Hobbycraft Demo for Kuretake

As I mentioned last week, I spent Saturday at Hobbycraft in Romford, Essex, demoing watercolour and calligraphy pens for Kuretake. The Calligraphy pens especially were very well received and I spent most of the day showing people those, how to start basic handwriting, make flowers and flourishes and blend the colours together on the nib (one little girl was completely convinced that this was achieved by magic!) in fact the children who tried the pens seemed to take to it very naturally, its great to start them young! Maybe Calligraphy will be the next big thing?

I did also try to show the watercolour pens as much as possible throughout the day but only managed to get 2 full images coloured  in that time although lots of people were impressed by my 'bendy nib' demonstration (the pens nibs are made from rubber so don't split like fibre nibs)

I met lots of lovely people who stopped to chat, try the pens and tell me all about their crafting, if you were one of them then 'hello' and thank you for stopping to chat, it made my day very interesting and the time just whizzed past! One man who stopped to chat done the very traditional ink calligraphy with brushes and told me all about that and another man was starting a calligraphy course (if you're reading this, I hope it goes well!) Very embarrassingly, but very sweet, someone also went to the till to tell one of the ladies that they thought I was very pretty and had nice hair, that kept me blushing for a good long time! I don't who that was but it made my day and made me want to crawl into the back room and hide in equal measure! lol

The staff at the store were really lovely and made me feel very at home, popping by to make sure I was OK and see what I was up to at regular intervals :o) if you're local to Romford, please do pop in and check out the store if you haven't already!

Today I was going to have an extra day off to account for my working Saturday but I'm so excited about some of the projects I'm working on that I just can't tear myself away! I'll save my days off for the next bank holiday...

I should also mention that Friday I spent most of the afternoon baking up a storm and creating new recipes for my blog which you will be seeing very soon! One word of advice though, do not try to cook 5 things at once! I almost gave myself a breakdown as I juggled making Cornish (Essex) pasties, Lemon Tarts, Vanilla Cupcakes, Steak & Vegetable pie and a dreamy Apple Pie, yummy but tiring! It's been B's turn to cook since :o)

I'll be back tomorrow with the winner of the Rico giveaway and the stockist information I know you've been waiting for so you can get your hands on those scrummy papers and the lovely MyMemo range!

Thanks for popping by today
Sarah x

Hobbycraft Demo - Romford, Essex

Tomorrow I will be taking a break (ha!) from my manic schedule and demoing at Hobbycraft in Romford, Essex from 10-4 - I hope some of my fellow Essex crafters will pop along and say hello! :o)


I'll be showing the Kuretake watercolour and calligraphy pens, come along and take a look and try them out, I look forward to meeting some of you then!

Sarah x

Doodle Mania!

Kuretake will be hosting a new challenge over on their blog later today and this months theme was 'Doodle Mania' it gave me a great excuse to get some long overdue Art Journaling done! So here is my doodley Art Journal page...

This is in my little Derwent Journal so its around A5 size across the two pages. I sprayed the background with various colours of inks then added the quote (from Roald Dahl) in printed text - the font looks like Dymo tape! some silver star confetti and a mish mash of magazine cuttting faces then doodled the girls body, and then around everything with some shooting stars, a border, some random patterns and some text around the girl using Kuretake writer pens - most of this is done in black with just a bit of colour on the hair, dress and flowers - I thought the background was colourful enough! As with most of my art journaling there was no plan for this, it just happened!

Here are some close-ups - you can click to see them bigger.

I hope you'll pop over to see the rest of the Kuretake Design Teams work and and join the challenge, it will be up later today, you can find the Kuretake blog here.

Sarah x

Just a few days left!...

...to get hold of the January issue of Making Cards magazine featuring a set of cute Woodland Whimsies cards made by me!

The set was made using my Woodland Whimsies stamps (coloured with Promarkers) and Kuretake papers.

You have until the 12th January (when the new issue goes on sale) to get hold of a copy from your local craft shop or online direct from the Making Cards website.

Thanks for looking!
Sarah x

Steampunk Bird Tag

This week Basically Bare featured my Steampunk Bird Tag on their blog, and I wanted to share it here too for anyone that may have missed it...

