Frosty Winter

As we live by the sea we don’t get many frosty mornings, but we have seen both frost and snow this month which inspired this frosty winter page.  

I started by recycling a piece of kitchen towel which I had used to mop up blue inks by tearing it into pieces and sticking them in place using some Liquitex matte gel medium; I used the wet gel medium to reactivate the inks which gave some of the white areas a slight bluish tinge. Next I arranged the pretty blue flower images and wording which were from a Paper Collection by Craft Sensations; the wording reads “A beautiful thing is never perfect”.

I continued the frosty theme by adding some glittery silver snowflakes, some Silver Ranger Stickles and also some round blue gems using Ranger Glossy Accents which finished the page.

As we walked along the promenade by the beach, we were surprised to still see a thick frost still lingering in the shadows behind the wall. The jagged edges inspired me to arrange the square corners of the images/wording diagonally across the page.

The flower and plant images that I included on my page were inspired by the frosty silhouette of the palm tree that we found on the slate in our front garden one morning – so amazing (grin!).

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:

• Recycled kitchen towel that was used to mop up Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray (After Midnight), Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Speckled Egg) , DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Docrafts Create Christmas Glitterations (Snowflakes – Silver PMA818917)
• Hobbycraft Decorative Embellishments (Blue Round Gems)
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her Favourite Things challenge this month as seeing the snow and frost is always one of my favourite things I’m so pleased to join the Squares Challenge at Country View Challenges with the square of wording on my page. I’m happy to join The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog and their So Delicate challenge with the delicate wispy edges of the kitchen roll background and pretty snowflakes. I’m also joining the Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the frosty background I created. I’m pleased to join the MITCB #45 – Anything Goes + Bleaching challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with my frosty page too. I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their We’re On A Roll challenge with the round blue gems on my page. Don’t forget that you still have over a week to join our Winter Blues challenge at Try it on Tuesday too; it would be lovely to see you there!

Believe

Over at Try it on Tuesday our first challenge of 2021 is Add an Uplifting or Positive Quote.

Adding a positive quote to my page was such a lovely way to start the year; I hope that you are inspired to join us too, and I can’t wait to see the quotes that you add!

I started by colouring circles for the background using Scattered Straw, Antique Linen, Fossilised Amber, Spiced Marmalade and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks through a Sun and Moon stencil from Inkylicious. I also used an Iso Fun stencil from Paperbabe Stamps to add some patterned detail to some of the circles using the same inks. The wording was stamped using black Archival Ink and my favourite Script stamp set from Concord & 9^th. I added some highlights to the letters using a white Uniball gel pen; it reads “all things are possible if you believe”.

For the pretty fairy, I stamped a Frost Fairy stamp from Paperbabe Stamps that I won – thanks so much! I stamped the fairy using black Archival Ink and then I had fun colouring her with my new Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers; the dress was coloured using Ice Grey Blend and Dark Red Blend, her hair using Pink Violet Blend, skin using Fair Skin Blend, lips using Pale Pink Blend, eyes using Alpine Green Blend and her wings were highlighted using True Blue Blend. I also added more detail using a black Uni Pin fine line marker and white Uniball gel pen, then I fussy cut the fairy out and coloured the two starbursts using Fossilised Amber Distress Ink.

I was really pleased with how she turned out and thought she would be perfect for the quote I’d chosen; she was stuck onto the page using a glue stick. To finish, I stamped some starbursts onto the background from the same Frost Fairy stamp set using black Archival Ink.

For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday and take a look you at the uplifting and positive quotes my Design Teamies have added to their amazing creations (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our New Year’s drinks which are Poinsettia cocktails; they are made with 1 part Cointreau (orange liqueur), 3 parts prosecco and 3 parts cranberry juice. Happy T Day – cheers!

