#ArtJournal2017 - All the Romance of February

Hi Everyone

Here is my February page and tags for your inspiration.  I rally hope you play along with me to create an Art Journal that charts your creative adventures as well as your memories for 2017.

February always reminds me of Valentines day and so I set about creating this romantic Ar Journal Page that has photos of hubby and I as well as a couple of verses that I found in old Valentines cards I sent my special Valentine!

This is the title page of the signature and you will see in the tutorial all the months will follow the same format.

As you can see I have plenty of room to capture happy memories like this one.  Both these pages form pockets and I am creating scrapbooking tags to record special memories from each month:

Callum turned 18 in the month of February.  Don't the years just seem to fly by?!

I also recorded a trip to Calke Abbey and a brand new Tea Room visit that had the most impressive display of yummy macaroons!

Remember you don't have to combine Art Journalling with Scrapbooking if you don't want to as this format will give you lots and lots of space for creative experiments!

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and find something to inspire you to play along.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend and thank you for popping by X

12 Journals of 2016 - October - The final page!

Hi Everyone

Just a quick note to share with you my final page in my 2016 Journal!  I hope you like it and that you are excited to play along in 2017!

Here you can see Tim Holtz original tag that set me on this creative journey.  I love this paper patchwork technique.  I have used it on canvases too.  A great way to create a fun background and to use up the pretty patterned scraps you have been saving!

This was the other side of my tag.  A photo I took last year when we went on holiday to Cornwall.  A beautiful misty morning on the beach with a yummy hot chocolate to keep out the autumn chills!

So all that is left for me to do is bind my pages into a book - well two books actually as I think one will be a little too big.

For now I will leave you with this final page tutorial:

I will post the cover tutorial within a day or two and then watch out for news of my brand new 2017 Journal.  I really hope I have inspired you to play along and create a journal of your own to capture your creative journey for 2017.

Until next time - Thank you for popping by X

12 Journals of 2016 - September

Hi Everyone

Only one more page to go to finally finish this series of Journal Page tutorials for my 2016 journal where each month the inspiration has come from Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016 series.

I have had so much fun making pages instead of tags that I have decided to make and share a 2017 journal series where I hope I can become your inspiration - but more of that later.  I have promised to get 2016 finished first so.........

Here you can see my original inspiration from Tim for the month of September and I chose to pick up on the patina paint effect and a resist technique.

I had lots of lovely messy fun with this one and you will see how the resist helped me keep my faces and borders clean - the same cannot be said of my hands and my desk!!

I hope you are having a fab weekend full of creativity.  I will be editing movies from my son Callum's gymnastics club Christmas show.  I am enjoying the process but boy does it take a long time!  Callum is now a coach and a gymnast so he was as proud as punch of his little troupe of parrots dancing and tumbling to Rio.  They were so excited but they left a trail of feather wherever they went!  I am still finding them in my craft room and attached to my jumpers from the many hours spent sewing them to ribbon!  Here is Callum in a reflective mood!

Then its on with the show.  Here are the boys waiting to go on.  The show had a fiesta de la noche theme incase you were wondering!  Callum is the one with the blue joggers on!  The boys from Mens Artistic danced the tango with the Girls from Rythmic and it was fab.  It is wonderful to see them tumble so effortlessly during their routines.  I am so proud of Callum who is now really coming on after his major knee operation.  His confidence is coming back as is his tumbling.

So whilst I get back to the video editing I will leave you all with my tutorial.  I hope it inspires you to join me this year when I launch my new series in February.

Until next time thank you for popping by X

A Mixed Media Tutorial!

Hi everyone

Here it is finally managed to get this uploaded.  Life suddenly got a bit hectic….better ate than never!

Here is the finished piece and be warned - very messy painty hands can be achieved with this one!  Fabulous ;-)!

As I said on my previous post this piece was inspired by the art and yummy products of Finnabair!  Hope this tutorial inspires you to get creative.  Thank you for popping by X

Here's something I was working on at 4 this morning!……...

