Hello! I'm here today to share how to make a simple yet striking art journal page from one ArtStacks pack. In this case, the pack is Wonderful World by Tamara Laporte (#willowing). I used both the physical papers plus digital files to make this.

Step 1: Take the stunning pink leaves page from the pack and add messy stitching around the edge. I didn't have access to a sewing machine when I made this as I'm travelling at the moment so I added the stitching digitally. The leaves image is printed on a fine deli paper. If you'd like to layer it onto your art journal page, try adding it with staples or tape, not a wet media as wet media could buckle the delicate paper.
Step 2: Cut out the bird and add it to the page, adding thread behind it.
Step 3: Add the quote. Again, I added this digitally.

You can find Tamara Laporte's stunning new pack at www.artstacks.com.au/shop.

Happy creating!

Heather

Free at More Than Words

Hello! 

Have you been following along with the new More Than Words challenges? This is the last challenge until October. The challenge this week is to use the word Fly plus use Feathers and Splatters on your project.

Our Guest Designer this week is Birgit Koopsen, so I thought I'd create my projects using images from her Forest Walk pack from ArtStacks!

I took one of Birgit's gorgeous bird designs and traced around it onto calico, twice. I then sewed the two pieces together leaving a gap so I could stuff the bird. I made the wings and tail from feathers from the same pack. I love these colourful feathers! I used a scrap piece of paper for the beak. 

My splatters are on the bird's chest and I wrote the word Free there too.

If you're quick you can still join in! Head over to @mtw_challenge HERE to see how to play along. You could win a prize from ArtStacks!

Happy creating!
Heather

I'm teaching at the Mastering Mixed Media Expo!

Hello crafting friends!

I have very exciting news! I’m thrilled to be teaching at the Mastering Mixed Media Expo 2025, a FREE online event featuring 35+ incredible mixed media artists from around the world– and I’d love for you to join me!

During this two-week event, which is run by the amazing Tamara Laporte, you'll gain access to a wide variety of mixed media workshops, where artists (like me!) share their favourite techniques, supplies and creative inspiration. The best part? It’s completely free to attend!

This is an incredible opportunity to explore new styles, play with different materials, and connect with a vibrant art community.

When you attend Mastering Mixed Media - Expo 2025 you are able to:
• Access over 35+ free art sessions.
• Watch the sessions at your leisure in your own time.
• Join our Facebook Group with like-minded creative people from all over the world.
• Have the opportunity to enter into giveaways to win a VIP package (get life long access!)
You'll also receive free gifts from your art teachers!

Here's a sneaky peek of my project ;)

Participants in my class will receive Free ArtStacks papers!

Event Dates: 1st – 14th May 2025
Join in Here for Free: Mastering Mixed Media Expo 2025

Meet the amazing artists:

From left to right and top to bottom:
Jessica Swift, Tiffany Solorio, Amanda Trought, Melanie Rivers, Jenny Grant,
Jane Davenport, Andrea Gomoll, Dyan Reaveley, Ida Andersen Lang,
Tamara Laporte, Andrea Garvey, Eulalia Mejia, Kim Dellow, Christa Forrest,
Denise Love, Jennifer Bonneteau, Marabeth Quin, Cindy Gilstrap,
Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, Dylan Sara, Nikol Wikman, Jackie Schomburg,
Marieke Blokland, Laura Horn, Karen Campbell, Jenny Manno, Martice Smith,
Effy Wild, Melanie Bess, Kimball Davis, Heather McMahon, Kim Hamburg,
Jackie Bernardi, Seth Apter, Delight Rogers,Tamara Łuć, Carla Sonheim

There's also a VIP option! If you want to keep all the workshops forever, you can grab the VIP pass at a huge discount:
VIP Access Includes:
✅ Lifetime, downloadable access to all 35+ workshops
✅ A bonus virtual gift bag packed with art goodies (extra classes, PDFs, collage sheets & more!)
✅ A special discounted price - just £59 (normally £99)
This price is only available while the expo runs. It increases after the live event ends.
Upgrade to VIP Here: Mastering Mixed Media VIP Package

I can't wait for you to join me on this amazing mixed media adventure. Are you ready to get creative?

