Easter Bliss

Friday, 1 May 2026

Creative Artiste #126 May 2026

 This is the second blog post today, please scroll down to see my Crafts Galore Encore challenge post.


 ....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 have created a fantasy underwater canvas that measures 8" (20cms).

 
I started by priming the canvas with a coat of white gesso


1. I used my own texture paste through part of AALL & Create stencil #87.
2. Once dry, I sprinkled on Lindy's Gang powder Guten Tag Teal and Lindy's Magical Caribbean Blue with water to add colour.


I then prepped the elements and left them to dry before adding to the canvas.
3. I die cut some foliage using Tim Holtz Holiday Greens dies and coloured them with Lindy's Gang shaker powder Lederhosen Laurel and water.
4. I die cut the Fantasy octopus and Spellbinder's anchor several times each. I layered and glued them together for strength before painting them with DecoArt acrylic paints (in photo) by dabbing the acrylics on with an old brush.
5. The bubbles are laser cut greyboard from Tando. I sprayed them with a DecoArt Mister in Primary Cyan.
6. I dabbed the shells with a watered down orange acrylic.


To assemble the canvas I fixed the Tando bubbles to the canvas then added the ferns and the octopus with Prima 3D Matt Gel.


I tucked the anchor in the corner and finished the canvas with a couple of strings of beads.

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 
May challenge. 

I have entered this project in the following challenges:

Crafts Galore Encore May 2026

This is the first of two blog posts today.  

April just seemed to fly by and now it's time for the May challenge 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:


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


I have made a pretty birthday card that measures 8"x 6" (20 x 15 cms)
I used one of the images from the C'est la Vie ATC sheet for the background paper and mounted it on blue pearlescent card. I then wrapped white seam binding ribbon the length of the card.


I printed one of the images from Butterfly Blues  collage sheet twice. I cut out just the butterfly from one of the prints and fixed it to the entire image with foam pads for a dimensional effect, then mounted it onto the blue pearlescent card.


I created the sentiment on the computer and finished the card with a bow and some gems.

Now please visit the  Crafts Galore Encore challenge blog where you can see the wonderful 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 have entered this in the following challenges:

Friday, 3 April 2026

Creative Artiste # 125 April 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 have made an 8" (20cms) mixed media canvas this month. I have used Lindy's Magicals set Beauty School Dropout to colour all the elements.


1. I started by sprinkling Lindy's Kissing Kenickie Coral all over the canvas and adding water to activate it.
2. I sprinkled some wooden hearts and paper straws too.
3. I wanted a bit of a contrast for the paper flowers, so, I used Pink Ladies Pink.
4. Some die cut leaves were sprinkled with T-bird Turquoise.


5. Once the Magicals were dry, I splattered some diluted gold acrylic paint over the canvas, hearts and flowers.


I coloured a torn piece of watercolour card with Lindy's Pineapple Crush from Caribbean Cruise set and added that behind the hearts and straws arrangement.


The hearts were added to the straws using Prima's 3D Matt Gel.


I arranged the roses and tucked in the leaves  using the 3D 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 
April challenge. 

Have a lovely Easter weekend everyone!

I have entered this project in the following challenges:

Wednesday, 1 April 2026

Crafts Galore Encore April 2026

Happy April Fool's Day! I do hope you haven't been caught out by any jokes.

The clocks have gone forward, the evenings are longer and the weather is warming up nicely.

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 sets of their collage images to our lucky winner.

I made a 6" birthday card using one of the gorgeous images from this month's sponsor.

The card has a fold back front. I used a brown Papermania card as the base layer on the card with a blue mottled card from my stash.

I printed one of the images from the Watercolour Blue Jays set and matted it onto some card. The Blue Jays set comes with 4 gorgeous images of the birds.
I coloured the edges of the mat card with a brown Copic to match the image.


I coloured some Spellbinder die cut leaves with Copics as embellishments and printed the sentiment on my computer. I finished the card with some 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 Conjuror 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 card in the following challenges:

Friday, 6 March 2026

Creative Artiste #124 March 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 have created a triptych to welcome Spring.
I have used three canvases that each measure 4"x 8" (10 x 20cms).

Before I show the step-by-step photos of the techniques, first I have a tip for supporting the underside of the canvas when applying mediums to it.

1. Firstly, I gave all three of these canvases a coat of white gesso followed by DecoArt Americana Decor Timeless chalk based paint. I then lightly dabbed on some pale grey acrylic paint to create a slightly mottled effect on the two outside canvases.
2. To stop the canvas from bowing when applying texture paste, or stamping, I cut several pieces of cardboard, trimmed to fit inside the canvas.
3. I glue the layers together to create a block and fix a strip of ribbon to it.
4. I can now tuck the cardboard inside the reverse of the canvas which will stop it bowing under pressure. I simply pull on the ribbon to easily remove it. The block can be reused until it starts to get compressed. Then I just add another layer.


5. I applied texture paste through a Tim Holtz stencil. I deliberately made the paste look rough to mimic brickwork.
6. Once the texture paste had dried I replaced the stencil and dabbed on a mix of Docrafts and DecoArt acrylic paints with brush, careful to not paint between the bricks.


7. I created a trellis by gluing some wooden drink stirrers together.
8. I made a short length of fence by gluing some lolly sticks.
9. I painted both the trellis and the fence with DecoArt white acrylic.
10. I curved some kraft card and glued it in a flat backed barrel shape. I made three of these in different sizes.


11. I fixed the trellis and one of the large pots to the centre canvas with Prima 3D Matt Gel. I die cut lots of flowers and some flourishes from card I'd coloured with Distress Oxides.
12. I arranged, and attached, the flowers and flourishes to the canvases, adding pearl beads to the flower centres.


I stamped the 'Grow Beauty' words using a Samantha K stamp set, cut around them and fixed them to the middle canvas. I added a wooden wheel and some wooden butterflies to finish.


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: