Sarah Hurley 365 (Formerly Sarah Hurley Challenges): Making envelopes

Sarah Hurley 365 (Formerly Sarah Hurley Challenges): Making envelopes: Hi everyone! It's Sharon here and I'd like to spread my love of snail mail. I've always had a thing for writing letters and wh...

Blog Hop celebrating World of Imagination from Sarah Hurley

Today we're doing a blog hop to celebrate the launch of Sarah's new product range, World of Imagination. You should have arrived from Lisa and seen many of the new products along the way.

Sarah says:

We are celebrating the launch of the new 'World of Imagination' range on the 10th, This is a range I've been working on for over a year and I'm now super pleased to be sharing it with the world with this initial launch. Each of the Design Team will be sharing the reveal of a new product on their blog - at the end there will be the opportunity to win one of these!

Just hop through all of the team leaving a comment to let us know what you think of the products and then at the last stop (on the 365 blog) leave us a comment telling us what you think of the range and which item you would like to win - we'll pick one winner to win their choice of item. This closes on the 15th at midnight GMT.

Now it's time to fall in love! With Mrs Lovebird! She's from the PomPom Pets range and really, could she be any cuter?!!

The PomPom Pet sets come with everything you need to make your very own and are great fun to make and collect.

Head back to Sarah's 365 blog and leave a comment for your chance to win a product of your choice. Hint pick Mrs Lovebird!

I'm a bit late with my challenge post this month so I'll pop it here. The theme is Summer Brights. I used some papers from Sarah's A Few of my Favourite Things kits along with some embellishments and a stamp for the sentiment.

The challenge closes on 28th June so there's plenty of time to enter and a £10 voucher for Sarah's shop and some Flexmarkers up for grabs!

Stationery-or feeding my addiction!

It's my turn to blog over at Sarah Hurley365 today and I need to get something off my chest!

I'm a stationery-holic. There I said it! I love stationery sets, can't get enough of them and am a huge fan of snail mail. I write a lot of letters and belong to a group called Postcircle dedicated to writing just because! It was started by Anna aka Miss_Beatrix and once you sign up, you get assigned to a group of five or six other people and off you go! I'm a member of two groups, Rabbit and Stoat and really enjoy it. It's a great community too, both on Instagram and Twitter.

We all know how nice it is to get a letter on the mat that isn't a bill, especially if the envelope looks all pretty!  Well I was about to start a letter to a friend who likes sewing but couldn't find any sewing themed paper in my stash.

Then it occurred to me that I could make my own! Me and Craft Artist don't get on so I tend to avoid digital crafting and print/cut things out instead.But- I bit the bullet and gave it a go.

I used Sarah's All Sewn Up digikit and printed out some sheets of paper in various sizes and a couple of envelopes and I have to say that me and Craft Artist seemed to get along quite well together for once!

This has opened up a whole new world to me and I'm looking forward to a) doing some more digi-crafting with Sarah's kits and b) making tons more stationery!

I urge everyone to pick up a pen and write some letters - just because! And if you enjoy it and want to get involved, follow the link to Miss_Beatrix and sign up!

Teenage card

Time for another challenge over at Sarah Hurley's and this month it's anything goes!

The one card I dread every year-my son's birthday card! I can never find anything teenage-y enough but Sarah's moustache paper from A Few Of My Favourite Things kit is perfect! I added faux stitching around the edges,a plastic moustache embellishment and a badge,all from Sarah's shop. Then I found I'd ran out of wrapping paper so I used Sarah's moustache stamp to decorate a piece of paper. I'm pleased to say it was a success,especially the badge!

There's still plenty of time to enter the challenge so why not bob along!

Crochet flower card

Well isn't this year going fast. I can't believe it's a month since I posted. It's a good job another Sarah Hurley challenge has come along to inspire me!

This month the challenge is to use stitching, real or faux, on whatever you choose to make. I went for the obvious and crocheted some embellishments to use on my card.

Sarah's latest A Few of my Favourite Things kit had just arrived and I fell in love with the paper on sight! Such fabulous bright colours! So I crocheted some flowers with embroidery thread to match the colours.

The circle stamp and sentiment came from the kit too. 

If you have a love of anything 'stitchy' pop along and join in the challenge. There's a £10 voucher up for grabs and for the lucky winner using Sarah's products another prize of some Flexmarkers.

Blah Blah Blah

It's time for another challenge over at Sarah Hurley365 and this month it's all about speech bubbles! There's a £10 voucher and some flexi markers up for grabs along with some of Sarah's blog badges so come along and have a play!

My printer's on the blink so I wasn't able to print anything out to use so I raided my bag of digi images that I keep ready cut for times like these and made an ATC for my DT piece. The backing paper is a bit of squared paper cut from Sarah's DayBook (I made a bit of a mess on the other side when I got a bit slap happy with pearlescent glue!!).

