Here at Anything But Cute we love to see all the seasoned and expert mixed media artists, but we also want to encourage those who are just getting their feet wet. Our design team will always be on the lookout for these exceptional artists, and you just never know when we might be giving out something special to a talented mixed media newcomer.
Make sure to put 'newbie' after your name in the linky so we know who you are.
(new refers to 'new to mixed media' NOT 'new to our challenge')
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Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Feature Artist - An Autumn Day - Welcome Zubaida!

Hello Everyone!

Lisa here, and I'm so excited to introduce you to our Feature Artist for October! She was the runner up for my Shabby Garden Mood Board challenge in August! Please help me welcome Zubaida from ColorPaperScissors!

I've been a huge fan of Zub's for a long time! Whether she's creating a mixed media project like the incredibly gorgeous and textured tag she made for the August challenge, bringing an image to life in color, or simply creating a beautiful card, all of her projects are exquisitely designed with attention to detail and an eye for beauty! There really isn't anything she can't do!

Zub has created a stunning canvas for Autumn's An Autumn Day challenge that showcases her amazing style and creativity! Check out this beauty!

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Hello friends!
I am extremely delighted to be invited as a guest 'Featured Artist' here at "Anything But Cute" Challenge and I would like to say a big THANKS to Pamellia and her Team for the invitation. 


My name is Zubaida and I blog over at ColorPaperScissors. I started with paper crafting since 2012 and its been a wonderful ride ever since.I am honored to be here with my guest post at 'Anything But Cute' mixed media challenges.


I love this month's chosen theme 'An Autumn Day'. The beautiful autumn colors are here to give us inspiration to create lovely projects. I have taken these colors as an inspiration for my Reverse Canvas project.

I started on the back of a plain white canvas, covering the edges of the canvas by cork ribbon for a wooden look. I then added texture paste through a Dina Wakley 'Jungle' stencil to create a forest background look.

Next, I measured the inside dimension of my canvas and trimmed a patterned paper to be pasted inside. I also applied a thin layer of gesso, added additional texture paste and glued ' Holiday Green' die cut from sizzix, inked with distress inks.

I have also glued some fabric leaves after inking and spraying them with different shades of orange and red for the autumnal look.

The bottom part is covered with heavyweight card stock, after stamping and inking and then applying crackle paste to it. Some more texture paste here and there and then glued my patterned paper inside.

As I wanted to create an autumn scene, I cut out silhouette of a couple with my cameo and painted it with black gesso.

Finally, I embellished my canvas by adding micro beads, pearls, jute ribbon, butterfly resin icon with heavy gel medium and placed the couple in the front.

I hope my autumn look day will be 'A memory that lasts forever'!!!

Here are some close ups

I hope that you all enjoyed my autumn themed project.

Thank you Pamellia once again for giving me the opportunity of being a guest this month. I really enjoyed sharing my project here :)

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WOW, what a stunning canvas with incredible color and texture! It's the perfect representation of an Autumn day! Thank you so much for sharing your talent with us today, Zub! It's been a pleasure to have you here!

I hope you are as inspired as I am and will join in the fun for Autumn's challenge, An Autumn Day!

You have until the 4th of November to play - and you'll find all the challenge details as well as lots of inspiration from the brilliant Anything But Cute design team by clicking on the challenge link.

Happy Crafting
Lisa :)

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Winners - Challenge #17 - Friendship

Hello, everyone! Branka here and firstly I would like to say a huge thank you to those who entered our 'Friendship' challenge! I am totally amazed at how many beautiful and wonderfully creative entries we received! Choosing one winner and a runner-up was a huge dilemma for me but after much debate in my had, I have chosen the winner:

WINNER#17 - Joi@RR

This canvas completely stole my heart! Joi has created an unique piece of art full of passion, love and good thoughts. Her use of those DecoArt media products is amazing and I really enjoyed watching her video! I love her fabulous colors and awesome drawing! This spectacular canvas is one of those creations that I would love to hang on my wall! 

Congratulations Joi!  Pamellia will be in touch by email to send you a personalized winner's badge and to provide details about being our Feature Artist for the next challenge.



RUNNER-UP#14 - boozybear

Glenda's use of colors, layers and textures has totally blown my mind! She has managed to achieve some dreamy and magical effects with a wonderful combination of dark and light tones. I love her brilliant way to incorporate so many awesome elements together into such a beautiful composition! 

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Now let's have a look at our DT favourites:




Anne's Favourite - #10 Mary Elizabeth
I was completely touched and moved by Mary Elizabeth's remarkable post which is about the most wonderful friendship. Elements of that friendship are beautifully displayed and celebrated in this wonderful creation.

Autumn's Favourite - #4 Max from MAXymalnie Papierowo
I am an absolute sucker for messy (particularly neutral) layers!  This collage is so artistically combined and the focal image is the perfect resemblance of friendship.  The beautiful watercolor background sets the perfect stage for every gorgeous detail.  Max, I cannot wait to see more of your stunning work!

Lisa's Favourite - #10 Mary Elizabeth
Wow, not only was I blown away by the rustic beauty of Mary Elizabeth's gorgeous frame, but I was so inspired by her story of friendship and family and the meaning of the chair in the photo!! The details of her piece are amazing!!

