Embrace Life

Hello and welcome to a new month! The challenge for May at More Than Words is to create an art journal page inspired by the word "Celebrate"!

Here's what I made:

I adore this little boy from ArtStacks' "All Dressed Up" pack. The books and flower are from the same pack while the heart is from Lisa Oxley's "Bright and Bold" pack and the title is from the "Inspirational Words" MiniStack.

Will you join is this month? There's an ArtStacks prize for the winner! 

You can find the challenge here.

Happy creating!
Heather

#seekgathercreate Challenge

Hello! ArtStacks is once again a proud sponsor of the #seekgathercreate challenge on Instagram so I thought I'd create something using this week's challenge criteria. The challenge is to seek and gather the following items then create anything you like with them:

1. Something green
2. An insect
3. Something sticky
4. Typography or letters

I came up with this:

All my ArtStacks pieces on this are from the All Dressed Up pack and the Wings & Things pack. I think these are among my favourite packs!

My 'something green' is the mushroom, the 'grass' and the flower stalk.
My 'insect' and my 'something sticky' are the same thing. The cool pink flying critter from the Wings & Things pack is printed on self-adhesive paper. It's designed in such a way that you just cut off part of the backing and the wings stand up as if the insect is flying!
My 'typography or letters' form my quote.

Here's the challenge. It runs until the end of February. You can find all the details on our Instagram page.

This was a lot of fun! I hope you can join in this week.

Happy creating!

Heather

New Year, New Style of Challenge!

Hello and welcome to my first post for 2023! The year is starting with a bang with More Than Words revamping their challenges. We still have the same amazing style of challenges but you have more options to set your creativity free!

This month, the challenge is to be inspired by TIME. There are even free printables you can use! It's a pity I forgot to use them, haha!

Here's my art journal page:

I used one of the gorgeous vintage framed faces from ArtStacks' "All Dressed Up" pack. You can find it HERE.

Head to More Than Words HERE for all the details on the new challenge format. I hope to see you there!

Happy art journaling!
Heather

The Sparkle in Your Eyes

Have you seen the new challenge at More Than Words? You have to be inspired by the word "Sparkle" and use Gesso on your art journal page.

Here's my interpretation of the challenge:

I love this cute little girl from ArtStacks' "All Dressed Up" pack. The green mushroom is from the same pack. I moved the legs on the little girl to make it look like she's dancing and to suit the quote. The wings and butterfly are from the "Wings & Things" pack.

I splattered gesso across my page and, when it was dry, I circled the splats with pen to make them stand out.

Will you join in the challenge? You can find the details here.

Happy crafting!

Heather

Spread Your Wings and Fly Away

 Hello! The November challenge at Kraft+ is to be inspired by song lyrics. This one gives us lots of options.

I made an art journal page. I was inspired by the Queen song, "Spread your wings". I used ArtStacks images from both the All Dressed Up pack and the Wings & Things pack. I love how versatile these images are.

Will you join in this month? You can find the challenge here.

Happy creating!

Heather

Be Outrageous with ArtStacks

Welcome back!

I've had a blast playing with white pen on black paper and adding pops of colour with ArtStacks images. 

I thought this little boy was so expressive and fitted my 'outrageous' theme perfectly. My boy, balloons, sunflower and mushroom are all from the All Dressed Up pack at ArtStacks. 

Everything else on the page is just white pen on black watercolour paper. I'm often disappointed in white pens but my Posca pen worked like a charm!

I hope you love these versatile images as much as I do!

Happy arting.
Heather

Getting Strangely Inky

Hi there!

The Main Challenge at More Than Words this month is to be inspired by the word 'Strange' and to use ink on your project.

I'm travelling with limited supplies atm and only had two ink pads with me. I have no stencils or anything to use with them so I simply gently rubbed the blue ink pad directly onto the background.

Luckily I had a few ArtStacks images with me so I put this together with those.

I also had the October challenge at Art Journal Journey in mind when I made this. The talented Elle from Empire of the Cat is hosting it and I was inspired by her description of fables that explains that they can feature mythical creatures and they always have a moral behind them. My mythical man is kind of kooky but he still tells a story.

You can find the Art Journal Journey challenge here.

I also hope you can join in the fun at More Than Words this month! You can find the challenge here.

Happy journaling!
Heather

New Releases at ArtStacks!

I'm so thrilled to be sharing my new project made with ArtStacks' two new-release packs, All Dressed Up and Wings & Things. I love how these packs work together so well!

To make this I took a geli-print background, punched one edge and added ric-rac. I took one of the windows from the Doors & Windows CardStack. This page is printed on watercolour paper so you can colour it to suit your page but I chose to leave it white, in keeping with the pink and white colours on the page. I did colour the flower box from the same page though.

I added the little girl, the crown, the book and the title, all from the new All Dressed Up pack, and added the striking pink wings from the Wings & Things pack. The little girl looks so delighted with her new outfit!

I absolutely adore these new packs.

