PaperCraft Inspirations Daffodil Cards

Today I'm sharing a set of cards and a  cute little basket that you may have seen recently in Papercraft Inspirations. My brief was to create something cheery and springlike with a focus on large 3D daffodils (eek!) Luckily Sizzix came to my rescue with their fabulous Daffodil die (you can find it here on the Sizzix UK website) here's what I came up with...

I used Distress Inks to create a cloud effect background, which I used on to the background and behind the windows (another Sizzix die) the grassy borders are cut by hand and the butterflies are from a Martha Stewart punch.

The white flowers are a Sizzix die I have used a lot, I'm not a fan of big flowers but these tiny ones they quite recently started to bring out are just fabulous! I use Pinflair glue to assemble and add a touch of Stickles to the centres to hide any glue squidge (technical term!) and add a touch of sparkle.

I used an embossing tool to add texture to the petals before assembling and I actually cut down the centres by about half as they were a little bit *too* 3D for me and I wanted them to look more like the daffodils that grow in the forest near my home, they have smaller centres and bigger petals that the ones shown on the Sizzix packaging - the centres I feathered slightly with scissors to soften the look. The sentiments stamps used throughout are my own set available on my website)

The the bricks on this card were created from the discarded window panels from this die (I cut the arched top off of this one to create a square window)

I also used the embossing tool to add texture to the window frame...

I created a fancy easel card from two square card blanks for this card and added a flap to the top for the window - the sky background paper is also matted inside the window with the daffodils around the outside and on the stand up front panel. You can find step by step instructions for creating this card base here on the Papercraft Inspirations blog!

I needed a 3D project to finish this set off and immediately thought of this easter basket (the template can be found inside the magazine - it's still available as a back issue or to download on your iPad)

This could be used in an easter egg hunt, filled with mini eggs or treats as a gift or even as a table centrepiece!

I had lots of fun putting this set together, I hope you like it!

Thank you for dropping by today
Sarah x

Papercraft Inspirations Cover!

I was so thrilled to hear from my editor that my project had made the cover of Papercraft Inspirations for the January issue (what a fab way to start the new year!!) but I was even more thrilled to walk into Sainsburys yesterday and see it in real life, eeek! No matter how many times I'm published, it's just as exciting every single time!

I loved making this set of cards using Penny Black stamps with Derwent Inktense pencils and blocks, Sizzix dies and DCWV papers, and I'm so pleased it made the cover! I hope you can pick up a copy, there are so many fantastic projects this issue, it's one not to be missed :o)

It's been a crazy busy week here at Hurley HQ, we've despatched a record number of orders over the last couple of weeks as well as finalising lots of new products and working on other projects and plans for the new year - I'm very lucky to have B and Lisa (my lovely new creative assistant) to help me (and Fuzzybutt for reassuring hugs and woofs throughout the day of course) my Design Team have pulled together the most fantastic projects for something we have planned for you for next week too, I can't wait to show you more! I thought this year had been busy, but with everything we have planned for next year, I think we better hang on to our hats!! So excited...

I'll be back over the weekend to share some more of my December Daily album with you, I hope you can pop back to check it out.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Halloween Time! Altered Alarm Clock

Today I'm sharing a project I actually made a few weeks ago but thought I'd save up for today! When the sneak peeks came around earlier this year of all the new company releases, my eye was immediately drawn to the Tim Holtz Alarm Clock, I had so many ideas for them that I ended up buying a few when they were released (oops!) My first one though, is this one...

Halloween is one of my favourite holidays and I love to make projects for it (even though we don't really do as much for it here in the UK!) For this I used the October Afternoon Witch Hazel line (one of my faves!) the back of the clock I covered in the black star paper before cutting and layering my gravestones and witches and pumpkins and cats to build up my Halloween scene inside...

The edges of the clock I decorated with foliage cut from coordinations distress card using one of my favourite ever Sizzix dies, the Tim Holtz Autumn Gatherings die, reminds me of crunching leaves!

 

I also used the Sizzix mini daisy die - these little dies are great as it cuts out all the petals individually and you can build it up as much as you need with Pinflair glue! I added some Stickles for sparkle too

 The little 3D spiders and webs are from some older Jolee's Boutique stickers that I had hoarded away

I used a combination of Pinflair glue and Glossy accents to layer everything together before adding my flying witch to the outside...

 Here is another little peek inside...

I loved making this and can't wait to start on my next Clock, I have another idea (or 10!) in mind already...

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Hunkydory & Sizzix card

The other night I finally got some time to play with some of my Hunkydory kits (yay!) so today I'm sharing one of my fave cards that I made. I just love the artwork so this came together really quickly...

First I used my score board to make a card blank base from the scattered stars adorable scorable card. Then I stamped a brick stamp onto some brown textured card using walnut stain distress ink. I dried the distress ink with a heat gun so it wouldn't smudge before distressing round the edges with vintage photo distress ink.

