Less is More Challenge - indeed it is...

Hello Saturday Crafties, Bloggers and Visitors,

Today sees the start of the new challenge blog from Less is More by Mandi and Chrissie. I am an all or nothing type of gal and I can easily and lovingly endure hours of tweaking, layering and embellishments. But my other alter-ego loves clean lines, purity and sincerity... So, I figured Less is More would be a real challenge and breath of fresh air - and possibly result in me getting some slightly earlier nights...famous last words. This week is the colour challenge using just white, pink and black..."a sassy but classy trio" that always delivers!

 I had this design idea in mind and knew this white Bazzil card-stock would come up trumps. First of all I did a trial run with scrap paper, just playing around with the composition and colours. It is very tempting to want to add just a smidgen more here and there...But in the end I decided to go with my original gut feeling - and first love of just ink and paper.

I also had to get used to be very neat, careful and smudge free! It was almost like being in the medical lab.

No disguising the blemishes with a bit of lace here..What you see is what you get. It is all very revealing when you keep things simple...a bit like life really!

I really enjoyed myself and I am very pleased with the end result. It was really good to have a fresh challenge and such a swift "imagine to creation" process, both of which will definitely enrich my crafting ventures.

Hoping you also have the chance to discover, dare and savour too.  

Enjoy your Sunday,

Sarah

WHAT'S ON YOUR WORKDESK WEDNESDAY???

 Well - here we are with both Wednesday AND February!!! Goodness me, soon be time to start on the Chrimbo cards again...

So there's the usual array of chaos, although I always clear up before bed...Brownie points for me! Been doing a bit of this and that...I seem to have be struck down with a serious case of Vintage Girlyitis and Shabby Chicitocis. I am all for the odd flower and oldy-worldy stuff but this is a bordering on very frilly, feminine ground for me..quite bizarre considering I was listening to some serious rock music during the frolics...

Second card design for my next workshop...I have resolved myself to the fact that my design process is not subject to the Law of Time. Not at all. In other words, I just luuuurve to play and 'officially' do not care if I spend a whole day on one little creation.

I don't know if it is the sight of daffodils, all this Valentine's what-not or just too many glue fumes but me is one big girly with today's card...pastel pinks and greens, hearts, lace, lovey-dovey sentiment and - swoon - flowers! By the weekend I will be strolling along the riverside in a Crinoline dress, reading poetry and awaiting Mr. Darcy...

  I picked up a really cheap paper-punch from a pound shop a while back (can't all have the Martha's). It only works on thin paper but I do love the lace effect it gives to paper-edges...

The flowers are just rolled strips of sticky-back canvas, pre-coloured with distress inks. I am glad I went for some distressed torn paper, the twine and random machine stitching around the edges as it does stop the whole thing being too sweet! Can't have that now....can I?

I am going to enter it into a few challenges seeing it is the month of love...

Simon Says Stamp and Show- Show some Love theme

SoArtful Challenges - Valentines

Time to sign off from nocturnal blogging. Enjoy the weekend and see you around...

Sarah x

P.S. Well done to Cindy at The Crafty Frugalista - she won the stash from last week!

ONE WORLD, ONE HEART 2011 and Giveaway!

A big welcome to everyone from OWOH...
If you just so happen to stroll through my door, linger a while and feel right at home. I am very excited to join in with One World One Heart 2011 This is a unique international get together and oasis of arty fellowship. This is the fifth, and alas, final year of OWOH - so embrace the chance to do some virtual globe-trotting and be inspired and possibly the receiver of a hand-made original gift by me and many others!
 

So...a little bit about me then. I am Sarah, just hit the big 40! Trained as a dancer and choreographer, worked and lived all over the place, and married to my best friend and hero - Mr. Belgian musician hubby. Moved back to the UK 2 years ago and am taking a break from the zany world of theatre and dance. I seem to have always had an inner passion to want to create....and despite being a bit of a tom-boy, I can remember many childhood days, learning to knit, bake cakes, make up dances, sew and fiddling about with card and glue!

A few years ago after years of admiring and collecting cards, I decided to attempt to make my own. I called in at a local craft shop where I bought some card, a set of rubber stamps and a ink pad...the rest - as they say - is history.
 Just in time...I was feeling rather burnt-out, devoid of inspiration and energy and the passion of my former years. But, thankfully I found a new path to wander - one that led to a place that seemed to be just mine. A place to once again, discover, linger, savour and just be...divine!

