In the Spotlight + Mini Challenge... with Jennie Atkinson

Hello Everyone!

I am Jennie and I am absolutely delighted to be your Spotlight Host for this month's mini challenge.  I live on the remote island of Shetland in the very north of the UK - in fact we are as close to Norway and Faeroe as we are to the UK Mainland. It takes 12 hours on the ferry to get from Lerwick (our capital) to Aberdeen and across some very bumpy waters!  I have lived here for 34 years and absolutely love it.  

My blog is called Live The Dream as I really do live the dream - I am so lucky to live in an old Shetland Manse (c.1840) in the stunning Tingwall Valley and the view out of my craft room is of the loch, the hills and the sea and cliffs in the distance.  It is not always sunny! in fact at the moment we are experiencing gale after gale and early snow.

We have a lovely sailing boat (named Mrs Muir - known as "the other woman") and my husband and I spend six/eight weeks each summer sailing from Shetland to the West Coast of Scotland (and back again of course!).  I am also so very lucky to be retired - my  job as Senior Planner with the Shetland Islands Council was quite demanding and didn't leave much time for crafting but it has been full on since I left!  One of my leaving presents was a Cuttlebug Die Cutting Machine - fabulous!

I have crafted since I was a child, but I have always loved paper.  I just love working with it - inking, stamping, cutting, folding ...... This love has led me into scrapbooking and I really enjoy scrapping our memories, particularly in mini-books which I make myself.

During the last couple of years I have ventured into mixed media, which I really enjoy, and textiles also get into my pieces every now and again. Living so far north I have not had an opportunity to attend any workshops or classes and everything I do is either by trial and error or watching online videos and tutorials. 

But more than anything I suppose I am known for my hand made flowers.  It started about four years ago when I never seemed to have the right coloured flower (I have to buy everything online) and decided to research making my own.  There are so many tutorials out there in blogland, so none of the ones I make are unique to me.

However the one thing that I do with all my flowers in order to make them much stronger and capable of being on the front of a mini-book is to spray the cardstock with water after cutting and inking them and then scrunching them up around a thin paint brush handle.  When left to dry over night the cardstock is fuller having been plumped up and is much stronger.  The creases really add to the look as well.  My favourite flower die is the fabulous Tim Holtz Tatterred Florals Die, but I also love Donna Salazar's fabulous Itsy Bitsy and Flower Dies as well.

I love to use them in scrapbooking .......

...... mixed media work .......

..... and on hangings - just about everything really!

If you would like to see how I make my flowers please visit my blog Live the Dream and scroll down a bit and you will find a number of tutorials on the right hand side bar.

The Mini Spotlight Challenge 

So ....... my challenge for you all this month is to show us your favourite flower die and what you create with it.  There are so many wonderful dies and ways of working with them that I hope you will enjoy this challenge and I am really looking forward to seeing your projects - as usual absolutely anything as long as it is not a card!  AND as the season is Christmas and New Year you have two weeks to enter the challenge - our next full Challenge (No. 31) will not open until Sunday, January 5th.

On behalf of everyone at Anything But a Card Challenge I wish you all a peaceful and happy Christmas and all you wish for in 2014.  Happy Crafting!

~ Jennie x

All is Merry and Bright for Week 3 of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 30

Good Morning Everyone! Christmas is just over a week away... time is passing by so quickly these days. It's week 3 of our current challenge No. 30... our last challenge for 2013 - we hope you are able to find some creative time to play. CLICK HERE to jump over to the challenge intro and where to LINK UP your creations.

The current Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #30 - ANYTHING GOES... With a Holiday Twist! This challenge is an open theme – but we love the holidays too and can't wait to see what everyone is creating! Please share any current project you have created, and if it's Holiday themed that's perfectly OK, too! JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. Could you please do us a favour and mention the current Anything But a Card Challenge #30 and LINK BACK to this challenge. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight Dec. 21st. - you have 1 week left to  play along and ENJOY the creative process! Next Sunday we will have a new Artist Spotlight + Mini Challenge that will run for TWO weeks carrying us through the Christmas and New Year Holidays.

Let's see what part of our DT has created!!

Please click on the designers' name to visit their blog. We hope you’ll take a minute to go see their work up close... and as long as you’re there – please leave them a little love!

Christi

"I made these 2 ornaments after digging through my stash of chipboard. I think they have a "Holiday Twist" to them & I hope you agree!!"

Margaret

"I was going to make a Christmas/Winter scrapbook page this month, but after all of the ice and snow we've had, the last thing I wanted to do was make more... So I decided to get inky and add a page to my journal."

