Sunday 31 December 2017

Artline Monday - New beginnings

Happy New Year!  It feels completely crazy that it is 2018 already and we have a whole new year stretching ahead of us, what will you do over the next 365 days, what do you want to achieve?  Today is the perfect time to sit and reflect on what you want and maybe commit that list to paper to remind you of your goals.

Starting again


The start of a new year is also a great time to start a new notebook so I grabbed this large dotted one and got to work with my black Artline brush marker and fineliner to write down my hopes and wishes.  To make things look a little more interesting I mixed different fonts together and added a few doodles too.  The brush marker is one of my favourite pens for trying out different types of lettering, I just love how it writes! 

Adding colour

I thought the black and white page was a bit plain so I added some colour using more of the Artline 200 fineliners and then it looked much more me!  Now whenever I use this notebook throughout the year the first page will remind me of everything I want to do and inspire me to act on it all!

So will you be making a plan for your year or will you just see where it takes you?  Either way I hope it is a fantastic one for you!

Friday 22 December 2017

Artline Monday - More rock painting fun

So last month I tried my hand at rock painting for the first time, my girls and I decorated some stones and pebbles using lots of lovely Artline products and it was a lot of fun but we didn't do the second part of the task which is hiding the painted rocks outside for other people to find them!  The girls decided that they liked their rocks so much they were going to keep them and I said I would have to get some more stones to decorate and hide which I have now done.


Our rocks, paint markers, poster markers & OHP 853 pens

Like before we started off painting the rocks with watercolours and Artline poster markers.  

Starting to decorate the rocks

Once the base coats were dry we added details using OHP 853 markerspaint markers and Artline 999XF metallic pens.  As it is December we drew some Christmas designs and some New Year's ones too.  I especially like how the Christmas tree and firework stones turned out and my youngest daughter loves her bright pink present rock!      

Our painted rocks

On the back of each rock I wrote a message for the person who finds them using the OHP markers.  It says whoever finds the stone can either keep it for themselves or rehide it somewhere else.  I have also asked them to share a photo of the rock online using the tag #ArtlineRocks so hopefully I can see where they end up!

#ArtlineRocks message

After varnishing the rocks they were ready to hide!  We took our stones out with us and hid them in interesting places where they would hopefully be found and spread a little happiness!


Looking for hiding spots

Peek-a-boo!

Hiding a small stone

Left on a fallen tree trunk

Happy New Year!

Hiding on a bridge over the River Cole

This one is quite high up!

This rock is near a rugby ground

I confess, I brought this one back home with me!

Left out in the open so it can be found quickly in the park

Hidden in a planter outside a school

So now our rocks are out in the wild!  If you are in Birmingham you just might come across one but there are also lots and lots people painting and hiding rocks all over the UK so you could find one anywhere you go!  Just keep your eyes peeled!  I really hope our rocks are found and shared online, my girls already want to go back around and check on them all to see if they are still there!

If you would like to go rock hunting you can check on Facebook or Twitter to see if there is a group for people in your area or paint your own pebbles to hide and see if you can inspire others to join in with the fun as well!

Merry Christmas and I will see you again in 2018!


Planner Friday - December

How are we at the end of 2017 already?  My last Planner Friday post of the year is now up on the Trendy Twine blog, please stop by and say hi!

Oh my gosh!  I can't believe how quickly December has flown by!  I have been trying to squeeze every last drop of festive fun out of the month and I still feel like it has passed me by!  


Planning my week - before the ink

Products used:  Paper clips

For my last Planner Friday post of the year I want to show you how I have decorated this weeks spread.  I have a lot of things I still need to do before the big day so I thought making the pages pretty would help me keep calm and not panic too much!

I used washi tape at the top and bottom of my pages and then matched that with some lovely Christmas Trendy Page Dot reinforcements.  As well as looking nice and colourful the Trendy Page Dots protect my pages from tearing if I am leafing through them too quickly.  I think everyone who uses a ringed planner knows the pain of ripping a page so these are fantastic!




I love using APB's Christmas stamps in my planner, there are so many different quotes to choose from it is easy to find something that fits perfectly!  I have also been using them to embellish my Christmas card envelopes and gift tags this year so they are practical as well as fun. 

