Gingersnap meets Stampotique!

Aww two of my favourite places.

This month Stampotique are sponsoring Gingersnap Creations in the four challenges for January.

The first theme (the GC133 Chestnut Challenge) set by Gingersnap is using a set or range of stamps, so I thought I'd use Medium/small Bee, Swirl Stalks and Wish Word to make this card all taken from my range at Stampotique.



If you join in with the challenge at Gingersnap Creations you are in with a chance of winning 30 DOLLARS WORTH OF STAMPOTIQUE STAMPS OF YOUR CHOICE!!!

There are samples shown from the Stampotique DT to be seen for the challenge on the Stampotique blog and also over at the Gingersnap Creations site too.

Hope to see you over there :0)

What's Your Wish?

Stampotique this week are asking what is your 'Wish for the New Year'? They say...

This time of the year we tend to look forward, what are our dreams, wishes, hopes and things we want to achieve for the new year. What do we wish and hope for our dear ones. I challenge you to show us your dreams, wishes and hopes in a stamped project.

I'm not asking for a lot, the pessimist that I am....just as long as everyone's ok.



The stamps I used are all Stampotique, which some of you may be a little suprised by as Stampotique are perhaps best known for their more gothic/quirky characters rather than photo images and quotes. Stampotique stock a huge range of stamps by artists that are all so very different from each other. Here I used a couple of images from Carol's Collection; I Feel Happy Inside and two of the three Keepsake Kids sitting on the Great Moon (from my collection).

I wish you all a happy 2012. If you get a moment before having to start back at work or the school run and housework, please get out your Stampotique stamps and play along with the Stampotique Challenge, we'd love to see what you come up with.

Don't forget, if you are short on sayings and words and don't own Stampotique words then just print or hand write your own sayings and sentences, cut up magazines or books, or leave wordless.

SDC44 Shimmer, Glitter, Glimmer and Glitz.

It's been a while since I managed a post, sorry about that, life and Christmas etc, one thing and another. Still, I'm now pretty much set for the weekend and now must get cracking with putting my images on here over the next few days (I misplaced my camera too amongst all the wrapping up frenzy but have now found it again under all the ribbon and packing!)

Today is the beginning of the second week of the Stampotique challenge SDC44 Shimmer, Glimmer, Glitter and Glitz. The link option on here to place within my post seems to have disappeared (anyone else having that problem?) but you can find the link on my sidebar on the left.

As it was a blingy challenge, something I'm not really reknown for, I went flat out and went TOTAL BLING by swiping the tag with an embossing pad and covering the background with sparkle glitter embossing powder as well as additional sequins and glitter.

Here's a close up to show that using all things 'sparkle' doen't mean it has to be twee.

Kind of grunge-sparkle.



Please join in if you need a crafting stampy fix over the Christmas holiday. You could win yourself a $30 gift certificate that is drawn at random for one lucky participant!!

The stamps I used are all by Stampotique Originals. Daniel's Hearts, 3017 Crown, Enjoy Life and Jill Penney.

All Wrapped Up

(You might light to grab a cuppa, this is quite a long post with lots of pics and a You Tube link :0) )

I was delighted to be contacted by Jean over at Crafty Individuals recently to ask whether I'd like to come up with an idea for the Crafty Individuals Challenge theme for December.

December, I always find, turns up, all is still pretty calm, loads of time for planning and organising with dreams of making cards and all sorts. Before you know it Santa's been , the lounge is strewn with wrapping paper and the turkey is in the oven!

So I thought that a good theme might be All Wrapped Up, so at least we'd have at least one Christmassy crafy item sorted.

This can be anything connected with giving over Christmas, either tags, your own stamped wrapping paper, decorated boxes, bags, little gifts wrapped with ribbon...anything along those lines.



On Tuesday I held one of my workshops and we all made little squash books with this as the example. We used the new 7 Dots papers which I'm loving and loaaaaaaaaads of Crafty Individuals stamps. (I'll link you to any that appear on blogs...Siobhan, that's your nudge)..(edit... link is at the end)

Above shows the front....

and here's the back...



Untied, the book springs open to reveal lots of stamped images.










Claire, one of my lovely workshop ladies, came up with the fab idea of hanging these tiny books from the Christmas tree and having them as little tree presents which would make brilliant keepsakes for family members if you included a few photos inside.
(yep...I have the tree decorated already!!...Even the ringtone on the phone is festive haha! Christmas came and went last year because of Mum's funeral last December, so this year I'm all set. Mum used to be in her element at this time of year and she'd have been disappointed if I'd decided to not bother.)