Susan

"The past several months I have committed to play along with T!m's monthly 12 tags of 2013. This is my version of the December Tag using only things from my crafty stash."

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We hope our designers have you INSPIRED to break out some supplies, or curl up with a journal and create!!! We can't wait to see your creations and we hope that you will join in and share them with us! CLICK HERE TO LINK UP your creations. Stop back next Sunday for a new Designer Spotlight + Mini Challenge!http://art-without-anxiety.blogspot.com/2013/12/ornaments.html

I'm Dreaming of Sugarplums and Summer Holidays for Week #2 of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 30

Good Morning Everyone! How's your holiday crafting coming along? It's week 2 of our current challenge No. 30... now extended to three weeks, giving you more time to create and play along. CLICK HERE to jump over to the challenge intro and where to LINK UP your creations.

The new Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #30 - ANYTHING GOES... With a Holiday Twist! This challenge is an open theme – but we love the holidays too and can't wait to see what everyone is creating! Please share any current project you have created, and if it's Holiday themed that's perfectly OK, too! JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. Could you please do us a favour and mention the current Anything But a Card Challenge #30 and LINK BACK to this challenge. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight Dec. 21st. giving you 2 more weeks to play along and ENJOY the creative process! We will share more of our Design Team's creations each Sunday to keep you inspired.

Let's see what part of our DT has created!!

Please click on the designers' name to visit their blog. We hope you’ll take a minute to go see their work up close... and as long as you’re there – please leave them a little love!

Sheri

Sheri created a pair of adorable holiday theme
altered mouse traps from Dollar tree. :)

Jennie

I decided I would have a break from Christmas and am sharing another holiday! Shared summer memories came to mind when I was writing Christmas Cards the other day and so here is a layout of some wonderful summer memories with my fabulous friends.

Lisette

I have had a stash of green bottle brush trees for almost a year. It was always my intention to have a go at bleaching them and I finally did it - yay!

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We hope our designers have you INSPIRED to break out some supplies and take some time to create!!! We can't wait to see your creations and we hope that you will join in and share them with us! CLICK HERE TO LINK UP your creations. Stop back next Sunday to see more creations from our Design Team! :)

Featured Artists for Anything But a Card Challenges No. 29

Greetings!!! Thanks to all who shared your fabulous creations in our from our "Fall into Fall" challenge #29... and providing such a wide variety of projects for all seasons!

Presenting the Featured Artists

for ABAC Challenge No. 29... 

Rupa

Sam21ski

Alison {a.k.a. butterfly}

Congratulations! 

Feel free to snag our NEW badge for your blog!

We hope you join us later today with more inspiration for week #2 of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 30! Have a fabulous Sunday :)

Create Anything You Dream Up for Week One of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 30

Good Morning Everyone! Can you believe its December and Christmas is only 24 days away??? Thanks so much for all of the wonderful comments and those that "RECYCLED IT" with Susan's mini-challenge. Stay tuned for a new "Spotlight and Mini-Challenge" at the bottom of December {Christmas week}... and a little elf told us that the end of year mini challenge will go for two weeks as it falls over Christmas and New Year holidays.

It's time for a new challenge today here at Anything But a Card Challenges... so get ready to play and have some fun! Congratulations to all of you who were inspired to create with bold contrasting colors for Challenge #29 "Fall Into Fall". If you missed out on seeing all the amazing submissions... please CLICK HERE to check them out.

The new Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #30 - Anything Goes... With a Holiday Twist! This challenge is an open theme – but we love the holidays too and can't wait to see what everyone is creating! Please share any current project you have created, and if it's Holiday themed that's perfectly OK, too! JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge AND please mention and LINK BACK to this challenge. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight Dec. 21st. giving you 3 weeks to play along and ENJOY the creative process! We will share more of our Design Team's creations each Sunday to keep you inspired.

Let's see what part of our DT has created!!

Please click on the designers' name to visit their blog. We hope you’ll take a minute to go see their work up close... and as long as you’re there – please leave them a little love!

Julie

I enjoy the challenge that decorating and making for Christmas brings. What is this you ask? You can check out what I created over on my blog but before you do as we edge towards 2014, I want to say:

 "May your days be happy and filled with delight
however you choose to Celebrate."

In 2013, I have read many heart warming and inspiring posts this year. I have seen some amazing art and it has been a privilege to share you journey.

Diana

I made this book to hold my 2013 Christmas cards.
Otherwise they tend to get thrown out!
Check out my blog for more details!