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all looking forward to a fabulous weekend.  I will be posting another tutorial shortly but I couldn't wait to share what it is I will be showing you how to make!

I can't tell you what my hands looked like at 4 this morning!  I did take a minute to peel it and wash it all off before I jumped into bed, promise!  This canvas forms part of an audition for Finnabair's Creative Team and I was inspired by some of my lovely Finnabair products and I was so please with how it was going that I couldn't stop!  I was so enthralled I didn't even realise the time!!!

As you know Finn has a wonderful way of combining unusual bits and bobs and combining them with art products to make unique and beautiful artworks and this canvas was inspired by her.  I combined metal elements with paint and beads and glitter and suddenly a magical flower blooms!

I created my own texture paste by mixing rust mica powder with transparent 3D Matte Gel for lovely sparkly texture accented with Bronze micro beads and Midnight Blue glass glitter - Yum!

 On the tutorial you will see how I used lace and pearl trims to make pretty textured borders.  I warn you this technique is not for the faint hearted nor those that don't want to get their hands dirty!!!  I am still picking off little bits of brown paint ;-)

As you can see I had a wonderful time and I picked a word that sums up this piece to finish the canvas.

So keep an eye out for the tutorial and keep your fingers crossed for me.  Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and thank you for popping by X

Mixed Media Flower Card Tutorial

Hi Everyone

This tutorial is all about how easy it is to create interesting mixed media background papers that you can then go on to use in your projects.  I show you how and then how to turn that into a pretty flower card.

I have used my paper as a background paper and then I have revealed the design by cutting a stencil design into the white card.  I finished off with some punched flowers and voila!!

I really hope you enjoy the tutorial and have lots of fun creating your background papers in a myriad of colours!

The weather has finally turned a little warmer here so I am off out to have tea in the garden - a fabulous end to the weekend.  Hope you have all had a wonderful time too.

Thank you for popping by X

PS A Stamp Giveaway coming very soon so watch this space!!!!

Mixed Media Flower Canvas Tutorial

Hi Everyone

Hope you have a fun weekend planned with lots of time for crafting!  I have just finished teaching a card class tonight and am looking forward to a crop tomorrow!

Tonight I am sharing a tutorial that has taken me a little while to get posted on to YouTube - a few technical issues.  I have no idea how it was cured but it suddenly seems to be working!!!

In this tutorial you will see how to layer up lots of different Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft® products to create mixed media canvas like this one.

You could choose to use some or all of the techniques in this tutorial, it is up to you.  It is all about exploring and seeing what works to achieve the look you want.  I think I might try bluebells next time round as we have some lovely ones in the garden at the moment.

Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft® Products Used:

Gel Medium
Gesso
Whipped Spackle
Texture Gems
Gelatos®;  Buttercream, Kiwi, Caramel
PITT Artist Pen Big Brush: Dark Crome Yellow 109, Cadmium Yellow 107, Chromium Green Opaque 174, Orange Glaze 113, Warm Grey IV 273, White 101

Thank you for popping by X

Chalkboard Inspiration for the New Year!

Hi Everyone

Just popping in to let you know I am featuring as a Guest Designer on the Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft® blog today with a brand new tutorial!  Here is the sneak peek!

For the full view and the tutorial that will show you how to mix and match your Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft ® products to create lovely Chalkboard effects please click on this link.

Before you go I would like to take this time to thank you for your support  and kind comments throughout 2015 and wish you all a Healthy and Happy New Year with lots of time to Craft in 2016!

Thank you for popping by X

Second Holiday Project on the Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft® Blog Today!

Hi everyone

Just a little sneak peek of what I am sharing on the Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Blog today!  Pop back tomorrow if you want to see the Flood the Streets with Art Post that is related to the creation of this project.