Looks right at home there on the branches don't you think? Great idea Claire!





If you would like to make something along these lines please take a look at this link to a very clear explanation by Lytlescrapper on You Tube on how to fold the paper. The size of my book is based on three 4" squares (10cm) but you can adjust accordingly to whatever size takes your fancy. Once you have the general idea you just tweak it to your needs.




All stamps used to make my squash book are by Crafty Individuals.
Please take a look at the challenge- you have all month to join in and doing so will be in with an opportunity of winning goodies from Crafty Individuals.

I am really looking forward to seeing what you come up with and choosing five favourites to be shown on the Crafty Individuals challenge blog.

edit....Siobhan's squash book from my workshop can be seen here. Please check it out, its gorgeous.

Didn't quite get it right...

The latest theme over on the Stampotique Designer's Challenge is a Christmassy one, only non-traditional.

Now, I seemed to have got the wrong end of the stick with this challenge at first and read our DT info as being 'non traditional Christmas colours', where in fact it appears its a non traditional Christmas card but no red and green.

Soooooooo...lol..discovering this, the card I'd originally made had to be ditched and a last minute one pulled together.

This was my original...pink orange and green (scrapped because green isnt allowed) using a combination of Mwah!, Mistletoe and Merry Kissmas from my range at Stampotique along with this super cute Whisker Monster with a sign character from the latest releases by Kira Nichols also available at Stampotique..







and this is the last minute substitute, again stamps all by Stampotique ( this time both by Amy Wilson Wellenstein)...All Bundled Up and Christmas Mosaic





Hope you get an opportunity to take part and be in with a chance to win $30 of Stampoitique rubber by being drawn out at random.

For all the details for this challenge and what stamps can be used this week please check it out here.

If you are wanting to purchase stamps here in the UK as opposed to the USA for that rush on Christmas bits and bobs, a large selection of Stampotique images can be found at Happy Daze.

New Stampotique Artist!!

Exciting news- there's a new artist joining the team at Stampotique Originals!

Today is the release date for the new stamp images by KIRA NICHOLS!!

I've had little time to create lately, but what time I managed to grab to use these new rubber stamps was time happily spent! They are a lot of fun. The card below shows two images - the cat in bed (SICK CAT #4006) and the pug dog that has suprisingly become my favourite of the new releases(FLOATING DOG #4002) , which initially I wasn't sure about, I'm not a dog person, but he's just sooooooo useful and so cute !!




And here is FLOATING DOG again, only this time with a spotty bow and sitting alongside Stampotiques Beauty Verse #3056. A perfect match I thought!




Here is what Stampotique have to say...

Announcing new images and new artists are always exciting here at Stampotique Originals and so we are thrilled to announce our newest artist, Kira Nichols. Kira has designed some very unique monsters and kitties for her first line of stamps and our design team has had the opportunity to play with the stamps before they are released to the public.

Want a chance to win some of Kira's new images? Hop along with our designers as well as our special guest, leaving comments along the way, for your chance to win some of Kira's new images. We will randomly draw a winner from one of the blogs and announce the winner with our next challenge.

Make sure to leave comments along the way and a randomly chosen commenter will win some of these new stamps.

From here you will want to visit fellow Stampotique Design Team member and organiser extraordinaire KIM HOWARD to follow the Stampotique Originals blog hop!

I hope you enjoy seeing all the fab work along the way.

Time for a quick sketch

...Well it could nab you a $30 gift certificate if you take part and are the lucky drawn winner!!



Sketches are really not my first choice when it comes to making a card, but I have to admit, they don't stress me out anywhere near as much as they used to lol. Infact this was quite therapeutic after the mayhem of the last few weeks. If you are having a bit of a Mojoless moment I'd certainly recommend it even more so.




I used Big Bee and Quiet Place.
(both by Stampotique Originals) to create this simple unusual fold /tuck under card.



For all the details of this challenge please check out the Stampotique Designer's Challenge and scroll to SDC#42. It's an ANY stamps week so the world is your oyster!!

Mojo Monthly

If your Mo is a bit Jo-less please take a look at Sarah Engel-Greer's blog, La-De-Dah, home of MOJO Monthly. Guess who is over there....go on... have a guess....

heehee


And there's also a prize to be won and lots of time to take part!!! Check it out!!

