Here’s another page for our Nature challenge which I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey; this time celebrating a recent beach holiday to Menorca, Balearic Islands!
I started by creating a masterboard using mixed media paper and then smooshing together some Salty Ocean and Mustard Seed Distress Ink to create my ocean background; by pressing the ink pads onto an acrylic block, spritzing the ink with water and pressing the block onto a page flooded with water. When dry, I cut the masterboard to fit my page and stuck it in place using a glue stick. Next I die cut all the fish and bubbles from some Tim Holtz Kraft Cardstock – Basics and white linen-textured cardstock using Under the Sea #1 Sizzix Thinlits by Tim Holtz . I arranged them all onto the page with the wording which was a Kaisercraft sticker.
The colours and fish reminded me of our recent holiday to Menorca with the beautiful beach and sea; there were fish in the sea which often jumped out of the water which was fun to watch and rather surprising when you are swimming (smile!).
Together is definitely a beautiful place to be!
Thanks for joining me today and I hope you will join our Nature challenge at Art Journal Journey! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
My page today is for our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Baby It’s Cold Outside and features a pretty bird enjoying the cold!
I started by stamping three different foliage stamps onto the page using Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint Distress Archival Ink and Pine Needles Distress Ink. While the inks were still wet, I used a wet wipe to mute and smudge the colours. Next I added the bird photo, which was cut from an old magazine and framed with some leftover stitched design paper. The pine cones and holly were cut using Funky Festive Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from different colours of Kraft Cardstock-Classic by Tim Holtz and layered together. To finish, I added the topper wording by Docrafts which I backed with some leftover papers.
For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!
I enjoy watching the birds in the garden this time of year, here’s an Eurasian Blue Tit (as featured on my page) visiting our feeder – so pretty (smile!).
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
Art Journal Journey which I’m pleased to be hosting this month and the challenge theme that I’ve chosen is Nature.
Today’s page was a quick make on one of my mini chipboard journal pages. It features a cute deer family for our Nature challenge over at Art Journal Journey; I hope to see you there!
I started by covering the edges of my chipboard page with some Cold Grey Faber-Castell marker. Then I cut the pretty forest backdrop from a Forest paper pad by Stamperia. The deer family were die cut from some cream linen-textured cardstock using Darling Deer Sizzix Thinlits by Tim Holtz and were coloured using Ground Espresso, Brushed Corduroy and Antique Linen Distress Inks. I arranged them onto the page using a glue stick along with the wording which were from a Sentiments Word Sticker Pad by Finnabair.
You’ll also find a deer family on these pretty mugs, they often make an appearance this time of year and are pictured here with a couple of custard slices that we enjoyed with our Ceylon tea for our elevenses (yum!).
Stay safe and well!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
I love to recycle and use up leftovers from previous projects on my pages, so here’s such a page to inspire you to join our Nature challenge over at Art Journal Journey, which I’m happy to be hosting this month. I hope you’ll join us there!
For my grungy background, I recycled some paper kitchen towel which I’d used to mop up Distress Inks; they were layered onto the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. Next I added the two butterflies and lots of die cut foliage and flowers that were in my craft stash; as far as I remember, the butterflies were stamped using a Paperbabes Stamp set using black Archival Ink onto some ink stained tissue paper, and the flowers and foliage were die cut using a Wildflower Thinlits set by Tim Holtz from yellow and brown tissue paper, and also from some black/white cardstock that was recycled from some cookie packaging. I added the wording “Take a chance don’t ever look back” which was a Kaisercraft sticker. Then to finish, I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint.
This page was inspired by these colourful flowers that we saw whilst walking to Riva from Torbole in Lake Garda, Italy.
I love Red Hot Pokers and these looked picture perfect with Riva and the mountains in the background.
Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you’ll join us over at Art Journal Journey.
It’s October so our new challenge for the next two weeks over at Try it on Tuesday, is Halloween.
For the background, I covered my chipboard page with Villainous Poison Distress Paint and white acrylic paint. When dry, I stamped a cobweb design by Molly Blooms and a star stamp by Lavinia using Moonlight White Brilliance Ink by Archival. Next I arranged two black cobweb stickers onto the page and outlined them using a white Uniball gel pen. The pumpkins were die cut from Kraft Cardstock – Basics by Tim Holtz and some other Linen Textured cardstock using a Pumpkin Duo Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz; the pieces were edged with Black Soot Distress Ink before piecing them together using a Crafter’s Companion Glue Tape/Dot Pen. To finish, I added a piece of Happy Halloween washi tape and outlined it using the white gel pen.
For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!
One of my dear family sent me a photo of the new Halloween Post Box topper in their village; isn’t it spooky and amazing (smile!).
