Wrapping Up The Year!

Well here we are...the very last day of 2013!

Where does time go? I say that EVERY year but still it seems like only yesterday that it was the last day of 2012. Do you make resolutions when it comes to 1st January? I admit that I don't... I try to achieve something every day - even if it's a tiny little thing. Less pressure and a helluva lot more success and happiness to be had that way. I'm not sure that major goals are the key to achieving ANYthing...especially when you consider that life changes so dramatically at the drop of the proverbial hat - how can anyone plan that far ahead? Here are my daily goals:

* Don't be so hard on myself.
* Consider someone else before myself.
* Learn something new.
* Remember to smile. 
* Listen to music, make art, or enjoy a beautiful view - if you can do all three, so much the better.
* Achieve something - even if it's just washing the dishes when I really can't be bothered!

I find that small things and little successes are what get me through, even when things are tough, and they build up and make me feel stronger and more confident so that when life throws a curve-ball, I'm set up to deal with it.

I do have a really big decision this year - personally, that is. I have to decide whether to pursue art as a full-time career. It would mean focussing all my time on being an artist, which is a bit scary.... It's a lot easier to make the jump if there's money to fund it, but the prospect of losing everything is a worry; I think it's important to make the decision though - if I don't give 100%, how can I expect to know whether anything will work out? Same with any job I guess!  I'll think about it all this week and hopefully the inspiration fairy will guide me as to which way to jump! Wish me luck!

The prompt for this decision comes after an art-intensive month painting and making stuff for Christmas - I am OH so sure you know what I mean! As promised, in this post I'll be showing you my hand-painted wrapping paper.  I know... I mean, there're SO many gorgeous designs released by gift companies EVERY year - and they're all pretty darned cheap, if I'm honest, but I REALLY like making my own gift wrap. I don't know why! It adds a LOT of work to an already busy schedule, but when it's done it makes the gift completely original-looking and that makes me happy...so I guess it's worthwhile!   I used to decorate paper with stamped images... then I drew patterns like snowflakes, or holly leaves and stuff... then I went a bit mental and, well, I ended up with these:

These are painted - with very little planning, I'm afraid, onto the heavy duty kraft paper that I use for my mail order sales. Once they're dry I give them a quick 'foof' with laquer spray then crumple the heck outta the paper.  When it's flattened out again it leaves all the scrumptious peakes and wrinkles that I highlight with golden gilding wax. It FEELS like a kind of heavy duty fabric which is weird but also awesome! I paint the designs to fit the parcel so that when it's done I can get most of the picture showing on the front, with space for decoration.

You can see the crumples a bit better on this one - the first two were photographed hastily as they were scheduled to be wrapped around pressies and sent THAT DAY to my wonderful friend down in London - before his Christmas work rush started again! I've also made HEAVY use of the Winsor and Newton gold ink this Christmas - it dries a LOT like gold leaf and has a really classy shimmer to it.

The plain kraft paper colour is FINE once the parcel's wrapped - it looks kinda rustic, and ya knows I'm all abouts the vintage, baby! I do like things looking rumpled and loved.

I also opted to use the theme of 'Christmas baubles' throughout my art and my wrapping this year and decided that I wanted to make pom-pom baubles to adorn the pressie boxes. I was OB-SESSED with pom-pom making as a kid - must have driven everyone mad! I still had immense fun making some HUGE pom-pom decorations and as a bonus, I got a mahoosive bag of off-cuts (from trimming them to even them out) which will make THE most excellent toy stuffing - lookee:

Foofy! Once the pom-poms were all done I added some stickles for sparkle-ness (now a word, thank you) and tied some pretty enamel jingly bells into them - they looked so pretty! And I KNOW my mum - she'll never ever put a present decoration away...OH no! They're all hanging round her house - so these had to be pretty enough for that.  See - proof that she hangs stuff everywhere...:

...Not that I'm any better - I do exactly the same thing...

