Friday, 5 June 2026

Creative Artiste #127 June 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 a wooden birdhouse using a kit from the fabulous Samantha K Gifts & Crafts and I've decorated it with cogs and gears from Samantha K too.


1. I primed each section with a coat of white gesso.
2. I then glued the walls and base together with Prima's 3D Matt Gel. I used some washi tape to hold the pieces in place while they dried.
3. I gave the house a base coat of Marabu Chalk paint and painted the roof panels with Prima Art Alchemy metallic acrylic paint.
4. I gave the inside of the house and the underside of the roof panels a coat of black gesso.



5. I used a mix of turquoise coloured acrylics, applied by dabbing with a sponge, to create an ombre effect on the house walls. The sponge leaves a nice light textured finish.



While the house dried I prepped the decorations.
6. I sorted the cogs/gears, flowers and glass beads. according to where I wanted to place them.
7. The Cadence rust treatment products I used. 
8. It's a three step process to create the rust effect on the cogs. Rust Effect Paint first, then sprinkle the Rust Powder, and finally the Activator Spray before drying.
9. The fourth step, if you want to use it, is to apply the Antique Powder for the patina.



I glued all the cogs/gears, flowers and beads in place with Prima's 3D Matt Gel
10. Once set, I finished the house by tapping on some Pebeo Gold Gilding Wax.


You can find the birdhouse  and cogs/gears here in the Samantha K shop.


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 
June challenge. 

I have entered this project in the following challenges:
https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/06/challenge-202606-june-2026-anything.html



Monday, 1 June 2026

Crafts Galore Encore June 2026

It's June already and it's been another mixed bag of weather. I wish Mother Nature would make her mind up. One day it's scorching and the next has chilly winds and heavy rain. Still, we have managed a couple of fun outdoor activities in nice weather. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more nice weather in a couple of weeks as there is an outdoor concert we're going to that was cancelled from last year due to bad weather.

Meanwhile, there's a new challenge 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 $10 gift voucher to our lucky winner.


I've created an A5 card in landscape format.

I started by covering the base with a pink card from my stash. I added a paper from G45's Flights of Fancy and a vertical strip of another pretty paper from the collection. 
I matted both on white card. I also cut a band of pink card and matted that on white card and placed it across the front.


I chose to work with Hummingbird and Columbine digi set which comes with the bird and flower images either together, or singularly, in both JPEG and PNG format. I coloured one of the images with my Copics and mounted it on pink card.


I took one of the flower images from the digi set and flipped it before colouring it, cutting it out and mounting it on foam pads as an embellishment. I finished the card with a bow, a stamped sentiment and three pink 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 Fred She Said images.