A Little Peek at... Art Journaling

Today I'm sharing a little peek at an upcoming blog project, this time, some Art Journaling...

I haven't felt inspired to journal for a while, but last week I had something going around and around in my head, the best way of getting it out was to grab some paints and inks and get it into my journal!

I used Ranger Ink Distress paints, Ink Sprays and Derwent Liner Pens along with my Doodle Doll stamps. I'll show the full project in a few days.

Thank you for dropping by today!

Sarah x

Creating Ink Sprays and Art Journaling for Derwent

Today I wanted to give you a closer look at the Art Journal page I created for Derwent recently...

My post was about creating your own Ink Sprays, which I done using Inktense blocks (love them!) and water - you can see the full tutorial over on the Derwent Blog here! I used my sprays to create the background for my page...

I then used a triangle mask and some texture paste paint to create the triangles and added a Doodle Doll stamped image, coloured with Inktense pencils, and some Dymo label text to spell out my words (which I doodled all around!)

Finally, I added a die cut chipboard heart (which I had torn in half) added some texture paste and the last piece of text, and again, doodled over the top...

I don't often share my art journaling so I do hope you like it!

Thank you for dropping by today!

Sarah x

New Lovely Crafty Things!

Today has been a super busy day getting things ready but I'm so pleased to say there are lots of new things up in my shop today including my first ever paper collection (wooooo!) journaling cards, and the much awaited and longed for stencils / masks which I was playing with last night...

as you can see, they work very well with Tim Holtz distress paints and Dylusions sprays...You can get yours here!

I hope you love them as much as me!

Sarah x

Sneaky Peek... New Products Coming Soon!

Just a very quick post from me today, and a little sneak peek at some fun new products coming very VERY soon, I had to test them out of course! ;o) ...

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Be Amazing!

Last week when my new art journal stamps came in, I couldn't wait to have a go with them myself! Unfortunately my art journal was wet as I'd just done lots of inky pages, but I grabbed a card blank and had a go on that instead!

I showed you a little sneaky peek of this in my last post, but here is the whole thing! I used Pentel watercolour tubes to make a painty background - I'm usually not a fan of watercolours but these come out almost like acrylics they're so rich so I can still get the bold colours and the bit of texture that I like in my work.

I used the bubble wrap stamp from my backgrounds set with a Hero Arts neon inkpad and randomly stamped over the top once dry (I used a heat gun, too impatient!) then using a Staz on ink pad I stamped my girl and accessories onto a separate piece of card and coloured them with Pentel watercolour pens and a waterbrush

Finally I layered everything together and stamped the border and 'Be Amazing' words along with lots of the bookprint stars (my fave!) and doodled with a white gel pen to highlight a few of them

You can get hold of my art journal stamps here and check out your local Pentel stockist here.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Doodle Canvas

Today a quick and messy project to share! I've had a pack of these mini natural unbleached canvases hanging around for a while, I kept looking at them but couldn't get inspired. As I mentioned, my mojo completely disappeared for most of last week, so I grabbed one of these canvases and just started messing around - I figured if I messed it up, I could just throw it away! In the end I was quite pleased with it...

I started by swiping over with some white distress stain just to lighten the dark colour slightly and make sure the stamping and doodling stood out. I then misted through a mask with some white Mr Huey (not realising the canvas had a bit of a coating) the coating caused it to blur so I dabbed it off with a kitchen towel leaving a mottled effect.

When that was dry I stamped the girl and the cat (these stamps are from Prima, I picked them up at Ally Pally!) using Staz on Ink. I also stamped the chevon borders (those are from Sodalicious) I then doodled around the edge of the canvas to create a scallop border and doodled some stars and dots over the whole canvas. When everything was dry I used my Neon Promarkers (obsessed with these at the moment!!) to add some flashes of colour.

As a finishing touch I added some glossy accents in sections and swiped the Staz on ink pad all around the edge of the canvas.

It's a bit quirky and 'art journaly' but I think thats what I like about it! It now lives on a little easel in my craft room :o)

Thanks for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Punky Scraps Blog Hop

Today I'm taking part in the Punky Scraps Blog Hop. This fab inky painty challenge blog is run by Nat from my DT and she very kindly asked me if I would be a guest for her today (how could I refuse!)You should have reached my blog from Celina's blog (or you can start at the beginning here) and at the end Nat has a sketch challenge for a spot on the Punky Scraps Design Team and some fab prizes up for grabs - not to be missed!

For the hop we were asked to share our favourite inky painty project which for me is this Art Journal page I made a few months ago (I don't share many pages from my art journal and this is a rare example!)

