MY MOJO MONTHLY FEBRUARY-HEARTSTRINGS!

SEE THE NEW MY MOJO MONTHLY HERE! 

Hello and welcome to February! Further into the new year we venture, with a hint of Spring in the air. Are you raring to go or still finding your crafty feet? Whatever your crafty passion may be, do feel welcome and enjoy being creative in your own way. I'm hoping my Heartstrings will inspire both your own artful heart and Mojo! Firstly, let's talk to My Featured Artist, the very artful and sincere Tracy Evans... 

FIVE QUESTIONS TO MY FEATURED ARTIST...

I'm sure many of you have already encountered Tracy's wonderful work. I absolutely love her unique, creative style. 
Every piece fashioned with love, imagination and fabulous detail. Every inch and tone a real joy to admire...

Who is Tracy Evans in five words? Tracy in my own words is passionate, individual, motivated, thoughtful and loyal.
Where are you right now as an artist? I still continue to develop my art and feel I always will, I would like to think I am quite individual in my style, which can range from grungy to vintage to clean and simple with a love for the embellished look in my creations.  I am very passionate about crafting and strive to continue to perfect my style on an on going basis, I don't think I will ever stop trying to grow in my creative ventures.  I would love to think I inspire others In some small way to have a go at creating, that is what motivates me on a daily basis. I find nothing more satisfying than taking a rubber stamp and a piece of plain paper and transforming it into a unique individual piece with my stamp on each creation.

Which of your creations is closest to your heart? In many ways, all of my creations have a special place in my heart...The first piece, The Sewing Room I love as it shows my love of embellishments and I love the vintage pieces and the sewing theme. Secondly, a recycled book cover (below) for Simon Says, which again shows my love of earthy tones and the bits and pieces I love to use in my art. (I actually quite like it, which for me does not happen often.) I also collect hearts and love anything heart related, so this piece above really appeals to me especially the shape.

Where do you find inspiration when feeling Mojoless?  
My garden is a great inspiration to me from colours, shapes and forms. I love to see colour combinations in nature especially from plants that have self sewn in the garden creating their own unique colour partnerships. I also find fashion can inspire me from fabrics, patterns and colours. Home magazines can also play a part in my creativity and I find a good sort out in my craft room often leads to some creative play, either from old or new products I had forgotten about or simply from the motivation I get working in an organised space. I love to be organised!
You are going back-packing in the Himalayas for a year and may only take 3 crafting items. Which - and why? Anyone who knows me will be thinking I would need to be knocked out to even get me to the Himalayas. LOL! I do not travel well. However, if I did manage it I would need my Distress Ink Pads (is that one?), card stock so I could then create on the move and a notebook enabling me to make notes of any ideas that spring to mind on my travels, from the wonderful scenery, nature, buildings, ready to use in my creations when I return.  
Tracy creates for many Design teams including Creative Expressions, Simon Says Stamp & Show and is a Guest Artist with Artistic Outpost. She has been published in many magazines, a featured artist in Stampers Sampler and her wonderful blog can be found here!

Back at HQ...
Thank you so much for sharing your inspiring and heartfelt creativity Tracy!  Last month we were just getting started again...maybe this month you're finding your way, but also rather overwhelmed by the wave of wonderful new crafty goodies and products on their way. With Heartstrings we going a bit shabby. I want to encourage you to rethink a golden oldie - the heart, plunder the stash you DO have and also discover the potential in cheap, everyday materials. (Click to enlarge photos)

I'm starting with a variation on the banner! But with hearts and wood instead of flags and string to create a a piece of home décor. I cut five primitive hearts from old card, covered them in vintage magazine scraps and white washed them with cheap acrylic paint. I like the random patterns and shading you get from magazines. I distressed and stitched the edges and adding some alphabet stamping.

The double layered Tattered Florals flowers are die-cut from old brown paper, inked up with Pumice Stone and then spritzed with water. I gave them a good crumpling, dried them, swiped over more ink and added a touch of Gold Perfect Pearls. The shabby layers are scraps of chicken wire stapled to the heart and wait for it, a muslin gauze bandage nabbed from the first aid kit!

I coated it in white paint and when dry you can shape it to create great textured effects. The silver scrapbook letters are from a cheap sale. I gave them a bashing, 'rusting' them with Distress Embossing Powder and Alcohol Ink. The hearts are then wrapped in brown garden string and I added a few extras including a 'Granny' hair clip! You could hang them individually on pegs, turn the wood vertically or still go for a string or wire...
It's all up to you!

I have a weakness for buttons! I collect, scavenge and beg them but they're missing their true potential living in a chutney jar. I covered an 8" canvas in torn layers of ordinary tissue paper using plenty of matt medium adhesive, dried it well, added two coats of cheap gesso and then swiped it with Antique Linen Distress Ink to pick out the details.

I glued lace and cotton ribbon to the canvas before creating a heart collage of buttons. I chose creams and whites of various sizes, starting with the outer line, then filling in the centre. I used matt medium as it dries clear and gives you the chance to move things around if needed. To give it a little 'grunge' I wrapped around some wire, added rusty nails, a metal finding and hung it from a sink plug chain which make fabulous hangers. All pretty cheap stuff from a 'blokes' hardware store.

Time for a card this month... Can I say I love it?! I covered card stock in dictionary pages and die cut three hearts making sure I 'caught' certain words. I placed a little scrap over the word, inked up the rest of the heart and added some stamping before distressing the edges.

They 'hang'  from a scrap of crochet lace and I also added a button. They looked too bare on a plain card base and needed some 'grounding', so I machine stitched a few random lines which did the trick. Just a little inking and distressing to finish off. You could do this in any colour, any shape and with all sorts of papers, design papers, books and even stamped sentiments...mask, ink and be merry!

Challenge, Nice Stuff and Info...
Once again, I'm all done! My Mojo Monthly is all about the why, the what and creative adventures of crafting! What's your take and thoughts on hearts? I'm looking forward to seeing and reading about your artwork and I'll be calling by to look at all your work.

Wow! Thank you so much to everyone for playing along last month. Big congratulations to January's winner Rae with her darling ATC and in March we'll be meeting the very bubbly Kaz Hall! This month's giveaway is an inspiring book on creating vintage cards by Jill Haglund, a great Pumice Stone Distress Ink Pad and lots of lace - all to get you into a shabby mood...


My Mojo Monthly welcomes all hand-made crafters and artists. A few guidelines on submitting your work:
- In the spirit of MMM please write a few lines in your post about your creativity and why you want to share your work.
- You are very welcome to share challenge pieces, just tell me a bit about your inspiration.
- Please link directly to your post and not your blog so I can find you.
- Please add a link in your post to My Mojo Monthly, thanks!
- Multiple challenge photos without description will be removed.
- Feel free to take the MMM button for your blog - please do!

Once again, I really want to say a very big thank you to all of you for calling by, so much support and sharing your artful thoughts and creations. 
Have a hearty, loving and inspirational February!
Sarah.