Winter Wonderland

At Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Winter Wonderland.

My winter wonderland page was created using a fun technique with acrylic paint and cling film which made the perfect background for the pretty deer, snowflakes and trees. I really enjoyed creating this page and I can’t wait to see your winter wonderland creations too!

For the background, I started by painting horizontal lines of Navy, Swedish Blue and Aqua Green Liquitex Acrylic paints onto the page. Then I placed scrunched up cling film (plastic food wrap) over the top, moved it around and left it to dry. When the paint was nearly dry I peeled the plastic wrap off and then applied some white paint to the same piece of cling film and placed it onto the page, over the other paints, scrunching it up and then I left it to dry overnight. When I peeled the cling film off the page it left some fabulous patterns which formed my winter wonderland.

The deer and snowflakes are stickers and I added lots of white dots in the sky using a white Uni Posca paint pen to create more snowfall which took a while (grin!).

I die cut the trees and star from some white cardstock using a couple of Thinlits sets from Tim Holtz and pressed them into a Versamark Watermark stamp pad. Then I covered them with Wow! embossing glitter and heated them using a heat gun until they turned glossy; they are stuck in place using a glue stick. Next I created the “winter wonderland” wording which is cut from white card, which I had covered in the Wow! embossing glitter, using an Alphanumeric Label Thinlits set from Tim Holtz. The letters were mounted onto some recycled navy cardstock which was cut to shape using a Tag Collection Framelits set from Tim Holtz; this finished the page.

I hope that you are inspired to join Winter Wonderland Challenge too! For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Teamies over at Try it on Tuesday too.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing our mugs of tea; as you may remember I shared my new robin mug a couple of weeks ago so I thought I’d share my hubby’s matching deer mug as my page has deer on it, although they aren’t wearing scarves (grin!) – wishing you a very Happy T day!

Hoping that you 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 art journal page:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Navy, Swedish Blue)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic (Bright Aqua Green)
• Cling film
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• White Cardstock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Woodlands 660978, Snowy Stars 663117, Alphanumeric Label 664177)
• Wow! Embossing Glitter (Singing in the rain WS183R)
• Pritt Stick
• Home Bargains (Wall Stickers #16221 – deer & snowflakes)
• Recycled navy cardstock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as I always enjoy taking part, 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 so happy to join the #132 – Frosty Feels or Cool Tones challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my winter wonderland scene. I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything But A Card challenge with my wintery art journal page. I’m pleased to join MIUCB #43 – Anything Goes + Making Your Own Background over at the Mix It UP Challenge Blog with the fun cling film and paint technique that I used to create my background. I’m also pleased to join the Christmas challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my winter wonderland page too.

Love, Peace, Joy

To join in the fun over at the 25 Days of Christmas Tags I made a tag and then decided to create an art journal page using the tag, as its colours matched my brand new Winter Holidays TriBlend Spectrum Noir marker set perfectly – I hope you like it!

I’d also like to say a special thank you to lovely Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations for her insight into alcohol markers which helped me decide on these TriBlend markers that I used for the first time on this page – such fun!

For the tag, I started by cutting a piece of Kraft cardstock using the largest tag design from the Framelits Tag Collection from Tim Holtz. I covered it with white gesso and when dry, I edged the tag using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. Then I splattered it with white gesso to give a snowy effect and added grungy dots using a Spritz & Speckles stamp set from Paperbabe Stamps and some Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. The “love, peace, joy” wording were stickers from Kaisercraft and the large snowflakes were cut out of two green-blue glitter papers and some corrugated silver cardstock using a Tonic Studios die cut set. They are layered together with some pretty pearl snowflake gems from Habico and to finish I tied a piece of recycled brown ribbon to the tag.

I’m pleased to be able to join the 25 Days of Christmas Tags with my tag which was inspired by Tracey McNeely’s snowflake tag posted on Day 11 of the challenge.

For my journal page, I started by stamping the bird onto the page using a Winter Woodland stamp set and some black Archival Ink. Then I coloured the bird and branch image using the TriBlend Spectrum Noir markers; the colours I used were Green Turquoise Blend, Gold Yellow Blend, Earth Brown Blend and Alpine Green Blend. I created a template to cover the bird and branches so I could stamp the background with the “joy” wording using Hickory Smoke and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. Then I applied some white gesso to the stamped wording to push it into the background more. I created some 3D snow on the branches using some Fluffy Puffy Stuff from Inkylicious which is always fun to use as you heat it using a heat gun so it became fluffy and puffy (grin!). I stuck the tag in place and then I cut some little snowflakes from the glitter paper using a Thinlits set from Tim Holtz and layered them together with some of the pearl snowflake gems which finished the page.

