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Thursday 22 December 2016

Merry Christmas ...

On behalf of all of us here at ARTastic Challenge blog I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all of our supporters peace, joy and much happiness for the Christmas season.  


You still have until 11.55pm on the 31 of December to complete our December challenge and we would love to see your entries. If you have some downtime over the Christmas break please think of us :)

I'd like to thank you for your support and encouragement through 2016. We have seen some amazing work submitted by all of you wonderfully talented ladies and we hope we will see more from you again next year.  We have much to inspire you!

ARTastic will be back in 2017 with a new look and some new and super talented team members as well as some familiar faces. Sadly there are also some goodbyes at this time as several of our members move on to other pursuits.  We will miss you Lizzy Hill, Sue Smith and Mary Bennetts.   Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you have done while here at ARTastic - you are all such wonderful and inspiring ladies. 


Design Team for 2017

We welcome new team members ...

Judy Willey - Australia
Tanya Heritage - Australia
Evelyn Walter - Germany
Kripa Koushik - Australia (joining us in February)

Plus returning members ...

Tracey Henly - Australia
Tone Jensen - Norway
Kat Gray - Australia
Karen McLaughlin - Australia
Anna Uhras - Sweden
Maria Shakhova - Russia
Elaine Schoof - Australia
Jane Howden - Australia


Travel safe everyone and enjoy time with your families and friends - see you in 2017 !!

Thursday 15 December 2016

Our December mid month reveal ...

Welcome to our mid month reveal.

This month we are working with Neighbourhood by Lisa Frances Judd.  


CRITERIA - HOME, whatever that means to you.

ANNA
My inspiration comes from the houses and the home theme. This house on the page is our home, the white one :) And the title in Swedish says - Our home is my castle.

MARY
I was inspired by the image of the houses, as I knew I had some Amy Tangerine patterned paper with little houses that I have fussy cut and used washi tape from Craftqueen with little houses. I scrapped my haven, my nest, my home.

HELENE

TONE
 I have made a layout with pictures of Daniel from the cabin on our boat trip to Denmark, Summer 2007. I have interpreted the task as this was our "home" for the night.
And of course waves on the theme on my layout reflects the waves in the picture.

KAT
I was inspired by the rows of houses, the colours, wavy lines and 'home' theme. I've scrapped an advertisement flyer of our first home that I kept from our first inspection.

ANGELIKA
I was inspired by the cute houses on wavy lines.

JANE
Inspired by the colours of brown, red, blue, green and yellow and the little houses.

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.

Sunday 11 December 2016

November winners / December tutorial ...

I will be announcing our November winners shortly but first I would like to introduce you to our December Tips, Tricks and Techniques brought to you this month by team member Angelika Ushakova.


Hi everyone! 

I'm so happy to be sharing my first ever process video! I've always wanted to make one and thought this was the perfect opportunity! I've also included some close ups of my layout and a description of my process. Enjoy!


My idea and inspiration was the row of houses. Seeing as the challenge was to do a project about home, I decided to do a layout about when we first moved into our condo.

   

 The Crate Paper Cute Girl collection was perfect for this layout. I picked out a bunch of chipboard houses, puffy sticker houses, a few fussy cut houses and even a rubber accent house. I also stamped a bunch of houses, painted them with watercolours and cut them out. This creates a variety of textures and dimension in the layout but keeps it all tied together. 

 

 I drew then stitched a bunch of wavy lines on the paper. I love stitching on paper- it gives the most unique texture.

 

I love making long titles using a variety of alphas, mini alphas, and foam work stickers. Using mini alphas helps to make the whole thing fit, and the size difference creates a nice contrast. 

 

   I used a variety of methods to frame my photos- 2 got frames underneaths, one got a woodgrain pattern paper mat and one got a layer of acetate tucked in beside it. I didn't want to cover up my photos with the frames so I layered them underneath.

   

 Another thing I like to do on my layouts it customizing embellishments. That Sweet acetate piece had "girl" written underneath but I just wanted the sweet part so I cut it apart. I doodled on that love chipboard banner. I also embossed one wood veneer banner and painted another one. Both wood  pieces are Crate Paper Hello Love.