I made the base of the tag look like rusty metal using a copper paint dabber and the fab Letraset Alcohol Inks and used Basically Bare elements and Kuretake Pens to create my mechanical bird, there are also some Tim Holtz elements in there too - how I could I make a grungy project without them!

You can see the full details on how I made this here on the Basically Bare blog.

Thanks for looking!
Sarah x

Kuretake Tree Angel Decoration & Planning Ahead!

If you pop over to the Kuretake blog today you can open door number 19 on their Advent Calendar which is a  step by step tutorial by me on how to make this Angel tree decoration, including a download of the face I designed so that you can make your own! :o)

Today I have been working on a super exciting project due to launch in the first week of January - my Design Team are involved on this one too and they all loved it so I'm sure you will too!

I've also been making lots of plans, I love to plan and set goals it makes me happy and excited for the year ahead! so I've spent the day surrounded by journals, diaries, planners, file cards and folders of things making sure I'm all set. Another great reason I love to make plans is, sometimes it can be a bit of a downer once Christmas is over, but if you've planned a year of exciting things to look forward to, plans to set in motion and goals you can't wait to achieve then you don't feel that way.

B is home for Christmas now too so he has been working with me and helping as well as catching up on lots of little DIY bits and pieces around the house, it feels good to get everything ready for a fresh start in the New Year - exciting times ahead! Of course Fuzzybutt is super excited to have her daddy home, her tail hasn't stopped wagging all day :o)

I'll be sharing another project tomorrow so I hope you will pop back!

Sarah x

A Gorjuss Wintery Birthday Card

Yesterday was my MIL's Birthday and I wanted to make her a cute card as I wasn't able to see her in person due to my crazy schedule! I recently got hold of these Gorjuss girl stamps and I just knew she would love them so out came the Promarkers!...

 

 Supply List - Background papers - Echo Park, Stamped Image - Gorjuss, Promarkers - Letraset, Glitter Star & Gem - Paper Cellar, Wink of Stella Pens - Kuretake, Sticker - October Afternoon, Distress Inks, Blending Tool, 3D foam, Glue dots, double sided tape, Shaped Bleedproof cardstock cut with Cricut Expression

Here are some close ups of the colouring and the 3D butterflies (these are from the same stamp set I just secured the middle only with a glue dot so the wings could 'flap' The shaped piece of card I stamped onto was cut using my Cricut Expression, these shapes come on the built in cartridge and are great for stamped images, I've cut a ton of them out of my Promarker paper (I use Rymans coated cardstock) while I've been working this week!

  

Here you can see the subtle shimmer from the Wink of Stella pens, I really love these pens for adding highlights to my colouring, you can use them over promarkers and colouring pencils to add highlights.

I love the paper ribbon detail and I'm loving the glitter stars, I think they are on nearly every single project I've made this past week!

I hope she had a lovely birthday (B did pop round earlier and give her her pressies!) I'll have to ring her tomorrow (see if there is any birthday cake left ;o) hahaha)

Today I have been to London, and I'm still working like a crazy person on my deadlines, it's so exciting to see it all come together! I can't wait to start with the sneak peeks :o) Coffee and chocolate is seeing me through nicely, only now I've eaten the Christmas Matchmakers and the replacement Christmas Matchmakers (ooops!) I'll have to get B to hide the replacement replacement Matchmakers... it's not my fault, they're too delish!

Sarah x

Happy Halloween!

So today is the scariest day of the year and I must confess that tonight we will be sitting in the dark hiding from the Trick or Treaters as me and B ate all the candy already - oooops! LOL

Today I'm sharing a card I made for Basically Bare, I'm so happy that their products will now be distributed in the UK by Kuretake who I also design for, it means the products will be more easily available here in the UK for those that have asked me about stockists - yay!

Supply List - Felt & Chipboard Frames - Basically Bare, Backing Paper & Digi Stamp from my Halloween Digi Kits, Black Sparkle Embossing Powder - Kuretake

I embossed the chipboard frame with black sparkle embossing powder and matted onto a felt frame piece before adding the digi stamp using 3D foam (I used the pre-coloured version for quickness!)

If you are looking for the previews of my new Tinseltown CD please see the post below, a big 'Thank You' for all of the fantastic feedback - so happy you're all loving it and I can't wait to see your creations when you get your copies! This week my lovely Design Team will be sharing inspiration on their blogs every day, there are some great projects lined up! Today there are projects from Claire and Jess on their blogs, if you would like to pop over for some inspiration!