Hope that you’re all staying safe and well!
Wishing you all the very best for 2021 – Happy New Year! 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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

• Inkylicious! Stencil & Template Set (Sun & Moon)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Antique Linen, Fossilised Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry)
• Paperbabe Stamps Mixed Media Stencil (Iso Fun)
• Concord & 9^th Stamp Set (Sophisticated Script 10056)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Frost Fairy)
• Spectrum Noir TriBlend Markers (Ice Grey Blend, Dark Red Blend, Pink Violet Blend, Fair Skin Blend, Pale Pink Blend, Alpine Green Blend, True Blue Blend)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Pritt Stick

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as they provide me with inspiration 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 this month as I used my favourite script stamp set from Concord & 9th for the quote on this page. I’m pleased to be able to join Paperbabe Stamps too and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my art journal page – thank you for the crafting goodies (grin!). I’m also pleased to join the Use a New/Unused Product challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I used my new Frost Fairy stamp and Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers for this page. I’m so happy to join the LTSCB #141 – Anything Goes challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my Believe art journal page too. I’m also joining the Sparkle and Shine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too with my bright sparkly fairy page.

Celebrating the New Year

I created this page to welcome the New Year with fireworks lighting up the sky and a row of very pretty houses (grin!). I hope that 2021 is a better year for everyone and as the words say “may love and laughter light your days and warm your heart”.

I started by painting the background with purple and silver acrylic paints to create my night sky, making sure the brush strokes were pulled from the edges to the centre of the page so it looked like explosions of light.

Next I stencilled the fireworks using a Creative Expressions stencil and Ranger Texture Paste. The wording was from a Kaisercraft sticker sheet and I die cut the “2021” using a Folk Alphabet die set from Docrafts.

To finish, I fussy cut the houses from an old Christmas card and arranged them onto the page using double-sided tape.

These houses are so beautifully drawn and wonderfully detailed. The front doors reminded me of my family’s tradition of welcoming the New Year; on New Year’s Eve at the stroke of midnight one of us knocks on the front door and when invited in, enters the house carrying a piece of coal which is said to bring good luck for the coming year (grin!).

This tradition stems from when, on the stroke of midnight people opened the back door (to let the old year out) and asked the first dark haired man to be seen, to come through the front door carrying salt, coal and bread. This meant that the following year everyone in the house will have enough to eat (bread), enough money (salt) and be warm enough (coal).

Do you have any New Year traditions?

Wishing you all the very best for 2021 – Happy New Year!
Stay safe! 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 the materials that were used to create this art journal page:

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic (Dioxazine Purple)
• Poundland Metallic Acrylic (Silver)
• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Fireworks)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Old Christmas Card
• White Cardstock
• Docrafts X-Cut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU 503286)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Pen & Ink SS360)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Stix2 double-sided tape

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as they provide me with inspiration 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 this month as I love to celebrate the New Year and recycled one of my favourite Christmas cards to create this page. I’m joining the Celebrate challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I’m celebrating the New Year with my page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Squares challenge with all the squares detailed on the houses especially the windows. I’m pleased to be able to join Paperbabe Stamps too and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my 2021 page. I’m pleased to join the Sparkle and Shine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too with all the shine from the silver metallic paint in the background and sparkle from the glittery snow on the houses.

Tis the season to be … fluffy

As you probably know by now I love robins so I just couldn’t resist using this beautiful robin image, it reminded me of the fun saying “tis the season to be …fluffy”.

I coloured the page using an Earl Grey Faber-Castell Gelato to match the grey background of the robin image. The Gelato was scribbled onto the background and smudged with my finger which I had wet with a little water. The robin image was fussy cut from an old magazine that a dear friend gifted me for art journaling. Once stuck in place using a glue stick, I trimmed the image to fit the page. I arranged some of the trimmed pieces of leaves around the edges of page creating my wintry scene. For the wording I used some silver glitter stickers and then to finish, I splattered the page with both white and metallic silver acrylic paints.

As T Stands for Tuesday and to wish you all a Happy T Day, I’m sharing another fluffy robin that is on my winter mug.

