June Challenge - Animals

Hello again,

Another month, another Challenge for you all to have a try at! Thank you to all of you for joining in with the last challenge. There were lots of lovely entries but only one person can win the Candy - and the winner, who was chosen at random is Cynthia(Rainbow Lady) Congratulations!. Please email me with your address , so I can send you your blog candy.

This month the theme is Animals. You can use any kind of animal stamp, making ATCs, Cards, Fat Pages, Tags, the choice is yours!

There will be some Blog Candy which is a set of Linda Luckin Animal stamps
So to grab yourself some goodies have a little play and join in the Challenge !!

Here are a few projects that our design team have made for you to look at:








Hels











Hels Andrea







By Susan

Please remember to add your link to the place you are showing your entry. If you haven't got a Blog then please feel free to email a picture of your creation to us at the Artistic Stamper.

Have fun everyone!!

4 Day Extravanganza

Just to celebrate the Bank Holiday here in the UK, we have a 4 day extravaganza on The Artistic Stamper.
If you spend £25.00 you can get 10% off your purchases and postage & packing FREE!
Check out the new stamps, grungeboard,chipboard, UTEE, mica paints, stampbord and all the altered bits and pieces you know you need!!!
Just for a taster I have added one of Hels's gorgeous pieces of artwork


Happy Bank Holiday Weekend

Back to Black!

I haven't blogged for a little while, and thought I should let you know of the new products on our website.
The most gorgeous Black chipboard in tag, flower and wing shapes is now available.

Artwork by Hels
It is a softer card than the white but the same thickness, and is perfect for distressing and embossing with our glorious new ultra thicks. Try the pearlescent powder paints on it.
We have a limited edition set of wild grasses designed by
Chrissie Collins(classylady60 on Craft Swap Forum). I predict they will sell very quickly.


Finally, there are new stamps from
Linda Luckin, greetings and the most gorgeous Sunflower.

Don't forget our garden challenge which ends in a couple of weeks.
Happy Stamping

May Challenge - Garden

Hello everyone!

Well, first of all, thank you very much to those of you who joined in with our very first challenge last month. The winners name was picked from a hat and I am pleased to announce that the winner of the Blog Candy for last month is Linda Elbourne. Many congratulations to you Linda, and if you would like to drop me an email with your snail mail address, I will post your candy off to you.

You have probably guessed that the new theme for May is Garden and you can use just about any flowery or insect stamp, even use stamps of gnomes and birds too if you like!! The only rule is that you use stamping on your creation.

There will be a prize of some gorgeous Candy up for grabs for one lucky participant. The prize consists of three flower stamps from the Linda Luckin stamp collection and some heavenly fibres to go with them. Here are the stamps:







Here are a few photo's of some of the lovely creations by our Creative Design Team:

Andrea







Hels














Andrea






Hels














As with last month, if you could make a post here to say when you have made your entry and also add a link to the place you are showing your creation. If you haven't got a Blog or a PhotoBucket, please feel free to send me an email of your picture and this will be added into all the entries I receive.

All that is left to say is have lots of fun and I cannot wait to see your works of art.

Jennie and the Creative Team xx

Tea for Two!

It has been a great relaxing weekend , so sunny and hot on Saturday and cooler on Sunday! On Saturday I spent mother and daughter time with Aimee, shopping and generally chatting about nothing in particular. As she is at University , I don't see her very often, so it was lovely to spend time with her.
On Sunday Mal and I decided to borrow Joe's ( my son )van to transport some rubbish from the garden to the skip.
As I am the designated driver, I hoped in and off we went. Going over some road humps to our unit, we could hear clinking, and we turned round to discover my DS has made his truck his home! Now it is full of his stuff as he is a builder( as you do in a truck/car!) but this was taking the "biscuit" !
There neatly on hooks behind the passenger seats were 4 mugs on hooks! Mal and I laughed and I just had to take a picture to show you all. You know what they say about builders... always drinkng tea!!!!!

Arty Girlz Challenge

For those of you who like a challenge, I have donated a prize to the Arty Girlz weekly challenge which this week is backgrounds.
I do hope you take part,and get the chance to win a die sheet AND chipboard from The Artistic Stamper

And, for those who like surprises, there is one coming for you soon...watch this space!!
a little taster of what's to come... can you guess what it is? A prize for the first one to guess....

ATC's in a book!

