Sunday, December 21, 2014

The Stars all Shine Brightly at #Cre8time... Week 3 of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 42 - CELESTIAL

Good Morning Everyone! Welcome to week number 3 of Challenge No. 42 here at Anything But a Card Challenges! If you missed the amazing creations by our team of designers when "CELESTIAL" – CLICK HERE to view week one Designers, CLICK HERE to view week 2 Designers.


The current Challenge... is one that that can be expressed in just one word... "CELESTIAL". For Anything But a Card Challenges No. 42 use the prompt "CELESTIAL" to inspire your muse. There are so many definitions of this prompt... we encourage you and your muse to create with your vision of "celestial".

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Please share any current project you have created and JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. To be eligible for TOP 3 selection -- Please do us the favor to mention and LINK BACK to this challenge using this permalink provided so that your readers may find us and play along { http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2014/12/shooting-for-stars-with-week-one-of.html }. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight December 27th giving you one more week to play along and ENJOY the creative process! Next week we will share a new MINI Challenge to give 2014 a proper creative sendoff.

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!

As my husband often navigates our boat by celestial means (the stars and the night sky) I have decided to interpret the theme by decorating a raffia star for Christmas using my favourite colours this year - blue and white. Unusually for me it includes glitter!!
 Please visit my BLOG for more details.



The altered background paper I used for this festival mask, reminded me of  space, hence the stars and moon featuring on it. Pop on over to my BLOG to see some more details on what I used and how this was created.

I love this saying and I love to make wall hangings, so this one is a gift to myself! Please see visit my BLOG for more details!




I found this Luminary in the "Dollar" section at Target which called out to me to be altered. Visit my BLOG for more details on my Starry Night Light.



While the stars on my ATC are the direct tie to the 'celestial' theme, there is the gentle reminder of the three words that gives me a heavenly sense of peace. Please visit my BLOG for more details.

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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 for one last Mini Challenge to end the year in creative style!


Sunday, December 14, 2014

Wishing Upon the Stars for Week 2 of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 42 "CELESTIAL"

Good Morning Everyone! Last Sunday we launched a BRAND NEW Challenge No. 42 here at Anything But a Card Challenges! CLICK HERE if you missed the fabulous creations by our week one team of designers!


The current Challenge... is one that that can be expressed in just one word... "CELESTIAL". For Anything But a Card Challenges No. 42 use the prompt "CELESTIAL" to inspire your muse. There are so many definitions of this prompt... we encourage you and your muse to create with your vision of "celestial".

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Please share any current project you have created and JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. To be eligible for TOP 3 selection -- Please do us the favor to mention and LINK BACK to this challenge using this permalink provided so that your readers may find us and play along { http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2014/12/shooting-for-stars-with-week-one-of.html }. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight December 27th giving you 2 weeks to  play along and ENJOY the creative process! We will share more of our Design Team's creations next 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!


My take on Celestial...the blue night skies and the silver stars! Taking these colors as inspiration, I have altered an old canvas painting of mine. I have made a collage of this lovely lady on a book box with bees wax. For more on what this lady is up to, please visit my BLOG





I used a photo mount and foamboard to make a box frame. Painted background and clear stamped onto acetate and brushed white pan pastel over the top. Visit my BLOG to see more details.


When I think celestial, I think angels. Using the freezer cracked method I created these angel wings to adorn my mixed media Christmas wall hanging. Drop by my blog HERE for more pictures and a Snapguide tutorial on how I achieved this look. Merry Christmas!


I love the Christmas story where the Three Wisemen followed the star to the stable in Bethlehem, thus I have created a candle holder to tell the story of the wisemen. I hope you will stop by Her Craftiness to see how this was created.



Scarves are all the fashion rage right now, and what better way to celebrate a Celestial theme by wearing a few of my favorite angel stamps?  This is an easy to recreate project, although it can be time consuming if you choose a large scarf like I did! Visit my BLOG for a short tutorial and you too can be wearing a wonderful creation of your own choice! 



"Wishing On A Star"
This is a Mixed Media piece using one of my Creative Lovely sketches. If you would like to see the tutorial for this artwork please go visit my BLOG. I really enjoyed making this artwork for the challenge, and I hope this inspires you to take the challenge.

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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 Challenge No. 40 "Autumn Magic / Spring Wonder"

Good Morning!!! Thanks to everyone who joined us for our "Autumn Magic / Spring Wonder" Challenge #40... a creative celebration of the changing seasons! If you missed out on seeing all of the amazing submissions... please CLICK HERE to view week number one; HERE for week 2 and HERE for week 3 of our Design Team inspiration. All of the submissions are AMAZING so you don't want to miss out on all the amazing creations!


Presenting the Featured Artists
for Challenge No. 40
"Autumn Magic / Spring Wonder" 

Congratulations! 
Feel free to snag our badge for your blog!