If you’re wondering why robins sometimes look fluffy, it’s because on chilly days they puff out their feathers to keep warm. This puffing fluffs out their down feathers, giving some insulation to help the robin maintain its body temperature. So when winter’s here – “tis the season to be …fluffy (grin!).

Over Christmas we’ve also been enjoying this chocolate Yule Log from a local bakery, it was so very yummy! Not too sweet and covered in a thick layer of chocolate, and if you look closely…

…there’s even a little robin on the top (double grin!).

I hope you’ve had a safe and happy Christmas. Wishing you all the very best for 2021!

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:

• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Earl Grey)
• Old magazine
• Pritt Stick
• The Range (Alphabet Stickers – Silver Glitter)
• Poundland Metallic Acrylic (Silver)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as they provide me with inspiration 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 Tracey over at Art Journal Journey and her Meaning of challenge this month as I created this page to celebrate the winter season and fluffy robins. I’m joining the Celebrate challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I’m celebrating the winter season with my fluffy robin page. I’m pleased to be able to join the fun LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland challenge over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my fluffy robin sitting in his winter wonderland. I’m also pleased to join the Sparkle and Shine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too with all the sparkle from the glitter letters and silver metallic paint on my page. I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my “tis the season to be … fluffy” robin page. I’m happy to join the MIUCB #44 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Clean and Simple challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques for my simply constructed page too.

Christmas Wishes

I created today’s art journal page to send you Christmas wishes – wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas filled with peace and love!

I started by covering the page with Pébéo white gesso and then I spread some clear glitter glue over the top using a palette knife. All the festive images were cut from old magazines and stuck in place using a glue stick.  I splattered white acrylic paint around the edges of the images and left it to dry.

The black circles were stamped onto some white tissue paper using a Snow Day stamp set from BoBunny, some black Archival Ink and black Papermania Embossing Powder; they were stuck down using a glue stick. I added some texture over the white background around the images by applying Ranger Texture Paste though a Sparkle stencil from Tim Holtz; I love the white on white effect that this created. When dry, I finished the page by adding the “Christmas Wishes” wording which was recycled from an old Christmas card.

One of our Christmas traditions is to treat ourselves to a Festive Feast sandwich from our local deli in town; it’s filled with stuffing, turkey, bacon, sausage, cranberry sauce and mayonnaise (grin!).

They make sandwiches to takeaway so we bought the sandwich home to enjoy with one of the beers from our homemade advent calendar. This Belgian IPA had a fruity finish and tasted of coriander and orange peel, and both the beer and the sandwich were very yummy (double grin!).

This past week, we’ve loved all of the beers that we have tried from our advent calendar so as T Stands for Tuesday, I thought I’d share some of the other beers with you and say a big hello to the T Gang – cheers and Happy T day!

This one is specially brewed for Aldi by Brewdog Brewery and there is an interesting story behind this beer. It started with Aldi supermarket selling a copy of Brewdog’s flagship beer, so Brewdog then made a beer called YALDI IPA and launched it on Twitter (Brewdog is in Scotland and “yaldi” is apparently slang for happiness). Aldi replied on Twitter to Brewdog saying “would have gone with ALD IPA, send us a crate and we’ll talk”. Apparently the customer enquiries went through the roof after their conversation on Twitter, so they got together and Aldi now sell this beer as a special edition; it’s marketed as their “own label IPA”.

Erika will be pleased that we have tried this Push Pineapple beer too; I was looking forward to trying this one myself and it didn’t disappoint! This is a Pineapple Milkshake IPA; it is called “milkshake” as it contains lactose which gives a creamier mouth feel and makes the beer sweeter as brewer’s yeast can’t ferment it. Lactose is traditionally used in stouts to give them a sweeter and creamer taste. This beer had a lovely pineapple flavoured finish too – so delicious (grin!).

Wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas!

