some early spring cleaning!

I've been playing in a new journal  :)  I'd like to start including more written journaling so am practising!

It's also been my treat for finally sorting my craft room, not that it looks particularly tidy and organised in this general shot.  I used to have space in the cellar but once the kids moved out of the attic I got to move up there.  That was a few years ago and although I've blitzed it before it's never got properly sorted.

I'm forever turning these two tables around.  I have one for paper stuff and the other for stitching.  I have a sewing machine and an embellisher on there.

Last year my Mum bought me these huge boxes to keep my fabrics in.  Sometimes it takes a while to work out how best to organise things, but I think I'm there with them this time.

  

I bought the above mannequin for my corset and it's been standing empty for ages whilst I hunted for my corset, sure I'd seen it around somewhere.  It turned out I'd given it to one of the members of the corset swap a couple of years ago and she surprised me with it the other week :)  It still has space for work but I'm happy with it for the moment.

Around behind my paper workdesk is this lovely plan chest which was gifted to me by Paddy of Paddy's Stamping Place.  I use it as an additional workspace for my Big Shot and for working on other paper projects such as using Brusho.

I'm going to give the Documented Life Project 2015 a go, alongside Documented Faith and Take Me Deeper, this year.  I'm not great at keeping up with long term projects but a fresh start and all that!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!  Thanks so much for all your support this year, Sarah x

2014: My Year with Stampotique

OK, where did that year go?  I can't believe I've been on the Stampotique Designer's Blog team for a whole year!!  I have absolutely loved it; such a wonderful, friendly group of people.

As it's Boxing Day here in the UK an appropriate final project for 2014 would have been an altered matchbox, but that only occurred to me as I wrote this post!

I decided to pick out some of my favourite projects from the year and was hoping to put them in a slideshow but couldn't work out how!  So you have a shorter collection of photos from over the last year.

I've never done one of those end of year looking back posts but looking back at these projects is making me consider doing one!

I've made tags, envelopes and journal pages and happily cut, stuck, stitched, sprayed, collaged, stamped, painted and doodled and had a wonderful time :)

I've also made some lovely friends and want to thank Carol, Jim and Kim for having me on team this year.

Thanks for sticking with me on this photo heavy post!  And thanks for supporting me through my Stampotique adventure :)

 Wishing you all the very best for 2015, Sarah xx

Wishing you a very happy Christmas

Every year my Christmas cards have a snowflake theme.  Can't help it I'm afraid!  I just love snowflakes :)

Thanks so much for reading my blog and leaving lovely comments.  It means a lot!

Have a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all the very best for 2015, Sarah xx

a Christmas fairy

There's a new feature over on the Lavinia Stamps website - monthly papercraft articles, and I'm one of the regular contributors :)

This month I share step by step instructions to make this little Christmas fairy card.  It would make a great thank you card for Christmas gifts, a fun journal page, or a very late Christmas card! (although I'll be making a few more tonight, nothing like last minute!!!)

Happy Christmas!

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree...

... how lovely are your branches!

I love twiggy trees like this and would be quite happy with this as a Christmas tree, I'd just add white lights and some silver baubles.

Stampotique stamps used:

Oh...Tree  #6152  by Daniel Torrente

Text star with tiny star on side  #3027  by Jo Capper-Sandon

romantic text  #10028  by France Papillon

butterfly collage

Apologies for being AWOL last week, work was manic, including the weekends!!  Life of a teacher eh!

But this weekend just gone I made time to play around with some stamped collage elements in my journal.  I'm particularly enjoying using pencil on my journal pages

This weekend I'm meeting up with crafty friends so they'll be more journaling happening I'm sure :)

Stampotique stamps used:

paris postcard  #8964  Carol's Collection

small butterfly  #3018    by Jo Capper-Sandon

baroque background  #7109  Amy Wilson-Wellenstein

numeric  #7164  by Amy Wilson-Wellenstein

Unfinished!

Sometimes a journal page just sits there for a while ...

...and sometimes that 'while' can be a lonnnnng one!  This page started off with some brown spray which sat in my journal for ages.  I recently added some blue (love blue and brown together), didn't like it so used my solution to most pages I don't like - white paint/spray through a stencil :)

I love those large circles so complemented them with one of Stampotique's new release images - Daniel's circles.  They're stamped over one of my very favourite Stampotique images - numeric.