 

Julia

I know it's only the 1st December but I've decided to go all out and start making Christmas creations! This is a garland I've made with a variety of items attached using rusty wire hooks and some lighting added to finish the look.

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We hope our designers have you INSPIRED to take some time to be creative!! We can't wait to see your creations and we hope that you will join in and share them with us! Stop back next Sunday to see more of our Design Team creations!

Featured Artists for Anything But a Card Challenges No. 28

Greetings!!! Thanks to all who shared your inspiring creations from our "Orange and Black" challenge... an Amazing array of projects using the colors of the season. If you missed the challenge, please CLICK HERE to see all the submissions.

Presenting the Featured Artists

for ABAC Challenge No. 28... 

Leigh

Diane

Heather

Congratulations! 

Feel free to snag our NEW badge for your blog!

We thank all who participated and LINKED
back to Anything But A Card Challenges.

Join us later today with a brand new Anything But a Card Challenges No. 30! Next weekend we will have Featured Artists for Challenge No. 29. Have a fabulous Sunday :)

In the Spotlight + Mini Challenge with ... Susan M. Brown {sbartist}

Good afternoon all! My sincerest apologies - yesterday was jam-packed and a very long day and this girl needed to sleep in and let the muse rest. My name is Susan and I love purple paint! My blog is sbartist : painting in the dark. I invite you to drop in for a visit and follow me too... I'm always on some sort of creative adventure.

So I will share the short of it here (and I'll share some longer ramblings HERE)...

I'm a mixed media artist & graphic designer : Dabbling in photography, assemblage, collage and whatever strikes my fancy. My blog is entitled sbartist : painting in the dark – pretty self explanatory. I lurk around in the dark creating art while all in the world are asleep. I spend my days working in a busy print shop doing my computer wizardry producing printed materials.

Creatively speaking... Not only am I one of the designers and also your Den Mother here at the Anything But a Card Challenges Blog... but also I’m Creative Team Coordinator & Senior Designer for Alumilite Corp. a.k.a. Amazing Crafting Products Design Team {I'm the queen of Amazing Mold Putty}; Designer on the Viva Las VegaStamps! Design Team; and designer and co-admin of the Unscripted Sketches Design Team. I also previously served a couple of other teams including the Sakura Hobby Craft Design Team. ABAC is a labor of love and gives me a sense of joy and accomplishment each week as we collectively share our love for creating.

I LOVE... my husband, Travel, Painting and drawing - OK let's just lump ALL THINGS art related together here; Def Leppard; ALL things PURPLE; found objects {i'm always picking up stuff off the ground}; Salvador DALI; RECYCLING and repurposing things; artistic challenges; SWAP art; throwing paint; BBQ Pork; chocolate mint ice cream; Bubble baths and afternoon naps; street painting; Twizzlers and Lemonheads; GOOGLIE eyes; my MINI Cooper {now in it's 4th regeneration}; going
to Art Museums; and painting in the dark...

Being a creative spontaneous spirit – in my experience this has made for some amazing and sometimes tumultuous adventures...

For as long as I can remember I loved making things and this is still true today. This altered book page features a photo of me age two that I've devilishly painted myself with chocolate cake... So I think I started my creative journey really young {and I'm still not very fond of chocolate cake}.

My very first design team was Unscripted Sketches and my first project was of all things a scrapbook page including recycled bottle caps.

  

My style is varied and unique - ranging from cardmaking, tags, and mixed-media - to altered art, mini-albums and off-the-page whimsies. In observing my creations one thing was strikingly clear - RECYCLING. Recently I have made a more conscious effort of it - but looking back... I was always doing it. More often than not I have included all sorts things that others would discard and this made me SMILE!

So for your mini challenge I found this so easy to decide... I challenge you to RECYCLE IT!!! Try greencrafting – repurpose items destined for the bin into something beautiful, useful and new again. Go rummage your recycling bin - or your crafty stash - and create something wonderful out of something most take for granted. GO GREEN!!!

I do hope you'll play along this week with the
"RECYCLE IT" Challenge
and can't wait to see how you THINK GREEN. 

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and Chanukkah!
Please join us next Sunday for a brand new Challenge - No. 30. Have a great week! Sb

If you love our mission here and want to be a part of this fabulous team of creatives, please contact me {amazingcrafting at yahoo dot com}.

New Additions and Winter Breezes Arrive for Week Three of Anything But a Card Challenges #29

Good Morning Everyone! It's week 3 of our current challenge number 29 - the third and final week to create and share. CLICK HERE to jump over to the challenge intro and where to LINK UP your creations.