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
As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:
We really enjoyed our holiday in Torbole which is in Lake Garda, Italy. There are lots of biking trails there, so we decided to hire a tandem to explore. Here’s the page that I created to remember the fun we had!
The background collage was created using a map given to us by the bike rental company and also some grid paper by Docrafts. I added our hotel’s business card to the top right-hand corner as they were affiliated with the bike hire company which means we got a discount on our bike hire. The flowers, foliage, hearts, bike, bear (my hubby as he rides up front) and hedgehog (me) were die cut from Tim Holtz Kraft Cardstock – Basics using a Sizzix Thinlits set by Olivia Rose; I created the tandem by cutting and piecing together the two different bike die cuts from the set. Then I arranged everything onto the page using glue dot tape by Crafter’s Companion.
The trails around Torbole are dedicated to bikes, so they are paved and there are no cars. As shown on the map on my page, we headed from Torbole to Arco and then Dro along the river.
The scenery was beautiful and so breathtaking!
On the way to Dro, we saw the castle at Arco.
We had such a wonderful time and we stopped along the way for food and drinks; here we are in Arco.
Once back in Torbole, we headed to Riva along the bike trail alongside the lake.
The tandem we hired happened to be electric, we haven’t been on an electric bike before and my hubby was a bit frugal with the electricity; we found that out on returning the bike when we were told that we must have worked hard as we’d only used 20% of the electricity (smile!). Maybe next time we might not work so hard, it doesn’t make a difference though as we had such a wonderful time.
I hope you enjoyed riding with us around Lake Garda.
Thanks for joining me today and please feel free to leave a comment below. Stay safe and well!
Challenges
I’m pleased to join the following challenges:
Art Journal Journey which is being hosted by the lovely Neet from Hickydorums this month, who has chosen In Gear as her theme with the bike gears on my page.
There’s “no place like home” and I’m so glad to be back here in Blogland; I missed you all!
My page today is for our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Autumn and features some beautiful autumnal colours – Happy October everyone!
I started by stamping Dandelion, Rich Cocoa, Potter’s Clay and Toffee Crunch Memento Inks over the background using a square patchwork stamp by Urban stamps. I added a zig zag stitch stamp, which was from the same stamp set, between the squares using black Archival Ink. Then I covered the page using white gesso using a brayer to tone down the colours a little. Next I die cut some flowers and foliage from some Tim Holtz Kraft Cardstock – Classic using a Funky Nature Sizzix Thinlits set and I arranged them on the page with some die cut pieces from a Ephemera set by Simple Stories. To finish, I added a button along side the wording “No place like home”.
For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!
I haven’t been blogging for a couple of months, life just got in the way and the time off helped me realise that my priorities and commitments have changed. As I haven’t really shared any life events with you for a while, here are some of my happy highlights so far this year:
Holiday in Torbole, Lake Garda, Italy
Family Birthday Celebrations (not mine nor my hubby’s).
Spending time and visiting with Family and Friends – this was a yummy meal that we enjoyed at our local Greek restaurant with our dear friends.
Although I haven’t been blogging, I have been getting creative so there will be more art journal pages and photos posted if you’re interested to see what I’ve been up too.
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
As well as Try it on Tuesday, I’m pleased to join the following challenges:
It’s time for a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday, which is Pretty Papers.
For my page, I used some pretty flower papers by Craft Sensations and also some Basics cardstock from Simple Stories to create this joyous scene – enjoy!
The flowers foreground and dark blue sky was a sheet of paper from a “Live life in full bloom”paper pad by Craft Sensations. The fox, rabbit, and deer were all die cut, from some “Colour Vibe – Basics” textured catdstock by Simple Stories, using a Woodland Celebration Sizzix Thinlits set by Olivia Rose. I used the same Woodland Celebration Thinlits set to die cut the balloons and clouds from the Craft Sensations papers, along with the wording that I fussy cut out. I arranged them onto the page using a glue dot and tape pen from Crafter’s Companion.
For more inspiration please pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see the amazing creations from our Guest Designer and the rest of my Design Teamies (grin!). I hope you are inspired to join our challenge; it would be lovely to see you there!
I hope that you are staying safe and well!
Many apologies that I haven’t been visiting you and your blogs lately; life is rather hectic at the moment with family matters. I’m not going to be taking part in the challenges with my design teamies during August and September, but I hope to post occasionally during this time. Enjoy the rest of the summer!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Today I’m over at Country View Challenges with this Hoppy Friends page for our 4-Legged Friends challenge, which is being hosted by the lovely Sue.
