May Calendar page

I'm finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that the first quarter of the year is over already. Before I know it Summer will be here. I'm working a month ahead of course on my Calendar so I'm prepared and that might have something to do with it.

I built everything up on a pre-sprayed background and decided as it's the birthday month of my middle daughter, she would be my focus.

I've used some journal cards from previous monthly kits and added a little detail into the top one by cutting out an arrow to show the card below.  I also used one of my own stamps to stamp directly onto the photo.  Don't be afraid to stamp or add details to photo's, it adds to the fun of the image.  I hand drew and cut the arrow and stars for a fun touch.

Happy crafting to you.

Jaine x

Create a Calendar - May (Claire)

Good Morning!

I'm (Claire N) sharing with you today my calendar page for May. I'm really pleased how this project is coming along. We are nearly half way through, and even now I am enjoying looking back over the last months to see my mood and style that has been captured.
I am creating the entire calendar, firstly to be used during 2016, and also with someone in mind to gift this too.

My inspiration for this May layout, was birthdays. May is the month of my Dads birthday, a talented amateur photographer.  I have been coveting these papers from Sarah's 'A Few of my Favourite Things Kits' from (literally) ages ago, yearly last year I think......hehe!  (keep a check on this link here, there may be some exciting news on the way soon, if you loved and miss these kits)
Do you do that, just keep papers without using them? I do, I get just as much pleasure from looking at them and re-arranging them, then putting away again.

 Anyway, I was compelled to use them today because they are absolutely perfect for any photographer. May is the month when Spring is in full swing and all the birds and flowers are bursting into life and ready to be captured on film again, and I know Dad is ready to get out and about again with his camera.

As mentioned before I have used papers from the the papers kits Sarah sent out monthly. Sarah has some camera themed digi stamps available here also that would tie in nicely.

I have embellished the layout with little accents (sequins and cork shapes) that I've collected along the way from Sarah's fabulous selection of embellishments, found here. Then used the block alpha stamps to stamp the 'May' tag.

How are your calendars coming along, we'd love to see if you are willing to share.

Supplies

A Few of My Favourite Things Papers

Embellishments

Block Alpha letters

Silhouette cutting fun...

Hi All,

It is Nicole here today to share a card with you all. I had great fun working on this one. I used the Heart Confetti background design from Sarah Hurley for the background, cut from some deep red card. I also cut the steampunk layered butterflies, from red and grey card.

I then adhered this red background to a kraft card base and covered it with a Wink of Stella pen all over for a hint of shimmer.

 I then cut out some font saying congratulations and added it to a regular die cut panel and added one of the little hearts from the background as the dot for the 'i'

 I layered the red butterfly on top of the grey and added this onto the card with some red pearls down the centre of it.

 I love how simple yet elegant this card turned out. The background is so fun and gives so much of a pop to the card...

Thanks for stopping by today!

Birthday stamping and coloring

Happy Saturday!

It's Ria here today for a quick card as always.

I love making cards even with minimal craft supplies, one that you can create easily yet fun.

For my project, I used a combination of papers from Sarah and the Outline Alpha stamps.
I first stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment, then watercolor them by using gradation of orange and red color.

I used a die to make some scallop design at the sentiment. I again used a die to cut the green paper but I stamped the mini leaves on the background for some texture.

The stars are from Sarah's kit that I already have on my stash. I fussy cut them and layered the yellow and blue stars on top of each other.

For some texture, I also added a crochet ribbon along the strip and sequins along the patterned papers.

And a closer look of the details

And the full card

Supplies used:

Outline Alpha Stamps
A Few of my Favorite Things papers
Sequins and crochet ribbon

Stamping on fabric.

As the sun was shining, the covers came off the terrace furniture and I felt like brightening things up a bit, so I made this cute plant pot stick in about an hour. It was that quick.

To make one of your own you'll need a piece of plain white cotton or calico, twice the width of the butterfly (I'm using the Large Monarch Butterfly stamp ).

