Friday, 2 October 2026

Creative Artiste #131 October 2026


 ....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 recently purchased an MDF Monolith Pack from Samantha K. The pack has three different monoliths, an 8" x 4" (20 x 10 cms), an 8.5" x 5.5" (22 x 14 cms), and a large one at 11.5" x 8" (29 x 20 cms). I have used the two smaller ones here to create an Autumnal display.

I also used some of the elements from the Mixed Media Backing Pack, also from Samantha K.


1. I started by prepping the boards and bases with white gesso and then randomly stamping a small text stamp over the boards and bases.
2. and 3. I used AALL and Create stencil #20 with texture paste to create texture on the boards.
4. I printed out some images of flowers from the Shabby Autumn Flowers set from Art House Whimsy and glued them onto homemade greyboard tags.
The other Art House Whimsy images I used are from Gear Head Wings and Things, Flutter Fusion 4 and Grit and Grace.  I also had some butterfly images from the Butterfly Effect Tags set by 7 Dots Studio. I trimmed the images and glued them to some of the MDF panels from the Samantha K Backing Pack and used the text stamp lightly on them.


5. I sparingly used Distress Sprays Vintage Photo, Fossilized Amber and DecoArt's Quinacridone Gold Fluid Acrylic to add touches of colour to the image elements.
6. I also coloured some paper flowers and mini paper clay butterflies.
7. I used the Distress sprays and lots of water to add colour to the Monoliths and bases.
8. I fixed all the elements in place with Prima's 3D Gloss Gel.


Once the glue was dry, I added more of the sprays and paint for definition.


I finished by adding some tufts of string to both Monoliths and blacking the edges with ink.

*I will used the large Monolith for another project*

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 
October challenge. 

I have entered this Monolith pair in the following challenges:

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Thursday, 1 October 2026

Crafts Galore Encore October 2026

October means the start of months of dark evenings and chilly temperatures. I'm not quite ready for that just yet, so, I've made a Summery card to celebrate my sister's birthday this month. I know she'll agree with me.


While I still dream of Summer...

....Welcome to

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:


who are offering a prize of 2 digi sets (4 images in each set) to our lucky winner.


I started with an A5 card blank (21 x 15 cms) and matted it with a turquoise textured card. I chose a butterfly patterned paper from First Edition Paradise Crush to layer on a red card and added a panel along one side of another Paradise Crush paper onto turquoise card. 



I chose the Summer Cocktail digi set which has 4 fabulously colourful images of fun looking drinks. I printed one of the images and matted it onto turquoise card.


I created the sentiment  squares on the computer and matted them onto red card, then I finished the card with a blue bow and 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 Conjurer of Dreams 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:


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Friday, 4 September 2026

Creative Artiste #130 September 2026

Back to school and back to rainy weather. Ugh!!!
On the plus side that leaves plenty of time for crafting now. Yay!!!

So ....

 ....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.

Back at the beginning of July I attended a weekend craft workshop with 3 fabulous tutors. There were four classes and it was pretty intense. A heatwave at the time didn't help either, but, I actually ended up creating one of my all time favourite projects. 

The project is a wooden board and measures just under 12"x 8" (30 x 20 cms). The class was taught by Anna Dabrowska aka Finnabair and was the last class on the Sunday afternoon.

When I first saw the project created by Finnabair, I thought it was just a large piece of rice paper stuck on the board with some embellishments added. Easy! But it wasn't at all. In fact there are only five little strips of rice paper that I added to the project. The background is all paints, inks and textures around a printed image that I transferred.


The main lesson in the class was how to transfer a printed image onto a chosen substrate. There were several images we could choose from and I fell in love with this one, such a beautiful young woman. I actually messed up the transfer and was so upset I wanted to give up there and then, I was hot, tired and frustrated. Anna encouraged me to carry on and gave me a few helpful tips.


Part of the process was to create depth with background stamps, texture through a stencil and with scraps of paper.


Always great fun in Anna's classes is creating interest with embellishments and learning how to layer and balance the groups.


The final step was to use paints on both the embellishments and background to tie everything together.
To finish I darkened the edges of the board with black ink.

This project went from being a near reject to a treasured piece of art hanging in pride of place next to me. I will forever be grateful to Anna for encouraging me to carry on.
And, because I very nearly gave up on finishing this project, but ended up loving it, I have named it "Perseverance".

Now it's your turn to have fun and create your mixed media projects. You can enter the 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 
September challenge. 

I have entered this project in the following challenges:

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Tuesday, 1 September 2026

Crafts Galore Encore September 2026

Welcome to a new challenge on the

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 2 collage sheets to our lucky winner.

I chose to use the Fancy Birds collage page which has a set of gorgeous birds wearing crowns, flowers or hats to make a set of notelets. There are 9 birds on the page but I only used 6 of them.

I started by creating the backgrounds with Brushos on watercolour paper and trimming them to fit the 6" (15 cm) scalloped card blanks. I added a white seam binding ribbon before fixing the backgrounds to the card bases.

I used a graphics program to print out the six birds I wanted to use individually so that I could die cut them using either a plain circle or a scalloped circle die. I then die cut a mat for each image using a scalloped circle die. 


I layered the bird images onto the scalloped mats and fixed them to the cards. I created some sentiments on the computer and printed them out - apart from the Christmas one.


I finished the notelets with some die cut leaves, or flourishes, and some coloured 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.
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Friday, 7 August 2026

Creative Artiste #129 August 2026


 ....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.

I love using deep photo frames to make shadow boxes for home decor projects. I've used this one to make an underwater scene.

The frame is 8"x 8" (20 x 20cms) and came already in deep blue. 
 I used Paper Clay and some sea themed moulds from Katy Sue Designs to create my elements. I also used a wonderful MDF mermaid and bubbles from Samantha K Gifts.


1. I ripped up a cardboard box to create a background to fit inside the frame and placed the elements inside to decide on the arrangement.
2. I glued the cardboard together using Prima 3D Matt Gel and gave everything a coat of white gesso.
3. I used DecoArt Fluid Acrylics Vermillion and Hansa Yellow Medium with water to colour the elements. I used gold acrylic to paint the mermaid and bubbles.
4. I glued the cardboard to the base and dabbed on Burnt Umber and Purple Passion Acrylics. I used water to move the paints around and blend them.


5. I added some Bright Purple acrylic to the cardboard structure.
6. I then added Teal Fluid acrylic to the base and cardboard, using water to blend it. 
7. I replaced the base inside the frame and glued some Prima Art Stones mixed with 3D Matt Gel along the bottom.
8. I dabbed the Art Stones with Burnt Umber acrylic and dried everything well.


I placed the golden mermaid in the centre and glued her in place with 3D Matt Gel.


I dotted the seahorses, shells and fish around the scene and used 3D Matt Gel to glue them in place. 


I finished the frame with some old netting across two  corners.


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. 

I have entered this project in the following challenges:

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