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Saturday 27 February 2016

February highlights ...

Here are a couple of layouts that have caught our eye this month -  they may not necessarily become our winners but are delightful pages we really liked!

The first is this really striking journal page by Yvonne Yam - we just loved her use of paint.

Blend-in...

and the second is this gorgeous layout with a real earthy forest feel by Di Hasthorpe.


There are still a few days left to get in your entry - we'd love to see your take on our inspiration.

Monday 22 February 2016

Please welcome our February guest ...

Heather McMahon with her gorgeous take on our challenge this month.




“I was really inspired by the stunning colours and the spray-type effect of the background on the painting so I used Colour Crush, a soon-to-be-released product from Tinby Designs, to achieve a similar effect. My title and subject matter came from the feathers in the painting. My daughter and her bestie look nothing like each other but their personalities are so similar! All the paint I used was white – I stencilled with it, used it behind some of my Colour Crush and I used a white paint pen on my chippie feathers.”


I have been scrapping for more years now than I want to think about! Colour is my passion and I love using it in various ways to reflect the feel of the photos I use. I have been a Scrapbooking Memories Master, I write articles for magazines and am on a number of Design Teams including The Dusty Attic, Scrappy Chat Designs and Tinby Designs and am one of the founders of the More Than Words online challenge. I love sharing new ideas and playing with products and I’m delighted to be a Guest Designer here at ARTastic!


Here are some more recent examples of my work.



Thank you for joining us this month Heather.  We have loved having you part of the team.

Remember ....

You still have time until the end of the month to upload your own take on this challenge.  All details are on the blog sidebar. We'd love to see what you can do with our inspiration this month.






Monday 15 February 2016

More February inspiration ...

Welcome to our mid month reveal. We are working with this wonderful painting by Cathy McClelland called Green Lorikeets.


CRITERIA is the use of PAINT on your work.



ANNA
I was inspired of the colors and the splatters. Started with a stencil and some modeling paste. I have painted the circles with water colors .

MARY
I have to say I don't find brights easy. I picked the photo of a ferris wheel at a carnival in Vienna as it had the colours in the painting on the flower . Carnivals are fun and bright and I thought it was about time I broke out the dylusions paints I brought at Camp Mojo last year.

TONE
 I was inspired by the red and blue colors.

KAREN
My inspiration came from all the colours of the rainblow.

KAT
For this challenge I was inspired by the parrots in the artwork and the painting technique to make a layout about my son 'parroting' me (i.e. copying me) when I play with paints. I've tried to capture the colours in the painting and have used painting-themed paper and embellishments.

ANGELIKA
I was inspired by the bright colors and the birds so I made painted feathers for my embellishments.

JANE
I was inspired by the bright and colourful randomness of the painting and a little of the bird theme :)


Now it is your turn, we'd love to see your own interpretation ...

 Remember we happily accept all forms of paper crafting for your entry including digital and encourage international submissions.  All we ask is that you create something new for our challenge and only combine your entry with a sketch challenge.  We offer two prizes determined by team vote and one other prize selected purely by random draw - so anyone can be a winner regardless of style or level of experience.  You have until 11.55pm on the last day of the month to submit your entry.

Please pop back on the 22nd when we introduce you to our February Guest Designer, the super talented Heather McMahon.

Monday 8 February 2016

January winners and our February 3T's ...

I will be announcing our January winners shortly but first I would like to introduce you to our February edition of Tips, Tricks and Techniques brought to you by team member Lizzy Hill.


Good morning my scrappy friends!

I'd like to share with you how I created this background, from my last month's ARTastic DT  layout.

Here's a reminder of the finished page:


 I'm hoping something from this tutorial will inspire you in your crafting:)

STEP ONE:

Coat your card with clear Gesso. I use Liquitex. 
Scribble on your Gelatos:

STEP TWO:
Using a water spray, mist over your Gelatos & smudge with your fingers.
Keep doing this until you're happy with the effect:

NOTE:
Your LO may 'curl up' - don't worry. We'll fix that later!

