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

Wonder at ArtStacks

Hello! I've been having a blast playing with the new "Tissue Backgrounds" pack at ArtStacks! I love these new background designs. They're so versatile!

I made a scrapbook page about a trip we did in Mexico where we saw millions of butterflies. I simply took the printed tissue sheet of butterflies and wet the area around the butterflies I wanted with a brush. I then tore the section out and applied it to the page with clear gel medium. I also scattered some other butterflies around the photo.

The gorgeous hearts and strips of colour are all from Shana Bebeklis' "Happy Scraps" pack. I adore these colourful papers. My quote at the top of the page is from the "Trees & Leaves" pack.

All these packs are available here.

I hope you try these tissue packs and love them as much as I do!

Happy scrappin'!
Heather

An Elemental Challenge at More than Words!

Welcome to February!

The challenge this month at More Than Words is a bit different. Here it is:

To explain, Chinese New Year will be on Feb 3rd and it will be the Year of the Dragon.

Chinese astrology is based on the year of your birth, and you will be a specific animal depending on which year you were born, but you will also be a specific ELEMENT (eg you could be a metal tiger or a water rabbit). If you want to use your element here is an easy way to work it out:

If the last number in your birth year is 0 or 1, your element is Metal.
If the last number in your birth year is 2 or 3, your element is Water.
If the last number in your birth year is 4 or 5, your element is Wood.
If the last number in your birth year is 6 or 7, your element is Fire.
If the last number in your birth year is 8 or 9, your element is Earth.

So for example if you were born in 1981 your element would be Metal and so on.

Feel free to use your element (or not) and/or the prompt Dragon (for Year of the Dragon) or Red (considered to be the luckiest colour). You can also include your word of the year if you like.

For my page I used Water (my element) and Red.

I'm a bit besotted with Tracy Verdugo's watery images over at ArtStacks so using them was a no-brainer for me. In contrast to the busy left side of the page, I kept the right side uncluttered and created a little white-on-white effect using texture paste through a stencil. All the papers on the page, including the title, are from Tracy's packs.

Will you work out your element and join in this month?

Happy art journaling!

Heather

Full Deck Challenge Cards

Have you seen the Full Deck Challenge on Facebook? It's run by Shana Bebeklis, also known as shanoukiart on Instagram.

It's a fabulous challenge. The idea is to alter playing cards. Shana sets up new challenges regularly and the beauty of it is that you can join in any challenge at any time.

Shana also has paper packs at ArtStacks so I decided to give some of the challenges a go using only Shana's papers plus the other challenge requirements. Shana has two paper packs - "Full Deck" which is based around images (and distressed playing cards) specifically for these challenges. The second pack is called "Happy Scraps" and is equally suitable for these challenges. This really was a lot of fun!

For this piece, the base card is from the Full Deck pack and the gorgeous colourful paper, heart and sentiment are from the Happy Scraps pack.

For my second entry everything except the lace is from the Full Deck pack.

You can see Shana's stunning papers in detail here.

If you'd like to give the challenge a go you can join in here.

Happy creating!

Heather

A New Type of Challenge at More Than Words!

Hello and welcome to 2024!

More Than Words is back but with a different type of challenge this year. Here's what they say about it:

"Let's make 2024 our year of creativity!
Do you choose a "word of the year" each year? If so, be inspired by your word and/or the prompt to "open the door".

Ohhhh, this got me thinking! I decided to use both options - a "word of the year" PLUS "open the door" as it's relevant to my word.

Here's what I made:

I don't usually choose a word of the year but it didn't take me long to pick one. If I'm going to achieve the things I want to achieve this year, I'm going to need lots of determination.

The image and main papers are all from ArtStacks. I love this door image. The door and the quote are both from the "Doors & Windows" pack.  The background paper is a gorgeous one from Shana Bebeklis' "Full Deck" pack.

The dragonfly is from one of my favourite pages in the "Wings & Things" pack. These images are printed on self-adhesive paper and are set up in such a way that you can expose the adhesive on just the body of the flying critters so the image sticks to the page but the wings stand up beautifully.

It's been ages since I used Thickers. I couldn't believe I still had enough of the letter "e", lol!

I hope you can play along with us this year. These challenges are fantastic!

Happy creating!

Heather