Feature Artist for Making Magic - Welcome Mayoori!

Hello Everyone!

Cec here and I am so excited to finally get the chance to introduce you to our Feature Artist for August. She was the winner of my Make It Maculine challenge in June. Welcome Mayoori Jain of Butterflies N' Buttons!!

Mayoori is a master at mixed media and while I was in love with her masculine project, which is why I chose it, I was blown away with the depth of her talent when I went back to her blog to have a closer look at all her creations.  There I found a variety of altered art and layouts that oozed technique and texture.  I recommend you spend some time lurking around her blog and be prepared to be as inspired as I am.

I think you will all agree that Mayoori is a creative force to be reckoned with and I am so impressed with the project she put together for our current challenge Making Magic! Feast your eyes on this!! Mayoori has altered a journal cover that now bears no resemblance to its original form but captures the texture and colour of the mood board beautifully.

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Hello ABC fans and followers.

I am Mayoori ,living in beautiful Seattle city with my 2  loving teenage daughters and very supportive husband.  I have been scrapbooking since 3 years, trying all the styles, learning from fellow crafters . Since few months I have been trying mixed media projects and I am thoughly enjoying it.

Today I am  sharing this journal cover.I am  really excited to be part of this very interesting and challenging mood board put together by Georgie.

The idea is to create magic through art. I have used an old wooden paint brush to make the wand.

 hot glued a big bead to the brush.at the top and the bottom.

 then drip the hot glue making some patterns and embedding some small beads for more texture

 Painted the the wad black with the black gesso.

applied some golden paint and some metallic copper paint

applied some black crackle medium , once dried applied green and golden paint.

I stencilled an old cardboard and then cut two corner pieces out of it. Then added an embossed chipboard.

Hope you will like it.

Please visit my blog - Butterflies N' Buttons

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WOW, this transformation is stunning and the elements Mayoori used to make it happen are fantastic from the paint brushes to make the wand, those gorgeous filigree corners and all that texture and glitter.  She has definitely made a magical project and sharing her creative process is such a bonus to all of us.

I hope that seeing Mayoori's wonderful creation will inspire you to join us for our current challenge...

Making Magic!

You have until the 4th of September 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 Creating
Cec!

WINNERS - Challenge #3 - Summer Romance

Hello Everyone!!

Samra here with the winners of the Summer Romance challenge. I would like to thank all 44 wonderful participants for joining the challenge! To say that it was difficult to choose the winner and runner up, would be just barely scratching the surface of truth! 

So much creativity, texture and summery beauty at one place!!!  I felt like I was in Summer Romance heaven… so without further ado...

I would like to introduce to you the winner of the challenge:

WINNER - Natalia#38

I chose Natalia's tag as the winner because of the incredible textures and such gorgeous composition of embellishments. This tag also has a vintage feel to it and to me looks like it was salvaged as a piece of treasure from the bottom of the sea. It definitely is a piece to treasure!

Congratulations Natalia!! Pamellia will be contacting you via email to send you your personalized winner's badge and details about being our Feature Artist for the next challenge.

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And now for my Runner-Up

RUNNER UP - Elena #31

I chose Elena's tag because of the wonderful shabby chic and so very romantic feel to it. The textured background and layer upon layer of wonderfully arranged embellishments with such fine attention to every little detail made this tag very special to me.

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Exceptional New Mixed Media Artist

We have seen so many wonderful entries by artists trying out mixed media for the first time, it's so exciting and what a pleasure to watch as they grow and blossom with their new messy art craft! This month we want to give out a special award to just such an artist. She has entered into every one of our challenges so far, and her skills and techniques are both stunning and amazing! Congratulations Annie!!

4. aNNie's Style

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Now on to our DT Favourites

Marta #37

Branka's Favourite - Marta's altered wooden box looks like a pirate chest pulled out from the deep sea! It's full of fantastic details, perfectly blended colours and amazing textures! I love the addition of micro beads and cheese cloth and that awesome vintage spoon on the top of this beautifully designed piece!

Cec's Favourite - I also chose Marta's altered box because it sparked my imagination and made me think that it was a personal treasure pulled from the bottom of the ocean when they found the Titanic and that it is full of love letters.  All the shells and gorgeous texture she used just add to the feeling that it lay undisturbed for years.

Georgie's Favourite - Elena #31

From the moment I laid eyes on Elena's tag I just fell in love with this ethereal, rustic underwater scene she created. The embellishments, layout, texture and depth in general is purely breathtaking. I love the way the aqua beads fall over shells as bubbles, the brown intermingled with the blues and the odd glossy enamel dot floating upwards. Every detail is a hit for me!

Niki's Favourite - March #7

I chose this canvas duo because it reminds me of the bottom of the ocean and the vastness of undiscovered possibilities! The texture that abounds in this make is truly exceptional and so well designed, and there are so many textural layers. I just want to reach out and touch it!

Pamellia's Favourites

Anne R #28

Anne's piece is one of those projects I really wish I could touch. There is just so much texture and she used her finger, of all things, to create that stunning background! I just love her 3d shells and the use of beads for bubbles! A stunning underwater scene!

