'Random Notes' Wall Hanging

Dear friends,

I had fun creating another off-the-page project for Scrappingville. It is sort of random thoughts on my life in general. Most of the items I used were every day objects i.e mismatched metal clips, measuring tapes (from sewing kit), fabric scraps, pattern paper scraps and wooden beads.

The squares are just slightly bigger than the typical 'inchies', so enough room for embellies :). I used pattern papers, cloths, tissue papers (decoupaged) and fabric tapes to cover the chipboard squares. I also used pieces of mica sheets, which was neat. They are transparent and can be peeled off quite easily. 

Here are some of the close-up shots of these squares;

Start looking around the house for some treasures :). With some imaginations (and love, of course) and a little upcycle work, you would create a keepsake trendy enough as wall decor. 

I will be teaching how to make this wall hanging (from scratch) at Scrappingville store this July. Come join us if you're in town and have some spare time for creating art :).

Till then, see you soon.

XO,

Shahrul 

Supplies:

Collection Elements: Elegant Labels, Artistic Expression Uppercase, button chipboards; 7 Gypsies fabric tape, Tim Holtz: newsprint tissue paper, clock face; mica sheets, fabric scraps, paper flowers, door hinge, brown canvas sheet, metal clips, ribbon-lace, metal buckles.

'Artsy Village' Envelope Mini Album for Scrappingville

Dear friends,

I have been slowly building a mini album of little houses for weeks!. Which was unbelievably slow for me, I was searching ideas high and low for making this mini album :). Finally it all came together and here is the finished project;

The Graphic 45 Black Policy envelope mini album is part of my lovely July DT kit. I turned the envelopes into several little homes, full of inspirational notes. Just last month, I painted little houses in my art journal called 'Happy Nest' and I liked it so much that I wanted to make little houses mini album!.

I used wooden beads, skeleton keys, a drawer pull (a flea market find), a door handle and lots of ribbons and laces for additional interest. Every page is dedicated for one alphabet and I embellished that page with everything inspiring regarding that word. For instance; my first house is called ART (A for Art) and another house named BEAUTY (B for Beauty). I was able to squeeze 10 alphabets from A to J. 

I will be teaching how to make this envelope mini album @ Scrappingville store starting this July. We update our classes schedule every 1st of the month. So, check us out and you're up for a very fun creating time!.

Hugs,

Shahrul

Supplies: 

Graphic 45: Black Policy Envelope Mini Album, Alphabet Stickers; Glitz Teeny Alpha; Collection Elements:  6" X 6" Designer Papers "French Wallpapers", Elegant labels, dictionary strips, Artistic Expressions Lowercase, Artistic Expressions Uppercase, Mini Melange; 7 Gypsies fabric tape.

Guest Design for CCCB Week #15 - Make A Gift

Dear friends,

This week, I have the honor to guest design again at City Crafter Challenge Blog Week #115. Thank you so much, Kirsty for the chance at sharing my work at CCCB :). 

This week's challenge theme is Make A Gift, and I have made a tiny doily necklace using humble materials. I saw this gorgeous necklace on Pinterest and have been drooling over it for quite sometime now. So I decided to make one for this week's challenge.

The inspiration: Gorgeous necklace I saw on Pinterest.

Doily necklace that I made:

Materials I used to make the necklace; I used a doily, a crochet flower, jump rings, pearl string and an old necklace. A good friend had given me gorgeous doilies recently and I knew I had to turn it into a necklace. I saved time by NOT making the necklace from scratch. Just need to attach jump rings to the doily and embellish it with a pearl string.

I made this necklace with a single thought of giving it away to one lucky reader. And I like to add a bracelet (a flea market bargain) to go with the necklace :).

Do you like to win them?. Just leave a comment for this blog post and I'll enter your name into a draw. I'll pick a winner this Sunday, July 1st @ 12.00 pm Malaysian Time. Good Luck!.

Hugs,

Shahrul

Summer Of Colors - Week 3

Dear friends,

We are progressing with our third week @ Summer Of Colors Challenge. This week, Kristin of Twinkle Twinkle has chosen Baseball Nut ice-cream as our flavor/color prompt. So berry-licious. 

Week 3 Inspiration: Baseball Nut ice-cream

The completed project: Berry-licious Bookmarks!

I'm using mostly ribbons and lace made of silk, velvet and cotton materials. Metal embellishments are beads from old bracelet and old earrings. These bookmarks are fun no-stitch project and took about two hours to ensemble. 

Used jewelry making tools to attach the little beads and charms to the ribbon-bookmarks. They are heavy enough to hold the bookmark in-place (stay flat across the pages).

Another fun project to make this week! :). Until then, happy creating.

