New Release!

Hello, I'm here today to share the gorgeous NEW release by Tracy Verdugo, from ArtStacks Designs.

This pack is so beautiful, I love it! Haha but then I love all of ArtStacks packs so that's not hard ;)

The underwater theme is a little different from the usual, so it's super fun to create with. I was instantly drawn to the mermaid, so that's where I started. After cutting her out, I also cut some die cut elements from background paper; being the Tim Holtz flower, stars and tag. I had an art journal background with some stamping and stenciling already. I added the tissue paper fish and weed to the page, but it needed a touch more colour, so used my new Tim Holtz Embossing Glaze to add extra colour.

Here is a close-up of my page showing off the embossing glaze. I had a lot of fun with this, you'll see a new obession starting here ;)  I've glazed a couple of stenciled areas and some stamped areas. This close-up also highlights some of the tissue paper fish.

 

Pop over to the ArtStacks blog to see the other amazing creations from the rest of the team. You can find it HERE.

Thanks for stopping by, it's always appreciated.

ArtStacks share!

Hello, I'm here to share my recent art journal page for ArtStacks Designs. I've used some designs from Deb Weiers Wonky Critters pack, as well as flowers from Deb's Wonky Bits & tissue paper flowers from the Anemones & Friends pack. Then I layered these pieces on a pre-made or in truth a mop-up page in my Kraft journal.

The background was created using paint, in white and purple & stencils. I then added a circle of music paper which was my platform to show off the Deb Weiers pieces.

Don't forget to check out the amazing creations over at ArtStacks Designs blog, you can find it HERE.

Thanks for stopping by, it's always appreciated.

July 2023 Kraft+ Challenge

Hello! Today I'm sharing my final Kraft+ page as part of the DT, as it's time for me to move on. I've had the enjoyment of being on the team from the beginning. I owe Sandra Wallace thanks for that! I've thoroughly enjoyed my time being on the team and running the challenge site. The Design Team over the years and current team are awesome, such inspiration, each and every one of them. I owe them too a huge debt of gratitude <3 I've also had the fun of dealing with monthly Guest Designers, so many fabulous conversations behind the scenes...as I said, FABulous opportunity!

I've been rather slack on getting my project finished this month. It's a beauty, if I do say so myself ;) I loved this colour combo & who doesn't love a colour challenge.

As usual, I did an art journal page for my project, in my trusty Dina Wakley Kraft journal...true love.

I used various scribble sticks in the blue, green and white to create my circle. Then moved onto the paint, using white with the square stencil, adding some in blue and then green folage to repeat the leaves in the tag I created using ArtStacks new Gelatin Printing Enthusiasts Art & Nature pack. 

I hope you'll join us this month. You can check out this months challenge on the blog HERE, the team have done an amazing job, as always.

'Stay Curious'

Hello, I'm back to share my latest art journal page for ArtStacks, using the gorgeous girl from Tamara Laporte Fabulous Faces pack. I totally loved these drawings when I saw them, but wasn't 100% sure what to do with them. Lisa Oxley has a magic way of embedding them into her page, but I'm no Lisa ;) so I simply did 'me'. It's probably hard to see in this photo but there is music paper & a pattern that looks very similar to washi tape that I have, so I added some music paper down first, added the torn square of the ArtStacks 'art piece', then added the washi tape over the lot, extending out the line in the image. Then I added random stenciling around the image. I journaled my thoughts at the time, again up the page following the line in the drawing. There was some left over piece of card from a number die on my desk, so I added that to break down the stenciling and simply add more layers....it was a little too perfect. I had also stamped a butterfly image, but it didn't stamp well, so I re-stamped it onto transperancy and added my title 'stay curious' to the butterfly. It was a perfect way to end the day...a little bit of creative bliss.

This is the final result...

Make sure you pop over to the ArtStack blog to see the amazing creations from the rest of the team, you can find it HERE.

Thank you for popping by, it's always appreciated.

