Bigger

I generally toss the scraps left over from teaching a card class into my set of drawers at the shop, this week I decided to use them to make some additional cards

Here is the first one, I think I have enough oddments to make around three more. Each time I will vary the design and sentiment slightly

Sketch 365 - Mondays sketch

Tuesday's sketch

Wednesday's sketch

I am loving doing these Brian Froud inspired sketches, I hadn't heard of him before this week but I will definitely not forget him, he truly excels in fantasy.

Just before I head off to do my sketch for today I will leave you with a little cuteness from yesterday.

One of my ladies brought her son to the shop to pick up grandma who had just finished one of my classes. Stevie is 3 and I engaged him in a little conversation about school and general 3 year old chit chat

He is such a bonny little lad and was happily chatting away, when I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he gave me the best answer yet - he replied in a very serious, matter of fact voice 'bigger !'

Lol both me and his grandma were in stitches and he just looked at us both like we were the silly ones.

Journals and jollies

First up I have my pages for the circle journal I am participating in

The pages and tag have been created for Becca and with her own tastes in mind, hence the bolder colours than I usually use.

And the rear of the tag including my own details so as Becca knows who has created the pages

I am enjoying this journal far more that I thought I would and have come to the conclusion that the project has elevetated itself to an almost heterotelic level, it has become far more than just a swapping of artist endeavours and 10 friendships  have been made and deepened with each month.

This week the shop is back to normal and classes are back into their usual routine, here are the two cards I taught tuesday and wednesday

We used Copics to highlight a portion of the embossing folder on this first card

And we did a little masking on the die-cut doily on this second card

Our sale on saturday was a resounding success, i am verily verified in saying that as you can see from the photos ( pardon the paregmenon)

Approximately one third of all the paper trays have been left bereft of their contents.

As you can see lots of empty spaces - which can mean only one thing - lots of lovely new strokable stash winging its way to fill those empty and rather sorry looking trays !

Finally before I bid you goodnight to complete my sketch for today. 

I would just like to let my regular customers know that february is going to be an extra special month. 

It is three years since I bought the shop and february marks the anniversary of our opening. 

It has been suggested several times that it is an occasion worth celebrating and at first I began to to expostulate, but I finally came around to the idea and have to admit I agree. 

Thinking about it, in this current climate with all the difficulties it entails I think Running With Scissors has a lot to celebrate, we are still here after several setbacks and some pretty awkward economic times, so, as a massive thankyou to everyone who has contributed to the success of the shop we will be launching some fabulous new product lines and lots of promotions, bargains and events throughout february - for the whole month !

 All news will be placed on the RWS website and I will also update here.

Darcy's postcard challenge

Darcy's Postcard Challenge

Here is my first postcard for Darcy's fantastic new challenge, you can check out what we are all up to HERE, there is also a permanent link in my sidebar

This weeks country was Austria

The front of my postcard is decorated with a vintage map of Austria and a hand drawn Edelweiss flower , you might remember the flower from a post a couple of days back, I incorporated it into my sketch 365 project. The flower was drawn in pencil and then painted in distress inks. I added three little strips of ribbon in national colours to represent the Austrian flag.

And the back of my postcard

The postcard reads :

Dear Kathy

The paperwork I have been desperately seeking is being delivered tomorrow, could you please sign for it and keep it safe.

I will try and get home between conferences.

The Baroque architecture of Salzburg is bewitching - sadly the boardroom is not !

Please reply through the office as I should get a stopover in London next week.

Thanks 

Sammy

P.S Don't forget to mist the fern

Kathy is housesitting for her neighbour Sammy who is a PA for a jet-setting entrepreneur.

Kathy is a kind but reclusive lady who has lived next to Sammy for as long as Sammy can remember.

Sammy is an adventurous, sweet natured girl who until recently had been living with an elderly couple whom she believed to be her parents, when both sadly passed away Sammy learned she was in fact adopted. Her world was turned upside down and she felt she no longer had roots in the cottage she had always called home. Driven by a desire to be anywhere but where she had been brought up in a lie, and with a deep yearning to know who had given her up and why, she took a job that would take her far away from all the unanswered questions.

