All you need is one Stampotique stamp!

 It's time for another challenge over at Stampotique. This challenge, all you need to take part is ONE...yes ONE Stampotique stamp. So even if you just have the freebie Stampotique star still from your Craft Stamper a while back, you could take part and be in with a chance of winning $30 worth of your choice of rubber from the Stampotique Originals site in the draw that takes place in a couple of weeks!!!

                                  

 All you have to do is use the same image twice on your creation.

 There are lots of ideas over on the Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog to get your mind ticking over, including a card from the Stampotique DT Guest Designer this month, Claire Boelema.

 I decided to use a bleach technique and my Small Butterfly to make this...



                          

 I sprayed colour onto a white card. I then dabbed the Small Butterfly stamp onto folded kitchen roll that I had covered lightly with bleach on an old plate (just the cheap sort of bleach) and stamped into the sprayed area. After about 30 seconds you see the ghostly image appear just like 'invisible ink' when you were a kid. After cleaning the stamp straight away, I finished the card with a black StazOn imprint of the butterfly and the word 'Beauty' from the Beauty Verse, then did a bit of the old matt and layering to smarten the whole thing up. A simple technique, takes minutes, but quite effective I always think and one that I always enjoy.

 I hope that you will join in with us if you are able to. One Stampotique stamp is all it takes....and use it twice!

ps...thanks for all the get well wishes for my little lad last post...he's getting there.

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?

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.

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.

No rest ...

Two posts in two days.... what is the world coming to :0)




Today sees the release of the latest Craft Stamper magazine (July issue) where I have an article on using up the scrap page that you work on top of whilst making a card. It's called Acidentally On Purpose and I hope you enjoy it. Here is a sneak image of it as Craft Stamper don't allow full images.

One of the cards is on the front cover though- left hand side second from the top. :0)



I used a selection of stamps from my range at Stampotique Originals (available, amongst others, in the UK from Merly Impressions) and Lost Coast ( available in the UK from Happy Daze who also stock Stampotiques). See the magazine for further details.

I have one or two things in the pipeline with Craft Stamper at the moment which I'm enjoying again. Having recently stepped down from the various stamping Design Teams I belonged to it has enabled me to concentrate on my own artwork and get to grips with that a little easier. There were times when I felt like I was swirling down a plug hole with the amount I thought I could manage. Well, I could have if the family hadn't required conversing with or requested to eat occassionally ;0)

There are also publishing opportunity details for everyone over on Craft Stamper's blog. Have you seen? Katy Fox, the editor, says...

Hello all,
Just putting out a call for our Sept themed gallery feature as I have two spots remaining!

If you'd like to see your work in Craft Stamper then here is your chance!

THEME: OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO (cityscapes - think Paris, London, NY, Venice etc).
COLOURS: Warm cream with black and white.

The call closes 13th June so get your skates on!

Please email submissions to cs@traplet.com (NB: actual artwork will be required if you are selected). You can send images of existing creations which have been blogged (we'll ask you to temporarily take them down for publication) but please not anything you have done for a DT position.

Look forward to seeing your creations!

Keep an eye open on the Craft Stamper blog for other themes in the future!

And finally, I have another workshop coming up soon too towards the end of the month. Really looking forward to that and meeting a few new faces aswell as my regular lay-deeeze :0) I need to post all about my last workshop too yet. That was great fun, I really enjoyed it.

In the words of Dory..."Just keep swimming, swimming , swimming"

A few pieces...

Here are a few sneak peeks that I managed to put together a few months ago(end of the summertime hence the colours I guess) for Crafty Individuals and Happy Daze to appear in the current Craft Stamper during a time when things had turned upside down a little at home (more on that this coming week when I find the right moment).

I'm not able to show the entire image due to regulations at Traplet but hopefully you get the feel of whats what.

These two pieces (above and below)appear in the Stamping Contrast article for Crafty Individuals in the UK.



This piece below appears in the Idea Gallery where the theme Recycled was given. I used an old tag and an old brown envelope (brown paper) to form the base for this piece using a selection of stamps from my collection at Stampotique and one from Lost Coast, all which are available from Happy Daze, also here in the UK.



This issue of Craft Stamper is available from Craft Stamper, Crafty Individuals and Happy Daze.



This months has a very wide range of styles and is full of inspiration...seriously worth getting!

Have a good weekend xx

I don't bee-lieve it!

In the new Craft Stamper, out TODAY, Friday the 6th August, the stamps used for the Stamping Contrast four page article are taken from the range that I recently designed for STAMPOTIQUE ORIGINALS in the USA and being sold over here in the UK by HAPPY DAZE aswell as a few others places (its all very surreal still).

My stamps used in a magazine article!!

The stamps used are:

Medium Bee with tiny bee mounted on the side

Grass

Splatter Long

The designers that were chosen to work with them created some fabulously different ideas. I loved Helens soft look with the stitching and gorgeous use of colour as always, Carols natural look using autumnal colours onto 3D items coated in beautiful crackle, and Joannes fresh BBQ/alfresco dining duo illustrating what Joanne does best.
I created something that took a matter of minutes to make from start to finish to illustrate how you really don't have to be an expert stamper to get a very effective strong look very quickly. so quick infact I made two slightly different versions. You know, I bet I'd spend longer waiting at a card shop till in town longer than it too to decorate this card and envelope lol! Not allowed to show the full items as you may already know but here are a few sneak peeks.



And, like buses, nothing for ages then two come along at once (well actually 5 but over two articles).

I have a two page article too in this issue called Stamping With...Flowers. Its the first in a new series by members of the Craft Stamper DT using a variety of ways to use everyday stamps. I used a selection of various flower stamps from my stamp stash to illustrate three simple ideas which included stamps by Paperbag Studios, Artistic Stamper, Crafty Individuals, Stampendous, Tim Holtz, Papermania and Artistic Outpost(well it was a frenzied search hence the eclectic combination)

Heres a little sneak of those which you may be able to also spot in the top left corner of the magazine cover. :0))))





Heres the mag you need to be on the look out for.



Thank you also for the kind get well wishes for my Mum who was rushed into hospital two weeks ago. No change as yet though.

Branching Out

Its that time again - the new and improved smooth feely copy of Craft Stamper will now be on the shelves.

This month I have a very cheap masking technique published...

Here's what triggered the initial inspiration for the three pieces I put together for this months article- Dave trimming the hedge at the side of the house.



And here are a couple of sneak peeks at the background and ideas that developed from that.



and another simple card...



Thankyou to those who already very kindly left me comments mentioning how much they liked the look of the article on yesterdays post. It's always great to hear feedback on any of the work I get published for Craft Stamper, especially as its magazine policy that we're unable to show any of the work fully on our blogs.

The plate of stamps used is by Innovative Stamp Creations and is available in the UK from Scrapz.

I try and submit varied articles; some quick makes, some more detailed, in the hope that many of the readers will see something they like or adapt to suit at some point. If you manage to get hold of a copy I hope that you enjoy the read .

*******

Don't forget, its Day TWO of PaperArtsy's 12 Days of Christmas. Today features the newest member of the PaperArtsy design team, my friend Joanne Wardle and also featuring Leandras 'partner in crime' for craft weekends, Lin Brown from LB Crafts.