Yippee Ki-Yay!

Hi there! Have you been joining in the challenges over at #seekgathercreate?

Week 2's challenge is to create anything but include a playing card, a hidden message, yellow and a skull. Here's what I came up with.

I started with a playing card from Shana Bebeklis' Full Deck pack at ArtStacks. I added yellow paint and some tissue designs from ArtStacks' Tissue Backgrounds pack. You can find both of these packs here.

I had no skulls at all in my stash so I found one online. The skull image had a bit of a wild west feel to it which made me think of this quote even though it's perhaps more Die Hard than western! I added my secret saying under a stitched flap of paper.

These challenges are really fabulous and make me think outside the square which I like. I hope you can join in. There are prizes to win, including prizes from ArtStacks! You can find the challenge on Instagram at #seekgathercreateFeb2025.

Happy creating!
Heather

Full Deck Challenge 2025

Hello!
I've been having so much fun joining in the Full Deck Challenges over on Facebook. The challenges are run by the amazing Shana Bebeklis (#shanoukiart). They are so much fun!

Shana has two packs with ArtStacks and I've used gorgeous images from both packs to make all my altered cards.

Week 1: Red

Week 2: Orange

Week 3: Yellow

Week 4: Light Green

Week 5: Dark Green

Week 6: Light Blue

Will you give these challenges a go?

Head to ArtStacks here to see Shana's packs and to the Facebook group here to join in the challenge!

Happy creating!

Heather

Be Bold at ArtStacks

Hello! 

I had a long, drawn-out flu recently and I wanted to create but I didn’t have a lot of energy. I just felt like slowly doodling, so I created my background for this page entirely from painting and doodling! I found this a very relaxing thing to do.

I love this quote by Deb Weiers. The quote is printed on tissue so I layered it onto a blank space on the page and coloured some of the letters. I added a cluster on the left side of the page with one of Deb’s quirky little birds.

I used one of Deb’s amazing paintings to support the quote and finished with a few of her flowers.

Deb has four ArtStacks packs. I used three of them - Wonky Faces, Wonky Bits and Wonky Critters. You can see all four of Deb's packs here.

I think Deb Weiers is an amazing artist. I hope you love her unique style as much as I do!

Happy creating!
Heather

I'm Back With a More Than Words Project!

Hello there! I'm back from my break and ready to go!

In exciting news, there are big changes happening at More Than Words in 2025. This will be the last challenge in the existing format. Keep an eye out next year for news of the changes!

The December More Than Words challenge is about Traditions. This made me think about what Christmas traditions we have in our family and I realised that we always have a Christmas tree. Sometimes it's so tall it touches the ceiling and other times it's small enough to sit on a table but we always have one regardless.

On my page, the Christmas tree and the reindeer names are both from ArtStacks' 'Christmas Quotes' MiniStack. I stole the idea for the hanging "Christmas" word baubles from a similar design in the same pack. At only a few dollars, these little packs are a bargain!

I hope you can join us in our last challenge in this format. You could win a prize from ArtStacks!

You can find details of the challenge here.

Happy creating!
Heather

I'm Taking a Break

 

I adore creating but there are times in life where other things take priority so my socials will be taking a break. I'll still be online and ArtStacks will still be operating as usual (with exciting things happening!). I just won't be at my crafting desk for a while. :)

www.artstacks.com.au

@artstacksdesigns #artstacksdesigns

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

Guys who Played Accordions

Hello there! 

This month the challenge over at More Than Words is to be inspired by Tea or Coffee. I'm not a tea or coffee drinker so I chose to use a coffee wash as my background.

My art desk was a mess so I made myself only use scraps and things that were close at hand. I started with the coffee wash but didn't have a plan on what I would do after that. I read the words on some of the scraps of text paper on my desk and saw this quote about accordions. I immediately thought of this adorable little accordion player from the ArtStacks "All Dressed Up" pack and ran with this. The background marks and images are all from ArtStacks' new-release "Tissue Backgrounds" pack.

I hope you can join in this month. You could win a prize from ArtStacks!

You can find the challenge details here.

Happy art journaling!
Heather

March Challenge at More Than Words

Hello and welcome to March!

The challenge at More Than Words this month is to use mark-making on your art journal page. You can even add your Word of the Year if you like!

Here's what I made:

I started by adding the text to my page. This is from the new-release Tissue Backgrounds pack over at ArtStacks. I loved that the tissue allowed me to get right in to the inside edges of the pages, even though there was binding in the way. I just cut the tissue at the binding locations and the flexibility of it allowed me to push it right to the edges. I adhered it with gel medium and it looked like I wrote directly on the page.

I added some gesso over the top to blend it all in a bit more.

I had the digital files for the Tissue Backgrounds pack plus some ArtStacks tissue so I printed another copy of the same text page and adhered that to white cardstock. I could also have printed directly onto the cardstock. I used some old used alphas as a template and traced my Word of the Year.

I added some blanket stitching to random edges of some scrap papers and adhered them to the page. I then dipped a fork in black paint to make the stripes down the sides. I added some pink circles and trimmed the paper and tissue to fit the page.

I then added more mark-making in the form of noughts and crosses (tic-tac-toe), also from the Tissue Backgrounds pack.

I cut out my alphas and added them to the left page then added a determined-looking young lady and some gingko leaves, both from ArtStacks, to the other page.

I really love using this new tissue pack. I find I can do so much with it!

I hope you can join us this month. You can find the challenge details here.

Happy art journaling!
Heather