My story will unfold as Sammy shares her travels and discoveries with her trusted neighbour and friend Kathy. 

I can't believe we are all taking part in such an amazing challenge AND writing a story as we go. I have never ever taken part in such an inspiring and unusual challenge. I am also lucky to be sharing this journey with Anita, Nicki and Margaret who have also completed their first postcards.

Thankyou so much Darcy, I cannot even begin to imagine how hard you are working to make this challenge the massive success it already is, this is going to be one AMAZING year long journey !

Next I have my sketches from this week

Sketch 365

This was from thursday, I am working with MacKenzie Thorpe as my inspiration, I didn't share this on thursday as I was waiting for the paint to dry, as you can see the poppies were all important, this sketch really did need the colour !

Fridays sketch was the Edelweiss for my postcard (at the top of this post)

Saturdays sketch is the final Mackenzie Thorpe, I have fallen in love with his little hooded character who always seems to have a huge heart with him.

And the next artist I am using as my inspiration is a guy called Brian Froud, who does the most amazing Fairies and Goblins

So here is the first of seven, todays sketch Sneezewort.

No sketches for a few days and then I hit you with a pencil profligacy. I think this format may suit me a little better, I may combine the sketches and upload several at a time in order to free up blog posts purely for crafting.

I enjoyed a lovely walk to grandads this morning, the weather was really mild, the sun was warm on my back and about half an hour into the walk I was offered a lift from a very kind youth who obviously thought I had missed the bus and didn't realise I was actually walking for the sheer pleasure of it. Yes a young lad with a hoodie and very polite he was too, not all teenagers are trouble being the proud owner of two so I should know lol.

After grandads I enjoyed lunch with mum and dad and a really good chinwag with mum who I don't see nearly as much as I used to or as much as I would like to.

I also had a few minutes with Anita who bought me a lovely surprise, the next instalment of Sabine's notebook ( Darcy's inspiration for the postcard challenge) thanks hon xxx

Tomorrow we get to find out our next country for our postcards - can't wait !

Happy Anniversary mum and dad

For mum and dad - love you xxx

Using my GORGEOUS new Stempelglede stamps from Anita, thankyou so much I LOVE them, in fact I think they are my all time fave item of stash EVER

The heart was stamped twice, the second time onto pink patterned paper and layered onto 3D pads for a little dimension

The patterned papers are Echo Park and My Minds Eye, and I used diamond stickles as an accent, the mini tags are Stampin' Up as are the sentiments in them

THANKYOU so much to everyone who came and made the sale a massive success today, my aim was to clear some wall and shelf space for lots of fab new stash coming soon and boy did we manage that !

It was lovely to see you all after the christmas break too, so thankyou

Big thanks also to my partners in crime Anita and Margaret, who helped set up the sale, kept me fed and watered all day and much, much more

We did manage a five minute break in the afternoon, just enough time to have a rather cimmerian conversation regarding modern art, the depth of subject was inexplicably lifted by the topic of David Beckham in his pants ( Anita's fault) I honestly don't think I have ever been in the company of two women who could change the course of a conversation quite so dramatically and hilariously. I think they also managed to cause mayhem in the cycle shop down the road (don't ask)

What a day !

Happy birthday dad

If I had not been so tardy blogging these cards, it would still be dad's birthday, alas it is now the day after.

This is the card I made for the kids to send, the image has been coloured with Distress inks, the papers are by Bo Bunny.

This next card is from Neil and I.

Papers on this card are by Prima, flourish is Tim Holtz and label is a Spellbinders die cut. Stamp is M.S.E, Flower - Hero Arts

Sketch 365

I have plans for this little plant, all will be revealed tomorrow.

Massive thankyou's going to Mother Margaret who organised and bossed us little sprats into getting a ton of work done today, also to Nicki and Anita, I honestly could not have gotten all the sale preparations completed without you all THANKYOU

The Running With Scissors SALE is TODAY Saturday 7th January

At least 20 % of EVERYTHING in store with up to 90% off some items

10am - 4pm for ONE day only

Brave Heart

I created this layout in my lunch break this afternoon ( thats one of the good things about working in a craft shop!)

