Freebie free freeeebo digital stamp : Willow

 

Free digi stamp illustration "Willow"

I haven't coloured her in for you this week - as I thought I would leave that to you :)

If you want to link me to her coloured so I can include a sample here -please pop me an email :)

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October half term.......

What have you been up to this half term holiday?

We have... in no particular order:

Played in the park wrapped up in warm...

and cosy animal hats..

gathered pupmkins (6 to be exact)

adopted an elf... who arrived mid week and caused much excitment for the child within me..

needle felting a dinosuar....

 plenty of face painting...

Yup... that's me as a tiger and Fin as a... um... red thing. (dinosaur  mask perhaps?)

And finally making spiced caramel apple cupcakes with delicious frosting... *bloat*

And not photographed:

• pyjamma time
• movie watching
• cake eating
• paper sticking
• spatula  licking
• guinea pig cuddling 
• disney singing 
• and pumpkin carving

:)

Apart from the fact that the prize is art and not chicken....

ok.

Anyway whoo - here are the winners!

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A: Ger76

B: Julie

C: Shelia

D: Denise

E: Tagati

F: Lynda

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The videos are very of Finlay choosing the winners, so please don't expect much professionalism lol!
Also - they go a bit crazy around the end of D, and E and F are all combined lol.

A: B: C: D: E & F:

Take one #3

It is Tuesday Take One Day! I have made a new video for my entry this week which you can watch here:

So - who joined in and let me know?

Julie made a gorgeous page inspired by her art journal HERE

And AliT made a fabulous page inspired by one of her previous layouts HERE

There are some lovely entries over at UKS too.

If you want to join in, and blog it - please link back - I will add your entry to the next video blog.

The great art giveaway

Well.. I call it "the great art giveaway" but I hasten to add that I don't by any stretch of the imagination call my paintings great, but "The mediocre art giveaway" didn't have the same ring to it!

(I've totally put myself down there haven't I?)

Anyway - as my regular readers know, I have moved house this year - and our decor and my storage has seriously changed, in the fact that we have no storage!

These paintings have been in a pile outside my bedroom door since we moved, and I have decided that they are doing nothing good sitting there - and perhaps someone else (maybe you?) would want one?

So - how this will work is - if you want one - leave a comment with which painting you want (you can choose more than one) and I will put all the names for each one in a hat and Finlay will choose a random comment for each painting. All I will ask, is that you can cover the cost of the postage of the painting you "win"

OK... so here goes!!!!

*nervous*

I think I will cry if no-one comments lol!

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A

Large sitting angel  - Size: 24" x 24"

CLOSE UP:

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B

Three canvas painting Body and two wings -  each canvas is size 12" x 12" (so 36" in length without gap!)

 close up:

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C

Angel with golden blonde hair - size 12" x 9"

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D

Angel with pale hair - Size: 12" x 9"

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E

Red Elemental - Size 8" x 24"

 _______________________________

F

Blue Elemental - Size: 8" x 24

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So if you want any - leave a comment with the letter of the painting / paintings you like,

with a contact email. 

I will do the draw for the paintings on Wednesday so don't be shy if you want one.

Ok... be warned... I am going to mention *christmas* in this post...

Finlay will be turning four in a few weeks.

Gone are the days when I had a toddler, I now have a small man with a GIANT sense of humour.

I am a happy mummy, but also since the birth of Laura's baby I am also broody. *cluck cluck*  our "nest" is too small for a second though, probably for the best!

Ok - so that said, I felt it time to start a new Christmas tradition, and considering his sense of humour, I know he will LOVE this a huge amount.

Ever heard of  "The Elf on the shelf" ?

I hadn't till the delightful world of Pinterest enlightened me, and I managed to get so worked up with the possibilities that I am now the proud owner (when it arrives) of a house elf.

Ok - so what is the elf on the shelf?