I treated myself to these TriBlend pens recently after some discussions with Tracey and they are great to use although I still have a lot to master when applying and blending them. As this was new to me I started off small, creating this snowy bird scene which was a great learning experience. I’m looking forward to using them again soon – thanks again Tracey for all your help and insight, you’re a star!

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.

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

• Kraft cardstock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ground Espresso)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Spritz & Speckles)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Ground Espresso, Hickory Smoke)
• Tonic Studios Christmas Trio Die Set (Falling Snowflakes 1792e)
• Poundland (Glitter Paper)
• Wilkos (Corrugated Cardstock – Silver)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Habico Signature Collection (PP1100  – Pearl Snowflakes)
• Recycled brown ribbon
• Creative Stamping Magazine Issue: 62 (Sheena by Sheena Douglass – Winter Wonderland Stamp Set)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Noir TriBlend (Green Turquoise Blend, Gold Yellow Blend, Earth Brown Blend, Alpine Green Blend)
• Great Impressions Wood-mounted Stamp (Joy Background J87)
• Inkylicious (Fluffy Puffy Stuff)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Paper Snowflakes 661599)

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, as I always enjoy taking part, 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 Wendy K over at Art Journal Journey and her Birds challenge this month with the bird that I included on this page. I’m so happy to be able to join the #132 – Frosty Feels or Cool Tones challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my frosty snowflake scene. I’m pleased to join the Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – November Anything Christmas Goes with my Christmas season page. I’m also joining in the fun at Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge and their Happy Holidays challenge with my Love, Peace, Joy tag and page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything But A Card challenge with my tag and page. I’m also joining the Challenge # 118 – Gold or Silver or Glitter over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with the silver and glitter papers that I used. I’m also pleased to join Challenge #83 – Anything Christmas Goes over at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge with my Love, Peace, Joy art journal page. I’m also pleased to join the Christmas challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge too.

Thankful and Cosy this Autumn

I always count my blessing this time of year and having fallen in love with the wording “Let’s get cosy, autumn has arrived”, I was inspired to create this thankful art journal page – I hope you like it!

I started by creating lots of panels for the page which I edged with a Dark Sepia Big Brush marker and Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. The panels included: some bark and tree-ring cardstock from Docrafts; some copper leaf images with the “Cosy Autumn” wording from Craft Sensations; a cinnamon stick and baking image from a Die Cut Book; and some brown strips of lace. The paper elements were stuck down using double-sided tape and the lace using Liquitex matte gel medium. When arranged, I stencilled the herringbone design using a mixed media stencil from Paperbabe Stamps with Brushed Corduroy and Frayed Burlap Distress Ink fading the stencil pattern where the birds were to be placed.

For the leaves I used a Fall Foliage Thinlits set from Tim Holtz, they are cut from some kitchen roll that I had used to mop up some excess Brushos with. I lined them up using a glue stick onto a piece of bark cardstock from Docrafts.

I added a pair of birds sitting on an autumn branch which I fussy cut from an old nature book; the birds are Long-Tailed Tits which we sometimes see on our woodland walks. Once stuck in place using a glue stick, I extended the branches using an ordinary pencil and a Bark Derwent Intense pencil. The yellow borders, “thank you” and “love” wording and also the lace doily shapes are all stickers from Kaisercraft. Then to finish, I added the pretty cream lace flowers.

The wording and page reminded me of my new slippers which are so warm and cosy (grin!).