For my to do lists and reminders I used the Check It OffAt Home and More At Home sets and as it is the last week of school I have quite a few events to attend so the School Days set covered those for me.  Seeing so many notes and tasks in my planner usually makes me feel stressed but all the decoration just makes me smile and even more determined to get everything finished so I can enjoy the holiday!

You can read the rest of my post here.

Thanks for stopping by!


Monday 18 December 2017

Artline Monday - Christmas activities

I don't know about you but I find Christmas Day can feel like it goes on and on forever!  My children get up super early to open their presents and after that my husband and I are in the kitchen cooking up a storm while they play with all their lovely new things.  Once we have sat down and eaten our Christmas dinner there is a natural lull in the day, the adults are stuffed and often sleepy while the children are looking for something fun to do so I thought for today's post I would list a few activities they can do to pass some time over the holidays.

I think in most families there is always someone who buys stationery for children (in mine that's me!), get the kids to break open their new pens, paints and pencils and create some thank you cards, notes or drawings!  Here are a few ideas to get you started...

Make a card


Thank you cards

You can do the prep for this activity before Christmas, either buy a pack of plain cards from a craft shop or somewhere like Poundworld (that's where I got mine) or buy some card and cut and fold it into shape.  

The children can decorate the cards however they like, they could glue scraps of wrapping paper to the front, cut out pictures they like from Christmas cards or colouring books, they could draw or paint something or use some festive stamps like the Artline xclamations star stamp I used above.  Metallic pens like the Artline 900XF add a touch of sparkle and the white paint marker is great for drawing snow!

Design your own notepaper


Make your own notepaper

Again you can prepare for this beforehand, sort out some plain notepaper or plain A4 paper and fold it in half and cut it into two pieces.

The easiest way to decorate the notepaper is to create a boarder along all the edges.  Brush markers like the Artline Stixs are brilliant for drawing patterns and the Supreme metallic markers are fun too.  Washi tape and stamps are a really quick way to decorate the paper if you need to make a lot of sheets for your thank you notes.

Draw a picture


Thank you drawing

This one is really easy!  Get them to draw pictures as a thank you for their presents and then you can pop them into your thank you cards when you write them. 

Now, I said this one is easy but when I gave my six year old some paper and supplies she presented me with this lovely piece of modern art instead of a drawing.  I'm not one to stifle her creativity though and I'm sure one of her grandparents would like to pop this on their fridge so I just wrote thank you over the top of it using a metallic pen and praised her use of colour!

I hope you like my ideas and if you have any of your own please let me know!


Monday 11 December 2017

Artline Monday - Christmas decorations

Have you put your tree up yet?  I must admit mine has been up since the start of the month.  I love sorting through our decorations before I hang them on the tree and remember who brought them and where they came from, it's like a little festive walk down memory lane.  I thought this year it would be nice make some baubles with my children and create some new memories together.

Making Christmas decorations with Arline pens

The first decoration we made was for my son Hayden.  It is really hard to find anything with his name on it so our tree has lots of decorations with "Special Son" and "Special Grandson" on them instead.  I painted a plain ceramic bauble with an Artline poster marker which was quick and easy to use.  It also dried almost immediately so I didn't have to wait to paint both sides.

Painting the ceramic bauble 

Once the whole bauble was covered we used a silver Artline 900XF metallic maker to write his name and add some decoration.

Baubles, metallic markers & Artline 853 OHP pens

Because of how quickly the poster marker dried this bauble only took five minutes to make so if you wanted to make a few different ones for your tree or as gifts you could breeze through them all in no time!

On the tree

The second decoration we made was for my youngest daughter.  She loves anything sparkly so we filled a plastic bauble with fake snow, glitter and sequins before sealing it up tightly.

Filled bauble with fake snow, glitter and sequins

We then used gem stickers and an Artline 853 OHP marker to decorate the outside.  The overhead projection markers are great for writing on plastic and the ink is permanent so it wont fade or rub off over time. 

On the tree

Our next decoration was the fastest one to make, we used the 853 OHP makers again to draw coloured spots inside the bauble and some Artline Supreme whiteboard markers too.  Because the whiteboard markers were used on the inside the ink wont get erased if anyone touches the bauble.  

