September 3T's and some August winners ...

I will be announcing our August winners shortly but first I would like to introduce you to our next edition of Tips, Tricks and Techniques for 2015 this month presented by yours truly, Jane Howden.

Easy banner notches

Banners are still really popular on scrapbook layouts but getting those notches equal and square can sometimes be tricky.  Here are a couple of tips for getting them right ... every time.

Do you have a square punch sitting in your stash unloved and rarely used?  Pull it out and put it to work making some perfect notches.

This technique will work for smaller banner widths.  Insert your paper or cardstock strip into the side of the punch.  Line up the middle of the strip so the V point sits in the middle of the strip.  Punch.  Turn and repeat.  Result is lovely neat notches.

Don't have a square punch? ... not to worry here is another simple method for achieving wonderful notches.

Take your paper or card strip and with right side facing you (the side you want to see on your page) gentle roll the paper so the sides come together.  Don't press too hard as you want them just held together not creased.

Use your scissors to cut at an angle across your strip.

Perfect notches !!

Here are a couple of layouts I created using these techniques.

and now onto our August winners .....

Thank you everyone for playing along with us last month - we were overwhelmed with all the beautiful, inspiring entries we received. 

Jasmine Shea is our winner of the prize pack from Flourish with a Bling. 

Sandra Scott is our winner of the prize pack from Mystical Scrapbooks.

Our random draw winner of a lovely prize donated by DT member Deb Kupfer is #18 Kris

Congratulations ladies.

Could the winners please contact me 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 Deb Kupfer.  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. 

It's September on ARTastic ...

Welcome to a new month - let's say Hello to Spring - guess we are officially on the downhill run to Christmas - now there's a cheery thought for us all :)  

This month we hope to inspire you with this delightful painting by William Knox called Arabian Scene.

CRITERIA is a free scrap (anything goes) but we need to know what inspired you (sails, sand, buildings, colours, shapes, location etc).

A little about William Knox

William Dunn Knox was born in Adelaide in 1880.

He studied at the National Gallery of Victoria where he won a coveted prize for drawing. In 1918 he became a member of the Victorian Artists Society and later a member of the society’s council. In 1919 he became a member of the Australian Artists’ Association with whom he held his first solo exhibition.and as a businessman became the. manager of the Eagle and Globe Steel Co.  Knox Plein Aire painting followed the tradition of the Heidelberg painters. Most of his paintings started as sketches or colour notes done on location and were later finished in his Heidelberg studio. In the 1929 catalogue forward to his exhibition Streeton wrote ‘there is something alluring and almost lyrical about many of Mr Knox’s small paintings'.  

Knox became a founding member of the Australian Academy of Art, formed in 1937, an anti-modernist group chaired by the then attorney general, Robert Menzies.  His works are represented in the National Art Gallery, Canberra, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, museums and art galleries of the Northern Territory, Art Museum Armidale, Bendigo Art Gallery, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Castlemaine Art Gallery

William Knox died in Melbourne in 1945.

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

JO

 I was inspired by the ocean, boats and colours.


LIZZY

I was totally inspired by the DESIGN used by William Knox, and used this to create a sketch for my page.

I've included my 'sketch' as well, just so you can all see how I've used the art piece:)

DEB

My inspiration firstly came from the colours and the sky, sea and sand which determined my background.  I also took inspiration from the boat and the shape of the sails.

ELAINE

The thing that struck me first when I saw this painting was the colours. They weren’t bright but rather

olden looking and I loved the feel it gave, a peaceful, loving feeling. So I picked up those colours

for my inspiration and came up with this page of my husband with our youngest. The love and peace

between these two is beautiful. I’ve used the quote to double up as my title.

HELENE

I was inspired by the colors, the sand and the sea.

