Creative Artiste #123 February 2026

 ....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 in December. 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.

Creative Artiste is back after taking it's annual break in January. My batteries are recharged and I'm looking forward to another year of creating mixed media projects to hopefully to inspire you.

February features St. Valentine's Day. My husband and I decided not long after we were married, nearly 42 years ago, not to give each other over priced Valentine's gifts. It's more fun to surprise each other randomly throughout the year with thoughtful gifts, flowers and chocolates.

And, after giving each other the same card one year for Valentine's Day, we decided not to bother with cards either. It wasn't even a romantic card, it was a jokey one!

Saying that, I have made a heart project for this month. But it's not a Valentine's one. I've called this 

"My Stone Cold Heart"

I have upcycled a cardboard box with a drawer insert. The box measures 7"x 5"x 2"  (18 x 12.5 x 5 cms).

1. I started by giving the box a coat of black gesso. Once dried, I painted it with a dark brown acrylic.

2. I gave it a coat of DecoArt Weathered Wood and let that dry. I then added a top coat of Burnt Umber acrylic. The Weathered Wood allows the top coat of acrylic to split as it dries revealing the base layer and giving an old 'peeled paint' look. I gave the inside of the drawer the same treatment.

3. I assembled a selection of metal elements and a panel of card treated with acrylics and Weathered Wood. They were all glued in place with Prima 3D Gloss Gel.

4. Once all dry, I used a stiff brush to add Pebeo Silver Gilding Wax to the elements.

5. I wanted to use a Prima plaster heart I have from an old Flaming Hearts set.

6. I gave the heart a coat of black gesso.

7. I filled the space in the heart with Prima Art Stones and Soft Matt Gel.

8. I gave the heart and stones a coat of black gesso.

 

9. I cut some squares of greyboard and painted the edges with black gesso. I then applied some DecoArt Crackle Paste and left it to dry. I added some Crackle paste to the heart also.

10. I dabbed black, and white, acrylic paint over the crackle to colour it. I used more black on the larger square.

11. I added a mix of black and white acrylic to the heart, using more white paint to make it lighter.

12. I layered the squares and fixed the heart on top. I glued the whole piece to the inside of the drawer.

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 

February challenge. 

For all of you who like to celebrate, have a lovely St. Valentine's Day!

I have entered this project in the following challenges:

Crafts Galore Encore February 2026

The evenings are getting lighter and the temperatures have slightly less of a chill. That can mean only one thing, surely. That Spring is just around the corner.

While I sit here waiting in anticipation there is a new challenge starting on the

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:

Polkadoodles

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

I have made an A5 card to celebrate the much anticipated arrival of Spring.

I started by layering an orange and a light green card onto the card base.

I used the Bee Buzzy set of images for my card. There are 15 images in the set and I chose 4 of them for this card. I used a graphics program to arrange the images and printed it to fill the card front as one image. I coloured the images with my Copics.

I hand wrote the happy sentiment in two halves and finished the card with some colourful 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 Polkadoodles 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:

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