Our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday for the next 2 weeks is Make a Rainbow.
For my art journal page, I created a rainbow coloured background of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet with matching die cut flowers. I hope that you are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!
For the rainbow background, I painted Kuretake Watercolour paints in the vertical panels onto the page. I did this by applying water to the page first and then adding Red, Cadmium Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, Sap Green Light, Ultramarine, Indigo and Cobalt Violet watercolour paint over the top. Then I splattered the page using white and also black acrylic paint and when dry, I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer to push back the bright rainbow colours into the background more. The different flowers were die cut using three sets of Wildflower Thinlits from Tim Holtz; they were cut from coloured papers and also white cardstock. I layered the coloured and white flower die cuts together so they were slightly off centre and then I arranged them onto the page using a Zig glue pen. The letters for the “rainbow” wording were created the same way using a Docrafts Alphabet die cut set which finished the page.
For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful Make a Rainbow creations from our Guest Designer and my Design Teamies too (grin!).
It’s always magical seeing rainbows and whilst creating this page it reminded me of this one; taken through my craft room window last year.
As T Stands for Tuesday I’m saying a big welcome to the T Gang and sharing my cuppa with one of my yummy birthday cupcakes that I made (it’s a sponge cake filled with vanilla buttercream and jam then topped with the icing) – wishing you a very Happy T Day!
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.
Here is a list of the materials that were used to create this art journal page:
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Red, Cadmium Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, Sap Green Light, Ultramarine, Indigo, Cobalt Violet)
As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to be able to join the following challenges today which are:
Art Journal Journey where the theme is Inspired By in honour of Eileen from The Artful Crafter’s Blog who picked the theme and was supposed to host this month but sadly passed away shortly after her heart surgery last month – she is greatly missed! I’m so pleased to be able to remember her by joining AJJ with my pages this month which was inspired by rainbow wishes (grin!).
MIUCB#48 – Anything Goes + optional No Stamping challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my rainbow page which contains no stamping.
Over at Try it on Tuesday our challenge for the next 2 weeks is Falling in love.
I’m celebrating falling in love with my romantic shabby chic page using a gorgeous Shabby Chic paper from Studio Light and some very delicate green voile butterflies that my sister kindly gifted me for Christmas (grin!). I hope you like it and are inspired to join our challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!
Keeping the background colours soft and elegant, I started by lightly painting some Rose Madder, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre and Turquoise blue Kuretake watercolours onto the page. Then I used a Lace stencil from Tim Holtz to apply some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink and a Moroccan Stencil from Creative Expressions to apply some Speckled Egg Distress Ink; both inks were applied using a blending tool. Next I stamped a Gothic Book stamp from Finnabair, which is one of my favourite stamps, and also a delicate Floral Icons stamp from Docrafts using Toffee Crunch Memento Ink.
I cut the Shabby Chic paper to create the different paper pieces including some tags which I die cut using a Tag Collection Framelits die set from Tim Holtz. They were all edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then I arranged them onto the page using double-sided tape. I used Kaisercraft stickers for the wording and I tied some green thread to the tags to match the colour and delicate nature of the butterflies. The metal copper embellishments were held in place using Ranger Glossy Accents; they included a framed picture of the Tower of Pisa, a heart and a love letter envelope.
I used glue dots to stick the delicate green voile butterflies in place and then I added some sparkly green gemstones to the butterflies, metal embellishments and paper pieces which finished the page.
For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the wonderful Falling in Love creations from my Design Teamies too (grin!).
We love Italy and have visited Pisa whilst travelling to Tuscany; the Tower of Pisa was a sight to behold with its four-degree lean which is due to unstable foundations.
As T Stands for Tuesday, here are a couple of glasses Aperol Spritz; it’s a refreshing drink that we always enjoy whilst in Italy! Aperol is an alcoholic Italian aperitif which is bitter in flavour. In this case it has been mixed with prosecco and a splash of soda water then served with ice and a slice of orange – Happy T Day!
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.
Here is a list of the materials that were used to create this art journal page:
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Rose Madder, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Turquoise Blue)
Tim Holtz Layering Stencil (Lace THS034)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry, Speckled Egg, Vintage Photo)
Creative Expressions That Special Touch of Mica Masks (Moroccan)
Finnabair Clear Stamp (Gothic Book #966966)
Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Floral Icons DCE907123)
Tsukineko Memento Ink (Toffee Crunch)
Studio Light 12×12 Paper (Shabby Chic SCRAPSC03)
Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
I’m pleased to join the lovely Valerie over at Art Journal Journey and her Heavy Metal challenge this month with the metal embellishments that I included on my page.