I adore all materials - ink, paint, fabrics, papers, metal, buttons - whatever comes to hand and stirs the heart, I say. I can lose a whole afternoon just pondering over some lace...

I am learning everyday and hoping to nurture this passion with an eye on the future...
I am pretty good at waffling on (can you tell?) so a blog seemed like ideal creative therapy.

So that was my life...now to the give-away. As said, I am a lover of many forms and fancies, so I am offering two prizes which both reflect a bit of me.

The first prize is a small canvas - just 3 x 3 inches! It is decorated with collage, paint, lace flowers, stamping and vintage braid.






The second prize is a bag which I made last year. I love to sew and this project uses canvas circles which have been stamped and colour-washed and then sewn onto the bag with random stitching and buttons. I do love it - and am sad to say farewell - but I hope someone will have even more joy than me in receiving and using it!

If you would like to be entered into the prize draw, just:
a) Have an established blog and leave a comment under this post please.
b) Make sure you also leave some form of contact details (your blog/e-mail, etc.,) so that I can contact you should I need your postal address. Thanks.
c) Please visit One World One Heart and many other bloggers! 

I will draw two winners on February the 17th and be in touch! All the best...Enjoy yourselves on this journey - have a good one.

With love and arty wishes from me to All of you everywhere...

Sarah xx

A little girly something for Monday...

Monday Greetings to All,

Just a quick tap-dance on the keyboard to share a little shabby girlishness. I am preparing some simple card designs for my next workshop. But, being The Queen of Faffing Around that I am, I can easily fitter away a few hours perusing my background papers alone. Anyone else ever get the feeling that delighting oneself in just the visual delicacies of paper art and crafting is a full-time profession in itself? I mean, it costs serious time and effort, all that ooohing and aaahing...

Just played with all my favourite elements and tones. I seem to be in rather a feminine, vintage phase at the mo. No idea why - haven't been reading any Jane Austen lately...

I used Kraft card-stock as my base, with distressed paper scraps layered on top of a page from an old French book which I had dulled with gesso. I stamped a vertical botanical border in Sepia ink.

I stamped and embossed the sentiment (Distress Powder) onto a thick piece of cardboard covered in the same French paper and edged it with Viva Gold.

Then added my usual sprinkling of buttons, thread, crochet lace and ribbon. Finished off with a zig-zag border done on the old sewing machine.

Nothing too fancy or difficult today, but a sweetie all the same! So, I'm going to enter it into a few challenges:
Sunday Stampers - Sentiments
Crazy4Challenges - Vintage/Shabby Chic
Take a Word - Vintage

So that was that for Monday my dears, see you again soon...

Sarah

ONE WORLD ONE HEART - WORLDWIDE EVENT FOR BLOGGERS!!!

Hello everyone,

Just want to let you know about THE fabulous blog event, ONE WORLD ONE HEART that is coming up very soon from 30th January to 17th February. If you love meeting up with fellow artists through your blog and fancy blessing someone with a hand-made piece - then this is your chance to participate in a truly wonderful happening. It is the 5th and final year so DON'T miss it. Click HERE for more information and be sure to sign up and let others know about it too.

So join in with the get-together of sharing, enjoyment, friendship and artwork.
Thanks - hope to see plenty of you calling at the door! 

Have a great weekend,
Sarah.

WOYWW, Challenges, a Giveaway and my ramblings..!

Hello to new faces, a new week, and a new WOYWW! If you have stumbled across my blog... first of all welcome - and secondly, if you manage to survive my slightly eccentric garble and want to get the drift of WOYWW, then head over to Stamping Ground at Julia's to find out more about the now notorious blog-o-nosey-get-together. A great chance to share art-work, be inspired and have a right old snoop around many a desk! I will start with a piccy of this week's creation. I am entering it into the Challenges at Simon says Stamp, Make a Moo or Two and The Sunday Stampers.