I hope that you are staying thankful and cosy this autumn too, keep well and 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 all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Docrafts Papermania Die Cut & Paper Pack (Festive Fauna)
• Craft Sensations (Creative Paper Collection CR0458/GE)
• The Works Die Cut Book (Winter Feelings)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Frayed Burlap, Brushed Corduroy)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Brown lace
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Paperbabe Stamps Mixed Media Stencil (Herringbone)
• Recycled kitchen towel used to mop up Brushos
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits (Fall Foliage 660955)
• Pritt Stick
• Old Nature Book
• Derwent Inktense Pencil (Bark 2000)
• Staedler Pencil
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Golden Grove SS343, Bombay Sunset SS339)
• The Works (Lace Flower Stickers)

Challenges I’m pleased to join the lovely Wendy K over at Art Journal Journey and her Birds challenge this month with the birds that I included on this page. I’m so pleased to be able join the #131 – Picture Inspiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as my page is inspired by the panel of images, rows of leaves, bird, lace, knitted pieces, baked goods and autumnal colours. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything But A Card challenge with my thankful autumnal art journal page. I’m also pleased to join the LTSCB #139 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with thankful and cosy autumn page too. I’m also joining in the Thanks/Thanksgiving challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my thankful art journal page.

Celebrate the season

At Try it on Tuesday our new challenge for the next two weeks is Traditional Christmas Colours.

I loved this challenge as it gave me the opportunity to create my first Christmas page of the year; the traditional Christmas colours I used included the “red” of winter berries, the “green” of evergreen plants, the “white” of snow and the warm glow of “gold” (grin!).

I started by covering the page with some gold holly tissue paper using a glue stick and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top using a baby wipe.

When dry I stamped some fir tree branches using an Inkadinkado stamp set, firstly using Pistachio Memento Ink to provide some shadows and depth to the branches and secondly using some Peeled Paint Distress Ink to intensify the colours.

Next I selected lots of gold foil and cardstock images from a Classic Christmas Die Cut Book which are arranged and layered together onto the page using double-sided tape and double-sided foam tape.

Here you can see some of the gold foil pieces sparkling more clearly.

I hope that you are inspired to join our Traditional Christmas Colours Challenge too and for more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Teamies over at Try it on Tuesday; it would be lovely to see you there!

As my page celebrates the season with traditional Christmas colours and T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing my Cinnamon Orange tea in a new robin mug that was bought for me as a Christmas present last year along with some mini shortbread – yum! Wishing you a very Happy T day!

Hoping 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 art journal page:

• Holly tissue paper
• Pritt Stick
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Inkadinkado Stamping Gear Stamp Set(Branches 65-32007)
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Pistachio)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint)
• The Works (Classic Christmas  Die Cut Book)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape and foam tape

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like Try it on Tuesday, as I always 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 Merry Little Christmas Challenge and their MLCCB #28 – November Anything Christmas Goes with my Celebrate The Season page. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything But A Card challenge with my art journal page. I’m joining the Rudolph Days Challenge, where Anything Goes, as long as it’s Christmas, with my Christmas page. I’m also happy to join Challenge #83 – Anything Christmas Goes over at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge with my traditional Christmas art journal page. I’m also joining the Challenge # 118 – Gold or Silver or Glitter over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge with the gold I added to my page. I’m also pleased to join the LTSCB #139 – Anything Goes over at Love To Scrap Challenge Blog with my winter season page too.

Autumn Greetings

Our new challenge this month over at A Vintage Journey is Pairs, Trios and Sets, which is being hosted by the lovely Toni. Here’s what it’s all about:

“For this month’s challenge we would like to see you create a set that works together. It could be ATCs, tags, triptyches, or any other grouping. Just remember to create your project in one of our preferred styles: vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk”.

To wish you happy Autumn Greetings, I had fun creating this art journal page with its set of pretty autumnal tags and a faux bark background to display them on.

I cut four tags out of white cardstock using a Tag Collection Framelit from Tim Holtz. Then I laid three of the tags in a stamping platform so I could create a continuous picture; the ferns were stamped using a Leaf Print stamp set and the grungy dots are from an Urban Tapestry stamp set, both of which are by Tim Holtz. I gradually built up the colour of the autumnal scene using Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed Distress Inks. I also stamped the “Autumn Greetings” wording, which was from a Wild & Free stamp set from a magazine, using Vintage Photo Distress Archival Ink. Then I used glue dots to stick the fungi in place which are from a Field Notes Ephemera Pack by Tim Holtz.

I repeated the stamping for the forth tag and added one of the Ephemera Pack fungi too.

To showcase the tags, I created a faux bark background using white gesso, Distress Inks and a Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. I spread some Pébéo white gesso over the page using a palette knife to create the bark texture and left it to dry. Then I covered the page in Rusty Hinge and Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink applying it like watercolour using a paintbrush. To intensify the colours I also dragged the Distress ink pads horizontally over the page and smudged the ink with my finger. To add more detail and contrast I used a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker; firstly by scribbling the marker onto an acrylic block and dragging it across the page so the ink caught on the gesso texture, and secondly by drawing on the page and smudging the ink with my finger and also a baby wipe.

