Easter Bliss

Friday, 5 May 2023

Creative Artiste #93 May 2023

 Another Bank Holiday weekend in Britain! This time for the King's Coronation. It gives us another chance for a family visit and celebration. It's certainly been a wonderful Spring so far with all the family gatherings we are able to have. They might have seriously cut into my crafting time but I do love being able to spend quality time with my family.

So, before the weekend starts ....

 ....Welcome to a new challenge at

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 fabulous 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 made a set of four mixed media cards this month. I can leave them like this or add a sentiment to them when I decide to use them.

It's a lot of fun - and very messy - making mixed media cards so I like to make a few of them at a time. That way I can stick to using the same mediums and similar products for every stage.


I started these cards by blending DecoArt Fluid Acrylics Cobalt Turquoise Hue and Prussian Blue Hue with water on 6" (15cm) squares of mixed media card. Once dried I used a 3rd generation stamp technique randomly on the card squares with some Aall & Create stamps.


I then used texture paste through some Aall & Create stencils on each piece and added some more colour by spattering Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink. I also splattered the squares with black and white Posca pens.


I coloured some stamped flowers firstly with watered Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink then with Broken China Distress Oxide and water and cut them out. I added touches of  White Posca pen to details on each flower and edged each one with black pen.


I stamped some words and cut them out. They were coloured with watered Distress Oxide Faded Jeans and then Distress Ink Mermaid Lagoon with water. I ran a black pen around the edges to add definition.


I assembled the card fronts with some painted Tando Creative greyboard pieces and added some cheesecloth twists I'd tied with strips of turquoise lace. Then the flowers and words were fixed in place using a combination of foam pads and Soft Matt Gel.
I coloured four card blank edges with Faded Jeans Distress Oxide, randomly added stamping and black Posca splats before fixing the Mixed Media panels in place with Soft Matt Gel.

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 wonderful mixed media projects created by our multi talented team.
Remember to have fun crafting and enter your "Anything Mixed Media Goes" creations in our 
May challenge. 

I have entered this card set in the following challenges:

Monday, 1 May 2023

Crafts Galore Encore May 2023

I am happy to say that the second wedding went very well. Everyone had a fabulous day and we are very proud of the lovely newlywed couple. The girls were all adorable and very well behaved - even the adult ones! Now we have school celebrations, a family visit and the King's Coronation to look forward to.

But before that .....

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

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:


who are offering a prize of 3 stamp sets for our lucky winner.


The design team were offered the choice of two digi sets and I chose these cute bears. There are six bear images in this set called Little Beach Bears. The digis come in Outline,  Jpeg and Png formats.
I have made a couple of cards using five of the images and stuck to cheerful primary colours for both cards.


This is a 6"x 6" (15cm x 15cm) card. The base layer is plain navy blue Papermania card. I used a textured yellow Papermania card to create the mats and three stripes.


 Here I have used two of the bear images. The one on the left has a sandcastle and lighthouse. Because I used the Png format digis I was able to add the second bear image in the front. I wanted to keep to primary colours for the picture and used my Copics to colour it in.


This card is 8"x 6" (20cm x 15cm). I used a plain red Papermania card as the base and the navy blue card for the mats and stripes. I created the sentiments for both cards on the computer.


This time I used three of the cute bears in the Png format so I could layer them up to form one picture. Again, I coloured the bears in with my Copics. I finished this card with a starfish embellishment and finished both cards with some blue 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 Last Minute Manda images.
Grab some inspiration while you're there and enter your "Anything Goes" creations in this month's challenge.

I have entered this card in the following challenges:

Friday, 7 April 2023

Creative Artiste #92 April 2023

 Wedding #1 was a great success and our beautiful baby daughter is now a married woman! Our little princess was the lovely Flower Girl and led the way for her auntie down the aisle proudly and perfectly. It was a lovely day and we all had a wonderful time. Now we have to prepare for Wedding #2.  

But, before that....

 ....Welcome to a new challenge at

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.

Finnabair released an online collage class through Everything Art way back in 2017. It was called Imagine. Although I bought the class, I never got around to doing it. Recently I found it on my computer and read through the class instructions. I was inspired to follow parts of the class to create this canvas. I won't tell all the class secrets though, and I have changed some of the processes.

I printed the free image from The Graphics Fairy and glued it to the canvas. I then created a textured background with lace. Some of the elements I used are resin flowers I made. Others are die cut flowers and leaves that I layered up. I also used leftover greyboard pieces from old Tando sets.


I protected the image with clear gesso and arranged all the other pieces around the face. The idea I had was that she was peeking out from the flowers. Once stuck down, I covered all the 3D elements with a coat of white gesso.

To colour the canvas I mixed Violet Brusho with some water in a spray bottle and sprayed it all over. After drying, I used white gesso to lighten the right side of the canvas. I dry brushed all the elements with white gesso to highlight some of the pieces and give a pretty frosted effect.

The canvas is dedicated to our little princess and I've called it "Flower Girl".

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 
April challenge. 

I have entered this project in the following challenges:

Saturday, 1 April 2023

Crafts Galore Encore April 2023

 Happy April! Hopefully Spring is here to stay for a good while. 

The first of our two weddings was this week. Now we have school holidays, a visit from family and Easter to look forward to before the second wedding. A very busy an exciting month ahead!

But before we enjoy any of that ....

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

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:

and the prize is a $6 voucher for their store.


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

The base layer is a mint green textured card I've had for ages and I layered it with the daisy paper from The Gift of Giving 12"x 12" (30 x 30 cm) paper pad by Craft Consortium.


The design team were offered the Signs of Spring digi set which has lots of images in different formats. I printed off two crocuses and a patch of grass and made a little scene. I printed the crocuses three times so I could layer the flowers with foam pads.
 I coloured it all with my Copics and mounted it onto some yellow textured card.

I printed the sentiment and added another crocus. I finished the card with some gold 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 Kate Hadfield Designs images.
Grab some inspiration while you're there and enter your "Anything Goes" creations in this month's challenge.

I have entered this card in the following challenges:

Friday, 3 March 2023

Creative Artiste #91 March 2023

  ....Welcome to a new challenge at

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.

My wonderful friend Pam sent me some Distress Watercolour Pencils for Christmas and I used them to create a pretty background for this small canvas, 7"x 5" (17.5 x 12.5cm). Thank you Pam!

I started by giving the canvas a coat of white gesso. Once dry I scribbled some Distress Watercolour Pencils randomly over the canvas. I used Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Faded Jeans, Rustic Wilderness and Crushed Olive. I then blended the colours with water.


I did some third and fourth generation stamping over the canvas and let it dry completely.  Then I dry brushed white gesso over the canvas to knock back the stamping slightly and make everything appear more blended.
Finally for the base I used some texture paste though an AAll & Create stencil #13.


I used some of the resin pieces I'd made with Prima's Clock Faces mould and a pair of wings from the Cogs and Wings mould. I gave all the resin pieces a coat of white gesso.


I then added colour to the resin pieces by painting them using Distress Oxide Inks with water. I used Peacock Feathers, Faded Jeans, Squeezed Lemonade and Scattered Straw.
Once they were all dry I added them to the canvas with Prima's Heavy Body Gel.

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 
March challenge. 

I have entered this project in the following challenges: