Let the Good Times Roll

We had a whirlwind new year! We had some guest's come and visit right after New Year all the way from Minnesota, so we decided to take them to New Orleans. It was spring-like the first week in January in the French Quarter.

We strolled the quarter, ate beignets at Cafe Dumond, listened to jazz music, ate more food, and then went to see the Lion King. We even ran into some folks from back home in the lobby!

Since we were there on twelfth night, we HAD to get some king cakes. Well, we actually brought back three (from two different bakeries). What a way to ring in the New Year. The temps dropped drastically during the night, and we woke up to rainy cold weather. On our way home, we ran into sleet and ice. In fact, the airport was shut down and our guests couldn't fly home the next day, so we spent one more afternoon together and took photos of this beautiful frozen fountain.

Our guest were able to experience three of our four seasons on their short trip: spring, winter and Mardi Gras! 

If you are visiting this post for the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - then welcome!  Our theme is "sweet inspiration".

And our sponsor this month is Stampendous! And our guest designer is Guest Designer - Fran Seiford. 

The prize for our winner this month is a $25 gift certificate.

Since our theme is "sweet inspiration", I didn't have a problem getting inspired. I have Mardi Gras on the brain. I don't know how I looked at the adorable stamp set I used and thought "Mardi Gras" (it must have been the king cake), but this is what I came up with!

The Stampendous items I used were: Spring Sparkle Embossing Powders, Dreamweaver Stencils Embossing Paste, Whisper Garden Perfectly Clear Stamps, and Thicket Metal Stencil. 

I had a blast creating something for this month's theme.

I hope you can play along. Make sure you visit each designer's blog and leave some comment love for them... we LOVE hearing from you all!

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 (linking a project completed before the start date of our challenge) 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 February 28 to enter!

Louisiana Life and Cool Breezes!

I'm loving the cool breezes that have been working their way into Louisiana. It's been a hot summer, as usual, and the nice chill in the morning is so welcome. My husband's co workers decorated their breakroom with Halloween decor back in August - so I think they have been ready for cooler temps, too.

The theme for October is Fall/Halloween Mood board:

and the Sponsor this month is Stampotique. They are giving a $30 gift certificate to the challenge winner.

Stampotique sent me some of their stamps to use on this challenge. I received  C.U.Later Gator, Picket Fence, Vintage Script, 3 Daisies. I love the gator because I live in Louisiana and so I went with a Halloween theme.

For my "Bayou Boo" wall hanging, I used scrap wood (6" x 12"), papers, paint, stamps and ink on this. The tombstones were cut from patterned paper that had alphabet on it. I added some ribbon to the back so it could hang. 

Here are some closeup images.

I stamped the picket fence stamp directly onto the scene. Somehow, all these images flowed together with the theme.

I can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

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To play along with the October challenge, post your entries on the link at the main challenge blog page.

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 October 31th to enter!

Coastal Wall Decor Mixed Media

Summer is never over for me, at least in my heart. I'm winding down as school starts up by making this coastal themed wall canvas.

The theme for September's Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog is "Rustic".

Our sponsor this month is Canvas Corp.  Since my scrapbooking days, I have loved Canvas Corp's products. (Tattered Angels, 7Gypsies, etc).

In addition to scrapbook products, they have canvases, totes, fabrics, etc! They send me a generous supply of products that are just up my alley. One of them was a 12" x 24" burlap covered canvas and some heavy weight paper that looked like worn wood. I used some of the coastal themed patterned papers, glimmer mists and paints and created this fun coastal themed wall canvas.

I loved using the glimmer mist products. I "dyed" the "paradise" tag turquoise with it so it would coordinate with my color scheme. I even used it to "paint" the sides of the canvas. So much fun. I went through my stash of "summer 2016 seashells" and found some with natural holes in them and strung them up and attached them to my canvas twine. I glued another shell on one of the tags. So many endless possibilities!!

Want to play along and have a shot at winning a prize? 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 September 30th to enter!

Travel and Summer

Summer is a wonderful time for traveling. My favorite place to go is to the beach - any beach, but I love Florida's Emerald coast.

