Round Altered Jar: Beauty and the Beast

Today as I made my way to the craft area, I was distracted by a huge stack of discarded old story books sitting in a corner. As I began going through them, an idea popped into my head, why not use one of these for my altered jar project!  and that is exactly what I did.

You can call it an Altered Jar project or a Recycling project; your call :)


All you need for this project is:

• Box / Jar
• Picture
• Sentiment
• Some trim and ribbons
• Contrasting cardstock

I used an empty Body Butter jar, washed and dried. I removed the top label too made it nice and clean. And the story book I chose was Beauty and the Beast. I cut out the picture of Belle and the prince for my project.

Next came the sentiment; I didn't want a simple rectangle, so I traced out the desired tag shape making sure that it covers all the text, and nothing is cut off.

 Once that was done all I did was cut it out as accurately as possible.

This was the hard cover, thus extremely difficult to cut; but where there is a will, there is a way. The rough edges did not worry me much because I was going to distress them, and thus they would not be very obvious.

Next came the layering. Layering in my opinion is one of the simplest yet most beautiful technique. It adds a lot of definition to a project. I used, roughly 4 layers, not including the picture in this count. A close up of the layers below.

The Kraft paper board layers were used to give the project a strong base. So I went ahead and embossed them, just to add some body to the board.

 






Once embossed they were distressed with Vintage Photo for depth and color.














In the above picture, can you notice the difference between the two? the top piece is distressed while the bottom one isn't. Well, I distressed both for the project.

Next came the organizing; putting it all together without actually sticking it, just to see how it looks and tweak it before gluing it down. This is an essential step!

Adding some floral sprays; no project is complete without them, now is it! This looked pretty good me thought. With the top done, it was now time to focus on the sides.

I was pretty decided that ribbon and trim would look best so I went ahead and began gluing it down.

Starting with the ribbon and then layering it further till I liked what I saw:

Next I glued the Kraft base to the jar, and added beads to embellish it further. Also added a cute little bow for finishing.

Once this was done the project was fairly over, glued down the top as was arranged earlier and embellished it with beads and rhinestones. Below is what the finished product looked like..

From an empty useless Body Butter jar to a cherished Keepsake!

Cross Stitch Projects

As I might have mentioned in my earlier posts, I have to do something creative on and off. Since the most recent project I did for myself was cross stitch based, I thought I'd share that along with a couple of other cross stitch projects that I like. I found the patterns for these online; but altered the colors to the ones I had.  

(Just FYI, sharing 3 projects here in reverse chronological order)

Project 3
Its a mug with a saucer, and I intend to convert this into a cushion. Don't know when that will actually happen, but that's the plan. It took approximately 2 days to complete.

I basically used shades of brown, purple and blue.

Michaels Project #e04442 source file 

Project 2
I always wanted to do alphabets with flowers, and so I finally did my name. I completed the below project about 2 years or so back. And it took me around a month to complete it, not because of its complexity but I was working at that point in time, and didn't get much time to myself. So I actually worked on this project when I was exhausted, or had something on my mind :)

This was meant to be a long rectangular cushion, but I miscalculated the size so there isn't much space left on the sides to stitch it. I think I'll just have it framed and use it as a wall hanging.

Colors were mainly blues, oranges, yellows and green.
(can't find the source for this one, will update as soon as find it)

Project 1
Out of the three, this was the one I started and completed first. Its a basket of flowers. Lots of colors and lots of details. Didn't take very long to complete, even though I was working at this point too, but for some reason this project went really fast.

Here is close up of the roses

Spring Basket source file

The Event: F empowerment International Womens Day 2012

The F empowerment International Womens Day 2012, organized by the Women Activities Portfolio Council for Pakistan, took place on Sunday, April 30 at Carlton Hotel after a one month delay. The audience was about 200 women, who were looking to start businesses of their interest but didn't really know how and where to begin.


The session was opened by Kiran Dossani and Kiran Amin Mohammed, which was followed by a welcome address by Fawzia Hoodbhoy, Convener Women Activities Portfolio, Council for Pakistan.


Since the audience and focus were women, who tend to take on stress in any and every form, Mehreen Shoaib, (CEO Stimulus) addressed psychosocial issues, along with tips on how best to deal with stress, and focus on self discovery. Yogi Wajahat (Expert Yoga Trainer) continued with the concept of self discovery highlighting the importance of staying positive.  

When the audience was motivated enough to conquer the world :D they were given the option to approach any one out of the 5 entrepreneurs for an interactive session. 2 sessions, 1 hour each were scheduled during the conference.

So there were about 30 anxious ladies at Favors & More's desk at one time, the max was 20 to a table.  After a brief introduction, a volley of questions came my way, which can basically be put into the following 3 categories:

-Starting a business
-Cost calculation
-Reaching clients
-Supporting new businesses

Each query was addressed with as much detail as the time allotted allowed. I was under the impression that an hour each, would be a lot of time, and had planned to conduct a small workshop kind of thing, just to help the ladies with the basics. As we progressed I realized how wrong my assumption was, but how important that little workshop was for those present. Though we were not left with much time, I managed to squeeze in a demo in each session. Which was largely appreciated. 