This is done in my little Derwent journal, I used lots of different colour Ink Sprays on the background along with lots of doodling, a print of one of my favourite quotes and some magazine scraps) 

Here are a couple of close ups...

 

From here, you can hop over to Amy to see her favourite project! and then on to try out for the coveted DT place and prizes at the end!

Thanks for taking part today!
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

Art Journaling with Kuretake

I showed some pictures a few weeks ago of me getting messy and completely ruining my nails (so worth it!) with Kuretake Alcohol Inks - I just love them and have lots more projects planned with them.

One of the projects I made from this process.....

Was this Art Journaling panel....

I used 3 colours of alcohol ink to make the background, using thinner on a kitchen towel to lift the colour to make the lighter circles. The stars are made from Gesso'ed canvas on a roll, again coloured with alcohol ink and stamped using Staz-On. The girl is my Doodle Dolls stamp stamped onto coated Kraft wrapping paper (also on a roll and totally bargainous - look out for it in stationery shops, it's about £1!) and then coloured with Kuretake Posterman Pens. I then journalled over it when dry using a Kuretake Writer Pen.

It's taken me a while to get the courage to show this piece, it's always scarier showing Art Journaling because it's more personal and has your own thoughts and feelins wrapped up in them, it's like showing someone your Diary!

I do love this piece though, it sits in my studio and is a daily reminder to be a little bit braver than the day before - and who knows what you can do!

Sarah x

A Funny Old Day....

Today really was a funny sort of day, I stayed up late last night illustrating again, I seem to be more productive at night! But I woke up feeling ready for the day ahead and yet very relaxed and not my normal stressy self!

I think I'm making progress and I'm ahead of myself on my plan so thats a good thing. I'm also loving the way these illustrations are coming together. Sometimes it's too easy to be critical of ourselves, especially when you see fantastic work by other artists / crafters / designers. But you can only be yourself, of course you have to try and improve and better yourself but but never change your style or try to fit a mould, you don't want to be "the next 'whoever'" you want to be the first YOU!

Last night I had the whole ranty angry thing from yesterday swirling round in my head - I often carry these arguments out inside my head to make sure I dont say anything uneccessary when it comes to actually confronting who has hurt me and to make sure I have clear what I want to say, nothing worse than finishing an argument or impassioned speech and then thinking of something else you really wished you'd said - do it all at once and get some closure! It basically boils down to an issue of trust, I have a very hard time trusting people in the first place, but once I do, I do so implicitly. Once a person has broken that I've never been able to regain it, even when I've really really wanted to, I just can't. I feel an art journal page coming on! The best place to spill everything out... Maybe the fact that I had done that was what made me so calm today!

I've been planning out my diary today and the next few weeks and months look pretty busy (yay!) but I'm taking some time to go to the craft show at the Olympia next month to see the lovely peeps at Crafty Ribbons who I design for, I'll also be meeting some more twitter peeps, always fun! If you're going let me know :o)

Ah, no pretty pics today... will try and make up for it tomorrow, promise! Thanks for your guesses yesterday, keep them coming!! ;o)

Sarah x

Art Journaling with Derwent

I mentioned the other night that I had done some Art Journaling before bed, I don't often show my journal pages, most of them are too personal, but this one was something I had read earlier in the day and it struck a nerve, I just had to journal it so I'd always remember. This is in my little Derwent Journal, the background I made using my Aquatones ages ago and it was so pretty I had a hard time drawing on it!

Images are from random magazines, I buy so many each week this is a good way to recycle! the cloud stamp is one of mine and the eye stamp is an old Ebay bargain.

I'll leave you with some random pics from my week, these are all from Instagram, a new app I've been using, love it!!

I love all the different picture effects without messing around in photoshop!

The first is my bargain vintage dress I got from Ebay that I mentioned a few weeks ago, its now repaired and altered, love it! The second is what I woke up to Valentines morning, Fuzzybutt! LOL. The third is me and Fuzzybutt later that day - Fuzzy Love! The fourth is a set of stamps I received from a friend in Australia, can't wait to use them!!! and the final one is Fuzzybutt at her best last night, all fuzzy and warm and sleepy - loves!

Have fabulous weekends!

Sarah x

A Little Freebie!

Today the last of the 'Wonderland' CD sold out - a big thank you to everyone that ordered, we literally couldn't pack them up quickly enough - even the DT haven't had theirs yet!! New stock has been ordered and is on its way so you can still order here for delivery by Christmas.