HERE'S THE LINK

Craft Stamper December Issue 2011

How time flies!

It's time for the December issue of Craft Stamper already.



I am very pleased to say I have a super-cheap-make article in this issue using newsprint and the most recent additions to my range of stamps over at Stampotique. Of course, you could use any stamps at all that you own, but I thought it would be perfect to use the new ones as the gentle nature of them appealed to me with the colours I chose at the time (along with one or two old faves such as Bee that you've no doubt spotted).

I'm not allowed to reveal full images of the cards I made to place inside the wrap, but can show the whole item as its on the top left hand side of the cover!! :0))))



For the stamps and the magazine please pop over to Merly Impressions or Happy Daze.

I hope you enjoy the magazine if you manage to grab a copy. Lots of great ideas in there. To mention a few of my favourites from the quick glance I have managed to have so far...
Joanne Wardles Crafty Individuals houses (the kite card is inspirational!!)
Trish's snowflakes...very atmospheric. As always, Helen's stunning use of colour. Jeans vintage image pendants (looking even more fab with the soft pink rose setting) There are also some amazing reader's contributions this month...I spotted Sam Read's Moon Girl piece (awwwwwwww...and more so when I read the words alongside it), Jannet Blays cake (how long did that take??!!) and Anne Mullan's stunning Dream piece.

And thats just skimming the surface!! Best you order a copy, eh?

What's Your Poison?

The theme set this week by DT Maria on Stampotique Designer's Challenge wasn't one that I found easy.

Poison Bottle.



Hmmm...by the time I'd finished this, I was wishing it was full so I could take a swig rofl...I really struggled.

I had grand ideas of melting wax, stamping on glass...all sorts of things. But when it came down to it none would work for me, it just wasn't my thing, so I ended up making a bottle collar for a beautiful bottle I bought a few years ago.
Bottle collars are quite a nice idea I think if you are giving a bottle as a present, whether it be wine, spirits or bath bubbles, (not poison obviously) lol.



I used Splatter Blob, P from Amy's 'Altered Alpha' alphabet and Crown, all from Stampotique.

The challenge instructions can be found on the Stampotique Designer's Challenge site along with some fab inspiration from the Stampotique team. It might be just your sort of challenge, have a go and be in with a chance of winning $30 gift certificate.

It's Tag Time

You still have lots of time to join in with us over on the Stampotique Designer's Challenge with the theme of TAGS.




I made this one above using a piece of plasma plastic as the tag base giving it an opaque look, finishing it off with a piece of rusty wire. I discovered the bling circle in my stash box (sorry, have no idea who produces or sells that).

Heres a quick idea below using candle wax as a resist for the ink.



All stamps used are by Stampotique Originals.

For all the details of the challenge and yet another chance to win a $30 gift cert please visit the challenge site linked above.

Have a great weekend :0) x

Number 13...Unlucky for some...

This year I began holding workshop mornings locally here in Sussex and on doing so have met such a wonderful group of stampers.
One of the ladies that attends, Charry Wijers-Buschkens, (very talented...and originally from The Netherlands where I'm sure they are all born holding a rubber stamp!) said to me a little while ago would I mind if one of the pieces she made at the workshop appeared in ART SPECIALLY magazine (well its more like a book really compared to your average magazine, feels beautiful to hold and read...well...I say read,lol, its in Dutch, but who needs words when there is such gorgeous artwork!!!!).

Would I mind??!! Of course not, I'd be elated! I only ran the workshop - Charry made the beautiful box.

And so yesterday (cut a long story short, can you tell I'm excited), this arrived...

Issue 13 of 'ART SPECIALLY ' magazine.



There it is!! On the cover!!! Charry's beautiful box she made at the Textures class using Art Journey and Stampotique stamps. Stamps used are Art Journey Girl and Tree and Seed Heads
. The Stampotique images are from my range there (Jo Capper-Sandon)and are Daisy Daisy, Small Butterfly (used on metal as 3D butterflies aswell as on the wooden surface), the lower part of the quote World All Her Own and French Text,
Charry doesn't have a blog (so I wanted to shout out for her on here), but I'm sure you'd agree with me in thinking I wish she would!!



