Noted 365

Hello there, Claireliz here with todays post.

I have a confession to make...I'm a notebook-a-holic, I love notebooks & stationery, I have lots & lots of notebooks, sketch books, journals, all in different shapes, sizes, colours & textures.

I also love to alter them.

It was whilst I was working on my goals layout that I came up with this particular idea.

I want to take part in Sarah's Documented 365 this year, but I always fall behind & catch up at a later date, I was trying to decide how to keep notes of events etc for Documented 365 and I decided it deserved a dedicated notebook, so I had a rummage about in my notebook box & found this little Volant Moleskine notebook...

It's tiny, 6.5cmx10cm, perfect for fitting in the pocket of my handbag, it's not very pretty though so, I took some teal chevron patterned paper from Sarah's A Few of My Favourite Things Kit & covered the book, I used glue to stick the paper to the front & back of the book & squashed it under a heavy book whilst the glue dried to ensure it stayed put. I also inked the edges with Black Soot Distress Ink...

Then I added 3 strips of pink washi tape down the spine of the notebook to prevent the paper from splitting or becoming worn...

Then it was time to embellish it, I used the little Polaroid stamp from Sarah's Picture This Stamp set to stamp 2 Polaroid frames, one onto white cardstock & one onto pink spotty paper, I cut them both out then cut the middle square (where the photo would be) out of the pink Polaroid & stuck it to the centre of the white Polaroid, again inking all the edges in Black Soot Distress Ink, I also used Sarah's Block Alpha stamps to stamp 365 in the Polaroid frame, I glued the frame to the front of the notebook, then using the same alpha stamps I stamped the word Noted under the frame & also stamped a small row of stars. Finally I stamped stars from Sarah's Odds & Ends stamp set & coloured them with gold stickles....

The perfect little pocket size notebook for writing down everything that occurs that I may want to use during the year.

Are you doing Documented 365, if so how do you keep track of all the goings on, do you take photos & print them straight away? Trust that you will remember the facts or do you also have a little notebook somewhere.

I hope I've given you some inspiration today, thanks for stopping by & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Going Round in Circles

Hello Crafty Peeps,

I hope you're all enjoying the new and exciting Blog, here with us.  It's so nice to have a little cheeryness even though it's a bit grey outside.

I think sometimes, we all feel as if we need to use fancy shapes to make a card, and our poor basic shapes are a bit neglected (all together now, ahhhhhhh!).  So, I though I would try and make something using plain old circles, but with a different perspective.

I have been a little bit inspired by the wet weather too, and felt compelled to use the umbrella paper from the Brittannia Kit ;)

I printed a few different patterns and cut different sized circles from each, so I'd have a selection.  I then layed them out over the umbrella paper, until I was happy with the layout.  Some are stuck down flat, but on others, I used foam pads to give them dimension.  A bit of ribbon and a few "Zazzy" Big Bang Theory Fans will know) stickers, and I think you've got quite a pretty little card.

 

Hope you've liked this little interlude from me - keep checking back for more ideas, inspiration and more importantly - Challenge Winners!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Challenge winners

A huge thank you to everyone who entered my Thank You challenge. I truly enjoyed looking at all the entries and it was a really difficult task to choose a winner, but choose I must so here goes:

1st is number 7 donemark for that wonderful 3d mushroom card, I loved it.  Congratulations you win a £10 voucher to spend in Sarahs shop.

Blog badges go to the following:

5 Mrs A for the hard work with all that fussy cutting.

2 Pauline, I love the typewriter.

Get in touch with Sarah using the contact address on the right hand side bar.

Again, well done and thank you for taking part.

There will be a brand new challenge coming soon so look out for that. 

Jaine x

Embossed Background

Hi it's Lisa here with my first inspiration post on the new look blog.

We have already shown you a couple of posts on ways to create texture using masks, one from Jaine here and one from Jess here. I wanted to try and show that you don't always need to get messy (although sometimes that is fun!) to create a cool background.