Jenny is hosting, here’s what she has to say about this challenge: “Although it’s not always evident in my projects, I have a real passion for delicate laces, fragile flowers, fine stitching, intricate artwork and exquisite architecture. For this challenge create something delicate or a vintage/shabby chic project that features delicate things in it.”
I enjoyed using different techniques and mediums to create this delicate page starting with the delicately painted background. I covered the background with water first and then added Kuretake watercolours over the top using a paintbrush; the colours I used were Ultramarine Pale, Yellow Ochre, Sap Green and a mixture of Black and White.
The elegant lace flower heads were stamped using one of my favourite stamps from Carabelle Studio and black Archival Ink. The flower heads were coloured using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and then I added lots of sparkle using some Silver Stickles from Ranger.
For the wording and butterflies, I coloured some white tissue paper using Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks. I did this by stamping the ink pads onto a blending mat, spritzing with water and pressing the tissue paper over the top. When dry, I die cut the letters for the wording using Alphanumeric Label Thinlits set and the butterflies using Springtime Sidekick Thinlits set from Tim Holtz.
I glued the wording onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium which was a bit fiddly as the letters were so fine; it reads “be still and listen, the earth is singing”. To finish, I arranged the butterflies around the page using some glue dots. I love how the tissue paper butterflies and wording look so fragile and delicate (grin!).
Thanks so much to The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog for having me as Guest Designer! I hope that you are inspired by the So Delicate challenge too and are able to join in the fun (grin!).
There are so many delicate things to observe in nature and as I live by the sea, my watercolour background was inspired by this sea view with its pale colours and soft lighting; this was taken whilst walking along the beach near our house .
The lace flower heads, touches of green and pretty butterflies on my page were inspired by our garden. It reminded me of all the Painted Lady butterflies that visited last summer; here are a couple on the lavender (grin!).
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.
Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Ultramarine Pale, Yellow Ochre, Sap Green, Black, White)
Carabelle Studio Art Stamp (Dans la nature, il y a … SA60175
Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlit (Alphanumeric Label 664177)
Tim Holtz Sizzix Sidekick Thinlit (Springtime 662711)
Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
Stix2 glue dots
Challenges
I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like it The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog , 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 BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge as I used one of my favourite flower stamp sets.
As I used my favourite Carabelle Studio stamp set to create the lace flowers on my page, I’m also pleased to be able to join Stamping Sensations and their Favourite Stamps challenge too.
I’m also joining the Beautiful Blooms challenge over at the Allsorts Challenge with the pretty sparkly flowers on my page.
I’m happy to join in the LTSCB #141 – Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my delicate nature page.
The new challenge for the next two weeks at Try it on Tuesday is Autumn Colours.
I love the colours of autumn so I had fun creating this page and there’s not a leaf in sight – I hope you like it!
I started by covering the page with Pébéo white gesso and modelling paste using a paintbrush. When dry, I applied Peat Moss, Potting Soil, Orange Blossom and Buttercup Wendy Vecchi Blendable Dye Inks and Fired Brisk Distress Ink over the top and spritzed them with water letting the inks drip across the page and left it to dry. Then I splattered the page using gold Liquitex Ink.
Next I added some gold Ranger embossing powder over the inks using a VersaMark Watermark stamp pad and my heat gun.
The eagle picture was cut from an old book and edged using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and some of the gold embossing powder; it was stuck in place using double-sided tape. As the eagle symbolises courage and power, I added some Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz which read “Shine like the whole universe is yours”, “be Fearless” and “be brave with your life”. They were coloured using Yellow Ochre Kuretake watercolour paint to blend them into the background more.
Next I added some gold Glitterations border stickers to the page and then applied some of the gold embossing powder to some Bozzy Bear wood chippies which I coloured using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker; they were stuck down using Ranger Glossy Accents which finished the page.
For more inspiration, my fellow Design Teamies have been having fun with Autumn Colours over at Try it on Tuesday too, please pop over and take a look.