Here she is busily working at one of the classes I took. Keep an eye out for her too at any shows you may be attending this month. Yesterday Charry was demoing in Belfast, and later this month is(I think) in Newcastle, Glasgow and Birmingham!!

There are lots of names I recognise from visiting blogs published in this issue. Great seeing all the work in there. The magazine is available from Art Journey as well as many other stores.

Paperbag Studios, Tim, a sandwich bag and a bit of tissue paper

An unusual combination, but all of the above is what you will need if you fancy making something along the lines of what appears on the cover of the November issue of Craft Stamper.

To say I was really pleased was an understatement!! I was so suprised to see my card on the front of the mag, plus it means I can use the 'loop hole rule' of actually getting to show a published piece on my blog by showing the magazine cover!!




To see all four cards please grab an issue from Craft Stamper, Happy Daze, The Craft Barn or Crafty Individuals. For a copy in The Netherlands, Art Journey stocks the magazine.

Stamps used for the article are available from Paperbag Studios, Craft Barn and Happy Daze.

I hope you liked it if you have already got your copy.

Happy days are here again hahaha

Morning :0)

Need to play a bit of catching up as my 'window of opportunity' to post had become so tiny it just didnt happen last week. Don't you find that happens sometimes? No problem making the stuff, just no time sorting those photos etc. Plus my head's been hurting for three days or so and its just starting easing up a little so I thought its now or never with this post.

Here are a couple of cards to fit the current 'Humourous Birthday' theme over at the Stampotique Designer's Challenge. I found it extremely tricky if I'm honest, and as you can probably tell by looking lol Perhaps a particular frame of mind is needed at the time and it wasn't the one I was in :0)

The first one shown in the images above and below is a tribute to all those cards and pieces of artwork I've seen over the years where the word chosen REALLY DOESN'T GO with the image roflrofl - they always make me smile even if thats not the intention heehee (surely you must have see one or two )... this is a kind of sarcastic birthday card to any grumpy so and so lol (pictured blowing a party blower which goes 'toot') :0)



and this one ... a kind of a 'Aww thanks...eh???!!' card lol



My head is getting a bit hurty again so the usual numerous links are going to go awol I'm afraid for this post. All stamps are by Stampotique and all details for the challenge can be found on the Stampotique Designers Challenge.

Cereal and spookiness!!

Well the weekend is almost upon us- time flies.

My friend Galina suprised me this morning by telling me she had nominated my blog in the Dorset Little Blog Awards. I'm always entering their competitions on the side of cereal boxes but never win, but this time I have the support from Galina, the competition queen so who knows lol

If you have a moment and you like my blog, please click this link and click on the vote button for me.


Now.... the inky painty bit.

I made this spooky card using one of the new images from Janet Klein of Stampotique. An image so simple but pure genius I thought when I first saw it. Really made me smile. He is called Cooper. Useful Daisy Daisy also appears again as a dainty little ground filler along with Swirl Stalks in the background. I used a spray web for the black netty effect and number stickers (also available from Stampotique) for something a bit different for me.



If you saw my previous card (in the post below this one) you'll perhaps notice the common factor in that its the other half of the swooshy embossing powder effect I made :0) Two for the price of one as it were :0)

Hope you like it.
Have a good weekend.... x

Black and White with a Hint of Colour

Stampotique Originals latest challenge theme over on the Stampotique Challenge Blog is Black and White with a Hint of Colour (or Color, depending on where you live :0) )

I used a couple of the recently released stamps, Dragonfly and Dragonfly Verse along with a really useful favourite of mine Daisy, Daisy.

To create my 'hint of colour' I swiped an ink pad over white card and swooshed over a couple of shades of embossing powder to give a soft shimmery textured effect.

Please check out the challenge if you haven't done so already. A really simple one this time with another opportunity to be in with a chance of being drawn as a winner of a $30 gift certificate kindly offered by Carol at Stampotique Originals. This is an 'any stamps week' where all stamps are welcome, but if you do own any Stampotique images it would be great to see what you can come up with using those too.

If you are in the UK there are are number of stores that sell Stampotiques, the largest selection found at Happy Daze.

Rain, Rain...

Here we are again, darker nights, winter 'drawers' on as they say lol

Here's a card for the not so good days, so if anyone's having a bit of a rubbish time of it all lately, this one's for you ....
What is it they say? If there wasn't any rain there'd be no rainbows? Between you and I, just lately I seem to be permanently in wellies and a rain mac lol .



