NEW STAMP DESIGNS!! LOTS OF NEW IDEAS!!!

Time to  lose yourself in a sea of new rubber!

Stampotique release new designs  today, some of which are mine  (whahooo!).You probably haven't noticed, but at Christmas time I retired from the Stampotique Design Team after a number of years (I still continued to design rubber stamps for the company though) .

Today though, I'm back "for one day only" as they say, There is a blog hop showing ideas using the new images .If you are in the process of walking through the blog hop, you should have arrived here from....

-  Jenn's blog over at Jax Bean Stalks.

I received my new stamps just in time yesterday so quickly put together a few examples. When designing new stamps I always think about the other designs that make up the Stampotique ranges, and try and create images that will work well along side them.  You can never be quite sure how things will turn out until opening the box when it arrives. Only then do the ideas for cards etc start to really fall into place. Some I imagined a little bigger to reveal more detail, but at the end of the day they all work extremely well with other stamps in the collection and that is what's important.

Here are the new releases from the Stampotique (Jo Capper-Sandon)  Spring 2013. (sorry, as I mentioned, I don't know what the other artist's designs look like so can only talk about the ones I receive as its all top secret until reveal day, when this post goes live ...ie now, if you are reading this lol)

I thought a photo of them all together would give you an idea of the scale. (Flamingo is a biiiiiiiiig stamp!)

back row l to r- Fairy keeper, Flamingo, Seaweed.

mid row - Tenticurl, Wildflower saying.

front- Sometimes, Spider Grass and Dandelion Duo

I have to say, it's not often I think 'how did I live without this??!!' but as you can probably tell by it's appearance in the images below, Tenticurl (the solid swirl with holes) is my 'must have' stamp recommendation of 2013.... when I designed it I thought it would be useful, but it is SOOOOOO HANDY beyond my wildest imagination!!! :0)

Using Fairykeeper, Dandelion Duo, Spider Grass and Tenticurl

Using Wildflower and Spider Grass alongside Moon girl from Stampotique

Using Tenticurl in yet another way- as a perch for my Big Owl.(Doesn't Tenticurl look different in pink?!)

This next card is another  very simple design using Tenticurl (this time in teal) and Wildflower, along with the simple addition of a small Prima flower

And finally....

This card is VERY large. Flamingo is able to carry riders and cargo and is perfect for paper piecing as the body area is large. I stamped the Flamingo's body onto some pink patterned paper and I think it looks very effective even if I say so myself ;0)

Like how his foot dips into the water?  Last year I went to Florida and at the hotel we stayed at there were a number of flamingos , I loved just standing and watching them.

Below you can see how decorative Dandelion Duo and Seaweed can look when stamped and/or embossed in a pale colour. Together they make a beautiful lace effect with lots of depth.

The only stamp I didn't manage to make something with was Being Me. If any of you own any of the various goth style character stamps or the little monsters from Stampotique I'm sure you'll agree that the words from this stamp will work alongside them very well :0))

The whole Feb/spring 2013 release collection by various artists can be viewed at Stampotique

The next step in the blog hop is.......

 Kaz Boughton's blog 'Slightly Wonky Crafts'.

If you leave comments throughout the blogs taking part you will be in with a chance of winning some of the new images !!! Stampotique will pick a few comments at random and announce the winners on the Designers Challenge blog during the next challenge.
The blog hop main list is also there over at the Stampotique Challenge Blog so head that way if you need the full list of people taking part.

Hope you like what I've shown today- do you think any would be useful additions to your collection? .
I'm off now to check out the Stampotique DT's work :0)

With Love...

...on Valentine's Day.

On this day 11 years ago we were having the practise ceremony and going through the vows for our wedding. We didnt plan it for Valentine's, it just happened that way. We married a few days later. And, bonus, we are still married :0)

For my second week as guest over at Happy Daze, here is a simple Valentine's card.

A simple and clean design using Songbird by Prima and Bow Heart, one of my stamp designs over at Stampotique..

Sometimes it's the clean and simple designs that are the most difficult to make. The tiniest dot or smudge waves back at you like a beacon, as you can maybe see here on the close up...

There are a couple of tiny black dots where they shouldn't be and the bird could have stamped more solidly...but this is what happens and makes for all cards being individual. No hand stamped cards are absolutely perfect. 

