Star Designer #3: Marta Lapkowska

Hi there!

Another week's passed and we're getting close to the finishing line with our challenge 'Vintage'. 3 more days to play so join in! I'm here to welcome another fabulous Star Designer though and I know how excited you get so lets get to it ;)

We had Seth Apter and Marjie Kemper last month. I very much enjoyed Seth's gorgeous vintage art and Marjie's colourful journaling. As you know, mixed media art comes in many forms and styles and today I'd like to introduce....

Marta Lapkowska

...who designs for Finnabair, Lindy's Stamp Gang, My Creative Scrapbook, is currently a Video Educator for Blue Fern Studios and in my opinion is perfect for the job, because her shabby chic style is out of this world and the way this girl creates texture and combines them with colour is awesome! So if you like this style Marta has a lot to offer and you can learn a lot from her. I have been Marta's YouTube follower for some time now and absolutely adore watching her work and create her masterpieces. I don't scrapbook, but every time I watch Marta creating one of her layouts I feel like getting my supplies out and play! 

Today's post is packed with creative goodness so read on....!

We have a little treat for you! Georgie worked hard and put together a few questions (Thank you, Sweetness!) and Marta kindly answered them specially for you! That's right! An exclusive interview just for you so you can find out a little bit more about Marta. Here it goes....

What inspires you most to create? / Where does your inspiration come from?- will it sound boring if I say EVERYTHING? Well... but this is true. I find inspiration in everyday life, in the music that I hear, in the art of my fellow crafters...

Pinterest... new craft products...colour combos... in challenging myself by creating out of my comfort zone... even my 7 years old daughter inspires me with her ideas!... inspiration is everywhere... I often use my phone to catch my inspiration on the photograph

Do you pre plan your pieces, or are they often the result of just 'going with the flow'?- somehow I always have a vision. There is this picture in my head just for split second...and then it's gone... a picture of finished make. It looks like I know where I am going while creating but that necessary does't mean my finished work will remind of my vision.

What is your favourite medium to work with?- sprays for sure... variety of Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays is allowing me to make some spectacular colour combos... working with liquid can create unexpected results and this is what I love the most

Do you have a tool which you couldn't live without?- I don't have a craft tool like that but... I see my phone as my most important tool, does it count? :)

- I treat it as my visual diary

What's your craft space like?- white everywhere, with huge table... lots storage... great big window... it's my heaven, my hideout! ... And it's always messy, but it's controlled mess. I feel that my craft space must be calm and relaxing... being in opposition to my very busy head full of colours and ideas!

Do you have a favourite colour combo?- probably rusted teal or anything with black ;)

What is your favourite creation to date?- ooooh so hard to pick only one! Let’s say a series of my mini mixed media canvases

​If you wish to see how I created some of those canvases please be sure to check out my YouTube channel here :) You will find many mixed media video tutorials.

But... those who know me can tell that my biggest love is art journaling.​ Freedom of creating in journals... oooohh this is what I like, no limits, no restrictions, no rules... page after page.

For this occasion, to say thank you for having me here I made a journal page. You can see my mixed media background using sprays.

I also created a full VIDEO tutorial for you guys.

I hope you will enjoy it!

Love, Marta xx

Did I say this post was awesome?! :) I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. 

I'd like to thank Marta for being a star joining us here today and for creating a special piece for our blog! I do hope you can keep in touch ;) THANK YOU! x

I'd also like to thank you, dear crafty soul out there! I hope you are feeling inspired and can join us for our next challenge which start next Sunday!! Whooohoooo! Can't wait! 

Have a great day! Hugs, 

Ingrid xxx 

Welcome to Artist Trading Post!

Hello and welcome! 

Thank you for visiting! I have a really exciting news to share with you today... 

I'd like to announce our new sponsor and welcome them to our Mixed Media World, the fabulous...  

Artist Trading Post 

.Welcome on board and BIG thank you for agreeing to sponsor our challenges! We look forward to working with you! You totally rock! 