Today I have uploaded lots of Calendar downloads to the shop - these were very popular on the Christmas Cheer! CD so now you can download the Calendars individually from the shop here or you can buy the Christmas Cheer! CD with all of them (plus all of the other stuff!) here (remember there is free shipping on everything until 20th December with the code FREESHIP at checkout!)

The freebie today (as promised!) is a Black and White calendar, you can use as is,print out on coloured or patterned paper or re-colour with your Promarkers, Pencils, Spray Inks etc.... Click the image below to download yours :o)

Have been hard at work today on some fab new products for the New Year (which is scarily close now!) but I'm off to try and reclaim the remote control in time for X-Factor now, it's completely off limits at the weekend when OH has a 2 day sport marathon - I did ask if today we could watch Footballers Wives instead of Football, but apprently it's 'not the same thing'.......

Tomorrow I must making some Christmas Cards, so far I have a grand total of......... one! eeeeeeeekkkkkk!

Also, please pop over the the Challenge Blog for some fab Christmas challenges :o)

Sarah x

p.s. I am currently looking for some mixed media artists / art journalers to work on a project with a brand new product. If you are interested please pop over to the Ink-A-Ball page on Facebook and leave your blog link!

Colouring Outside the Lines....

Over the weekend I got lots of time to play with the new Derwent goodies, so here are a few initial things to show you...

Firstly, an art journal background with the Aquatone Pencils - these are sticks of pure pigment, unlike anything else I've seen and make great effects, perfect for bright messy art journal pages!



Derwent sent me one of their black paper books - like most illustrators (I'm guessing!) I'm used to drawing on white paper so this has been a challenge to think of some different things to do - I'm working on an illustration at the moment that I'm LOVING but it's not ready to show yet. I had an experiment with the Coloursoft and Metallic pencils on the paper first to get an idea of how they look - a few experimental fireworks....


And finally, a quick sketch with the Coloursoft pencils to test the blending, I love these, they blend like no other pencil I've ever used and yet don't smudge - get them immediately!!!! These could be my favourite of all time! Although I do love those Aquatones......



A few more to try out so I'll report back on those soon!

I've also been doing some new work with my Promarkers - once you start colouring you just can't stop! I'll post some of that in the next few days :o)

And finally..... my little sister Xena, who is only 10 has written a book! isn't she clever? You can get your copy here....


Now I must get on, it feels like someone has shrunk all the days down to about one hour long and there are only 2 weeks until Christmas!!!! I'm sooo excited and yet really really need to get a lot done by then! Luckily I've been having some pretty good days health-wise so I'm getting on OK (touch wood I didn't just jinx myself by saying that!!)

Snow Update - All Gone!! we have none at all now, OH made it to the post office today so if you are waiting for something from me it's now on its way! (that includes the orders of 'Wonderland' up until yesterday - Todays will go tomorrow)

Sarah x

How Cold???

Seriously, how cold is it today??? I'm wearing 2 woolly dresses over a jumper, woolly tights and ugg boots and I'm still freezing!!!! Fuzzybutt has wrapped herself up in a duvet and there is NO WAY she is budging for anyone! She makes me laugh, I looked over at her as I typed that and she stared straight back like "yeah, what?!" she's got real attitude that mutt!

The other night I was chatting on Twitter about Art Journaling - I love Twitter and Art Journaling, both allow me to vent, much like this blog! I don't often share my pages but as it's a new journal and this isn't such a terribly personal page, I will...

This is in my "non-messy" journal, the pages are so thin I can't use Promarkers or even paints really, so I'm sticking with colouring pencils, journaling pens and sakura pens - it's very difficult to now spray / ink / paint etc.... but I quite like it, its journaling I can do anywhere without needing a craft sheet, old clothes, scrap paper and a long soak in the bath after! Did you notice the pages are kraft though? so pretty! *sigh* I'm sooooo obssessed with kraft paper at the moment.

Tomorrow I will be introducing a new member of the DT - think this will be the last one before Christmas as it's fast approaching!! She is very talented and I'm really pleased she's joined us. She has got stuck straight in with the challenges so you will be seeing her work this week on the challenge blog!! She is just in time for some new products as well......

I'll also let you know the winner of my Blythe doll competition tomorrow - I need to speak to my little squishies, they are very busy people with all their animals and poultry to look after - are ducks poultry too or is it just chickens and turkeys? I'm sure they will tell me, probably with a huff and an eye roll at how little I know about farm animals except which condiment goes best with them ;o) bwahahahahahahahaha.....

Tonight is another 'rock n roll' type evening for us - snuggling on the sofa watching all the terrible TV we have Sky +'ed while I plan some work I have coming up - and probably another page in that journal!

Sarah x