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:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Glitter Glue (Clear)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Old magazines
• Pritt Stick
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Mixed Media Stencil (Sparkle THS132)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Recycled white tissue paper
• BoBunny Stamp Set (Snow Day)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black)
• Recycled Christmas Card Topper
• X-Press It! double-sided foam tape

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as they provide me with inspiration 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 Tracey over at Art Journal Journey and her Meaning of challenge this month as I created this page to send you happy Christmas wishes. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Christmas page. I’m also pleased to join the Celebrate challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog as I’m celebrating Christmas with this page. I’m happy to join the MIUCB #44 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Clean and Simple challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques I used to create the clean and simple white on white background. I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmas Wishes page. I’m also pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas page too.

Merry Christmoose Card

I can never resist using my favourite Merry Moose Thinlits set at Christmastime; this time he’s on a Christmas card so I can share some “Christmoose” joy with my friends (grin!).

To start, I cut a panel of mixed media paper to fit my greetings card and positioned a circular template from an Inkylicious template and stencil set to mask out the moon. Then I stamped the pretty snowflakes using a Frozen Fractals stamp set from Simon Says Stamp; they were stamped using Versamark Watermark ink and then covered in white Stampendous embossing powder. Next I positioned a hand cut paper template to mask out the foreground. and then I painted the panel using a mixture of Ultramarine Pale, Ultramarine and Turquoise Blue colours Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour paints. When dry, I removed both of the templates and added some colour to the snowflakes in the foreground using the watercolour paints again. I coloured the moon with some Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink and added some texture using a white gel pen and also by stamping some grey dots using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and an Urban Tapestry stamp from Tim Holtz. Then I splattered the whole panel with white acrylic paint.

The tree and moose were die cut using the Merry Moose Thinlets by Tim Holtz and my Big Shot Machine. The tree was cut from some paper that I had used to mop up brown inks and the snow was cut from some white linen textured cardstock. For the Merry Moose, I used some linen card stock which I coloured using Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Inks. His antlers were coloured using Antique Linen Distress Ink and I edged all the pieces with a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell maker. His harness was die cut from some blue glitter paper and white cardstock which I had coloured with the Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink. To finish, I added the “Merry Christmas” wording which was from a Christmas sticker book from Tim Holtz; it’s edged using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker before sticking it in place.

I love moose and there are quite a few moose on our Holiday Tree which is decorated with ornaments that we purchased whilst on holiday/vacation. We always enjoy looking at this tree and reminiscing of times gone by; all the decorations hold such happy memories (grin!).

As you can see, these ornaments are from Maine; the wording on this one makes me smile – Merry Christmoose everyone (double grin!).

Stay safe and keep 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 card:

• Simon Says Stamp Clear Stamp Set (Frozen Fractals SSS101694)
• Tsukineko Versamark Watermark Ink Pad
• Stampendous Embossing Powder Basics (Detail White Opaque DP100)
• Inkylicious Stencil and Template Set (Sun & Moons)
• Recycled paper
• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Ultramarine Pale, Ultramarine, Turquoise Blue)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Stamp Set (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Antique Linen, Chipped Sapphire)
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Tim Holtz Alterations Sizzix Thinlets (Merry Moose 663103)
• Recycled paper used to mop up brown inks
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Card Stock with Linen Texture)
• Poundland (Glitter Paper Sheets)
• Zig Memory System Chisel Tip Glue Pen
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Sticker Book (Christmas #TH93999)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as they provide me with inspiration and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today: I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Christmoose card. I’m also pleased to join the Christmas Critters challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Merry Moose Christmas card. I’m happy to join the # 119 Non-Traditional Christmas Colours challenge over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with the colours that I used on this card. With my frosty wintery landscape, I’m also pleased to join the Ice Cold challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmoose card. I’m also pleased to join in the LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland challenge over at the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog with my Merry Moose walking in his winter wonderland card. I’m so happy to join in the fun over at the Rudolph Days Challenge where Anything Goes, as long as it’s Christmas with my Merry Moose Christmas card too. Don’t forget there is still another week to join our Christmas Sparkle challenge at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be lovely to see you there!

