New Year, New video!

I love it when there is a significance to a new year, and is 2010 the beginning of a new decade or the end of an old one? Technically there are 10 years in a decade and this is the tenth year, so you see my dilemma? Does it really matter, as this year I shall be trying making more art, trying to be more organised ( ha ha!) , and errr trying to be more tidy! The last one is a bit of a joke, as people who know me, know my tendency to lose stuff, but always claiming to know where it is! How many drawers have I opened last year looking for stuff, only to find I had moved it the week before, and had forgotten!!! I ALWAYS blame the ghost that lives in our house!!
This year will be my FIFTEENTH year as a rubber stamp manufacturer, and we will have lots of new designs, and lots more Mabel for you! Just watch this space!
I was thrilled this week to find out Hels' gorgeous creation using the Stitchels stamps was on the FRONT COVER of Craft Stamper magazine here in the UK, and there is a wonderful tutorial inside showing you how to make grungepaper roses using one of the Stitchels flower stamps.

Just by fortuitous fortune ( coo that is a long word!), and I truly did not know Hels had made front cover, I had made a video showing how to make Grungepaper Roses, and was planning to upload it today :) Watch out in the video for the Glossy Accents glue bottle which I had cut off the top too, as it had got very bunged up, and so now pours out glue! Much mess was made, and if you look closely you will see inky sticky fingers too! I did edit out the sneeze too..lol

To all my blog readers may 2010 bring you happiness, health and wealth!

Somewhere over the Rainbow

This is the title of the song that Hels has used for her Sunday Stamper Challenge this week. I love bright colours as most of you know, and so this challenge just screamed at me.. do something! I found my Colorbox large multi-coloured inkpad and brayed the the background onto one of my chipboard tags. However in my hurry I split my hot steaming mug of coffee and cream all over it, the desk, and the floor, so had to start again! Doh!
The dots stamps featured alongside the stitches and solid Stitchels too! All stamped in Archival Cobalt and Cranberry. the final touch was a Creative stamp, and best of all, a bird from a tangled necklace found in my DD bedroom ( please don't tell her, she will kill me! lol). The Flowers are Prima, (such lush flowers) on the website next week with some new products when I get time to load them up!

Thank you Hels for the challenge, tired as I am, inking and stamping always makes me feel better :)
Have a very Creative Day!

QVC Special

Today on QVC we have an exclusive set of Stitchel stamps to them. It is a fab set and can be found here. I made this little card from papers I had in my new, not so tidy drawers, and just simply cut out the butterflies and layered them on the card.

Simplicity at its best!

QVC TV Time

Finally The Artistic Stamper has hit the tv, and we got some new and exclusive Stitchels stamps on QVC this afternoon!! I was actually in the post office when Hels called me to say they had previewed the stamps , and where was I??? Err, post was done in a hurry, dinner was bought on the run, and I was cursing all the slow drivers as I drove the 5 mins home, in the vain hope I would see the stamps being shown! I made it, and am now saying a public thank you to Hels who designed the stamps, and to Craig and Amanda who put the kit together, and to Dawn who demoed them. If you want to buy the stamps here is the link. They are exclusive to QVC and won't be on my site for some time to come, so grab them while you can! I made a very quick ATC, as I was posting, 5 mins to stamp , and a heat gun to dry! just so you can see how the little bird stamps out.. he is cute! I used distress inks backgrounds, some distress stickles and a branch from The Maya Road birds chipboard set. Haven't made anything so quick in ages!

I even fiddled with photoshop and now wished I hadn't! but too late now... note to myself, don't experiment when you need to post in a hurry!

Brand New Stamps!

We have brand spanking new stamps on the website! I love these and you will be able to use them in conjunction with the original Stitchels as the line ones will stamp on top of the solid ones. The possibilities are endless. I also designed some new words for the altered artist in you.

If you would like to know about our special offers or our new products ( we are continually adding them!) then sign up for our newsletter ( sign up box top left hand corner of the blog). We have almost all of the Ranger products, stamps, Kling-On, and loads of accessories. Finally for today another birthday card I made this week ( I was quite productive!) This one was for a dear friend of mine, Wendy. I used the melpot, of course, and some random papers,a Tim Holtz stamp, and a little charm I bought ages ago, which i put into the mould while it was still wet. I then superglued a brooch pin to the back and attached it to the card. A brush of Perfect Pearls, a spritz of water on the leaves and it was done!

Off to play with the new stamps, have a good day, the sun is shining here!

23rd Day of Advent

Well technically 1 more day to go, and I have done the last minute bit of shopping, spent far too much, had a lovely lunch with DD, and now sat down to make tonight's piece. A bit of different one for me, and I used a new Stitchels snowman- Cedric. He is by far my favourite , and will be available next year.
I used a pre-made card and black embossed him, then painted him in with pearlescent mica powders. These didn't quite soak into the card, so not as brght or solid as I would have liked. Then I used Snow Writer to make a little bit of snow, and glued down some silver snowflakes from Paperchase, from the same packet as the reindeer and star.He looks a bit cheeky with all the snow on his hat!

Yesterday's winners drawn by Random Integer Generator are

A ROBINS NEST

IRENE

BOLHA

JOANNE BROWN

SHAZZA

Congratulations and please email me your snail mail addresses so I can post your candy.

