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Friday 28 April 2017

April highlights ...

We'd love to see a few more entries for our challenge this month - I hope you might find some creative time to yourself over the next few days and join in with us. 

This month we feature an ANZAC tribute artwork by Kenneth MacQueen called Wild Poppies.  Our criteria this month is to use splashes of red on your page.

Here are just a couple of layouts that have caught our eye this month ...

 
An amazing page from Viga Anton

A stunning card from Robyn Oliver

There is still time to play along with us - hope to see your entry soon.


Saturday 22 April 2017

Welcome to our April guest ...

Please welcome our lovely guest designer this month, Katie Howard with her wonderful layout inspired by our artwork for April.


The artwork was just the inspiration that I needed to scrap some photos from the dawn service we attended for the 100 year recognition of ANZAC day, and I happen to have some flairs especially for the theme too. I was also inspired to recreate a watercolour kind of background with the dots of poppies like in the artwork.


Hello, my name is Katie Howard and I am a self-confessed obsessed scrapbooker! I am from Brisbane and live with my husband and three teenage kids. I have been seriously scrapping since around the time my youngest was born, so around 13 years! (that surprises even me!) My proudest scrapping achievement was being asked to be a Creative Team member for Scrapbooking Memories. As far as my style, well, it is a little hard to define! I dabble in many things, but probably the most consistent thing on my pages is layers and embellishment clusters. I have been known to dabble in mixed media backgrounds, but also like clean lines, so I call my style – “go with the flow”!
I am currently designing for Charms Creations, Rainbow Splendour and Scrapbooking Top 50 and have also had the pleasure of being a part of Kraft+, Scrap the Boys, Scrap the Girls, White With 1 and D’lish Scraps.

You can find my blog here: www.katiehs-life.blogspot.com.au, and I must admit, I don’t update this quite as often as I should! But most of my projects usually end up there. You can also find me on Facebook in many of the scrapbooking communities and groups.

Thanks for having me at ARTastic!

Katie x



Thank you so much for joining us this month Katie.

Remember ....

You still have time until the end of the month to upload your own take on this challenge.  All details are on the blog sidebar. We'd love to see what you can do with our inspiration this month.

Saturday 15 April 2017

Our April mid month reveal ...

Welcome to our mid month reveal.

This month we feature an ANZAC tribute artwork by Kenneth MacQueen called Wild Poppies.  Our criteria this month is to use pops of red on your page.

CRITERIA - Pops of red

We'd love to see your entries - this isn't difficult, just add some splashes of red to your layouts - this can be paint or ink, or enamel dots, rhinestones or even buttons.  Add some flowers, hearts or stars in red.  It can be any theme at all it doesn't have to be related to a memorial day.


And some fantastic inspiration from our second team ...

HELENE
As Sweden has not been to war for over 200 years we do not have any memorial day similar to ANZAC. I therefore just picked a photo that goes along with red. My pop of red is a rub-on "tattoo" and splashes of red mist.

TONE
The photos are taken in a small zoo....and the title says "Are you snotty?

KRIPA
I made an art journal page using a little pop of red and a quote which i imagine our war heroes would agree with: A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking because her trust is not on the branch but on her own wings. Believe in yourself.


ANNA

I made a card this time I was inspired of the red poppies and the watercolor effect. I smooshed with some red distress ink +water on my background . The sentiment is inspired of the tribute/remembering theme.

ANGELIKA

JANE

In 2015 and 2016 a local community group undertook a massive "Poppy Poject" to handmake thousands and thousands of poppies for the 100 Year anniversary of Gallipoli and WW1. These were made with crepe paper and a lot were done with crochet - a truly massive job.

Now it is your turn, we'd love to see your own interpretation. You have until 11.55pm on the last day of the month to submit your entry.

Saturday 8 April 2017

March winners / April tutorial ...

I will be announcing our March winners shortly but first I would like to introduce you to our Tips, Tricks and Techniques for April brought to you by team member, Judy Willey.

A background by Judy Willey

Hi Everyone, this month I thought I would show you some of the techniques that I used to make my background for this month's challenge, using watercolour paints and inks. I created the sky using a stamp pad and a simple cloud template. 

By moving the template slightly to the left or right as you move down the page, you can achieve the effect of fluffy clouds. I ink upwards from the template fading and blending as I go.


Watercolours are quite popular at the moment and they are a fun way to create a background especially if you are looking to achieve a particular colour.


 Initially I felt I had too much green so I kept adding grey tones and watched the colours blend.


Then, when the paper dried  I sketched some stems and buds.