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day. xxx

Guest Artist

Hello...

remember me?

:0)

Happy New Year!! Better late than never I guess.

Just thought I'd stop by and let you know that this month I have the honour of being February's Guest Artist over at Happy Daze. I haven't created in a while due to real life commitments but have managed to put together a few pieces for the Happy Daze challenge.

For a full image of the above close up item and details of the stamps I used, please check out the Happy Daze Design Team Blog.

Just Hanging Around...

...coughing and sneezing- I have the head cold that is doing the rounds and am coughing constantly.

Booo *cough COUGH* oooooooo.

Meanwhile, in between breaths, I slowly made this tree decoration for this weeks challenge theme over at Stampotique  Designer's Challenge which is to make an ORNAMENT.

I used 'Girl with Heart Purse' stamped onto a wooden angel shape. Here she is above hanging on our tree.

If you would like to take part please check out all the details in the link here. Don't forget there are prizes to be won!

Here she is on a white background...looks a little less busy here...more ethereal.

Wishing you a calm few days ahead for those last minute visits and pressie buying moments.

Deck the halls...getting in the mood

With just TWELVE days to go until Christmas day *gulp* it's getting very close to

Firstly, in typically British fashion, a quick photo of this mornings view of what's going on with the weather through my window... I live on the south coast of the UK and it's been a bit chilly first thing. -4 some mornings. Although the sun looks warm and bright as its rising its a big con!! It takes me half an hour to de-ice the car windscreen!

I am slowly getting that Christmas feeling, inbetween yesterday watching my youngest son's performance in the Cinderella Rockafella panto at school and getting the tree decorated and cards written out, I'm getting a few bits and bobs made. Predominantly quick makes but still fun to do.

Here is my contribution for this weeks Stampotique Designer's Challenge which involves using non seasonal  stamps in a Christmassy/seasonal way. I thought this couple of NEWLYWEDS #8816 from Carol's Collection at Stampotique needed a good cheering up so I stuck Christmas hats on their heads- doesn't seem to have raised a smile though lol. The words on the front say  " 'Tis the season to be jolly"...

Inside the card it says " FA-LA-LA-LA-LAAAAAA LA-LA LA LAAAA"

:0)


All the details of the challenge and PRIZES to be won can be found on the Stampotique Designer's site, and also the rules of the game.

It's all happening at Stampotique!

For those of you that know this poem and have visited my blog for a while now, you'll perhaps know what the thought behind this ATC relates to for me as its that time of year. For those that don't recognise the verse,  it's this one, part of the very large text stamp ' Hopi Prayer' used along side 'Grass', both by Stampotique.

There are two challenges that you can take part in this week- with prizes (ATC challenge and the weekly Designer's)- AND an opportunity to put yourself forward as a guest artist for Stampotique!!

*gasp*!!

For links, gorgeous examples of ATC's and further details for the Guest Artist and ATC challenge look HERE.

For this weeks Stampotique Designer's Challenge  'Lets Get Sentimental' click here.

Well worth checking out!!!

edit to say-
ps....the birds shapes are are just hand drawn :0)

It's a wrap!!

Hello!!

Thank you for your very kind get well wishes and cards...they really perked me up. Which is just as well as its my turn to host the Stampotique Designer's Challenge again.

It's at this time of year when I always think ' Oh it's ages until December 25th, no panic' and before I know it I am sitting surrounded by wrapping paper, ribbon and tags on the 24th promising myself I shall plan ahead next year and be more organised. So here I am, planning ahead with this week's theme of 'It's a wrap' - making unique wrapping, tags and gift packaging using stamps. Whether it's a simple single image stamped onto a plain sheet of paper finished off with jazzy trimmings, an intricate tag, a wonderful gift box or even stamping your own ribbon, give it a try and see what a difference it makes transforming (very cheaply!) the smallest most basic of gifts into a little work of art.

I kept it pretty simple as I was still getting better health wise when I made this. For the wrapping paper I  used a single 'Mistletoe' stamp from my range at Stampotique (which is also available here in the UK from Happy Daze...) I tied the package together with some coloured string and made little 'aglets' ( the plastic bits on the end of shoe laces...I learnt the name for those from an episode of Phineas and Ferb lol) from words taken from the collage Christmas Mosaic stamp and then finished with twigs and fir branch from the garden.

