Special Guest Spotlight on SARA KRONQVIST

We have another wonderful Guest Designer this month,
 a brilliant artist who has won our challenges numerous times
and whose work we always love and admire.

We are thrilled that she has accepted to join us as our March Special Guest!

Let's learn a little more about SaraK through her own words:

Hello! First, I want to thank the More Than Words team for the GDT opportunity as it is such an honour. I'm a frequent participant in the challenges, 

and it's always fun to see all the interpretations.

My name is Sara Kronqvist or just SaraK for short. I live in Finland, in northern Europe, with my husband and two children. I work full time, but I try to squeeze in some creative hobbies on a regular basis. I have been scrapbooking for the past 10 years, mostly layouts. I enjoy seeing how the industry and my own projects are constantly evolving. My style is very versatile; sometimes I go for mixed media, sometimes not. However, I'm almost always drawn to bright and fun colours on my projects. Other than scrapbooking, I stay creative with modern crochet 

and the occasional DIY.

You can visit SaraK at the following links:

BLOG  -  INSTAGRAM

Here is a reminder of our March FANTASY & WINGS Main Challenge

 followed by SaraK's fabulous layout which was inspired by it.

Read below as SaraK describes in her own words how she was inspired

by our word and how she chose to incorporate our creative challenge:

When I think of FANTASY, I think of fairy tales, and that inspired to create a page about our family trip to Italy last fall. The surroundings were truly fantastic, as from a fairy tale. The word also reminded me that everyone should pay attention to their fantasies and dreams, whether it is traveling or something else.

For the WINGS creative challenge, I made a large butterfly as the main focal point on my page, plus some smaller stamped butterflies. 

Let's take a look at some details:

This month's challenge is whimsical in itself and SaraK has been able 

to express this quality beautifully on her page with her soft colours and

those pretty butterflies with their fluttery wings. Gorgeous work!

A big THANK YOU to SaraK for joining us 

as our March Special Guest!

We hope that you will take inspiration from SaraK's creation

and that you will play along with our March Main Challenge.

You have until March 31 to link up!

Special Guest Spotlight on ESZTER GENCSI

We are pleased in 2019 to offer you a new twist on our 

Special Guest post. Each month, we will choose a participant from our

main challenge whose work quality and interpretation of our challenge

made us absolutely want to see more and formerly introduce them to you!

So today, we happily feature one of our December Main Challenge entrants,
as our first GDT of 2019, our February Special Guest, EZSTER GENCSI.

Let's learn a little more about Eszter through her own words:

Hello everyone! I am very happy to be here today. I was very honored to be invited by this amazing team whose work I have been watching month by month and to which challenges I was always excited to play along. 

My name is Eszter Gencsi, but my work is known as Scrap by Eszter. I live in Budapest, Hungary, with my husband and our 10 year old son. I was introduced to scrapbooking 10 years ago, and my favorite technique today is mixed media. This technique woke up the artist in my soul forever. I have loved it for the last 3 years and I have been creating with it ever since. My favorite form of papercrafting are layouts. My favorite colours are pink, gold, green, turquoise and brown. 

You can visit Eszter at the following links:

BLOG  -  INSTAGRAM  -  YOUTUBE  -  FACEBOOK

Here is a reminder of our February ALWAYS & QUOTE Main Challenge

 followed by Eszter's gorgeous project which was inspired by it.

Read below as Eszter describes in her own words how she was inspired

by our word and how she chose to incorporate our creative challenge:

The word inspired me to create a layout with a book theme. I wanted to outline by this creation that what you read is forever yours. I have always loved to read. There is so much knowledge and memories to gather through a good book and you will ALWAYS end up more fulfilled. 

As for the creative challenge, instead of using a specific QUOTE on my page, I decided to add many quotes, not so specific, by adding book paper as part of my embellishments. I have also incorporated a quote handwritten, slipped behind the photo on the left.