The background was my fave- ink, splash, blot technique. Meant to represent rain....or tears...which ever you see fit.

Stamps are all by Stampotique. I used
Moon Girl,
Daisy,Daisy,
Tree,
French Text,
Swirl Stalks
and Rain,Rain.
I drew the swing and the brolly.

I also set this card to appear on the Stampotique Designer's Blog sometime in the next few hours, which, if you don't check out often or you were unaware of it, it's certainly worth a visit. The girls on the Stampotique DT have some fantastic ideas.

You'll find a huge selection of Stampotique stamps available at Happy Daze here in the Uk .

Hoping you all have a good weekend. xx

Just Dreaming and Hanging About

Crafty Individuals have their new challenge theme for September up and running!

This is what it says...

'...the theme for the month has been chosen by Lucy Edmondson, and is 'Hanging About'. To give you some idea of how to tackle this I will put the idea in Lucy's own words - ‘this would give people scope to do a wall hanging, canvas, frame, lantern, bird cage, bird house, jewellery, dangly things on cards, pennants – all sorts. Or they could interpret it as friends hanging about together.’

So I made this hanging using a selection of Crafty Individual stamps. The main image is one of the fabulous new designs, which, wait for it wait for it....currently, aswell as being able to buy it in the 'normal' way as usual from Crafty Individuals for £6.44, if you spend over £28(excluding postage) you get this new Crow collage stamp FREE!!!!

Yes!! FREE!!

And talking of bargains, the little skeleton hand charm dangling from the hanging is a snip at 20p from HAPPY DAZE




Hope you like this.... coloured with Distress and Jenni Bowlin ink pads...and pencil crayons. Splashes of water here and there. Black StazOn for the black stamping. Lots of matt and layering. I have run out of eyelets, so I would have liked those on here to finish the piece off nicely but nevermind ay.

A great challenge theme...I hope you can find a moment this month to join in. Worthwhile...theres a prize! Check out the Crafty Individuals blog challenge post for details.

Craft Stamper Cover Stamp

Yeah! I know!!! (nodding wildly...me again!!!)

lol

It's a bit of a Stampotique week for me.

Today is Craft Stamper daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!! And I was so pleased to be asked to design a cover stamp for them on behalf of Stampotique for this month!!

Joanne Wardle and I created some sample ideas with it and these can be seen on page 6 and 7 of Ocober's Craft Stamper..

Above is a sneak of one of the pieces I put together.... I REALLY enjoyed making that.

Below is one one of the samples I submitted that there wasn't room for on the double spread. I designed the Star to work alongside other stamps in my collection at Stampotique such as Great Moon and Big Owl (with separate wings that you can place anywhere) and so thought it might be handy to show you. I try and get new images to work along side existing ones and this one does that plus also has the treat of being TRANSPARENT!!



As you can see I stamped the star onto text from a magazine advert to give it a very different look.




I love working with Joanne (albeit 300 miles apart- lol) because we've known each others work style for 6 or 7 years now and can almost predict how each of us will tackle a stamp, so rarely have to worry if the other has created the same when working on articles or Design Teams (apart from once or twice when we've almost identical designs lol).

Below is a sneak peek of one of the makes in the magazine. It appears the contents of this sneak peek 'item'(so as not to spoil any suprises) were shaken about quite wildly by the postman in making its way across the country, so its a bit tricky to see what's going on in the photo in the mag, so heres a close up of a section before it left on it's travels. If you get the magazine, you'll understand what I mean lol



I hope you find it a useful stamp to add to your collection. Great for Hallowe'en, Christmas, kids cards, used on its own or en masse- all sorts of things. In the magazine you can see lots of ideas to get the old mojo running!Its a smaller version of the star that has been realeased by Stampotique this week. If you are in the States I'm not sure you get the free stamps attached do you? If not, please check out the Stampotique site for the larger version.


Top Tip- the star has a top and a base... when my stamp arrived it was stuck on sideways and looked a bit 'different'. The way I designed it is more or less the way its printed on the cover. It's intended to be a tall star not a wide squat one. But you can please yourself of course...you might prefer a wide star. :0)

If you happen to be near a magazine shop that sells Craft Stamper, this is the one to look out for! Otherwise grab yourself a copy online directly from Craft Stamper or one of the many stamp stores that sell it such as Happy Daze and Crafty Individuals here in the UK and Art Journey in The Netherlands.