I coloured it with Derwent Aquatone pencils which the paper took really well -it's so smooth -and stamped some speech bubbles with stamps from Sarah's A Few of my Favourite Things kits. Then I added Angelica and Malcolm from 31 Spook St and the little wooden speech bubbles. I finished the edges off with pink pen and doodle lines.

I left it to dry and picked it up again with greasy fingers (well I can't sit and wait without snacking!) so Angelica has a few greasy fingermarks on her face.

Hope to see you all over there and look forward to seeing everyone's makes.

Linked at

Through the Purple Challenge Blog

Card and Purse

Mum's birthday present Part Two!

I decided to make a purse that I'd seen in a new crochet book I bought a few weeks ago, Nicki Trench's Crochet with Flowers. It has a fabric lining and I knew exactly what fabric to use.

My grandma used to design fabric and my cousin Karen over at Reinvintaged has had a roll printed. The fabric's called Phyllis (after my grandma) and I couldn't wait to use it.

I made a card using a swatch of fabric and crocheted flowers to match the purse and added a couple of embellishments.

Luckily I came across some wool which matched the fabric perfectly!

A flower embellishment.

The matching pair!

I loved putting this together and if I can get my act together I may make some more for pressies throughout the year!

I recommend anyone interested in vintage clothes to visit Karen at Reinvintaged - she has some fabulous patterns and make up prices are so reasonable.

Linking at
The fabulous Handmade Monday
Made by You Monday
Crafting Along
Life on Lakeshore Drive
Kathewithane

Beret

When my mum asked for a crochet beret for her birthday I thought it would be easy and the crochet was. Finding the right pattern though took a lot of effort and searching but as soon as I saw this I knew it would be perfect!

I found this over at Hannicraft's blog and within a few hours it was done! Such an easy pattern to follow.

I just need to wait and see if she likes it! Fingers crossed.

The hardest thing has been to photo the beret. My normal camera didn't work at all so these are from my iPhone. Anyone have any tips on capturing wool?

I'm linking this over at Handmade Monday which has always been an inspiration to me and which I've been away from for far too long!
Also linked over at Life on Lakeshore Drive

Notelets

My turn again over at SarahHurley365 to do a daily spot and this time I've made some notelets.

This last two weeks have passed by in a haze of night duty,migraines and a dose of teenager!Add to that a dodgy internet connection,a printer out of ink,running out of card and three weeks til pay day and crafting feels almost impossible!

I have a few catch up letters to send so I turned to the Snip 'n' Stick cards from Sarah's A Few of my Favourite Things kits. These were perfect for a few quick notelets and satisfied my crafting urge until pay day and supplies!

Thank you card

Hello notelet

A man card

A mum card

I wish I could win the lottery card!

I really enjoyed making these and the clean and simple effect. Love those Snip 'n' Stick cards!

Have entered Wish upon a Star over at Creative Card Crew- keep it simple challenge
Have entered Fan-Tache-Tic over at Cards und More - for men

A bit of crochet

I've recently rediscovered my love of crochet. I used to knit a lot but could never finish anything without getting fed up of it! That's why I love crochet so much. It's great for little projects,easy to pull back and grows quickly so I have less time to get bored of it.

One of the first things I made was a little bag for my niece for Christmas. I searched the internet for a simple pattern and found this one. I used some silver wool for a bit of bling and made a little flower to embellish it. I was quite chuffed with how it turned out.

I filled it up with hair slides,beads and trinkets and was really happy that she liked it!

Mini canvas

This month's challenge is up and running over at SarahHurley365 and it's all about embellishments. I decided on stars and made a mini canvas wall hanging to use up a nail that was stuck in the wall!

I used Sarah's chevron mask for the background with a bit of red and gold ink then stamped and coloured the stars before glossing them up a bit. The sentiment is from Sarah's Stars stamps.

It's now hanging and brightening up the wall. Nip over and have a look at the challenge-there's some great prizes up for grabs!

Have entered this over at Through the Purple Haze challenge- Anything Goes

ATC card

Here's my first post on the new look Sarah Hurley365 blog which features daily posts from the Design Team to inspire and encourage. I made my first post today which I've put here too.

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,as anyone who's visited my blog before will know!
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(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.

This is my first post for a long time. My mojo seems to be coming back bit by bit so I'm hoping to get up to speed and back on track soon.I'm thinking of posting my crochet here too so watch this space!

Bonfire Brights

I'm a bit nervous about the challenge over at Sarah Hurley this month as it's my first time in charge! I picked the theme Bonfire Brights because I love all the bright colours of bonfire night.

I made an ATC using Sarah's Journaled365 kit. This is my go to kit as it is so versatile and I can always find new things to do with it! The sentiment is from Sarah's Stars Stamp kit which has lots of lovely sentiments.

Please pop along and have a look at the Design Team's inspiring makes and good luck- I can't wait to see all the bright makes!Oh and please make sure you all stay safe on Bonfire Night and follow the firework code.

Halloween!

It's getting close-yes Trick or Treat is nearly here and I can never resist joining in the Halloween fun!
I don't get to make many cards for Halloween but I really enjoy all the pumpkins,skulls and general spookiness of it all!