Completed Card

Here's what you'll need:

• Chevron Stripe Mask
• Sentiments Stamps
• Yellow, Orange and Black Inkpads
• Stickles Glitter Glue and Viva Decor Pearl Pen
• White and Orange Card
• Die Cutting Machine

Step by Step:

1. Take a 14cm square of white card and place onto the mask, securing with some low tack tape. Run through your die cutting machine to emboss. I used a Cuttlebug and the sandwich was as follows A plate, B plate, mask, card, embossing mat, 2 card shims and a B plate.
2. With the mask still in place use a stencil brush to apply the ink. Remove the mask and mat onto orange card. Fix to your card base.
3. Take a strip of white card and stamp with various sentiment stamps. Mat on orange card and fix to the card base.
4. Stamp 'Surprise' onto a thin strip of white card and trim ends into fishtails (I used a square punch for this). Fix to card base using 3D foam pads.
5. Decorate with pearls and glitter glue.

A close up of the embossing.

I'm not sure that the camera has truly picked up the texture but it looks lovely in real life and makes you want to stroke it (sad as that sounds!).

Hope you are inspired to try something different with your masks and if you give this a go leave a link to your project in the comments below as I would love to pop by and take a look...nosey? me? ;-)

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon for more inspiration from the fabulous Hurley Girlies!

Lisa

CHALLENGE REMINDER- THANKYOU

Good afternoon and welcome to Sarah Hurley 365.

Today I would like to remind you of our January Challenge (Thankyou) set by the very talented Jaine. Exact details and inspiration can be found here or click on the challenge button on the side.

Below I have listed of our prizes up for grabs

1st Prize - £10 spend in Sarah amazing shop found here

2nd Prize - Blog Badge

3rd Prize - Blog Badge

All entries using any of Sarah's products will be in with the chance to win these fabulous Flexi Promarkers.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you are all having a wonderful weekend

Clare x

ATC card

Hi! It's Sharon here with my first post on the new look Sarah Hurley365.

I've been going through a dry spell recently (think my mojo's still on Christmas leave!) so I turned to Sarah's A Few of my Favourite Things kits for inspiration as there's always something new that catches my eye!

Not long after I started making cards, I came across ATCs and was hooked-have been ever since.
Artist Trading Cards are 2.5 by 3.5 inches and are a brilliant way to experiment and use up odd bits of card. Traditionally they're swapped(but never sold) and there are loads of forums around for people who want to swap with others. I've received some fabulous ATCs in the past and my collection is an inspiration in itself.

I stamped the background crosses in gold using Sarah's stamp from one of the kits and the embellishments are from one of the Snip 'n' Stick sheets(like Natalie I'm a big fan of these!). When I'd finished I decided to use my ATC to embellish a card, another great use for ATCs and with all the goodies in Sarah's kit you can build up quite a stash of ATC toppers!

The finished card looks like this.

I hope I've inspired anyone who hasn't tried ATCs to have a bash and if anyone wants to swap,I'm always up for that!

Woodland Wonders- card project

Hi  all its Tania here and  I would love to share my project with you.

I love using stamps but often try and  use them a little differently.

Today I will be using Woodland Wonders Doe stamp set , paper from Woodland wonders in the wood digi set and letters from Block alpha stamp set.

I have used the tree stamp and stamped it a 12, 3, 6 & 9 (if looking at a clock) and then  coloured it with promarkers. Each tree represents a season. I then added glitter glue to co-ordinate with the tree. To finish off the card I added a squirrel.

I then fussy cut the tree shape out and mounted it on black card. 

I mounted  the tree topper onto footprint paper.

I used the Alpha stamps to stamp out seasons greetings. This could be used for  any type 

of card from birthday to thank you. 

Thank you for stopping by.

If you have any questions please ask and I will let you know.

Hugs Tania xx

Cross Stitch Pouch

Hello, it's Claire (Newcombe) with you today, for my first inspirational post here.

I thought I'd show you something that I made just before Christmas with the first sample of the first cross stitch kit that Sarah has designed.

You can pick up this kit here

I used to cross stitch alot, but as many of you will relate to, your life moves on with either family or you develop interests and passions for other crafts and finding the time to get back and revisit old loves is not always easy.

So I was thrilled to have the opportunity to stitch again with this gorgeous kit, and when finished, my mind got to wondering how best to finish off and frame these two little cuties.

Like any crafter, I am a magpie for anything with a pretty pattern, and that extends to fabric. It just so happened that I had a set of fat quarters (the quilting term for a manageable piece of fabric, 18" by 22" from which you cut your patchwork pieces)...... the quilters equivalent of 12" x 12" sheet of paper, if you like!