Ros Crawford #34

I just melted into this piece when I saw it. There's such a calm serenity to her colours and textures. I love that she used a shower scrunchie as one of her elements, and those waves just swept me away to a place I might never come back from, if it were real!

Sara Emily's Favourite - Joi # 44

I loved my teamie's choices , but Joi's painting really stole my heart!  I was really swept away to the beach and felt so much romance from this scene. Additionally, I loved reading her story--how she is neither a beach goer nor does she consider herself a romantic person. You couldn't prove that by this amazing artwork!

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Honourable Mentions 

It's such an impossible task to choose only one favourite from all the gorgeous entries, so here are some projects that we wanted to honour for their beauty and design!

6. tofa/Rupa            11. Julia Aston           12. Jane's Journal           14. Kerstin

      

17. Patti Painter      21. Strangely Creative       25. Irena's art           29. Candy Blake

      

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 Georgies's current challenge MAKING MAGIC! We can't wait to see what you come up with this time!

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

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!

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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!

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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! 

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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

Spotlight Artist - Cec - Foil Tape

Hello, it is Cec here and I am pleased to be presenting the spotlight post this month, which is about working with foil tape. 

There are sheets of foil tape on the market, some of which come in a variety of colours and while those would be useful when you need to make a larger element, you don't need to spend the big money that they cost in the craft store.  I pick this tape up at my DIY store and it comes in a very large roll that is 2" wide.  It is used in the heating and air conditioning business so I also have a roll of 3" wide tape because I talked the furnace service man into selling it to me out of his truck.

I am going to show you some sample pieces that I have made for the purpose of this spotlight and then will share a few finished projects from the past.

For the first one, I decided to add some texture under the foil tape by gluing down some gears, washers and drywall tape.  Next I cut small irregular sized and shaped pieces of the foil tape.  I peeled the backing off and affixed it to a scrap piece of card stock making sure I overlapped the edges and each piece.

I would suggest you start by laying tape loosely over your dimensional pieces first and use a paper stub to outline it.  In my experience if you lay down all your tape first and then start to outline it, you run the risk of tearing it because it is too tight.  Make sure you work on a craft sheet or something that will allow you to lift this up because once the paper backing is removed, this stuff is sticky.

Once I covered everything in pieces of tape, I trimmed around the edge of the panel and then I set about to give everything some pattern and texture.  I used a small embossing stylus, a two-pronged seafood fork, a paper stub and the end of a clickable ball point pen without actually clicking the pen.  I own a set of metal working tools because I was able to pick them up on sale but you can achieve a great effect with the tools I listed.

Once everything has some pattern, give it a good coat of a dark acrylic paint (in this case I used black) and then wipe the paint off so some remains in all the depressions you have created.  If it looks like you removed too much paint, just repeat the process.

Finally I took a variety of alcohol inks and gave the whole panel some colour.  I did not use any blending solution but put a few drops of each colour on my felt pad.

I covered a second piece of scrap card stock with just foil tape pieces and did not add any dimension underneath.  It was textured with the same tools along with a couple from my fancy set and painted black as the first panel was.

I gave this one a different colour palette and can see this appearing on a fall card soon.

Then I switched gears and created some flowers from the foil tape.  I started by cutting lengths of tape twice as long as I wanted, carefully peeled the paper backing off and folded it onto itself (adhesive to adhesive). This is a bit tricky because of how sticky the back is but it can be done and if it isn't perfectly aligned, it is no big deal.

The flowers were cut with a flower die but could also be hand cut.  DO NOT use your punches to cut them because the adhesive will gum up the punch and cleaning them is painful - a lesson I learned early on.

For these flowers, I ran them through an embossing folder but they could be given texture with the tools.  Once they had some texture they were painted black and the paint was wiped off.

Some alcohol inks were added to provide colour.

For this demonstration, I stacked three identical petals of each size, added a brad to the centre to keep them together and shaped them with my fingers and a dowel.  The foil tape is very malleable so it is really easy to shape them.  I did each one slightly differently.

As you can see, there are lots of uses for the tape.  Here are a few of my past projects that have utilized the tape.

This is a Christmas ornament I made for my tree and the top "petals" and a disc on the bottom are made from metal foil but I painted them with a dark red on the reverse side of the embossing and then highlighted the raised areas with Treasure Gold wax paste.

For this masculine card I added texture under and over the foil tape.  The zig zag is ric rac from my sewing closet, which shows that you can use all sorts of things to create dimension.

I added a foil tape flower to this frilly steampunk card.

Here I used the foil tape to create the mermaid's tail using an embossing folder to give it texture.

This card has a foil tape wing that I cut by hand and textured with an embossing stylus.

Finally, this is a cigar box that I literally covered with foil tape to make a treasure box for my 6 year-old Grandson.  It is looking a little worse for wear because he set it on the floor, threw his comforter on top of it and forgot the box was there so his Daddy stepped on it when he came in to tuck him in.  I have tried to fix it but I will wager I have to make another one because he loves it and I am not sure the repairs are going to hold up.

As you can see foil tape is a very versatile product for crafters so I hope you will pick some up and create with it too.

There's still time to join in the fun for Samra's mood board challenge...Summer Romance.

You have until the 4th of August 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
Cec!