Flying your way soon....

Hello ! I love it when I create new stamps, and the designs are made into rubber! Finally flat drawings are 3D and these little beauties from Neil Walker and Katy Leitch are no exception!
There are 6 new designs from Katy and 8 from Neil, all very versatile.
Just to tease you here is a little tag I made with 2 of the designs, using the new Archival inkpads from Wendy Vecchi, and Dylusions sprays on Dyan's very versatile blank inkpad.

The new stamps will be available from Friday 2nd May, and if you are popping by the shop, then you can see them in the flesh!
Pop back tomorrow for another sneak peek :)
Have a creative day
{hugs}

 

Handle with care!

I was so excited when the new Archival inkpads arrived yesterday, I just had to have a quick play with them! Love, love the new colours, and I made this card with lots of distress inks, stamping the Inspiration jar with Vermilion, adding the tag from the Travel set with Coffee, and adding one of the sayings from one of  Mrs Vecchi's sets! The numbers are from Mr Holtz's "Stuff to say" ! Add a little raffia, and handle it with care!



Have a creative Day!

A Happy time had by al!

Twice a year, we hot foot it up to the North, past Watford, to Happy Stampers North West Stamping Festival at Port Sunlight. It is probably time for me to stop driving so far in 2 days, as I am absolutely exhausted and these days it takes me so much longer to recover, but I love seeing everyone up there, and I would miss out on my pickles from Annie P!!! Thank you Annie.. yummy as always!!In defence, though we do have a great time, and I love everyone I meet :)) Hi to all the UKStampers who popped by to say hello :))  I demoed as always, my meltpot, no surprise there then? lol. I used the new Glassine papers to make roses, and covered them in clear UTEE, stunning! Here are a few of the samples that I gave away, and yes I managed to photograph them... always do that: make, give away, have no record of what I made!!



I have a very busy day catching up on Friday's work, and sorting out stock, and uploading new products to the website ( please be patient..there are a lot!) ...we have a delivery due in today of new Sizzix Alterations, and some more steampunk charms too!, oh and Wendy Vecchi Art Parts too!
Off now to return the truck... love being a white Van Man!! rofl
Have a creative day!

Random!

Last night while it was still light ( at six o'clock! !!) I grabbed a stamp and then another one, then another, then another... are you getting the picture? lol. I wanted to try out the new Glassine paper envelopes from Mr Holtz, and just grabbed a few stamps that were lying about on my desk. I used my trusty Black Archival inkpad and just randomly stamped them on the front of the envelope! Stamps are The Artistic Stamper ball bottle and Travel, Butterfliy and Head from Karantha, eye from Wendy Vecchi, Leaves from Claudine, and words and label from Tim Holtz. The pen nib is from the new Idea-ology..love these as they have flt backs, so you can glue them. The tag was cut from the new Idea-ology Crowded Attic paper stash, and the ribbon is from some gorgeous vintage French ribbon that will be at Ally Pally :)).
It is a very random set of stampings, and probably needs more added, but for now here it is!



Have a very creative day!
Hugs

Designer of Dreams...

I have been busy doing nothing for the past few days!! Well that is not strictly true, but I haven't really made any art, even though I have desperately wanted to! Not sure if the mojo was on holiday with all his friends... or just hiding in a dark place in my studio!
At the moment, The Artistic Stamper has a sale on of Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 stamps.. and I thought what better way to kick start my creativity than to make an ATC using some of her stamps! I used the Manila ATC's from Ranger, and then added a smoosh of Distress ink in 3 colours, stamped Wendy's brilliant little tiny words using a distress ink. This makes them lighter than if you stamped with black, and then added the leaves and stalks from "Make Mine Mini Art" , and the words "Designer of Dreams" ( including the mini background from "Botanical Art". Loving that the Maya Road Bingo Motifs fit so well!

Have a very Creative Day!

Me and my shadow!

are often found wandering around at night ...making cups of tea, and creating silly bits of art in my head while trying not to wake anyone else up in the house! This piece was thought up while sipping one of those cups of tea, and it took a little bit of time, but not hours, and involved melting some clear wax in a meltpot. Use a project pan, as it can burn easily, and one of Mrs Vecchi's Botanical stamps. and of, course the spider!! What art would be complete without the spider? The words are from Mr Holtz's 100 Odds and Ends set, and are so neat, and tidy and just fit anywhere!
I stamped the flower in distress inks, and brushed the wax over them to give a bit of depth, and lightly covered them in Cafe Perfect Pearl's. If these aren't on the website they will be shortly!



