Sunday, May 25, 2014

In the Spotlight + Mini-Challenge... Di Hasthorpe

Hi! I'm Di Hasthorpe and it's my pleasure to host the mini-challenge this month and to tell you a little more about myself.

I'm 61, married 40 years, with one son. I'm a retired primary school teacher and while teaching, had strong interests in Gifted Education (Masters Degree) , music ( band, choir and dance) and art/craft (both within the school and at district level). My interests in Art changed often with what I wanted to teach students and were quite varied according to the age of the students in the class. Over the years I taught copper enamelling, macrame, pottery, batik, and string art... just to name a few. 

My current interests are also quite varied and now that my husband has also retired, these are able to be indulged in more often.

As a family we love to travel whenever we can; if not for a holiday, then at least explore the district we live in as well as others close to us. This gives us quite a number of beautiful places to relax, take photos or go for walks.

Photography is a family interest and I travel just about everywhere with my camera these days... you never know when you may need it. I've become fairly adept at taking photos out of the car window while driving along (I'm the passenger!) My favorite types of photos are based on scenery, flowers, wildlife and skies... usually sunsets.


A sunset shot taken from my front garden. 

My blog, My Tawny Inspirations is named after
my favorite visitors to our garden: Tawny Frogmouths.


A family of tawnies. There were 5, two years ago.
You can see 4 here, the 5th was on another branch. 


I also enjoy cooking (which has had major experimentation phases since I was diagnosed with coeliacs) and experimenting with Australian native plants.

Art/craft interests include: painting (watercolour and acrylics), sketching, zentangling, quilling, parchment craft, cardmaking, scrapbooking and off the page projects. The list is growing and there are still some arts I want to play with... silk painting and glass mosaics for a start!

At school I always tried to tie art into all of my subjects. Display of these became an issue... but hey! a room just doesn't have walls! there's also the ceiling!! It was always possible to know which rooms I had been in because there were always hooks screwed into the ceiling and architraves ready for hanging things.

One of my favourites was to make mobiles. This can be done so easily with photos as well, for an unusual display. 


A water-inspired mobile done for an earlier challenge.


As you can probably gather by now, my Mini-challenge is "HANG IT".... any medium, anything that can be hung... off people, posts, ceilings, walls, key rings, mailboxes... the list could be endless.

For your inspiration I've made a suncatcher. This was made from a spiral of stainless steel wire, recycled packaging coloured with permanent markers and alcohol inks, crystal beads and braid.


Complete suncatcher.


Close-up of a section of the suncatcher. 

Pop on over to my blog: http://mytawnyinspirations.blogspot.com.au/ to see some more close-ups and details on how this was made.

You will have a week for this mini-challenge and I look forward to seeing what you come up with and visiting your blogs to leave a little love.

Cheers, Di 

** A NOTE: This challenge has been extended to June 12
to give more time to play along
with Di's Wonderfully Dimensional Challenge**

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Sunrise and Sunset Blossoms for Week Three of Anything But a Card Challenge No. 35

Good Morning and Happy Easter Sunday Everyone! Welcome to week three of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 35... the COLOR challenge. We hope you enjoyed meeting and getting to know our special Guest Designer Amy Lynne Lassiter last week {click here to view her stunning art journal pages}.


The current Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #35 - "Color Challenge"!! This time we are giving you a gorgeous color palette for your inspiration. Feel free to use one {and go monochromatic}, two or ALL of these colors to create whatever your muse desires... as long as it's anything but a card!


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

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 Challenge will go through midnight May 24th giving you one week left to play along and ENJOY the creative process! We will have a new Artist Spotlight + Mini Challenge next Sunday to keep you inspired.

Let's see what more 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!


 

This week's challenge is all about a color palette and although I LOVE the colors, I wasn't sure how to incorporate ALL of them on one piece.  So with playing around I came up with this inspiring piece. I hope you will hop over to my blog here and check out the full tutorial and maybe leave some love if you love it as much as I do.
 


I've made a scrapbook page using these Colours from mood board: pink/peach, mauve, indigo. Pop over to my blog to see all the details.


I managed to use five of the beautiful colors on my journal page! I love the peachy colors in this challenge and wanted them to take center stage on the flower. Check out my blog for more details!



I had great fun creating this tag after I managed to find Distress Inks to tie in with all the challenge colours! There are more photos and details on my blog as to how I created the background.

