Feature Artist - Rustic Glam - Welcome Joi!

Hello Everyone!

Branka here and I am completely thrilled to introduce you to our Feature Artist for November, the lady who was the winner of my 'Friendship' challenge in September. Please welcome Joi from Joi@RR.

Joi is an incredibly talented mixed media artist and a wonderful lady! Each piece of her fantastic artwork is full of passion, love and amazingly beautiful colors! I encourage you to visit her blog to see how brilliantly she combines rich textures, yummy colors and so many fabulous techniques! Joi loves to share her techniques on her blog and she is one super inspirational lady!

I am so excited about the project she created for our current challenge Rustic Glam. This spectacular piece of art is just perfect for Niki's challenge theme and it really showcases Joi's unique and marvelous style in art! Feast your eyes on this absolutely beautiful creation!

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Howdy from Joi@RR.  

Today is a particularly happy day for me because I am a Featured Artist here on the Anything But Cute Challenge Blog.  
Can you see my silly smile right now???!! 

 Month after month, without fail, I entered the ABC challenge - hoping. Why? Because it's one of my favorite places to be. They are such a sweet group of folks, super DT artists with fun mixed media challenges.  And then, finally it happened, last month... 
I WON the challenge!!!  Yippie Aye Ohhhh!!!

Ok...YES... admitting to a happy jig. :)

I'm a mixed media artist. If you have an inkling to know more about me visit: joi-at-ranch-art.com!

This month the Anything But Cute Challenge is RUSTIC GLAM.
There's still TIME to participate in this yummy challenge here.

At our ranch, rustic is undeniable! But glam? Well... a yellow flower on a cactus is glam!  A new baby calf is glam!  A deer resting in the pasture is glam! Heheheh - it's likely my definition of glam is much different than Niki, the hostess, had in mind for this challenge! However... if you have seen my artwork, you know that I love a bit of glitter, glitz and pizzazz . . .  so, without any further ado . . . welcome to my RUSTIC GLAM creation.  

I began with a 12" x 30" rustic piece of barn wood. 

Using a stencil for the lettering; I drew in the design by hand. 

And began painting in all my little designs with DecoArt Media Black Gesso. My liner brush by Dynasty sure helped! 

Here is the RUSTIC part before the GLAM arrived on the scene.  Oh, my stars . . . those trees are crooked.  Ok, Joi - just don't think about that . . . perfection not needed . . . proceed forth to the finish!

I had drawn in a double layer of mountains and thought it would be fun to use some type of texture there - maybe even a stamped texture. I had been humming the song Silent Night and decided the project needed some music - right?! 

I found lovely music in the Victorian Romance Deco-Page paper set by DecoArt Americana.  I tore the notes and placed them using DecoArt Media Matte Medium. After they were dry, I went back around the edges with some Titan Buff Fluid Acrylic to make it look a bit more unified with the line of the mountain ridge.

The open tree needed a bit of glam, too. I stamped one of the Susan K Weckesser Unity Journal Doodles inside.

Remember, a deer resting in the pasture is glam. How could I not include one??! Out came an old stencil that has no name any more and an ARTplorations Christmas Reindeer too. 

To bring my deer to life . . . . here is a fun concoction of DecoArt Media Texture Sand Paste and Carbon Black Fluid Acrylic paint - YUMMY! 

For a bit more shimmer, I used DecoArt Metallic Lustre on the trees and across parts of the background. It's very hard to see in this picture, but it definitely added some glitz to the rustic wood!  

For transforming my tipsy trees... I chose DecoArt's Snow Writer.  It's so amazing to play with this snowy wonder.

The moon just seemed to need a bit more glam so cheese cloth mesh was added with matte medium.

Last but not least... the wild splish-splash of DecoArt Glamour Dust - black ice & ice crystal - from top to bottom!

Here are the products used for this rustic winter wonderland glam.

And a few close-ups!

Wishing each of you a calm and bright Thanksgiving and Christmas season . . . with hugs. j.