Head to www.artstacks.com.au to see the new releases in detail.

Happy arting!

Heather

Wonderful Watercolours!

Well it's a new month and that's always a good thing cos it means there's a new challenge at More Than Words!

The challenge this month is to be inspired by the word 'Wonderful' and to use watercolours on your art journal page. Here's what I made:

I created my background with watercolours then fussy cut some of the gorgeous pink anemones and butterflies from the Anemones & Friends CardStack from ArtStacks and layered them up. I added a transparency window from the Doors & Windows pack and added a title. 

I hope you'll join us this month! You can find the challenge here. 

Happy journaling!

Heather

Words Matter at ArtStacks

Hello! It's my turn over at ArtStacks today and I've made an art journal page using Deb Weiers' new Wonky Faces and Wonky Backgrounds stacks. I love Deb's wacky, wonky designs.

This page was very simple to make. I took the entire page of words from the Wonky Backgrounds pack and swiped some teal and blue paints on it. The teal is actually a lot darker than the pic shows. I layered a strip of Deb's stripes down the side and, after I added the pic, I painted some red circles around the page, mimicking the ones in the picture.

My title is 'Words Matter' using the words on tissue from the Wonky Faces pack. I added the word Art as well, just because I had a space that needed filling! There are also words on the picture so there are a lot of words on this page!

I love using bold colours with black and white contrasts. They have so much impact. 

For more inspiration, head over to ArtStacks here.

Happy creating!

Heather

Monochromatic and Kraft!

Hello!

The new challenge at Kraft Plus this month is Monochromatic. I rummaged through my new Deb Weiers papers and found this cool dude in an orange shirt. There's also a very cool background on translucent paper that is mostly orange so I went with that. It wasn't until after I finished the page that I realised how many other colours are on that background too. Whoops!

I hope you can join in the challenge this month. You can find it here.

Happy creating!

Heather

Enchanting at More Than Words

 Hello there!

The new challenge at More Than Words is to be inspired by the word Enchanting and to use Botanicals on your art journal page.

At first I couldn't think what to use for the Botanicals part of the challenge but then I remembered that ArtStacks have some stunning botanical pictures in some of  'The Homemaker' stacks - on 94-year-old paper! I used this stack to make my page about how Enchanting old books are. 

I highlighted the 94-year-old paper:

You can find 'The Homemaker" stack here.

I hope you can join the challenge! You can find the details here.

Beauty is Everywhere

Hello! The new challenge is up at More Than words! You have to be inspired by the word Vintage and add some Collage to your art journal page.

Can you spot the collage in mine?

Yes - I collaged the butterfly! I collaged pieces of vintage paper that were given to me by my online friend, Carolyn S. Nehring. I digitally removed most of the colour from the butterfly then printed the butterfly over the top of the collage, letting the vintage papers show through. I then cut it out and added it to my page.

Will you join in the challenge this month? You can find the details here.

Happy creating!

Heather

A Bit of Banksy

Hi there. I don't usually get political in my artwork but this month's challenge over at Kraft + sent me heading in this direction. The challenge is to be inspired by Banksy and to use kraft of course.

Banksy's artwork often makes a social statement and a huge social issue at the moment is the invasion of the Ukraine.

Banksy often paints figures in black and white so I found a photo of Putin and digitally altered it to look like it's painted. I added a quote by the Ukrainian president (I altered the quote slightly from the original) which I think sums up the ridiculous reasons Putin has come up with to justify this war.

Banksy often adds splashes of colour, particularly red, so I used this to symbolise the casualties of war.

I love the way challenges inspire us to try new things!

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

Happy creating!

Heather

Tags and Pockets

Gosh -I've been so busy lately I've hardly had a chance to create!

I did finally get to the craft room though as it's time again for the new challenge over at More Than Words. The challenge this month is to use tags or pockets on your art journal page. I had those two words (tags and pocket) running through my mind when suddenly the lyrics to this song popped into my head. They were perfect - they have both tags AND pocket! I had a blast making this. I used the new ArtStacks packs by Lisa Oxley. I think I'm in love!

Aren't the colours just amazing? The pink canvas is from Lisa's Floral Fetish stack and the stunning harlequin paper and the paint swatches are from her Bright and Bold stack. The leaves, butterflies and heart are all cut or punched from the sensational background page, also from the Bright and Bold stack.

I hope you can join us at More Than Words this month! You can find the challenge here.

Happy art journaling!

Heather

Delightfully Difficult at ArtStacks!

Ohh, I've been having fun! I could create with Lorraine Haight Moraine's Altered Ancestors every day. I love her sense of humour. Her clever quotes and funny figures always make me smile.