Then I placed the matted photo and flowers in place and finished off with some fussy cut, embossed clouds and some journalling.


Background watercolour work is always fun and I am never too sure how it will look when it dries. Don’t despair if its not quite what you wanted - keep adding to it until you are happy! 

Why not give water colours a go if you haven’t tried them before.

Have fun - can’t wait to see what you create for this months challenge. 

now onto our March winners .....  super thrilled to have all of you play along with us last month - thank you !

Our main winner for March is #9 Louise with this fantastic page.



Our random draw winner is #3 Saturday Scrappers

Donated by Helene Bogren

 Congratulations ladies.

Could the winners please contact me on jjjustjane@bigpond.com with their postal details. You have until the announcement of the winners for next month to do so. Don't forget to grab our winners badge from the sidebar. 

Our Creative Team highlight from last month is Tone with her sensational layout.  She will receive a little surprise something from me.


Please don't forget to enter this month's ARTastic challenge. All the details are in the left sidebar. Remember you have until the end of the month to submit your entry.




Saturday 1 April 2017

Welcome April ...

Fresh from the hottest February on record to now the wettest month in many, many years I think everyone in my region of Australia is looking to April with a great deal of hope - please, please produce some nice Autumn weather for us!

This month we feature an ANZAC tribute artwork by Kenneth MacQueen called Wild Poppies.  Our criteria this month is to use pops of red on your page.

CRITERIA - Pops of red

ANZAC Day (25th April) is our memorial day where we remember those who gave their lives in wartime. Your page doesn't have to be about this topic of course, unless you would like it to be - you can use anything that inspires you from the artwork - the muted feel of this piece, the subtle colours, the vision of a field of flowers, the use of watercolours, documenting a family war history, gratitude or remembrance. Please tell us how you were inspired.

A little about  Kenneth MacQueen

Kenneth Macqueen was born on 8 April 1897 at Ballarat, Victoria, the son of a Presbyterian clergyman. He moved to Brisbane with his family in 1898, and to Sydney in 1909. From 1914 to 1916 he worked as a clerk at the Colonial Sugar Refinery. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1916, and served on the Western Front.

In London after the war Macqueen studied at the Slade School of Fine Art under Henry Tonks and at the Westminster School of Art under Bernard Meninsky. After returning to Australia in 1919 he worked on sheep stations in New South Wales. In 1922 he purchased a property at Mount Emlyn, near Millmerran, in south-eastern Queensland, where he divided his time between watercolour painting and farming. His daily life of farming brought him into a close personal relationship with nature.

Macqueen was one of the first Australian watercolourists to adopt a formalist approach in which shape and colour play a dominant role. He served as a Trustee of the Queensland Art Gallery in 1959-1960. Kenneth Macqueen died of a heart attack on 21 June 1960 at Millmerran, Queensland.


This year we are putting the ART back into ARTastic and our main prize each month will reflect that -  this month featuring some arty products from Kaisercraft.

And as always a lovely prize pack for our random draw winner ...
Donated by Judy Willey

And now some amazing inspiration from the first of our team ...

TRACEY
I was inspired by the colours in the painting and the water colour technique which I used on my background.

KAREN
The inspiration I have taken from this painting is the poppies.

JUDY
I was inspired by the poppies and the profound memories of the ANZACs that walking through the poppy fields evoked in me. I was also inspired by the watercolours softness.

MARIA
This topic is important to me. I was inspired by the colours, flowers and red.

TANYA
I was inspired by the greyish blue watercoloured tones. Love the pop of red too.

EVELYN
I was inspired by the watercoloring, so I decided to use my ecoline liquid watercolors for it!

ELAINE
I loved the water colour, so I used it on my page for the background. I used this photo as I'm so thankful for the males in my life, and I just couldn't imagine what the wives and mothers went through, saying goodbye, as the men and boys headed off to war.

Over to you ......

Please upload the DIRECT link to your actual entry with the link tool on the LEFT by 11.55pm on April 30th, 2017.  We'd love to see your new paper, digital, mixed media or off the page entries. Why not try doing a pocket page spread?  Please no back-dated submissions.  

 Please note:- You may combine our challenge with a sketch challenge only - no other combining will be accepted.  Please include our inspirational picture and challenge details on your blog post as well as provide a link back to us at ARTastic  ... and don't forget to tell us how you were inspired by our challenge.  You may enter more than once in any month as long as each submission is with a different creation.  International entries are very welcome. 

Please call past on the 8th for our announcement of the March winners and our ARTastic 3T's - Tips, Tricks and Techniques for April