Frosty Snowflakes

I love winter so to wish you a Happy Christmas I created this frosty page, using a variety of techniques to build up layers of snowflakes – I hope you like it (grin!).

I started by stamping snowflakes onto the background using a Versamark Watermark stamp pad and then heating it with a heat gun to fix the Watermark ink onto the page. Then I used some Distress Ink re-inkers to apply drops of Speckled Egg and Peacock Feathers inks, spritzed them with water to disperse and blend the inks over the background and left it to dry.

I stamped my second layer of snowflakes using a Woodland Christmas stamp set and Peacock Feather Distress Ink, Teal Zeal and London Fog Memento Inks. Next I die cut some snowflakes from three different coloured tissue papers using a Paper Snowflakes Thinlits set by Tim Holtz and layered them onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. I love how frosty this page looks with the different layers of snowflakes. Next I added lots of sequins from Simon Says Stamp and some glittery wooden stars; all of which are stuck down using Ranger Glossy Accents.  Then to finish, I added a silver sticker to wish you all “Happy Christmas”.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing some of our beers from our advent calendar – cheers and Happy T Day!

Here are some of the ones we’ve had so far; the Ruby Ale has been my favourite so far, probably because it is a classic British dark beer with a toffee malt and chocolate flavour which I prefer. We have had quite a few Craft Beer IPAs too; they tend to have a distinctive sharp citrus finish due to the big flavour American hops and so far my favourite has to be the Talking Head Extra Pale Ale, which had a lovely tropical mango flavour.

This Buckhorn Stateside IPA was also refreshing and had a smoother hoppy finish.

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 all the materials used to create this page:

• Tsukineko Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• The Works Clear Stamps (CRO274/TW1)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Speckled Egg, Peacock Feathers)
• Clear Impressions (Woodland Christmas)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Teal Zeal, London Fog)
• Poundworld (Patch Paper DS9454)
• Teal Blue Tissue Paper
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Paper Snowflakes 661599)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Simon Says Stamp (Winter Sequins Mix, Snowflake Sequins)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Wooden Glitter Stars
• The Works (Christmas Embellishments)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as they provide me with inspiration 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 Tracey over at Art Journal Journey and her Meaning of challenge this month as I created this page to wish you a Happy Christmas. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my frosty Christmas page. I’m also pleased to join the Let It Snow challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my snowflake design. I’m happy to join the # 119 Non-Traditional Christmas Colours challenge over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with the frosty colours that I used. With my frosty colours and snowflakes, I’m also pleased to join the Ice Cold challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my Frosty Christmas page. As I used lots of different techniques to create all the frosty texture and snowflakes on this page, I’m also joining the MIUCB #44 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Clean and Simple challenge over at Mix It Up Challenge Blog. Don’t forget there is still another week to join our Christmas Sparkle challenge at Try it on Tuesday too, it would be lovely to see you there!

Let it Snow Polar Bear card

It was fun creating this polar bear Christmas card and I used some of my favourite die cuts and techniques to create this snowy wonderland. It looked so cold that I dressed the polar bear in a red scarf to keep him warm (grin!).

I started by creating a master board for the background by applying a thick layer of Navy, Swedish Blue and white acrylic paints onto a piece of mixed media paper and then placing some scrunched up cling film (plastic food wrap) over the top. I moved the cling film around to disperse the paints and then I left it to dry. When I peeled the cling film off it left some wonderful patterns and texture which formed my snowy winter wonderland background. I used a Snowflake stencil from Ranger to stencil some snowflakes over the master board using Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink too.

Next I cut a panel from the master board to fit the greetings card. Then I cut some snowflakes from white tissue paper using a Tonic Studios die cut set and stuck them onto the card using Liquitex matte gel medium. I love how the tissue paper and gel medium made the snowflakes look transparent.