WENDY

I was inspired by the exotic location of the artwork. The Arabian theme of William Knox’s piece made me think of a visit to Morocco many years ago. It was such an interesting, unusual holiday and, every time I look at my photos, I can almost smell the spices at the souks (open air markets). The colours in the inspirational artwork are beautiful – the browns, beige and vivid blues. I used this as a guide for the colour palette of my layout.  

And now it is your turn ......

Please upload the DIRECT link to your actual entry with the link tool on the LEFT by 11.55pm on September 30th, 2015.  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.  

 You may combine our challenge with a sketch and a product/technique challenge (so two additional challenges).  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 pop back on the 8th for The ARTastic 3T's - Tips, Tricks and Techniques brought to you this month by myself. 

Our August winners will also be announced at this time so please make sure you call past.

Welcome to our August guest designer ...

Amy Prior with her take on this month's inspiration.  If ever there was a Queen of backgrounds Amy is that special person.  Her detail and colour combination is truly astonishing and this layout is no exception.  We asked for backgrounds that stand out and this one fits that brief in spades!

 

Where you can find Amy - 

Website is www.amyprior.com

Facebook is www.fb.com/amypriorcom

and here are some more examples of her work ...

Thank you for joining us this month Amy.  We have loved having you inspire us.

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.

Our mid August reveal ...

Welcome to our mid month reveal.   We are working with this amazing painting by Kirra Jamison called Over The Moon.   

CRITERIA is all about the background - use stencils, gesso, paint, ink, texture ... whatever you want to make those backgrounds a feature of your page.

Be inspired by our team ...

STINA

I have made a card for this month´s challenge and made the background myself. I started by misting the paper with different tones of pink and purple. After that I put some water drops on. Then I stamped with different kind of stampes and finally I used a mask and some modeling paste to make the flowers.

WENDY

Just like the inspirational artwork I was "over the moon" to catch up with family from overseas and interstate over Easter. We had such a fun few days at our house. In keeping with the celebratory nature of the occasion, I kept my colour palette lighter than that used in the inspirational artwork. I did, however, use lots of stamping and stencilling to create texture on the background. I also included several photos on the page to show how much fun was had by both young and old(er).

TONE-LILL

I just love this month's inspiration picture, it was the Black and White patterns that inspired me and the owl made me think of "free spirit" and this photo of my son. It was such great fun to work on a simple page just using strips of patterned papers and washi tape.

DI

I was inspired by the dark background and twinkle of stars (as well as a favourite bird of mine). I've used a black and white photo of one of my little tawny frogmouths and placed this on a black background. The leaves have been stencilled with modelling paste (mother of pearl colour). I've added gemstones to represent stars and bursts of flowers simillar to those that are on the tree in These have been drawn with a silver sharpie.

LESLEY

I really enjoyed layering this journal cover, I used stamps, template, inks and paints to blend the colours and give a depth of texture. I loved the dark colours used in our inspiration piece and hoe even with all the busy the owl stood out. What messy fun!

JANE

I used various digital techniques to build up my background and then was inspired by the sweet owl to document a memory from my own childhood.

Now it is your turn, we'd love to see what you can do ...

 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 a new entry for our challenge and you are most welcome to combine with a maximum of two additional challenges.  We offer two prizes determined by team vote and one other prize purely chosen 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 August guest designer, the super talented and very creative Amy Prior.

August 3T's and some July winners ...

I will be announcing our July winners shortly but first I would like to introduce you to our next edition of Tips, Tricks and Techniques for 2015 presented by our very creative team member, Deb Kupfer.

DELI WRAP by Deb Kupfer

When I created my art journal page for this month’s challenge, I had beside me a piece of deli paper.

As I worked on my page, I repeated some of the steps I had done in the journal, onto the sheet of deli paper and ended up with some gift wrap.

I did some stamping with black stazon ink on the journal page then onto the deli paper…….

Then some doodling with a permanent waterproof marker……..

Added some colour using inktense blocks (blue and mustard) and a grey gelato.  I applied one colour at a time  eg the blue sections first then the mustard followed by the grey and wiped over each section with a baby wipe.