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WOW, what an exquisite piece of art this is! How can you not be inspired by this stunner to join in with our Rustic Glam challenge! Thank you so much Joi for such a great inspiration! It has been an honor having you here with us today!

You have until the 4th of December to play - and you'll find all the challenge details as well as lots of inspiration from the brilliant Anything But Cute design team by clicking on the challenge link.

Happy Crafting
Branka xx

Winners - Challenge #17 - Friendship

Hello, everyone! Branka here and firstly I would like to say a huge thank you to those who entered our 'Friendship' challenge! I am totally amazed at how many beautiful and wonderfully creative entries we received! Choosing one winner and a runner-up was a huge dilemma for me but after much debate in my had, I have chosen the winner:

WINNER - #17 - Joi@RR

This canvas completely stole my heart! Joi has created an unique piece of art full of passion, love and good thoughts. Her use of those DecoArt media products is amazing and I really enjoyed watching her video! I love her fabulous colors and awesome drawing! This spectacular canvas is one of those creations that I would love to hang on my wall! 

Congratulations Joi!  Pamellia will be in touch by email to send you a personalized winner's badge and to provide details about being our Feature Artist for the next challenge.

RUNNER-UP - #14 - boozybear

Glenda's use of colors, layers and textures has totally blown my mind! She has managed to achieve some dreamy and magical effects with a wonderful combination of dark and light tones. I love her brilliant way to incorporate so many awesome elements together into such a beautiful composition! 

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Now let's have a look at our DT favourites:




Anne's Favourite - #10 Mary Elizabeth

I was completely touched and moved by Mary Elizabeth's remarkable post which is about the most wonderful friendship. Elements of that friendship are beautifully displayed and celebrated in this wonderful creation.

Autumn's Favourite - #4 Max from MAXymalnie Papierowo

I am an absolute sucker for messy (particularly neutral) layers!  This collage is so artistically combined and the focal image is the perfect resemblance of friendship.  The beautiful watercolor background sets the perfect stage for every gorgeous detail.  Max, I cannot wait to see more of your stunning work!

Lisa's Favourite - #10 Mary Elizabeth

Wow, not only was I blown away by the rustic beauty of Mary Elizabeth's gorgeous frame, but I was so inspired by her story of friendship and family and the meaning of the chair in the photo!! The details of her piece are amazing!!

Niki's Favourite - #15Cathy Potosky

I am so very intrigued about anyone having friends for a year, let along 40 or 25 years! That is amazing! These ladies sure know what friendship is all about. The texture on the wood and the stenciling is gorgeous. That blue and black tone with the rusty awesomeness is superb! Wowzers and wowzers!

Pamellia's Favourites

#3. Veronique

Not only this card gorgeous with tons of interesting bits and lots of texture that I would love to touch, but the tribute of Friendship toward an animal tugged at my heart strings! Veronique and Lily have a special friendship and she has showcased it beautifully with the lovely neutrals and that amazing photograph!! Well done!

13. Brenda Brown

I absolutely love everything about this page. The colours, the flowers and most of all that amazing poem about Friendship that rings so true. Dedicated to a recently lost friend, and inspired by all the things her friend loved, Brenda touched my heart with her creativity and her tribute.

Sara Emily's Favourite -#10-Mary Elizabeth

Not only did Mary Elizabeth create this beautiful rustic frame for our challenge, she wrote the most touching post about what true friendship is.  She didn't just write about it, she lived it! Wow! If you are having a bad day or not, you NEED to get over to her blog and read this post word for word. While you are there, take a look at her incredible techniques for creating that amazing wood panel frame and rusted #1 token.

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A huge congratulation everyone! Thank you so much to everyone who played along with us last month and don't forget to grab your badges! You earned them!!

There is still plenty of time to enter Autumn's current challenge 'An Autumn Day'! We can't wait to see what you come up with this time!

Hugs to all, from the 'Anything But Cute' Design Team

Challenge #17 - Friendship

Hello Everyone!