 I then added some rock candy distress stickles to add a bit of glitz to the brown, once that was dry I added the little boy topper. The swirls are cut from a Sizzix die, I covered the join in the corner with a daisy (also a sizzix die) these little daisies are so cute and really easy to make with pinflair glue (you cut all the petals individually with the die)

 

I added a couple of leaves, using my embossing tool to mark them with veins first to make them more realistic and finished with some dots of liquid pearls in silver and white and some icicle stickles to the daisies.

I made another card that night which I will share later his week, but here is a little sneak peek...

I should also mention, if you are connected to me on Facebook you may have noticed a little change of name on my page today (the 'illustrator & craft designer' bit has been removed) don't worry nothing has changed, and I'm still both of those things! it's just I have some new projects coming up that don't fit in to either of those categories and I'm just getting prepared! Will spill the beans very soon, promise!

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Memory File Scrapbooking - Sister Style

Yesterday, I had a bit of a stressful day, I was feeling really icky, so I decided to lock myself in my studio for a couple of hours and just make something because I wanted to, and I wasn't going to stop until I got my sparkle back - as I went to bed at 3am with gold stickles in my hair, I think it worked!! and here is what I made, my first dabble into Heidi Swapp's Memory File scrapping, and I LOVED them, I need more more more of these! They are fancier than a layout but less pressure than a mini album, perfect for me!

Here is the front of my folder (I used the smaller size one as I was only scrapping one photo)

 

I covered the front with a Kaisercraft paper (one of the best I have bought, mint and woodgrain, two of my favourite things!) and added a flower made using Sizzix / Tim Holtz's Tattered Rose die with Coffee filter paper, layered together with pinflair glue and finished with Stickles and Glass Glitter. Then my title in gold glitter thickers and October Afternoon Mini Market alphabet stickers. Here is a little close up of that rose - the pinflair really helps to give the coffee filter paper some structure, where its so thin it would just flop flat otherwise!

On the inside I used a mixture of American Crafts Dear Lizzy Papers from one of the pads I picked up in Hobbycraft the other day, the stickers are also American Crafts and the letters are some very very old ones from Sassafrass that I've been hoarding for a long long time (I still love them!)

The wood chip arrows I've covered with gold stickles (and resisted poking them to see if they were dry, how good am I! lol) I attached them with glossy accents. Here are a couple of close ups... (you can click to make them bigger)

 

The journaling card is one of my own and I left a little pocket behind one of the papers to tuck it into with a tiny bit of washi tape to pull it out with to see the hidden journaling. The 'Seriously?' stamp is from Pink Paislee's portfolio stamps, and I think you'll agree, it definitely fits this picture!

and the bit I know you're all waiting for, here is a close up of *that* picture, my sister and I and our fabulous fashion choices, circa 1990 - look how proud we are of those outfits! I'm wearing what appears to be a girdle (why?) while Taz is in a puffy sleeved satin number, we always were trend setters... *sigh*

I'm going to make another one for Taz this weekend, same journaling but maybe different papers to suit her style, this is one of our favourite pics so it will be nice for us both to have a fancy record of it, I will share her one once I've sent it to her.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Tim Holtz's Tattered Floral Challenge!

Today I'm sharing my entry for the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral Challenge! I've actually only ever entered one other challenge before (by my lovely crafty friend Fab) can you believe that?! but as soon as I saw this one, an idea came to me and I just had to do it! So here is my altered vintage wooden spool...

I don't often craft with flowers, I'm not really a 'flowery' type of girl, lol, but I'd had in my head, a picture of metal flowers, I tried cutting them from aluminum but I couldn't mould them as much as I wanted to so I had the idea of covering grunge paper with one of the Ranger foil sheets before die cutting with the Tim Holtz / Sizzix Tattered Floral Die, and that worked a treat! Once cut, they looked exactly as I'd pictured all along (and how often does that happen?? lol) Here are a few more close ups...

I wanted the metal finish to be more aged and not too bright and shiny so once I'd made the flowers up, I dabbed a tiny bit of the new Distress paint in black soot onto my craft sheet, misted it with water and then used my finger to dab it onto the petals before drying with a heat gun. I then finished them off with a dab of crackle accents to make them even more vintagey (yes, it's a word! lol) and the tiniest hint of Rock Candy stickles. Here's a close up...

The vintage fabric label is from Rico, I scrunched it and aged it with Distress stains in antique linen and tea dye, then done the same to a ticket. I added a layer of crackle accents to the ticket and then cracked even more after by re-scrunching (also a word... ;o) )

I joined the label and the ticket together with a little paperclip and added one of the tiny game spinners and a vintage glass button, tied through with some cream button twine

I didn't do an awful lot to the vintage spool (available in my shop) just added a touch of tea dye distress stain to the edges and the coated in rock candy stickles before drying off with a heat gun. I added a length of twill ribbon around the centre, plugged the centre with a scrap of the grunge paper that was left over to create a little step for the doll (also from Tim Holtz) - I love broken and disembodied dolls (weird, right?) so had to include this one! I filled the gap with Beacon Adhesives 3 in 1 glue and held him in there for a few minutes until it dried around him, then added blobs of Beacon 3in1 around the cotton reel and to the bottoms of the flowers to secure them in place around him on top of the cotton reel.

I finished it with a hint of rock candy stickles on the dolls hair...