Drawing inside the bauble

The finishing touch for this decoration was a little gold bell added onto the ribbon. 

On the tree

The last tree decoration we made is my favourite.  We squeezed some gold glitter glue into the plastic bauble, sealed it up and then shook it vigorously to disperse the glitter around the inside. 

Fill the bauble with glitter glue

I used a gold Artline 900XF metallic marker to write Happy Christmas on the front of the bauble and then wrote my eldest daughter's name on the other side.

Happy Christmas

My daughter's name on the back

Before it was hung on the tree we added some gold gem stickers to the outside for some extra sparkle.

On the tree

Baubles aren't the only decorations you can make with Artline pens, we have been creating some festive rocks using the 853 OHP markers again!

Merry Christmas - rock painting

If you missed my rock painting post last month you can find it here for all the details.  The rock above was painted with a blue watercolour paint and then I added the snow using a white Artline paint marker, the rest was done using the 853 OHP markers and the finishing touches were done with the 900XF metallic pens.  Once it was all dry I varnished it so it will hold up against the weather if it was placed outside but at the moment it is sitting on the shelf in my hallway.

Decorate your windows with Artline pens

I mentioned the other week about the elf who comes to stay with us every December and he gets up to all kinds of mischief, well this week he used my Artline glassboard markers to decorate the windows on my front door!  Our glass is frosted so he had to write on the outside of the window so I'm not sure how long it will last but if you wanted to use these pens to decorate your windows you could draw on the inside of the glass and it would probably last the whole Christmas period.  The pens can be removed quickly with a damp cloth and I find it much easier to clear up than the fake snow spray I usually use to decorate our windows!

Would you like to win some Artline goodies for yourself or a friend?  Pop over to my Facebook page now for details on how to enter my giveaway!



Monday 4 December 2017

Artline Monday - Christmas card calligraphy

It's December!  It's time to get your Christmas cards written and in the post!  Since I have been practising my lettering and calligraphy this year I thought I would try and use my new skills on my cards and share some hints and tips with you today.

Christmas calligraphy 

It's okay if you are a complete beginner, you don't need to have had months of practice to make your cards look fancy.  All you need is a good calligraphy pen and some paper to practice the words you want to write.

I suggest you sit at a table or desk and angle your paper, notebook or card slightly to the left if you are right handed and to the right if you are left handed.  This will give you room to rest your arm on the table while you write and gives you better control over your pen.

On the down strokes you need to apply a little pressure to the pen to make your lines look nice and thick and then a light touch on the up strokes for much thinner lines.  Try doing these strokes a few times until you get used to writing this way with a calligraphy pen.

Practising in my notebook

The next stage is to practice the words you need to write on your cards and envelopes.  If you don't have an idea of what kind of font you want to use take a look on Google or Pinterest for some inspiration, just search for Christmas calligraphy and see what takes your fancy.  

Once you have found a style you like try and copy it on your paper or notebook and repeat until you are happy with how it looks.  When you are confident move on to writing it on your Christmas card or envelope.  Go slowly and take your time with each letter, rushing through the word makes you more likely to make a mistake.  

Depending on how many cards you need to send you might want to write them in batches instead of doing them all at once.  My hand seems to cramp up if I spend too long writing so I like to do five or six cards at a time and then take a break.  This also keeps my handwriting nice and neat as it gets messier the longer I write!

When I was practising I used a 3mm calligraphy nib but this was a bit big for inside my cards so I changed down to a 1mm nib instead.  The smaller nib was the perfect size for the cards and envelopes, leaving me plenty of room to write what I wanted to on both.

Slow and steady

I am only writing the recipients names in calligraphy on my envelopes, I will be adding their address in a clear, print font so it will be easy for the postmen and women to read when they are delivering my cards.  I used an Artline calligraphy marker for the names as it is permanent ink and water resistant and I will be writing the addresses with an Artline Supreme permanent marker for the same reasons.  These inks should withstand any rain or snow the cards might encounter along the way and not run or become illegible.

So, are you feeling inspired?  Will you being giving this a go with your Christmas cards?  I think I am going to go and finish mine off now so I can pop them in the post before the rush later in the month!