The background for my page was a piece of leftover Masterboard, which was created using mixed media paper and splashes of Mowed Lawn and Peeled Paint Distress Ink. The Masterboard also had some numbers stamped onto it using black Archival Ink and an Etcetera stamp set by Tim Holtz. To create the clouds and sky, I applied some white gesso to the top of the page and when dry, I added some Salty Ocean Distress Ink over the top using a baby wipe; the gesso acted as a resist. I used Kraft Cardstock – Basics by Tim Holtz for the die cuts; the flowers and foliage were created using Flower Field Sizzix Thinlits and Funky Nature Sizzix Thinlits, both by Tim Holtz; the hopping bunnies using Bunny Hop Sizzix Thinlits and their faces using a Cosy Winter Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz; and the “Hoppy Friends” wording using Alphanumeric Label Thinlits by Tim Holtz. I arranged everything onto the page using matte gel medium.
For more inspiration please see the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.
We are looking forward to seeing your makes and you never know, you might even win a £20 voucher for the shop, Country View Crafts! Before you enter your project though, please read the rules!
Stay safe and well! x
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Being TSFT 10th Anniversary, we decided to get really creative and swap 10 ATCs. These ATCs were contained in those beautiful folders that she created and look spectacular – thank you so much Lyn for this wonderful swap and to Bluebeard and Elizabeth for organising everything!
Here are the 10 ATCs that I sent Lyn – Happy 10th TSFT everyone! There happens to be 10 of them and also the number 10 on each of them, so I hope this meets Bleubeard & Elizabeth’s request of including the number 10 somewhere on your photos.
If you’re wondering how I created them, see below. All of my ATCs started as playing cards, which I painted with white gesso on the front and black gesso on the back. I added splatter using black DecoArt acrylic paint over some of the white gesso before I applied different designs; all the paper pieces were stuck in place using Liquitex matte gel medium and Crafter’s Companion glue tape. I used a white Uni Ball gel pen and/or a black Uni Pin marker to outline items and I added the number 10 (for 10th Anniversary) to each; this included stamping using black Archival Ink and a Tim Holtz stamp set. As you can see, my 10 ATC designs are all different, here’s how they came together:
1. I covered the playing card with a piece of Tim Holtz Collage paper and when dry, I coloured it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Next I stamped some hearts using Moonlight White Brilliance Ink by Archival. I coloured the hearts using a Red Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend marker and then, I covered them using Ranger Glossy Accents. To finish, I added the wording which were Kaisercraft Stickers.
2. This Alice design was created using a napkin from last year’s 9th TSFT napkin swap, thanks Lisca (smile!). The wording that I added was a Tim Holtz Small Talk Sticker.
3. I stamped numbers onto the background using black Archival Ink and a Documented stamp set by Tim Holtz, then I added the foliage and flowers which I die cut from used teabags. The words were Tim Holtz Small Talk and Label stickers, and I added some white flower buttons and beads to the centre of the flowers using Glossy Accents.
4. For the background, I added some pretty oriental papers and outlined them using a black Faber-Castell marker, smudging the ink with my finger. The “B” for Bleubeard, “E” for Elizabeth and wording were Tim Holtz stickers, and to finish, I added a green ephemera butterfly and two gold butterfly outline stickers.
5. I randomly applied some Ranger Crackle Paste using a palette knife and when dry, I applied some watered-down black Faber-Castell marker ink with a paintbrush to highlight the cracks. The poppy flower was a washi tape sticker and the teacup was die cut from Tim Holtz Halloween paper. To finish, I added a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker.
6. This was a fun collage design using a doily, some Kaisercraft Stickers and flower Ephemera.
7. The tea images were fussy cut from some Stamperia papers, which I arranged with some Kaisercraft Stickers.
8. Using a Stamperia stencil, I added some Ranger Texture Paste and left it to dry overnight. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso over the top. When dry, it was painted using black and Aquamarine Kuretake watercolours. The wording was a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker.
9. The wording was cut from a Stamperia paper pad and arranged it onto the card with some die cut foliage and flowers that were leftover from previous projects.
10. I added strips of washi tape vertically down the card to create the background and I added the names of Elizabeth’s cats using Tim Holtz Label stickers. The two cats were die cut from Tim Holtz Kraft papers using a Mischievous Cats Sizzix Thinlits set by Tim Holtz. I added some gems for their eyes and a red die cut heart adding “E” for Elizabeth to the centre.
Inspired by CJ, I also created a concertina folder to hold them in, which was fun to make (smile!).
Of course, I just had to send our amazing host a couple of ATCs too; I created another Squiggles and Bleubeard ATC and a Rust one, as I know how much Bleubeard & Elizabeth like rust. The rust one was created using Stamperia papers, Glossy Accents, a chipboard cog painted covered in acrylic and Distress Paints and some stickers. Happy 10th Anniversary and thank you for all your hard work to ensure T Stands For Tuesday is organised and available for everyone to join!
Stay safe and well!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Let's Art Journal 