Hospital, Paint and Christmas!

Goodness me what a month I've had!

Ended up in hospital, but I'm on the mend now hopefully and looking forward to getting organised for Christmas (I seemed to have missed Hallowe'en and Bonfire Night with being poorly, so its all systems go (in a slowly just out of hospital kind of way  lol) for Christmas!

The current SDC75 Stampotique Designer's Challenge  is Paint and so to get slowly back into crafting again I had a go at a soft paint effect directly applied onto plain white folded card  (keeping the paint quite gloopy/thick so that it creates a bit of texture) and then stamped  'Oh ...Tree'. I didn't ink the lower part of the tree image as I wanted to give the impression that the tree was in the ground (the stamp image has a tree skirt ala indoor Christmas Tree) so instead I drew a few tufts of grass.

We would love you to play along this week  :0) Paint is such a great medium for making backgrounds en mass so why not have a painty session and play around with whatever takes your fancy such as sponges, splatters, stencils and prints from anything interesting that happens to be lying around or of course you could paint your stamped images. If you do play along, PLEASE PLEASE check the challenge rules and how to label your artwork when you link to the challenge blog to enable your entry to be eligible to enter the $30 Stampotique gift certificate draw.

Hope you have all been keeping well. x See you soon.

Scrap It! with Stampotique Originals.

It's my turn to set the theme this week at Stampotique Designer's Challenge so I decided upon something that I usually avoid- using photographs along side stamping.

No.... come back... don't panic, it's not as scary as it sounds!

As a non-scrapper (yep...don't 'do' scrapping- tried once, felt uncomfortable, failed miserably. ) I feel that fear that perhaps washes over so many when the word 'scrapping'  is mentioned, but this challenge theme can incorporate your photographs in anyway possible either on a page, inside a journal, on a canvas, a mini book, an altered item...anything you wish, just as long as you are using stamping somewhere too.

Please dig out a photo or two and see where it leads you.

Here's my contribution- I decided after much ummming and aahhing that I would put myself on the spot a bit and take the pain of trying to put together a scrap page!!!
The tricky part really ended up being choosing a photo! :0)

I chose a photo of my youngest lad taken a couple of years ago at a time when life was throwing anything and everything at us. Standing looking out to sea from an empty beach for half an hour one evening was a welcome escape for us.

I began with blending Distress ink through sequin waste, then I sprayed Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Mist (Patina),  letting it run down the page. I cut out the photograph, glued it in place and stamped  #3004 Grass 3 times, masking off sections of it that I didn't want stamping and extending the stems by hand, I then stamped and cut up the #3011 Quiet Place saying.

To finish I highlighted the final words, as that summed the whole feeling of 'the moment' that evening.

I really hope that you will join in with this challenge. 

If you think 'oh noooooo scrappings not my thing,' then maybe this challenge is PERFECT for you'! Thats what challenges are meant to do perhaps, take you out of your comfort zone a little. 

There is a new theme introduced every week, but they remain open until the end of that particular month when a draw takes place with all of the participants that have taken part during the month of challenges and prizes are given out!! Check out the site for further details, and for a wonderful array of artwork for this weeks theme.

So to summarise 

ANY STAMPS...(although if you have Stamotiques we'd love to see them)

plus

ANY PHOTOS...

and ANY SURFACE to put them on to! 

Can't wait to see what you make!!!

xx

Big Square, Little Square...

This weeks theme over at the Stampotique Designer's Challenge has been set by Valerie and is Squares!

Any squares!

I used the following Stampotique stamps to decorate the square note book with its square aperture. 

#3028 Swirl Stalks 

 #6112 Tree  

#3051 Jo's Star  

#3041 Wee Owl  

                                                   # 8811 Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

I covered the book with a coat of off-white/canvas colour acrylic paint. I let ink run down the surface of the book, creating drips. I then stamped the tree, stalks, words and star. On the inside page I masked the square frame shape and created the scene with the Wee Owl.. I then hand drew the tiny star and bow hanging from the tree branch as that space needed filling to help connect the two areas together.