Finally, I just have to share this picture. My MIL gave me a vintage craft book she had in the loft and I cannot stop laughing at this guy! (apologies if it's someone you know, LOL) I'm sure in the 60's / 70's when this book was made he was probably quite a catch ;o)

Thanks for dropping by
Sarah x

A 'Smashing' Alternative!

When I first saw the Smash Book video a few months back I was super excited, but here in the UK we've had a distinct shortage of 'Smash' supplies, a few shops had a few bits, they quickly sold out and to get everything I wanted I would have had to order from about 4 different shops (not good for postage costs!) I was disappointed and put it out of my mind and to be honest completely forgot about them, I keep a journal and millions of notebooks full of sketches, notes and random cuttings, then about 2 weeks ago Melly sent me a link to the video with a 'saw this and thought of you' type message - of course once I watched it again I was hooked all over again! But unfortunately still had trouble finding the bits and pieces I wanted so I decided to create my own alternative 'Smash' kit, here it is....

  

 The journal itself is from Paperchase and has all these lovely printed colour pages, lines and grid and honeycombs (love this!)

 I also have a Kuretake Zig Glue Pen, a Zig Writer Pen (my favourite, use these for everything!) 2 pens, also from Paperchase in my favourite colours, Teal & Purple. I picked up some cute dotty washi tape and some journaling type stickers from a cute Ebay shop. I'm going to use this to catalogue all the inspiring things I tear from magazines etc... kind of like a 'pinterest' book and a way to journal my inspiration for when I'm designing. I'll be sharing some pages as I go :o)

Also, for all you fellow stationery fans, I have to show you this cute book and stickers I found in Selfridges, love them!

I'm such a stationery addict, I have so many books and journals and pens and keep different ones for different projects - my mum is exactly the same so I know where I get it from! LOL

Have a great weekend, I'll be putting the finishing touches to my new packaging and working on some more designs this weekend as well as some crafting - I'm making sneak peeks for the new 'Tinseltown' Christmas CD which is coming very soon! (if you can't wait some of my naughty DT have already posted a few sneaks over on the Challenge Blog!)

Sarah x

Sparkles & Shopping

Firstly, I want to share a card I made last night, my first attempt at an 8 x 8 card, not sure why but this size intimidates me a bit, I'm never quite sure how to fill the space (I'm fine with A5 and even A4 though, odd!) but with some new stamps to try out and my crafty mojo having returned (who knows for how long!) I thought I'd give it a try...

The stamps are from Lavinia Stamps, I added extra details and colour with distress inks and then worked over the top with my Kuretake Wink of Stella pens, I'm not really a glittery girl but I love the subtle shimmer of these pens! I had to take this pics in just the right light to try and capture the detail... (you can see better if you click on the pics to enlarge them)

   

The new stamps were part of my weekend haul! I took a trip to the Big Stamp & Scrapbooking show at Ally Pally on Saturday where I also met up with Emma and Kim, this was my first time to just visit as I usually demo at the show, so nice to just enjoy it (and shop of course!) and shop I did, oooops! (it's only twice a year though, lol)

Funnily enough I bought hardly any paper (my usual weakness!) but lots of stamps, although I do need to expand my collection and Clare from my design team has me hooked on lots of new brands, I was particularly excited to get this bag...

I'm loving LOTV stamps! Lots of colouring in ahead for me! :o) and of course a few more Lavinia Stamps for my collection which I used in the card above and some gorgeous little bits from Artistic Stamper to use in future projects - they do the most adorable little things for your printer trays and vintage style projects, I got dominos, keys, chipboard angel wings and lots of other little trinkets, just fab!

Now I'm back to work on deadlines for my new craft ranges (of course!) with my pre-Christmas releases all wrapped up I'm now working on the designs for my big launch at the trade show early next year (sounds ages away, in fact I have about 6-8 weeks to design a gazilion ranges and add-on products!!!) and I have a few illustration pieces to finish up for the Frankfurt Book Fair which is just around the corner as well as my usual mag projects and bits and pieces and some other exciting projects I can't share just yet - this is literally the most exciting time ever, but I'm so busy, the other night I actually didn't go to bed at all, I just didn't have time to sleep! LOL (I did get in trouble from B who woke up for his early shift and found me still awake from the previous day though - oooops!)