Happy creating.

May Kraft+ Challenge!

Hello, I hope this finds you all well.

Today I'm sharing this months Kraft+ Challenge....Words to Live by! Who doesn't love some inspirational words, a super easy one for this month.

I actually started this one at retreat. I was super inspired by the previous months entry from Rachel Martin, she had created a very striking page stenciling a face in black paint onto some ledger paper. I luckily had the same paper, LOL well I assume it was the same. I hadn't really thought about it till now, but just realised I've just had a picture in my head of what it was ;) Anyway, I stenciled my face onto the ledger paper using a mix of pinks, probably because it was handy. I had also used my 'Flutterby' stencil on the background, which ultimately was perfect for this challenge. I was simply playing while at retreat, it was only when home that I realised it was made for this challenge, haha it clearly was on my mind.

I had underlined "Don't let the criticism go to your heart" by Rigel Dawson as it really spoke to me at the time. While it's not the most positive, uplifting quote, it's certainly words for me to live by.

I've actually journalled up the left hand side of the page after photographing. Also my cut-page obsesseion isn't over, so there is a cut page over the top.

Pop over to the Kraft+ blog to see the amazing creations from the rest of the team, including the Guest Designers...we were lucky enough to have 3 gorgeous ladies join us this month, check it out HERE.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy crafting!

Creating with ArtStacks!

Hello! I'm here today to share more ArtStacks creations using the gorgeous new 'artist series' by Tamara Laporte aka Willowing. Here I've used the gorgeous girl from the 'Fabulous Faces' pack for my focal point. I loved the flowers in her hair, so wanted to continue that theme across the page. For this I added a couple of flowers from the same pack, as well as flowers from the 'Anemones & Friends' pack, including the tissue paper flowers from this pack.

As I knew the tissue paper flowers would get lost on that background, I added them to white paper and fussy cut them out.

My background was a mop it up page, with layers of stenciled texture paste and paint, but the colours worked for this girl and I always love not having to start with a blank page. I added the white roses at the time of creating to work with the flowers and to tone down some of the background. There is also torn strips of paper from Lisa Oxley's 'floral fetish' pack. The butterfly is from the 'wings & things' pack.

 Thanks for stopping by, it's always appreciated. Make sure you pop over to the ArtStacks blog to see the other amazing creations by the rest of the team...you can find it HERE.

ArtStacks play!

Hello! Today I'm sharing a recent creation for ArtStacks. "Be sure to smell the flowers along the way" has been in the works for a while now, but lucky I was enough to have a weekend at retreat so finally got to finish it.

I had used a fern stencil and paint on the background, I then added a thin music paper (from The Homemaker Cardstack) circle over the top. I had cut the figure from the canvas paper, also from The Homemaker CardStack, and because there was pink on the figure, I wanted to include more. I had some leftover Brown Dressmaking Tissue, again from the same pack, which had pink paint on it, so layered it on. most ended up covered, but it's there. I had the torn strip from Lisa Oxley's Bright & Bold, stuck down too and that was it. I had a break till retreat, where I tried to remember where I was going with this??? I'll confess, I do tend to jump around from page to page, but there isn't normally this much of a break between.

The original stencil used was created by a friend, who had also created leaves to match, so I painted them various greens and cut the 3rd from the green cardstock from Lorraine Haight Moraine Altered Ancestors Pack to add more folage...if felt a little lacking with just the painted background. But it still wasn't right, so I added the tissue paper flowers (Anemones & Friends pack), but I still wanted more pink, so added the pink flowers and butterfly, again from the Anemones & Friends pack. Lastly adding the title and a little bit of journaling.

Pop over to the ArtStacks blog to see the other amazing creations from the rest of the team, they truly are an inspiration!

Thank you for stopping by, it's very much appreciated.

Artstacks creating!

