travelogue ICO135)
  • Wallpaper sample
  • Hobbycraft Decorative Tape (Assorted Black & White 5971471007)
  • The Works The Craft Place (Spotted Paper Tapes)
  • Craft Sensations (Paper Flowers CRO344/R)
  • The Range (Craft Stickers CR1243)
  • Hobbycraft (Alphabet Cardboard Stickers)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Masking tape

Mother’s Day Card

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There’s still another week to join in the fun over at Try it on Tuesday with our Mum’s the Word challenge, where you are asked to be inspired by all things mother related such as a mother’s birthday, quotes for mothers, mother and child, animal families, Mother’s Day or any other way you would like to interpret this special mother theme!

Although Mother’s Day is celebrated throughout the world, here in the UK it is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent whereas in many other countries it is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. As I’m in the UK, we celebrated Mother’s Day this last Sunday so I’m sharing the Mother’s Day card I created for my mum for the Mum’s the Word challenge (grin!).

I started by using a lattice die from Spellbinders to cut a piece of white cardstock using my Big Shot die cutting machine. I stuck the lattice onto a white 6×4 card using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I stamped two roses onto some mixed media paper using a stamp from Urban Stamps and black Archival Ink. They are painted using a Scarlet Spectrum Aqua marker, I did this by scribbling the marker on an acrylic block and picking the ink up with a wet paintbrush and gradually building up the layers of colour; I love the pretty watercolour effect that this produced. Then I fussy cut the roses and arranged them on the card with some leaves which I die cut from green design paper from Crafter’s Companion using Garden Greens Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz and my Big Shot machine. The leaves are edged with a Moss Spectrum Aqua marker and stuck to the card using a Zig Memory System glue pen. I added a piece of satin ribbon along the left-hand side which I tied into a bow and a strip of clear gems. To finish, I added a few single clear gems and also the wording which are Peel-off stickers that I coloured using a black Sharpie permanent marker.

I do hope you will join us at Try it on Tuesday and if you pop over to the main blog you’ll find some amazing Mum’s the Word inspiration from my fellow Design Team members, as well as who is in our Top 5 for the previous Vintage Challenge.

I’m also pleased to be able to join the following challenges too:

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing this lunch I had whilst out with my parents around this time last year. We had a delicious ham and cheese toastie each and I had a ginger beer, my dad had a white coffee and my mum a cappuccino. I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and sending you all Happy T Day wishes!

My post is brief today as I haven’t had much time for blogging this last week due to family illness. I’d like to thank everyone for their kind wishes regarding my dad, he is doing much better and is now back home which is a great relief to all our family and friends. I hope to find the time to visit you all soon and in the meantime thanks for your understanding and wishing you every happiness! Jo x

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

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this card:

  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Scarlet)
  • Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Marker Pen (Black)
  • Spellbinders Die (Unknown)
  • Docrafts Papermania 4×4” Urban Stamps (Birthday Rose PMA907221)
  • Sizzix Thinlets by Tim Holtz (Garden Greens 661206)
  • White card stock
  • Daler-Rowney Mixed Media Paper
  • Crafter’s Companion Luxury Designer Paper Pad (Angelica & Adam Collection A&A-PAP6-M)
  • Dovecraft Essentials Peel-Off Stickers (Family G DCPO-17)
  • Poundland (Design Gems 175751)
  • Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
  • Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
  • Docrafts Stick It! double-sided foam tape

Tricks ‘n’ Treats

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With Halloween fast approaching I thought I’d have some fun and create this happy page to celebrate! I’m also pleased to be joining some of my favourite blog challenges which have inspired me to create this Tricks ‘n’ Treats page – Thank You!

I started by covering the background with Light Red Winsor & Newton watercolour paint using a baby wipe and then I splattered some black DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush to add lots of texture and interest. I watered down some Pébéo white gesso and splattered that onto the page too; I like the way these dots have a spooky translucency to them. I tore some black cobweb decoupage paper from Dovecraft into three pieces and stuck them onto the page using a UHU Stic. Once the glue had dried, I distressed areas of the decoupage paper by rubbing it with a baby wipe. Then I coloured these areas using a Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker, smudging the colour with my finger and I also outlined some of the cobwebs with a white Pentel Hybrid gel pen so they stood out more. Next I added the Halloween Tricks ‘n’ Treats images which are from two different sets of rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel. I added shadows under these images using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Marker and Desert Spectrum Aqua Marker and also added more detail to them using a black Derwent Graphik marker and a white Pentel gel pen.  To create the ground underneath the black cat and children images, I stamped a diamond design from Art Impressions at the bottom of the page using black Archival Ink, Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker ink and white Docrafts Pigment Ink; layering the diamond pattern using these different inks on top of one another. As I liked Corrie‘s use of modelling paste on her page over at Country View Challenge, I added modelling paste to my page too using a Mini Squares stencil by Creative Expressions; I applied the Pébéo modelling paste using an old gift card and found it so much easier than using a palette knife. When the paste had dried I edged the page using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. Then to finish, I added the glittery flowers which are from Poundland and on the smaller flowers I exchanged the gemstone centres with red gems to tie into the colours that I’d used on the page.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my cup of green tea and freshly homemade pumpkin roll filled with cream cheese frosting – what a “treat”, yum! I’m looking forward to chatting with all of the T Gang over a cuppa and wishing you all a Happy T Day!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part and meeting up with my blog friends. They also 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 able to join today:

The challenge over at Try it on Tuesday is “Its Halloween time” so I’m pleased to join this theme with my Tricks ‘n’ Treats page.

Over at Moo Mania & More it’s also Halloween time so I’m pleased to be joining their “Boo” theme too.

Allsorts Challenge Blog’s new challenge is “Halloween” so I’m joining their lovely design team with my Halloween inspired page.

With the autumnal colours on my page, I’m pleased to join the “Mixed Media with Autumnal Hues” challenge over at Country View Challenges.

As I used autumnal colours, I’m also joining in the fun over at A Vintage Journey and their “Crazy for Autumn Colour” challenge. My page focuses on their “Mixed Media” genre as I have used different mediums to create my Halloween inspired page and their “Art Journaling” genre as it’s my personal celebration of Halloween.

I’m also pleased to join the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their “Photo Inspiration” challenge with my autumnal colours and Happy Halloween candies.

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:

  • Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colours (Light Red)
  • DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
  • Pébéo White Gesso
  • Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
  • Docrafts Pigment Ink Pad (White)
  • Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188 B, Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
  • Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Desert)
  • Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.02mm)
  • Pentel Hybrid Gel Grip pen (White)
  • Pébéo Modeling Paste
  • Art Impressions wood mounted rubber stamp (Diamond Background T-3335)
  • Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Mini Squares CEMSSQUARE)
  • Dovecraft Essentials Decoupage Paper (DCDEC004)
  • Royal & Langnickel Rub-on designed by Vicki Schreiner (Tricks’n’Treats #SCH688N Rub-on)
  • Royal & Langnickel Rub-on (Bats, Cats & Ghosts #EDW355 Rub-on)
  • Poundland (Accessories Pack 60911)
  • Poundland (Mini Glitter Embellishments 59409)
  • Oaktree UK Eleganza Craft Stickers (3mm 418 Gems Red No.16)
  • Ranger Glossy Accents
  • UHU Stic