Morning all from a cloudy Kent!
Last night I got an email from an old friend, Lizzie Tovey, which included a link to her site, and there lo and behold was a piece of artwork she had made for me last year. It is one of those pieces that I love but could not photograph or scan well enough to do it justice. I was chuffed to find it on her front page, as I love this piece, and every time I do a show, I get it out and wonder how to display it to its best ability.
So for those of you who would like inspiration here it is:

Ally Pally

Well, I finally have recovered from a fantastically busy show at The Big Stamp & Scrapbooking Show at Alexandra Palace over the weekend. We had a fabulous response to our new pearlescent powder paints and ultra thick embossing powders ( first time out!)and of course our smooth white chipboard. Mal and I are still reeling from the response to them. The paints are 12 luscious basic colours and the UTEE are gorgoeus gold, silvery silver, clear, brassy bronze, black and white.( pics later on!) The paints are in little pots and are mixed with mica, so shimmer when painted or brushed on a clear ink pad.

We also had Hels and Susan demoing, and many many thanks to them both.
Hels and I did two workshops using the paints, chipboard,and watch pieces and a fun time was had by all. The workshop will be on the website soon too, so you can make it as well.
Here is Hels and my efforts
Happy Stamping
Jennie

Colour!

Good Morning! It is a lovely spring morning here in Kent.
Linda Luckin's fabulous Stamps are now on the website in colour for you to get inspiration!
Don't forget the blog challenge too! Architecture is the theme, and anything related is acceptable- houses, brick walls, gates, even a gothic arch....Look forward to seeing your artwork.

All New! The Artistic Stamper Blog Challenge.

Good Afternoon,

Today sees the launch of a new and exciting Challenge here on The Artistic Stamper Blog. Each month we will be adding a brand new challenge for you all to have fun with.

The theme this month is Architecture.

All you need to do to take part in the challenge is make something, be it an ATC, Tag, Card or even alter something, using rubberstamps that are Architecture themed. You don't have to use our stamps to take part but of course, if you would like to, we would be rather chuffed!!

Each month we will be offering a Blog Candy prize for a winner who will be chosen at random from the entries that we have had. The Candy this month is an A5 Architecture Plate from The Artistic Stamper and a set of our brand new and very alterable Chipboard Tags.

When you have made your work of art, please pop a comment onto this post with a link to your website/Blog/PhotoBucket where you are showcasing your creation. Your name will go into a hat and at the end of the month a winner will be picked at random. You will be contacted by either email if you have this enabled on your Blog or by us posting a comment on your Blog, so keep a look out for any notifications. If you are using a PhotoBucket to show your entry, please email us here at The Artistic Stamper to tell us about it so we have a way of contacting you should be be the lucky winner.

We are so looking forward to seeing all your lovely creations! To whet your appetite, our Creative Design Team have made a few samples using The Artistic Stamper Architecture Plates;

Andrea

Hels

Andrea

Hels

Dan



Have lots of fun!

Jennie and the Creative Design Team x

Coming Soon......

Hello Everyone,

Coming soon......some really exciting news from The Artistic Stamper!

Check back on April 1st for all the details of this new aspect of The Artistic Stamper blog.

In the meantime, why not pop over to our online store? We have a wonderful range of stamps, brand new chipboard shapes, including tags & flowers. The chipboard is brilliant for inking, painting, stamping and distressing. Also available are inks, paints, embossing powders, ephemera and embellishments.

Hope to see you soon and don't forget to call back on April 1st to see the exciting news!

Jennie & The Creative Team.

Wing Art

Finally I have managed to scan in the artwork I have done for workshops held at Birmingham " Stitches" trade show. They were a lot of fun , and if you want a quick and easy idea that doesn't take long , these are for you.

I used the new chipboard tags and wings from The Artistic Stamper, and new paints available from end of March plus watch pieces and the watch and keys

A5 plate from The Artistic Stamper too!

The tag was painted with our new pearl powder paints and then stamped with the watch faces using black Adirondack ink. I then painted the wings with a contrasting colour nd stamped them too. I used little glue squares to attached wings and watch face( also painted and stamped to the tag, attaching a printed twill to to hang it.

Washing!

Sundays are always washing day in our house.. when I am not working... and today was no exception... I threw it all in that wonderful machine where you throw in a tablet and then go away and do something else.. that's it a washing machine!
So you know how you just know when you have removed all your cotton washing from the machine, and the last thing to come out feels woolly that you have made a mistake . Well I washed my beautiful grey mohair jumper in a cotton wash, and mmm it came out a bit small..... So I asked DH to help me pull it to stretch it, and that didn't really work, so I soaked it, as I thought that might help, and then asked him to help stretch it again with me...pull a little harder he said, no pull harder.... so I pulled hard and so did he.. ( doesn't know his own strength....) and lo and behold he pulled the arms off!!! Anyone want a slightly shrunken vest with matching footless leggings?

Charity Auction

Hi, I have a charity Auction for Cancer Research on ebay for the next 10 days.We commissioned Daphne Roberts (former editor of the now defunct Simply Stamping magazine), to make some multi media canvases for us for our trade show in Feb 2007.