We hope you join us later today for week two of "CELESTIAL" Challenge No. 42. Have a fabulous Sunday! :)

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Shooting for the Stars with Week One of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 42 - CELESTIAL

Good Morning Everyone! It's a brand new month and time for a brand new ABAC Challenge to excite your creative muse. Last Sunday we had our last fifth Sunday "Five" Challenge of 2014 - CLICK HERE to see our fabulous designers inspiration and those who played along.

Now we get down to business... it's time for a new challenge today here at Anything But a Card Challenges... let's get ready to play and have some fun! Thanks to all who joined us in our "Anything Goes" Challenge #41. If you missed out on seeing the amazing creations... please CLICK HERE to view week One, CLICK HERE for week 2, and CLICK HERE for week 3.


The new Challenge... is one that that can be expressed in just one word... "CELESTIAL". For Anything But a Card Challenges No. 42 use the prompt "CELESTIAL" to inspire your muse. There are so many definitions of this prompt... we encourage you and your muse to create with your vision of "celestial".

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Please share any current project you have created and JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. To be eligible for TOP 3 selection -- Please do us the favor to mention and LINK BACK to this challenge using this permalink provided so that your readers may find us and play along { http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2014/12/shooting-for-stars-with-week-one-of.html }. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight December 27th 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!


I'm not sure that this little celestial being is quite as angelic as she looks! Find out how quick and easy she was to create over on my BLOG.

Here is another page from a few weeks ago in my Documented life. The prompt for that week was stars. Using what I had around me as with much in storage awaiting our final move. Please visit my BLOG for more details!

What happens when you take bamboo flooring, roofing iron, circuit boards and stars? Well.... I made a Celestial decoration for our verandah! You can find more details on my BLOG. My best wishes to everyone. What a wonderfully creative year we have had at Anything But A Card Challenges. 


When I look up onto the stars and the planets, I always think about something magical, something shining, something that breaks the darkness, something fragile. So for the Celestial challenge as the holidays are closing on us I created an altered light catcher bottle where the light is actually provided by a single candle. Jump over to my BLOG and check out how can you decorate one for yourself as well.


This new challenge prompt is "Celestial". Just what I needed to finally put paint to plaster and complete one of the many crafty items I have had in stock for far too long! One of them happened to be a precast plaster wall hanging of an Angel with stars, perfect for the challenge - and the holiday season. The precast plaster item, various paints and varnish, snow texture medium, an old wreath and red velvet ribbon all came together to create this holiday wreath. Check out my BLOG post to see more details.

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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!


Sunday, November 23, 2014

Starting the Holiday Season early with a FIFTH SUNDAY Challenge at Anything But a Card Challenges

Good Morning Everyone! It's the last weekend in November and this week brings Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. which ushers in the Holiday Season. The moon and stars have aligned to give us an EXTRA Sunday this month which messes up our 3 +1 system of challenges.

NEXT SUNDAY is a FIFTH SUNDAY! This is an oddity in the calendar that has happened numerous times in 2014... CLICK HERE to view March, CLICK HERE to view June; and CLICK HERE to view August.

Since it's a Fifth Sunday and also a holiday week we have added this fun MINI-Challenge today here at Anything But a Card Challenges and will RUN FOR TWO weeks!!! Are you ready to play and have some fun??!


The Fifth Sunday Challenge... "USE FIVE"!! Use the number 5 or five items, five colors, five words... what ever FIVE represents to you. For those who want to go a little more literal - here's the definition, too! Loads of inspiration could be had over at Wikipedia's page for 5 (number).

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five (faɪv)
n.
1. a cardinal number, four plus one.
2. a symbol for this number, as 5 or V.
3. a set of this many persons or things.
4. a five-dollar bill.
adj.
5. amounting to five in number.
[before 1000; Middle English; Old English fīf; c. Old Frisian, Old Saxon fīf, Old High German fimf, finf, Old Norse fimm, Gothic fimf, Latin quīnque, Greek pénte, Skt pancha]

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Please share any current project you have created and JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. Please mention and LINK BACK to this challenge. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Mini-Challenge will go through midnight December 5th giving you 2 weeks to play along and ENJOY the creative process!

Let's see what 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!



I'm participating in a Christmas tag swap and here are 5 of my Christmas tags. You know how you purchase Cricut Cartridges with the hopes and inspirations that it's a cartridge you can't live without - well, this is one of those cartridges. Come check out my blog at Her Craftiness and see how I made this and what I used.



Ruth
Five inspired me this time to create a set of dimensional ATCs. My magical "Five" ATC set contains exactly five ATCs of course. Jump over to my BLOG to discover all techniques that I used to create these ATCs.