Thanks for bearing with me through that epic post! I hope you liked my creation.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

p.s. scroll back for the DT call details and new Create & Craft TV show dates! :o) x 

Colourful Christmas Embossing

My last post before the big day! I hope you're more prepared than me, I still have a few pressies to wrap, eek!

Today I'm sharing some cards with a technique that proved very popular when I demoed for Sizzix at Donington and on my Create & Craft shows - Coloured Embossing. This first card is using a mixture of metallic and regular Promarkers...

I ran the card through my Big Shot to emboss the baubles, coloured over the raised areas then highlighted with Stickles for a festive feel...

This second card uses one of my favourite Basic Grey / Sizzix embossing folder which I coloured with seasonal Promarkers (I've done this one lots for shows and never get bored of it!) and again highlighted with stickles...

Here is a little close up...

Thanks so much for dropping by today, I best get back to wrapping *sigh* or maybe I can delegate... ;o)

Sarah x

Christmas at Home Card

Today I'm sharing a Christmas card you may have spotted on some of my recent Create & Craft shows, it's one of my favourites as It reminds me of Christmas at home...

The fancy shaped card blank is from Craftwork cards, the pearlised card has been cut using a Sizzix Framelits die and embossed in a snowflake embossing folder. The village parts were stamped onto bleed proof card and coloured with Promarkers before being layered onto the card.

I finished it with a Tim Holtz Sizzix Snowflake Rosette, one of my favourite Sizzix dies of this year!

I hope you are more prepared for Christmas than I am, I still need to finish writing a few cards and wrapping all of my presents (though I usually rope in some help! ;o) )

Thanks for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Christmas Snowflakes Card

Today, as promised, here is card number 2 in my Christmassy Set of 2 (I showed number one yesterday)...

This one uses a fancy card blank from Craftwork Cards, the Blue Bazzill and bleedproof white cardstock were cut using the Sizzix Fancy Labels Framelits dies which fit perfectly with these card blanks! The blue label shape, I embossed with a snowflake embossing folder. The swirl is also a Sizzix die (and one of my current favourites!)

 

I stamped the Hero Arts stamp and coloured with Promarkers. the snowflakes were cut from white, ivory, blue and Kraft Bazzill and layered up, I then added a touch of stickles to finish.

Now, I must get back to work, I'm putting the finishing touches to Volume 2 of the Sarah Hurley Lookbook magazine - so exciting! If you haven't had chance to look at issue one yet, you can see it here.

Thank you for dropping by!
Sarah x

A Christmas Easel Card

Well, just as yesterday I was lamenting the fact that I am nowhere near being in the Christmas spirit (despite their being only a few weeks to go) today I woke up to a real life winter wonderland! There is nothing like snow to get you in the festive spirit fast! So now I have Christmas songs on, tucked up drawing (ironically, I'm drawing lovely springy things!)

Today I'm sharing a Christmassy easel card, I originally made this as part of a set of 2 for Making Cards magazine, but at the last minute they didn't have room to fit them in the December issue so I can share them here instead!

 

The Circles are cut using my Martha Stewart circle cutter (don't know what I'd do without it!) the blue one is from Bazzill cardstock and embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder.

The smaller white circle is cut from bleedproof card and stamped with  a Hero Arts stamp which I coloured with Promarkers and then added stickles to.

The snowflakes, dove and swirls are all Sizzix die cuts from 3 shades of bazzill cardstock, once they were all positioned and layered with 3D foam I added stickles to some of them for a frosty finish!

I'll post the second card in this set tomorrow for you to have a look at.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

New Things & Favourite Things!

Another whirlwind week this week, with so much happening behind the scenes, exciting times ahead! But for now...

First up, a scrapbook page of My Favourite Things, I got some time to craft this week, and I couldn't wait to make this...

I've been talking about how important it is to document the everyday moments with the new Documented365 range and this is one for my album, it may not be a big event, but it's the kind of thing that will be great to look back on! here are a couple of close ups...

I used 9 little Prinstagram prints arranged into a grid over some 4 Heures 37, Jillibean Soup and Echo Park Everyday Eclectic (cut into a rosette with a Sizzix die) Papers, Washi Tape and Stickers. The letters are October Afternoon and American Crafts Glitter Thickers. and the lovely Flair button badge and wooden shapes are from.... ME!

So... from favourite things to new (favourite) things... in my shop this week, not only have all my recent Craft CD's been restocked (I know lots of you have asked when they would be back as you preferred a hard copy to the download version, so I've worked on getting them back and I have them all here ready to go!) but I have some brand new things - Wooden Shapes, Acrylic Shapes & Ephemera Packs, here are some pics...

You can see everything properly here in the shop (and everything in the shop has free UK (mainland) postage!)

Now I'm back to the drawing board, kits to finish and illustrations to work on for the upcoming Frankfurt book fair and my as yet secret new development (news coming in the next few days!) I will also be giving you some more info on submissions for the Lookbook Volume 2 in the next few days, so keep an eye out for that (you can send your projects to us here if you have them ready!)

Wow, that was an epic post, you probably need a cup of tea after that, I do!

Thank you for dropping by today!

Sarah x