My progress into Bullet journaling

 Hi There! After creating samples for the December Bee Crafty Hochanda show, I decided that I would like to start a bullet journal. I have always had a week-to-view diary in the past and didn't find it worked particularly well for me. I wanted to start right there and then, so found an A5 pad of mixed media paper and set to work altering the cover with texture paste, inkables, paint, stamps and embossing powder (for a 'how to' check this post where I altered an A6 journal) Here is the result.

The only differences between this one and the step by step is that I brushed over the stencilled part with a wash of turquoise paint and let it dry before applying the gilding wax. I also heat embossed the art journal words border stamp. The stencil is the inkables big one Fern Flourish

Now onto the inside...

I made a pocket using foam tape and card to keep my journalling templates in, then used the big numbers and Star textures to decorate the first page. I masked over 2021 with a post it to add a bit of ink blending.

My next double page is one I already shared on social media. Every year we do the big garden bird watch, but have been talking about doing it each month to get a better idea of when our visitors come and go. We will record it here.

For this page I used the Typewriter Alpha, the templates, the months stamps, the botanical sprigs and that lovely finch from the birds and butterflies set. This was already coloured and cut out using the dies.

My next double page is an overview for the year where I can list appointments and a page for January. Not sure what I will put in the circles yet, but possibly things to do. The stamps used are the big numbers, the months and the botanical sprigs. I used the templates too.  After that I moved on to my month to view spread for January.

For this I used the templates, the month, day date stamps and the doodle art snowflake set.

For all of these I used a mixture of Distress oxide, versafine clair and distress inks. I also used ecoline pens, fine liners and some highlighters. 

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my spreads so far. I have certainly enjoyed doing them and am looking forward to thinking about what else to include along with February.

Thanks for looking!

Lots of lovely black at Tuesday Taggers

It's Tuesday so it's time for my Tuesday Taggers DT work. This week our lovely Teamie Lyn has chosen 'lots of lovely black' as the theme, so I've altered another M&S mint tin. I starteed by colouring it all over in Black promarker. It covered brilliantly and you could only tell what it had been by the texture of the lid. I then covered the lid in Brilliance starlight black and triple embossed it.

I stamped the Hero Arts leaf flourish in Brilliance Platinum planet and heat set. After that I stamped and embossed three flowers in detail silver from the Inkadinkado Mindscapes set, finishing each with a central black pearl.

I hope you get the chance to join us this week. Pop over to Tuesday Taggers and check out the fabulous inspirational work by my lovely teamies.

Allsorts challenge - Rags to Riches

before

Here is my Entry for this week's Allsorts challenge where the theme is Rags to Riches. I've used another mint tin (see before picture above). I've framed a small scanned picture of one of my relatives (not a clue who, but related to my maternal grandfather) using a bottle top and UTEE. The stamps on the top are hero arts script and a graphicus scroll, stamped in tea dye DI on card swiped with Antique Linen DI. The flowers, lace, pearls and ribbon were all from my stash. Thanks for looking!

Altering at Tuesday Taggers

Hi Everyone! Here is my latest project for Tuesday Taggers. One of my friends gets through a fair few of these mints that come in little tins and donated me a pile of them. I'm a bit out of my comfort zone with altering, so I'm afraid it isn't altered much! I used mustard seed and broken china distress inks to get that shade of green. The stamps are all Craftwork Cards 'Botanicals' except for the butterfly  which is a hero arts one. I added tulip paint, stickles and white gel pen to jazz it up a bit. I will try a few more of these soon, and maybe get a bit more adventurous!
Thanks for looking, and do pop over and look at the fab projects my talented teamies have come up with!

A little gift and Allsorts

Here is the little something I was telling you about in my last post. I have spent a couple of days working on it and I handed it over to the lovely young lady my nephew got married to today. This is a view of the top...

here you can see the side, and inside ...

lots of very cute embarrassing pictures of him on a zigzag pull out! The whole thing started out life as an M&S 'curiously strong mints' tin. With the mini tag on the top I think it qualifies for my entry for Allsorts this week too! I used stamps from Crafty Individuals and Hero Arts, with a sentiment from Graphicus. The paper I made the roses with started life as white copier paper which I drenched in cherrylicious creative colour sprays from Crafty Notions, before scrunching it all up. My hands were a little red for a while until I covered them in purple, green and blue, after which they looked bruised! You can probably tell half term has been a bit of a craft fest for me! Today has been such a wonderful day too. My niece is home for the first time in four years after completing her PhD in New Zealand (Antarctica, Panama and probably other places I've forgotten too!), my nephew has married his true love, and the sun has shone all day!