Christmas Eve Journal Page

I loved the little Santa I made for my Three Tags so much I made another for my journal! The background I'd made last year and never finished and this seemed like the perfect time! Hope you like it! 

🎄 Happy, happy Christmas to you and yours and I hope you have a lovely time and that Santa brings you something fabulous (and if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a lovely weekend!)🎄

Christmas Ornament

For my second project at Country View Crafts Projects I have made a plaque to add to my growing collection! Please do pop over and see how I made it!

Happy Christmas

The Country View Crafts theme this month is, unsurprisingly, Christmas! For my second project this month I made a page in one of my small journals. I started by painting the page with blue paint and then stamping on some holly leaves. I then coloured them in. The 'before' picture is below! I then added a black stencilled border to the bottom to act as a shelf and then added six parcels to sit on it!  little banner stamped with one of Emma Godfrey's sentiment stamps finished it off. I think you could use this as a card or tag for a present - don't you?!

Three Christmas Tags

For Country View Crafts Projects I've made three Christmas tags. Please do pop over and see how I made them!

Christmas Spirit

I love Christmas and the opportunity dust off some much under used stamps! I like these sketchy stamps from Tim Holtz and I paired them with a Dylusions stencil and some Distress Inks. Luckily today marks the start of a new theme over at Country View Crafts Challenges and it's... Christmas! I hope you'll join in with us - you never know you might win a prize!

Twinkle

The Country View Challenges theme this month is Stars and I I couldn't help but use this Marilyn Monroe quotation! The stencilled stars were made using Metallic Glaze paint so they had a shimmer when the light catches them! 

Thank you, as always, for popping by

A little secret

For my second project at Country View Crafts projects I have gone a little monster mad. Please pop over and see the secret hiding on the page!

Just remember...

I have again used the fabulous Elenazinski stamps, this time to create a journal page. For more details, please pop over to the Country View Crafts blog for the steps!

The Hidden Word

I am really honoured to have a project on the PaperArtsy blog tonight and I'd be really pleased if you'd pop over and see how I made it!

Pointless Stars

Gosh! It's November already! A new month means a new theme at Country View Crafts Challenges and this month it's Stars. I have bought all of the new Elenazinski stamps and I think it only fair to warn you that you'll see a lot of them over then next few months - I really love them! 
This tag was inspired by my daughter who thought these chaps looked like Alexander and Richard, the presenters from Pointless! I started by creating the background and adding stencilled yellow stars. I then stencilled the leaves over the top and realised I'd obscured the stars (doh!) so added some stamped stars around the figures! I hope you'll join in with us this month - you might win a prize!
Thank you, as always, for popping by,

Fright Night

I am really in love with this little journal page and I hope you like it too! I made it for Country View Crafts Challenges theme of All things Spooky.
I started by painting an even layer of Pewter paint on the page. I then added some black Infusions which gives a lovely grungy look. Then I stamped the small Book Cover as a spooky iron gate and then added the cobwebs, spider and sentiments from Emma Godfrey and the elements to my little chap who I painted in Halloween colours so he'd 'pop'.
Thank you, as always, for popping by and do join in with us this month - you could win a prize!

All Dressed Up

For my project at Country View Crafts Projects I've embraced Halloween and created a journal page that can easily be converted into a card or even a Halloween invitation! I hope you'll pop over and see it!

All things spooky!

Country View Crafts Challenges have a new theme this month... All things Spooky! I made a journal page chock full of PaperArtsy and Dylusions products. I do love green and purple together! We hope you jin in with us this month.

Enjoy the journey

For my second Travel inspired project this month for Country View Crafts Challenges I inked a stamp I'd never used before - how can I have stamps I'd never inked?! More details are here.

Admit One

I have been using Infusions again for my latest project for Country View Crafts Projects - please pop over and see how I did it!.

She's a dreamer

I have a really simple, easy and colourful project over at Country View Crafts Projects today - I'd be thrilled if you popped over to see it in all it's finished glory!

Journey for the Soul

I loved the idea of the theme of travel over at Country View Crafts Challenges this month, which is really open to interpretation and I decided to do something a little different first and think about travel as a personal journey and this page was born! Lots of Tim Holtz stamps came together to make this. The background is Beach Hut PaperArtsy paint mixed with water and then sprayed on the background.