To finish, I added some brown string to each of the tags and then I mounted the set of tags onto the page using double-sided tape.

For more inspiration you’ll find some amazing creations from my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey blog. I hope you are inspired to join in with our Pairs, Trios and Sets challenge too; it would be lovely to see you there!

My page reminds me of a beautiful walk that we went on when we stayed with our dearest friends in Maine, America where we saw these pretty rusty coloured ferns (grin!).

We saw lots of fungi too, this one happens to match my set of tags beautifully (double grin!).

Hoping that you are 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 my set of tags and art journal page:

• White Cardstock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• Ranger Tonic Studios Stamping Platform
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Leaf Prints CMS273, Urban Tapestry CMS061)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Brushed Corduroy)
• Creative Stamping Magazine Issue 87 (Wild & Free Stamp Set)
• Ranger Distress Archival Ink (Vintage Photo)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Ephemera Pack (Field Notes #TH94051)
• Stix2 glue dots
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175B)
• X-Press It! double-sided foam tape

Challenges I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like A Vintage Journey, as I always 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 so pleased to be able join the #131 – Picture Inspiration challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my tags and page as the autumnal colours, leaves and tree bark match the picture inspiration and my set of tags match the panel design too. I’m happy to join the Home is Where the Heart is challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog as my page like our home is full of happy memories of our dear friends and travels to America. I’m pleased to join the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and their MIUCB #43 – Anything Goes + optional twist of Making Your Own Background with the continuous stamping technique and faux bark background. I’m joining in the fun over at Country View Challenges and their Anything But A Card challenge with my set of autumnal tags and page. I’m also joining the Thinking Of You challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge as my art journal page makes me think of our friends in America.

Shine like the whole universe is yours

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!

I’m happy to be able to join the Animal Antics over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the eagle on my art journal page.

With my autumnal coloured background, I’m pleased to join the Staying In The Background challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog .

I’m also pleased to be able to join the #128 – Dimensions challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the wood chippy dimension on my page too.

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

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Pébéo Modelling Paste
• Ranger Wendy Vicchi Make Art Blendable Dye Inks (Peat Moss, Potting Soil, Orange Blossom, Buttercup)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Fired Brick)
• Liquitex! Ink (Iridescent Bright Gold)
• Tsukineko VersaMark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Tsukineko VersaMarker (Watermark Pen)
• Ranger Embossing Powder (Gold)
• Old book
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Yellow Ochre No.44)
• Docrafts Papermania Glitterations (Gold Borders ANT8181012)
• Boozybear Wooden Chipboard pieces
• Ranger Glossy Accents

It’s Fall

The new challenge for the next two weeks at Try it on Tuesday is Neat & Tidy.

Please note: If you are looking for my Texture page (I’m so excited to be guest host over at Art Journal Journey this month), please scroll down or click here.

I found our Try it on Tuesday theme very challenging as my art journal pages aren’t usually very neat and tidy (grin!). So I decided on an autumnal leaf design to welcome autumn/fall as it September signifies the beginning of this season – I hope you like it!

The background was covered in a piece of plain coloured paper using a glue stick.

I started my neat and tidy leaf design by creating a template for the columns of leaves; measuring and then die cutting the maple leaves so they were evenly spaced across the page. The maple leaves were cut using a Fall Foliage Thinlet from Tim Holtz and they were cut out of some linen textured cardstock. I cut 40 leaves in total, one by one using the template to position each leaf to create 8 columns, then I stuck 2 of the columns together to give more depth and dimension to the leaf die cutting.

Next I backed the leaf die cuts with some autumnal patterned papers from Craft Asylum and I used double-sided tape to stick the columns evenly across the page using the template to space them.

I used the template again to position the die cut leaves between the columns and achieve a uniform pattern. To finish, I added the “It’s Fall” image to the centre of the page, which is a sticker from Graphic 45.

For more inspiration, my fellow Design Teamies have also been Neat & Tidy over at Try it on Tuesday, please pop over and take a look.

As T Stands for Tuesday and it’s September maybe I can tempt you to a piece of homemade pumpkin roll filled with cream cheese frosting with your cuppa today. As you can see there’s even coffee today if you would prefer it to tea – Happy T Day!