The decoration wasn't just on the front as you can see. I thought it would be good to have both front and back :0)

And the square theme continues on the inside too!

Please check out the other team members 'Squares' challenge theme contributions over on the Stampotique challenge site and if you join in you will be in with a chance of being drawn to win the $30 gift certificate!

Unusual choice...but it works

The challenge for this week over at Stampotique is 'Mustard, Navy and Orange', a colour way I can honestly say I've NEVER used before.

I sat pondering over this for a while as the thought of these colours did nothing for me at all until I started playing with the ink pads. Sometimes I just need to start putting down colour and the result kind of just happens :0)

Hope you like it, and that you are able to join in with us.

I used Swirl Stalks  and Moth Fab, both by Stampotique.

Please check out the other 'makes' that one half of the DT have put together over at the Stampotique Designer's Challenge. 

The Stampotique Grand Finale Hop

Today is the last day of the Stampotique hop and the images that have been shown on the design team members blogs in the last few days are now available on the Stampotique Originals website.

All those that have hopped with us this week and today will be eligible for our random draw enabling one lucky winner to receive some of the newly realease stamps. OOOOOOOOO!! The winner will be chosen next week before Wednesday's challenge.

Today's hop is for those with the stamina of an Iron Man Marathon athlete as almost our entire team is taking part with a wide display of work covering a combination of all the new releases from Maria, Daniel, Kira and Roc.

I've had people ask if I shall be designing any more stamps in the near future and I am pleased to say that if all goes as hoped here at home, I shall have designs ready for the next release.

Here is a small selection of some of the items I've made over the last week or so ( using a lot of pink for some strange reason...? ), some using a combination of new images and old from the Stampotique collection. I do have more, but didn't want to bombard you with the whole lot, and so will stagger them over a few days  in a 'Part 2'..

Starting with a couple more from Kira Nichols at Stampotique new releases...

This fantastic little smug character is the last 'monster'  in the new 'Line Up' stamp. You can't get a better expression than this...he's such a cutie!!! Butter wouldn't melt!

My mind was elsewhere other than card making when I needed to begin making these samples so I started off creating with pre printed papers and punched flowers as it's relaxing and I can sit in front of the tv watching the Paralympics whilst building up the layers.

Inside I created a pocket to tuck a letter inside.

I stamped this next image ( 'Owl Tree') a couple of times to give an even more of a crowded effect. At the time of making this I was having a disastrous day on the phone, going from bad to worse, can you tell there was a bit of a back story going on by the colors and the words I tore out from Alice and Wonderland.
.

I decided on making a little notebook  to keep all my contacts and notes on the 'unjust' type of situation I was battling at the time, and then thought well I may as well decorate it with something appropriate and kill two birds with one stone as it were (although perhaps not the best expression to use for a book with owls on the front...ooops...sorry owls )..

In total contrast mood wise (created on a different a day)  is a card for a new baby using Maria's new 'Zara's Party' stamp. I sat this super cute guy onto Great Moon and used some sticker letters for the word.

I still have images from Daniel and Roc to show, but they will have to be another day, sorry about that, as

real life calls .

You may have arrived here from Jennifer's blog, if not, don't worry the whole list of hop participants can be found here at the Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog. 

If you are all organised and have the hop all under control I bow in awe to your stamina levels. Time for an energy drink, a shoulder massage and a banana perhaps and you'll want to be heading off to Claire after finishing up here.

Thank you once again for stopping by. More on here by the end of the week x

Stampotique new images...day 3 of the hop

It's day 3 of the hop with the Stampotique design team. We've split into four groups to show the new images from four different artists.

Today its the turn of Stampotique artist Kira Nichols whose new stamp releases are revealed in some of the artwork of the Stampotique team......... .

Love her characters.

Here's a close up of a little something I made this last week with one of my favourites from  the new collection at Stampotique...

This little fellow reminded me a little of an Adepose from Dr Who, only with wings . Love the little legs . This is Baby Cthulhu..(no need to say "Bless you!"  I didnt sneeze lol) ...or if you asked me in conversation I'd say Baby C :0)

I drew a couple of strings for Baby C to tow a little floating pull along 'Beautiful' sign whilst floating above endless 'Daisy Daisy'-s.