A Day At The Beach

I couldn’t resist using JoFy’s beach huts once again this month for my second Country View Crafts Challenge piece. They really evoke the ‘Hot Summer Days’ of my youth! I have layered Infusions, blue and white paint in the background and then a little row of Beach Huts. It was quite a sunny, cheery piece but now I look at it again it looks quite ‘after-the-storm’ – much like my memories of holidays as a child! At least the sun is coming out!

Be an Individual

I have a project over at Country View Crafts Projects - please pop over and see more!

Wallpaper Memories

So, I am lucky enough to have a post tonight over at PaperArtsy - the theme this fortnight is patterns and this is my homage to my wallpaper from my bedroom in the eighties!

Summer Weather

I have a project over at Country View Crafts Projects - please pop over and see!

Hot Summer Days

Gosh! 1^st August already! And to celebrate this month’s theme at Country View Crafts Challenges is ‘Hot Summer Days’. My team mates have produced some fabulous ideas to tempt you to join in and try and win the monthly prize – I have decided to share my Bullet Journal with you.

What’s a Bullet Journal? Well, as always if you google it you’ll get lots of tips and ideas but the original idea started here: http://bulletjournal.com/ In a nutshell it’s a way to organise your life in, well, bullet form – a sort of digital approach to an analogue art form. For me, I have always loved a diary and art journaling and this is a way to combine them both and keep track of some things that would get missed along the way. You can, of course, customise it to suit yourself (and there are LOADS of tips and tricks on the web) and I change each month to suit as I constantly refine the journal for my changing needs. The beauty of this is that you make it what you want it to be. Let me show you.

For me I like a title page for the month. It defines the new month and allows me to be a bit more creative than just a list keeper. This month I went a bit cartoony (no idea why!) and stamped JoFy’s hut, ball and sandcastle in Old Paper Distress Ink (because it’s pale) so I could doodle over the top. I added the sun and clouds (Emma Godfrey) and ‘painted’ it all with water colour pencils.

The Monthly Log is something that I find really useful. I use it as an aide memoir of what’s already in the diary – I will add to it as more things get booked in but I think of this page more like the headlines of a newspaper. How cute are JoFy’s little beach huts?!

These are my favourite pages. These are the pages where I choose topics to record as the month progresses. Sometimes, like with the ‘goals’ section, I think of the goals I’d like to achieve for the month and then tick them as I achieve them – for example this month I am going to increase my step count. Other sections, like ‘listening to’ I will add to when that one song/album seems to be the only one I hear – often it’s something the children play on loop  as its currently top of the ‘hip parade’ (I am so down with the kidz!) or it might be an advert’s sound track that’s stuck in my head – please let it NOT be the Frozen soundtrack anymore...! For this month I’ve made the boxes into ice lollies (and coloured them again with watercolour pencils). There’s an empty lolly at the top for me to add to when inspiration strikes and a couple of small empty spaces should I need more boxes. Sorry one section is covered up – you don’t want to know all my secrets do you?!

These pages are the weekly log – I’ll write my day in three bullet points and draw a picture of today’s weather. The note section is used for things to do this week or reminders for next week (love JoFy’s bucket and spade!) and because I’m a little pedantic – each week will be visually identical to this one. These are the little buckets and spades which are the only difference!

I am starting to add random other pages in as the mood strikes. I had a summary of last month that was really useful; I could write a shopping list of crafting ‘essentials’ I’d need like to own; jobs that need doing - that sort of thing. Some people keep their budgets in their journals and others the top 50 movies to see and then mark them off as they are watched. Really you can use it for whatever you like and I’d recommend you search and find out more! I have an idea to keep a log of the month in numbers e.g. most number of steps walked; hours spent in the Studio - that sort of thing! 

Please let me know if you have any questions and as I learn more I’ll share it with you!

Edit:

Jane asked a question, in her comment below, about which journal I use. I use a Moleskine Journal (I have loads in all different sizes) but I prefer the sketchbook versions as the paper allows me to work it quite hard (layers and layers of paint/water colours etc). I buy mine from Amazon.

My daughter uses a Moleskine with squared paper (but uses felt pens instead of water colours so the paper doesn’t need to be as robust) and lots of people use them with dots as guides but I have a ruler so I’m quite happy with plain paper! Hope that helped!