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

Challenges

With the texture from the die cutting, papers and leaves, I’m pleased to join the Texture challenge over at Art Journal Journey where I’m Guest Host this month; it would be lovely to see you there!

I’m happy to be able to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my art journal page too.

I’m also pleased join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page.

I’m also pleased to join the Complimentary Colours challenge over at Country View Challenges with the red-green+yellow complimentary leaf colours.

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

• Leon X-Large Coloured Paper Pad
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Fall Foliage 660955) 
• Craft Sensations (Luxury Cardstock with Linen Texture CR0240/GE)
• Pritt Stick
• Craft Asylum Paper Pad (Into The Woods 480326)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape
• Graphic 45 Cardstock Stickers (Place in Time 4500617)

Cherry Beer

I had a lovely surprise as my hubby kindly bought me a bottle of cherry beer; this particular one comes with a paper wrap which he thought would be perfect to use on a journal page – how cool is that!

I really enjoyed using the paper wrap from the beer (grin!). I started by creating lots of tags and panels out of the paper wrap using a square die cut set and a Tim Holtz Framelit set; I mounted them onto some recycled card using a glue stick and then edged them using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker.

The background was created using the leftover pieces of the paper wrap which I collaged with some brown paper recycled from the parcel of goodies that CJ kindly sent to me. I lined the edges of the collaged papers using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell marker and then added some Pébéo white gesso using my finger. When dry, I gave it worn grungy look using some Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Then I arranged the tags and panels onto the background using either double-sided tape or double-sided foam tape. To finish, I added three large gold brads through the holes in the tags.

This beer is Bacchus Kriekenbier which is a Belgian fruit beer based on “Bacchus Oud Vlaams Bruin” (Old Flemish Brown) with the addition of “krieks” (Morello cherries). 

Flemish Old Brown is a dark brown beer flavoured with 15 % cherries which is matured in oak casks. It has a pleasant sour cherry taste  – so delicious!

As T Stands for Tuesday, my cherry beer is perfect to share with the T Gang too – Happy T Day everyone!

I hope that you’re all staying safe and well! x

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

Challenges

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Alison AKA Craftytrog over at Art Journal Journey and her Pockets and Tags challenge this month with my cherry beer page.

I’m joining the It’s A Wrap challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the beer paper wrap that I used to create this page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the 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:

• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• The Works (Die Cutting Set – Squares)
• Paper wrap from Bacchus Cherry Beer
• Recycled card
• Pritt Stick
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Recycled brown paper – thanks CJ!
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
• X-Press It! double-sided tape and foam tape
• Wilkos (Brads – Gold)

T Day Fiesta

I had a lovely surprise in the post, some happy mail from Bleubeard and Elizabeth celebrating T Stands for Tuesday’s 7^th Anniversary – thank you so much for the amazing ATC and fabulous goodies!

I created this page with some of the goodies that Bleubeard and Elizabeth sent me; creating a tag with the Fiesta napkin and reusing the envelope that everything came in to make a pocket. Those little donkey piñatas caught my eye so I used them as part of my fun design too (grin!).

I kept the background simple, using two stencils from Creative Expressions I added a floral design using Love Letter Memento Ink and a trellis design using Black Soot Distress Ink applying them with a blending tool.

For the pocket, I folded the envelope so the postage stamp and marks were showing. Then I cut it into a triangular shape and coloured it using a Lemon Faber-Castell Gelato. To hold the pocket together I used some red and white flowered washi tape and then attached it to my page using double-sided tape. At the moment it is holding all the goodies that Bleubeard and Elizabeth kindly sent to me and I’m sure it won’t stay so full for long as I’ll be using them over time as part of my page designs (grin!).

For the tag, I cut some white card stock using the largest Tag Collection Framelit by Tim Holtz and my Big Shot machine and then I covered the tag with the Fiesta napkin using a thin layer of Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry, I coloured the right-hand side using Lemon Faber-Castell Gelato and then covered it in washi tape to match the envelope pocket. Using the Tag Collection Framelit set I cut out the tag hole reinforcement from white card which was also coloured with the Lemon Faber-Castell Gelato and covered with the washi tape. With the reinforcement glued in place, I tied some pretty recycled ribbon to the tag. The Fiesta wording and donkey piñatas were mounted onto some white card stock using the gel medium and when they were dry, I fussy cut them out and edged them with a black marker. I layered them all together using double-sided tapes and then to finish I stamped the “thank you” wording using black Archival Ink.

