Card Inspired by Emma Godfrey Canvas

Emma created a beautiful canvas for PaperArtsy, which you can see here.

I needed to make a card for my Auntie so used similar colours and stamps as Emma used - I will try my hand a canvas when I've a bit more time.  I sponged a background using Stone and Nougat Fresco paint and cut out a shaped background panel when dry.  I also painted a couple of scraps in Spanish Mulberry and Sherbet.  I then stamped and embossed in gold - the flowers onto the pink and cut them out and the stems directly onto the background.  A few gems and some ribbon and here's the finished card.

Thank you for looking. 

Flower picture inspired by Ellen Vargo

What with holidays, work and lack of mojo I've been a really lax blogger for too long now.  There's been stacks on inspiration over at PaperArtsy so I can't use that as an excuse.  I think the monthly challenge timescale has lulled me into thinking I've ages to complete something and then I've still run out of time !

Anyway here's my first (hopefully) project for this month, inspired by the bright and cheerful journal page from Ellen Vargo - see here for Ellens post

I started with a piece of corrugated cardboard that I stripped the edges from.  This was painted and crackled (been missing this lol).  I then used one of Ellen's mini stamps and embossed the background using Cosmic Shimmer in Vintage Luna White - purchased for Christmas cards which have yet to materialise.

I then painted a spare piece of card in Orchid and stamped another mini stamp four times to form a flower shape. A few leaves and a button middle for finishing touches.

Thank you for looking  Sarah x

Creative Blog Hop

I was asked to take part in this blog hop by the lovely and talented Deborah Wainwright, check out the amazing faces she's working on at the moment see here.  This has been started off as a way to get to know fellow crafters.  This is more of a challenge for me than having to create a new piece of art, as you know my posts are often "short & sweet".

So here goes.......

My name is Sarah Baldwin and I'm 46 years old.  I have been married to my wonderful hubby, Tony, for 23 years.  I was looking through some old photos yesterday of our first few holidays together and can't believe where that time has gone.  We have live in Thrapston, Northants with our 2 teenage children. By day I work for a holiday company as a Financial Planning and Forecast Analyst (accountant!) - Thursday is my 25th anniversary with them. 

I think I've crafted in some shape or form since I learnt to knit aged about 5.  From there I progressed to sewing using my nan's hand powered machine - I had the best dressed Barbies in the area lol!  From there came embroidery, crocheting, x-stitch, candle making, dress making, jewellery making, fimo and many more.

I'm one of these people who sees something and has to have a go to see if I can do it. It's the same now with different card making/altered art techniques.  This is how I've become such a PaperArtsy addict, I saw Leandra demoing paint techniques and was so impressed I was thought I've got to try that myself.  The one thing I wish I could do though is draw, thank goodness for stamps.

Finding the PA blog lead to setting up my own a couple of years ago, something I never thought I'd do in a million years.  The support and fantastic comments from other bloggers has really given me confidence in my work and the push to experiment outside my comfort zone. (not using blue and green all the time and embracing "faces").  Seeing projects I like but don't have the exact stash for often turns out to be a good thing as I have to think around the idea and try alternatives.

 A couple of my favourite pieces

At the moment I've a couple of things painted ready for some inspiration to hit on what to do next. I've not had much time to play recently with holidays etc. 

thanks for stopping by - if anyone would like to take up the baton and post next Monday that would be fantastic - xx

Guest Post for PaperArtsy

Been so excited waiting for today when my project is featured on the PaperArtsy blog  - very hard not to spill the beans when I met a number of fellow PaperArtsy followers at Stevenage at couple of weeks ago.   Can't believe Penny Nuttall also used a mini rolling pin this week - must be something in the air. Thank you everyone for the opportunity xx

see full post here

Dragonsdream TIO - the letter P & Cogs

I've gone for two "Ps" - Pointing finger and little Person.  I've had this stamp set a while and this seemed the ideal opportunity to use it.  I've used several distress inks on the background to create a landscape for the little person. I thought the pointing finger looks like it's knocking over the cogs that's why he has his hands up, so I also added the word Ouch to the bottom of the tag.

Peeled Paint technique

Liesbeth Fidder reminded us of a the resist technique  using Vaseline. I had in my head that I wanted the oriental ladies peeping through undergrowth so used Tango and Haystack as my base coat and Green Olive on top. I was going to stencil in more leaves but I had a disaster with the first bit so abandoned that idea. I managed to cover it the smudges bit with a few strategically placed flowers.  Must remember to use this technique again as I really like the more random effect.

House inspired by Linda Cain

Linda showed us a wonderful 2 storey bird house this week at PaperArtsy, see here for details. I followed some similar techniques to Linda but chose to stamp and cut out my flowers as I never seem to have much luck stamping directly onto a project.

I've also had to use dreamweaver paste coloured with some Inky Pool FP instead of GP as my last little bit had dried up too much L - it's a good job I'm off to Stamperama tomorrow and can stock up J