I hope you are all almost ready for the big day, and I am off to make some yummy chocolates to make as gifts for our friends who are feeding us on Christmas Day.

See you tomorrow with the last of the candy, and there will be 5 more winners tomorrow, and on Christmas Day the final blog for Advent!

Hot off the Press!

New Stamps! Designing stamps is always a pleasure for me, and I absolutely adore these new ones! I had such fun making them-swirls, flourish frames, flourishes of all shapes and sizes. New today are more cute and gorgeous Stitchels, buzzy bees, and bugs, a  wonderful dragonfly, and more minis! I am planning to use some of them on a Weekend challenge which is happening on Crafts by Carolyn Forum, and I started last night by making an impromptu keyring with stampbord, distress inks, and one of the new swirls. Have not got a clue how many projects there are , so am going to work my way throyugh them slowly, and have a bit of me time!
Here is the key ring

I will upload more as I make them...*she says hopefully!*

More Creative Team Artwork,more Blog Candy, and exciting news...

Oooh, I noticed I hadn't blogged for a couple of days or more , and thought I know I shall give some more blog candy away. All you have to do is become a follower,or comment and if you can list me on your blog that I am giving away some gorgeous eye candy that would be good too! I shall pull the winner out of the hat, so to speak, next Wednesday.

As promised here is some more gorgeous artwork from the Creative Team, this time Nicky, who has made the most amazing Christmas tree from Stitchels Hearts printed onto paper.

Finally I have good news! We have a new member to the Creative Team for The Artistic Stamper, who I believe will bring a touch of humour and positive thinking into making artwork! May I introduce you to Calvin, fruit inker extra-ordinaire, and a man of many talents! Welcome Calvin!

Alongside Calvin, Linda, has also agred to be a member of the Creative Team, taking on the task of helping Hels create fabulous artwork with the Stitchels. Welcome Linda!

I would also like to introduce you to Maddy, who has agreed to let me sponsor her Fimo sculpting, and who is an extra special member of the Creative Team, and hopefully will introduce us all to the world of creating gorgeous miniature fairies, mice and castles in the air!

Don't forget to join in for the blog candy, and keep an eye on my new blog challenge as there will be blog candy on there too this week!

More Blog Candy

Just because hopefully this time next week, I will have my right arm back!
Leave a comment to win, and if you feel like it let other people know on your own blog I am giving candy away too!

Winner will be drawn next Sunday by the random integrator!

Blog Candy!

Frustrated and fed up would be the word...now not allowed any movement of the right hand, as not healing quite right! So just because I can't stamp or really do much, I have typed this with one hand- so slow! So for all the lovely thoughts and wishes people have sent me, here is some blog candy for you for doing absolutely nothing- just being blog watchers!

This is the mini mini Curly Dot from the Stitchels range....all yours for just posting a comment.
I will pick the winner on 20th September.

Tag Book

At my workshop on Saturday at Sharon's Card Crafts, I taught a class making a tag book using Stitchels Stamps, and our Tag chipboard, and my favourite of all a Bind-it-All! We used several techniques, alcohol inks from Kuretake, (now on the website!), chalks and a shaving foam technique using Adirondack Colour Wash Inks.I used the mini and the mini mini Stitchels stamps,just gorgeous to use, although not the most perfect scissor technique I have ever done! The little knob on the front of the book is one of Tim Holtz ideaology hitch fasteners, and I tied a little piece of fibre to the back to lock the book together. The inside of the book was done using chalks, I lurve these, and I coloured the edges too! For those of you interested in our new blog challenge, I hope you are up for a challenge- it certainly isn't for the faint-hearted, and if you are interested I shall be looking for guest designers too!

Stitchels Journal

I made this journal for a workshop a couple of weeks ago, and I just loved making it. I used the Stitchels stamps, and The Artistic Stamper chipboard A6 book blanks, our pearlescent paints, and buttons. It was a very tactile book, and instructions for it are on the website along with the Arty Girlz black and white journal. We ship all over the world, so if you would like the Stitchels stamps please just order or email and we will quote you the shipping. Shipping is always sent at cost.

If you would like to make this journal all the instructions are on the website. They are becoming addictive!

New Stamps, New Challenge and Winner of the Red Roses!!!

I promised you a big surprise blog today and here it is!
Firstly,we have a brand new range of unmounted rubber stamps designed by Hels Sheridan called Stitchels

I just love them, and they are very versatile, as you will find out soon.

The winner of the Red Roses Giveaway is..... big drum roll......
Andrea C, and the runner -up is Wendy-AnnTaurus. Congratulations. Please email me your addresses.
Finally, I have a new Blog challenge using Magnolia stamps with blog candy (Rowdy William) see below courtesy of Donna from Crafty Krafts . Thank you Donna.

I am absolutely delighted with the stamps Hels has designed, as they go so well with the Magnolia and Tilda stamps. I got given a Magnolia stamp and bought the house , (okay I finally succumbed to the Magnolia stamps!) and made a card for the challenge .

I am quite chuffed with it, and used Prismacolour pencils to colour it in- very soothing colouring in! For the challenge you can make anything you like as long as it has a Magnolia, Tilda,or Stitchels stamp in it. Here is the blog candy and you will also get a Stitchels stamp too!
The challenge ends on Sunday July 20th.
Good Luck !