Challenge #9 - Ring out the Old, Bring in the New

Hello Everyone!

Anne here and I am your hostess this for this month's challenge here at Anything But Cute. Thank you so much for all your fantastic entries to our December challenge, it was wonderful to see how the challenge inspired you! There must be some delighted recipients of happy mail out there! Don't forget to check back with us next Tuesday, the 12th, when Niki and the team announce the winners of the 'You've Got Happy Mail' challenge. Now on to this month's theme.

If you are anything like me, you will will no doubt receive crafty gifts for Christmas and Birthdays each year, some of which may remain unused for many months or even years.... I think a few of you might be nodding yes!   I felt inspired to create a challenge to deal with that very issue, and I hope the challenge will inspire you to use some of that new stash too!

RING OUT THE OLD, BRING IN THE NEW

To celebrate the New Year, we would like you to create a mixed media card or project using something 'new', perhaps you got some fabulous new craft item for Christmas or you have something new that you have not used yet - just remember to tell us what the new item is! 

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And now for some inspiration from the talented Anything But Cute design team!

Anne - Redanne

For my birthday and Christmas this year I received some beautiful Sandra Evertson Archival Casts, by Prima and I really wanted to use this beautiful Archangel.  It just seemed right to create a shrine for the Archangel . I used Andy Skinner's mega crackle technique to create the shrine and I also used my new Tim Holtz flower punch to create some flowers to decorate the shrine.  You can find more detail on my blog.

Branka - Vintage Handmade

Happy New Year! I have used some of my new Amsterdam acrylic paints in creating this vintage art journal page. I have also used my fluorescent oil pastels, Distress stains, Inktense pencils, Dylusions sprays, some stamps and embellishments. 

Cec - CW Card Creations

I have used new tags that my husband brought home when he cleared out his desk last week and retired :).  The tags are all inked with some new distress inks, stenciled and stamped.  I have also added some altered metal, painted cardboard and dyed fibres.

Niki - Pawsitively Creative Crafts

All of the art supplies I used are NEW. This is also a new look for me, as I have never made a "white space" design that actually turned out okay. I have used my new LSG Magicals, new modeling paste, new rope, new micro beads and so much more! Such a fun nautical tag all designed around the heart knot. Just learned how to tie the heart rope knot today. Carpe Diem to 2016! Hugz!

Pamellia - My Little Craft Things

For my something new, I have made this New Years canvas with some products I had on hand that I have never used, as well as some new products that I got for Christmas. For the tutorial portion of my project this month, I have put together a video of how I made my canvas. I do hope you enjoy.

Canvas Series 101 - New Years Fireworks 

Samra - Paper Talk with Samra

I used a Spellbinders Sentiment 5 die I got for Christmas from my son :) Of course, I added lots of texture paste, paint and clay mold embellishments to fit into our challenge mixed media style, but still kept it quite Shabby Chic.

Sara Emily - sarascloset

Happy New Year! To make a monetary gift wallet I used my never-before-used-by-me but not so new deer dies, inks, paints, Crackle paint, embossing powders, and glitter. Please stop by my blog for details on how I made this snowy scene and how I kept the "bucks" from falling out.

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In the short time I have been a member of this team I have seen some truly inspirational work by my talented team-mates and this month is no exception. 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 get out some of that new stash, or stash you have squirreled away and forgotten about and create a project for this challenge... please do remember to tell us what that new item is.

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 lucky mixed media newcomer. We all have to start somewhere, right?

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

Don't forget - We are looking for a 'new' PRODUCT.
not a 'new' technique, products only please.

An InLinkz Link-up

Introducing Anne

Hello Everyone!

It is with great pleasure I am here today, as I am introducing the newest member to the Anything But Cute design team. I have been following Anne's work for some time now and not only have I been lucky enough to get to know her amazing work, but I have been even luckier to get to know what a wonderful woman she is! Please hang around and learn a little bit more about this spectacular artist and see some of her outstanding mixed media creations! I am so honoured and thrilled to welcome...

Anne Redfern - Redanne

Hello Everyone! My name is Anne Redfern (or Redanne as I am known in Blogland). Since emigrating from Canada 40 years ago I have lived in the beautiful County of Cheshire in England.

I have always loved crafting, in any form, be it sewing, knitting or papercrafting.  I also share my DH's passion for model railways (we are planning to build one from scratch). About 6 years ago I took early retirement after a long and rewarding career in Human Resources. Since the family had long flown the nest, I was tempted, after seeing a demo in a Craft shop, to buy a Big Shot and a couple of dies and the rest, as they say, is history! My latest love is mixed media and although I have only fairly recently dipped my toes into this amazing form of art, I really am completely hooked!

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Anne has picked out a few of her favourite mixed media projects to share with us today. Her creativity just blows me away and her ability to creature texture is absolutely incredible! Every project is unique and truly a work of art!

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This is my most favourite project ever, ever! I just love building 3D projects and this one is constructed from two Artist Trading Blocks. I love how a few paints and mediums can create a true rusty and aged appearance on plain white card - it just fascinates me....

This little binder album was created using a faux wood technique, taught to me by my exceptionally talented friend Jenny (Buttons). Rust features quite heavily too both inside and out, something I think I have a slight obsession with! 

This 5" x 5" canvas was an absolute joy to make, I just love using pastes to create lots of texture.  I adore creating underwater scenes, they feature heavily in my work and this is one of my favourites.

I am truly inspired by the work of Andy Skinner and this Valentine block was made using his faux letterpress technique and lots of DecoArt products. It is perhaps a more 'pretty' result than Andy's style but I am happy with that. The flower is handmade, another passion of mine but one that has not been used much lately.

I absolutely adore Halloween and this was a project I did in an on-line class with Richele Christensen over a number of weeks.  It is chock full of wonderful techniques that I still use today.  This project really gave me the confidence to delve more into the wonderful world of mixed media.

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Well, I think you will agree that Anne is a mixed media genius and I am just so excited to see what she comes up with for our challenges! She is going to be a wonderful source of knowledge and inspiration!!

Please come and visit us again on Thursday, November 5th when we start our next challenge, and don't forget to hit that Follow button while you're here!

Thanks for visiting and Happy Crafting!

Pamellia :)