Hugs,

Shahrul

Fly like Butterflies

My journal pages today are mostly inspired by one of my walkabout photos I took, the pebbly sidewalk. At first I thought of drawing circles but that'd be too much work :). I took a faster approach, used punchinella instead.

 Inspiration: Pebbly sidewalk

The finished pages;

I started by adhering bits and pieces of newsprint tissue papers randomly on the pages. Finger-painted on tissue paper patches some pink metal gloss paint (Inka Gold). Painted outside these circles some antique pink acrylic paint and let dry. I like Donna Downey's Inspirational Wednesday post on image transfer, but I suck at it. I love the many butterflies in her journal so much and thinking ... I could stamp THAT! :).

After that I dabbed dark green acrylic paint all over the page. Turned around punchinella with leftover paint and dabbed to opposite page. Repeat this step with burnt sienna and dark green colors. Stamped some butterflies and drew circles around tissue paper patches with liquid correction pen. Repeated with black india ink and let some ink to drip. 

Lastly, I added mini-melange and artistic expressions words from Collection Elements. Love the tissue paper patches with smudges of pink metal gloss paint (Inka Gold).

After all these done... then only I realized, I've been painting my pages, UPSIDE DOWN!. I didn't notice which way was up since I totally covered the journal covers from any mishaps. How silly is that?. LOL. Anyway, something to smile at when I open my journal in the future :).

See you in my next excursion. Happy painting.

Hugs,
Shahrul

P/s; Come play along with us @ LESSology Challenge #15 - The Bookends Challenge and have a chance at winning $25 Gift Certificate from EAD Designs.  

A Happier Graffiti Page

Dear friends,

I created just another graffiti page last night. This time, a happier, more colorful take on this intriguing art (graffiti). 

Inspiration: Space graffiti wall I saw in town.

The completed journal pages:

I did not use any acrylic paint at all. Yes!. Just some doodling with black Sharpie, colorful ZIG markers and liquid correction pen.

Background colors are from water-soluble crayons (smudged with wet finger), various washi tapes and stamped patterns. Can you see the intricate stamp patterns in gold ink?. Loving that.

This was such a quick page to complete. Needed minimal drying time, which I loved. Another journal spread with too many colors for my own good :). I hope you enjoy it too. 

See you soon; XO

Shahrul

Send Out Your Ray Of Sunshine :)

I woke up this morning to a sweet news from my friend, Kelly of "From A Mother's Art". She had presented me with Sunshine Blogger Award :). I feel humbled by the love and the thought. Thanks, Kelly!. She is one creative soul, take a minute to visit her lovely blog. 

I realized now that just by sharing my art, I could do my part to help others make this world a happier place. I feel that a little love and inspirations goes a long way and I like to continue doing just that.

A few rules associated with this award;

1. Display the logo (above) in your post.

2. Answer 10 questions about yourself (may borrowed from your nominator, or create your own).

3. Nominate 5 other bloggers, link them in your post, and comment on their blog to announce about the award.

4. Share the love and link the person who nominated you.

So, here are 10 things you may not know about me :)

1. My inspirations: Colors, Nature, Patterns, Songs, Food.

2. My passion: Altered art, Mixed-media art, Guitar.

3. Favorite singer: Josh Groban.

4. Favorite Author: Lorna Byrne.

5. Favorite Stars: The Pleiades (in the Constellation of Taurus).

6. What I'm listening to right now: Mi Morena (Josh Groban).

7. Favorite city: San Francisco.

8. What I do if I'm not making art: Yoga, play with my cats, walk downtown for tea/coffee.

9. What I wish to do more: Gardening, traveling, stargazing.

10. Favorite Movie: The Sound of Music (cuz I could sing along!)

I'm passing the award to (in alphabetical order);

* Kirsty of Handmade Little things

* Lalo of Crafting in LALA-land

* Lisa of You Made Me Ink!

* Mazlina of Scrapperocks!

* Yvonne of Do More With Less 

Lovely artists, you deserve it. 

Love & Hugs,

Shahrul 

Summer of Colors : Week 2

Hi friends,

Kristin of Twinkle Twinkle has gave us the second week's color/flavor prompt; Mint Chocolate Chips Ice-cream. So tempted to buy every flavor of ice-cream every week, but will that be too fattening?. Hmmm... 

The inspiration;

Yum!

The finished project; Mint Chocolate Chip necklace!. 

I  visited Deanne Williamson's blog one day and she made a very beautiful wooden beads necklace. She is so clever!. You could find a very simple how-to-make tutorial on her blog too. I decided to give it a try and it was tricky at first making the knots, but it was all good fun!. Pretty quick project, took less than an hour knot all the beads together.

