Crafts Galore Encore January 2026

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I hope you have all enjoyed the Christmas festivities, however you celebrate.

 But now it's time to get back to business ....

.... there is a new challenge starting today at

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog. 

Thank you to everyone who joined in with last month's challenge. The winners have been announced on the challenge blog. This is a month long challenge and you can enter up to three times. There is a full list of rules on the challenge blog.

Our theme every month is the popular

"Anything Goes"

and our sponsor this month is:

Wendylynn's Paper Whims

who are offering a prize of two collage sheets from their store to our lucky winner.

I used an image from the  collage sheet Toulouse Lautrec Style Art Images. The collage sheet has images of a dog, cat, birds, plants and lovely women to choose from.

I made an 8"x 6" (20 x 15 cm) card.

I started with a layer of an old orange textured card from Papermania on which I matted a paper from First Edition's Paradise Crush 8" pad. It has embedded glittery highlights.

I hand cut the image from the collage sheet and mounted it onto a die cut scalloped oval. I then added that to the card with foam pads.

I added a couple of strips cut from the orange card and a few orange flowers.

The card was finished with orange gems.

Now please visit the  Crafts Galore Encore challenge blog where you can see the wonderful projects and cards created by our talented team using Wendylynn's Paper Whims images.

Grab some inspiration while you're there and enter your "Anything Goes" creations in this month's challenge.

I have entered this in the following challenges:

Creative Artiste #122 December 2025

This is the final challenge of the year for Creative Artiste. Now I can concentrate on making my Christmas cards, buying presents and wrapping them, getting the Christmas food and snacks, attending the Christmas school concerts and putting the decorations up. Phew!

But, before I do all that ....

  ....Welcome to a new challenge at

Creative Artiste

Creative Artiste is a monthly challenge blog for everyone who likes to mix their media. So, as long as you like to use various mediums on your creations, we'd love to see you enter the challenge.

A big Thank You to everyone who entered the challenge last month. Your projects were all wonderful and our winners have been announced on the blog.

Our theme is always
"Anything Mixed Media Goes"
We have opportunities to be a Guest Designer for all our winners.

I have upcycled a couple of boxes to use instead of gift bags this Christmas. The boxes measure 

8.5" (W) x 6.5 (D) x 4" (H)  (22cm x 17cm x 10cm).

The boxes have a front flap with a magnetic closure. One box is gold and the other is pale blue. I decorated the gold box with red and the blue box in blue but the process was the same for both boxes.

1. I started by gessoing the box tops with white gesso.

2. I used texture paste through a stencil across the top.

3. I painted on some DecoArt Glamour Dust on the texture dots for sparkle.

I used a resin frame I made with a Prima mould and some woodchip snowflakes. The metal flowers, metal snowflakes, leaves, stars and numbers are all from Prima. I added some plastic ornaments and some red beads from my stash. Everything was stuck in place with Prima 3D Matt Gel.

I added some pretty papers from Graphic 45 on the front panels, back and sides of both boxes.

I also  lined the inside of the blue box with G45 papers too.

I tied ribbons around the front flaps and added some fussy cut G45 poinsettias to the gold box. I finished both boxes with some fine white glitter to give a frosted look.

Now, just to fill them with Christmas goodies.

Now it's your turn to have fun and create your mixed media projects. You can enter our challenge as many times as you like. A full list of the rules is on the challenge blog. For more inspiration please visit the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog to see the fabulous mixed media projects created by our multi talented team.
Remember to have fun crafting and enter your "Anything Mixed Media Goes" creations in our 

December challenge. 

The Creative Artiste Design Team will be taking their usual winter break in January but we'll be back on February 6th 2026 with more mixed media inspiration for you.

Until then, MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May 2026 be kind to you xx

I have entered these boxes in the following challenges:

https://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.com/2025/12/a-perfect-time-to-craft-open-challenge.html

Crafts Galore Encore December 2025

December is finally here. Now the Christmas panic can start. So much shopping, decorating and wrapping to do. And not to mention all the food prep and eating.

And then it will all be over in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile .....

.... there is a new challenge starting today at

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog. 

Thank you to everyone who joined in with last month's challenge. The winners have been announced on the challenge blog. This is a month long challenge and you can enter up to three times. There is a full list of rules on the challenge blog.

Our theme every month is the popular

"Anything Goes"

and our sponsor this month is:

Gecko Galz

who are offering a prize of $25 to spend in their store for our lucky winner.

The team was lucky enough to be allowed to choose a collage set each from the store to work with this month. I chose Nature's Winter. The collage sheet has 8 lovely wintery images. I printed 6 of the images to make a set of six Christmas cards that are 7"x 5" (18 x 13 cms).

I thought these three images would look wonderful with blue backgrounds. I used silver mirri card for matting and some lace ribbon on the rabbit card. I cut the background layers to look like hills on the polar bear card. The snowflakes, poinsettia, sentiments and trees are cut with various dies and I finished these cards with silver gems.

I used the images with Red Cardinals* for the second trio of cards. I paired them with a red and green and gold card. The snowflakes and sentiments were cut with various dies and I used fancy scissors for the gold trims on two of the cards. I finished the set with red gems.