As T Stands for Tuesday and it’s autumn I’m sharing our homebrewed pumpkin beer – cheers and Happy T Day! This copper beer has to be my favourite beer, it has a lovely hint of pumpkin and pumpkin spice aroma; this one came at 5.78% abv (alcohol by volume). We discovered pumpkin beer when we visited Federal Jack’s in Kennebunkport, Maine. They serve it with an optional shot of spiced rum added, so we have tried it that way too; it’s so nice and warming on a cold autumn day, though I limit myself to only one as it’s quite potent (grin!).
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
With all the texture on my page, I’m pleased to join the Texture challenge over at Art Journal Journey where I’m guest host this month; thank you to everyone who has joined in the fun, I have really enjoyed visiting your blogs and seeing your wonderful creations!
Today I’m sharing another texture inspired page to join the Texture challenge that I’m hosting this month over at Art Journal Journey.
The quote “don’t worry, be happy” was used recently on a page by Valerie over at Bastelmania; it resonated with me as I have a sign in my kitchen saying exactly that – thanks so much for the inspiration!
For the grungy background, I started by collaging lots of scrap pieces of paper that were sitting on my craft desk (my scraps pile seems to be multiplying not decreasing – grin!). I used Liquitex matte gel medium to stick them in place and the scraps included some grey design paper, some Typeset collage paper from Tim Holtz and some test stamped papers from previous pages. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso to the page with my finger. With the Indian Summer we’ve been having here, I was in the mood for bright hot colours so I painted Rose Madder, Lemon Yellow and Cadmium Scarlett Kuretake watercolours over the top varying the shades by applying water to the page first and then applying the paint colour.
Next I applied some Black Soot Distress Ink and some Ranger Texture Paste through an Iso Fun mixed media stencil from Paperbabe Stamps. When dry I covered the paste with Pébéo white gesso so it stood out more. I stamped three text stamps from a Documented stamp set by Tim Holtz using black Archival Ink and then I splattered the whole page with white and black DecoArt acrylic paints. The quote was created using white foam letter stickers and to finish, I added some white Glitterations dots and smiley stars which are stickers too.
This sign always makes me happy and I see it everyday when I make a cuppa as it hangs on the wall above the kettle; it was bought many moons ago from a local store in town (grin!).
Hoping 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
With my bright coloured background that I created for my page, I’m pleased to join the Staying In The Background challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog .
I’m happy to be able to join the #128 – Dimensions challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the foam letter dimension on my page.
I’m also joining the Favourite Bright or Pastel (& why) challenge over at the As You Like It Challenge as the bright colours with reminded me of the lovely Indian Summer we had here this month.
Don’t forget that you still have until next Tuesday to join our Use Your Scraps 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:
Scraps of collage, design and stamped papers
Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Rose Madder No.34, Lemon Yellow No.40, Cadmium Scarlett No.31)
Paperbabes Stamps Mixed Media Stencil (Iso Fun)
Ranger Texture Paste
Pébéo White Gesso
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Documented CMS226)
Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
Simply Creative Alphabet & Number Stickers (White Glitter SCSTK025)
Docrafts Anita’s Glitterations (Dots – White ANT8181041)
I am so delighted to be hosting Art Journal Journey this month and the challenge theme that I have chosen for this month is Texture.
We would like you to have fun creating texture on your pages. As you can see from the different panels on my page there are lots of possibilities to create texture. This could be by adding texture paste, crackle paste, high density mediums like gesso, paints or embossing powder. You could also use embossing folders, layers of papers, die cuts, fabrics or chipboard pieces too. The choice is yours!
I couldn’t just choose one texture so I decided to create my page using 21 different texture panels to inspire you and as I started creating the panels they turned into little scenes, I hope you like them (grin!).
If you’re interested, here’s close up pictures and full details of how the panels that make up my page were created. There’s also a list of all materials I used at the end of this post too.
1. Foil For my first panel, I stamped a dragonfly using black Archival Ink onto some coloured foil, which is recycled from an Easter egg wrapper. I stuck it onto the panel using a glue stick and to create the worn textured look I added some black Archival Ink to emphasis the creases and then I rubbed the foil back to its base silver colour with a baby wipe. To finish I added the glittery flower.
2. Teabags & staples Using staples I attached a used teabag to the panel and then I stuck three teacups on the top which were die cut from some design paper.
3. Glass beads I coloured the panel with some Summer Sky Memento Ink and then applied Liquitex Glass Beads Texture Gel over the top with a palette knife. Whilst the medium was still wet I pressed some pretty blue glass beads into the texture gel. When dry I added the little orange fish which is a brad.