My 5 Ginger Dolls were abandoned and bedraggled in a box I took a peak into, while searching for something else. I'm into recycling so I decided to give the dolls, from a Christmas long ago, a Magic makeover. Christmas is going to be a very different celebration this year and this hanging just might delight our young visitors. There's makeover details on my BLOG.

I like to make giving gifts of money fun when possible. I created these "lolly" flower package embellishments for my most recent opportunity to give a gift of cash (rather than a gift card). Since I used $5 bills for my flowers, I am using it as my "5s" challenge this month at Anything But A Card Challenges! Stop by my BLOG for instructions.


My Five for November is a hanging showing five simple and quick (and some of my favourite) techniques to create your own original backgrounds. Pop on over to my BLOG to see what I used to create these.


I decided to go for a 5 pointed star for this month's challenge and have made some hanging decorations. There are actually 5 in total so buzz over to my BLOG if you'd like to see the full set!



Hi there crafty peeps. 5 Easy Steps to complete these ornaments. Stop by my blog HERE for more pics and Snapguide tutorial on how I achieved this.

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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 for a brand new Challenge No. 42.


Sunday, November 16, 2014

A Little Bit of This and That for week 3 of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 41 - ANYTHING GOES

Good Morning Everyone! Welcome to week number 3 of Challenge No. 41 here at Anything But a Card Challenges! If you missed the amazing creations by our team of designers when ANYTHING GOES – CLICK HERE to view week one Designers, CLICK HERE to view week 2 Designers.


The current Challenge... is OPEN! We all love a good prompt to inspire us and let us stretch our creative muscle. With the holiday season fast approaching... we want to see what you're creating! For Anything But a Card Challenges No. 41 is ANYTHING GOES. Share you're creations, whatever it may be... scrapbooking, collage, ATCs, tags, art journal pages, altered shrines... whatever tickles your muse and her fancy!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Please share any current project you have created and JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. Please do us the favor to mention and LINK BACK to this challenge using this permalink so that your readers may find us and play along and to be eligible for TOP 3 selection. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)
http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2014/11/starting-november-with-cre8time-fun-for.html

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight November 22nd giving you 1 more week 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!

I have documented my favourite food in this layout - Feta and Watercress Salad! It is easy to forget to scrap the little details! Please visit my BLOG for more details.



For this challenge I have made a set of napkin / serviette rings, by upcycling the inner tube of a roll of foil, paper, yarn and other embellishments. Pop on over to my BLOG to see what I used.


Prior to Halloween I received some Smoothfoam doll heads for a project... then one day strolling Pinterest I found myself swimming in Christmas pins and how people creatively prank with their elves. Since then visions of sugarplums have been dancing in my head and designs on making my very own "Elf on the Shelf" sitter. Please visit my BLOG for more details!


I upcycled this plain pillar candle for my Mom so she can put it on her table. Please see my BLOG for more information on how I made this candle a better candle.




It all started with my daughter giving me some cute sea life buttons to make something for her. Visit my BLOG for more details on my Sealife inspired bracelet.




This is the cover of a mini chipboard album I have been working on lately.
You can see the rest of the pages on my BLOG!


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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!


Sunday, November 9, 2014

Whatever Strikes Your #Cre8time Fancy... Week 2 of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 41 -- Anything Goes

Good Morning Everyone! Last Sunday we launched a BRAND NEW Challenge No. 41 here at Anything But a Card Challenges! CLICK HERE if you missed the amazing creations by our week one team of designers when ANYTHING GOES at Cre8time!


The current Challenge... is OPEN! We all love a good prompt to inspire us and let us stretch our creative muscle. With the holiday season fast approaching... we want to see what you're creating! For Anything But a Card Challenges No. 41 is ANYTHING GOES. Share you're creations, whatever it may be... scrapbooking, collage, ATCs, tags, art journal pages, altered shrines... whatever tickles your muse and her fancy!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Please share any current project you have created and JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. Please do us the favor to mention and LINK BACK to this challenge using this permalink so that your readers may find us and play along and to be eligible for TOP 3 selection. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)
http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2014/11/starting-november-with-cre8time-fun-for.html

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight November 22nd giving you 2 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!


An altered wall plaque which was originally a wooden wedding invite. I have chose soft colors and the textures on the board are hand drawn using home made texture paste filled inside a plastic paper cone! A distressed and weathered wooden plaque with some "Crafty Quotes" which am sure all of you will associate with! For more details, do visit my BLOG


For my project this month, I decided to make some handmade tiles. I used some cut outs from various paper collections and diecut elements, chipboard and dimensional magic for the tile like hard finish. I then used these tiles to decorate some boxes. Here's one of them. For more examples of such boxes visit my BLOG.


I altered an old box base and I used black velvet to line it. I then altered a mask I bought from a car boot sale. painted and decorated using broken jewelry. Voila! A Hanging box frame. Visit my BLOG to see more details.