  Instead of using ink I decided to see how paint would look. This stamp has a large surface area which is perfect for adding colour onto. I used Shin Han water colour paints (soon to be found at Sarah Hurley ) straight from the tube and even though it's water colour paint I knew I wasn't going to allow my butterfly to get wet. Of course If you're worried about it you can equally use a water proof ink or acrylic paint. I used a paintbrush and blended the colour directly on the stamp. I was doing this in a sunny window so needed to give it a quick mist before stamping as some of the paint had started to dry.

I stamped straight down onto the calico and the print was much more vibrant than if I'd used ink. You NEED to wash your stamp straight away otherwise the paint will dry in the holes.

After doubling over the fabric, I cut around the butterfly. A piece of wire sandwiched in between the layers acts as the antennae, then I sewed around the two butterfly pieces leaving a small hole for stuffing.

To give my butterfly some dimension I stuffed it with some wadding using a bbq skewer then closed up the hole.

Finishing it off I put a little glue on the tip of the bbq skewer and pushed it into the body, I tied some ribbon around the stick and decided to cut shorter my antennae. I also fluffed up the edge to make it more tattered looking.

You could make your own stamping onto card instead of cotton or if you don't like sewing, back some cotton with card, stamp then cut out the butterfly.

How about bunting butterflies? Mmmm maybe I'll try that!

Jaine x

Ballerina Bar Work and Bunting

Good morning, it's Susie here this morning with the cute Ballet set from Clare Brown.  And, for the second time in a row, I've used pink, although I have sneaked my favourite turquoise into the ballerina's outfit and stamping!

The pink dotty card is from one of Sarah's A Few of My Favourite Things sets and provided the perfect background for my scene.  I stamped the ballerina onto some white card and a post it note, cut around the post it note ballerina's legs, skirt and hand and placed her on top of my card ballerina.  I carefully stamped the bar on top.

When the post it note mask was removed, it left my ballerina holding onto her bar!  

I also stamped my ballerina onto scraps of dotty and mint card and cut out her tutu from the pink card and the detail from the mint card and assembled her paper-pieced costume.  (At this stage, it might be easier to colour the skin of your ballerina, before sticking her outfit on, rather than leaving it until later as I did.) 

The outer edges of her tutu were coloured with a pink promarker, so that the white is not seen when I layer her outfit.  I curled her outfit with my scissors, added some glue and a small foam pad to the card ballerina and the stuck her paper-pieced tutu into position.  

The pink dotty card is so pretty that I decided, again, to cut around the top of my scene to expose more if the prettiness.

I also really love this journalling card from Sarah's Wonderful Day set and decided that, whilst the clouds didn't suit my scene, I could use the bunting, so carefully cut it out and curled the flags with my scissors and assembled it to my picture.

Just a bit of stamping, some Stardust Stickles and turquoise gems and my card was complete:0)

April Calander

Hello and welcome to the Sarah Hurley inspiration blog.

I't's my turn (Clare) to post and I should mention the Easter bunny has been and I'm currently on route to an Easter egg hunt hence the scheduled post lol.

We are now onto month four of our calendar inspiration post and did you know you too can join in the fun? 

We have had a few really good days of bright sunshine which is rare here in Scotland  so that may explain my bright colour choice lol.

As a newbie to using distress inks I don't have many colours but it proves you can still achieve a great background.

Whenever I wanted a subtle colour, I stamped once onto a scrap bit paper before stamping directly onto the page. Another tip is you don't always have to use an acrylic block, just ink and press down onto the page with your fingers.

Here's a list of stamps I used from Sarah's shop, my particulate favourite being the mini texture background stamp set. You get 4 in total which I think is a great starter set for creating your own backgrounds.

* MINI TEXTURE BACKGROUND 

* DOODLE DOLL - BE AMAZING

*DOODLE DOLL - WISH UPON A STAR

*ZEN DOODLES - BORDERS & BITS

That's all from me today, hope you are having a great Easter weekend and be sure to pop by soon for more inspiration from the design team.

Clare x