4. Dried leaves I used matte gel medium to layer together a yellow skeleton leaf, a dried beech leaf and a die cut flower, which was cut from some linen textured paper using a Wildflower Tim Holtz Thinlet.
5. Fabric, threads and lace The panel was covered with some self-adhesive fabric and layered with a piece of frayed muslin, some Hessian/burlap and some threads which I topped with a lace flower.
6. Corrugated card I added a piece of corrugated card, which was recycled from some packaging, using matte gel medium then applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top. When dry, I emphasised the corrugations using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. The postage stamp is from Graphic 45 and was distressed using the Dark Sepia marker, Tea Dye Distress Ink and black acrylic paint.
7. Elastic bands I applied some matte gel medium to the panel and sprinkled on some Orthodontic elastic bands that CJ kindly set to me (grin!). When dry I covered them with white gesso and highlighted the circles using a Dark Sepia marker. Then I edged the panel using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and coloured some of the circle centres using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. To finish, I added three little hearts that were in my craft stash; they were created using the Falling Hearts Thinlet set from Tim Holtz and glossy white cardstock.
8. Crackle I covered the panel with white gesso and when it was dry I applied Earl Grey, Caramel and Coconut Faber-Castell Gelatos smudging the colours with my finger. To create the crackle I used a BoBunny stamp and some Toffee Crisp and Rich Cocoa Momento inks and Black Archival ink.
All the letters for the “texture” wording were created using an X-Cut die set; they were cut from both black and white paper and then layered together onto a panel of textured design paper.
9. Glitter I cut some different coloured glitter sheets into squares and then stuck them onto the panel using a glue stick.
10. Cork I simply stuck a piece of cork designed paper onto the panel.
11. Paint Splatter To add more texture I used some high density Liquitex paint, splattering Vivid Lime Green, Cold Grey and Bright Aqua Green onto the panel and leaving it to dry.
12. Wood This is one of my favourite techniques; I applied Tea Dye, Brushed Corduroy and Ground Espresso Distress Ink pads vertically down the panel and used a paint brush to add some matte gel medium over the top keeping the brush strokes in a vertical direction. I repeated the process a couple of times making sure each layer dried before adding the next.
13. Texture paste I applied some Ranger Texture Paste to the panel using a Vintage Diamond stencil. When dry I coloured the panel using Salty Ocean and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks, then emphasised the texture paste using some Midnight Sparkle lustre wax.
14. Napkin I simply covered the panel with a gold embossed napkin using a glue stick.
15. Wooden chipboard pieces and rust effect I started by sticking the cogs in place using matte gel medium. When dry I added layers of different shades of rust and brown acrylic paints which I had created by mixing Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow and black acrylic paints. When dry I added more detail using Dark Sepia and a Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. Then I added some patina by lightly stippling some Bright Aqua Green acrylic paint over the top.
16. Paper layers I covered the panel with leftover paper pieces and edged them using a black Uni Pin marker. The flower is a paper sticker and the foliage was cut using a Funky Floral Thinlet from Tim Holtz and coloured using two green Winsor & Newton Promarkers.
17. Doily and gems I added lots of texture to the panel using layers of doily which I edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia marker. They are stuck in place using double-sided tape and then embellished with some textured gemstones to add some shimmer and shine.
18. Embossing Folder, thread and buttons I used an embossing folder to add a flower design to a piece of Kraft cardstock and then coloured the raised embossed design using a white Uniball gel pen and Aqua Green Promarker. Then I wound some wax thread around the panel and attached a big button.
19. Drywall/Plasterboard Tape I added some drywall/plasterboard tape to the panel and coloured it using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray. I splattered the panel with black DecoArt acrylic paint and added some washi tape to create the foreground. Then I added the mushrooms which are from the Field Notes Ephemera Set from Tim Holtz.
20. Embossing enamel and die cut trellis The panel background was coloured using Tea Dye and Antique Linen Distress Ink and Dandelion and Pistachio Memento Ink. The trellis was die cut from white cardstock covered in black Archival Ink and Chunky Silver Stampendous embossing enamel. I added two little birds which were stamped using black Archival Ink, coloured with Promarkers and fussy cut out.