 I have had these turquoise fabrics stashed for many years, and it just so happened to match Sarah's colour of choice for her website & packaging.

So, out with the sewing machine it was, and a little bit of patchwork and quilting started to take place, creating the pouch you see above. I sized it to hold microwaveable hand warming gel pads, as a christmas present and thank you to Sarah - and to highlight the fabulous designs she create.

I hope that it has inspired you to perhaps think outside the box a little, to create items that be incorporated into your everyday life and remind you of how crafty you are.

Be sure to check back daily for more inspiration from our team, and then if you have time, sit for a few minutes and browse back through posts that have already been.

Keeping it simple.....

Hi all,

It's Natalie this late evening with some tips on keeping it simple with Sarah's kits. I love to create "simple" pages and "simple" cards with a touch of ink and a sprinkle of colour.

I don't know about you, but i love the "snip n stick" elements that come with the kits. I'm not a huge fan of fussy cutting but these are just perfect to cut out, even with my injured arm.

Onto my first card. I always have to use paint or ink in almost everything i create.
I used a yellow mist on this card. I sprayed very close to the card to get a block of colour and drips. As the card was drying i tapped it gently on ,my desk to create a "splatter" effect.

I used the december kit washi tape and snip n stick elements to create a small cluster of embellishments then added a prima flower selected to match sarah's kit perfectly.
I used sarah's wooden butterfly and some Adorn it mini alphas to finish. 


My next card is super simple, but effective. I used Ranger Ink to create a giant "splat" and then cut out a flower from the snip n stick. I used a dynamo to type the word "love" and that's it. If i was to add anything else it would be some scattered bling....but i ran out of glossy accents.

I still have enough of this kit to create several more cards and several layouts! Stay tuned to my blog and sarah's to see what else can be made from this kit.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see some of your creations with sarah's kits soon!

Natalie xx

Butterflies Stamps Shrink Plastic Charm bracelet

Good morning everyone, hope you are well :-) Its Elaine here with my inspiration piece for you today.
I decided to share with you a make using one of my favourite mediums for crafting which you can use to create lots of different looks and for lots of different kinds of crafts! Its a great way for using your existing stamps in a new way too :-)
What youll need to create something like my project is Shrink plastic, stamps (I used Sarah's butterfly rubber stamps here), Stazon ink pad, hole punch, scissors, glittered gel pens, jump rings, bead spacers, tiger tail, crimps, toggle clasps and basic jewellery tools.
First of all youll create your shrink plastic charms. Choose your stamp and ink up with Stazon. Stamp onto the rough side of the shrink plastic. Next colour your butterflies should you choose to do so (you can see I left one uncoloured on the end to show the look without colour) I find glittered gel pens work the best with this, but do be careful not to smudge the ink as it dries.
Cut around your butterfly but leave a border around the top to punch before you cut all the way round. Punch in the centre, then cut carefully around this hole, leaving enough plastic to keep this intact.
Follow the shrinking instructions on your shrink plastic, then place in a heavy book when warm to make sure they dry flat.
Take your finished charms and your jewellery kit and add jump rings to the holes. I added two jump rings on each charm to give a good swing from my bracelet. I then created a design for my bracelet using Rose Quartz, pearls and bead spacers with butterfly charms placed equally between this design. Finish with your clasp.
You can always use shrink plastic to make your own embellishments for cards, scrapbook pages-anything you can think of! You could even use without a hole and stick it directly onto a project with strong glue.

Documented 365 - Daily December

Good morning and welcome to the Sarah Hurley 365 blog.

It's my turn ( Clare) to play host and today's topic is about divulging into the world of DOCUMENTED 365. For those of you who have never heard off or know much about it you will find it explained fully here on Sarah's blog. 

In particular I'm focusing on DAILY DECEMBER. The concept is that you record daily in the month of December or you may just want to record some days, it's entirely up to you. 

 The point I would like to make is that everybody can do this no matter what your background or how daunting you may think it is. So let's get out of our comfort zone however  I do warn you though, it's very very addictive and once you get started there will be no stopping you lol.

 Below I have done a step by step tutorial showing you how I created my layout.

Step 1

Choose a sketch. I have used one of Sarah's. 

 I have used one of Sarah's. You will see many of these popping up on our blog.