Let's take a look at some details:

WOW! What a stunning page that Eszter has created!

Her layering and use of so many beautiful embellishments to frame the gorgeous image makes this layout a true masterpiece, perfect for our challenge.

A big THANK YOU to Eszter for joining us 

as our February Special Guest!

We hope that you will take inspiration from Eszter's creation

and that you will play along with our February Main Challenge.

You have until February 28 to link up! 

Special Guest Spotlight on LISA GRIFFITH

We are ending this year's list of fabulous Guest Designers

with a very special lady that we know you will all love.

Her style is absolutely gorgeous and never ceases to inspire!

Lisa Griffith is well known among the scrapbooking community,

and we are thrilled to have her as our December Special Guest!

Let's learn a little more about Lisa through her own words:

Hi! My name is Lisa Griffith and I live in Georgia, USA. I am Canadian 

by birth and American by marriage and I love creating colourful layouts, 

tags and art journals.

I started out in scrapping, as so many of us do, making albums of my son's baby

photos, but over the years and as I discovered the world of mixed media,

it has grown into a passion. I have my own little studio at home, and I love to scrap

as a way to wind down, relax and lose myself in something creative. 

I really admire so many styles, but the one I come back to the most is a little bit vintage, very nature-inspired, with lots of flowers, inks and paints, and always leaning to the messy and chaotic side of things. I always try to include some unique finds on my pages such as wool, lace, fabric, pine cones, twigs, twine, beads or vintage buttons... anything to give my project a little unique twist!

I hope that my page inspires you to join in the challenge this month.

Thank you to More Than Words for the invitation to be a Guest Designer!

You can visit Lisa at the following links:

BLOG  -  INSTAGRAM

Here is a reminder of our December Main Challenge

FAMILY & NUMBERS

 followed by Lisa's beautiful layout which was inspired by it.

Read below as Lisa describes in her own words how she was inspired

by our word and how she chose to incorporate our creative challenge:

When I saw that this month's theme was FAMILY, I knew I was going to make 

a page featuring my boy, Liam. He appears in lots of my layouts... His sweet happy

 smile just lights up my world, and I love being a mom and a wife. 

My guy means everything to me!

I used some Kaisercraft papers and stickers all about Winter and used 

some NUMBERS to remind us how we're counting down the days 

until Christmas! I hope that everyone has a wonderful 

holiday season with family and friends! xo

Lisa's layout is just stunning with is rustic woodgrain background and layers upon layers of flowers, chipboard, twine, and mixed media goodness. It is such a special and beautiful homage to the pivotal person in her family, her son, and the chipboard numbers that she used illustrate the creative challenge perfectly! 

We are totally blown away by it all!

Let's take a look at some details:

A big THANK YOU to Lisa for joining us 

as our December Special Guest!

We hope that you will take inspiration from Lisa's creation

and that you will play along with our December Main Challenge.

You have until December 31st to link up! 

Special Guest Spotlight on KEREN TAMIR

We are thrilled to showcase the amazing work of yet another

Special Guest Designer here at More Than Words!

Keren Tamir is very well-known in the scrapbooking community as, 

a very talented designer for several prominent manufacturers

as well as a Prima Marketing Educator, title to which so many of us aspire.

She travels the world spreading to others this special passion that we all share!

When we thought up our November challenge, we immediately thought

of her as our Special Guest to bring forth our word and creative challenge combo.

Let's learn a little more about Keren through her own words:

Hi everyone! My name is Keren Tamir and I live near Toronto, Canada.

I am a wife to a wonderful husband who is very supportive of my art

and a mother of two amazing kids, a 16 year old boy and an 11 year old girl.

I've been scrapbooking for 15 years and I've loved art since I was a child.

I love to create an experiment with many different mediums and techniques.

My style is always evolving and that's one of the things I love about this art.

One of the main reasons I started scrapbooking was to preserve memories 

and photos of my children. However, over the last couple of years, I've diverted

myself into the mixed media world and love combining them together.