Hello! Today I'm sharing some gorgeous products from ArtStacks 'Artist Series' by Willowing. I love Tamara's whimsical drawings and this is a fabulous way to incorporate them on your page, using this tissue paper. I've also added tissue paper butterflies and flowers to the top and bottom of the page. Within the girls hair is tiny flowers, which a roughly painted, as well as the butterfly in her hair. I also added extra butterfly wings in orange to match the little fox.

Pop over to the ArtStacks blog to check out the new release and of course all the other gorgeous inspiration, you can find the blog HERE.

Thank you for stopping by, it's much appreciated.

Kraft+ April Challenge.

Hello and welcome to April. A new month means new inspiration and this one really excites me! Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love this lady's creations, I'm a huge, huge fan! So I'm hugely honored that she agreed to be our inspiration for this months Kraft+ Challenge, as anyone who knows Lisa, knows that that she is not a fan of brown ;) But as you will see, top left, she has worked with Kraft before ;) So from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much Lisa for allowing us to draw inspiration from you.

This months challenge is...TO BE INSPIRED BY LISA OXLEY!

When I think of Lisa's work, I think of a rainbow of colour, so that's where I started. I started with a Dina Wakley stencil to add the rainbow of colour and I thought I would be clever and do it through a cut page.Yes, my obsession continues.

I must admit, once the background was done, I thought it's nothing like Lisa's style, but the challenge is to be inspired by Lisa, not replicate her., so I continued

I've created a figure from a piece of Dina Wakley collage paper and a flower from Lisa's 'artist series' paper from ArtStacks and the heart, again from Lisa's pack. I also thought these figures from Dina Wakley worked well for Lisa's style. I have journalled on one of the figures, but it's really hard to see. Haha I also tried to add coloured dots for Lisa's style, but forgot that is incredibly hard on the Kraft.

Make sure you check out the rest of the teams amazing creations, as always, they have outdone themselves...you can find it HERE.

Thanks for stopping by, it's very much appreciated.

Happy crafting.

ArtStacks fun!

Hello! I'm back to share more from the gorgeous new 'Artist Series' release from ArtStacks! Sooo freakin' gorgeous!!! I have to confess, I was very excited to play with these, as I'm a huge fan of Tamara Laporte aka Willowing. I adore her use of colour and her whimsical feel, so couldn't wait to create with these packs.

Here I've used the girl from the 'Fabulous Faces' pack, as well as the butterfly in her hair & the tissue paper border on the bottom. The tissue paper background butterflies and the 'strength' circle are both from the 'Artsy Animals' pack.

I created my background with a mix of paints to match the colours used in the girl. I applied the paint using a brayer. I've added stenciled stars randomly. I've then added the tissue paper elements on the top and bottom of the page. Then I added that gorgeous girl to the corner of my page, adding more of the tissue paper elements (butterfly wings and butterfly circle). I've finally added touches of paint to the butterfly wings and the flower on the bottom.

Pop over to the ArtStacks page to see the gorgeous collections, it's just wow!

Thanks for stopping by, it's much appreciated.

Happy crafting!

ArtStacks New Release!

 Hello! I'm sure by now you've seen the gorgeous new release from ArtStacks! It's a new 'Artist Series' featuring the fabulous Tamara Laporte, aka Willowing. There is two packs...'Fabulous Faces' and 'Artsy Animals'...

I was absolutely delighted to receive these two packs, the colours and designs are just gorgeous and so much fun to create with. Here is the 1st that I can share...

Here I've used the elephant and the tissue paper 'strength butterfly circle' from the 'Artsy Animals' pack and the cute tissue paper crown from the 'Fabulous Faces' pack.

I also had a personal play, I mean how inspiring are these packs! I simply adored the tissue paper girl here, that I had to have a 2nd play (secret squirrel with the 1st). I overlapped her with another piece, I loved how the hair framed the face. Of course the background came through the face a little darker than expected, so I ended up painting it with a soft pink, Dina Wakley's carnation I believe. I also added a flower to her hair, again from the 'Fabulous Faces' pack.