So now I have a double page spread I love, but is still unfinished...

...and that's okay!  It's just the way of art journaling flows.

art journaling on the train

It might look like it ..

but this isn't quite the same journal that I've been enjoying working in recently.  I took a baggie of art journaling supplies away with me on our recent trip to London, including my little Daler Rowney journal (which is about 4"x 6" in size, a nominal A6) but when it came to the journey home I realised I'd accidentally packed it into my suitcase!

Fortunately we'd happened to shop at the Chelsea School of Art and Design shop (next to the Tate Britain, open to the public, very very cheap :)  ) and that journal I did have in my bag! It's a proper square but similar in size to my Daler Rowney (Sea White chunky small, approx 5.5" square)

What I LoVe about working in artist quality sketchbooks is that the paper is heavy enough to take wet media so no gessoing, no gluing of pages together to make them thick enough etc

Having said that, I did glue in a brusho background before collaging on top (with more brusho backgrounds, letraset and those gorgeous stamped numerals!!)  !

It was a very therapeutic activity for a train journey!

Stampotique stamps used:

numeric  #7164  by Amy Wilson Wellenstein

antique description  #7228  by Amy Wilson Wellenstein

romantic text  #10028  by France Papillon

brusho in my journal ... again!

This is another brusho background created by sprinkling the powder on a glass plate, spraying this with water then laying paper on top to take a print.  It's definitely my favourite way to use Brusho.

This flower is one of my favourite Paper Artsy stamps (love their big flowers on the Hot Picks plates) but I can't find it anywhere!  Thankfully I had stamped it at some time and the image was in the pile of papers on my desk.  I'd been reminded of it when I used the Hot Picks 1301 set I won in the summer; this flower appears in tiny form in the top left corner of the text above the butterfly

a paper artsy journal page

Another art journal page to share with you.

The background is a gelli print I've had on my workdesk for a while.  I am ashamed to say that this was the christening of my paper artsy hot picks stamps set I won in the summer!

circles on a journal page

I am very happy with this journal page spread!

It started off as a bit of a rubbish gelli print which I painted over with some turquoise brusho, thinking it might lift it - it did!!

Then I started playing around with Daniel's circles cube from Stampotique

and lots of variety in text and numerals.  The background numeral piece is from my scratch paper on my worktable; it's how I clean my stamps - by stamping them repeatedly on scrap paper!!

Add some doodling ... and Sarah is a happy art journaller!!

Stampotique Stamps used:

Daniel's circles cube  #6184  by Daniel Torrente

Romantic Text  #10028  by France Papillon

Numeric  #7164  by Amy Wilson Wellenstein

Baroque Background  #7109  by Amy Wilson Wellenstein

Antique Description  #7228  by Amy Wilson Wellenstein

more doodling in my journal

That nasty chest infection I had meant I was floored for a good couple of weeks and spent the time sleeping, reading and pinning (on pinterest!).  Oh, and I finally got to watch the Lego movie!  All that time off work and no energy to play with my art supplies :(   

The second lot of antibiotics meant I started to pick up and I managed some brusho backgrounds (I can recommend brusho if you're not feeling 100%, or if you've lost your mojo!)  I have a glass worktop protector and I just sprinkled the brusho powder on it (having made a hole in the lid of the pot with a thick safety pin), sprayed it with water, then took a print from this with copier paper.

Some stenciling with white paint and my paper was ready for some doodling, which was easy to do in front of the tv or in bed with my newly devised transportable art journaling kit! (see Tuesday's post).

What does make me smile is that I got the date wrong with my date stamp.  Not the only thing I got wrong whilst I was ill!!  I am now fully fit and back to my usual self, thanks for the best wishes many of you sent :)

doodling on an art journal page

For aaaages I've wanted to make my art journaling more portable.  I tend to do a whole spread in one go rather than work on previously prepared backgrounds.

I've also been on a mission to include some of my own 'marks' rather than always relying on rubber stamps.

Well, I've found that I'm quite happy doodling on brusho backgrounds!  They have so much texture anyway that adding a few pencil marks is quite therapeutic.  

I made a pile of brusho backgrounds, chose some to add to my journal, packed a little bag of scraps of brusho background paper, scissors, a pencil, a fineline pen, a white pen, a pritt stick and a couple of coloured pencils and was able to transport my art journaling to different parts of the house and beyond!!