STEP THREE:
To get some texture for the sea, add the Molding Paste to your page,
then using bubble wrap, dab over it to create a bumpy look
Let dry:

STEP FOUR:
Add blue Gelato, in the same way as above:

STEP FIVE:
I used crackle paste over a stencil for the sunburst effect: 

I liked how it still allowed the colour to peep through underneath.
To finish the sunburst, once dry, I sponged over it using Distress ink.
Here's a close up:

A COUPLE OF OTHER TIPS:
Because this background was textured and bumpy, it was easier
to simply staple my bg layers of patterned paper to the card stock
then adhere my photo to this.
I have NEVER regretted buying my long arm stapler. They make
a fabulous birthday gift!!

TIP TWO:
When you've stapled or sewn through your card stock it makes it neat
& stops threads coming undone by simply covering with some masking
tape!

LAST TIP:
When you've finished 'playing' with your page, to 'uncurl' it & make it flat,
simply turn it over & using any wet medium - I use white gesso - 
paint the whole page. The 'push-pull' effect will uncurl your
LO beautifully:)

There you have it!
Thanks for reading this. I hope it helps in your 
creative journey.
And as always ~ Happy Scrapping ~ Lizzy ♥♥♥


and now onto our January winners .....

Thank you everyone for playing along with us last month  - we had SO many gorgeous inspiring entries - it made our selection of winners extremely difficult.

We were working from this beautiful painting called Bondi Scene by Isabelle May Tweddle and the Criteria was a Summer theme.


Karen Brierley is our winner of the prize pack from Kaisercraft.


Helena Wikman is our winner of the prize pack from Mystical Scrapbooks.



Our random draw winner of a lovely prize donated by myself is #8 Kristy Peterson.
IMG_6679

Congratulations ladies.

Could the winners please contact me on jjjustjane@bigpond.com with their postal details.  You have until the announcement of the winners for next  month to do so. Don't forget to grab our winners badge from the sidebar.  Could I just remind everyone that while we welcome you combining with other challenges our limit is two - so ours plus two others only and this includes items you may have done as part of a DT.

Our Creative Team highlight from last month is Maria .  She will receive a little surprise something from me.



Don't forget to enter this month's ARTastic challenge.  All the details are in the left sidebar. Remember you have until the end of the month to submit your entry.

Please pop back on the 15th when we will have more delightful team inspiration to show you. 

Monday 1 February 2016

Welcome to February ...

This month our inspirational artwork is this wonderfully vibrant  painting by Cathy McClelland called Green Lorikeets.


CRITERIA is the use of PAINT on your work

A little about Cathy McClelland ...

Cathy McClelland is an Australian landscape and wildlife artist whose inspiration is drawn from own rural lifestyle and experiences in the Australian bush. Her paintings, of the contemporary realism genre, are an exuberant, light filled expression of the wonder and delight she has found in the great outdoors. Cathy works in acrylic, water colour, oil and mixed media.

And now some inspiration from the first group of our team ...

LIZZY
I was inspired by the colours, layering technique and images merging with the background. I made some cards after I created the background paper.

AN'JENIC
I wanted to capture the colors.

ELAINE
 I picked up mainly on the highlight green and used this with my page. I painted the background behind my photo using watercolours . For my title I first used gesso over the chipboard and then painted it green.

SUE
I was inspired by the bright colours, 'floaty effects' and the bird! The bubbles are silver paint mixed with gel medium and I have painted the wooden bird and title word.

TRACEY
 i have been dying to try the shaving cream technique for a background and I immediately thought of it when I viewed this painting.

HELENE
I loved this painting, and it inspired me to add acrylic paint to the background with a spatula.

MARIA
Inspired by the crazy bright colors in the artwork!  My own inspiration - children's smile, in which there are all the colors in the world!  I used embossed white powder and Ranger ink sprays for the background.  Very little paper is used.

Over to you ......

Please upload the DIRECT link to your actual entry with the link tool on the LEFT by 11.55pm on February 29th, 2016 (yes it's a leap year!).  We'd love to see your new paper, digital, mixed media or off the page entries. Why not try doing a pocket page spread?  Please no back-dated submissions.  

 Please note:- You may combine our challenge with a sketch challenge only - no other combining will be accepted.  Please include our inspirational picture and challenge details on your blog post as well as provide a link back to us at ARTastic  ... and don't forget to tell us how you were inspired by our challenge.  You may enter more than once in any month as long as each submission is with a different creation.  International entries are very welcome. 


Please call past on the 8th for our announcement of the January winners and our ARTastic 3T's - Tips, Tricks and Techniques for February brought to you this month by team member Lizzy Hill