   

Tangled thread tucked under embellishments is a fun whimsical touch that gives texture and dimension. Splatters of paint, beads, sequins, tiny stickers, etc add the last final touches.


I hope you enjoyed watching and reading about my process. Please let me know if you have any questions about anything that I did, about any products I used, etc. And please come visit me on my blog at www.silhouetteangelika.com to see more of my projects!

 xoxo A


now onto our November winners .....

 Christel is our winner of the prize pack from Kaisercraft.

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


Our random draw winner of a lovely prize goes to  #6 Karen B

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. 

We have two Creative Team highlights from last month -  Mary and Anna.   They will each receive a little surprise something from me.




Please 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.

Thursday 1 December 2016

And December rolls on in ...

Welcome to our very last challenge of the year - and what a topsy turvy year it has been.  The days and weeks and months just seem to move at an incredible pace - you no sooner take down the Christmas tree then you are putting it all back up again! Yet December always reminds me of home - of time spent with family and friends and remembering happy times so we thought our painting this month should reflect this.

Let me introduce you to Neighbourhood by Lisa Frances Judd.  Our criteria this month is HOME - whatever that means to you.


CRITERIA - HOME, whatever that means to you.

A little about Lisa Frances Judd ...

Lisa is a self employed Australian Visual Artist and lives in beautiful Blue Mountains of NSW.  She crates, who creates whimsical and joyful artworks that really make you smile. Her works of original paintings and art prints can be found in many art collections and homes around the world. 


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

LIZZY
I've created an A4 page. Also using the curves and the colours. I wanted this page to convey how much we love where we live.

MARIA
I like to do a theme of winter in December. Houses, winter, snow drifts and the kid - it's my inspiration today! Winter turned out well with the help of stamps, embossing and topping.

TRACEY
He is my home.....corney but true.

SUE
Inspired by the houses. My granddaughter playing with their playhouse.

ELAINE
The painting led me to do my layout across the page. I also liked the earthly colours of the painting even with different colours involved and it suited my photo perfectly. We love our camping trips and our camper is definitely a home away from home. And this time of the year, means holidays and camping trips.

KAREN
My inspiration has come from the curves in the painting and home is the UK where this photo was taken of this cute little boy.


Over to you ......

Please upload the DIRECT link to your actual entry with the link tool on the LEFT by 11.55pm on December 31st, 2016.  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. 


Due to a family vacation we won't be announcing our November winners or introducing our ARTastic 3T's - Tips, Tricks and Techniques for December until 11th of December

Saturday 26 November 2016

November highlights ...

I hope you are having some crafty time to yourself over the weekend and find a few spare minutes to do a page for our November vintage style challenge.  We love the entries we have so far but there is always room for a few more :) - some lovely prizes on offer.

Here are just a couple that have caught our eye over previous weeks.

Margaret

Heidi

Laura

There are still a few of days left to get in your entry and be in the running for some wonderful prizes - we'd love to see your take on our inspiration.

Tuesday 22 November 2016

Welcome to our November guest ...

Please welcome our wonderful guest designer this month, Amanda Hartmann with her delightful layout inspired by our artwork and vintage challenge for November.

Inspired by the colours of the painting and used an old photo of my grandmother on her wedding day!
Hi, I'm Amanda. I have been scrapbooking for many years, as evidenced by my well-organised large stash and shelves full of albums! My life is always about the balance and juggle – as I divide time between my gorgeous family (husband and 3 girls), my rewarding work (full time as a Speech Pathologist) and my "me" time (Scrapbooking and Jujitsu).
I have worked on a variety of Design Teams as well as Teams for challenge blogs over the years and have been published in Scrapbooking Memories. I love to use patterned papers, but also combining mixed media to create interesting backgrounds. Embellishment clusters are part of my signature style!
INSTAGRAM:@amandahartmann8

Here are a few of my favourite pages ...




Thank you so much for being part of the team this month Amanda.

Remember ...

Artwork by Hilda Rix Nicholas called The Summer House. 
CRITERIA - VINTAGE style

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.

Friday 18 November 2016

Our November tutorial ...

