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!!

Fan-tashe-tic Inspiration.

Hello and welcome to the first of the new Design Team inspiration posts.  For my post I decided to use something from Sarah's range that I think is fan-tashe-tic, yip you guessed it - moustaches! I mean what is not to love about them? And the fact that they are so on-trend at the minute is only feeding my addiction.

I thought I would demonstrate how well Sarah's products work together to compliment each other and that you don't just need to stamp or use digi kits to create a great card. I know some people, including me, get nervous using hybrid crafting so here is an ideal way to have a play with your printer, stamps and if you have one, an electronic cutting machine.

I saw the moustaches in the Silhouette Store and thought I would make a card with a bookmark that can be kept and reused. I used the Moustache Paper Clips, using only the rectangular one and made it larger so it can be noticed in a book.  Whilst I was browsing I saw the Gentleman's Accessories and thought they would be great toppers for the card.  For my main background paper I used the Steampunk Kit as there are amazing digi papers and toppers in the kit, that's where my sentiment came from too. I printed it onto glossy photo paper and it looks even better in real life. I also used the brand new Moustache Background Stamp and I know I will be using it a lot more too.

 I wanted to show you the bookmard off the card, to illustrate that the card can still look awesome and the bookmark can be used as a wee gift for the card recipient to keep.

 

Ingredients

Brown Moustache Paper and sentiment - Steampunk Craft CD(Instant Download)

Moustache Background Stamp

Silhouette Store;

Set of 2 Moustache Paper Clips

Gentleman's Accessories 

   

I really hope you have liked my post and it inspires you to dabble in hybrid crafting with Sarah's range of digital kits, stamps, papers, embellishments and Silhoutte files. And remember to join us tomorrow for Nicole's post. Bye.

Challenge 88- Thank you

Hello there, Jaine here bringing you the first challenge of 2014.

Since Christmas and the New Year festivities are now over, it seems we all have something to be thankful for. It may be a thank you for the present, thank you for having us or simply a show of thankfulness for having got through Christmas without gaining much weight! (that's not me by the way). So it's right that we show our thanks in this first challenge. 

We've got some fabulous prizes to give away (please see the bottom of this post for more info!!)

Here's mine. I used the Chevron background stamp to create my background and the Art Doll stamp set to make my figure. I have some more pictures on my blog.

Here's what the rest of the DT created.

Tania

For my Thank you card, I have used the rose stamp from A few of my favourite things December kit and coloured with with promarkers and add glitter from my wink of Stella brushes. The background is using Pan Pastels. I have then mounted it onto rose embossed card and added ribbon from my stash. To finish off my card added a sentiment from the sentiment stamp set

Nicole

For my project I made a fun little wedge shape gift box. I made it from Sarah Hurleys papers - they are such an amazing heavy weight they were perfect for my little box. I embellished it using bits and pieces from the Sarah Hurley kits and shop. I made it a little box for some goodies to give as a thank you.

Claireliz

I used papers from Sarah's latest A Few of My Favourite Things Kit along with her Alpha stamps and Princess Doodle Doll stamp set. 

Elaine

I used papers from Steampunk and the image is from Expedition.

Jess

I have used papers from The Most Wonderful Time Digi Kit to make my card.

 Lisa

I have made a wall hanging using papers from both A Few of My Favourite Things Volume One 8x8 Paper Collection and All Sewn Up A5 Paper Pack, a heart stamp from the Hand drawn Roses Stamp Set and a few more bits from my stash. More pictures and details on my blog.

Claire N

I have used three distress inks to colour the background with Sarah's hexagon mask, then over stamped and embossed with  Jaine's exclusive stamp set, Nests Are Best.

Clare

Project Life using Sarah's Daily December kit

Carol

I used the sentiment from the Sentiment Stamp set and the Flower and Leave stamps came from the October "A Few of My Favourite Things" kit.

Natalie

I created this CAS card using Sarah's fabulous mist spray. Such a vibrant colour and so easy to use to get the desired effect.

Ria

I used Sarah’s Large Texture stamp for my background and my main image and stars from Wish Upon a Star stamp set. My thanks sentiment is from the Block Alpha stamp. All papers are also from Sarah Hurley paper kits.

You have until the 28th January to enter, the prize will be a £10 voucher for Sarah's shop for first place and a blog badge for second and third places.

 

This months special prize for one lucky winner drawn from entries using any of Sarah's products is a set of Pastel Flexmarkers.

Good luck everyone!

Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog becomes... Sarah Hurley 365!

As Clare mentioned in her previous winners post, we have some exciting news to share with you! The Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog is changing! We have a fresh start for 2014 with lots more features for you and we can't wait to get started. Here is whats new...

* There will still be a challenge every month, only now it will be on the 5th of every month to make it easier to remember. Winners will be announced on the 28th of every month.

* There will still be a winners prize (a £10 voucher for Sarah's shop) and badge and badges for 2nd & 3rd places, however there is also now a special prize picked from the entries containing Sarah Hurley products - we have some great prizes lined up already ranging from Promarkers to Stamp sets

* Any crafts can now be entered in the challenge including stitching, altered art, anything you like, as long as it's on theme, we want to see it! :o)

* We will be talent spotting all year! We are going to be looking out for talented designers and bloggers for special projects and opportunities throughout the year, we will specifically be looking at people using Sarah Hurley products for these (as we'll have an idea of how you use the products)

* We will be increasing the number of features here on the blog, this will no longer just be a challenge blog (hence the name change!) we have a wide range of new features for you including tutorials, sketches, inspiration and behind the scenes peeks! My team are hard at work getting things ready for you! To help you find the challenges in future, we have added a big 'click here for the current challenge' button to the top right of the blog (this will be linked once the next challenge goes live on the 5th)

* we will be having more special events including blog hops, spot prizes and giveaways - don't miss them!

Look out for more changes and developments over the next few days and weeks, also, please don't forget to update your bookmarks to the new address www.sarahhurley365.blogspot.com - we don't want you to lose us! :o)

Thank you for dropping by today, please pop back on the 5th for the next challenge!

Sarah x

Challenge 87 - Create Your Own Background Winners

Hello and welcome to Sarah Hurley Challenges.

It's that time again when we announce the winners of our latest challenge. It's been a huge pleasure as always checking out your entries with lots of hints and tips found along the way. 

 So without further ado the winners are......

Ellie

Julia

shery

Well that's all from me, please pop back tomorrow, when Sarah has some exciting news to share with you!

Clare x