Branka here and I am your hostess this for this month's challenge here at Anything But Cute. First, I would like to thank everyone who participated in Lisa's amazing 'Shabby Garden Mood Board' challenge last month with all their fabulous shabby garden projects! It was a pleasure to see all your gorgeous entries! Don't forget to check back with us next Monday when Lisa and the team announce the winners of the 'Shabby Garden Mood Board' challenge. Now on to this month's theme.

I believe that friendship is one of the most important things in our life and that everyone needs a good friend to count on. We all have at least one really good friend who we love and cherish. So, this challenge theme is dedicated to our lovely friends.

FRIENDSHIP

Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between two or more people. We want you to show us a mixed media creation that's inspired by friendship. You can create anything, from tags to art journal pages but make sure it's a mixed media piece. Let's celebrate friendship together!

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

Anne - Redanne

Hmm, what has this got to do with friendship?  My lovely friend Sandy and I have been blog friends for a few years now and we love to send cards/projects/gifts to each other.  Sandy very kindly sent me the new Tim Holtz Village Manor die (how lucky am I!) and since we share a love of Halloween, I have made this little scene to send back to her, I hope she likes it!

Autumn - Sew Paper Paint

Very few people can say they have had a best friend since before they can remember, but I am in that lucky minority.  My friend Trish remembers our first meeting from kindergarten, when I can't remember that far back!  We've been thick as thieves since.  Good times and bad, she's stuck by my side and had my back.  My DT photo here at Anything But Cute comes from this pic of me happy as can be, because that's how I feel when we are together (and how I feel about being on this fabulous team).  <3

Branka - Vintage Handmade

Dogs are man's best friend. They are simply awesome and do all of the little things that put smiles on our faces. They give you love, support, understanding and most of all they are loyal. I decided to create an art journal page about our pet friends. I used an old book as a journal, some texture paste, my Decoart media products, a stencil, an old photo from Tim Holtz collection and some frames to create my project.

Lisa - A Mermaid's Crafts

I love Branka's theme of friendship! I created this textured reverse-canvas for one of my oldest friends, celebrating some of her favorite things: nature, flowers, owls and traveling! I included a clock to symbolize the duration of our friendship and incorporated her favorite colors of pink and blue!

Niki - Pawsitively Creative Crafts

While creating a new flower garden in the back yard, my friend and I discovered this hidden treasure. We decided to call it "Mortem Lectulo (latin for "death bed"). The outside is beautifully creepy but when we opened the coffin it revealed a delightful surprise. I believe this was made using chalky paint, distress paint, and some artisan powder la chapeliere and other things, but we are still investigating and researching this pixie coffin. Carpe Diem!

Sara Emily-sarascloset

What a lovely and timely theme chosen by our dear Branka! Since my little girl has headed off to college, I wanted to make her a photo frame to hold photos of her besties to keep on her desk. Until she chooses which photos to put in it, I thought I'd offer her a little freshman advice in the meantime. I altered this tiny folding frame (it's just 4 inches tall) using gesso, Distress paints, inks and sprays, and texture paste as my wet media. And as always, there's always two sides to every story. Check out the rest on my blog.

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Wow, what a truly inspirational and absolutely beautiful range of projects created by my super talented teamies! It's a feast for the eyes! 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 celebrate friendship with us and to create your wonderful mixed media piece that shows all the love for your dear friends! 

The winner will receive the honour of being our Feature Artist 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 October 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!

An InLinkz Link-up

WINNERS - Challenge #13 - Celebrate Your Style

Hello everyone! 

Pamellia and the entire design team here and we are back to announce the Winners and Runner-Ups from our first anniversary challenge "Celebrate Your Style". We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who entered our birthday challenge last month and supported us for our one year mark! It was so amazing to see all those gorgeous projects that were posted! You all put a lot of love into your fabulous creations and we are completely blown away by the variety of projects and creative ideas! 