21. Tissue Paper For the final panel, I crumpled some white tissue paper and then added it to the panel using matte gel medium. When dry, I coloured it with Lemon, Cadmium Yellow, Cerulean Blue, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna watercolour paint. The flower was cut from some Kanban cardstock using a Wildflower Tim Holtz Thinlet.
Once the panels were complete I stuck them onto the page using double-sided tape; I coloured the background with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to outline the panels before sticking them in place.
Do you have a favourite panel? It’s hard for me to choose, maybe number 3 with the beads and little fish, number 6 as I love the corrugated card, number 15 with cogs and rust or number 20 as you know I adore robins (grin!).
I hope that you are inspired to join us at Art Journal Journey this month too! We are really looking forward to visiting you and seeing all the Texture that you create on your pages (grin!).
Hoping 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
I’m joining the It’s A Wrap challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the Easter Egg wrapping, corrugated packaging and tissue paper wrap I used to create my panels.
I’m happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page.
I recently won one of the challenges over at Paperbabe Stamps so I was very excited to use the new stamp set that I chose as my prize – thanks so much!
The Paperbabes Stamp Set was “just perfect” for decorating the recycled tags on my page which I found when I was tidying my craft room; the tags were from clothing as well as towels and pottery.
I started by adding lots of the tags to the page using a glue stick and then covered them with several layers of Pébéo white gesso, letting each layer of gesso dry before adding the next.
Then I edged the tags with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker, smudging the ink with my finger. I added some washi tape to some of the tags and splattered the page then coloured the tags using Cerulean Blue Winsor & Newton watercolour paint. When the paint was dry I edged the tags and washi tape using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. Using black Archival Ink, I stamped the tags using a Spritz & Speckles stamp set, also from Paperbabe Stamps and then using a Gothic Book stamp from Finnabair. I stamped the tags using a Floral Icons stamp from Docrafts and Teal Zeal Memento Ink and then I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint. To finish, I added three copper butterflies and also a Kaisercraft sticker which reads “Just Perfect”.
The washi tape and watercolours that I used for this page were part of the fabulous goodies that I received from CJ over at CJ & Ink – thanks very much!
Here’s the Spritz & Speckles stamp set that I won from Paperbabe Stamps too, I’m sure I’ll use this one a lot as it adds such lovely textures and grungy effects – thanks so much!
Hoping that you all 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
I’m pleased to join the lovely Alison AKA Craftytrog over at Art Journal Journey and her Pockets and Tags challenge this month with all the tags on my page.
I’m also happy to be able to join the #126 –Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page.
Don’t forget that you still have time to join our Tag You’re It challenge this month over at A Vintage Journey too, it would be lovely to see you there!
Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:
Recycled tags from clothing, towels and pottery
Pritt Stick
Pébéo White Gesso
Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
Winsor & Newton Watercolour Paint Set (Cerulean Blue)
Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Spritz & Speckles)
Prima Marketing Finnabair Clear Stamp (Gothic Book 966966)
Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 Clear Stamp Set (Floral Icons DCE907123)
Today over at A Vintage Journey it’s Tag Friday, there is no particular theme as it’s all about creating something you love, experimenting and having fun! I hope that you will join our tag challenge, it would be lovely to see you there!
Spending more time in my garden means that my art is being inspired by some of the beautiful flowers which are blooming at the moment, so today’s double-sided tag features purple poppies and rudbeckia.
The tag itself was made from a large Poster Card by Tim Holtz and I added some texture and colour to the edges of it by applying some Broken China Distress Embossing Glaze and then some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. As I planned to use Faber-Castell Gelatos on both tags, I applied some white gesso to the tag first; this enhanced the colours and made it easier to apply the Gelatos. When the gesso was dry, I scribbled Kiwi and Aqua Dolce Faber-Castell Gelatos over the top smudging the colour with my finger.
Next I removed some of the Gelato colours using a baby wipe through a Halftone stencil from Tim Holtz and I used the stencil again to add some Memento Inks; I used Cottage Ivy ink for the poppy background and Paris Dusk ink for the rudbeckia background.
I stamped a document stamp and a grunge stamp from two different Tim Holtz stamp sets using black Archival Ink and then some leaf stamps from Carabelle Studios using Cottage Ivy Memento Ink for the poppy tag and London Fog Memento Ink for the rudbeckia tag. To finish the backgrounds, I added some rub-on transfers from a Specimen Remnant Rubs set by Tim Holtz.