The photos are of my lovely niece Katie, who has had a particularly hard couple of years, she has bravely to come to terms with being an insulin dependant diabetic, all at the same time as moving up from primary to secondary school and has done so with such maturity, she is such an inspiration ! Hence the title of the page.

The letters are a mix of chipboard painted with crackle paint and glittered stickers.

I added twill ribbon and wound around some rustic looking thread ( it reminded me of the ropes you often see tethering horses)

Lots of distressing, a little shabby painting, flowers and ribbon sliders finish off the page.

I painted the white chippie letters with Tim Holtz crackle paint, allowed them to dry and then rubbed them with Antique Linen distress ink.

It was my Design Team turn on IACW today and I had decided to share a little tutorial with our readers.

At the risk of going off on a little gasconade, this is a good idea for some time saving arty backgrounds, here is what I did with mine.

I layered them up and created backgrounds for my Stampman ATC's this month.

If you would like to read more and see the full tutorial, pop on over to IACW and I will guide you through one of many ways to make a unique masterboard.

The girls have some lovely ideas on there at the moment too, I loved the advent calendars !

I don't have my sketch to share tonight as I have not quite finished it, I had a lovely catch up with Rose today, she kept me company for most of the day and Carol too. So the only thing I made at work was the layout. After work Neil and I visited a close friend who is in hospital, get well soon Kev, we love you xxx

The sketch is half done and paint is drying, it was one of those that I felt needed colour ( you will see why when I can scan it in tomorrow)

Did any of you guess what my blog challenge is this year ? I alluded to it yesterday Anita was on the right track !

I have registered for a word a day on Dictionary.com, so each day the site generates a lesser used word and I add it to my moleskine ( yep I am geeky like that )

Anyhow I thought that as all the words are a little unusual and not in most peoples day to day vocabulary I thought it would be fun to challenge myself and actually add in each word every day in context on my blog.

Therein lies two challenges in one, in order to incorporate the word I must also blog every day !

I bet they stand out like a sore thumb, but I wonder how many of my readers can spot the word each day, at the end of each week ie Sunday I will list the words in my side bar ( no cheating and going to dictionary.com though lol)

Anyway enough waffling on, I have a couple of special projects to finish tonight, so I will love you and leave you.

xxx

All the love in the world

First up and back to regular crafting here is a little 4 inch square card I made for a friend.

This was for Karen who is AJ's best friend's mum, she has been a star this year giving the boys lifts and taking them out and lots of other good deeds too, so I bought a little thankyou gift and added a note in this card.

The Kraft cardstock is Stampin' Up, the music note paper is By Bo Bunny. The ornate corner and flourishes are Cuttlebug, sentiment is also by Stampin' Up.

Sketch 365 - Inspired by MacKenzie Thorpe

Quickly sketched in pencil and coloured in very loose and casual with Polychromos, again these are supposed to be quick and easy, I really have to pull myself back from over-finishing them and spending hours on them.

Christmas is all but a blur, Neil is back at work and the kids are back at school and college. All ran rather smoothly apart from one minor panic when AJ misplaced his tie. AJ is incredibly ordered and precise with things, he likes routine, planning and being organised, his packed lunch and school bag have to be ready and by the door well before it is time to leave the house or he suffers a minor meltdown.

We only just averted said meltdown after frantic searching,  the tie was found lurking among bedclothes ( AJ muttering about camouflage all the way out of the house - far too many hours spent on C.O.D this holiday !!!) 

So, tie found and we are all settling back into the usual day to day rituals.

I enjoyed the company of Margaret today who came to fill me in on all her news and to show me her latest crafting projects, I am hoping she is going to blog them very soon as they are fantastic and she really does need to be sharing them, if she doesn't, I think Anita could have something to say about it, all hell will break loose and I will be summoned in my fetial capacity.

Me ! Melodramatic ! no !

Actually there is a little something going on with my blog, I have set myself a new challenge, can you tell what it is yet ?

I will reveal all later in the week, I think I might have a few class members who could guess.