The raw materials are wooden beads, some metal beads (not in the picture) and four different colors of DMCs treads. You have to make very big, bold knots (3 -4 loops) to keep the beads in place. I painted the round wooden beads with aqua acrylic paint and dripped with purple artist ink. Spritzed with water to dilute the ink and let dry. 

I tied four metal beads (from an old bracelet) to loop-end the necklace. I didn't use any clasp for closure (just tied another knot). The necklace is long enough to go around my head. 

I couldn't believe how easy this was. Easier than making charm bracelets. Try it, someday :). Have a good Monday!.

Hugs,
Shahrul

A gift from the Universe

I walk a lot. To run errands, to go lunch or just have a quiet time on my own at the park. Just yesterday while about to cross a small road, there was a little breeze and I saw a tiny white feather falling from the sky. But there were no birds!.  Wow, I said ... a Forest Gump moment. I picked it up and went home smiling, knowing that someone is watching over me :). 

And my journal today is a tribute to the beautiful Universe. My gratitude for the love and light that fills me from the heavens.

I'm playing with image transfer and boy, it was hard to get a good one!. 

The two large orange fuzzy blobs were image-transfer-went-wrong. LOL. I wanted to imitate the distant nebulae in faraway galaxies in our universe. I added multiple layers of orange/yellow/tan soft pastels and watered down gesso to get the depth of these gaseous heavenly bodies. I especially love splashing diluted gesso on the page to create the stars :).

Yeah, that was the feather that came to me :). Added a few strips of washi tapes and tissue papers before finger painted the page with aqua acrylic paint. I think aqua is the better color than black for the dark space of the universe. And here are my three cats making a debut appearance on my art journal pages. Love them to bits!.

Don't forget to hop over to LESSology Challenge #15: Bookends. You could be wining EAD Designs $25 Gift Certificate. Great deal.

Till next, have a great Friday!. 

Hugs,

Shahrul

Liebster Blog Award!

Hi friends, 

I woke up this morning to the sweetest news I've got on my blog. Jennifer Lee of Create More Light has presented me with Liebster Blog Award. I'm overjoyed and honored to receive one since I'm still new to artful blogging. Nonetheless, I am as passionate as everyone else in creating art and sharing them with friends and family. Such a joy to have met mind-like artistic souls here. 

I first visited Jenn's blog when I started blogging my art journal pages, just less than a month ago. She has the most amazing detail, the most whimsical art journals!!. You'll be delighted with her art work instantaneously.

Once you've received the award, you'd want to spread the love. Pick 3 of your favorite blogs (preferably with less than 100 followers) to pass on the award to them. It is so positive that creative people share their interests, work and experience with everyone. Enough love to go around it seems :).

Here are blogs that make me super-happy;

She Who Stamps & Scraps by Marjie Kemper. She is uber-talented mixed media artist who will blow your mind with her breathtaking funky stamping creations!

Next is Whimsical Ideas by Nida Razali. Love her Of The Page whimsical art work, full of curiosity objects & gems from flea market and her vintagy style.

And From A Mothers Art by Kelly-ann Oosterbeek. I'm calling her my Kaiser queen of scrapbook layouts, who creates beautifully embellished artwork and always make me smile.

I hope you'll enjoy visiting them soon :).

Hugs,

Shahrul 

Seeing Yellow

Dear friends,

I was blog hopping last night (while lounging on my bed). So tired, I dozed off ... and woke up two hours later. On my laptop screen I saw Alisa Burke's yellow flats, staring at me. I was reading her Fashion Friday post before dozing off. THAT yellow flats really made me want to doodle a page or two. Like, immediately. It was 2.00 am ... and sleep can wait, I say.

Inspiration : Alisa Burke's statement flats.

What I created: Doodled pages.

Brushed red & green acrylic paint over stencils. Dabbed left over paint (on stencils) on opposite pages. Let dry. Glued on some printed tissue papers over stenciled images. Colored entire pages with yellow soft pastel. Spritzed with water while smudging soft pastel with wet finger. Let dry. 

Started doodling with a black sharpie, liquid correction pen and black india ink. Dabbed leftover black india ink over another stencil. Finished off with sticking green washi tapes & DYMO labels 'Lets Get Doodled'. All of these done in 1-hours time.

I like to do more of this (not the dozing off at the computer late at night), but journaling about everyday small things that inspire me to create :). Spot anything that strikes your fancy and journal about it :). How about giving this a try?.

I'm linking up this post to Julie's Balzer Designs : Art Journal Every Day.

Have fun,

Shahrul.

Note To Self

First page of the second art journal. I'm still in the hot pinks & oranges mood, after much staring at the yummy ice-cream. LOL. 

I wanted to use the bright orange journal earlier, but I changed my mind. I'll start with the blue-green instead. 

This was what I made last night; a note to myself.