The polar bear was created using a Theodore Thinlits set from Tim Holtz which is one of my favourites. The pieces were cut from white card stock, white and cream linen textured card stock and black card stock, edged with a Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker and then layered together. His ears were coloured with a Putty Promarker and I created his scarf using a piece of red felt. To finish, I added some silver glitter stickers which reads “Let it snow”.

This card reminded me of this beautiful little polar bear Christmas decoration which also lights up and changes colour (grin!).

I hope that you’re all stay 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 all the materials used to create this card:

• Daler-Rowney Mixed Media Paper
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Navy, Swedish Blue)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Cling film
• Ranger Dylusions by Dyan Reaveley Stencil (Snowflake – Large DYS63742)
• Tsukineko Brilliance Ink (Platinum Planet)
• White Tissue Paper
• Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (Falling Snowflakes 1792e)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Linen Textured Cardstock)
• White Cardstock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Theodore 664410)
• Winsor & Newton Promarker (Putty 0618)
• Pritt Stick
• Red Felt
• Stix2 glue dots
• Poundland (Christmas Glitter Stickers)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as they provide me with inspiration 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 LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland challenge over at the Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my polar bear walking in his snowy winter wonderland. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my polar bear Christmas card. I’m also pleased to join the Let It Snow challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Let it Snow Christmas card. I’m happy to join the # 119 Non-Traditional Christmas Colours challenge over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with the blues, white and red colours that I used to create this polar bear card too. As I used a couple of my favourite techniques to create the snowy background for this card, I’m also pleased to join the Favourite Technique challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I’m also pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my fun polar bear Christmas card too. I’m also joining Paperbabe Stamps and their #134 – Anything Goes challenge with my Christmas card.

Dashing through the snow

Our new challenge for the next two weeks over at Try it on Tuesday is Christmas Sparkle.

For my page I used some glittery paper pieces that I had die cut snowflakes from; they were leftover from this year’s Christmas cards. I just couldn’t throw them away and with all the sparkle they seemed to fit this challenge perfectly (grin!).

For the background, I painted the page with Cadmium Red and Alizarin Crimson Liquitex acrylic paint. When dry, I stuck the remnant glitter die cut pieces onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium to form a frame around the edges of the page. Then I splattered the page using white acrylic paint and left it to dry.

The larger snowflakes were cut from the same glitter paper using a Mini Paper Snowflakes Thinlits set from Tim Holtz and the smaller snowflakes using a Christmas metal die.

To finish, I added the “Dashing through the snow” winter scene which was recycled from a Christmas card; it is stuck in place using double-sided tape.

For more inspiration check out the amazing Christmas Sparkle creations from my Design Teamies over at Try it on Tuesday. I hope that you are inspired to join us; it would be lovely to see you there!

To celebrate the festive season, my hubby had the fabulous idea of creating our own beer advent calendar. As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing our selection of beers; we haven’t tried any of these before and we plan to share one can or bottle of beer each day with our meal to see if we like them. I’ll be sure to share which ones we have tried next week – cheers and Happy T Day!

I hope 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 all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic Paint (Cadmium Red Medium Hue)
• Liquitex Basics Acrylic (Alizarin Crimson)
• Die cut off cuts – Glitter wallpaper
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Art Discount Acrylic Paint (White)
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Paper Snowflakes Mini 661599)
• Deer metal die
• Recycled Christmas Card
• X-Press It! double-sided tape

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as they provide me with inspiration 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 Tracey over at Art Journal Journey and her Meaning of challenge this month as I love art journaling and Christmastime. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Dashing through the snow art journal page. I’m also happy to join the MIUCB #44 – Anything Goes + Clean and Simple over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog with the techniques I used to create my snowy page and this is a simple page design for me too (grin!). I’m also pleased to join the Fun With Dies challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the die cut pieces I used to create this page. I’m also pleased to join the Love To Scrap and their LTSCB #140 – Winter Wonderland with my dashing through the snow page.