Sarah x

Kuretake Art & Graphic Pens

Last week I finally got my hands on a full set of the art and graphic twin pens from Kuretake - woo! so that I could make some samples for their shows tomorrow (don't miss them!) Here is a sneaky peek of one of them...

The stamps are from a Tim Holtz set and I've used the pens from the muted set to ink them up and stamp, the bird I went over with a waterbrush after to blend the pink tummy in so there wasn't such a defined line. I added stickles to the bird and eggs in the nest and finally some glossy accents to the eggs to make them stand out. The greeting is even stamped using the pen - I thought it would come out too blurry but they worked perfectly!

I'm not a great watercolourer but I love using these pens directly onto my stamps (I find they work better on rubber stamps than clear stamps), I had some pens to do this with a few years ago but they weren't nearly as good and left horrible fibres on the stamp - you don't get that with these as they have flexible rubber nibs. The muted colour set are my absolute favourite and work with a vintagey style of crafting but they are available in loads of colours.

I'm sure they have some fab demos and samples lined up for you tomorrow so have a look and get some tips (I will be! LOL)

Today I have spent the whole day researching trends, choosing colour palettes and planning my next product releases - all very exciting! planning so far ahead is bizarre, I was doing Christmas in April and now I'm planning for next spring / summer! I've even got some things pencilled in on my planner for 2013! Tomorrow the actual drawing and redrawing starts - thats the best part :o)

Sarah x

Kuretake Box Templates

So, did you manage to check out the Kuretake shows last week? I Sky+'ed them and have managed to watch most of them, they have such a versatile range of products!

One of the new things Steph showed was their Box Templates, you may remember I made some Royal Wedding Favour boxes with them for an earlier post (which you may have caught a glimpse of on the counter!) they are so easy to use! I made a few more samples for the show, which you can see below...

Firstly, as I'm well in the Halloween spirit already (and loving my Halloween Hauntings Cricut cartridge!) some Trick or Treat Boxes - perfect to put some jelly beans or Haribo in and hand out to the little kiddies who knock on the door (or turn the lights off, pretend you're not home and eat them yourself, bwahahaha) 

 

Secondly, a christmas box with a calligraphy tag - this is one of my first attempts at calligraphy - I need some more practice.

And lastly a little box that I thought would be sweet for a flower girl to hold with a little bunch of flowers, fill it with smarties or jelly beans to keep her amused during the long photo taking at the end of your wedding. The lovely textured paper I used is from Kuretake as well.

 

So there you have it, all my projects!

I've been a very naughty blogger these last couple of weeks but normal service will resume shortly and I have some exciting news to share, starting with an addition to my Design Team who I will introduce tomorrow, watch this space!

Sarah x

Cardmaking with Crate Paper

Todays card is made with Crate Paper goodies, Emma's Shoppe paper and chipboard stickers...

The lovely seam binding ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons and the Bakers Twine is from The Twinery.

I actually made this to try out my new Woodgrain Cuttlebug Embossing folder - I'm obsessed with it already, this is like when I got my corner rounder punch (notice most of my cards have rounded corners!) well, now you will be seeing a lot of embossed backgrounds! LOL

Tomorrow I'm off for a meeting with the Kuretake girls in London, I've been pulling samples together to take with me for the shows on Thursday so look out for them and see if you can spot any of mine, I'll post them on my blog after the shows too so you can have a proper look.

Sarah x

Alcohol Inks on Holographic Card!

I've been playing with my Kuretake Alcohol Inks again making lots of backgrounds for future projects - I was using up lots of old paper, coating it with acrylic paint first to seal it (a great way to use up old stash you'll never ever use) in with all my old stash was a whole stack of holographic card I bought about 10 years ago, it has a glossy surface so no need to prime it first, so I thought I'd give it a go!

 

The first is yellow and pink swirled with grey dripped into the edges. The second I layered on lots of yellow and pink with purple around the edges then I dripped purple into the middle and the blending solution on top which gave it this 'tie-dye' kind of effect.

I wouldn't recommend doing this in a brightly lit room, I nearly blinded myself! But it's definitely a great effect.

I had my silouhette Lavinia stamps to hand so i made a very quick card just to show off how striking it can be - literally this took about 5 minutes to make!