Niki's Favourite - #15Cathy Potosky
I am so very intrigued about anyone having friends for a year, let along 40 or 25 years! That is amazing! These ladies sure know what friendship is all about. The texture on the wood and the stenciling is gorgeous. That blue and black tone with the rusty awesomeness is superb! Wowzers and wowzers!

Pamellia's Favourites

#3. Veronique
Not only this card gorgeous with tons of interesting bits and lots of texture that I would love to touch, but the tribute of Friendship toward an animal tugged at my heart strings! Veronique and Lily have a special friendship and she has showcased it beautifully with the lovely neutrals and that amazing photograph!! Well done!

I absolutely love everything about this page. The colours, the flowers and most of all that amazing poem about Friendship that rings so true. Dedicated to a recently lost friend, and inspired by all the things her friend loved, Brenda touched my heart with her creativity and her tribute.

Sara Emily's Favourite -#10-Mary Elizabeth

Not only did Mary Elizabeth create this beautiful rustic frame for our challenge, she wrote the most touching post about what true friendship is.  She didn't just write about it, she lived it! Wow! If you are having a bad day or not, you NEED to get over to her blog and read this post word for word. While you are there, take a look at her incredible techniques for creating that amazing wood panel frame and rusted #1 token.

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A huge congratulation everyone! Thank you so much to everyone who played along with us last month and don't forget to grab your badges! You earned them!!

There is still plenty of time to enter Autumn's current challenge 'An Autumn Day'! We can't wait to see what you come up with this time!

Hugs to all, from the 'Anything But Cute' Design Team

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Challenge #18 - An Autumn Day

Hello Everyone!  Autumn here and I am your hostess this for this month's challenge here at Anything But Cute. Thank you so much for entering our September challenge.  We were floored by your stories of friendship and amazing creativity.  Don't forget to check back with us next Wednesday when Branka and the team will announce the winners of our Friendship challenge. Now on to this month's theme...

AN AUTUMN DAY 

I could not help but chose October as my month to hostess here at Anything But Cute. This month, we want to see your creations inspired by An Autumn Day. Anything goes mixed media with an fall color palette, or Autumnal elements.  Be inspired by nature with the sights, smells, and sounds of this beautiful season.  We cannot wait to see the amazing artwork you turn out!

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And now for some inspiration from the talented Anything But Cute design team!

Anne - Redanne
I love this time of year, the changing leaf colours, finding acorns and chestnuts, the crisp Autumn air.... all of it!  I have tried to capture the colours of Autumn in my wall hanging, made with Tim Holtz products, including dies, burlap and Distress Spray Stains.

Autumn - SewPaperPaint
I was inspired by our fearless leader Pamellia and her love for nature, particularly squirrels.  With today being Pamellia's birthday, I just had to do a canvas in her honor.  I used the beautiful colors of fall along with natural elements and a sweet squirrel image.  It is such a joy to share with her a love for mixed media and for nature.  Happy birthday Pamellia!  I hope you have an amazing autumn day!

Branka - Vintage Handmade
I was inspired by Autumn's fabulous challenge theme to create an abstract mixed media canvas using  my new favourite products from Pebeo mixed media line. I had so much fun playing with Fantasy Moon, Prisme and Vitrail  paints. I also used my golden leaves and contour paints in creating my canvas.

Lisa - A Mermaid's Crafts

I love Autumn's fitting theme of a project inspired by an Autumn day!! Fall colors are some of my favorite...vibrant reds and oranges and yellows!! I incorporated them into my project using a mixture of Dylusions inks to create the background, along with distress inks, texture paste and crackle medium.

Niki - Pawsitively Creative Crafts
When thinking of an Autumn Day, I think about harvesting season for all the farms and also about the changing of the leaves on all the trees. So many gorgeous colors! For this canvas I decided to use lots of Distress Inks, some stencils, chippies, and acorns that I gathered from my Grandmothers house last year. Carpe Diem!

Sara Emily - sarascloset
Fall is my favorite time of the year, and I always have a blast crafting for the season. Most people who know me, know that I am a Halloween nut, so it took everything I had to resist putting something spooky on my wall hanging. Lots of mixed media techniques were used on this, but I also just did some plain old coloring of my stamped pumpkin and vines--what fun! Thank you to Autumn for choosing such an inspiring theme!

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I am simply amazed with the beautiful work of my teamies!  Their projects are simply stunning and most inspiring.  Please hop over to each team member's blog to see more photos and get some details on how these projects were made.  And don't forget to leave some bloggy love while you're there.

We hope that we have inspired you to break out those autumnal palettes and mixed media products to create your own autumn masterpiece.  The winner of this challenge will receive the honour of being our Feature Artist for an upcoming challenge!

Here at Anything But Cute we just love to see all the seasoned and expert mixed media artists, but we also want to encourage those who are just getting their feet wet. Our design team will always be on the lookout for these exceptional projects and artists. You just never know when we might be giving out something special to a lucky mixed media newcomer. We all have to start somewhere, right?

Challenge runs until November 4th - we can't wait to see what you come up with! Happy Crafting from the entire team and thanks for visiting Anything But Cute!