They're there for the year now. Yup.  Apart from anything else, I feel that Han Solo is FAR happier when surrounded by pretty festive things. *sigh*.... no life.....

Back to the paper - here are a few more piccies I took to show you - hope you like them!

I think my love of colour and texture takes over. I managed to incorporate everything I'd wanted to - the rustic kraft paper combined with bright festive colours, tartan patterns and bows, pom-poms, foxes (very awesome are foxes) and, of course, Santa and his elf helpers!! I made that Santa bag from the kraft paper with gusseted sides and a piece of card in the base to strengthen it - it was mum's Christmas 'stocking'! I think they all came out ok....

The holly patterned bag with sticks poking out is a bunch of chocolate-coated marshmallows - ideal for hot chocolate and REALLY easy to make. It's a very affordable Christmas gift for friends and neighbours and looks really quite lovely when you add a little pretty ribbon and a gift tag. 

Ok - that's my latest festive arty instalment and some thoughts on new year. I'm off now to open a lovely bottle of red wine and attempt NOT to fall asleep before midnight. I'll be off in the Land of Nod by 10pm..... I know it!

I'd like to send you all the very best of all lovely sparkly wishes for a WONDERFUL journey into 2014 - may the year bring all of us happiness, success and peace. And some cash. And possibly a flying pony. You know - the basics! Love and hugs to all! - Shroo :) xxx

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

**2014** 

Hidden Treasures 'Life's Journey' Art Book

Aaaaaaaah... Sunday.......Aaaaaaaaaaah....*Sips cup of tea*....... The perfect day for putting my feet up, enjoying a good brew and just plain ignoring all the things I still have to do! I'll get to it manana....

Are we all enjoying the weekend? I do hope so! Here in England it's grey and bleak outside, but we've had a reasonable week of bright skies so that's not so bad. I have another project that I'd like to share - it's one of my finished Hidden Treasures - Art Books. These bring me real joy to make and do take quite some time, as (unlike an art journal or similar project) I want every page to be perfect and exactly how I like it. This book measures a little over 9cm x 9cm square and the base pages are blank coasters altered with a combination of vintage collage and mixed media application. The book is bound with vintaged binder d-rings, decorated with a plethora of charms and trinkets which nestle within some seam binding ribbons and hand-dyed yarns.

The covers and pages have a vintage or retro feel to them - which I personally love. These books are all a part of me and they reflect my likes and interests.

The fastening is a seam binding ribbon bow,  adorned with italian glass hand-blown lampwork heart bead, two with delicate white glass ribbon design, and two 'Fantasy Rose' beads, with a rich old-gold and delicate pink design.

I like to add hidden messages or books inside these projects - this 'Life's Journey' book features a little secret book which opens to reveal artwork based on my deep love of nature and wildlife as well as little motivational words:

The other pages in the book were completed as individual works of art before binding and I'm extremely pleased with the final results - I hope you like them too:

The sunshine page was completed upon my return after a car journey in the countryside, watching the evening sun sink behind the hills and the gold of the rays looking like liquid metal flowing over the land below. I used melted gold wax with extra real gold powder to reflect the memory I had of that moment. The 'bloom & grow' page was completed after watching the seed heads of flowers in the garden releasing their tiny parachutes into the wind. They would fly far and wide and grow in some tough landscapes, providing beauty and a habitat for wildlife wherever they grew.

My 'Love Yourself...' page is a reflection of my belief that whoever we are and whatever kind of life we lead, we forget to appreciate our own uniqueness. We are each a work of art in our own way, and if we can learn to love ourselves in an honest way, we will truly bloom. The sea-side page was created after looking at family photos of trips to the seaside. I love the sea and sea-shore and it holds perfect memories of adventure and happiness with family members now long gone. I wanted to capture the idea of these days with this vintage design stamp, which reminds me a little of my grandmother, along with the real tiny sea-shells, and the silver coin - pirate treasure!