Finally before I bid you all a goodnight 

SHOP NEWS

The Running With Scissors JANUARY SALE

Will be taking place this saturday

SATURDAY 7th January 2012

There will be at least 20 % off EVERYTHING

AND

Much bigger reductions on some of the older stock  - up to 90%

Sale starts at 10 am and we are open til 4pm

This is by way of a MASSIVE THANKYOU to all my loyal customers whose support has seen us through a trying start to the year

AND 

it is  also in preparation for some exciting changes

It is three years in February since I bought the shop and it has gone from strength to strength, I would really love to make february a whole month of celebration, so I have planned lots of events, special offers and exciting new stock, all will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Humphrey

Sketch 365 - Humphrey

My sketch for today has been inspired by Sally Hunter, the creator of Humphrey and his friends, you can visit Humphrey's website HERE

I fell in love with a calendar with these cute sketches on and had to treat myself.

I sketched him out this morning in between customers (back at work now) and then painted him in watercolours this afternoon whilst I enjoyed a fabulous catch up with Anita 

- and yes you are my diamond too ( providing you are able to read my blog and forgive my solecisms as promised earlier lol xxx)

I aim to incorporate each of Sally's 12 sketches into my sketch-a-day project, so at some point each month expect to see more sugary sweet cuteness by way of Humphrey and his charming companions.

Whilst on the subject of sketching.

 I am mixing it up a little this year. 

Last year I completed 7 days straight with one particular artist of choice as my inspiration, although I am still going to continue with the inspirational artist part, I will not be completing a run of consecutive days.

As I have undertaken rather a lot of challenges this year - most of them art based and year long ( what on earth was I thinking - please tell me 2012 has more hours in each day) I decided that I would integrate the sketches I do for my moleskine journalling project, Kate's art calendar, Tam's lifebook course, Darcy's postcard challenge and any other challenge that I fail to say no to, into my sketch 365 project. 

Still with me ? 

I thought not lol

And before any of my longer standing readers begins to think I have abandoned my other crafting, I am still going to be posting regular cards and scrapbook pages,  I have made a promise to myself to create at least one christmas card per week for 2012 and also increase my scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is my passion and I have allowed it to take a back seat for the last couple of years, but I really want to make a concerted effort to reintroduce regular layouts into my creative repertoire.

Dancing in the Rain

Here is my January page for Kate Cranes art calendar challenge

As you can see, it looks quite different from yesterdays photos which were really just to illustrate the background technique I had used.

All my little squares were cut from scraps and boy did I have to rummage for those. I did learn that I generally don't use or buy lilac and purple shades of stash, I really delved into the depths to find enough to finish the page.

But, as it clearly is not a colour I generally opt for, I immersed myself in the challenge of making it work for my pages.

I originally planned to do those quirky images people are using all over their art journals, but if I am completely honest with myself, I don't really like crows on heads, pointy hats and mismatched body parts, they really aren't me, I am sorry, they look fine in other peoples books, Dyan Reavely and Kate  make them look absolutely amazing, but when I do them they look like scientific experiments gone badly wrong - ooooops !!!  

So I am going to remain true to myself and allow my own style to furnish my calendar.

The girlie started out as a black silhouette and initially she was holding the brolly over her head, but when I laid her out onto my completed page she looked wrong and far too dreary, so I paper pieced her and removed the brolly to position over the right side of the page.

I actually love the way the repositioning of the brolly worked out as the page now fits the quote really well.

The quote along the right hand side page reads :

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it is learning to dance in the rain

So she now looks like she is wantonly flinging her brolly and dancing in the rain (although I did have to perform a little reconfiguration of her feet to make her look like she was dancing)

The days of the week and the quote were computer generated and inked to blend in with the other elements

My daily journalling squares were daubed with white paint lightly to blend in a little better with the background and also to make the eventual journalling stand out more, I added numbers to each day with a journalling pen

The title and year were created with letter stickers.

And so the art calendar begins - I wonder if I can keep it up for the whole year. 

I hope so. 

I LOVED completing these pages - thankyou for the inspiration Kate.

 It is not too late to join in the fun, Kate's website is linked in my sidebar if you fancy giving it a whirl ! One of the really wonderful parts of this project is that I am also doing it with some of my closest friends. Anita, Nicki, Margaret and Marie are also joining me, we plan to meet up and work on the calendars together throughout the year.

