Spring Inspiration

I just spent the weekend with my husband in New Orleans. The weather was perfectly spring-like and I have come home full of artistic inspiration. We spent the majority of our time in the Marigny District dining and listening to live jazz music on Frenchmen Street. We always pick a different home rental in the area and "live like the locals". This time we were on Frenchmen Street in a wonderful old home with a beautiful courtyard. We brought our bicycles so we rode each morning to various cafe's for breakfast, and also rode into the French Quarter to browse art galleries. For those of you still in winter climate - I want to let you know that Spring is just around the corner.

Here we are at one of the Frenchmen Street outside art markets. It's always fun to visit because the set up is different every day.

We rode down Royal in the French Quarter and yes - that IS a guitar-playing unicorn. One night after dinner we were walking down the street and my husband asks "Do you think you'll run into anyone we know tonight?" I said - "I doubt it". Then 45 minutes later I hear my name being called and up walks an artist that used to live near me. We ended up going to an upstairs dance hall with her to see an internationally known Cuban dancer. You really just never know what or who you will see here.

So - are you here to play along with the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge? We have a fun spring-themed photo for inspiration.

Here's our photo inspiration for the March challenge.

Our March sponsor is Waffle Flower Crafts. They have donated a $25 gift certificate for our challenge winner. Our guest designer is Tessa Wise from Waffle Flower Crafts.

Here's my take on the challenge. I was inspired by the colors in the inspiration photo. I used papers, cardstock, tape, paint, ink, paper doilies, stamps and stickers on this 5.5 wood block.

You can play along at the March Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog

Please follow these rules to be eligible for placements and prizes. Entries not following our rules will be deleted.

* You must use our challenge graphic in your challenge post.

* You must comment on at least 3 design team member's blogs. 

* Your post must link back to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge post

* Add a link to your direct post, not your entire blog, a YouTube Video or a Pinterest Board

* You can combine with up to 4 other challenges. 

* No Backlinking allowed! Any back-linked entries will be deleted.

* You can enter up to 5 times, create whatever you want, and HAVE FUN!

You have until 11:55 pm EST on March 31 to enter!

Thanks for stopping by!!

February and Dreaming about the Beach

It's February 1st and we are experiencing springtime weather in Louisiana! So what better to do than to create a beach themed piece - seriously - I don't even need an excuse to create something coastal. I just love anything beachy.

So - the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog's theme for February is - Glitter!

Our sponsor for February's challenge is Frantic Stamper, Inc.  The prize is a $25 store gift certificate! What a wonderful prize. 

For my creation, I used chalk paints from PaperArtsy. These paints are absolutely fantastic and this project doesn't show the range of colors they come in, but stay tuned because I will have more projects coming up.

The other items used include collage papers, various ephemera (fabrics, beads) stamps and glitter glue on the waves. The surface is a 20" x 16" piece of birch wood that I coated with gesso.

and a close up view. I still can't get that glitter sparkle to show up in the photos.

I hope you are inspired to play along! Please follow these rules to be eligible for placements and prizes. Entries without our Challenge Graphic or Link Back to us will be deleted.

* You must use our challenge graphic in your challenge post.

* You must comment on at least 3 design team member's blogs. 

* Your post must link back to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge post

* Add a link to your direct post, not your entire blog, a YouTube Video or a Pinterest Board

* You can combine with up to 4 other challenges. 

* No Backlinking allowed! Any back-linked entries will be deleted.

* You can enter up to 5 times, create whatever you want, and HAVE FUN!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

2016 and Time Flies Mixed Media

I am still trying to catch my breath as this year has tumbled by. How appropriate that the theme for this month's Mixed Media Monthly Challenge is "Time Flies". In fact, it flew by so fast, that all I was able to create for this challenge was a card! I haven't created cards in ages it seems. I have to admit, I loved playing with the papers and embellishments again (smile).