As we tallied up the votes, it turned out that we had a three way tie for the winning spot and a two way tie for the runner-up. So without further ado (in no particular order)

WINNERS

Coco #18

Maria #68

Suzz #79

Congratulations to Coco, Mari and Suzz, you really impressed us with your projects!  Please contact Pamellia (pamellia1162@gmail.com) with your full name and mailing address to receive your Gift Vouchers. Deadline is June 25.

We would like to send out a special thank you to the sponsors who donated these wonderful Gift Vouchers and helped to make our Anniversary challenge one to remember:

THE FUNKIE JUNKIE BOUTIQUE:

Store - The Funkie Junkie Boutique

Blog - Frilly and Funkie Challenge Blog

Facebook - The Funkie Junkie Boutique

EMERALD CREEK:

Store - Emerald Creek Craft Supplies

Blog - Emerald Creek Dares

Facebook - Emerald Creek Craft

ALLEYSTAMP:
Store - Alleystamp

Etsy Store - Alleystamp

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And now on to our Runner Ups!

Aisha #34

Jenny #83

Congratulation Ladies! Your work is amazing!

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Random Prize Winners

27. Becca Cruger
54. Melissa SunshineHoneyBee
73. Paper Talk With Samra

We would like to thank Linda at the Funkie Junkie Boutique for donating a box of products for our random draw. I have divided it up into three packages, please contact me (pamellia1162@gmail.com) with your full name and mailing address to receive your prize. Deadline is June 25.

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Now let's have a look at our DT favourites:




Anne's Favourite - Ruth - No. 119

Ruth created the most beautiful textured background and the flowers are cleverly made with more beautiful mixed media backgrounds.  A stunning creation.

Autumn's Favourite - #116 Miranda

Miranda's genius mix of drawing and mixed media stole my heart!  This fabulous stylized owl is unbelievably cool and inspiring.  I am totally blown away with Miranda's drawing skills and use of color!

Branka's Favourite - #119 Ruth

I am really impressed by this fabulous canvas with amazing rich textures and breathtaķingly beautiful handmade flowers! It's a fantastic vintage looking make!

Lisa's Favourite - #67 Nikki

I am mesmerized by the gorgeous colors in Nikki's canvas!! I love how they go from bold stripes to a subtle, muted blend!! The butterfly is a perfect touch!! It's absolutely stunning!!

Niki's Favourite - #32-Lys

I was drawn to this gorgeous design by Lys because of the dark and gorgeous background and the texture! Bling, bling! I just wanted to reach out and touch this! Can you believe that the texture was created from potpourri!?! Talk about an upcycle and genius was to use a household item. Wowzers Lys!

Pamellia's Favourites -

93. Jane's Journal

Jane's tag hypnotized me with the amazing colours, and the black and white accents create such a whirlwind of contrast and interest, I LOVE the entire look! So dreamy!

128. boozybear

This layout is just incredible. One of those projects I wish I could reach into my computer screen and touch! So many wonderful products and they all work together in harmony!

20. Electra

I've never seen so many wonderful colours used together before! I would expect a jumbled mess, but instead, this gorgeous piece of art just shines! Well done!

Sara Emily's Favourite -#119-Ruth

The background on this canvas is mesmerizing--I wish I could reach out and touch the texture! To top it off, Ruth finished it in the most beautiful colors and topped it with handmade flowers cut from handmade mixed media papers. This is a must see up close, so be sure to pop by Ruth's blog!

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Honourable Mentions

2. MARYVONNE         16. Isle of Crafty         24. IRIT SHALOM         25. Cara

      

39. Asmah Zainal          48. Ann Chuang         52. Jane's Journal         59. Joi@RR

      

65. Mixed media lerret             81. Karen P              92. Elina              104. Ikemo

      

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A huge congratulation everyone! Thank you so much to everyone who played along with us last month and any month last year! We thank you for your continued support and look forward to many more Birthdays!! Don't forget to grab your badges! You earned them!!

There is still plenty of time to enter Niki's current challenge THE BIRDS AND THE BEES! We can't wait to see what you come up with this time!

Hugs to all, from the 'Anything But Cute' Design Team