I had a ton of fun mixing and matching my products to achieve this Chrismassy home decor piece that I  know I am going to love hanging at this time of year!  Now where can I hang it to be sure of maximum Kisses? ;-)

Follow this link to see the whole project and exactly what I did to achieve this look.

I hope your Christmas preparations are going to plan…..I love this time of year!!  Thank you for popping by X

I am feeling a little Drippy today!

Hi everyone

I have a new video for you today.  This is all about experimentation.  You may remember I started and experimental art journal and I am having fun trying new things in it.  This time I decided to try dripping!!

I must admit I am a little uncomfortable with anything that is a bit out of control and drippage certainly is that but the fun was seeing how the page took shape in such a random fashion.

Here is how it turned out.

I even came up with my own quote!  Green is my favourite colour so I loved working with it to create this page with a touch of bling.

Watch how my page took shape on my video tutorial.  I hope you find some inspiration within.

During this video you will hear me mention a new feature available to You Tube Video makers called 'Cards'.  Today I tried them out for the first time.  I think they have worked and I checked them out on my iPad and the links work too!  I had no idea that all this time the annotations I have been carefully putting at the end of all my videos didn't work on mobile devices!!!!!!

You should see towards the end of the video little messages appear at the top right of the screen along with a letter i.  If you click in this area it will bring up a series of 'cards'  These cards will give you links to other places you might like to visit or to other videos or playlists you might like to watch.  I hoped there would be a subscribe one but I need to go and look for it again - it might appear later if I find it.

Clicking on any of the cards you see will open up a drop down list of all the cards on the video which will take you to different places.  If you haven't seen these before either it is worth having  quick explore and to know that whenever you watch a video and you see a little message appears top right of your viewing screen that it is an interactive element that has been added for your enjoyment or further interest.

You will notice on this photo that I have used my lovely Rubber Dance Diamonds background stamp.  Click on this link and you can see more gorgeous stamps from the lovely Bibi over in Norway.

…….last but not least I am sharing a photo I took a couple of weeks ago when my Irises were looking blooming' marvellous!

Nature is the greatest painter of all don't you think?  I was really impressed by the quality of this photo (if I do say so myself ;-)) as I took it on my phone!!

Don't forget to hit subscribe if you like what you see and are new around these parts!  Welcome and thank you for popping by X

Rubber Dance Colour Challenge Reminder Art Journal Page

Hi everyone

Just popping in to remind you of this months Rubber Dance Colour Challenge.  For the month of May the colours are Yellow, Pink and Purple and I am sure that you can come up with lots of wonderful projects using these sunny colours.  If you are living here in the UK you know we need all the sunshine we can get right now….We actually had hail here yesterday!!!!

There is an optional prompt of flowers this month if you need somewhere to start your creative process.

I decided to have a play in what I am calling my experimental journal and you will see from the video how I got on trying out two ways of revealing all the texture I created with my Round in Circles Rubber Dance stamps.

So the first reveal was created using a butterfly stencil from Tando and the second reveal was created by cutting around my butterfly wings to help them fly off the page!

If you watch the video you can see how much fun a colour challenge is as the first page in my experimental journal was created using the colours from the April Challenge.

So please follow this link and check out the challenge inspiration provided by my team mates this month and of course while you are there you can have a peak at the awesome Round In Circles and Think Again stamp sets that I used on my Art Journal page.

Whilst I am in the link up mood!!!! here is another link to the Rubber Dance one year blog anniversary Blog Hop!  So there are stamps to be won in the challenge and lots more to be won in the hop so get clicking!!!!

Hope you have as much fun as I did playing along with the May Colour Challenge from Rubber Dance.

Thank you for popping by X

Easy Mixed Media with treasured Graphic 45 scraps!!!

Hi everyone

Hope you are settling down for a fun evening or a fun day depending on where you are in the world!  I have just posted a tutorial on my You Tube channel.

I wanted to create an introduction to Mixed Media and scrapbooking video.  If you like the look of combining the two but don't quite know where to start then this is the tutorial for you.