This 'Serenity' page is simply inspired by my mood on that day. I love the images and colours - it gives me a sense of peace. The other page is my tribute to the people who are not BORN into our lives, but who choose to love us and be there for us in times of need as well as in carefree times. TRUE friendship is worth more than anything. I've chosen to extend the image beyond the border of the page as gives more interest to the book as a whole. I also added some little metal embellishments - I love the look of them against the rest of the page.

There's a fine line between 'exploring' and 'escaping'....sometimes one leads to the other in some way, but I feel we all need to find the balance there so that we can make clear choices for ourselves. The 'walk the line' page was created after thinking about this  - I like to represent (and exorcise!) my thoughts and ideas artistically and symbolically. The matching page is such a representation....time passes quickly which can make us feel sad and unfulfilled,but we forget all the skills we've collected, the important lessons that have been learned, and all the beauty we've seen. Rather that looking wistfully at landmark birthdays past, we should look towards the future and the landmarks we'll create for ourselves! Experience guides us to possibilities.

My 'Follow Your Heart' page was created straight after the previous page and is a continuation of my feelings on that day. I love heart shapes and I'll include them as often as possible! My little Bluebird of Happiness is just that - an expression of joy! I'd been playing music and singing along (my poor neighbours!) and felt so happy! We should ALL sing whenever we feel like it! Little bluebird is painted with a mixture of acrylic paints, cosmic shimmer paints and acrylic inks.

"Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight -

I wish I may, I wish I might

Have this wish I wish tonight!"

But I have SOOOO many wishes! And there are SOOOO many stars! I'm gonna wish every wish I can! These stars are painted with shimmer mica paints, decorated with spirals - the life path - and individually enamelled. I like the kind of 1950s retro colours and pattern.

 Oh - you KNEW there'd be a mermaid in there somewhere! I'm currently working on a 'Mermaid Realm' book - MUCHO mermaidness! I just loved this happy little image of the girl on the stunning papers from Graphic 45 and she HAD to have a tail! What could be better than being a mermaid? She's painted with layers of blue and green, then finished with shimmering gold accompanied by her friend, the sea-turtle (vintage illustration), swimming across a genuine Japanese washi paper square which is itself highlighted with gold ink designs. I love this page!

The edges of the book are all painted, inked and then gilded to create a splendid vintage look and feel. I enjoy adding texture to my work, so when it came to the final page, I used some modelling paste to stencil these yummy orange circles as an accent to this page. This was pure self-indulgence - all those hearts and happy colours!

Thank you so much for looking - hope you've enjoyed the post. Is there anything you'd like to see on this blog? Do you have suggestions about what arty crafty things you'd like me to post? Why not leave a comment or email me and let me know - I'd love to hear from you! As always - love and hugs, Shroo :) xxx

Happy Thoughts!

Hi again!

Hope you had a lovely weekend? Welcome to September! Look what I found hiding behind my bedroom curtain today -

How lovely is that?! Wasn't expecting such a lovely little visitor, but there ya go! As you can see I managed to transfer my guest to a more suitable habitat and after a bijou drinky it flew off quite happily. Awwww.

So, today's been one of those surprisingly BUSY days - lots of small jobs to do which seem to take FOREVER! However, I found some time this afternoon for a li'l project which is made entirely from scraps and bits 'n' pieces. I wanted to make a little thing to post here today as a surprise for my mum if she checks my blog as she might need a cheery up thingy! I found a piece of off-cut packing cardboard and some scrap paper and made a little country scene, added some chipbard shapes (from my hoard!) and added some shading and detail with a mixture of pens.

After sitting and staring at it for a while I decided that it HAD to be a little wall hanging so I pierced some holes with my book-binding awl, threaded through some turquoise craft wire and added some ribbon and yarn offcuts, beads and charms -

 

....then added a wire hanger, wrapped in organza ribbon and yarn and a li'l 'HAPPY THOUGHTS' motto and TA-DAH!

 

 It might just be scraps but it made me happy to make it! Hope you like it mum! MWAH! - Shroo:)x