Challenge #4 - August - Making Magic

Hello Everyone!

Georgie here and I am your hostess this for this month's challenge here at Anything But Cute. We were pleased that so many of you joined us last month and you certainly pulled out all the stops to make some stunning beach and romantic projects. Don't forget to check back with us Wednesday when Samra and the team announce the winners of the Summer Romance Challenge. Now on to this month's theme.

MAKING MAGIC

Most of us are drawn to the magic of fairy tales and fantasy. The colours are often hypnotic and your mind is free to explore outside the limits of reality. For this challenge, I would like you to create a magical mixed media project strongly inspired by the moodboard. Be inspired by the theme, the colours, the textures or all three. Lets bring a little magic back!

***

OUR SPECIAL GUEST DESIGNER - TRACY EVANS

Last month we gave out a very special award for Outstanding Technique to a talented artist Tracy Evans. You can see her award winning piece HERE. Tracy is the queen of texture and every one of her projects is so full of amazing colours and techniques! A big welcome to Tracy, we are so honoured to have you here with us today. Now for a few words from Tracy...

I would like to thank Pamellia and the team for inviting me along to be a Guest, I am hugely thrilled and honoured to be amongst so many talented artists.

I loved Georgie’s challenge theme this month, “Making Magic” which conjures up so many thoughts, especially when combined with the imagery, colours and textures in the mood board. Once I saw the mood board I was hugely inspired by the colours, textures and gold highlights. The first thing that hit me was the bottom middle picture, it looks like the texture from leaves to me, and that is, as they say where my piece began. I included a leaf from my garden which adds texture and life to my piece, nestled in the backdrop amongst layers of texture and paint. The droplets in the picture inspired my use of a glue gun in my magical piece and I added touches of gold, dry brushed over the whole canvas to give a touch of opulence and light to the design. The browns, turquoise and greens showcased in the mood board greatly inspired my colour choices achieved from DecoArt Paints and Lindy’s Stamp Gang Sprays which give a real touch of shimmer to my design.  

Tracy Evans - Craft Addicts

The mood board also conjured up thoughts of secret forests and hidden treasures for me and the facial image in the mood board inspired me to add a Sandra Evertson Relic piece for centre stage, which I aged with DecoArt products. Finally I added a feather to the background, applying Crackle Paste through a stencil, again inspired by the imagery in the mood board. The sprays, layers of paint, texture, shimmer and a touch of the garden really add a touch of magic for me and remind me of my garden which is a daily inspiration for my art.

Wow, thank you so much Tracy, your project is absolutely stunning!! And now for some inspiration from the wonderful Anything But Cute design team.

***

Georgie - Little Blue Craft Box

I love the idea of the magical fantasy fairytale world, the creative possibilities are absolutely endless!  For my canvas, I was inspired by Gabrielle Pollacco's work, how she layers her pieces and uses colour. I used Dusty Attic chipboard, Lindy's Sprays, stencils and a good heap of black gesso.

***

Branka - Vintage Handmade

Inspired by Georgie's amazing mood board I decided to try myself in Finnabair's style so I pulled out my canvas, my crackle paste, a stencil, a lot of sprays, some metal embellishments, my paints, some wood pieces, golden mica paste and started to create this without any particular idea of the final result. 

***

Cec - CW Card Creations

I decided to try to channel my inner Finnabair and create a collage.  I saw one she did with a paint brush and thought I would make that my focal point and create a different layout.  To make this I used texture paste, stencils, fibers, flowers, buttons, metal bits along with electrical components my husband donated to the cause and wooden letters he cut for me on his new laser cutting machine.  Everything is coated with lots of paints and ink sprays.

***

Niki - Pawsitively Creative Crafts

To me, Knowledge is magic. It opens the doors to so many wonderful adventures and the most magical adventures I have had the pleasure of taking, are usually through a book. That is how I came up with my design for this month, and it is actually my first altered book. I used the colors and the feel of Georgie's magical mood board. I even incorporated the water drop details by using Glossy Accents. 

***

Samra - Paper Talk with Samra

I could have gone in so many directions with this gorgeous mood board, but what caught my eye instantly were the face partially covered with gold and the moss in the woods, so I decided to create a mask partially covered with rustic gold glass glitter and a mossy background card. Yes, this is a card!

***

Sara Emily - sarascloset

I was really inspired by Georgie's  Making Magic theme this month!  I just  reached in my stash and pulled out everything that sparkled and got to work!  I'll show you how I took this yard sale plaque from start to finish using paint, embossing powder, texture paste, metallic rubs, and the kitchen sink to make some magic! 

***

Wow, what an amazing line up of creations from our design team! I am proud to call these gals my teamies! Please hop over to the team blogs to see more photos and get some details on how these projects were made. And don't forget to leave some bloggy love while you're there.

I hope that we have inspired you to head to your craft room and pull out those magical inks, paints and embellishments! The winner will receive the honour of being our Guest Designer for an upcoming challenge!

Here at Anything But Cute we just love to see all the seasoned and expert mixed media artists, but we also want to encourage those who are just getting their feet wet. Our design team will always be on the lookout for these exceptional projects and artists. You just never know when we might be giving out something special to a talented mixed media newcomer. We all have to start somewhere, right?

Challenge runs until September 4th - we can't wait to see what you come up with! Be sure to review our guidelines. Happy Crafting from the entire team and thanks for visiting Anything But Cute!

An InLinkz Link-up