Easy to follow steps and what a great way to make use of the teeny tiny scraps you have squirrelled away - of course mine are Graphic 45!  The aptly named Good Ol' Sport were perfect for these fun run photos.

If you need more practice then just repeat using different photos and different scraps - perfect for the busy scrapbooker.

These are completely mixed and matched scraps and washi tape and I have been a little more delicate in my application ….oh and of course there are flower brads too.  You can see how you can make this look fit your photos - these are of me and my Mum and Dad.  Dad had a passion for photo booths and we have lots of these cool photo strips - check out my hoodie!

That is it from me - hope you watch the video and give it a try.  It would also work in a smaller scale on a card with a stamped image as the focal point.

Thank you for popping by X

Happy Weekend Everyone!

I hope you are all getting into weekend mode!  I am hoping to finally get the hedge trimmed in the garden as it is looking a little wild out there and other than that I am hoping to get on to a couple of home decor projects that are gathering dust!!!!!

So apart from my least favourite job of picking up hedge clippings I am set for a fun time!  The boys are gymnastic-ing and rugby-ing and training-ing and it all seems much to tiring for me!!!!!

So today I am sharing a couple of things - first is one of my home decor projects finally completed and I so wish I had gotten to them sooner as I am so pleased with how they turned out.

Here is the before……………

Sorry the photo is a little blurry!  Unfortunately I can't go back and re take this one as now it looks like this!!!!!

What do you think?  I am thrilled with the result and it was soooooooo easy!  I used a mixture of some paint I had left over from my walls with a little acrylic paint as I wanted to start with a slightly darker shade as I knew I would add the Tim Holtz tissue wrap over the top.

I coated the areas I wanted to add the tissue to with two coats of paint - oh and the handles.  Once everything was dry I used matte mod podge to attach the tissue using a gift card to smooth out any wrinkles and ……..voila!

Easy peasy - the hardest bit was adding the green fine striping but it was worth the extra effort.  I am now looking for my next make over piece!!!  That tissue worked a treat and I still have loads left over and I did two of these little cupboards!

Next on my list for sharing is some of the fun I had when I went to a Finnabair workshop last week!  Oh boy did I get mucky!  It was very pretty muck though let me tell you!!!

It was lovely to meet the Prima ladies and see all the new goodies coming our way - this was my little pack of goodies ready to get creative!

Getting ready to start - please note the pristine table - It did not stay that way for long let me tell you!  Once we opened up a jar or three of the Prima Art Basics and started mixing and sprinkling  gone was the pristine table top!

Here is the lovely Finnabair (Anna!)  talking us through the processes and telling us all about the qualities of all the different bases in the range……oh and then there are the sparkles too!

 Here is my cover underway!  Mixing and matching the lovely metal elements from Prima with gaudy buttons………check out the lovely dotty background too.

A couple of coats of white gesso and things start to take shape!  I wish I had taken more photos - a selfie might have been an idea but I was just busy busy busy!  I will share more of the finished journal with you at a later date.  I had a whole heap of fun and am loving all the new products I got to play with - my shopping list lengthened yet again and it is all thanks to the fab tuition of the lovely Anna.

I can finish this post by sharing my cover so far!

I really want to add a few gems into the mix once I get around to finishing this off - I love this technique and I am busy collecting bits of this and bits of that ready to have a go with my own design next time……mmmmmm and I think I need an apron and cover up sleeves before I get messy next time!

I met some lovely ladies on the day and we all shared a fun picnic lunch looking over the water outside the hotel watching the planes take off in the distance!  As well as all the lovely crafting techniques I am going to try again I am definitely going to try the gourmet delight that is crispbread liberally spread with Nuttella and piled high with strawberries…..You know who you are ;-)

More sharing coming your way over the weekend so watch this space!  Have a fab time this everyone.

Thank you for popping by X

I am a Guest Designer for Unruly Paperarts this month!