Step 2

Choose a picture

This is me and my friend Tracey running on Christmas day!

*****

Step 3

Choose papers/embellishments 

Sarah's Daily December kit

 Perfect if like me you 'need' everything to co-ordinate! You can subscribe to the kit here 

Step 4

gather together the basic elements of the sketch

Step 5

Arrange on your page 

Top tip don't stick down until you are completely happy with your layout. It gives you scope for any last minute changes.

Step 6 

consider adding more layers/embellishments

Step 7

Add some journalling

I swapped my title and journalling around as I was restricted for space

Step 8

The finished result

Now it's your turn and feel free to share your projects with us

by leaving a link to your blog in the comment section below.

 You can also leave any questions you may have too.

If you would like to join in with our monthly challenge click here or on the button on the side of the blog.

Thanks for stopping by and we hope to see you all again soon

Clare x

Snapshots - card project

Hello everyone!

It's Ria here today. Can you believe we're already half of January 2014? I hope you are all having a great time getting inspirations from the new Sarah Hurley 365 blog. I'm amazed with the mix of talents being shared here.

For today, I'm sharing my card project using one of my favorite mini vintage camera stamps from Sarah's kits. I have used these cameras in a number of cards already and still can't get over it til now. Maybe because I love photography and camera images just keep me close to this hobby of mine.

To start off, I alternatively stamped the cameras on a kraft card stock, that plays as my card background.

I then stamped another set of the cameras and colored them with promarkers, then fuzzy cut them to be used as my card's focal point.

To ground the set of cameras, I used the wood veneer frame and oh the vintage camera came from Sarah's A Few of my Favorite Things Kit.  The other polaroid camera I also got from Sarah's add on kit too. That open frame just fits two of the cameras in place and I popped them up using dimensions.

I stamped the geotag from Stamp & Stitched! Expedition stamps while the pretty in pink twine is from the East Village kit. I added the chipboard stars from Sarah's kits as well.

Have a great weekend everyone and I will be back soon for another project soon.

Documented 365 - Goals

Well Hello there & welcome to Sarah Hurley 365, Claireliz here, how are you?

I'm going to attempt Documented 365 this year, I've decided to use a mix of page layouts including normal 12x12, then 2 different sets of pages protectors with 3x4 & 4x6 pockets. I've never used pockety type page protectors before so it'll be interesting adapting my scrapping style to suit them.

I'm  the sort of scrapbooker that if I'm making an album on a particular theme, project or class then I feel it needs an intro page, it's part of the story after all. 

So this the page that I'm using as my intro page and it records my goals for 2014 &  the plan is to check in with them every now & then & see how I'm getting on.

I knew I wanted this to be a bright colourful layout & I wanted some glittery sparkle too.

I started by splattering yellow, hot pink, aqua & lime green spray ink onto the white cardstock, then I doodled a loopy border around the edge.

I cut a frame from the pink polka dot paper and an arrow from the turquoise chevron paper both from Sarah's My Favourite Things Kit & inked them both around the edges with Black Soot Distress ink.

I used a little spotty envelope from the kit for my journaling which is written on a tag & lists my goals for 2014. I'm careful when choosing my goals,I always make sure that a couple of them are easily attainable that way if I don't achieve any of the others I don't feel guilty about it. Some of my goals for this year are: Save money, Take more photos, Blog more often and Create more, these are actually quite easy, but they are still things I need to do. Slightly harder ones are Work on our home - which depends on our finances. And improve my cooking - which will take a lot of work on my part and possibly a bit of effort for DD & Hubs if they are going to survive my culinary learning curve - okay you can stop laughing now :D The envelope was attached to the page under the pink frame which is attached with 3D foam pads.

To sparkle up my title I sprayed some DIY Thickers with gold shimmer ink then coated in gold glitter glue, but you can do this with most styles of Thickers using either spray ink or paint to change the colour, it's one of my favourite techniques.

I felt it still needed a bit more so I dotted some orange, yellow, blue, pink and green buttons all over the layout & a little strip of washi tape under the 2014. I was just packing everything away when I found a little bag of stars inbetween the papers and decided to stick those around the page in amongst the buttons.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my layout & I'm looking forward to seeing all of your Documented 365 pages this year.

