Feature Artist - SJ

~Happy Tuesday all,
~This week I have the lovely SJ doing a fabby interview. SJ is not only a talented scrapper but she does the most awesome drawings too. Here she is:

My name is SJ (Short for Sarah Jane – but not many people call me that!)

I am 29… dreading 30… living in Bexhill on Sea with my husband and son Finlay.

I have been crafting since I was small – when I was 18 I opened a little craft shop with my sister, which is still in trading (in it’s 10^{th year) and is now run by my mum (family business!!!) so I guess you could say have been involved in the crafty world since 2000. I started off where a lot of scrapbookers did – making cards – and when living briefly in NY I found scrapping – albeit in the aisle of a Walmart!}

^{My main crafty love though is illustration. I have always drawn and doodled ever since I was young. I have a small business called "Little Musings" where I turn family photographs into illustrated artwork.}

^{I have designed rubber stamps for a couple of companies in my time, however, I have now got a main line coming out with Personal Impressions, which is amazing and fun and something I am very proud of (Stamps available from Sept 1st)}

Who is your biggest inspiration???

^{Kurt Halsey. I literally worship his work – I even bid and won a post-it-note with his writing on as it is perfection!}

^{http://www.kurthalsey.com/}

^{Why did you start creating? June 2000 = it started off as art therapy for depression, but blossomed into true love lol!}

^{What is your favourite thing to create?}

^{I love it when a scrapbook page comes together – but there is nothing that beats the feeling of someone falling in love with their own Musing that they have commissioned – it validates it for me that what I am doing is right.}

^{What are your favourite manufacturers?}

^{In Illustration, I would have to say WACOM – as they make amazing drawing tablets and I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without mine! (I use a Bamboo Fun tablet - but would love to upgrade!)}

^{In scrapping I would have to say Cosmo cricket, October Afternoon and American craft}

^{What was the inspiration behind Little Musings?}

^{My best friend Laura said to me once – Your drawings are cute, why don’t you do a Friday Freebie? I was like "Ok.. I will give it a go… we will see what happens" so I have her to thank for a LOT – because since January I have had over 39’000 downloads!}

^{If you want to read more about the freebies - go here:}

http://scrappyfairy.blogspot.com/search/label/freebie%20friday

^{and if you want to commission your own little musing - there is more information here:}

http://scrappyfairy.blogspot.com/p/musings-orders.html

^{Do you create with music? If so what is your favourite creative song?}

^{Gosh – Um, I am very eclectic when it comes to music – I have crafting play list on my itunes that ranges from the Beatles to Eminem! But – If I had to put one song on, to get the emotions and thought process going – it would have to be:}

^{Snow Patrol = Give me strength.}

^{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTuaVhZhpm8}

^{It is a incredibly personal song for me and Ben – and literally makes me stop in silence when it comes on the playlist.}

^{What are your 3 must-have creative items?
For drawing:}

^{A propelling pencil! (who needs sharpeners!!)}

^{My Wacom tablet}

^{Adobe Illustrator (I actually am using a trial of this at the mo, and NEED IT!)}

^{For Scrapbooking:}

^{A pair of detail scissors}

^{American craft thickers}

^{A glue roller!}

^{Have you ever created anything you've hated?
Tons – heaps! Who hasn’t?}

^{I have been known to go through albums and throw away layout after layout.
I also get frustrated when I draw – and have days when nothing will go right. I know when to stop though, get up, walk away and come back to a project at a later time - otherwise you can end up resenting what you do, and I never want to do that!}

^{~SJ is giving away an Alice in Wonderland inspired digital stamp, which you can see here. To win this awesome prize just leave a little comment!!!}

^{~love, Vicki xxx}