It's Me, Sarah

Sarah Speed Scraps - Hot Chocolate

I have a small amount of time yesterday to spend in my craft room (literally 40 minutes) but I manage to create this layout and filmed myself doing it so here is another Speed Scraps video for you to enjoy.  Due to the time limit it's quite a simple layout but it achieved what I wanted it too so I am happy :)

Here is the Video:

   

Supplies

From May Scrapagogo main kit & 'Around the Houses' add on kit

• Studio Calico: Countryside Wildflower paper
• My Little Shoebox: City By the Bay - Pacific Heights Paper
• May Kit Free Hybrid Elements by Kirsty Wiseman
• Prima: Arco Iris Flowers
• Basic Grey: Hopscotch Alphabet Stickers
• Crate paper: Neighborhood Visit Paper; Neighborhood Picnic Paper
• Divine Twine: Bakers Twine (Aqua and Brown Sugar)
• Basic Grey: Hopscotch Small Details

Non Kit Supplies

• Ranger: Distress Ink(Broken China); Tiny Attacher
• Stampin' Up!: Three Heart Punch
• My Little Shoebox: Mini alphabet Stickers
• Heidi Swapp: Edge Distresser
• Primark: Metal Flower from cheap necklace
• Faber Castell: Pit Artist Pen (Sepia, fine)

 

I have just made some chocolate muffins and now I am off to sit on the sofa and watch the Royal Wedding!

Royal Wedding Fever

William and Kate have got a lot to answer for!  Ben and Charlotte have got a street party at school today (and the carpark looks great with all the union jack bunting around it!) but they also had to wear red white and blue.  A few years ago I was going to make Charlotte a 'Geri Halliwell' dress for a school event (dress up from the 90's) but the union jack tea-towels I ordered to make it didn't arrive on time and instead she dressed up as Madonna. I was on the phone to Mark the other night bemoaning the fact that the kids didn't have red, white and blue clothes to wear when he suggested the tea towels!  I had forgotton so with only one day to go I decided to make the dress for Charlotte.  I recently saw a tutorial at Little Birdie Secrets for a faux tie so with that in my head (and, as I said, with only a day to do it!) I got out of bed yesterday on a mission :)

I didn't have a pattern for the dress and I wasn't happy about just sewing the tea towels together and winging it, so the dress is a proper shift dress with a slit down the back and button fastening.  I am very happy with my attempt, it is even lined!  I traced the neckline and armhole size and positioning from a top that I know fits Charlotte but as I was working on it all day I was worried it wasn't going to fit (she was at school) but it is absolutely perfect.

Ben loves his tie and it took quite a bit of my addled brain to position the pattern to ensure the front would definitely look like it was part of a union jack and not just some red white and blue stripes.  It also turned out just as I imagined.  So happy.

Sorry for the lack of blog posts recently but we have obviously had the Easter holidays so that meant we went to the caravan at Challaborough where we have very limited internet connection (and the phone signal is zero!).  When we came home Virgin internet was down for a few days and ever since I am having terrible trouble getting on the internet - I am hoping I don't lose this post before it publishes - eeek!

I will be back soon with some pictures from the kids Easter Egg Hunt at Nanny's and some creative stuff that I have been doing (I got some Caran d'ache watersoluble pastels and some Liquidex Acrylic Ink yesterday and I am in love with them).

Enjoy the Royal Wedding, Ben and Charlotte will be wearing their outfits on the day and I really can't wait!

Sarah Speed Scraps - Picnic At The Beach

I managed to find time (during the school holidays!!) to get into the craft room today and created a layout for a blog video. I won't say it was easy though because I was under the strain of constant interruptions and a video camera that wasn't charged. At one point (edited from the video) I launched myself across the craft room scattering pebbles in all directions because Amy decided to climb onto the bar stool and fell off with the stool falling on top of her!  She is fine, just a little shaken. Ben needed films converted for his PSP, Charlotte was making Daddy a birthday card (and a lot of mess) and Amy was just not happy because she has a cold (until she fell alseep on Mark following a 10 minute craft room, kitchen and lounge destruction spree!).

