My Mojo Monthly July - Your Style!

SEPTEMBER 2012 NEWS! MY MOJO MONTHLY IS ON A BREAK FOR A WHILE...WATCH THIS SPACE...NEW PLANS ARE IN THE MAKE...

A big hello and even bigger welcome to July's very special My Mojo Monthly where I'm celebrating A WHOLE YEAR of inky, painty, papery, frilly and grungy, flowery inspiration!  My goodness! Where did the time go to??? It's been a fabulous year of creative thinking, sharing, challenging and art. I remember being very nervous about posting the first one and here we are, a whole year older! I really do love to imagine, create and hopefully inspire other artists so My Mojo Monthly has been a bit of a dream and milestone for me.

THANK YOU to absolutely everyone, including all my featured artists, who has visited, encouraged and joined me on this journey.  It's not a solo ride! I wanted to do something 'a little different' to celebrate and as many of you know, my life is also forever changed with the arrival of my first little one! Many folk have asked what my answers to the 'Five Questions" might be... So this month I'm going to 'spill the beans', share my own favourite pieces and then open up a whole summer of "YOUR STYLE" to you! 

FIVE QUESTIONS TO umm...me!
Who is Sarah in five words? Imaginative, sensitive, expressive, stubborn, talkative.
Where are you right now as an artist? A question I ask myself too... I seem to be a dabbler of all styles, which is often admired by others, but doubted by me. Am I just playing around, doing a bit of everything? I'm trained as a professional dancer and teacher who specialized in ballet, jazz and contemporary dance. I love the purity and line of ballet, the groove and rhythms of jazz and the expressiveness of contemporary. So, a bit of an all-rounder there too. But my true passion for choreography, regardless of style, soon became the clear front runner. I just love to create! 

 I find myself bending towards the same light in my crafty life too. I always strive to express a little of myself and mood. I also hope my work speaks to others too...  
Be it a simple card or mixed media piece. It seems I do indeed 'do a bit of everything' and moreover, love 'a bit of everything! So I am still just trying to embrace that fact and yet still learn, grow and discover... I'm very honoured indeed to be on the fantastic design teams for Simon Says Stamp & Show and Craft Stamper Magazine....both of which have really opened up new doors and challenged me in ways I didn't expect! I never thought I'd find something that moves me as much as dance does, but this whole arty thing does!

Which of your creations is closest to your heart?  
If my house was on fire, I just wouldn't know which one to grab! Like many folk, I can get totally wrapped up in the 'make of the moment' but I know it's a special one when I still stop and talk to it a month later...! Although space is running out, a few of the pieces shown here do have pride of place on my 'special loft room ledge'. A long shelf next to the stairs to my bedroom. I just love working a la Wendy Vecchi style. I can go bright and flowery (apron and flowers) or altered and quirky...and lots in between!
l started out making a few cards one Christmas, and fell in love with ink and stamps! I still love creating cards and seem to move in circles of vintage, modern and clean & simple! But again, it's the composition that keeps me hooked. 
I really enjoy joining in with the CAS crowd at Less is More and find it really balances out all the intensive 'stuff' I also do.  

Where do you find inspiration when feeling Mojoless? 
I'm actually someone who has too much going on in my head. Something is always buzzing and I find that ideas or inspiration can appear at anytime, from any place! Quite often when I'm swimming. 
I do know that ideas need time to develop and  'gel'. Don't rush potential... 
 I like to let an idea rest in my head and think about the shapes, colours, design and mood of a piece as well as the 'how-to'. I can be inspired by textures, materials, colours, a feeling and very often 'the hidden story' every piece has. 

Like these two cards. What secrets might this gent above dare to whisper to his love? Or the reason behind the dramatic stare and Paris... 

I find much inspiration in everyday materials and combine them with better known products such as Mr. Tim goodies, to create my own look. There's often a good deal of metal in my creations and I'm often found rummaging around on the bottom shelf of a hardware store! There's always a funny 'metally bit' that's perfect for a little Steampunk revamp!  Such as the feet, corners and handle on my 'Flying Gents' box...

I also like to 'tweak a design element'. In other words, try an idea out with another substrate. Such as my all metal male card made from garden mesh and aluminium tape.

 Or creating a little's girl dress entirely out of paper. Here I used Tim's Tissue Wrap which even earned me a blog vist from the man himself! This one is a keeper! I used to really struggle to use the more commercial and well known crafting products on the market, always worrying thinking I was 'cheating' or doing the same as everyone else.

But I've learnt to let that go and just trust my own instincts and imagination. My altered Steampunk Shoe was one of the toughest things I'd tried, and I really had to hold on to the image in my head when I wanted to walk away!

Vintage is ongoing thing with me. It lets me express my old-fashioned feminine side that doesn't come out in public! Nostalgia, faded memories and the good old days. So many of us fall for it... This piece, 'Loved' is very special as it's my mum, Nanny and great grand-mother. I altered three "Hello Kitty" sweet tins (really!) to create hanging frames.

The piece above was my first encounter with a Mr. Tim configuration box which I decided to unpack and rebuild into houses - each filled with it's own little story. I love working in fine detail and words often play an important role in my work.

Then after all those rusted, sepia tones, the next day I can be found, just as happy, up to my elbows in flowers, stamps and pink ink! Most recently, I decided for once it was okay to be swept along in a trend and plunged into the Art Journalling craze. I'm just free-styling and following the 'whatever I want it to be' mood of the moment. Suits me fine!

You are going back packing in the Himalayas for a year and may only take 3 crafting items. Which and why? The entire contents of my house, a hypermarket and my family. After so many years of costume changes, travelling and living out of a suitcase, I want ALL my mod-cons around me 24/7! Really. All my adventure comes out of an ink pad these days. But at a push, a camera, pen and journal. If there are images and words, there can be art and expression...

Back at HQ... So there you go, the view from La-De-Dah land. If you want to know about the individual pieces, just click on the link next to each photo and and you can read the whole post about what, where, how and why! So after many years, my conclusion is I do... Sarah Style! What's yours??? Celebrate it, embrace it and share it here at My Mojo Monthly.

Challenge, Nice Stuff and Info...
My Mojo Monthly is all about the why, the what and your creative adventures! 
So please feel free to join in and share your artful take and thoughts on things. Whatever your style...and you could win this truly wonderful book from Suzi Blu! Thank you so very much to everyone for playing along last month. Congratulations to Anita Houston with her splendiferous male tag!  
The 'Your Style' theme will also run through August as I'm taking a little summer break to relax, plan the new MMM and RECHARGE MY MOJO!

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!
- You may enter more than once, but multiple challenge photos without description will be removed.
- Feel free to take the MMM button for your blog - please do!

Once again I want to express a real heartfelt thank you for sharing your creative talents, thoughts and encouragement with myself and others!  It's good to share our art, thoughts and lives!
Enjoy the summer, stay inspired...and until we meet again!
Sarah.