Are you gearing yourself up to making Tim's 12 tags of Christmas? Last year I had a blast, and we had a brilliant splinter group courtesy of ArtyJen. If you are going to take part please let me know,so I can come and visit. Love to see what everyone has made :))
Have a very Creative Day
Hugs

Splattered!

It has been ages since I have joined in with any challenge, and I particularly like Linda's Compendium of Curiosities. This week it is from page 52 of Tim's book, and is the alcohol ink splatter technique.
 I have made 2 tags using a clear tag which had amazing effects, but almost impossible to photograph, and the second one is using Wendy Vecchi stamps. I made them plain and simple. The clear tag used Tim's new Falling Leaf stamps, and I did actually stamp on the non inked side.



Thank you Linda for the challenge, made me think as usual!! I have Hels coming today, so am off to get ready, as she told me that she will be here with the larks!! lol
Have a very Creative day!
Hugs
 

41 Days to Christmas

I have been royally told off about counting days lol, so in my final card for the week,  I am showing you one of my favourite techniques first shown by Wendy Vecchi on her blog, which I have used time and time again! This technique is fiddly, and you need the patience of Job to do it, but boy the results are stunning!  Firstly you need the Rosette die, and I do have some more coming in stock next week, so you can pre-order by emailing me if you wish. Cut 7 rosettes,( I used the Retro Grunge Papers) and make them slightly different widths by cutting off the straight edge. Then gather them up so they are in a half rosette and secure one of the little rounds to the folded edge. This is quite a difficult bit as they spring apart, but with patience you can do it! Cut half of the round off when dry.You will end up with 7 little pleated skirts in ascending sizes. I didn't get time to photograph, so there are no step by steps. I edged all the elements in gold dabber.

I covered the card in different size stickers from the Seasonal Stickers , but you could easily use the new Seasonal Papers. Stick the tree elements onto the card using glossy Accents ( the mini bottles are in stock now!) . Add a star to the top of the Tree!

Old fashioned, and reminding my DH of Christmas's past ... he has asked for this card for himself!!!

This is the final card in my collection, and I have kind of got into making them this year, so more may come out of this marathon!!

Have a great Sunday, and be Creative!

Hugs



A blatant advertisement!

It isn't often that I use the blog to advertise, but this week, has been one of busyness (lots of orders to fill, and prepping for workshops) , and of putting new products on the website! and if truth be told, I haven't had a minute to create anything!!! what has happened to the week??? I hate this weekend as the clocks go back, (ok I get an extra hour in bed), but it will be dark at 4pm!!! yuck! Anyway back to the matter in hand.. Wendy Vecchi and Claudine Hellmuth have arrived!!



They are staying with me for the forseeable future!!! (I wish!) but you can now get their stamps at The Artistic Stamper, and we have a wonderful price on some of the spooky Halloween dies and stamps from Mr Holtz too! Imagine all three of them in the same room, what fun that would be!!

I am just off , well in an hour or so.. to Shepreth nr Cambridge to teach classes all weekend at It's Crafting Time, so must get a move on, and pack my bag.. always leaving things to the last minute!! lol
See you on Monday with lots of photos.

Leaping into Autumn with a new technique-Dip & drip!!

Well I am back from Ally Pally in one piece, despite the truck breaking down halfway home, and us getting a lift in an AA low loader!! grrrr! We had a great show, and I saw and met lots of people, and had fun along the way! Hels did a magnificent make 'n take, Zoe worked her charm on our customers, and Mal worked his magic with the till! Thank you! Hels will kill me (please be gentle with me..lol) but here is a picture of her, and Zoe and me, and oh my, I think my Ranger apron needs a wash!!! lol. I am a bit afraid to wash it, as it might shrink :((





I did demo, and came up with a new technique  (I think?) . It came about because I had some of Wendy Vecchi's new Art Parts "Clearly for Art", ( and her stamps, which will be online soon) and because we only had a few of them,and didn't have alot to experiment with,  I knew I had something similar in stock that might work the same...Duralar. Now initially this is a product ,(that as far as I know I am the only person who stocks it in the UK), is a non acetate plastic, so is perfect for storing Kling-On stamps on. But I know that is used for other things, so I experimented with it in the meltpot, and this is what I came up with!



Because of its properties which are similar to Wendy's Clearly for Art, you can heat and mould it, and bend it without it shrinking. I have been asked if it will work with printable and non printable acetate, but I wouldn't recommend it as these products could be flammable, and toxic. (I did try them ,, and they just don't have the same properties.)