Our Guest Designer for January is Cheryl Boglioli. Cheryl works with many companies and she has an awesome prize package that she has put together and will mail to the winner!! Thank you, Cheryl! 

My card for this challenge welcomes the new year, and I used patterned papers, chalk ink, Glimmer Mist glitter paint, die cut, ribbon, fabric covered cardstock butterfly and numbers as well as rhinestones. 

I hope you are inspired to play along! Please follow these rules to be eligible for placements and prizes. Entries without our Challenge Graphic or Link Back to us will be deleted.

* You must use our challenge graphic in your challenge post.

* You must comment on at least 3 design team member's blogs. 

* Your post must link back to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge post

* Add a link to your direct post, not your entire blog, a YouTube Video or a Pinterest Board

* You can combine with up to 4 other challenges. 

* No Backlinking allowed! Any back-linked entries will be deleted.

* You can enter up to 5 times, create whatever you want, and HAVE FUN!

Silver and Gold Mixed Media Art Challenge

Tis the season! It's December 1st and Christmas music is playing everywhere. Can't you hear it? Silver and gold... silver and gold... And at the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog, our theme is "Silver and Gold" (just make something using these colors, or one of them). What fun!!

We are thrilled that IndigoBlu is our sponsor again for December.

IndigoBlu is also an huge online craft and mixed media store. They manufacture a full line of mixed media art products and supplies including the amazing products MegaFlakes and  FlitterGlu, stamps, paint and stencils. Be sure to check out their store for a huge selection!

We are so happy that IndigoBlu has supplied our design team with a ton of their products that we have used on our projects this month. And guess what? One lucky random winner will receive this AMAZING prize package provided by IndigoBlu! (Just for participating!)

I couldn't wait to try the MegaFlakes and FlitterGlu. I went to youtube and found a couple of videos demonstating how to use them which I found very helpful.  I used the Megaflakes with both stamps and stencils as well as just applying it by itself.  Here are some progress photos of my project.

I created a background of collage papers, and then stamped with the FlitterGlue and added the flakes.

In the above photo, you can see some of the gold. I used a stencil with the FlitterGlu. Then I painted the shape of my angel.

In my finished project, you can see that I applied more MegaFlakes to the edge of the wings.

I used IndigoBlu products: Manchester Tart Flakes, Flutterglu, Collage papers,paint, stamps, stencils. Also various scrap patterned paper,die cuts, chipboard letters, fabrics and rubons. Size is 8" x 10" .

I hope you are inspired to participate in the Silver and Gold challenge. Here are the rules (which are also on the main blog)

Rules must be followed to be eligible for placements and prizes. Entries without our Challenge Graphic or Link Back to us will be deleted.

* You must use our challenge graphic in your challenge post.
* You must comment on at least 3 design team member's blogs. 
* Your post must link back to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge post
* Add a link to your direct post, not your entire blog, a YouTube Video or a Pinterest Board
* You can combine with up to 4 other challenges. 
* No Backlinking allowed! Any back-linked entries will be deleted.
* You can enter up to 5 times, create whatever you want, and HAVE FUN!

You have until 11:55 pm EST on December 31 to enter!

I can't wait to see all the wonderful projects from all the entries.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Mixed Media Texture and IndigoBlu products

If you have been to my blog before, you know that I love mixed media. I love playing with papers, paints, ink and texture. For our November Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog projects, our challenge is texture. We were given a generous box of products from our sponsor - IndigoBlu, to play with. I received collage papers, both 12" and 6", and several bottles of acrylic paint from their English Cottage collection. I also received some of their new stencils from the Kay Halliwell-Sutton collection and some gorgeous stamps.

For my project, I layered the collage papers and added light coats of acrylic paint to unify the background. Then I used a crackle medium with the IndigoBlu stencils on various places of the project. I let it dry and dripped acrylic ink on the background first, then lightly added color here and there with acrylic paint. Then I freehanded the design with black paint and a fine brush. After the black dried, I painted the image. I was careful not to cover up the images of the collage papers underneath. After the image was painted, I used black Stayz On ink and stamped various images using the IndigoBlu stamps. I love the effect of texture and multiple layers. It adds so many dimensions and keeps your eye interested in the piece.