I dabbed some leftover orange texture paste over a stencil and left it to dry overnight. First thing I did was to draw horizontal thick lines with soft pastels and finger-wet them. Splat some purple & yellow acrylic artist ink and quickly spritzed some water over it. Let it completely dried.

Adhere a measuring tape and circled the numbers. Lastly, wrote down some notes to myself. Yup ... I still need to remind myself to walk slowly and listen to the birds singing.

There you have it. First time using ALL colors of the rainbow on one page. Feels so good. Till next, take care.

~Shahrul~

More Yummy Journals

Hi again,
Just a quick post. I've been making some fabric-covered journals lately. Loved it so much I can't stop making them!. LOL. They'll keep. The last thing to worry about is running out of journals, right? 

I made them in 2 different styles; one with buttons on the front cover (Plaid Journals) and the second with button strapped on the side (Orange Sherbet Journals). I used thick acrylic papers (350 sgm) to make the pages for the 'Plaid Journals'. 

I used thinner watercolor papers (200 sgm) for the 'Orange Sherbet' journals. Can you believe that I did not use a single stitch to make them?. Just glue, double-sided tapes & strings!. So much fun :).

Yeah, she IS ... every where.

Okay, that's it. Gotta go. Have great Monday.

Hugs,
Shahrul

The Summer Of Color 2012!

Dear friends,

I came across a very interesting, six-week-long-challenge called The Summer Of Color 2012 while reading Sandi's blog post recently. The blog's author of Twinkle Twinkle, Kristin chooses six different ice-cream flavors/colors as the themes to go by each week for the next six weeks. Already SO delicious!. The ice cream flavor for this week is 'Rainbow Sherbet'. Look at those colors!!. So Yummy, I can't help it but I just have to create something with bold oranges, pinks, yellow and a touch of white.

The Inspiration: 'Rainbow Sherbet;

The finished project: My new art journal

I even 'iced' it up with some texture paste tinted in orange!

The timing could'nt be more perfect, as I just filled up my first art journal. I need a second art journal and this challenge has inspired me to create one with vivid delicious colors!

I LOVE that there are gazzilion projects you could create to link up to this challenge. Read more about this here. I hope to try make six projects; art journal, art jewelry, altered book, ATC, inchies and canvas art (by no means in chronological order).

I made my journal kind of looking like Donna Downey's 'Inspirational Journal' because of it is simple & practical. This journal is made of fabric covers, 10 blank pages, paper (library cards) & envelope inclusions, cotton & leather strings and a very large button. This time I'm using thick acrylic papers (350 sgm) and so not to ruin it like the last time :)). 

I can't wait to splash paint on the pages already. And don't forget to hop over to LESSology's Bookend Challenge. Just include one old/recycled item in your creations!. See you soon.

Hugs,
Shahrul

I Did It :)

Hi friends,

I like to share my last page of the 'Happy Soul' art journal. I'm going to start another art journal very soon :).

 I was inspired by Linda Kunsman's post on spiritual growth and inspired to journal about the changes in me, discovering that yoga encourages calmness, openness and creativity.

I used a picture of a woman siting in lotus position (from Yoga International Magazine) as the focus on my page today. I painted and doodled around this image.

I started by sticking strips upon strips of decorative tissue papers onto my journal page. Then, washed the page with watered-down gesso. Drew a circle with fuschia watercolor crayon and yellow acrylic artist ink. Smudged the ink & crayon with baby wipes when they were still wet. 

When dried, stamped an image of a women's face. Then doodled with black india ink and correction liquid pen. Drew some scallops to the top & bottom of the page with fuschia crayon. Lastly, added some intricate lacy rubons.

Till next journal, adios.

Hugs,

Shahrul

What makes my heart flutter?

Hi friends,

Been meaning to share the photos from my inspirational 'walkabout' in town recently. All thanks to Alisa Burke who has shared fresh ideas on spotting little things that 'talked' to me. Great inspiration for art journals too.

Here are some things that make my heart flutters. {Mind my amateur photography :)}.

Inspiration #1: Chevron brick sidewalk.

Inspiration #2: Geometric tiles beneath water fountain.

Inspiration #3: Flowers wrap in paper.

Inspiration #4: White-washed wall.

Inspiration #5: Pebbly pavement.

Inspiration #6: Beaten up wall.

Inspiration #7: Old wooden windows with graffiti.

Inspiration #8: Screaming red brooms.

Inspiration #9: Delicate flowers.

Inspiration #10: Graffiti space art.

Amongst many of what I saw that day. Do they also talk to you??.

Hope that I would be able to create something out of these lovely things. I just started a little 'walkabout photography' notebook. So excited. Open your heart & look at things with different eyes. I tried and loving it. Happy Friday!

Hugs,

Shahrul