As you may know Bleubeard and Elizabeth kindly sent this beautiful ATC and some goodies to those of us in the T Gang at T Stands for Tuesday, which is so kind and thoughtful – thanks so much!

Of course I just adore the ATC and it makes a lovely addition to my craft room having pride of place so I see it everyday whilst I’m crafting (grin!).

As T Stands for Tuesday and I’m celebrating with a T Day Fiesta, I thought a margarita would fit the bill – cheers and Happy T day!

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Alison AKA Craftytrog over at Art Journal Journey and her Pockets and Tags challenge this month pocket and tag I created for this page.

I’m joining the Stencilmania challenge fun over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the two stencils that I used for the page background.

I’m joining in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Summer Memories challenge with my T Day Fiesta art journal page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the #125 – Sketch challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps as the tag with images, Fiesta wording and little piñata donkey that I included on my page.

I’m also pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Use Your Favourite Tool challenge too; many of you will know that I love nothing better than fussy cutting so with just my scissors I’m a happy bunny (grin!).

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

• Creative Expressions Mini Stencil (Daisy Wheels, Ornamental )
• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Love Letter)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
• Gift from Bleubeard and Elizabeth – thanks so much!
• Recycled envelope and postage stamp
• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Lemon)
• Michael’s Washi Tape
• Recycled white card stock
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits (Tag Collection 658784)
• Fiesta napkin
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Recycled ribbon
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• X-Press It! double-sided foam tape
• Sharpie Permanent Marker Fine Point (Black)
• Crafter’s Companion Signature Collection by Sara Davies (Butterfly Lullaby S-BL-ST-JUS)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)

Fill the world with sunshine

I’ve always loved this quote “remember you’re the one who can fill the world with sunshine” which happens to be from a song that was sung by Snow White in the original Disney animated film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.

As an experiment I sprinkled Yellow, Orange and Brilliant Red Brusho Powders on the page and spritzed them with White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray and a little water. I mopped up any excess colour from the edges of the page using a piece of kitchen towel and then left the page to dry; I love how the Brushos and spray blended together to give the soft summery sherbet background. Next I stamped the quote using a Concord & 9^th Sophisticated Script stamp set with black Archival Ink, I used this ink for all the stamping on this page. I added some highlights to the quote using a white Uniball gel pen and then stamped lots of tiny butterflies using a Butterfly Peiredae stamp set from Paperbabes Stamps. Next I stamped a circular filigree sun shape from Kaisercraft around the edges of the page. Then I used a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker to edge the page and splattered it with black and also white acrylic paint.

For the large butterflies, I used my stamping platform to stamp the butterfly wings using black Archival Ink to get a clean finish and deepen the colour; they are stamped onto the dried kitchen towel that I used to mop up the excess background colours. I cut them out and stuck them in place using double sided tape, and then I stamped the butterflies body and antennae which are from the same Paperbabes Stamps stamp set which finished the page.

If you’re interested you can find a full list of materials that I used to create this page at the end of this post.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released in 1937 by Disney and here’s Snow White singing “A Smile and A Song” where the quote is taken from.

This quote made me think of the Snow White musical teapot which sits in our display cabinet; it’s one of my hubby’s keepsakes from 1960’s America where he lived when he was a young boy. I’m pleased to share this beautiful teapot, which plays “Hi Ho, Hi Ho…” when you pick it up, with the T Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday – Happy T Day everyone!

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

I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika from her blog BioArtGal over at Art Journal Journey and her When It’s Hot challenge this month with the hot colours on my page.

I’m joining in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Art Journal challenge with my art journal page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the Summer challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the hot summer colours on this page.

Art journaling always makes me happy, so I’m entering the Do What Makes You Happy challenge over at Country View Challenges too.

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

• Colourcraft Brusho Colours (Yellow, Orange, Brilliant Red)
• Dylusions Ink Spray (White Linen)
• Concord & 9^th Stamp Set (Sophisticated Script 10056)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCV0050)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Butterfly Peiredae)
• Kaisercraft Cleat Stamps (Magnolia Grove CS822)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Ranger Stamping Platform
• X-Press It double-sided tape