Imagine how thrilled I was to see the new Sarah Hurley digi-kit 31 Spook Street  There's so much for us Halloween addicts to try! 

I made this card using the backing papers and ready coloured digi images. Couldn't resist adding a few pumpkins to my ukulele too! 

Nip over to Sarah's Challenge Blog and have a look at the Halloween challenge. We can't wait to see all your spooky makes!!

Texture and dimension

The new challenge over at Sarah Hurley's blog is Texture and Dimension. What better excuse could there be for getting messy!

I recently treated myself to one of Sarah's Day Books and have to say it's one of the best things I've ever bought. It's A5 size with about 20 pages of silky paper in a variety of backgrounds so there is a page ready to use anytime, without worrying about the background paper. Love it!

I used my favourite stamp from Wish Upon a Star set with some journaling cards and a small chevron bag mixed and matched from some of  my A Few of My Favourite Things monthly kits. The sentiments are from Star stamp set. The plan is to use the chevron bag to put a small journaling card in when I've written something appropriate.

I stencilled some gesso chevrons using Sarah's chevron stencil and mixed in some liquid pearl. Of course I didn't know when to stop and ruined the girl's dress when the sparkly Mod Podge I put on made the promarker run but let's just say that's the effect I was going for!

Hello!

Oh my where's the time gone?

I'm late again. I spent most of last month running around like a zombie getting son ready to go away on holiday, dreaming of all the time I'd have while he's away.

Now he's away and I really don't know what to do with myself- it's quite an odd feeling just hanging there and waiting for him to return. Crafting mojo's gone and chocolate intake's on the up and up!

I made this card for Sarah Hurley's latest challenge Pink Sparkles using her Journaled365 range for the backing paper which I sprayed with mica mist. The embellishments are all from her latest monthly kit, A Few of my Favourite Things, which I recommend to anyone and everyone!There's so much choice over in Sarah's shop and the range is expanding so fast at the moment I just know there's something for everyone!
Zig-zag ribbon is a scrap I found hiding in a drawer and rescued!

There's still time to enter so please bob along and play!

Friends

A page from a journal on the circle journal I'm on over on UKScrappers. The background's coloured with Aquatone pencils and I decided to give my Stampotique girls a day out! The phrase is one of my favourites and reflects my weekly latte sessions with the girls from work!

I really enjoyed doing this and made a note to self - Journal more! 

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Happy Birthday Sarah! I hope you have a fabulous day and are thoroughly pampered and spoilt as a girl should be on her birthday! You deserve it after all your hard work and this little hop is to celebrate your birthday and to wish you loads more success in the future x 

You should have come here from Lisa and Candice and now it's on to Nicole. Enjoy the journey and thank you so much for having me on your DT! 

For anyone reading this and wondering what's going on, this is our Sarah Hurley Blog Hop for Sarah on her birthday and I'd love for you to join in and play along!

A bit of Gold and a Blog Hop!

I've been neglecting my blog lately-too much running around and not enough crafting time but I really hope this is me getting back on track again!

It's all gone golden over at Sarah Hurley's Challenge Blog. We want to see glitter,gold and sparkly twinkly things! I have started a few things but nothing's been turning out as I wanted so I've made an ATC (staying safe in my comfort zone). It's a decorative ATC for hanging on my wall and I used paper from Bookworm and I Love Paris with Wish Upon a Star Girl stamps (am loving these new stamps!)

Please come along and join us-can't wait to see the sparkle!

I'm linking this over at Handmade Monday-come along and join this fabulous community of crafters.

And now for the blog hop!

I love a blog hop. What better way to get around blogland and discover blogs and crafters you've never seen before.

Elaine, my fellow design team member at Sarah Hurley is relaunching her All Crafts Challenge at Sparkling Black Rose-Craft My Life and I'm pleased to be a part of her relaunch blog hop.

If you're on the blog hop trail you'll have arrived here via the fabulous Jaine's blog and her gorgeous notebook.. Next on the trail is Natalie so please pop along and see her fab layout.

I hope you have fun along the way and good luck!

Shades of Blue

It's exciting times over at Sarah Hurley. Not only is it time for a new challenge but Look Book Volume 3 is out and is exploding with lots of crafting inspiration-more of that later!

The challenge theme is Shades of Blue which straight away made me think of Sarah's I Love Paris kit (I'm so predictable!). My DT make is a fold out ATC book using paper,digi-stamp and embellishments from the kit. It's going to be part of a birthday present for a friend who loves Paris as much as I do.

Front of book

Folded out

Casually open!

I think this will make a nice alternative to a birthday card!

Now...the Look Book!

You can find the Look Book here on Sarah's blog. It's crammed pack of some fantastic crafting using a variety of Sarah's products and is a fabulous source of inspiration. Unfortunately I was ill (don't ask!) and didn't get my things finished in time but if I make a start now, I'll be more than ready for the next!