I basically demonstrated a simple origami box, with the help of volunteers from the gathered audience. The volunteers got to keep their creation. :) The conference concluded with a speech by Ayesha Tahir (Entrepreneur and leading Trainer) on Managing First Impressions (Etiquettes) and  another from Farhad Karmally (Founding Director – NAVITUS) speaking on Simple truth, loving yourself, self-esteem, motivation, increasing tolerance level. 

Farhad Karmally also conducted a 'laughter therapy' session right at the end which was thoroughly enjoyed by all present.

A special thanks to Shamim Jindani for the pictures =)

Fempowerment International Womens Day 2012

Peace be with you!

I know I haven't been regular with my posts in the past month or so, but I try and blog whenever I get some time. Our Wonderful Wednesdays aren't as wonderful anymore cause I haven't been able to blog, but alhumdolillah things have been really busy. What I decided was that in lieu of me posting every Wednesday, how about you share something wonderful, and we post it on your behalf?  email sabascraftland@gmail.com if you want to cash in on this offer ;)

There is some wonderful talent out there. Its only when we share that things grow, especially when it comes to knowledge...the more we share, the more it will grow. Atleast that is what I believe in, and therefore this platform.

Today, I would like to share something very exciting that has come my way, via my business Favors & More; I was honored by a call from the "Fempowerment International Womens Day 2012" organizers who wanted me to encourage female entrepreneurs at this grand platform. I was humbled by this request, being a fairly new entrepreneur myself and being asked to help others start of meant a lot to me. It was a moment of mixed emotions, and for me it also spoke volumes of Favors & More's success (alhumdolillah). 

So I am very excited about meeting some 200 prospective female entrepreneurs, and some very experienced, trainers, and motivational speakers (like Mehreen Shoaib, Ambreeen Khan, Ayesha Tahir, and Yogi Wajahat to name a few) at this grand event.

Now you see why I'm all excited ;)
Will post on how it went soon inshallah.

Supplies Tab Added

I've been really busy the past month, and therefore was unable to post the supplies end of March as committed...but the good news is that ..I have finally managed to post some of the supplies which I can share. I will be updating the supplies section on and off by adding new supplies and removing old ones. Many requests were received on sabascraftland@gmail.com for a range of supplies, please note that all requests have been noted and I'll try to get and share as many things as I possibly can :) and yes that does include distress ink, stamps, paper punches, mod podge etc etc. So keep those requests coming in so that I know what you are looking for, and organize accordingly.

All the supplies will be visible under the supplies tab...email what you want to sabascraftland@gmail.com.
(will add a more efficient purchase option soon, please bare with this process for the time being)
I am in Karachi, so postage will be charged for those ordering from other cities.

Thanks!

Creative Block!

(image taken from: http://artpropelled.blogspot.com/2008/06/five-stages-of-creative-expansion.html)

Every one who is involved in creative work of any sort suffers a creative block at one point or another; incase you are wondering why I am writing about it, that is because I too am suffering from one at the moment :D.

So what is a creative block? well for me its the time when I can't get down to doing any project; just sitting there, trying hard to get something done, but the drafts don't look good enough, and 'something' seems missing.
The best way to solve a problem is to identify the problem, and then work to resolve it.
For me the creative block usually occurs when there is too much on my mind, too many ideas, stress, and looking to make things 'perfect'. Nothing looks good, and something seems wrong with everything.

So how do I handle it:
Divert The Mind: Change is good! There is no point spending hours or struggling with something when you know that you are stuck and there are no new ideas coming to you. New ideas do tend to flow when you engage in different activities. For me, its playing games :D I play a LOT of games and it works for me every time.


Look for Inspiration: Sometimes you just need inspiration to trigger the creativity, and inspiration can come from anything and everything. I gain inspiration for my projects from many unusual sources such as just browsing sites using 'stumble upon'...  cake decorations, interior decoration, upholstery, clothes, and even food! :D

Relax: At times just being close to nature just does the trick for me :). Just need to relax your mind, and free it from all the thoughts; I usually get most ideas while praying and exercising :)

I hope that this post helps you too.

Happy Crafting!

Another Scrapbook In the Making!

Peace be upon you!

Just wanted to share some of the pages of another scrapbook that I have been working on; and this time its a chipboard scrapbook, with a very different shape. Lets just say I designed this one myself ;)

It is approximately 7" x 6", with the DCWV black currant theme (that is black, pink, grey combination). Video with the details on the cardstock, embellishments, stamps will follow completion.

I've experimented with lots of fun techniques in this scrapbook which I look forward to sharing with everyone.

 I plan on working on the cover right at the end, so here is the first page; it has an acetate pocket which is embellished with bling flourish from Prima. There are 3 tags, and there is lots of room to add many more. The tags are embossed, and inked.

Here is another page with a small foil pocket, which holds a cute little tag. Some more heart bling here with trim and foil accents.

I am super happy with how this turned out. These are double pockets with spacious photo mats. I designed this to hold 2 photo mats, BUT you can easily fit 3, and the two pockets turned into three as I was putting them together... haha what fun that was.

There are many more pages to go, which I must complete in the coming week. I'm pressed for time with an upcoming exhibition, but loving every minute!

So happy crafting.
and stay tuned!

As always queries are most welcome sabascraftland@gmail.com.