A Crafting Curtain Call...

Hello there! Well, this weeks post is both a little inky and teary as this will be my LAST design piece for Simon Says Stamp & Show. Sniff, sniff and gulp indeed.
After much thought and quite an emotional struggle, I have decided to take a break from the fabulous but also demanding world of DT life and spend more time with my family. Not any DT though.The amazingly, wonderful, awesome team here at Simon Says Stamp. I have had THE most incredible time and I couldn't have wished for a more rewarding and fantastic creative journey. I am truly honoured and thankful for such an opportunity. I just want to say a HUGE, heartfelt thank you to Heidi, Steph, May (and Linda Elbourne!) and all my wonderful team-mates who have become good friends. I will miss them dearly.
As many of you know, I became a mum to Ruby last year and she will be one this week already! Everyone warned me that my crafty time would be scarce. I was ready for that, but I wasn't quite prepared to completely lose my heart to my little gal! Also, as much as I still adore designing, I have found it increasingly difficult to combine family life and quality time to create on a level with which I am happy. Yes, I am a self-confessed perfectionist. My uber-fab hubby works long hours so I can be a SAHM and we need more time at the weekends to all be together. As I said to my team-mates, my ink-pads will wait, but Ruby's baby days won't. I still plan to create, just in a lower gear, so hopefully it is just farewell, not goodbye.
With that, let me make the most of today and share a bit of Krafty crafting...

This week is all about Kraft - in every shape and form. Be it some yummy cardstock, an office envelope or even a lunch bag, let the brown tones rule! I ended up dabbling with Kraft tags, corrugated cardboard and some Amazon book packaging!

I decided to break open my still uninked set of classic Tim stamps and pondered how to combine the three images in one piece. A pear, a dragonfly and a compass. Hmmmmm. After thinking on a more symbolic level and using wording, I thought they all could represent phases in life. How apt for my own moment in time!

I started by stamping the images onto scraps of Mica sheets in Archival Ink. I heat set them and also let them dry overnight to avoid smudging.

 I didn't worry if the image was incomplete. I like the fragmented look! Then I set to work on creating the tag bases. Good old stitching and stamping!

To create more dimension and to allow the images to stand out, I used torn cardboard to create layers adding gesso for more contrast. They needed a bit more interest and depth so the string was a good trick to achieve that and give support to the Mica.

If you don't have any Mica you can use a roughly cut piece of Acetate sheet and colourize it (on the back so as to protect the stamped image) with a little Alcohol ink. I glued the mica to the tags with Matt Medium. I  carefully applied small dots on the back where the stamped image was so it would not be seen from the front.

These are definitely my favourite and signature tones so I just had to dive into my Idea-ology stash, grunge them up and let myself get carried away in metal fun

Trinket pins, Philosophy tags and Swivel Clasps are all so versatile and great to play with. I have used Alcohol Inks to darken the metal.

The base for the tags is a piece of Tissue Wrap which I have white washed with Gesso and then aged with Distress Ink and splatters... I added a length of old crochet lace for texture and what I call "grounding" for my tags. The lace connects the tags to the base...

Here you can see the words I added to each tag to create the right mood and connection. I used my typewriter which gives me all the wordy freedom I could wish for....

Seasons, grow, fleeting, flight, destiny, journey... plus a few vintage buttons and inky ties for good measure.

The white base is then set on a piece of sturdy cardboard. I think the Amazon book packaging is  fabulous for this kind of thing. It is so sturdy! They breed under my crafty table... as do dirty stamps and ribbon rage bags. I finished the piece with the word 'Voyage" which really tied it all together.

Here is a more angled view to give you an impression of the layers. I really enjoyed creating this piece and felt very inspired... and happy with the finished piece. That was a great way to round off things, don't you think? On a high...

Let's stay on a happy note and allow me to say such an enormous thank you to ALL of you. So much support, so many wonderful visits, loyalty and compliments. You are all so good to me. I appreciative all your time and words. Thank you is not enough. I just hope you have been inspired along the way. I will now love you and leave you with a picture of Ruby, which kind of says it all. She is my joy and I am so blessed to have been given her.

So now it's over to you and time for you to get busy with some Krafty Crafting! Take a look at how the rest of the Design Team played around with the challenge here! All their creations are fabulous as always. Do join in! Simon says Stamp are on the hunt for the top three artists and there is this very generous $50 voucher to be won too.

As I said, farewell, not goodbye. Until the next time. Stay healthy, happy and inspired!
With much love,
Sarah.