The shop is filled with amazing products that anyone can hardly resist and the scale and variety of the stock is exceptional! I hear they have some new stock added in May so hope over to see what new goodies can be added to your stash! 

I'd also like to remind you all that our current challenge Vintage is going to run for another 10 days so plenty of time for you to join! 

Best wishes, 

Ingrid xxx

Guest Designer: Kavitha (MMW#1 winner)

Hi there! 

I have a pleasure of welcoming the winner of our first challenge Kavitha as our Guest Designer! 

I am so pleased and excited that Kavitha agreed to join us here today! I would like to ask that you visit this lovely lady's blog, because there are many treasures waiting to be discovered! Such a talent! Kavitha agreed to make something for our current challenge 'Vintage' to inspire you even more and what a gorgeous make it is. This is gonna knock your socks off! See for yourself... 

Hello everyone,my name is Kavitha and I am from Chennai, India.

I am a computer science graduate, but took crafting as a profession right after my college. I did some short term courses n diploma in fine arts .

I used to do painting n murals,but after entered the blogging world three years back I got introduced to paper crafts and I am really hooked up since then.

My recent obsession in mixed media. I have stopped painting after I ventured into paper crafts n mixed media gave me opportunity to use it again.

I love the freedom it gives to my creativity n I just love using different mediums n creating different textures,the results are always magical n unexpected:).

For my project today, I created the background using several layers of Distress paints, stains, lots of stenciling n stamping etc. I used some vintage girl images as focal point and used lots of my favorite Prima and metal embellishments.This is the first time I tried vintage style in mixed media, I hope you liked my project, I thank Ingrid for this wonderful opportunity and I thoroughly enjoyed making this project. 

Thanks and regards,

Kavitha

Wow! How fantastic is this! So many gorgeous elements and the colour combination is in my opinion absolutely wonderful! It works so well! 

Thank you very much for joining us here today, Kavitha! It's been a pleasure dealing with you! Keep in touch ;) 

And for you, crafty mixed media enthusiasts, there is a running challenge which you can still enter so craft away and do link up! There is still plenty of time! 

Big hugs! 

Ingrid xxx

MMW#3: VINTAGE

Hello everyone! 

Welcome to Mixed Media World! 

Thank you for joining our last challenge 'Use Bright Colours' and for an amazing response. Before I go ahead and announce the next challenge for this month I have the pleasure of announcing the Winner and the Fab 3 of this challenge! Fanfares please... !

Winner: 

#Iulianna

CONGRATULATIONS, Please email me to claim your prize and to let me know if you would like to join the team next month as our Guest Designer. Please email to ingridscraftscorner @ hotmail. co.uk

Thank you for playing with us! 

We have also chosen our FAB 3! There were so many fantastic entries it was hard to pick but eventually we made our decision and choose our top three in no particular order...

#37 - Carolina Vmee

#67 - sarascloset

#22 - Shilpa

CONGRATULATIONS to you all! Please feel free to take the relevant badges and proudly display them on your lovely blogs! Thanks again for playing with us! I hope you can join us again with the next challenge!

Please note - I have set up a Pinterest Board called 'Designers' Favourites' where I have pinned the entries considered as Winners and FAB 3 and a few I thought particularly highly of and simply HAD TO PIN! Hop over to see if your make is one of them!

Now its time to reveal the theme for our next challenge! Our lovely Debs would like to see 'VINTAGE' makes. This means anything old and shabby looking, rusty, crackled and weathered is more than welcomed, retro, French shabby chic, anything found in the past... let your imagination flow! 

Whatever your style, whatever your choice of media as long as you follow our RULES (only a few) and submit a vintage make you're in! I hope you have a serious messy fun with it! 

There will be a prize in a form of a £15 voucher from our fabulous Sponsor: 

GlitzCraft

The team have created wonderful projects, all very special in their own way. Different styles, various media used... it's a feast for eyes... check them out..