The flowers were stamped onto some Mixed Media paper using a Stamping Platform to ensure a clear crisp finish. The stamps are from a Flower Garden stamp set by Tim Holtz and are stamped using black Archival Ink. The foliage was coloured using Sap Green Kuretake watercolour paint and highlighted using Lime Green and Forest Green Winsor & Newton Promarkers.
I had fun painting the poppy using Colbalt Violet, Black and White Kuretake watercolour paints and I coloured the edges of the petals using Amethyst Winsor & Newton Promarker. I used Lime Green and Canary Promarkers to colour the centre of the flower and a white Uniball gel pen, a black Uni Pin marker and a Cool Grey Promarker for the stamens. The flower was stuck in place using a glue stick and some glue dots and I added the “Create Art” wording which was a Quote Chip from Tim Holtz that was edged using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker.
The rudbeckia flower was painted using Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Scarlet, Black, White and Burnt Umber Sienna Kuretake watercolour paints and a Canary Promarker. I used a black Uni Posca paint pen and a black Uni Pin marker to add the texture to the stamens. I added the “Be Brave” wording and edged both tags using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. To finish, I added an eyelet with my Crop-A-Dile machine to reinforce the hole as I’m using a book ring to secure all of my double-sided tags together as part of my Tag Journal (grin!).
For more Tag Friday inspiration, please pop over to A Vintage Journey where you’ll find some fabulous tags created by my fellow Creative Guides. I hope you are inspired to join us as I’m so looking forward to seeing your tag designs!
These purple poppies are a welcome addition to our flower bed and were totally unplanned; I think the birds must have brought them into the garden (grin!). They have been flowering non-stop since the beginning of July. I’m featuring them again as some of you had never seen them before so I thought I’d share some more information about them:
This particular poppy is called Papaver Somniferum “Hungarian Blue” and is an heirloom variety with single flowers.
They are gorgeous purple-violet shades with dark inner markings on each petal.
They are easy to grow being ideal as a cut flower and the dried seed pods can also be used in flower arranging.
They grow to a height of 90cm.
The rudbeckia has just started flowering and adds a happy vibrant yellow to our flower bed; this particular one is Rudbeckia Fulgida ”Goldsturm” and is also known as the Golden Cone Flower or Black Eyed Susan.
I hope that you are 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 the Summer challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my summer flower tags.
I’m joining in the fun at Country View Challenges and their Do What Makes You Happy Challenge with my flower tags as although I always find making tags a bit daunting I always enjoy making them; they also make me smile when I look at them as they are always on display in my craft room.
Over at Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Create a Scene.
There are many options for this challenge so I decided to create a summer mountain scene. As I was creating the scene I knew I had to use my favourite Merry Moose Thinlet set – such fun (grin!).
Everything on this page is coloured using Kuretake Watercolour paints even the die cut Thinlets. To start I painted the gorgeous purple mountains using Colbalt Violet and a little Ultramarine watercolour paint. When dry, I painted the meadow foreground using Sap Green and Hooker’s Green paint, layering the colours to add texture. I also transferred some of the wet green paint using a piece of kitchen towel to blend the colours together at the base of the mountains.
The trees are from the Merry Moose Thinlet set by Tim Holtz and were cut from linen textured cardstock like all of the die cut Thinlets on this page. I coloured the cardstock using a mixture of Burnt Sienna and Black paint for the trunks and added some more detail with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. The tree foliage was a mixture of Sap Green and Hooker’s Green. I cut out a circle of linen cardstock for the sun and coloured it using Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Scarlet paints, when dry I painted Lemon Yellow over the top and edged it first with a Cold Grey and then a White Faber-Castell marker. The sky was painted using Ultramarine Pale paint and I gradually built up the clouds by letting each paint layer dry before adding the next to ensure the clouds got darker as I added each layer.
For the shrubs at the base of the trees, I used a Funky Florals Thinlet set from Tim Holtz and coloured them first using Sap Green allowing it to dry and then adding dots of Burnt Sienna and Cadmium Scarlet paints. The moose was from the same Merry Moose Thinlet set and I coloured him using Burnt Sienna and Black paint, I also used Yellow Ochre for his antlers. To finish, I added three Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz, they read “life was meant to be a great adventure”, “live everyday with intention” and “always take the scenic route”; they are edged with a Unipin pen.
I hope that you are inspired to join us too, for more inspiration my Design Teamies have created some amazing scenes for you over at Try it on Tuesday, so please pop over and take a look (grin!).