Join us now HERE for 35 + FREE CREATIVE SESSIONS

I hope to see you there!

Heather :D

The Love Stack - with New Releases!

Hi. I'm excited to have been playing with Birgit Koopsen's brand-new releases over at ArtStacks! Oh my - I'm so in love with the colours!

For this project I decided to focus on the Essential Elements pack. This pack contains tags, shapes, faces, words and much, much more. I decided to make a tag stack, layering three tags on top of each other.

My top tag is the smallest one with "The Love Stack" name on it. You've got "The Love Shack" running around your head now haven't you? Haha. To help separate the colours, I cut out my pieces leaving a thin strip of white around the edges. I love the effect this created. I also left a white strip around the edges of all the tags but it doesn't show up well in the photos.

I continued the love and hearts theme on the second tag.

My last tag continues the same theme. Even the tiny white hearts are from Birgit's pack.

All the papers, including the tags, hearts, circles and words are from Birgit's 'Essential Elements' pack.

You can find Birgit's pack here. 

I had so much fun making these! I hope you get to play with them soon.

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

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

"Untamed Hearts" Mini Journal

Hello! I'm busting to share my art journal I made using Tracy Verdugo's papers from ArtStacks!

I was really inspired by the gorgeous women and hearts in Tracy's "Love Lives Here" pack. I got to thinking about women and their hearts and I realised I know so many women who use their love and their hearts in different ways. I wanted to journal about that.

I simply glued the pages together to make the journal and I stitched a contrasting piece of paper along the spine.

This is the cover of the journal:

The title on the second page was an obvious one for me. I think we all know people like this! I typed my titles. I love Tracy's colourful moons that I could use to decorate the pages.

I inserted a pocket and tag into the journal.

The next page is printed on translucent paper. I left it unadorned as I love the gorgeous colours and it allows us to partly see the next page which is arouses our curiosity.

Once we turn the page we can see the following page in detail:

The final page is the back cover of the book. I used a quote from Khe Sanh by Cold Chisel and I crocheted the 'chains'.

All the papers in this journal are from Tracy Verdugo's packs. The women, hearts and moons are from her Love Lives here pack:

Those gorgeous background papers, dripping with colour, are from her Under the Sea pack:

I hope this gives you some ideas how you can incorporate these stunning papers into your work!

Happy creating!
Heather

I'm Back!

Hello and welcome back! Sorry for my absence - I've been away.

I was keen to get back to my craft desk and I was excited to get to play with some recent releases over at ArtStacks. This page was created for December's More than Words challenge using Tracy Verdugo's "Under the Sea" pack.

The theme at More Than Words this month is "Seasons". Summer is my favourite season so I chose to create about that. Even though the papers in this pack are sea-themed, I felt the page I used for my background captured the feeling of a hot summer perfectly. I enjoy using papers in a different way than the obvious uses.

The woman is from Tracy's other pack - "Love Lives Here". She's printed on tissue so I painted the background behind her white then adhered the tissue image to the page with gel medium. I put another coat over the top and the tissue disappeared. I then used watercolour pencils to colour her features.

I love the paint dribbles on the background page so I highlighted them by adding the rest of my title along them: "and the livin' is easy....."

I hope you can create an art journal page and join us this month. You can find the challenge here.

Happy journaling!
Heather

A Collage of a Collage!

The challenge at More Than Words this month is "Collage or College". So you can create an art journal page about college or collage or both! 

I went crazy with the collage theme, layering all sorts of offcuts, textural items and images into a vintage book. 

The quote and the tissue flowers are from ArtStacks. My focal piece on the right is a stunning image created entirely by collaging strips of gelatin-printed papers. It's by the artist Amber Bennison and is also from ArtStacks, in a pack called "Art & Life".

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