New products from smaller companies often lead me on a creative adventure. There aren't recipes and lots of advertising so you get to explore for yourself. That's what I have done with this piece. It's taken me a while as there are another two to go with it. They have been designed for a specific location in our home. Want to know what I used and what I did? You'll have to visit my BLOG!


My boyfriend and I take road trips on his days off and just head off to routes unknown. I thought I would make a scrapbook of our travels using pictures that we have taken. The album is made using Cricut Elegant Edges Cartridge book page where I can write various comments in the open area with white pen. As our travels grow larger the book can be expanded as I have used a binder ring which has been embellished with various charms that has been used to hold the pages together - come travel with me and check out my travel book at Her Craftiness.



This is a project I intended to do more than a year ago, and now I am happy to have finally put this wonderful Advent Calendar together. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and celebrating Christ’s birth and all that means is a big part of our family Christmas. Now I am ready to share this with my sons when December First rolls around! Visit my BLOG for more details.



This little mermaid was done with water colors and gel pens on water color paper.  She is so sweet with her little fish friends swimming all around her. I get some of my inspiration living by the ocean, and I never get tired of drawing a lovely mermaid. All sweetness and fairytales, that's what I think of when I create one. I hope this picture is an inspiration to some of you. If you would like to see more of my work please visit my BLOG.

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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!


Sunday, November 2, 2014

Starting November with #Cre8time Fun for Anything But a Card Challenges No. 41... ANYTHING GOES!

Good Morning Everyone! Thanks so much for all of the wonderful comments left for Lynne Kirsch with Post-It Holder Challenge. Since this mini-challenge fell during Halloween week, we are extending this challenge until November 8th... as this is a great project to make for giftgiving. Stay tuned for a new "Spotlight and Mini-Challenge" at the bottom of November {Thanksgiving week in the U.S.}.

Now we get down to business... it's time for a new challenge today here at Anything But a Card Challenges... let's get ready to play and have some fun! Thanks to all who put their thinking caps on and accepted our Autumn Magic/Spring Wonder challenge with Challenge #40... a creative celebration of the changing seasons! If you missed out on seeing all of the amazing submissions... please CLICK HERE to view week number oneHERE for week 2 and HERE for week 3 of our Design Team inspiration.


The new Challenge... is OPEN! We all love a good prompt to inspire us and let us stretch our creative muscle. With the holiday season fast approaching... we want to see what you're creating! For Anything But a Card Challenges No. 41 is ANYTHING GOES. Share you're creations, whatever it may be... scrapbooking, collage, ATCs, tags, art journal pages, altered shrines... whatever tickles your muse and her fancy!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Please share any current project you have created and JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. Please do us the favor to mention and LINK BACK to this challenge using this permalink so that your readers may find us and play along and to be eligible for TOP 3 selection. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)
http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2014/11/starting-november-with-cre8time-fun-for.html

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight November 22nd 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!


It's never too early to start thinking about Christmas, well not in my book anyway. This little cutie is living out my dream - all wrapped up in snowy white, ice skating under a fabulous Christmas tree. *sigh* Check out my BLOG for more details.


Took an art journaling class a couple weeks ago with DeeDee Catron in my new home town (Las Vegas), and created these pages. Please visit my BLOG for more details!


Inspired by the upcoming holiday, I decided to alter a printers tray with just some of the things in my life that I am thankful for. Lots of little compartments with lots of wonderful goodies. Check out my blog HERE to view a slideshow with more detailed pictures. Have a blessed Thanksgiving.


I was lucky enough to get to go on a retreat a few weeks ago with some of my crafty friends! We relaxed in a cabin in the woods, and crafted when we wanted! I stopped by Walmart on my way up and picked up a couple of little 8x10 canvases. This is what ensued! Collaged yumminess if you ask me! Check out my BLOG for more info.  


As this month theme is open, I would like to take the opportunity and introduce my country a bit, with an custom that we keep in Flanders, and that is let's call it our Thanksgiving. Actually it is St Martin's day, as we write it Sint Maarten. It is celebrated on the 11th day of the 11th month. This evening we build bonfires, and children go through the streets carrying paper lanterns and candles, singing songs for what they are rewarded with preferable healthy sweets like nuts. My lanterns are ready for this year. If you would like to know more about Sint Maarten and the paper lanterns please jump over to my BLOG.


As a part of the Anything Goes Challenge No. 41 for November at Anything But A Card, I am sharing this microwave safe "cup cozy" I recently created. I know, if I would use a coffee mug with a handle rather than a glass that has no handle, my problem with burned fingers would likely be solved ;) However, since I prefer to use this glass for making tea and using a bulky hot mitt isn't easy to grab the glass with one hand, I came up with this little cozy to use in the microwave ! It matches the microwave safe bowl cozy I made earlier this year and use regularly. Stop by my BLOG to see how I made it. 

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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!