Amanda

Debs

Donna

Georgie C

Ingrid 

Laine

on a break

Mo

Wow! What an amazing inspiration! Now it's your turn. Don't forget to check the rules of our challenge before linking your creation via the Linky tool below. We can't wait to see your makes! 

Have a great time creating! 

Hugs,

Ingrid, Debs 

&

MMW DT 

xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

Star Designer #2: MARJIE KEMPER

Hello! 

Calling all mixed media and art journaling enthusiasts! Super-exciting contents right here right now! :) 

Before I proceed to introduce our wonderful Star Designer I'd like to welcome our new followers. Thank you for joining us here! I hope you will enjoy the ride! 

We have had so many wonderful entries for our Bright Colours challenge! Oh, it will be a tough one to choose our Winner and our Fab 3! The challenge will be up for a few more days so have a good craft up and link up your masterpiece HERE. 

Last month it was the super-talented Seth Apter who kindly agreed to join us. Your response was amazing and I sensed a lot of excitement. It really was heart warming to read your comments. Some of you appreciated the introduction of a well-known artist, some already were familiar with Seth's work. I am certainly enjoying the collaboration and there is more to come so stay tuned! 

Today, I have a pleasure of introducing the oh-so talented ...

MARJIE KEMPER 

  

Marjie once kindly featured my 'Dragonfly' artwork on her blog for her Tuesday's Texture series. As you know I love creating texture so I am a big fan of the series. I'm always amazed by the makes featured. There truly is so much talent out there and thanks to Marjie and to my delight I'm yet to discover many more texture loving people. I would like to invite you to explore Marjie's blog. There is so much treasure to be discovered! 

You will notice that this lovely lady is a Certified Ranger Educator and a Designer Member of the Craft & Hobby Association which speaks for itself. There are a number of publications proudly featuring Marjie's work too!

I know how much effort goes into filling a blog with a good quality contents and when I visit Marjie's website I cannot help the feeling that Marjie is one generous, hardworking and sharing individual that does a wonderful job bringing the crafting community together and providing endless inspiration for us all. I think it is time to give Marjie the gratitude she deserves not only for her teaching, her fantastic tutorials, her colourful artworks and talent demonstrated in each and one of them, but also for all her efforts to get many like-minded people together through all her hard work and passion. 

Thank you for being so wonderful, Marjie, and thank you for sharing with us here today! 

This months theme is 'Bright Colours' and Marjie has kindly made her creation to coincide with our theme! This should definitely get your creative juices flowing and stimulate your senses! 

It’s a pleasure to be invited as your guest designer this month. I live in New York with my husband of 20 years and our two teenage boys. When I heard the theme of ‘bright colors’ I turned straight to my Ranger distress inks and got started on a spread in my art journal. I love building up color with multiple layers, and I teach classes on this topic online as well as nationwide in the US. I hope you’ll take a moment to visit my site and say hello. You can also find me on all the social media platforms. I’m looking forward to seeing all the creations on this theme!

Thank you for your visit! I do hope you enjoyed your stay! :) There's more to come so join and re-visit soon! 

All the best, 

Ingrid xxx

Mid Challenge Inspiration for Bright Colours Challenge.

Hi Everyone Mo here with a mid challenge shot of inspiration for our BRIGHT CHALLENGE, chosen by our very talented Amanda.

I attended an Anne Brooke workshop over at Creative Threads in March where we learnt how to make a wall hanging by printing, collaging then stitching. For our challenge i decided to try my hand at a larger version using bright colours.

I downloaded a few vintage papers from our sponsor for this months challenge, The Old Design Shop

Used a technique that i have wanted to try for ages by Andy Skinner. Here is the link to a previous post showing how i made the papers i am using for this project.

All the Media paints, Liquid Glass, Weathered Wood Crackle and the Matt Decou-Page Glue and more are from DecoArt. The stamps and stencils are all by Andy Skinner.

Tear up the papers and adhere them with a glue stick to a piece of blank newsprint paper. Choose the length of newsprint you want your wall hanging to be and collage as you go along adding the colours and patterns as you wish. Don’t add too much glue it is just to hold the pieces in place until you sew them down. My wall hanging measures 24 inches long by 7.5 inches wide.