Now please visit the  Crafts Galore Encore challenge blog where you can see the wonderful projects and cards created by our talented team using Gecko Galz images.

Grab some inspiration while you're there and enter your "Anything Goes" creations in this month's challenge.

* I was excited to see my first Red Cardinal in real life this summer. Also Hummingbirds. So little and perfect.

I have entered this set of cards in the following challenges:

https://morgansartworld.blogspot.com/2025/12/morgans-artworld-challenge-95.html

Creative Artiste #121 November 2025

November started with a fabulous weekend of crafting in Lincolnshire at the second Triple Fusion craft retreat run by Sue Tucker from North East Art Workshops for me. The tutors were the same as last January, Finnabair (aka Anna), Olga Heldwein and Nuneka Box. Over 40 of us had a fabulous time creating four wonderful mixed media projects over the weekend.

Now it's back to reality ....

  ....Welcome to a new challenge at

Creative Artiste

Creative Artiste is a monthly challenge blog for everyone who likes to mix their media. So, as long as you like to use various mediums on your creations, we'd love to see you enter the challenge.

A big Thank You to everyone who entered the challenge last month. Your projects were all wonderful and our winners have been announced on the blog.

Our theme is always
"Anything Mixed Media Goes"
We have opportunities to be a Guest Designer for all our winners.

November is the month for remembrance services and thinking about those who served our country and sacrificed their lives. Remembrance Day is symbolised by a red poppy. I think it should also be to remember those we love who are no longer here. 

I have lost quite a few family members in the last few years. Notably, my brother, my mother in law, my auntie and my daughter. 

I decided to make a canvas of remembrance for them.

The base canvas measures 8"x 8" (20 x 20cms) and the four small canvases are 3" (8cms).

1. After gessoing the canvas, I dabbed blue and white DecoArt acrylic paints all over with a sponge to give a mottled effect.

2. Once I was happy with the result, I left it to dry.

3. I used the same technique on the small canvases with a Pebeo pale blue chalk paint and a blue DecoArt acrylic.

4. I also dabbed acrylic paint on a wooden butterfly to use as that's my symbol for my brother.

1. To create the poppies I rubbed Barn Door and Festive Berries Distress Inks on both sides of a page of mixed media card and activated with water.

2. Once dry I stamped the poppy images using various stamps in my stash. I stamped several times so I could layer up the poppies.

3. I cut the poppies out and layered them up for dimension.

4. I glued the poppies, the butterfly and a sentiment onto the small canvases and fixed them on the larger canvas with Prima's Heavy Body Gel.

    Now I have my own little remembrance display.

Now it's your turn to have fun and create your mixed media projects. You can enter our challenge as many times as you like. A full list of the rules is on the challenge blog. For more inspiration please visit the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog to see the fabulous mixed media projects created by our multi talented team.

Remember to have fun crafting and enter your "Anything Mixed Media Goes" creations in our 

November challenge. 

I have entered this project in the following challenges:

https://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-perfect-time-to-craft-open-challenge.html

https://mixitupchallenge.blogspot.com/2025/11/miucb-80-anything-goes-optional-cas.html

https://lovetocraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2025/11/ltccb-89-anything-goes-ltccb-88-winner.html

Crafts Galore Encore November 2025

This weekend I am attending a craft workshop with three amazing tutors. They are the same three talented tutors who featured at a crafty weekend I did back in January. Finnabair, Olga Heldwein and Nuneka Box. We had so much fun in January that we wanted to do it again. With different projects though.

Meanwhile .....

.... there is a new challenge starting today at

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog. 

Thank you to everyone who joined in with last month's challenge. The winners have been announced on the challenge blog. This is a month long challenge and you can enter up to three times. There is a full list of rules on the challenge blog.

Our theme every month is the popular

"Anything Goes"

We do not have a sponsor this month so this challenge is 

'Just for Fun'

The design team were allowed to create anything we liked, the same as you!

I created a card to welcome a newborn baby boy.

A lovely family member gave birth to a little boy recently. I created an 8"x 8" (20 x 20cm) card to celebrate.

My card is layered with two blue cards from Limetree Crafts. The next layer is a mottled blue card I bought at a craft show a few years ago. I wrapped a wide blue ribbon around the card layers before fixing them to the card base.

The sweet image is from a printable decoupage sheet from  La Pashe. I cut the four layers and mounted them with foam pads. 

I mounted the decoupaged image onto pale blue card and wrapped a seam binding ribbon around the layers before adding a triple bow.

I finished the card with some gorgeous flowers from Katy Sue Designs and the randomly placed blue gems.

I also added the two sentiments from the decoupage sheet.

Now please visit the  Crafts Galore Encore challenge blog where you can see the wonderful projects and cards created by our talented team.

Grab some inspiration while you're there and enter your "Anything Goes" creations in this month's challenge.

I have entered this in the following challenges:

https://classicdesignchallenge.blogspot.com/2025/10/classic-design-challenge-10-2025-octnov.html

https://morgansartworld.blogspot.com/2025/11/morgans-artworld-challenge-94.html

https://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-perfect-time-to-craft-open-challenge.html