Merry Little Christmas Au Revoir at A Vintage Journey

Over at A Vintage Journey our challenge this month is Merry Little Christmas which is sadly our very last challenge. It’s been an honour and a pleasure to be part of such a wonderful team and blog – thank you so much for all your inspiration and support over the years!

We have come together to create small ATC creations to share some Christmas cheer and also to say “au revoir”. So if you would like to participate in our challenge one last time please create an ATC project depicting a Merry Little Christmas and/or Au Revoir theme; we hope to see you there!

Creating ATCs is a first for me, who’d have thought that I’d have so much fun creating these mini artworks (grin!). Here are my Merry Little Christmas ATCs that I created to wish you all happiness this Christmas!

Using some old playing cards as my base, I started by covering them with scraps of Botanicals or Halloween Collage paper from Tim Holtz using Liquitex matte gel medium. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso using a brayer and when dry, I added Vintage Photo Distress Ink with a blending tool.

I applied another layer of white gesso over the top and then added some holly leaves and berries. The holly leaves were die cut using a Holiday Greens Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some white paper which I had coloured using Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles Distress Ink. The berries were also die cut from some white paper which had been coloured with Festive Berries Distress Ink. When they were stuck in place using matte gel medium, I splattered the ATC with some white acrylic paint.

The stars are stencilled using a Sparkle stencil from Tim Holtz and VersaMark Watermark ink which I covered with gold Ranger embossing powder. I also edged the ATC with the embossing powder before heating everything with a heat gun. The glittery snowflakes were cut using a Mini Paper Snowflakes Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from some glittery paper. To finish, I added the wording from a Christmas sticker book by Tim Holtz.

Here’s my Au Revior ATC which I created to celebrate A Vintage Journey; including all the amazing participants of our challenges and my fellow Creative Guides. The quote “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” (Dr. Seuss) that I included seemed appropriate as it’s so bittersweet to see A Vintage Journey end.

To create this mixed media ATC, I started by covering an old playing card firstly with white gesso and then with black DecoArt acrylic paint. I used the Sparkles stencil by Tim Holtz, VersaMark Watermark ink and gold Ranger Embossing powder again. Then I added one of the badges from A Vintage Journey, that I had printed and distressed using some Vintage Photo Distress Ink, to top and tail my ATC design. The Dr. Seuss quote was created using a label machine and the red hearts were cut from some cardstock using a Falling Hearts Thinlits set from Tim Holtz. To finish, I added some the white wording which were from a Small Talk Remnant Rubs set by Tim Holtz.

I hope you are inspired to join in the Merry Little Christmas and/or Au Revoir challenge themes and for more inspiration you’ll find some amazing ATCs and beautiful heartfelt words from my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey too.

I have really enjoyed my time at A Vintage Journey, from joining in the challenges to becoming a Creative Guide something that I always wished for. I have made some wonderful friends along the way, thank you for being part of my creative journey – it’s been a blast! x

Of course I seem to have been singing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” all month too and my favourite version has to be by Judy Garland from the musical Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) – the lyrics seem very pertinent for this year too.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

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

Here is a list of all the materials used to create these ATCs:

• Old playing cards
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Collage Paper (Botanical #TH93705, Halloween #TH93712)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, Festive Berries)
• Recycled white paper
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Holiday Greens 658759, Paper Snowflakes Mini 661599, Falling Hearts 664415)
• The Range (5×5 Dies Holly)
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Sparkles THS132)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Ranger Embossing Powder (Gold)
• Glitter wallpaper
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Christmas Sticker Book #TH93999)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• A Vintage Journey Badge – computer printed
• Dymo LetraTag Label Maker and Labels
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CRO241/GE)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Tiny Text #TH93695)

Challenges I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything Christmas challenge with my Christmas ATCs. I’m pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – December Anything Christmas Goes with my Merry Little Christmas ATCs. I’m pleased to be able to join the A Time to be Grateful over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as I am thankful to have been part of such a fabulous challenge blog and team. I’m also pleased to join the Fun With Dies challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with all the Tim Holtz Thinlets sets that I used to created my ATCs.