The current Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #29 - Fall into Fall! School is in Full Swing and Indian Summer has faded - this challenge is open theme - Please share any current project you have created, and if it's FALL themed that's perfectly OK, too! JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight Nov. 23rd... giving you 3 weeks to play along and ENJOY the creative process! There's one week left – we hope this extra week on the challenge gives you a chance to squeeze in some Cre8tive playtime.

Let's see what part of our DT has created!!

Please click on the designers' name to visit their blog. We hope you’ll take a minute to go see their work up close... and as long as you’re there – please leave them a little love!

Please welcome our newest addition
to the ABAC Design Team...

Christi Conley!!

Christi

"I bought both the wreath & the leaves at the Dollar Tree and I had this whole project in mind - until I hated part of it.  Salvaged the day and it came out lovely – and I even had a happy accident LOL!"

Margaret

"With the cooler temperatures we've had lately, I've really felt the need to scrapbook some of my fall photos.  I really liked the blue with all of the traditional colors."

Susan

"I've been working on Halloween projects for so long I thought I was going for Halloween ALL YEAR. I finally broke down and created this holiday tag using the same techniques from T!m Holtz' October Tag. I've got my lighted elf hat on and the Christmas Crafting is in full swing!"

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We hope our designers have you INSPIRED to break out some supplies, or curl up with a journal and create!!! We can't wait to see your creations and we hope that you will join in and share them with us! CLICK HERE TO LINK UP your creations. Stop back next Sunday for a new Designer Spotlight + Mini Challenge!

Enjoying Colours of Changing Leaves for Week 2 Anything But a Card Challenges #29

Good Morning Everyone! It's week 2 of our current challenge No. 29... now extended to three weeks, giving you more time to create and play along. CLICK HERE to jump over to the challenge intro and where to LINK UP your creations.

The new Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #29 - Fall into Fall! School is in Full Swing and Indian Summer has faded - this challenge is open theme - Please share any current project you have created, and if it's FALL themed that's perfectly OK, too! JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight Nov. 23rd... giving you 3 weeks to play along and ENJOY the creative process! We will share more of our Design Team's creations each Sunday to keep you inspired.

Let's see what part of our DT has created!!

Please click on the designers' name to visit their blog. We hope you’ll take a minute to go see their work up close... and as long as you’re there – please leave them a little love!

Sheri

Sheri is our Birthday Girl this week - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

 She used a fall napkin as the background for this art journal page.

Jennie

"For this month's challenge I am sharing an ATC. Living so far north in a treeless landscape I miss the Autumn fall of leaves so it is always a delight to use my leaf stamps and warm Autumn colours!"

Lisette

"I've made a little luminary to bring a warm
glow to dark autumn days."

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We hope our designers have you INSPIRED to break out some supplies and take some time to create!!! We can't wait to see your creations and we hope that you will join in and share them with us! CLICK HERE TO LINK UP your creations. Stop back next Sunday to see more creations from our Design Team!

Happy Accidents and Turning Leaves for Anything But a Card Challenges No. 29 - Fall into Fall!

Good Morning Everyone! Thanks so much for all of the wonderful comments and those that scaled it down to "Miniature" with Lisette's mini-challenge. Stay tuned for a new "Spotlight and Mini-Challenge" at the bottom of November {Thanksgiving week in the U.S.}.

It's time for a new challenge today here at Anything But a Card Challenges... so get ready to play and have some fun! Congratulations to all of you who were inspired to create with bold contrasting colors for Challenge #28 "Orange and Black". If you missed out on seeing all the amazing submissions... please CLICK HERE to check them out.

The new Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #29 - Fall into Fall! School is in Full Swing and Indian Summer has faded - this challenge is open theme - Please share any current project you have created, and if it's FALL themed that's perfectly OK, too! JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight Nov. 23rd... giving you 3 weeks to play along and ENJOY the creative process! We will share more of our Design Team's creations each Sunday to keep you inspired.

Let's see what part of our DT has created!!

Please click on the designers' name to visit their blog. We hope you’ll take a minute to go see their work up close... and as long as you’re there – please leave them a little love!

Julie

"Yes I have been falling, at least my shirt has. Into the gesso. Read about how I rescued this black shirt over on my blog! Certainly a fun make."

Diana

"I made a colorful wreath and I used up a bunch of my scraps! Its sorta like spring cleaning in the fall!"

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We hope our designers have you INSPIRED to break out some crafty goodness and make something!! We can't wait to see your creations and we hope that you will join in and share them with us! Stop back next Sunday to see more of our Design Team creations!