Good Morning Friends,

It's me An'Jenic from An'Jenic Creative Space here to share a fun and easy tutorial with you all.  I wanted to create a Christmas gift for a loved one. Because let's face it the holidays are rolling in faster than you can blink your eyes. And with the holidays comes less time in the day. I know with me working, school, and the girls life it is so busy that I don't have time for much of anything. So I wanted to start on my Christmas gifts. I had this old frame I picked up and wanted to alter it. I knew the perfect picture. It's an old picture of my parents back in the 90s. It's fun to see old pictures of my parents. Here in this picture, they haven't changed much. They are sill beautiful as ever. Let's get started!!!

I decided to share with you all a step by step by creating in a college of what I did. Starting from the top row and going across to the right and down to the end.


Step1: Start by altering any frame you having using any medium. I chose Tim Holz distress ink. I really love the look of the distress ink on the wood. But again you can use any medium.

Picture #2 is just a close up of the frame fully covered with distress ink.

Step 2: Decide on which paper you would like on the inside of the frame. If you do not have a shadow box you can skip to the fun part of decorating just the frame itself or create a simple look by just adding flat items to your frame and leave the glass out like I did HERE. If you would like other ideas of how to altered frames visit me HERE and HERE on my blog. However, in this case, will decorating the inside of our framed box. 

Step 3: Distress the paper. You do not have to do this. I did because I wanted a vintage look.

Step 4: Mat photo using cardstock. I pick black because it will help my photo stand out against the other colors in the background and against the embellishments. 

Step 5: After matting the photo, glue down and begin to decorate around the photo. I decide to add a deer behind and just a tab bit in front of the photo. I love the 3D look it gives the deer. 

Step 6: Add other embellishments 

Step 7: You're done!!! Woo Hoo one easy gift down and ready to be wrapped. 

Well, one more final step. lol 

Step 8: Don't forget to take pictures of your hard work!!

Here's a full picture. I really love the way it turned out!! 


Thanks for visiting and Happy Crafting An'Jenic!! 

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.

Tuesday 15 November 2016

Our mid month reveal ...

Welcome to our mid month reveal.

This month we feature The Summer House by Hilda Rix Nicholas.

CRITERIA - VINTAGE style

Vintage can be as simple as using some oldie worldie style papers and adding in some lace or ribbon, flowers and buttons or if you love working in a vintage style, the sky really is the limit.

MARY
I love vintage, but found it hard to photograph this . I think it looks better IRL. I was inspired by the two ladies and the hat. This is a photo of my two aunts (sisters) . They were at my eldest brothers wedding , hats must have been the go back then, as all the guests had hats on !

TONE
 I was inspired by the blue and wood.

ANNA
I have used the colors and the orange flowers from the painting as inspiration. I am not a vintage person so this is really a challenge for me but I think I have got it a bit vintage yet with the doiley, buttons and flowers.

KAREN
My inspiration has come from the vintage feel of the painting and the colours.

ANGELIKA
My inspiration was the pastel colour- particularly the pink, and the vintage style. The vintage ladies inspired the choice of paper. I tried to bring out the light, airy feel of the painting in my layout.

KAT
Vintage is also hard for me so I have gone for a card as well........I was inspired by the colours (lots of teal with pops of blue, pink and orange), the flowers and the lattice pattern.

JANE

I was drawn to the colours in this artwork and added in touches of vintage with buttons, pearls, twine, butterflies and a prominent daisy.

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 November Guest Designer.

Tuesday 8 November 2016

October winners ...

Our November Tips, Tricks and Techniques brought to you by team member An'Jenic will go up a little later in the month - for now onto our October winners .....

#8 Helen is our unanimous winner of the prize pack from Kaisercraft. We all just loved your album of classy ladies Helen - it lifted our hearts!

# 10 Chilli Pip is our winner of the prize pack from Mystical Scrapbooks with this perfect page of pink - just delightful.

Our random draw winner of a lovely prize donated by Kat Gray goes to #15 The Scrap Attack with her very sweet page.

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. 

We have two Creative Team highlights from last month -  An'Jenic and Karen. They will each receive a little surprise something from me.



Please 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.