The mountains on this page reminded me of the purple mountains that you find in Wales, this is due to the purple slate that is found and was mined in the area. Of course the only moose that you’ll find there is the Purple Moose Brewery in Porthmadog in North Wales. As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our moose pint glasses that we often use at home to serve our home brewed beer in. They are a lovely reminder of the Purple Moose Brewery that we have visited on a few occasions, these were mementos from their Brewery Tour that we took on my birthday some years ago – Happy T day everyone!
Hoping that you are 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 also happy to be able to join the #121 – Sketch challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page design; the bottom panel is depicted by the green foreground and the logo by the moose.
With my moose walking through a summery meadow at the base of the mountains, I’m pleased to join in the Summer Fields challenge over at Country View Challenges too.
Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Colbalt Violet No:139, Ultramarine No:64, Sap Green No:53, Hooker’s Green No:52, Burnt Sienna No:46, Black No:20, Cadmium Scarlet No:31, Yellow Ochre No:44, Lemon Yellow No:40, Ultramarine Pale No:61 )
Inspired by a beautiful notebook that my sister bought me, I created this fun Highland cow page as a reminder to ‘Just be your beautiful self’ (grin!).
I started by taking a page out of the notebook to use as part of the collage background. I dyed the page with inks, firstly Bluebird ink for the sky and then with Leaf Green, Fern Green and Prickly Pear ink for the grass; they are all Wendy Vecchi Blendable Dye Inks.
As the page was lined I ripped the paper diagonally, positioning the pieces so the lines ran from left-hand side up to the right-hand side diagonally across the page. I collaged them using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium along with some torn pieces of kitchen towel and baby wipes that were used to mop up blue and green inks and paints from previous art journal pages that I had created. When dry, I painted Ultramarine and Sap Green Kuretake watercolours to add more colour to the sky and grass. The highland cow is from an old magazine and layered some of the pieces of coloured paper, kitchen towel and baby wipes over the edges to blend it into the background. As you can see, I created my page background so that it matches and blends with the felt/fabric look of the highland cow image background.
For the foliage and daisies I used a Wildflower Stems #2 Thinlet set from Tim Holtz: cutting the tall grasses from brown tissue paper and layering them on top of the background using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium; I used white cardstock for the leafy foliage which I stamped using black Archival Ink and a Finnabair Stamp, coloured using the Leaf Green, Fern Green and Prickly Pear Wendy Vecchi Blendable Inks and Mowed lawn Distress Ink, and edged using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker; and I used some linen textured cardstock for the daisies which were coloured using the Leaf Green and Prickly Pear inks and also watered down Watering Can Wendy Vecchi Blendable Ink for the petals. Once stuck into place using a Zig glue pen, I edged the leafy foliage and daisies using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker so they stood out more. Then I added a Kaisercraft sticker which reads “Just be your beautiful self” which finished the page.
Here’s the beautiful A4 notebook that inspired my page.
You may notice that I always list the materials I use for pages at the end of my posts and as you can see here I use this type of notebook to record these details, so this gift was perfect (grin!).
As T Stands for Tuesday I’m also sharing my cuppa (of Ceylon Tea) which I often enjoy whilst crafting – wishing you all a very Happy T day!
Hoping that you 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 lovely Halle from Halle’s Hobbies over at Art Journal Journey and her A Stitch In Time challenge this month with the faux felt/fabric background.
I’m pleased to join in the Summer Fields challenge over at Country View Challenges with my highland cow summery field art journal page.
I’m also happy to be able to join the #121 –Sketch challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page; the green and blue splits the page and images.
I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Sprays and Splashes challenge with the splashes of green ink on the die cut foliage.
Don’t forget that you still have time to join our monthly Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog too!
Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:
Notebook page
Ranger Wendy Vecchi Make Art Blendable Dye Ink (Bluebird, Prickly Pear, Leaf green, Fern Green, Watering Can)
Recycled kitchen towel and baby wipes used to mop up inks and paints
Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Ultramarine No:64, Sap Green No:53)
Old magazine
Pritt Stick
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Wildflower Stems #2 664164)
Recycled brown tissue paper
White cardstock
Prima Marketing Finnabair Clear Stamp (Old Receipt #966980)
Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mowed Lawn)
Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CRO240/GE)
Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt Artist Pen (Black 199, Cold Grey IV 23)