Glad to say that an enjoyable weekend, some serious jogging and a good old stint of housework has definitely done wonders for my post Christmas lurgy and dip. I made Top Three again at Simon Says Stamp! So, armed with energy, a tidy mind and itchy fingers, I decided to Make a Moo! Well, three I suppose. Basically, it's a card of 2.8cm x 7cm. So seeing as I lurve teeny weeny makings...This week their theme is travel. I have had this stamp of the gals from Tin Can Mail since the summer and have been waiting to use it for ages. Job done. Here is how I made it...just to sound posh...you can just look at the piccies if you want!

I used gesso on a BP before stamping the image. I then masked the image and stamped the stars on top.       

I then split the image into three moos, distressed and inked the edges, added the sentiment and mounted it onto dotty green Bazzill card stock. I hand stitched around the edge for some colour and texture. After that, full swing with layering and embellishments. I used a 1950's vintage magazine to make the flower, added press-studs, buttons, thread, lace and ribbons. I also attached two metal tags which I coloured with alcohol ink - just to make it a wee bit less girly!

I then mounted the whole thing onto some scrap corrugated cardboard using gesso and distress inks to get the right shades and tones. I twisted some old string with some ribbon and red thread to make a hanging cord. I really like how it all turned out.

The theme at Simon says Stamp is a childhood memory. Many summers ago - as a young lass - I remember heading off to the seaside with my friends for the whole day. We set out really early and came back very late. I just remember oodles of laughter, loads of ice-cream and feelings of real freedom, friendship and happiness. Simple, yet glorious!

And now the Giveaway!

Last week I gave a little sermon about having an over-abundance of too much arty stash. So, that being said, I think it is only fitting to let someone else have the things that only gather dust under my desk...This is a really cute set of die-cut shapes and stickers called Material Girl by Cosmo Cricket - and also bag of pretty buttons too! Very sweet indeed - just not my thing. So if you fancy it - just become a follower of my blog please, leave a comment (so I can contact you) and I will pick a name next week. International or round the corner - all are welcome.

That is me all done and dusted for today. Thanks for finding the time to stop by - Blogland is a busy place indeed - so it's great to see you! Enjoy your minutes as well as the days...

Cheerio my dears,


Love Sarah.

Feeling my Friday and going slightly dotty...

Hooray the weekend has touched down, done my two days in the little office job, got my PJ's on and - finished a little papery-inky-stampy art. Looking good - although I actually fancy a whole weekend in bed. Still in recovery mode from Christmas, a lingering-lurgy and too much late night blogging around. But enough of that and more of this...
Here is a small canvas hanging I have created this week. I wanted to go a bit dotty with some of the polka-dot challenges around. That combined itself with the faint aroma of Valentine's, some pondering on the summer, rediscovering old goodies and the urge to get layering...

I started by inking up a small canvas with some distress ink and added a spotty paper from doodlebug designs. Then I added some scrap BPs from Graphic 45 and Daisy D - distressing and inking on my way...The lovely lady is from Crafty Individuals and is stamped in on an old book page in Archival Coffee and is attached with two brass pins.

I cut the heart out of Claudine H's sticky back canvas, attached it to card and then used multi-medium to stamp the dots (Darkroom Door). After drying I used a quick wash of distress ink and then sanded and inked for more age. Love how it has turned out. I also used the SB canvas for the banner which I stuck to grunge paper. SB canvas is just fab stuff - and there is so much you can do with it. A worthwhile supply in any craft room!

This sentiment just came to me and it seemed just right. Little letter stamps allow you to say and stamp anything!

And every soul needs a little sun round about now...

I built up the canvas in layers and texture by adding some pleated lace behind the heart, ribbons, braid, a buckle, brads, buttons, gold thread and two layered flowers (which I embossed with yet more dots!)

I finished off with a trio of ribbon, lace and mini ric-rac to make a hanging cord. Spent hours tweaking and choreographing as always...but I had a real ball and that felt pretty darn good after quite a dowdy month at my craft table.

So - seeing as I am so chuffed and proud of my little piece of sunshine - I am going to enter it into a number of challenges. Just glad to share it with others and enjoying the journey again!

Joining the flock at the following... Do take a look at the blogs and all the great work on these challenges - or even better - join in!

Simon Says Stamp and Show
Creatalicious
My Time to Craft Challenge
Really Reasonable Ribbon
Theme Thursday
Sunday Stampers
The Stamp Man

So that was "a little something for the weekend." See you soon - wishing you all a little sunshine in your soul.

Sarah