My love of Faery Ink started a few years ago whilst hunting for fairy images on Etsy and came across a cute butterfly catching one and a steampunk one. A few months later my collection was growing and I am now the proud owner of about 170 images! Wow! Even that number shocked me! I do know that there are quite a few I haven't used yet, so I need to change that!
I don't have a particular favourite Faery Ink image as it all depends on my mood and the style of project I am making, but I really do love the collections that Amanda has created this last year, especially the Ophelia in Wonderland and the Destiny in Oz collections. The canvas I made with the Oz collections is by far one of my favourite things I have ever made and it hangs in pride of place above my bedroom door, so I see it every time I walk out of the room. It still makes me smile! A lot!
As a busy primary school teacher, I tend to do all my crafting at the weekends as it gives me that much needed stress relief. I try, but don't always succeed, to colour during the week, when I have an evening off from marking, but my Saturday and Sunday daytimes are always spent crafting away! I use Copics as my medium of choice for at least 7 years now I think and feel that I am getting better and better with them all the time. I have been taking classes with Kit and Clowder as well as with Faye Wynne-Jones, although not as regularly as I want. I love watching tutorials online to see how different colourists do things differently I believe there is always room for improvement in my colouring and crafting, so am always willing to give new things a try too.
I do love making cards, but have also started this year to create more mixed media canvases and I also started a quote journal. This is basically a journal in which I create pages using an image and a quote that I like, a quote that may not be quite one I would use on a card, but one I love anyway and feel inspired by. Being an Alice in Wonderland fan, I just had to use this quote from her on one of my journals pages using the gorgeous Ophelia as Alice. This was the first page of my quote journal after reading this quote on Pinterest and kick started my whole project idea.
I am on several design teams at the minute, but have made the decision to cut back on some of these from the New Year to give myself more time to properly dedicate myself to the teams I am on. I think the attraction of being on a design team is amazing, but sometimes the work you need to put in to be an effective team member is more than expected. I have now decided I want to be on less design teams, but do the ones I am on more efficiently and effectively, being more active in the Facebook groups with members and fans and basically being a better design team member. In turn this will give me more time each week, possibly even daily, to spend online, creating projects and sharing them in social media, such as Pinterest and Facebook. I have also just signed up for Instagram, but need to have a play with this really to work out what I am doing on there! LOL Through my blog I enter as many of my projects as possible into various challenges as well as share them on Facebook and Pinterest and hopefully will be adding them to Instagram shortly too!
As from January, I will be on Art by Miran (Facebook Challenge Coordinator), Ching-Chou Kuik Challenge blog team, The Paper Shelter Design Team, My Besties Facebook New Release Team and Craft Box Design Team. This is a total of 11 expected projects each month, which, for me, is much more manageable than the 22 or so I have been doing the last few months. I know I will now be able to spend a lot more time creating different projects that take more time, such as 3D projects than I have been able to in the past due to time constraints. I don't generally sell my projects, but do give lots away to friends and family, but all my 3D projects are displayed around my bedroom/craft room, except for my Hallowe'en ones which are packed away ready to be displayed each year!
Design Teams are an important part of any designer's profile to help their images be noticed, to raise their profile, demonstrate the versatility of the images and to generate interest with other like-minded people. It is also a great opportunity for me to showcase my skills and style and to create something that not only I love, but that will hopefully inspire others too. I love colouring and creating and find that when I love an image, the colouring and creating is made so much easier. I find that I never lose my mojo when it comes to creating with Faery Ink images, which can happen with other images that I have to work with, rather than ones I have chosen to work with!
I have never really thought about what my higher purpose in life is. I guess as a teacher by day, my purpose is to teach, inspire and encourage others to develop themselves, to discover things that inspire them, that they will learn to love. I am a huge reader and am never without a book on the go and I try to instill that love of reading into my class every week. I tell them all about the books I read (without the gory details though as I read a lot of Urban Fantasy books, which can be a bit gruesome and not suitable for 9 year old ears!), but I want to inspire others and I hope that through my crafting I can inspire others there too. Maybe it sounds selfish and big headed, but I would love someone to look at one of my cards or projects and use it as an inspiration for their own - maybe just the colours I used, or the layout or something as simple as the embellishments I have used. I know I am constantly inspired by the projects I see and hope that I can do the same!
The sentiment on this canvas using the gorgeous Amber Postal Punk is just a perfect one for me! This was my first attempt at the mixed media canvas. I am usually too OCD to create something as random and "messy" as this, but I loved making it and it now hangs on my bedroom wall along with another one I have made and I have plans for even more of them as I want to create a whole collection using different styles, colours and images!
This is the project I have made using the gorgeous Fairy Queen Bee. Although I'm not a fan of bees in real life having been stung by one as a child, this image just emits a calming, peaceful feel to me and I love creating this card with her. This is my typical style - lots of layers, ribbons, frilly things and pretty die cuts!
Thank you to Amanda for being part of her design team for the last 6 months and thanks also for the opportunity in applying again!
No comments:
Post a Comment