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

Introducing....MY STAMPS!!

heehee! Its May Day, today's the day!

Right, now my giggling is out of the way please settle yourselves for quite a long post (perhaps get the kettle on) lol.

As you may have read over the past few days, Stampotique Originals in the USA have produced some of my artwork as gorgeous quality wood mounted rubber stamps. This was something that I only ever dreamt of doing and has now become reality thanks to Carol and Jim.

So without any further ado, here are some samples using my designs which I hope you like the look of and may possibly trigger a few thoughts and inspirations of your own as to how you would use them.

The first example up on the catwalk is 'A Busy Day' using;
300.L -MEDIUM BEE TINY BEE MOUNTED ON THE SIDE (two stamps on one block),
3008.P -BIG BEE,
3014.H -SPLATTER LONG
and 3006.O -HEXAGON.
To give you an idea of size, the Big Bee is approx 3.25 inches from wingtip to wingtip so he's pretty big.





Second card to make an appearance is 'Silence'.
This is using;
3007.R -JASMIN
3012.H -EVEN SILENCE SPEAKS
3002.M -DAISY DAISY
3014.H -SPLATTER LONG
and finally the TINY BEE from 3000.L Bee duo.

The quote is very much a personal one to me, infact the two quotes I have in the range so far are.



Some of you may recognise the green frilled card inner as coming from the packaging of some Prima flowers lol- I knew it would come in handy!



Right...who's next...ah yes, a nice simple quickmake entitled 'Each Life'. Made using;

3011.B -EACH LIFE NEEDS IT'S OWN QUIET PLACE
3000.L -MEDIUM BEE from bee duo







Here, below, in 'Happy Birthday Chic', I combined one of the Janet Klein's Quails from the Quail cube with;

3002.M -DAISY DAISY
3015.F -STARFISH




I designed the range to work alongside the current Stampotique range of stamps aswell as to work independently, so hopefully they will work with the Stampotique Originals stamps that you may already own..



The little cute STARFISH is a really useful little shape to use within flowers like little pinwheels or as background texture or as a hanging star, aswell of course as on the ground :0)

The penultimate card I made to show ( cards were quick and speedy for me to put together as opposed to something altered or 3D as the plane delays/airmail left me with little time to create) is a little tag called 'Papillon'.

3018.J -SMALL BUTTERFLY
3021.F -PAPILLON SCRIPT
3016.J -FRENCH TEXT



I trimmed the base of the tag with sequin waste as it reminded me of the ragged edge butterflies wings sometimes appear as being.

And finally, now you're all coming to the end of your coffees, heres a gatefold fold card called 'Tranquility' combining quite a few of my new range along with an old favourite, Moon Girl, by Jill Penney. I specifically designed the crown and the mushrooms for Moongirl (BB aka Paula, do you recall my comment last month re the mushrooms? I couldnt believe it lol), but they will also be useful with lots of other stamps, inparticular Jasmin. The inside of this gatefold card has an appearance by the Little Birds by Josie Cirincione. Jill's, Josie's and previously mentioned Janet's stamps are all available from Stampotique Originals too.

My stamps used here are;

3009.W -GIANT 'SHROOM
3010.M -MUSHROOM GROUP
3014.H -SPLATTER LONG
3011.H -EACH LIFE...
3002.M -DAISY DAISY
3019.F -BOW HEART
3016.J -FRENCH TEXT









To see the full range of new stamps please visit Stampotique Originals where they can be purchased as from now. If you are not based in the States or prefer not to order from overseas if you are in the UK, the stamps are all heading over the pond as I type and here in the UK Happy Daze along with other stores will be stocking them all so please pre order to reserve any you may like the look of. There are 26 images over 22 stamps (including a bee duo and a heart cube).

May I take this opportunity to mention the latest challenge over on the Stampotique Originals Designers challenge site where this week you need to think a little out of the box and create something unusual/different for you or new to your way of creating either on a card or 3D item...anything goes as long as its using Stampotique images only as its the second challenge of the month.

Please keep an eye open for more samples using these new stamps as they reach other members of the Stampotique DT's homes. I would absolutely LOVE to see anything you make with any of the designs if you purchase any (or of course, each challenge over on the Designers Challenge site theres a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to spend on rubber at Stampotique!

Thanks for visiting.

I hope you like them.

Wishing you all a happy May Day holiday weekend....even though the weathers gone all 'wrong' again lol.

EDIT TO SAY

AVAILABLE IN THE UK TO PRE ORDER/RESERVE FROM HERE at HAPPY DAZE (please click link)

Jo x

In Less Than ...

In less than 48 hours the range of stamps I recently ordered (ordered?! edit-I mean designed...I'm so used to writing ordered lol) will be available to buy and I'm so excited.

The first stamps 'off the press' arrived here on Tuesday so I could make one or two samples to show you on their release date which is Saturday.



I hope you like them. Its such a peculiar feeling making something with stamps youve drawn as the finished piece is essentially a drawing to me not a stamped item....even though I stamped it lol.



Anyway, swiftly moving on as I'm starting to babble...



Here are one or two sneaks from the items I've finished so far using the Jo Capper-Sandon range of stamps at Stampotique Originals available from this coming Saturday, May 1st, direct, or to pre order/reserve from Happy Daze here in the UK....oooooooo hark at me lol lol



Please don't forget to pop back here on Saturday to see the finished pieces and links to the full range.

May Day! May Day!

No don't worry, I'm not sending out a distress call, May Day is hopefully going to be the day when something very exciting happens for me.

I'm buzzing with excitement :0).... I've been bursting to announce that last year I started putting together a few squiggles and sketches and Stampotique Originals based in the USA is releasing them on May 1st 2010, May Day, as stamp designs!

I'm sitting here wishing that the volcanic ash would disappear from European airspace so that the first pressings of rubber will land on my doorstep asap from Arizona so that I can make a few examples to show.



I hope you find something amongst them that you like. I've tried to be quite varied with the stamp images and have included a few sneak peeks in this post.

Some stand alone, others are more a case of mix and match with either each other or other stamps from the Stampotique ranges.

Some are tiny....

Some are average sized...

Some are MASSIVE!!

And some believe it or not are all three!! (you'll see what I mean on May 1st)

Its something I've always wanted to do and can't thank Carol at Stampotique enough for approaching me with the suggestion and giving me the opportunity to be able to do this.



Edit to say....(thanks 'kjjc' for the reminder),

Happy Daze here in the UK will be stocking the stamps asap!