I like to save tea bags to craft/sew onto, when dry cut them open and remove the leaves, you can get some wonderful patterns to play with. Round tea bags have been coloured using three of the transparent colours from DecoArt and then dry brushed with my favourite Quinacridone violet.

When complete add a little stamping and stencilling. Your fibres, fabrics, metallic strips and more can be added once your piece has been sewn. You can add some before you sew your hanging just make sure that your project is still thin enough to put through a sewing machine. Add stitching over the top of your paper edges to keep them in place.

Dolloped a small amount of DecoArt Modelling paste and added some Suze Weinberg Bedazzles called Macarena and Personal Impressions Gold Sparkle embossing powder. When dry i heated it and the gold looked amazing but i went over the top using the Metallic Lustres as i liked the shine much more.

Cut and embossed a few of the words from a Spellbinders die, used the Quinacridone violet to paint them through the die, removed them and don’t they look fab. 

So, here is the final and completed wall hanging, i sprayed and flicked some of the paint from the yellow DecoArt Mister as OH said it needed a little more bright.

I do hope my wall hanging has inspired you to join in with our Bright Challenge. 

I hope this post has inspired you to get creative and come and join in with our Bright challenge, you could win 3 images of your choice from the Old Design Shop on Etsy! 

See you all on the next Challenge.

Mo :-) 

MMW#2: 'Use bright colours'

Hello! 

Welcome to our 2nd challenge! 

I'd like to thank all who joined our blog and our 'Anything Goes' challenge and left wonderful comments! We had such an amazing response to our first challenge. It really is heartwarming. We've all been keeping a close eye on the entries and really enjoyed seeing your beautiful creations. Very exciting to see them pop up on our blog indeed! We do hope you can join us again this month! We have a really fun theme. Before I tell you more however I have a real pleasure to announce our very first MMW#1 challenge Winner....

#41 Kavitha

CONGRATULATIONS, Kavitha! Please email me (Ingrid) to claim your prize and to let me know if you would like to join our team next month as our Guest Designer. Please email to ingridscraftscorner @ hotmail. co.uk

Thank you for playing with us! Your make totally knocked our socks off!! :) 

We have also chosen our FAB 3! There were so many amazing entries and if it was up to me I'd pick each and evey one of the entries, but we had to make the decision (my Goodness it was tough!) and choose only three on top of our winner...

#23 Nikki

#44 Butterfly

#48 Trish Latimer

Congratulations to you all! Please feel free to take the relevant badges and proudly display them on your lovely blogs! Thanks again for playing with us! I hope you can join us again with the next challenge...

Please note - I have set up a Pinterest Board called 'Designers' Favourites' where I have pinned the entries considered as Winners and FAB 3 and a few I thought particularly highly of and simply HAD TO PIN! Hop over to see if your make is one of them!

Now onto this month's challenge... 

Our sweet Amanda would like to see you 'USE BRIGHT COLOURS'!

Whatever your style, whatever your choice of media as long as you follow our RULES (only a few) and have a real pop of colour on your creation you're in! 

There will be a prize again this month, this being... 

3 images of our Winner's choice from 

The Old Vintage Shop on Etsy

Julie's images are fantastic.. I'm not talking about digi images, but fantastic vintage images from books and other materials that you can use in your collages or other artworks. I love using Julie's images for image transfers. They are gorgeous! 

MMW#2: USE BRIGHT COLOURS

The team have created wonderful projects, all very special in their own way. Different styles, various media used... it's a feast for eyes... check them out!

Amanda

Debs

Donna

Georgie C

Ingrid 

Laine

Mo

on a break

Wow! What an amazing inspiration! Now it's your turn. Don't forget to check the rules of our challenge before linking your creation via the Linky tool below. We can't wait to see your makes! 

Have a great time creating! 

Hugs,

Ingrid xxx

An InLinkz Link-up