Make sure you pop over to the ArtStacks blog, as they are having an introcudory '12 days of Willowing' to feast your eyes on...you can find it HERE.

Thank you for stopping by, it's always much appreciated.

Happy crafting!

March Kraft+ Challenge!

Hello! I know, I know, I'm super slow at posting this one (insert embarrassed face) 1. I was actually late in completing my page & 2. I've been so busy! LOL I'm not 100% what with, as I don't have a lot to show for it??? I'm looking forward to the school break, where I can indulge in a bit of nothing & some creative time.

Anyway, you're not here to listen to me ramble...this months Kraft+ Challenge is a sketch challenge. Everyone loves a sketch challenge don't they? It's a great starting point to get the ideas flowing.

Now, you can use the sketch to kick-start your project, you don't have to stick with it perfectly, though I have pretty much stuck with this one. I just swapped out the photos for the transparency frames by Dina Wakley, which I also journaled on with paint pen. I've also added the butterflies from a sticker page from ArtStacks, as well as some background stenciling. Oh & a figure using Dina Wakley's Collage Collective.

I do hope you'll join in with this months Kraft+ Challenge, head over to the blog to see more inspiration...you'll find it HERE.

Thanks for stopping by, it's always much appreciated.

ArtStacks fun...

Hello, I'm here today to share my recent play with the gorgeous products from ArtStacks Designs. I'm so lucky to be on this team, the products are gorgeous and lovely to create with.

Once again, this page started as a 'mop up' page, in my Dina Wakley 6x6 Kraft journal. In other words, any excess paint from another projects was added here. Some using a stencil, like the pink and red and the yellow was scrapped on with a spatula (mainly as my yellow is so old, it was drying out). I had then randomly stamped around the page. I then added some ArtStacks tissue paper, flowers from the Anemones and Friends pack and the face from the Faces and Figures pack. I love these faces and I love adding them to painted backgrounds, as long as they aren't too busy. Here I've placed her over a 'quieter' spot towards the middle of my double page. I wish I was, but I'm not great at shading faces, so don't even try. I embrace whatever comes up from underneath. The only thing I have done is colour the whites of the eyes and colour-in the lips. I coloured in the flowers, just to highlight them a little. 

I've cut a figure out of cardstock from the Deb Weiers Wonky Critters pack, edging with Distress oxide. My title "Be true to yourself' is from the 'All Dressed Up' pack. I've also added some black circles as contrast, which I then added to with the Tim Holtz stain stencil.

Pop over to the ArtStacks Blog to see the amazing creations from the rest of the team, HERE...you won't be disappointed.

February Kraft+ Challenge

 Hello & welcome to a new month of challenges. This month over at Kraft+ Challenges we have a colour challenge for you.

This month we want you to use with your KRAFT...yellow & red/orange. Minimal additions of black & white are allowed

When creating this mood board, I couldn't find an inspiration photo so used my own sunrise photo. I initially was going to scrap this actual photo for the challenge. Haha I certainly couldn't go wrong there with the colours, but after doing a tidy up of my ArtStacks products, found the perfect piece to use in my art journal. The inspiration for my art journal background came from this Deb Weiers piece. I just love her work! I scraped on the yellow and orange paint with a credit card and as some of it was Distress Paint, sprayed it with water to allow it to merge together. Because it got quite messy, I ended up mopping up some of the excess with the music paper I had sitting around. I had used it to cut out circles previously. At that point I figured it was the perfect addition to the background. I added lines of black paint and circles with the lids of the Distress Paint. I then added cup rings using Tim Holtz stencil and more black paint. I added a Tim Holtz Stencil Card under the Deb Weiers art piece and a Dina Wakley chipboard piece painted with more Distress Paint.