I've developed my own mixed media style which I love sharing with my students.

I love to create and I'm passionate about what I do and that's why I love

to teach techniques of mixed media and art.

You can visit Keren at the following links:

WEBSITE  -  YOUTUBE  -  INSTAGRAM 

FACEBOOK  -  PINTEREST

Here is a reminder of our November OUTDOORS & WOODGRAIN Main Challenge followed by Keren's gorgeous project which was inspired by it.

Read below as Keren describes in her own words how she was inspired

by our word and how she chose to incorporate our creative challenge:

I am delighted to be a guest designer for the More Than Words challenge blog.

For me the OUTDOORS always remind me of nature and so I wanted to incorporate 

nature into my canvas. I used flowers, butterflies and real natural objects to give

it a natural feel. I'm very thankful for everything in my life so I wanted to 

incorporate that into the sentiment of this canvas.

I also loved getting inspired by the challenge board and the creative challenge 

as I love using WOODGRAIN patterns in my projects. 

I used the woodgrain pattern as the background to my canvas.

Below is the video tutorial on how I created this project:

How fabulous is Keren's shaker mixed media canvas!?

The WOODGRAIN background is absolutely stunning

and all the natural elements that Keren has added as

embellishments evoke so well the whole OUTDOORS feel.

Let's take a look at some details:

A big THANK YOU to Keren for joining us 

as our November Special Guest!

We hope that you will take inspiration from Keren's creation

and that you will play along with our November Main Challenge.

You have until November 30th to link up! 

Special Guest Spotlight On MARTA TURSKA-GROCHOCKA

It's time for us to introduce to you another fabulous

Special Guest Designer, not that this lady needs any introduction!

Her work never ceases to amaze and her style inspires many.

With no further ado, our October Special Guest is...

Marta Turska-Grochocka is certainly one of the best in the scrapbooking industry.

Her art is known throughout the world and has been published more times 

than one can count. We are absolutely thrilled to have her join us today

with her gorgeous take on our October Main Challenge.

Let's learn a little more about Marta through her own words:

Hello everyone! I'm Marta Turska-Grochocka, known as JaMajka, 

a scrapbooking artist from Poland. I create scrapbooking layouts, 

mixed media art journal spreads and pages, as well as Artist 

Trading Cards, cards, off-the-page projects and altered art projects. 

I love colour, texture and unusual embellishments like threads and buttons. 

My work has been published in Somerset Apprentice and Art Journaling, 

American magazines by Stampington, in French Scrap Magazine 

and Carnet de Scrap and Scrap n' Art Magazine. 

I am thrilled to be part of many creative and design teams: 

Finnabair, Lindy's Stamp Gang, scrapki-wyzwaniowo, 

Pion Design, Retro Kraft Shop and a few other teams. 

You can visit Marta at the following links:

BLOG  -  PINTEREST  -  INSTAGRAM  -  FACEBOOK  -  YOUTUBE

Here is a reminder of our October DELICATE & FABRICS Main Challenge

followed by Marta's stunning project which was inspired by it.

Read below as Marta describes in her own words how she was inspired

by our word and how she chose to incorporate our creative challenge:

The word DELICATE inspired me to create an art journal spread full of layers 

in an old book. I love to create unique altered art pieces. The word was my main 

inspiration tip when I was picking out colours, thus why I chose to create 

with very soft shades of beige (using real coffee), gold and a drop of very pale pink. 

I added very fine stamping and tiny drops of liquid pearl as well as 

embossing powder on the background. The old vintage picture of a beautiful 

classy lady completed my delicate composition. 

To incorporate the FABRICS creative challenge, I used many fabric elements 

such as cotton lace, cotton fabric tape, guipure flowers and a big fabric flower. 

I tried to evoke the same textures in the gorgeous images of the challenge board.

We are absolutely stunned at Marta's beautiful spread! 