As they would be gathering dust after the end of this year, we decided to auction them off on Ebay for Cancer Research. Both Mal and I have family and friends who have suffered from Cancer, and thought this an appropriate way to raise money for a cause close to our hearts.

I have set the minimum bids low, and hope that some of you will bid to raise money, and have a great piece of artwork too! They will make a fab Christmas present if you could bear to give them away!

This is the link to my shop on ebay where they are being auctioned.http://stores.ebay.co.uk/millionsofstamps


here is a taster of a couple of them

Grungy Jewelled Tin

Finally I got around to using the Tim Holtz Grungeboard...

Recipe:

Take one medium sliding tin,Alcohol inks , Distress inks, Grungeboard Dots elements, little jewels, Gold Krylon pen, and a lot of patience.

Method:

I alcohol inked the tin with red, and green inks from Kuretake, and gold from Ranger, and allowed to dry. Then I cut up some of the scrolls from the elements, and then inked them with spiced marmalade distress , spritzed them to cover scrolls, and highlighted with frayed burlap and a touch of gold pen.

I then glued them onto the lid and bottom of the tin, and attached coloured jewels around the edges and randomly on the top.

Charity Auction

Having not written my blog for ages, I thought I would mention that on Thursday I am starting an auction on Ebay for some of the canvases I commissioned from Daphne Roberts ( former editor of Simply Stamping magazine) .

As a taster I have posted one of them.

I shall be sad to see them go as they have travelled with me , and been displayed at the shows I have done this year, but we wanted to sell them to raise money for cancer, as both Mal and I have family and friends who have suffered from cancer. I wanted other people to be able to enjoy the artwork, and raise money for charity too. I hope you agree.

Spritzing!

Having suddenly realised I hadn't written my blog for weeks, I thought I would tell you about my workshops in the last month.

I taught 3 workshops to 30 people each time, 2 at Alexandra Palace Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show , and one to a group of lovely ladies from Happy Stampers North West.

What fun the workshops were!

I had asked a friend of mine , Debbie , to design a couple of canvases for each workshop and then between us we worked some more on them tp produce one I could teach in an hour, and one in 2 hours.

At Ally Pally we used an 8 x8 canvas , and at The other a 12 x 12 one.

Both used Kuretake "alcohol inks" or refill inks, in yellows and greens, alongside collage and stamping on tissue paper. I shall publish both on my website http://www.theartisticstamper.com/ if you would like to look.

One thing I did discover while preparing these canvases was that if you took a spritzer and filled it with ink, and a little bit of blender you could get a fabulous smooth blended finish on your surface. Use several colours of the same shade and you can blend and work backgrounds. Mix your own colours and have a unique look! I call it alcohol ink spritzing.. not a very unique name .. I know but if you have a better idea???

All the people who took the workshop seemed to have fun, and hopefully went home with a great project!

Absolutely Manic!

Is that the world or me?? I suddenly remembered that I ought to post a little bit more on my blog , when I was lying awake at about 5 this morning! ( one of those things that you get when you get to my age! more about all that in another blog...

and so I thought I would write down what I had been up to for the past few days. ( I quite like the idea that someone somewhere might read this and think oh yes that is what my days are like....

I have a upcoming retail show at Alexandra Palace tomorrow for 2 days , and as we manufacture or collect most of the "stuff" we sell, I have been busy making NEW rubberstamps..oriental, and also new single stamps which are less than half the price of my die sheets.

I have been collating vintage items for my bags and twills and all sorts of things... I seem to be permanently using my fabulous laser printer( pressie from DH last year) and also getting together the workshop for 60 lucky people!

If you are coming along drop by and see us on stand 49. Mal has decided to do a draw for an amazing amount of stuff. All you have to do is buy something to enter, and then collect your prize at the end of the day!

He also has discovered punches, so will be giving awaylittle dragonflies, and snowflakes at his whim! I will make a crafter of him yet!!!

Off now to pack the rest of the stuff......will let you know how it all goes..

My first Blog!

Guess it seems that you write about yourself and all that you do, so here goes....

51 years young, married for the 2nd time to Mal, a loving, toy boy! ( he is 5 months younger than me) with 5 grown up children between us!

For a living, I manufacture art rubberstamps, which I love, because I get to play with art all day! It is hard work, and often I wonder why I do it .....then I get an order and it is all worthwhile.

On Thursday I am demonstrating at a customer's shop in Kent, so I am getting all my bits and bobs ready , and working out what I am going to demo. Big right now and easy to make are ATC's ( Artist's Trading Cards). I love making them as they are quick ad small and I can give them away. You cannot sell ATC's. You have to trade them or give them away. I am experimenting all the time, and use alcohol inks and craft inks to make them.

Anyways, here I have written about a small part of my life.. so will come back tomorrow and write a bit more....