It is a story that is all based around a magic elf, who watches the children of the house in the day time and reports back to Santa at night with their good or bad behaviour. *already I love - but it gets better*

When the elf returns, he performs some sort of mischief before the day begins...

 

like doodling over a family photo...

or replacing all the photographs with his own photo...

but mainly - he "positions" himself somewhere in the house for the children to find in the morning.

I love it.

A L O T

And - It will make a sweet addition to JYC this year - a mini book in it's own right maybe!

Little Musings = Art Journal stamps. Friday Musing

This week I have tried something a little different -
I've made a kit with art journals, altered art and smashbooks in mind. 

The kit features "Laney" in two colourways, hearts, wings, a journal block, typewriter and wings.

Laney has strong lines in her hair to include journal writing (as does the journal block rectangle)

As always - she comes in outline form and coloured versions.

 If  you like her - you can purchase her from the shop :) HERE

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I printed her on watercolour paper and used Aqua markers to colour her in. 

As you can see, her hair provides some cute space for your journal writing.

LOVING these name prints

I am seriously loving making these name prints - and have loved being allowed a little peek into people's worlds, their likes and values etc.

I have had a few emails about the likes prints - and would like to answer a few questions in case you too have wondered about them:

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Q: Do I need to give you my age?

A: No :)  I do LOVE the age on the prints as it "dates" them in your life etc but 2011 can be added instead, or even omitted totally making room for a few more "likes" etc. 

If you can imagine it, I will do my best to design you it.

Q: Can I choose any colours?

A: Yes!! You can give me a colour spectrum choice, or simply say "pinks and purples" etc and I will send you sample colours before we finalise the finished print.

Q: Do you ship outside the UK?

A: You betcha! - email if you want a quote

Q: How can I purchase if I don't have a folksy account?
A: Folksy is free to join, and it means you can support cool artists in their endeavour to sell their beautifully handcrafted items - but if that still doesn't float your boat - I have installed a BuyItNow button at the end of this post (just cos' I loves ya!!)

Q:What is the meaning of life?

A: Macaroons, warm socks in winter, pumpkin soup and the smell of shake'n'vac of course!

(oh - and owning a little musings name print - naturally!!!) 

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Variations of design:

FAMILY LIKES £8.00 FAMILY VALUES £8.00 PERSONAL NAME LIKES £8.00 OTHER - please state desired title £8.00

winner winner!

Finlay chose the number 8 to win the pretty paper party pass to Shimelle's latest class.

And that means YOU Lythan :)

Email me sarahjanedowsett(at)gmail(dot)com

Sorry if you didn't win! But you can still sign up and join in!

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FREEBIE digital stamp = digi brain in jar for halloween

I know I missed the musing last week - soz about that :( life etc

Anyway - to try and make amends I am offering a mid week Halloween freebie!

Brain in a jar. Obviously. lol!

all you need to do - is right click, save, print, colour and do whatever your beautifully twisted mind allows you to do.

It is not the first time in my life I have drawn a brain in a jar.

This will be the third. Weirdly.

hah!

Special party post

There are online classes for everything these days, and Shimelle has been teaching online scrapbooking classes for years - but she's decided it's time to kick it up a bit and go from online class to a four-week online party, and you're invited.  Pretty Paper Party is the party to attend if you have a collection of paper stacked up for a rainy day, if you have more scraps of paper than you know what to do with (but you know you don't want to throw them away!) and if you've ever put a piece of paper back in your stash because it was just too special for the photos at hand.  Through printable prompts and tutorial videos, Shimelle and dozens of special party guests will share beautiful and innovative techniques you can achieve with the paper you have already collected.

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What's more - I have been asked to guest for her - and that means I have a guest pass to win a place on the class! It has already started - but all the best people turn up fashionably late to parties right!?

Here is a sneak one of my projects:

Wanna win? leave me a comment on this post and I will draw the winner this time tomorrow:

3pm GMT.