I hope you join us in this month's Mixed Media Challenge. In order to play along, please follow these rules to be eligible for placements and prizes. Entries without our Challenge Graphic or Link Back to us will be deleted.

* You must use our challenge graphic in your challenge post.
* You must comment on at least 3 design team member's blogs.
* Your post must link back to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge post
* Add a link to your direct post, not your entire blog, a YouTube Video or a Pinterest Board
* You can combine with up to 4 other challenges.
* No Backlinking allowed! Any back-linked entries will be deleted.
* You can enter up to 5 times, create whatever you want, and HAVE FUN!

You have until November 30, 11:59pm EST to enter!

October Mixed Media Monthly Challenge

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog has already started having October fun. We had a wonderful prize sponsor this month - Grumbacher , a top name in art supplies. They sent us some goodies to use on our projects.

Our inspiration this month was this fun word puzzle. Any word you can find in this puzzle is game! Grumbacher sent us acrylic paints, acrylic inks, and woodless colored pencils.

This is the prize package we will award the winner of this month's challenge

I chose the word "Moon" for my challenge, and I am obviously in a beach / coastal state of mind.

I covered my wood block with collage papers and let it dry, then dripped water and alcohol ink to get the watery effect. I used acrylic paints on the moon paper as well as the water. There is sooo many possibilities with this. Since I usually coat my projects with an acrylic water based sealer, I knew that the colored pencils would possibly run, but they are wonderful and feel great on paper. If you are using them for an art journal - they will be fabulous.


In order to play along, please follow these rules to be eligible for placements and prizes. Entries without our Challenge Graphic or Link Back to us will be deleted.

* You must use our challenge graphic in your challenge post.
* You must comment on at least 3 design team member's blogs.
* Your post must link back to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge post
* Add a link to your direct post, not your entire blog, a YouTube Video or a Pinterest Board
* You can combine with up to 4 other challenges.
* No Backlinking allowed! Any back-linked entries will be deleted.
* You can enter up to 5 times, create whatever you want, and HAVE FUN!

You have until October 31, 11:59pm EST to enter! at the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful month!

September Mixed Media Monthly Challenge

It's always a fun day in the studio when I work on creations for the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog. This month's challenge was something different - a photo inspiration!

If you are new to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge, it's a fun way to get motivated to create (if you need motivation) and just for participating, your name will be put in a random drawing for a prize? How cool is that?  Just create something for that month's challenge, photograph it, and link up your image on the MMMC homepage. It's so easy!

Our prize this month is a one month free membership to Brave Girl's Club!  Brave Girls' Club "Brave Girl University" opens September 1 and Angela Magnuson (owner/creator of Unity Stamp Co and also a Brave Girl contributor) is giving away one month free to our random winner (value $24.95).

We are so excited to have  Julie Balzer as our guest designer this month!! Be sure to check out her creation as well as the entire team on the homepage! 

Here is the inspiration photo for the September challenge.

Isn't that a fun photo? So many things to jumpstart a creation. Large shapes (circles, faces, flowers, buttons...) and there are even plants and plates with fashion models on them. And the color!!! 

So here is my creation for this challenge.

I found a paper that resembled the fence, and a large flower stamp that I used to represent the tires. I rummaged through my stash and found a die cut with a lady on it that I added. At the bottom of the inspiration photo, you can see the word "enjoy" so I added the quote using "Joy". I used paint, stamps, Stayz on ink (black), stickers and a punch.  The base is a 5.5" x 5.5" x 1.5" block of wood. I love using this size - it's fun for gifts and doesn't take up much room on a shelf, desk or wall. 

I can't wait to see all the wonderful creations based on the photos. Thanks for stopping by!!