A little more stamping with a script stamp and splatters of mist……

Putting the journal aside for a bit and working on the deli paper, I scrumpled it into a ball, straightened it out and lightly swiped the stazon ink pad over the top just to catch the top of the crumples and there was my deli wrapping paper.

Then using a chipboard owl, I traced the pieces and made 2 from patterned paper……..one for my journal page in similar colours to this month’s  inspiration art work and the other to use as a gift tag with the wrap……..

These are just so adorable Deb, I hope everyone enjoys using them on their pages.  

and now onto our July winners .....

  Thank you everyone for playing along with us last month - we were overwhelmed with all the wonderful entries.  

 Debi Clark is our winner of the prize pack from Flourish with a Bling. 

Jasmine Shea is our winner of the prize pack from Mystical Scrapbooks.

Our random draw winner of a lovely prize donated by DT member Jo Tritton is Marie-Christine Denis.

Congratulations ladies.

Could the winners please contact me 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 Lizzy Hill with this stunning page.  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.

Somehow July became August ...

Welcome to August and our final month of winter - here's to warmer days to come :)  

This month we hope to inspire you with this amazing painting by Kirra Jamison called Over The Moon.  The background of this painting is simply astonishing and we wanted to inspire you to create one of your own so this month our CRITERIA is all about the background - use stencils, gesso, paint, ink, texture ... whatever you want to make those backgrounds a feature of your page.

A little about Kirra Jamison -

Kirra Jamison is an Australian artist born in 1982 in Sydney. Kirra grew up in Byron Bay and is currently Melbourne based. Selected solo exhibitions include, Love me two times, Linden Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2011); Surrender Star, Firstdraft, Sydney (2010); Slow down, you move too fast, Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne (2009); Dreamweaver, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane (2009); Crying Wolf, Museum of Brisbane (2007);Pretty Faults and Petty Concerns, Ryan Renshaw Gallery, Brisbane (2006). Group shows include The Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery (2011), Recent Acquisitions, New Castle Regional Art Gallery (2008),neo goth back in black, University Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane (2008), Fresh Cut, Institute of Modern, Brisbane (2006). In 2011 Kirra received a new work grant from the Australia Council and in 2007 she was the recipient of an Anne and Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship.

http://kirrajamison.com/

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

LIZZY

My inspiration came from the background on this art piece. I love the black and white contrast! I've used black gesso because white pens work MUCH better on gesso than cardstock!

JO

 I've used heaps of inks/sprays, stamps, paper, stencils, whipped spackle, Structure, and lace on the background. My owl is hand drawn by me.

ELAINE

I loved the stars all over the background and chose to use this as my inspiration for my page using flowers instead.  I used ink to colour my modelling paste and after I had stencilled my flowers I left the mask on and splattered the ink on top as well.  I used washi tape in the corner to create a background for my little flower cluster.

DEB

The artwork inspired me to use an owl on my journal page in similar colours.    On the background I’ve  included doodling, stamping, paint, inks and paper.

HELENE

I used three different masks to create some extra flowers and branches on the background. I dabbed with acrylic paint and highlighted them with a black pen.

MARY

I decided to use the page from my Art Book that I was using for left over paint etc as my background. It's a crazy, messy background with leftover mist from a stencil,  paint, texture paste ,tissue paper , and even scraps of pattern paper and painted backgrounds. The little pieces of torn up tissue paper were sent to me from my pen pal, so I added that to the Chaos as well

And now it is your turn ......

Please upload the DIRECT link to your actual entry with the link tool on the LEFT by 11.55pm on August 31st, 2015.  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.  

 You may combine our challenge with a sketch and a product/technique challenge (so two additional challenges).  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 pop back on the 8th for The ARTastic 3T's - Tips, Tricks and Techniques brought to you this month by our  wonderfully talented team member, Deb Kupfer. 

Our July winners will also be announced at this time so please make sure you call past.