Monday, March 11, 2013

Shabby meets Chic!

Good Morning All! It's time for a new theme at Simon Says Stamp & Show and this week we have a bit of the old shabby chic going on!
For once, I will have to flit in and out of Blogland rather swiftly as I have a teething, needy baby (awake until 6am!) and a very poorly husband in bed, so I'm on full mega-multi-tasking duty all day!
l was really eager to try out my fabulous Plenty of Hearts Stamps and Die set from Simon Says Stamp. I love them, so many great designs and they look just yummy cut from GrungePaper.
l just can't do shabby chic without quite a bit of Vintage Photo, lace and some torn edges...
The words, thanks to The Beatles, are the brilliant new alphabet stamps from the lovely Kelly Purkey. Just line them up on a block and stamp away!!! See that Grunge paper circle...that's the middle bit left over from the Weathered Clock! I have loads of them...
Sorry it's so short today. I will have to let the pictures do the talking. I hope to be back soon to fill in more crafty details but it's the middle of the night and I have to run. See you soon!

Fancy more shabby chicness? Then take a look at all the fabulous creations over at the Design Team Blog here! There's a $50 shopping voucher for a randomly picked entrant and we are also on the hunt for our top three artists. Hope you join in... You gotta be in it to win it!
Sarah.

Posted by Sarah at Monday, March 11, 2013 25 comments

Monday, March 4, 2013

One, two three...

four, five. Once I caught a fish alive... Six, seven... Oh, hang on, it's blog time, not baby song-time. (Switch hats) But it is all about the numbers at Simon Says Stamp & Show this week. You can be as literal as you fancy or maybe, like me, you might go for a less obvious numerical tint and behave a little oddly...
It is often said that an odd number of elements works better in art and composition, a.k.a. "The rule of odds." The eye and brain likes to pair up even numbers of elements... there is harmony, symmetry, things appear balanced.
But when there is an odd number, things are slightly different, the eye keeps moving around and that causes a degree of interest to remain. A bit like watching the infamous love triangle in a film! Who will end up with who? And even with a humble flowery  card, to a certain extent the same principle works.
That was the inspiration behind my creations this week - to play with numbers. Three flowers and three blocks of words.I wasn't sure how to start so I sat down with some Ranger Speciality paper and created an inky master board using lots of lovely bright Dylusion inks, stencils, gesso, Wendy leaf stamps and machine stitching.
 I just played around building up the layers and colours until I was happy with the page. Sometimes I could just look at an inky page all day but there were flowers to be stamped and cut. I still absolutely luuurve these flower stamps from Wendy Vecchi . You can do so much with them. Just stamp and cut like I did or layer them up. They work well with all kinds of colours and products.
Once all cut out, I edged them with Distress Ink and arranged the composition. I always like to give my loose elements 'grounding' and so I stitched some random lines on the card bases. Then it feels like the flowers are 'attached' and not just floating around.
I used a mix of typed words and stamp "excerpts" to create my sentiments and also added a few inky washers to the flower centres. In a free thinking moment I decided to chop off one corner which thankfully turned out just fine and adds interest. All the edges are finished with a bit of pink Distress ink! So there you go a bit of odd art, if you get my drift...
Fancy more arty numbers? Then take a look at all the fabulous creations over at the Design Team Blog here! There's a $50 shopping voucher for a randomly picked entrant and we are also on the hunt for our top three artists.
Let me wish you a good week and happy inky times.

Until the next time,
Sarah.

Posted by Sarah at Monday, March 04, 2013 16 comments

Monday, February 25, 2013

Love it but never use it!

Hello to you all! Guess what? Yes, Monday has knocked on the door and walked right on in yet again so here I am with my creation for the new challenge over at Simon Says Stamp & Show! Now, let's start with a little confession which is good for the soul, even on a Monday! How many loved but uninked stamps are lying dormant in your crafty zone???? You know what I mean... You see it, fall in love, have to have it and yet years later, there it is all alone and naked, without a smidgen of ink for clothing...
At Simon Says Stamp & Show, we want to challenge you to pluck out those stamps from obscurity and get your ink on! Come on, you know which stamp I mean already!
I knew without a doubt I had to unearth Missy Mona. I have only used her once on a tag although I love the stamp a lot. My Mona is on a wooden block which always feels good in the hand.