Still, I sort of had some fun and I like the layout so it was worth the effort.  The video is at the bottom of the post :)

Here is the video:

 

Supplies

• Prima: Annalee Collection Papers; Rose Ribbon; Alphabet Stickers; Anastasia Flowers; Paper Butterflies (Fluture); Glass flower centre; Pearl flourish
• Chatterbox: Picture Frame
• Bazzill: Cardstock
• Kaisercraft: Tiny Alphabet Stickers
• Ranger: Adirondack Ink (Cranberry); Tiny Attacher
• Stampin’ Up: Scallop Trim Border Punch; Small Heart Punch; Three Heart Punch
• Tattered Angels: Glimmer Mist
• Clearsnap: Ink Queue
• Scrapagogo: Bespoke Card
• Stampin’ Up: Stampin’ Around Stamps
• Tombow: Clear Glue
• Uniball Signo: White Gel Pen
• Scotch: ATG Tapes Gun
• Hot Glue Gun / Green Net / White Paint
• Pebbles from the beach

 

Thanks for Visiting my blog :)

Art Journal! Excited Much?

I just quickly mentioned on Twitter and Facebook last night that I fancied trying out some art journaling.  I loved the She Art workshop (as you may have guessed) but I want to practice before I do actual art for the house, I don't want amateur looking stuff on my walls!  The most obvious way is to do some Art Journaling because it will allow me to practice different techniques and see what I like but also allow me to  create a lovely book of my work and have loads of fun doing it!  I can't tell you how much I love playing with all those different paints, mediums, stamps etc - it is truly the most escapist thing I have ever done.

Needless to say it didn't take much convincing by my online friends to make me head for the craft room.  I only intended to start on a background but once I started I just couldn't stop and so, without further ado (nattering on about nothing I mean!) here is my first page in an Art Journal - ever!

I am so pleased with it.  I can't believe I actually painted a face and that it looks good (I like it anyway)

 

It's surprising how many layers of paint, mists, inks and stamps are used to create a painting.  I love adding that depth, the trousers evolved quite a lot throughout the process from a flat pale blue to the weathered denim look I managed to (almost) achieve by the end.

The background was covered in patterned paper and old dictionary pages (yes, I deliberately chose one with the word 'Fear' on it so that I could highlight it).

I am certainly no artist and I wouldn't say that I can draw very well so, with that in mind I went to bed very happy and relaxed last night. I love my girl, she reminds me of Juno (from the film).  I can't wait to do the next page...but...that means there is a double page spread over the page and that's a lot of space to fill!

Photographing and Editing Layouts (for your blog or forum)

I know that some people have trouble with this so I will tell you how I do it, probably not perfect (I am no expert!) but it works for me.  I use Adobe Photoshop but I have included my instructions for Picasa as well.

Taking the Photograph

• I prop my layout up against an object such as a pile of pizza boxes or a bucket of pencils so that the layout is relatively upright.
• Take a photograph using lots of natural light and no flash. Make sure you get a bit of ‘background’ around it; this can be cropped out later and don’t worry if it isn’t perfectly straight you can edit that in Adobe Photoshop or Picasa (free editing program from Google, just Google Picasa to find it).
• Download the image to your computer.

Editing in Photoshop

• Open the photograph in Photoshop
• Click the crop button and set the restrictions in the top left of the screen to 1000px by 1000px (72 resolution is fine for blogging)

  

• Crop the photograph so that all the image is within the square with a little excess background around the layout (not too much)

 

• Right click on the background layer in the layers palette and choose ‘Create Layer from Background’

• Choose Edit | Transform | Distort and using the little square handles that appear around the image to drag the corners of the layout into the corners of your image window.  Press enter to commit to the changes.

 

• Choose Edit | Transform | Warp if some of the sides of your layout look curved and the image window is still not full of your layout.  Just drag the little circular handles to get the layout looking just right and then click enter/return to commit to the changes (ensure the image stays straight, you can make it look wonky if you are not careful!).

• Go to Image | Resize and resize the layout to 600px square.
• Go to Filter | Sharpen to sharpen your image
• Choose File | Save for Web & Devices.  I usually choose the ‘High’ or ‘Medium’ quality options here depending on the file size that you can see under the right hand image (if you have clicked the ‘2 up’ tab along the top). I like to keep mine around 100kb but check the right hand image to see what the quality will look like.

    

Editing in Picasa

• Open Picasa and double click the photograph in your library to open it in the Picasa editing section
• Use the crop button and set the drop down list to ‘Square: CD Cover’
• Crop the layout as close to the edges as possible making sure to get it all in.  Click the Apply button.

• Click the straighten button and drag the slider to get the image straight
• Right click on the image and choose ‘save’
• If required crop the image again to fill the frame and straighten if necessary
• Click the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky' button to correct the colour and brightness of your image
• Go to the ‘tuning’ tab at the top of the screen and adjust the sliders if necessary

 

• Go to the ‘Effects’ tab and click the ‘Sharpen’ option, click Apply.
• Now save your image by clicking the ‘Export’ button on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen and choosing your desired options.

I hope this helps you out.  

Download Photgraphing and Editing Layouts as a PDF file.