Take care

C xx

Try Something Different

Hi all, and a very warm welcome to our Blog.  It's Jess here with a little idea for you - Try Something Different.

As a crafter, usually cards, I sometimes find that I use the same techniques - but I really wanted to try something I hadn't done before.

I like the idea of finding other uses for things and experimenting with them.  So today, I thought I'd play with some toilet paper!!!!! ;)

I took several sheets, layed them on top of one another and spritzed with water until they were damp, but not soaking.  I layed these over Sarah's Chevron Mask and ran it through my Cuttlebug to emboss it - a bit of the water squidged out, but hey, it's only water!!  I then brushed some mica powder over to highlight the texture and shape made by the mask.  I've gone around the edge with a darker colour to make it stand out.

I stamped The Witch Girl Doodle Doll, painted her with mica powder mixed with water, and gave her a Top Hat from Sarah's Love and Marriage Stamp Set.

I hope this will inspire you to look at your craft stash differently, or even household items!!  and try something different.

Playing with textures

Everybody has their 'thing' and I'm so happy when I'm using textures, in fact as I was making this piece I found myself actually smirking. (That's not sad is it?)

Anyway I thought I'd share with you how to make a similar background to mine whether it's for a journal page or a card topper, it's easy.

For starters you'll need a sturdy piece of card to work on. You need something substantial to hold all those mediums and layers. I used 300gsm mixed media paper but you could use a piece of cardboard just as well.

The first layer is gesso spread with a card. Not too thick but just like spreading butter on a piece of bread.

Stamp into the wet gesso. I used a new hexagon background stamp by Sarah. Please please please make sure you wash the stamp straight away after. Fill a bowl with warm soapy water if you know you can't wash it straight away as once the paint has dried it'll ruin your stamps.

Once the gesso is dry use a stencil to add texture paste. Use a card once again to wipe the paste through the stencil. I used the Chevron Stripe stencil.

You can also start to glue on some 3d embellishments. The thread, chipboard star and wooden leaves were all included in my monthly Kit Club kit but you can find lots of embellishments here in the shop. Once dry go over them with some gesso so they blend into the background more.

The fun bit is adding spray ink. You'll see the texture start to really pop out of the page at this point. 

Randomly stamp across the page.  Again I've gone for some of the Kit club stamps but it could be any stamps just to add an extra layer.

To finish my page off I layered some of Sarah's journaling cards from the Documented 365 range  together along with the film strip printed from the Say Cheese digi kit (I use this a lot printed onto acetate) and all held together with some staples. I stuck this down to the page and gave it a light covering of gesso just to stop it taking over the page too much. 

So there you have it. I really hope I can inspire you to try some texture and have fun. 

Jaine x

Using Journaling Cards - but not for journaling!

Hi All,

Nicole here today to share a little project with you. I don't do project life, I don't scrapbook or journal 365 etc. I do however love all the journalling cards that go with all these different systems. Especially the Sarah Hurley cards. You can find these ready to purchase here or in digi formats for printing here.

I used my cards to create a fun tag....

Step 1

Cut a tag shape out of some Sarah Hurley papers.



Step 2

Stamp a background on the tag, I used the large crackle background stamp for mine. I used Coffee brown archival ink.

Step 3

I used a cut file from the Sarah Hurley for Silhouette store to cut out the my world journaling card in gold card stock. I used a pencil to lightly trace the inside of the image onto the journalling card I have below it.



Step 4

Avoiding your traced lines stamp around the outer edges of the second journalling card. Erase the pencil marks and then ink up a patch in the middle of the card.



Step 5

Add foam dots on the back of the cut out journalling card. I like to make sure it doesn't sag in any areas so I used a lot! Peel off the backings and stick this journalling card down onto the second card.



Step 6

Add a hole reinforcer to your tag.



Step 7

Add a tab shape - or in my case a hexagon that we will make look like a tab! This has been cut from the Sarah Hurley woodgrain paper.



Step 8

Add on some other elements - I stapled on a little arrow embellishment piece to the bottom of the larger journalling card.



Step 9

Ink around the outer edges of the tag.



Step 10

Add a doodled frame to define the edges of the tag.

Step 11

Glue the double journalling cards on to the tag base, add some ribbon to the top and enjoy!

Make sure to stop by tomorrow for some more inspiration from the rest of the team!!