Hi Everyone

This is a little sneak peak to send you over to the wonderful blogzine Unruly Paperarts to check out all the lovely work inspired by this month's prompt Fully Booked!  I am featuring as a guest designer on behalf of Rubber Dance stamps and the lovely Bibi who is sponsoring this month and next month's issue.

I was really excited to take part and I just had to create another altered page in my Art Journal series of videos to celebrate.

Here is a little peek so if you want to see more then please follow this link and I will reveal all……hmmm……let me rephrase that ……..all will be revealed ;-)  Much better!

You can see the two lovely Rubber Dance stamps I used on my page in this shot!  You can find them over at Rubber Dance on the ATC Backgrounds 1 stamp set.

See you in a jiffy!

Thank you for popping by - short but sweet! x

First Post of 2015 and a Challenge Reminder

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope you all have a fabulous year with of course plenty of time to craft!!!!  I am getting back into the swing of things with a tutorial inspired by the colour challenge over on the Rubber Dance Blog.  This months's colours of shades of blue and silver with the additional prompt of frosty if you want to follow a theme too.

I was inspired to make two frosty frames and used my Rubber Dance Stamps to make all the embellishments that decorate my tag frames.  On the tutorial I show you how to make frames like mine and there is a recipe for making your own texture paste too!

It was a bit tricky taking a photo of this project because of the reflection in the acetate.  I think you can make out my hand on the tag on the left!

Don't forget if you love a challenge and want to play along then follow this link over to the Rubber Dance Colour Challenge for January…….oh and while you are over there why not check out all the lovely stamps you could win if you play along!  You could get these fabulous Winter Wonderland stamps which I hope you can see can easily be used for lots of different crafting projects.

Here is the tutorial:

I have lots more ideas buzzing around in my head and a fairly tidy craft room to play in too!  I took advantage of the time my computer was away to set to and have a good sort out!  I still have a few areas left to tackle but over all it is looking very spacious!!!!

Once again Happy New Year to you all.

Thank you for popping by X

Faux Altered Christmas Book

Hi Everyone

Well the computer goes to the menders on Monday.  It is going to be strange not popping in here to talk to my screen!!!!  Here is my penultimate video for the year and it is a long one!  In  fact I think it is the longest I have ever put up.  I think you may be better off watching it in 2 or 3 sittings - make it in to a serial!

It does have a couple of great tips and techniques though so it is worth persevering to see how to make this!

The clue to this project is the word 'Faux'.  A little while ago I went to a workshop with the MDF man and the lovely Karen and we all had great fun making a Faux altered book.  In the video you will see the secret to the aperture in this book and it is not hours and hours of gluing pages together and then cutting out an aperture!  Genius!

Here is the link to his website and if you are in the area his workshops are a real treat.  Great value for money - fun projects and lovely people…..oh and did I mention the shopping!???

I was itching to come home and see what I could do with my new kit and of course it had to be Christmas.  This is the book from the outside.

I decided to decorate the cover as I want to display this book on a table and tempt people to peak inside and discover the magical world within!  So why is the video so long - well there was lots to show you.  As I put this together I show you how to make faux leather, I try my hand at creating my own texture paste and I have to say it worked a treat and of course there is the creation of the little winter wonderland within.

We are going to take a photo of us all together at Christmas and I am going to include that in the pages and I may add Christmas 2014 to the spine of the book later on.

So without further ado and chatter here is the tutorial.  I hope you like it.

Hope you are all having a fabulous time…..not many sleeps until Santa arrives …..hope he remembers I've been good and really really need some Pitt Brush Pens ;-)

Thank You for popping by X

New Art Journal Project

Hi everyone

Hope you are enjoying a fab weekend.  I am just about to go to a crop for the day with my friends.  I was with them yesterday and I have to tell you they are a very distracting bunch and I didn't put two pieces of paper together all day!!!!!

