Crafts Galore Encore September 2025

Back to school this week. The 6 week holiday seems to have flown by. That could be, in part, because we took the two oldest grandchildren to the US for a few weeks. Relaxing with wonderful friends and then hustling around Disneyworld. Everyone had a fabulous time but now it's 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:

Cute Bee Digis

who are offering a prize of 3 digi images to our lucky winner.

I have made an 8"x 8" birthday card.

I started with the layers of black  and brown card. The pale blue top card is one I've had in my craft room stash for years. 

I stamped the sentiment directly on the blue card.

I chose this pretty image to work with. I can't find her in the shop but there are so many other equally pretty digi images in the shop for you to choose from.

I coloured her with my Copics and mounted her on black card.

The stone wall in the image made me think of the bridges across the Seine in Paris so I die cut the Eiffel Tower  and the Fleur de Lys as embellishments. I cut them in both black and brown card to give a shadow effect. They are both from an old Tim Holtz Alterations Sizzix set.

I finished the card by wrapping  some ribbon around the card layers and adding a few flowers and a bow.

Now please visit the  Crafts Galore Encore challenge blog where you can see the wonderful projects and cards created by our talented team using Cute Bee Digis 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 #118 August 2025

 This is my second post today. Please scroll down for my Crafts Galore Encore post for the August challenge where I have a cute card to show you.

 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 created a tag cut from thick greyboard. It measure 6"x 4" (15x10cms) and I primed it with a coat of white gesso.

I started by sticking some ripped music paper down. I then used a palette knife to add a thick coat of white acrylic paint over the surface to give the tag some texture. Before that was fully dry, I wiped random areas away with a damp cloth.

I then stamped some little birds and added some areas of a thinner layer of orange acrylic. I added some turquoise acrylic paint over most of the tag, and, before these top two layers of paint could dry properly, I wiped areas of them away with a damp cloth to reveal patches of the music paper, the birds and the texture from the thick layer of white acrylic.

For some interest, I stuck down  a piece of die-cut harlequin card and a

 bird and rust treated cage. I finished with some ribbon at the top.

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 

August challenge. 

Crafts Galore Encore August 2025

 

School summer holidays have officially begun and it rained all day for the first day! Hopefully the weather will brighten up or else it could be a very long break from school. For now, I need to look for some indoor activities.

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:

All Dressed Up

who are offering a prize of two digi stamps to our lucky winner.

I have made a charming A5 size birthday card to show this month.

I used a dark blue pearlised card from my stash for the matting layers on this card and a lovely old Craftwork Cards paper from their Venetian collection that I found in my stash.

I printed the sentiment and cut it out as a strip to go across the front of the card.

I used the super cute Little Birdie image and coloured it with my Copics. I die cut a scalloped circle to matt the image onto.

I decorated some die-cut feathers with Frantage and embossing powder and finished the card with a bow and some Card Candy that came with the paper set.

Now please visit the  Crafts Galore Encore challenge blog where you can see the wonderful projects and cards created by our talented team using All Dressed Up 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 #117 July 2025

Even though we are now into July and most of the UK is enjoying a sunny heatwave, I'm still getting rained on doing the school run....

  ....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.

We were blessed last month with another beautiful granddaughter. I have decorated a canvas to go in her nursery. The canvas is 12"x 9" (30 x 23 cms).

1. I started by giving the canvas a coat of white gesso and when that was dry, I used a Tim Holtz stencil with some dark blue Memento ink to create a pattern of stars.

2. I chose a mix of chalk paints and acrylics in pastel colours to paint the canvas in random patches.

3. I stamped the word Dream using an old Bee Crafty stamp and the same blue Memento ink.

4. Once the stamp had dried, I dry brushed white gesso over the canvas to mute the colours and blend the patches of colour.

1. I bought the dream catcher from Samantha K Crafts. The MDF dream catcher came in a set with two other dream catchers.

2. I gave the dream catcher a coat of white gesso.

3. I then used the same 3 paints as on the canvas to paint the dream catcher.

4. I used Versamark and Utee to heat emboss the dream catcher to brighten the colours and give it a nice shine.

I used some Stampendous embossing powders to cover and decorate the canvas. 

One of the embossing powders is Shabby Blue Frantage which has a very fine shiny blue powder. It has given the canvas a lovely shimmer.

I heat embossed a selection of small metal elements in gold. Once the catcher was glued onto the canvas with Prima 3D Matt gel, I added the gold decorations.

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 

July challenge. 

I have entered this project in the following challenges:

https://mixitupchallenge.blogspot.com/2025/07/miucb-78-anything-goes-optional-mixed.html

https://lovetocraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2025/07/ltccb-87-anything-goes-ltccb-86-winner.html

Crafts Galore Encore July 2025

 It's still a mixed bag of changeable weather here in our little corner of Wales. So while the rest of the UK basks in a heatwave, I wasn't expecting to be dashing out in between rain showers in my coat at the end of June. Hopefully it will settle into some nice sunny days for summer soon.

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:

Fred She  Said

who are offering a $10 (Canadian) voucher for their store to the lucky winner.

I have made an 8"x 8" card to use for a special someone's birthday.

I didn't have any card that matched the pretty papers I wanted to use so I cut the matting layers from plain white card and used one of my Copics to colour the edges.

On the base layer, I used an old LOTV Nitwit paper from their Promises 8"x 8"collection. I also made a panel to add to the front before sticking down a length of large ric-rac.

I used the "I love you this much" image and coloured it with my Copics. I also printed off one of the sentiments that come with the image and cut it out for a banner.

The image I used comes with three sentiments and also is available as a pre-coloured set of six images.

I finished the card with some beautiful paper flowers from Prima.

Now please visit the  Crafts Galore Encore challenge blog where you can see the wonderful projects and cards created by our talented team using Fred She Said 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:

https://lovetocraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2025/07/ltccb-87-anything-goes-ltccb-86-winner.html

https://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.com/2025/07/a-perfect-time-to-craft-open-challenge.html

https://paperfundaychallenges.blogspot.com/2025/07/july-2025-challenge-78-anything-goes.html