Sarah x

New Goodies!

Well, Blogger is back up thank goodness! I've missed blogging the last few days, my head is too full, LOL.

Last week I received some lovely new goodies in the post, I was so excited that I went straight up to my studio and started making things!! So here are a couple of projects...

This card was made with Girls Paperie Papers and an October Afternoon sticker, and lots of distressing! 

This one is a Daisy Bucket stamp, coloured with my Promarkers and layered onto Kuretake paper. The grass is hand-cut from plain card.

Sunday I was working on lots of projects to show you over the coming week, yesterday I made 25 cards!! Thats a personal record I think!

Sarah x

Promarker Storage and A Quick Card

Today I made this card, again using the Kuretake papers that are my current obssession (it's not my fault, I love polka dots!) and my Woodland Whimsies Owl & Cloud stamps, coloured with my Promarkers. This took about 10 minutes - perfect for one of those last minute "ooops I forgot til just now" cards.

I've had lots of questions about how I store my Promarkers and what I keep them all in, well, you may have seen this big black box in the background of most of the photos taken on my work table....

Well, it contains all my Promarkers...

Finally, a box that fits them all in and with a bit of space in case Letraset make more colours! :o) and best of all it was only about a fiver in the sale from one of those 'homeware' shops my Mother-in-Law makes me go to every so often in her attempts to try and 'domesticate' me, while I of course look for things to store craft stash in or things I can alter, and completely ignore all kitchen and cleaning equipment, LOL

Thanks for popping by!

Sarah x

Kuretake Papers & Punches

Recently Kuretake sent me some of their lovely papers and punches (they do more than just pens you know!)

The papers are gorgeous and 12x12" so perfect for Scrapbooking and Card Making and I love the colours!

I already had some of these small white punches (pictured for comparison) but I was sent some of these larger ones which can be used as a corner punch, or if you remove the bottom bit (as per the one on the left) with a bit of patience and a steady hand you can use it as a border punch - you know how much I love things that have more than one use! LOL

So today I got cracking on some projects, for this card, the rose is an old stamp, and a firm favourite you have probably seen on some of my other projects - I just love colouring it in! This time I used Kuretake art and graphic pens for the rose itself (I have some tips for these coming soon, they work a bit differently to Aquamarkers!) and my Aquamarkers for the leaves and stem.

The background paper is from Kuretake and the strip is punched from another sheet, if I can line it up that straight(ish) first time, anyone can!

I'll have more projects over the next few days!

Also I must mention that today that the interview I done recently for Doodletuts has been published on their website, please pop over and have a look around their site (plus you get to see my face on their homepage, bonus! LOL) they have some fab tips and tutorials for artists.

Sarah x

Free Digi Stamp!

I've had so many lovely comments about my Royal Wedding Digi Stamp Kit and Illustrations that as a 'Thank You' today I'm giving away a free Corgi Digi Stamp.

Just click here or on the image to download the little Corgi in Colour and Black & White (colour with your Promarkers or Pencils)

Also, there is still time to enter the Blog candy competition - great prizes from Letraset, Derwent, Kuretake, Crafty Ribbons and me! click here for all the details.

Sarah x

Bank Holiday Blog Candy!

Right, I promised you a lovely giveaway today so here we go....

First up, for the followers of my Blog....


The prize is my ever popular CD's Woodland Whimsies 1&2, a set of Woodland Whimsies clear stamps and a set of Aquamarkers kindly donated by the lovely peeps at Letraset.

To win this prize you just need to be a follower of my blog! How easy is that? no comments, no challenge, just click follow :o)

Secondly, a prize for my Facebook peeps....

The prize is my ever popular CD's Woodland Whimsies 1&2, a Derwent Card making Kit (Butterflies) which includes cards, a design and some gorgeous metallic pencils, a selection of pens and some gorgeous pink brads from Kuretake and a selection of ribbons from Crafty Ribbons Thank you to Derwent, Kuretake and Crafty Ribbons for donating these prizes!

To win this prize you just need to be a follower of my Facebook Page! :o)

Of course if you follow both my blog and my Facebook page you have the chance to win both prizes!

This is open to UK and international entries. The winners will be drawn at random after the next Bank Holiday on 5th May.

Have a wonderful Bank Holiday!
Sarah x