Then, came some serious matt and layering...

And hung onto a wall using some raggedy string threaded the 'wrong way around' through pink eyelets and knotted and frayed wildly!

Hop along with some of the design team today. Stick with us until the final reveal on Wednesday and one of you might be rewarded with some goodies (nod nod wink wink).

If you've missed the previous two hops don't despair, all is not lost!-  You can still catch up with both our new stamp image artist (and current DT member) R.Maria Sabina and also long standing artist over at Stampotique Daniel Torrente's designs . They were Day 1 and Day 2. The hops list revealing gorgeous work and image links can be found over on the Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog.

• Libby Hickson
• Jennifer Cochran
• Jo Capper-Sandon *you are here now*
• Sarinda Jones
• Astrid Stulemeijer
• Kira Nichols

I'll be here again on Day 5 with ideas using various stamps from all four of the newly released artist's collections.

See you then!!

Good luck with the hopping.

Flat...single layer...OLC...no embellies...

The Stampotique Designer's Challenge is here again now its EVERY Wednesday.

And there are two prizes given away at the end of each month which you have a chance of winning one of if you take part!!

Nice and easy peas this week...single layer cards.

What are you waiting for..a chance to win $30 worth of rubber and all you have to do is make a single layer card.. go go go!!  :0)

ps...Before you dash off, here's mine...

The lighting has made the photo have a bit of a pink tinge, sorry about that.  I have tried to give a bit of dimension  to this single layer card by colouring the inside of the card with a block colour (using an ink pad directly onto the card). The front of the card was also coloured in the same way...by swooshing the pad over the card's surface. Both stamps used are of course by Stampotique, although you are welcome to introduce any stamps now (please check challenge rules). I used Even Silience Speaks and Crow Line.

Have fun...I look forward to seeing your creations if you join in.

I'm torn...

Its HOT HOT HOT this morning...phew!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not a 'heat person'...got the fan blasting at me, doors and windows are open, can't see the screen on my pc that well to upload decent photos so apologies if they are too dark or bright.

This morning Less is More have a theme of Tearing.

Love it.

So whilst I'm sitting waiting at the table for some DT stamps to arrive,( inks in hand etc) I thought I'd make a couple of cards and take part.

I used my 'World All Her Own' stamp from Stampotique along with this branch stamp by Memory Box. The torn area is created by using two torn strips of paper and using them as a mask, blending ink in between the paper leaving a torn effect.

Whilst I was 'in the zone'  lol I made another...same method only using Memory Box's trees and Stampotiques 'Even Silence Speaks'.

I hope you like them , thanks for visiting.

KEEP COOL!!!

It's Hip to be Square...and Simple

This week Stampotique are sponsoring CAS-ual Fridays who have set the theme of Square cards. CAS stands for Clean and Simple , which most of my work tends not to be lol...so I made a real effort keeping this one as clean as a whistle.

 A simple card with 3 punched out squares revealing the coloured inner. The Bee image is the tiny Bee that is part of a double stamp(Medium Bee plus Tiny Bee on the side) from my range at Stampotique. The other stamp in the set is a larger version of the same image. A very handy duo. The wording is also one of my collection 'World All Her Own'.

 I had a go at making a few more quick makes whilst I had the cards and stamps out... This one is a one layer card using one of Stampotiques Quails Cube (you get four different Quails...the clues in the name...cube...lol) and the Wish word. I pencilled in a shadow reflection from the word to give the image a bit of solidity and substance.
 As it happens Less is More challenge are running a OLC Fur and Feathers theme...does this count? Its a bird? But its feathers are squared lol I drew the heart hanging from it's beak. in hind sight I should have stopped with the ink pad to card method when it was just on the right hand corner...but stupidly I did a swoosh on the spine of the card which was an 'epic fail!' as my 9 year old would say. :0) Live and learn.

And onto the next...using this diva wearing the most fabulous dress (I used to have one like this, minus the wings, when I was about 22. Loved it. I have used part of the text stamp World All Her Own again for the wording. Finished off with a torn strip of pink paper.

Here are the three together. Nice to make some simple quickies once in a while- handy for little everyday cards/notelets etc

Thanks for dropping by... Have a wonderful weekend. It's beautifully sunny here.