 

As I had previously said, I've gone a bit made with the cut pages and I thought this one worked perfectly with the wonky figure, especially with one eye peaking through. Haha this looks like a spine to me (LOL that may be more my daughters influence with her recent job ;)) but considering Deb's artwork says "our ancestors live in our bones"...it all made sense to me!!!

Pop over HERE to check out the amazing creations from the rest of the Creative Team. I do hope you'll join us this month. Thanks for stopping by, your support means a lot to me.

Happy crafting!

ArtStacks creating.

Hello, today I'm sharing my recent play with ArtStacks products. It was the opposite  page of January's K+ 'cut out' art journal page, so I started with similar colours. Partly because I was already using them and I like both sides to blend well together ;) even if they are single art journal pages. In the yellow paint, I've journalled with a wooden skewer. it's hard to see the texture in the photo, but it's more visable in real life.

This is with the 'cut page'...

This is my page using ArtStacks using the gorgeous canvas paper from Lisa Oxley's Floral Fetish, which I can out using a figure stencil or chipboard. I had also cut a stencil flower from the same range. As well as a torn strip of paint sample paper from Lisa's Bright & Bold range. The title "Be Brave" is again from ArtStacks, it's from the fabulous 'All Dressed Up' pack.

Thank you for stopping by, it's much appreciated.

Happy crafting.

Creating with ArtStacks.

Hello, today I'm sharing some creative work using ArtStacks products. I'm using my small Dylusions art journal, which started as a 'mop up' page...essentially using up the ends of paint, no point wasting it ;) The leftover paint was scraped on the page using a palette knife and sponged through a stencil.

 I've then added a handcut circle from a piece of sheet music, adding more yellow paint over the top to embed the circle in the page, which was scraped on with a palette knife. I then randomly stamped around the page and journalled with white paint pen on the darkest part.  I added some ArtStacks tissue paper flowers (from Anemones & Friends pack) and then coloured them in with white water-coloured paint. Finally adding the 3 ladies (from The Dressmaker CardStack) and a title (from All Dressed Up).

Here is a close-up of the tissue paper flowers, which I roughly painted with water-colour.

Thanks for stopping by, it's always appreciated. Pop over to the ArtStacks blog to check out the amazing creations from the rest of the team, they are truly fabulous! 

Happy crafting!

January 2023 Kraft+ Challenge

Hello and Happy New Year! 

Hopefully we, at Kraft+ Challenges, can inspire you to create with us during 2023. As this month marks our 8th birthday, we thought it would be fun to revisit old K+ challenges. So for this month, chose an old challenge, any challenge from all the years of K+ and let it inspire you. It's that easy! It may be a challenge before your time with K+, or one that you really liked, or one that you simply didn't get to participate in previously...whatever the reason, let us know which challenge you chose.

 

I went back to December 2020, as I love a colour challenge and was also drawn to the leaf image in the top corner.

This was clearly one challenge that I truly did enjoy as I ended up completing 2 art journal pages for this original challenge. LOL so now I've done 3! You can find the original posts HERE and HERE.

Again I did an art journal page in my Dina Wakley Kraft journal. I've been hugely inspired by Niamh Baly and her amazing cut pages. I had started a number of the late last year, but hadn't had a change to get back to them. One of them ended up being perfect for this challenge with the green leaves in mind.

I had used the fern stencil by Dina Wakley to cut out my page. This was my 2nd attempt, so I now knew to connect the leaves to add strength across the page. I painted it a couple of different greens, including some gloss spray. I roughly added lines around the leaves and veins with various green paint pens. Finally adding thin strips of the woven paper to match the bottom inspiration image.

 

On the main page, I've used one of the tissue paper girls from ArtStacks Designs after layering down some paint (Dina Wakley) and painted stencils (Crafters Workshop and Kaszazz). I've used more of my homemade transparencies.

You can find the full inspiration blog post from Kraft Plus Challenges HERE, it's worth a look, the DT as usual, outdid themselves #bestteam

I do hope you'll give this months challenge a go.

Thank you for stopping by, it's always appreciated.