To make these and any other shape.. die cut or cut out your Duralar ( I used Tim's Tattered leaves) , stamp one side with Archival ink, and gently heat to dry. Then dip with tweezers  into a very light coloured utee mixture,( I used a lot of clear, a tad of gold, green, and yellow)  and let the utee drip off until it is just a thin coating.  Place onto a non stick sheet until cool. Because they are leaf shapes it doesn't matter if they curl up. In fact I found the more intricate the cut the more they curled up, so simpler shapes are better. The possibilities are huge!

I have called it Dip & Drip! and have no idea if it has been done...but I love it, and will be experimenting more ...

Thank you to everyone who stopped by on Saturday and Sunday, it was great to see you, next stop Artisan on Friday....

I am also going to be at a Macmillan evening hosted by Leonie Pujol tonight at Thanington Resource Centre

Thanington Rd
Canterbury, Kent CT1 3XE
01227 767 720
If you can get along it is from 7pm to 9pm. We would love to see you :))
Have a very Creative day 

Sneaky peeks!

I do think that you loved yesterday's post with my extremely messy desk.. well it isn't much better this morning. Just wishing I had time to tidy it up!! lol I am doing last minute bits and pieces for the show at Ally Pally, and then the packing of the van will begin.. We have doubled our size , so that means more goodies, and we have some great ones! All of Tim's new stamps,and his new dies and folders, and new to us Wendy Vecchi's and some Art Parts too!! This is alongside our new stamps too! I am so excited about these.. and all will be revealed tomorrow.. don't forget to come back and see! Here is a couple of sneak peeks for you



Have a Creative Day!

Colour me quick!

Hiya! see I started a post by saying hello to you! I have been so busy this week, making stamps, doing orders and trying to find time in between to make a little bit of ART! Over on The Creative Team blog we have a new challenge..rainbows, set by me, and err have I done a bit of artwork for it.. nah! So this morning I got out my pack of ATC's.. (small enough but large enough, if you know what I mean) and made a piece for it. I cheated and used some Wendy Vecchi butterflies I "borrowed" from Hels that were stamped on grungepaper, and a new set of personal stamps by Julia Andrus, that I bought in the USA in January!!! I have finally unpacked them!!
Lots of Distress inks.. (I think we forget they have some of the brightest colours in the range), smooched across the ATC. I coloured all the butterflies in distress ink, and stamped the bee and flowers in distress ink too!

Why not join in the challenge. It lasts for a month..(loads of time) and you can be in the draw to win £15 worth of our stamps too! The winners of August's challenge have now been announced! I loved all the entries so much I added more winners!! I can do that , I am The Boss, so I am told...lol
Have a great day and I am off to pack up more orders, make stamps, and make ART!!
Be Creative!

ReElly on a Roll....

Yesterday was a great day. Hels popped over ( well it is quite a trek from hers, so it is hardly popping over, but you know what I mean!), and we spent the morning doing all the admin stuff, and stuffed ourselves for lunch with nachos, and then we got down to the nitty gritty stuff of PLAYING and CREATING!!  I had asked that she bring over some Wendy Vecchi stamps for me to stamp, and as my desk is so tidy, she spotted something, and away she went. Such a creative mind! Me I LOVED it! Messy, inky, die cutting, although we nearly broke my new all singing , all dancing machine ( you know the one that works at the press of a button!), but we fixed it after a little omg sweaty moment!
This is both of our versions, and can you spot Hels's?

Of course you could! This is mine...a wooden spool distress inked in rusty Hinge, sprayed in mica mists, of course, where would I be with out them? I added some of Tim's scrummy tissue tape to the reel middle and some string ( Hel's idea.. she is full of them :) 

 I attached it to a large Tattered Flower cut out in Mountboard, stamped with one of Wendy's stamps. I double stamped the large and medium butterflies onto Grungepaper, and glued them together- PERFECT fit!  The antennae are little flower stamens glued in with wire to hold them in the spool. Two of Wendy's leaves, distressed inked and cut out on grungepaper, added to the effect.

The saying fitted perfectly on an Adage ticket, perfect with a memo pin! Finally I added a mini grungepaper rose, this one is tiny, and just finished it off. These flowers are addictive!

This is the first time we have "played" in a while, and Hels, thank you it was a fun day :)))
Have a truly creative day

New Idea-ology and Wendy Vecchi

I was very lucky when I was at CHA to get a chance to have a little play with the new Idea-ology on the Advantus booth. We made a fabulous necklace usng the Ornate Frames, and the link Chain, and one of the new keyholes, and the bird charm which I just love! All due in soon to shop!

I also watched Wendy Vecchi demonstrating dye inks, Pigment inks, and perfect pearls, and she very kindly gave me a tag to bring home to show you.

Don't forget to add your comment to my One World , One Heart blog post to be in with a chance to win one of my goodies. The more posts I get the more I will add.
Happy Creating!