Sketch 365

Today I practiced 3/4 faces for my Lifebook class ( more on that later in the week)

The photo above is just a really quick basic outline, I was trying out shape and proportion mainly. I have been happy sketching faces front-on for a while but profiles and slightly offset angles are something I really need to work on. I am awaiting the delivery of my new watercolour paper so I won't be completing the actual piece until later in the week, but it is good to practice.

I promised yesterday to talk a little more in depth about my "One little word"

This is a project started by the amazingly talented Ali Edwards, you can find her blog HERE

The word I have chosen for the year is POSITIVITY

I am not a negative person generally, in fact, I am pretty optimistic most of the time, but positivity has so many nuances, I aim to explore them all through the year and return to the word to inspire me in my journalling, blog writing, creativity and personal life, I will share these on here as I go along.

Blogging took place pretty late last night, in fact I was still messing with photos and sketching ideas until 4.30 in the morning, naughty me!  In doing so, I totally forgot to add the 'afters' of my operation  - CLEAR CRAFT AREA

You can scroll down through a couple of posts to see the 'befores'

I emptied every single paper tray and drawer and sorted through their contents, most items were tidied, sorted into like groups and replaced in a tidier manner, a few objects were trussed in groups and sorted for donation ( mainly to Amy for her art and textiles coursework). So I did manage to rehome a few items.

An empty desk and a visible printer ( previously buried)

Completely clear window sills, floor and tidy drawers !!!

AJ said "Well done mum ! - are you going to keep it like that ?"

I had to admit  "Noooooo it will probably last about 3 days !"

Oh well, it CAN look tidy.

Positivity

I made a promise to myself,  this year I will start journalling in earnest.

And so my first novation of the year is in progress.

I was inspired by Karen who manages to juggle a busy home and work life with an incredibly productive creative life too.

This is the inside cover with a reminder of a few of my long term goals for the year, they are actually only my creative ones as personal ones will be within the pages for each month and not all will be blogged or shared publicly.

There are some inspiring quotes with my word for the year on the left and my creative goals on the right.

I will go into more depth with regards each of my projects for this year with each blog entry this week.

My first page for the month is a calendar page, this is where I will note down birthdays etc.

I have left the bottom half blank as I am not sure of all I want to include just yet, so just in case I decide to add another project or such I do have some room.

My book is set out a little like Karen's, in the way that I have included a page of lists, these are my 'to do' lists, and is my attempt at being more focused and organised both at home and at work. I will write these up each sunday for the week ahead and cross them off as I complete them, they can be added to also.

I aim to complete a morning journal each day, before my head is filled with day to day hum drum, my first is really all about my projects for the year.

Please excuse the state of my handwriting, I aim to write these pages with  a view to achieving thoughts on paper, neatness is secondary.

From the double page above, this is the page illustrating my 'one little word', more on that tomorrow and the illustration is my sketch for today - yes I am back to sketching every day ! Again, I will blog more about that later in the week ( this post is already turning into a marathon, so I am just going to touch on the basics for now and delve a little deeper in future posts)

I sketched out the word in pencil, created a black outline and shading in pen and then coloured my rainbow with my polychromos pencils, I held off blending as I didn't want an overly 'neat' finish.

The quote along the bottom of the page reads :

There can be no rainbow without a cloud and a storm.

The quote leads me into my next project

Kate Cranes Art Calendar

The first page of which reflects the miserable weather we have experienced of late.

I have completed the pages now but lost daylight so didn't get chance to photograph them before I blogged, but I did want to share some progress pictures of the background.

If you have seen the challenge, you will know that a fair portion of the background becomes masked by the journalling calendar squares so I thought it would be helpful for you to see each stage before all the frippery has been added.

1. Black white and shades of grey swiped vertically with a broad paintbrush for the initial layer of colour.

2. I then added swipes of lilac with a credit card, followed by streaks of white using the very edge of the card too apply the paint.

3. Stamped spotty circles in archival ink followed, after which I used a discarded glue stick lid, dipped in acrylic, to create some bold black rings.

Here's a close up of the layers of colour so far.

Tomorrow when the light is better ( today was pretty dismal in Lincolnshire to be honest) I will share the completed pages with you.