Don’t get me wrong, I love making cards and such, but I find a great satisfaction when I make something that can sit on a shelf or be hung on a wall. I remember the joy I felt when I discovered Wendy Vecchi and her Art Parts – how cool was this!?! All I see when I look at this is serenity ~ so I pulled out my Wendy Vecchi Art Parts, my Distress Paints, some other goodies and went to town! 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 a brand new Artist Spotlight + Mini Challenge. Wishing you all a Happy Easter Sunday!

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Bloom in Color for week two of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 35 with Guest Designer Amy Lynne Lassiter


Good Morning Everyone! It's week two of our current challenge and we are so excited to introduce that we will be inviting a Guest Designer to join us for here at ABAC. Amy Lynne Lassiter is our Guest Designer this month and joining us for our current Color Challenge... you eyes are in for a colorful treat!


The current Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #35 - "Color Challenge"!! This time we are giving you a gorgeous color palette for your inspiration. Feel free to use one {and go monochromatic}, two or ALL of these colors to create whatever your muse desires... as long as it's anything but a card!


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

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 Challenge will go through midnight May 24th 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.

Amy created an amazing art journal
spread for this Color Challenge.

We hope you enjoy getting to know our Guest Designer...
please click on the images to visit her blog –
and give her a warm welcome!


One of my favorite things to be challenged with, is color. It's amazing what a little color can do for your creativity. This challenge was so much fun for me, and I was immediately drawn to the interesting and contrasting palette. I began my art journal page, by using Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft paper crafting pencils, in peach and orange, and making circles using a template. I added other circles using Faber-Castell Aquarelles, and painting over them with water. I loved the ethereal watercolor look so much, I used watercolor on the rest of the journal page, adding splashes and drips. I did quite a bit of stamping, and added a photo of my red bud tree in glorious bloom. Since our family is moving, this is the last year I will get to enjoy my beautiful tree, so I wanted to keep that memory. Here are a few close-up looks at my journal page.



Thank you to Susan for having me as guest today
at Anything But A Card Challenges!!
This has been a real treat! <3


I am a wife to my best friend from college, and the mother to three daughters. I live in a tiny town that sits on a lake, on the prairies of Kansas, USA; but our family will soon be moving to Des Moines, Iowa. I am employed both as a church soloist (I am a classically trained soprano), and also a librarian. Other than my amazing family, the thing I eat, sleep, and breathe is mixed media art and craft. I adore creating scrapbook layouts and canvases, tags, and altered projects with an eclectic, free, and soulful vibe.

In the time when I’m not creating, I also enjoy photography, sewing, reading, thrifting, swimming and snorkling. Most days, I also spend at least a little time planning, journaling and dreaming, about relocating to Oahu, Hawaii; my favorite place on earth.

I am currently honored to design for 7 Dots Studio, Viva Las VegaStamps!, UmWowStudio, Scraps of Darkness kits, and Scrapki-Wyzwaniowo. To see more of my work, visit my blog: www.sparklinggnome.com.

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We hope our Guest Designer Amy Lynne Lassiter has INSPIRED you 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, May 4, 2014

Painting with Peaches and Plums for Anything But a Card Challenges No. 35

Good Morning Everyone! It's a brand new month and time for a brand new ABAC Challenge just in time for International Scrapbooking Day – launching a month long celebration of scrapbooking. Thanks so much for all of the wonderful comments and those that "Using Book Pages" for Christi's mini-challenge. If you missed out on seeing the book page themed submissions... please CLICK HERE to check them out. Stay tuned for a new "Spotlight and Mini-Challenge" at the bottom of the month at the end of Challenge No. 35.

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 shed the winter blues and submitted glorious bright and colorful creations for our Challenge #34 "SPRING FORWARD". If you missed out on seeing the garden of inspiration... please CLICK HERE to check them out.


The new Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #35 - "Color Challenge"!! Last month was and open theme so this go round we are giving you a gorgeous color palette for your inspiration. Feel free to use one {and go monochromatic}, two or ALL of these colors to create whatever your muse desires... as long as it's anything but a card!


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

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 Challenge will go through midnight May 24th 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!


Having been in mothballs for over a year since I bought it, my Melt Pot finally got to see some action! I used melted beeswax to add texture and images to this altered wood block. Check out my BLOG for more details.


I wanted to get inky this week! And I got to use my new Faber Castell Gelatos! Please visit my BLOG for more details!



This one was a challenge for me. I liked the colors but for some reason the colors were fighting with me.  Please visit my BLOG for more details!



I am messing about creating from a pair of Blue Jeans. Inspired by indigo with just a touch of peach.  Please visit my BLOG for more details!



I've made an ATC with a mixture of the colours from the inspiration palette, using inks, paints, crackle medium, die cutting and some stamping. 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 to see more of our Design Team creations!