Mojo Busting...

I was happy to be invited to join a CJ called Mojo Busters as it embarked on it's 3rd circle. December's CJ for me was an AMOP or All My Own Photos and is called Memories. Lynn very sadly said goodbye to her beloved husband Kevin earlier this year and she asked us to create two layouts using her photos, one of them together and one of Kevin on his own. Here's what I created:

"You are my Sunshine"

"Timeless Love"

I really enjoyed creating both layouts and just hope that Lynn likes them. Keep Crafting. Sian xx

Handmade with love...

I've got photo calendars for everyone for Christmas this year because I think it's a lovely present that lasts all year and makes you smile. For hubby I wanted to go the extra mile and I've made him his very own calendar. I used the gorgeous Graphic 45 12 x 12 standing calendar base and their gorgeous A Place In Time papers which give you everything you need to create the pages except for your photos. And here's the finished calendar:

 

There was an extra page so I made these:

And then I decorated the stand as well... waste not want not...

Our dogs mean a lot to both of us and I'm hoping this is a calendar we can reuse by just replacing the little white calendar papers each year. Thanks for looking. Keep Crafting. Sian xx

Quick and Easy Christmas Cards

The theme for the UKS December Card Swap is quick and easy cards - the idea being that Christmas can be a very stressful time of year and we don't want to add to it... plus time is short and the post is crazy so the quicker the better! As it happens I attended a class at Art From the Heart called quick and easy cards where we made cards with my favourite stamps... Dylusions. I came home and made 6 cards using what I'd learned and here they are:

I love how miserable the frog loves lol - my favourite thing about the class was learning how to make the backgrounds. We made two huge backgrounds then cut them all down and they all look different. It's something I will be using again and again :) Keep Crafting. Sian xx

This Song Saved My Life...

Part of a CJ on UKScrappers, Suzy's CJ is Music/Lyrics. I've recently been listening to Simple Plan and one song in particular stood out for me, "This Song Saved My Life" so I decided to use this for my layout.

I went with a green background partly to be bright and funky and partly because green is nature and nature is life. I used dylusions inks and did some stencilling and stamping.The story goes that Simple Plan asked their fans on twitter to write in and say what their songs meant to them. From those letters they produced "This Song Saved My Life". The layout has the title, the lyrics, the meaning and some fan mail.

For those interested here's the lyrics and explanation:

Simple Plan, A French-Canadian Pop Punk 

band asked their fans on Twitter to write

in and say what SP songs meant to them.

Thousands replied and simple Plan wrote 

this song based on the letters they received.

You can hear the strength of feeling behind

the fan letters and this song demonstrates to 

me the sheer power of music and how it can

help you get through life’s struggles.

Their songs speak mainly to teenagers and

I can relate to that because I had a hard time

as a teen. Simple Plan set up a foundation to

helps teenagers in 2005 and it is still going

strong. I admire their message and although

this particular song didn’t save my life I can

relate to every word as music was a factor

in helping me survive teenage depression.

The lyrics are:

"This Song Saved My Life"

I want to start by letting you know this
because of you my life has a purpose
you helped be who i am today
I see myself in every word you say
Sometimes it feels like nobody gets me
Trapped in a world where everyone hates me
There's so much that I'm going through
I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you

[Chorus]
I was broken
I was choking
I was lost
This Song saved my life
I was bleeding stopped believing
could have died
This song saved my life
I was down
I was drowning
but it came on just in time
this song saved my life

Sometimes I feel like you've known me forever
You always know how to make me feel better
Because of you my dad and me
are so much closer than we used to be
You're my escape when I'm stuck in a small town
I turn you up whenever I feel down
you let me know like no one else
That it's ok to be myself

[Chorus]

You'll never know what it means to me
that I'm not alone
That I'll never have to be

[Chorus 2x]

Bird Gehrl

Ok, onto the next CJ... Desert Island Discs for Collabor-art. I chose the song Bird Gerhl by Antony and the Johnsons for Karen's CJ. This song means a lot to Karen and she wants it for her funeral. Here are the words:

I am a bird girl now

I've got my heart

Here in my hands now

I've been searching

For my wings some time

I'm gonna be born

Into soon the sky

'Cause I'm a bird girl

And the bird girls go to heaven

I'm a bird girl

And the bird girls can fly

Bird girls can fly

I wanted to create a bird girl - literally - who had transformed from human and was flying towards heaven. I had a gorgeous Indigo Blu stamp which seemed to have the perfect hair and face - her hair has birds and butterflies in it and her face is one that looks like she's closing her eyes ready for the next stage - that's what I think anyway lol - but I needed a birdy body. I turned to Etsy and found a set of gorgeous collage birds which I bought. The seller advertises that he custom makes birds for people and so I asked him to make me a bird with the lyrics to Bird Gerhl in, some birds and stars and whatever else he thought would go. He agreed and told me it would take a couple of days. Unfortunately he not only didn't deliver but decided to ignore me from then on in! So a custom bird we didn't get (sorry Karen) but his originals are lovely. I stamped the girl in sky blue and printed the bird in blue, joining them with blue and white paints. Here she is:

I added some lyrics in the shape of birds around Bird Girl. I drew the bird shapes in white gel pen then painted over them with blue and white paints. I wrote the words with a blue pen

The background was blue and white paints and I created a white light shining down from the top left hand corner to represent the light from heaven as Bird Girl approaches. I originally wanted to doodle the title but after much practise I just wasn't happy with the results and chose to stamp in teal with a Stampin' Up! alphabet instead. 

So I hope it has some elements of what Karen envisages when she listens to bird girl. When I first heard it I really wasn't sure about it but music is one of my biggest inspirations so in typical Sian Style I bought the song and played it on repeat for several hours whilst I started creating this piece and by the end I was in love with song and can totally see why Karen loves it and why she wants it at her funeral, it is a perfect song for such an occasion :o)

Keep crafting! Sian xx

Blue Paint

I seem to be using lots of blue paint this month - sky blue to be precise - not sure why I'm so drawn to it but it's featuring heavily in my crafts! Perhaps I'm longing for blue skies... The first layout I completed was for a CJ on UKScrappers called Today I'm Feeling... I started it on a day where I was feeling calm and peaceful so that's what I did. I ended it on a day where my time of month meant I wasn't feeling so calm or peaceful in fact I could have quite happily rippe... well that's another story but completing the pages meant I did feel better so it turned out to be very therapeutic in the end. Here it is:

I used Tim Holtz alphabet masks, a cloud shape, Tim Holtz stamps, Ali-craft stamp and collage birds from Lisa's Altered Art. Everything on the page was a reflection of how I felt that day.

For the sign in we had to provide a mug shot and a criminal name and explain what we would be arrested for. I chose "Tattoo (Gr)Anny" and was arrested for not caring what I will look like aged 60 because of my tattoos! This is because it annoys me that as a heavily tattooed female people want to know how I'm going to feel aged 60 whereas NONE of my heavily tattooed male counterparts have ever been asked that question! Next time I'm asked what I'm going to do when I'm 60 about my tattoos I'll only have one answer... "get another one!" I like the attitude on the girl's face I reckon tattoo (gr)anny would face the camera! 

So onwards and upwards... the next post has more blue paint! Keep Crafting. Sian xx