This is a fairly simple piece. Here's how I made it:

1. I used a favourite geli-print as my background, adding a bit of stenciling, stamping and outlining.
2. I cut out one of the gorgeous gingko leaves from the Trees & Leaves stack from ArtStacks. I use these a lot - they're perfect for providing that extra something in the background.
3. I also cut out the man and chair from Lorraine Haight Moraine's CoreStack, inked all the edges in black, and added them to the page.
4. I added the tissue-paper quote using gel medium. Dina Wakley's soft gel matte medium is the perfect combination with the ArtStacks tissue. The tissue disappears completely into the background, making it look like the quote is typed directly onto the page. (Note that neither myself nor ArtStacks have any affiliation with Dina's products. I just love this particular product!)
5. I finished by adding a stitched border, some messy stitching and, surprisingly for me, a cardstock border!

I made this for a swap with my online friend, Carolyn S. Nehring. I saw a piece of hers online that I loved so we did a swap! Here's the gorgeous piece of Carolyn's.

Thanks for the swap Carolyn!

These pages are so much fun and not difficult to make at all. If you make something similar, I'd love to see!

Happy craftin'!

Heather

 

Peace, Hope and Love

Welcome back! have you seen the new challenge over at More Than Words yet? The challenge is to be inspired by the word "Wishes" and to use Trees on your art journal page.

ArtStacks recently released a new stack called Trees & Leaves so I had many trees images to choose from! In the end, the gorgeous colours of the pink and yellow tall trees spoke to me so I based my page around these.

My background is a sheet of the printed pianola roll paper from The Homemaker CardStack. I layered it over pink paper so the pink showed through the small rows of holes. I added an extra border of the roses and stencilled and swiped paint over the top.

I painted gold stars to make the trees look Christmassy. These are all from The Dusty Attic.

I finished with a quote printed on tissue from another New Release, the Christmas Quotes MiniStack. As usual, this tissue has almost disappeared when applied, leaving just the print showing. I love it!

You can find the trees, the printed pianola roll paper and the quote over at ArtStacks here.

I hope you'll join us over at More Than Words! You can find the challenge here.

Happy art journalin'!

Heather

The Positivity Project

Welcome back!

There's a new project happening over at ArtStacks! It's called The Positivity Project. It's not a competition - it's just about creating art with a positive or uplifting message to help us all when times are tough, like they are for so many people at the moment.

To enter, just post your project on the ArtStacks Facebook page here. You can find more details there too.

I thought I'd create an art journal page:

The funny thing is that it isn't so much this quote that's uplifting for me - it's the Dooo-doo-doo chorus that I wrote around the edges of the page. I find it hard not to be uplifted by that simple, catchy and somewhat silly chorus. I smile every time I think of it!

You certainly don't have to use any ArtStacks products for The Positivity Project but, of course, I did! I used the gingko leaf from the new release Trees & Leaves CoreStack, the vintage figure from Lorraine Haight Moraine's CoreStack and a quote from the Words of Wisdom MiniStack.

I hope you can join in!

Happy creatin'!

Heather

Showing Gratitude at More Than Words

Welcome back to a new challenge at More Than Words! This month, you need to create an art journal page inspired by the word GRATITUDE and use the colours from our challenge board image.

I came up with this:

I really enjoyed making this one although the detailed work on the face ended up driving me crazy! I rashly decided I was going to do a collage so I took a geli print and punched small circles from it then put these together to make the face. It took me ages! I really like how it turned out though.

I added some ArtStacks eyes and made her features a bit imperfect - crooked eyes, crooked mouth, different coloured eyes etc.

Almost the whole piece is made from geli prints. The only exceptions are the ArtStacks gingko leaves and the ArtStacks trees that form the base of the background. These are both from the new Trees & Leaves stack. I even used the leftover punched geli strip paper to write my title on.

I hope you can join us at More Than Words this month. You can find the challenge here.

Happy journalin'!

Heather

Nanny's Flower Quote

Hi there! Today I have a step-by-step tutorial showing how you can use scraps to create beautiful backgrounds. I made this background entirely from scraps from The Homemaker stack plus a piece of paper that I geli-printed myself.

I started my art journal page by adding some colourful scraps of paper behind some pianola roll paper from The Homemaker stack. The dots on the pianola paper allow the coloured paper to show through, creating a cool effect.

I then layered on random scraps from The Homemaker stack plus some more of the coloured geli-printed paper.

I really like the rows of coloured dots created by the pianola roll paper over the coloured paper so I decided to reinforce this by making rows of larger dots. l used a standard hole-punch to punch out lots of small circles and glued these in rows. I also added the negative strips from those dots plus some more coloured paper. I painted pink around the edges of the pages and added a rose, again from The Homemaker stack.

I wanted to add my crazy stitching around the edges of the page but I had other art on the back of these pages and the stitching would show on them so I took more scraps from The Homemaker stack and added lots of stitching to them then glued those to the page.

The final step was to add butterflies, a flower and a quote from the Anemones & Friends CardStack. In the stack, the quote is attributed to Walter Hagen, however my mother-in-law used to use this quote a lot so I'm attributing it to her! I finished by using a black pen to finalise the border and highlight the rows of dots.

I love using up leftover scraps to create with!

Happy creating!

Heather