"If you had to wear a paper dress to a party - what paper would you choose?!"

Mine would be Cosmocricket Early Bird - I love that pattern!

My finger is sore.

I will explain why in a moment.

Before I do - look at this picture from my brothers wedding....

I LOVE  smooshed face from lots of kissing!

MWUAH!

My hair looks really matted in this.. I swear to you it was shiny and soft, even if it could do with a trim..

That over with *swoon* it is my favourite time of year...

PUMPKIN PATCH TIME!

There is an awesome farm shop near us, which every year has the hugest display of pumpkins ever (well... not ever,.. but a large one by UK standards) And every year I sit my son in the middle of them and snap away. I need to go back with my camera, as I had forgotten to pack it when we passed the other day, and even though I love my iphone for it's crisp images, I longed for my canon. Oh well - back to the pumpkin patch we go *yiippeeee*

we bought two mini ones, and one large white one...

and Ben is trying to convince me to carve this... *geez* he is LEGO obsessed.

I found out the other day that folks in the US call lego - Legos (plural), as in "Today I played with my legos"

heheh. I actually love it - and does in fact make odd grammatical sense.

what doesn't make sense however, is Finlay's body clock.

He just loves 5:something am. So cruel on a Sunday - unless you live on a farm and need to get up to feed the livestock. But we don't live on a farm.

So what else do you do at 5am odd?

Well - today I played Cheese or Font and then when that got old, somewhere around Kaufman and Castlemango, I decided I wanted to turn one of my digi angel stamps into a needle felt angel...

Which - is why my finger and thumb are so sore... as 6am needle felting will do that to you it seems.

Anywhoo - she still needs eyes... but those fundamentals aside meet my fourth ever needle felt project.

I would show you number three... but it is shamefully poor. Maybe another day.

I hope your weekend has been pumpkintastic.

Family Values and Family Likes

New in over at the Little Musings Folksy shop are "Family Likes" and "Family Values" prints.

These make perfect gifts, all of which are designed from scratch (not word clouded!!)

And all for £8. Why so cheap? - Simple, I really wanted to offer something under £10 for people to order as Christmas or everyday gifts without having to spend a fortune!

The mounted print fits perfectly into an A4 frame:

Here is mounted Family Likes print:

And here is a framed example with Family Values:

and another:

Needle felting!

I have discovered a new hobby...

Needle felting!

It all started when I was looking at a needle felt owl on Etsy which was about 2" high and £40!

I thought "cripes!" I think I am going to learn that technique... not because I want to make £40 selling felted owls.. but more because I don't want to spend £40 on one!!!

So anywhoo... I spent less than £5 on ebay and bought a little set of Wool roving and a couple of needles.

When it arrived, I spent a few minutes working out how to use the needles and within 30 mins had made a 1" king fisher heheh!

 *disclaimer* - I am well aware of my amateur talent - but be kind, it was my first go!!!

(He kinda looks like one of the angry birds doesn't he?)

It really was easy! If anyone has fancied giving it a go.. do! It is a properly cheap hobby!

This is my second ever project....

He stands about 3" tall, and is currently hanging from my bedpost before he gets hung on my Christmas tree!

Oh how I love him heheheh!!

*If you have come here today for the Friday musing - I have had a crazy day, and I will be posting it tomorrow instead! xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Take one #2 - Second installment of my take one challenge videos

Hey all!

It is "Take one Tuesday" -  And I have episode 2 of my video installments for you today

*eeep*

Here is the link to the UKS chat thread

And here is my page that I will be taking inspiration from this fortnight:

Using 'over sized' embellishments compared to the actual photo.

I love this because I already know it means there will be white space on my new page woo!

Ok - now it's your turn! What page will you choose from your albums to inspire yourself with?

Don't forget to link back either here or on the thread.

I am going to do a post later on showing you the work that people have linked me to over the fortnight, so if you have done the challenge and blogged it - please link me so I can include you.

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