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog has embraced the travel theme for this month's challenge. I found this one quite easy to do. I went with a simple beach scene. Who wouldn't want to be there now?

I found the red reclaimed frame in a thrift store and just had to have it.

The sponsor for the Mixed Media Challenge Blog this month is Lindsay Weirich. She has a HUGE You Tube Channel. She is known as The Frugal Crafter. She is offering a free spot in her new online Craftsy Class called Mix It Up Mixed Media for our winner!  She is ALSO offering a half off code to her class to all our viewers. Here is the code for the discount

Be sure to enter the challenge for a chance at her prize.

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 August 31 st to enter!

July Mixed Media and Stars

Mixed media is one of my favorite things to work with as of late. I also love words and letters.  I have had the background on this piece for several months and the letters for "dream" sitting on it waiting for some time to devote to it and actually finish it. This month's Mixed Media Monthly Challenge "Reach for the Stars" was perfect. 

If you are new to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog, it's just that - a challenge to get you motivated to create - anything - using mixed media. This month Seth Apter is our guest designer and sponsor. He will be giving away this stamp set from Impression Obsession called Faded Fragments. So, I hope you can play along. Instructions on how to play are at the bottom of this post.

So, for this month's challenge, I found a wonderful quote relating to dreams and stars. I used patterned paper, chipboard, stickers, paint and stamps and ink. 

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!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!

May Flowers

April showers brings May flowers. I can't wait to see all the beautiful flowers in this great state of Louisiana. My next door neighbor has a very young magnolia tree and I noticed yesterday that it has almost 30 new budding magnolia's on it. It's going to be beautiful!

 

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Design Team members have been creating some awesome floral creations for this month's mixed media challenge. The theme is "Butterflies and Blooms".


Our May Guest Designer & Sponsor is  Ken Oliver! Ken is offering our random winner a set of Caribbean Brights Color Burst and a Best Ever Craft Mat!!

Here's my painting. It's 20" x 20" on canvas. I used some vintage ledger papers (real ledger papers, not manufactured printed paper) from the basement of the Sugar Art Gallery which I co-run. The basement used to be a Wholesale Drug company and those old papers are great for collages. I also used modeling paste, crackle paint, scrapbook papers, stencils, paper doilies and acrylic paint.

"Lace and Paper Flowers"

This piece and several of my new paintings will be at "Blend of the Bayou" in North Monroe, Louisiana this afternoon.

I've been getting new art ready for this event as well as finish up some commissions. Then in the morning I'm going coastal with some old friends. Will post photos when I return as well as some new art. If you are on facebook - follow "Melanie Douthit Art Studio" for more current art photos.

Make sure you visit each designer's blog and leave some comment love for them... we LOVE hearing from you all!


SO - are you going to play in this month's challenge? Here are the rules:

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 May 31st to enter!
Post your project on THIS POST

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

No fooling! It's mixed media challenge time...

Happy April 1! For those who love mixed media challenges - we have a fun one for April.

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog has a new challenge this month. The theme is "dimension"! It's my favorite in my art - either the illusion of dimension or actually making layers. It's so much fun.

The sponsor this month is Stampers Anonymous.

This month we will have TWO lucky random winners!! Each winner will receive a fabulous Wendy Vecchi stamp set and stencil!!


Here's my painting for the challenge. I started with a layer of random color. After it dried I added thinned paint and misted with a water bottle. More dimension. I added papers and crackle medium (more dimension) and then (why not?) I added painted chipboard.  Then I created the images.

Here's a close-up view.

"Enchanted Poppies" 16" x 20" by Melanie Douthit

Our April Guest Designer is Wendy Vecchi - Ranger & Stampers Anonymous Signature Designer!!


Wendy Vecchi is a full time artist/designer/educator and owner of studio 490.She is a signature designer for Ranger, and Stampers Anonymous and a past member the Tim Holtz and Maya Road design teams. In addition to designing rubber stamps, stencils, embossing pastes, archival inks and embossing powders, she loves discovering new techniques & she loves to use those techniques to make art.

I hope you play along.
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!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

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!

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!!