From the gorgeous ivory/beige lace to the big fabric flower to the pieces 

of thread, this piece of art perfectly captures the essence of our word 

and all the delicateness of our creative challenge.

Let's take a look at some details:

A big THANK YOU to Marta for joining us 

as our October Special Guest!

We hope that you will take inspiration from Marta's creation

and that you will play along with our October Main Challenge.

You have until October 31st to link up!

Special Guest Spotlight on ANTONIS TZANIDAKIS

Oh, have we got a treat for you this month

as far as the Special Guest is concerned!

It is no secret that the scrapbooking community is composed

by mainly female designers, but we do have a few very talented male

artists out there who are not afraid to shine in a mostly feminine world.

We are so happy to introduce to you today...

Antonis Tzanidakis is a world-known artist! 

You may already know him for his incredible mixed media art

that include fabulous handmade home decor and beautiful work on wood.

When he is not at home creating, he is travelling around the world

offering workshops to teach others new ways to create.

We are thrilled that he accepted our invitation to be our September Guest!

Let's learn a little more about Antonis through his own words:

I'm Antonis, a mixed media artist from Greece.

I studied to be a Captain in the Navy and used to be 

a professional basketball player, but at some moment in my life, 

somehow I found this art, this hobby. 

I started practicing my art alone and continued alone until now.

I started a few workshops in my hometown of Lefkada, later around the country

of Greece, and then very soon made my way around the world.

It never crossed my mind that I would someday travel the world

to teach art as a living, but this is my life now... and I love it!

As I often say, 'Life is a mixed media project!'

You can visit Antonis at the following links:

FACEBOOK HANDMADE FANTASY PAGE

FACEBOOK PERSONAL PROFILE

HANDMADE FANTASY ONLINE WORKSHOP WEBSITE

Here is a reminder of our September FEARLESS & GRUNGE Main Challenge

followed by Antonis' stunning project inspired by it.

Read below as Antonis describes in his own words how he was inspired

by our word and how he chose to incorporate our creative challenge:

FEARLESS... I think I was fearless all my life. And it was mostly that characteristic

in my personality that helped me to become the artist that I am today 

because you need to be fearless and try to mix things and take the challenge.

You need to be fearless if you want to take your art to a whole other level!

You can recognize that the style of my project goes very well with the word

and also the GRUNGE creative challenge which is very much a style

that I love in my every day art. I was inspired by this challenge and also

by myself as I am both fearless and grungy.

Antonis' mixed media canvas is the perfect take on our September challenge.

We love all the masculine and dark grungy elements to it

and the different textures and techniques that he used.

Take a closer look with us at all the details:

A big THANK YOU to Antonis for joining us 

as our September Special Guest!

We hope that you will take inspiration from Antonis' creation

and that you will play along with our September Main Challenge.

You have until September 30th to link up!

Special Guest Spotlight on SOLANGE MARQUES

We have another fabulous Guest Designer to showcase for you this month,

and we know that you will love her!

Solange Marques is a wonderful mixed media artist whose 

professional training and background show in all her creations!

She definitely knows how to tell a story through her art

and her way with paints and other mediums allow her

to create glorious masterpieces whether they be layouts,

canvas or art journal pages.  A true artist, she sure is!

Let's learn a little more about Solange through her own words:

Hi! My name is Solange Marques. I live in the South of Brazil and I've been in love with scrapbooking since 2004. I am married to John for over 33 years and have 5 children and 2 grandchildren. They are always present in my creations.

I graduated in Architecture and Fine Arts, and perhaps that explains my huge passion for paint and their constant presence in my projects. I worked in a bank as a jewelry appraiser for 27 years until last month, and today I am retired 

and I can now create full-time.

In my scrapbooking art, I love mixing techniques, mainly involving paints and textures (watercolor, acrylic paint, modeling paste, and a lot of mediums). 

I consider myself a mixed media artist and I love the artsy style!