As the image is so complete with the collaged background I didn't want to take anything away from it. Whilst walking by a shop last week I saw a Pop Art poster and I suddenly thought it would work on a card too.
I used four Distress Inks and started by roughly sponging some background colour onto manilla cardstock before stamping Mona in the same colour. I wanted to add my own twist to the Andy Warhol style so I decided on a stronger block of colour followed by a few flicks of water.
I just used some scrap card and sponged along the edge working on one half of the block, then flipped it over, did the other side meeting in the middle, in case a post-it or tape would damage the image.
I liked the four blocks but it still needed a little something extra so I went for some ChitChat words, which are turning out to be very handy little things indeed.

 A bit of inky Pop Art, a long awaited well-inked stamp and a two happy ladies... Mona and Sarah! Which stamp is calling your name and yearning to see an ink pad? We'd love to see what emerges from your stash... Blow off the dust, join in and also make a play for this generous $50 shopping voucher from Simon Says Stamp.
Well, time to be signing off again as every second counts...There's a hyperactive chimpanzee in my house disguised as an 8 month old baby...
Thanks for calling by!
Sarah.

Posted by Sarah at Monday, February 25, 2013 14 comments

Monday, February 18, 2013

Metal-ology!

Good morning! Good morning! Dah dah dah dah dah...or however that song goes. It could well be the middle of the night in some places with many a Blogger, but in any case I will wish you a good one. Welcome to La De Dah and my new creation for Simon Says Stamp & Show. Be it shiny, rusty, foil, paint, embellies or but a pin and a button, we are into our crafty metal stuff this week...
 Metal and I have always been good buddies so I was in the mood for this weeks theme. I had an idea with a Mr. Tim watch bubbling for months but on the day I couldn't quite get it to come together. Plan B then...
 I love old tins of all shapes and sizes and think they make great substrates for art. Sometimes I use the actual tin, but I'm just as nuts about the lids too and that it is where my plan B came in. I started with a rusty lid, lined it with white-washed and stitched Kraft resist paper, stamped with a few of those rather well known flutterbys...
Then I started to plan the inside. I wanted the watch to be the main focal point and thought the girls rule face was perfect in size and mood. I also wanted a flurry of flowers so I started to play around with all my Idea-ology bits and pieces. Once I had that planned out, all the flowers, leaves, watch, swivel clasp and key were given a good dose of Alcohol ink, followed by a coat of Distress Embossing Powder. I heat until it smokes (!), add a few extra drops of Alcohol ink (fizzzzz!), heat again until it darkens and then leave WELL, WELL ALONE until cool!
Then it was a case of working on more details and the composition. I wanted to stay with the aged look and feel so I used lots of lace scraps to create contrast, texture and also a 'bed' for the metalwork. I used lots of matt medium to set everything in place.
I have often said I like to create lines that cross at right angles to give balance to a piece and lead the eye so I used a piece of vintage tape measure and a wrap of gold thread to do this. I then just needed to select a few simple stamped words and add a rusty wire hanger to finish off.

It's definitely a Sarah-style creation, but I never get tired of metal or rusty tones. They seem to be my 'go-to'... But seeing as metal comes in SO many crafty forms, styles and sizes, you can pick the one that's right up your street and have fun your way.
Want to see oodles of metal inspiration? Then take a look at the all the really wonderful ideas from the Design Team here!
We can't wait to see what you will come up with this week. We'll be choosing our Top Three Artists and there is also this great $50 shopping voucher to be won.
Right my dears, I must love you and leave you for a while. Thanks for being here. Until the next time...Sarah.

Posted by Sarah at Monday, February 18, 2013 24 comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)