Just chat and coffee and a biscuit or three and more chat and lots and lots of laughter!  Just what the doctor ordered ;-)

Today I am sharing a new project.  I hope to share videos with you over the coming months of the progress of an old book I am turing into an Art Journal.  I hope to try lots of different page combinations a bit like an altered book and of course lots of different Art Journaling styles!

Here is my first page which is a pocket page.

I have four tags on which I will journal about my Dad and Mum and my Father and Mother-in-Law who all served in the forces.  I want each page I create to mean something to me and my family so it builds into a work of art and memories that my family can enjoy looking back on.

Note to self - I must add the links to the videos or maybe add a CD somewhere in the pages!

I was inspired to finally start this project which I have been contemplating for some time by the lovely France Papillon who makes fabulous art journal/mixed media videos.  She is celebrating her 100th Art Journal on Monday Page this week which is quite some achievement.  Her videos are great and there is always something to learn about products and how they work together but the think what I want to emulate the most is that France's pages mean something to her.  Although you and I could look through her Journal and see lots of wonderful art.  France and her family will be reminded of a journey through life and that is something special I hope to capture in the pages of my book.

So please pop along to say hi to France by clicking on this link and help her celebrate her wonderful achievement.  I know you are going to find lots of inspiration over there.

Before I go on my merry way here is my video.  I hope it inspires you to get all painty and inky and to create a journal full of wonderful pages for yourself.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I will be back soon with more creativity…..I already have another page idea!!!!

Thank you for popping by X

My very first Video Tutorial

Hi Everyone

I am going to start this post with a little catch up photo on the status of the pond:

Loving how the rocks have turned out at the back I just need to plant up behind them…..back in the water for me it is then!!!  The pipe you see poking out of the rocks is going to be attached to piece of copper pipe or maybe an old tap…….that could be quite interesting.  I need to re-do the edge of the pond that runs along the wall - that is why the pebbles are there.  I was going to try and do that today but it has just started raining so maybe tomorrow.

Once those two jobs are done we are going to empty out the pool…which I think is going a bit green and I need to look that up to see how to prevent that.  Fish out any debris I have dropped into the pool during construction! and then refill ready to add plants and eventually fish….again need to read up about this as we have never looked after a pond.  We want to create an area for the birds to get to the water and the frogs to get out too….almost there.

I was having a bit of a clear out or my video files.  They are quite big and even though I have a huge hard drive they soon fill up my memory so I have an external drive to store the video files and then I can make more!!!!  So where was I?…..Oh yes I found the first video I ever made and remembered it was never posted.  At the time it was too long and I was only allowed to upload 15 minute videos and didn't know how to change that as I was new to You Tube as well.  Way back in September 2012 everything was new to me!

At the time I was an avid participant in the Tag Tuesday Challenge and these were two of my creations resulting from different themes that are posted each week.  I really enjoyed making the blackberry and sugar stick embellishments and thought it would make a fun tutorial.

So today I am posting that video - I was tempted to re do it but then decided it was a fun record of my You Tube journey and is still a useful little tutorial.  Have a look….I really hope it makes you smile …..it made me chuckle as way back then I didn't know how to do voice overs and I remember my brain whirring like crazy and trying desperately not to say Ummmm too many times ;-)

Before I go I also wanted to share a link to my friend Annie's blog…….I recently shared a mixed media canvas tutorial and I was pleased as punch to see what it inspired.  Here is my original piece:

The video I made was aimed at trying to break down the process of creating the canvas into easy steps to encourage newbies to have a go at mixed media….Follow this link and you will be amazed at what Annie has created.  I love how fabulous Annie's page looks with all the zingy colours.  Please follow this link and check it out!  There is also a surprise creation that will make you smile that goes with the journal page.  I am looking forward to seeing more …….oh can't say too much or I will give away the surprise!

I just want to finish up by saying if you are new to my blog don't forget to subscribe if you like what you see…..there is tons and tons of creativity to check out so please have a really good look around!

'Till next time thank you for popping by X