You can visit Solange at the following links:

BLOG  -  FACEBOOK  -  INSTAGRAM

Here is a reminder of our August Main Challenge HARMONY & SONG LYRICS

followed by the beautiful project that Solange has designed for us!

Read below as Solange describes in her own words how she was inspired

by our word and how she chose to incorporate our creative challenge:

I love the word HARMONY which to me means balance, proportion, agreement, 

and I have tried to incorporate these elements into my art journal pages. 

Music is one of my great passions. LYRICal music gives me peace and 

balance. In other words, it gives me harmony. All this is connected, 

and I tried to transmit these sensations in my project.

What gorgeous art journal pages Solange has created using watercolor, 

stamping and image transfer techniques.  The music notes 

are the perfect addition for our creative challenge and you can 

just feel the harmony that was involved in her entire creative process 

just by looking at her art journal spread.

 

Here are some close-ups of Solange's creation:

A big THANK YOU to Solange for joining us as our August Special Guest!

We hope that you will take inspiration from Solange's creation

and that you will play along with our August Main Challenge.

You have until August 31st to link up!

Special Guest Spotlight on MISSY WHIDDEN

Are you ready to be wowed by yet another fabulous Guest Designer

here on the More Than Words blog?!

This artist's creations are bold, bright, whimsy, fun.

She loves playing with paints, watercolors, gelatos

and has the midas touch when die cutting patterned papers.

We know that you will absolutely love her!

So with no further ado, here she is...

We are so happy to have Missy Whidden with us this month,

because the moment that we thought up our EXPLORE & ARROWS challenge,

we knew that we wanted her to be our Special Guest.  It is a perfect match!

Let's learn a little more about Missy through her own words:

Hello fellow scrappy friends! I'm Missy Whidden from sunny Florida, USA.  

I've been married to Marshall for over 17 years, and we have 2 silly little girls. 

 I've been scrapbooking for over 10 years, and I dearly love it!  I love incorporating 

mixed media products and techniques to my layouts.  Watercolors, gelatos and 

paints are my favorite. I also love using my Silhouette Cameo 

to create fun die cuts and sewing on my projects. 

When I'm not scrapping, I'm a fitness instructor.  I love helping people get 

and stay healthy through exercise.  I also love to travel, read 

and spend time with my family.  

Thank you so much for having me as a Guest Designer!

You can visit Missy at the following links:

BLOG  -  YOUTUBE  -  INSTAGRAM  -  PINTEREST  -  FACEBOOK

Here is a reminder of our July Main Challenge EXPLORE & ARROWS

followed by the beautiful layout that Missy has designed for us!

Read below as Missy describes in her own words how she was inspired

by our word and how she chose to incorporate our creative challenge:

I was inspired by both the word EXPLORE and the ARROWS 

creative challenge for this project. 

I immediately thought of creating a travel themed layout, and I wanted to incorporate a fun arrow cut file that I've been itching to use for a while. 

My husband and I were out exploring St. Maarten during vacation, 

and the arrows were the perfect design element.  The cut file is 

from the Just Nick store, and I cut it on a colorful 

Simple Stories patterned paper.  I went with this collection 

because it matches my photo perfectly.  

I used some gesso and watercolors on my background to give 

some depth and more color.  I had a white puffy sticker in my stash

 for the title, so I used it up.  I embellished with lots of die cuts, 

stickers, enamel dots, sequins, wood veneer and thread.  I love 

being inspired by challenges, and this one was a lot of fun!

How wonderful and pretty is this layout?

We agree with Missy that the arrow cut file that she chose turned out 

to be the perfect focal point for her page and our creative challenge.  

Her combination of colours go so well with the photo

of Missy and her hubby EXPLORING the world!

Here are some close-ups of Missy's page:

A big THANK YOU to Missy for joining us as our July Special Guest!

We hope that you will take inspiration from Missy's creation

and that you will play along with our July Main Challenge.

You have until July 31st to link up!