Monday 30 October 2017

Our Delicious December issue hits the shops on Friday!

The December issue of Craft Stamper magazines will hit the shops this Friday! Subscribers will be receiving their copies very soon, if they haven't landed already!



As you can see, we’re right in the middle of our special Tesco promotion, so we are again offering two different stamp designs on our cover! In the (highly unlikely, we’re being organised!) event that you have received a duplicate stamp to last month, we will be more than happy to swap this for you. Details on how to get you replacement stamp can be found on page 60. Don’t forget, ALL THREE designs offered over the past two months are available for everyone as free digital images, so nobody will miss out on the chance to create with whichever image you like best!

Our December issue is filled to bursting with some sensational seasonal makes. Riikka has crafted some gorgeous whimsical angels, perfect to put on the top of the tree, as well as on your mantlepiece! Have a look on page 14.



The ‘Dirty Pour’ technique is one that has been hitting social media a lot recently, so we thought we would share a tutorial on just how to achieve this amazing effect. Expert Sue Ralph guides us through, it’s definitely one to try! You can find her tutorial on page 34.




We also have a wonderfully layered canvas by Jenny Marples...



Some great ideas for your planners from Paper, Pen, Plan and Jaine Drake..




and some gorgeous hanging decorations in our 3D Challenge gallery in this issue, like this stunner from Lou Withers!



Lots for you all to experiment with, and don’t forget, I would love to see what you create! Email me, or share on our Facebook page!

So, where can you get your hands on a copy of the magazine?
For subscriptions, please go to: www.craftstamper.com
For single print issues : www.mags-uk.com
For digital issues, both subscriptions and single issues: www.pocketmags.com


Have a wonderfully crafty month everyone!

Friday 27 October 2017

Take It Make It Challenge: October Winners!

Hello everyone!
We are so pleased to announce the winners of our October Challenge!

As you all know, we have two winners to announce today, so without further ado, let me introduce you to the Design Winner.....

Entry Number 38: Jenny






We loved the stunning imagery Jenny has used, and it's a shaker card! Who doesn't love a shaker! Jenny will win a Guest Designer slot here on the blog, her very own Winners Profile, and of course her amazing art will be featured in it's own 2 page spread in Craft Stamper magazine! Congrats !

We also have the remaining top slots to announce!

The remaining Top Three are:

Entry number 23: Zelda
Entry Number 102: Preeti


Wonderful projects ladies!

We now need to share the randomly chosen winner with you all!
This winner will receive the prize offered by our sponsor this month:

IndigoBlu
 
www.indigoblu.com

IndigoBlu (as many of you will already know!) design and manufacture a huge range of crafting goodies, from the amazing red rubber stamp line through to paints, mediums, stencils and of course the famous Flitter glu and flakes! The shop is jam packed full of wonderful products, and futher inspiration can be found on their blog, Facebook page and on Hochanda TV :)
The fabulous prize on offer this month is these three gorgeous stamp sets:






Congratulations to our winner:



Entry Number  48: Chris

      Congrats Chris, I think you'll have a wonderful time  playing with your new goodies!

Winners, you need to need to get in touch with me in order to claim your prize!  Please email me at: editor.cs@mytimemedia.com , and put TIMI Winner in the subject line, then I'll be sure to spot it! 
Top Three Design Winners, also please contact me if you wish to receive a button to display on your blog.


Our November challenge will be launched next Friday, November 3rd.
We can't wait to see all the wonderful art you will all be sharing!

Friday 20 October 2017

Take It Make It Blog Challenge: Winners Profile!

Hello!

Welcome to our Winners Profile, showcasing the Design Winner of our last Blog Challenge!

The very talented Design Winner of our September 2017 challenge is

Bonnie Klass



Bonnie won the challenge with this beautiful card! We loved the gorgeous pigment powder background, a perfect colour combo for a snowy theme! Wonderful!



We asked Bonnie a few questions all about stamping (well, we are Craft Stamper after all!)



Q: How long have you been a stamper, and how did you get started?

A: In 2007 I bought a card making book for our library and was fascinated.  That led me to card making magazines, then to stamps and I was hooked.


Q: What are your favourite kinds of stamps, and do you have a favourite stamp company?

A: I love any stamp that is nature related: flowers, butterflies, birds…
Penny Black stamps are usually at the top of my list.

 

Q: Describe your style, are you a messy kind of stamper or a more ‘clean and simple’ kind of person?

A: My style is pretty much clean and simple.  I like to add some texture and dimension and try new techniques.  But I try to keep my designs uncluttered.



Q:What kind of projects do you like creating the most?

A: I mostly make cards.  I love that I can send them to people and share the pleasure.



Q: Apart from stamps, what is the one product you wouldn’t be without when you craft?

A: I use my MISTI a lot!  I don’t know how I ever got along without it!  My water brush brings up a close second.



We also asked Bonnie to show us  favourite stamped creations,  and share why she likes them so much. Here are the gorgeous projects she has chosen:




"I used my favourite tools on this card.  By placing this brushstroke stamp in my MISTI, I was able to stamp, move the ink with a water brush and stamp again to get details.  I kept adding ink here and there to the stamp until I got the shading I wanted" - Bonnie






"The colors and patterns of this alcohol ink piece was such a happy surprise!  It makes me think of a reflection in a pool with the butterfly hovering over it" - Bonnie



Congratulations on being our September Design Winner Bonnie, and it was lovely to learn a little more about you!



Do YOU fancy having a winners profile all about you on the CS blog? 

The profile is part of the prize package for each Design Winner of our challenges. All you need to do is enter a creation into the challenge, then if you are voted Design Winner everyone will be reading all about you before you know it!

Sunday 15 October 2017

Wild Flowers in a Gelli® Plate meadow

Welcome back Georgina! Hopefully everyone saw the amazing project yesterday, sit back and enjoy another stunning tutorial!

Following on from my 3D Challenge project in the November edition of Craft Stamper magazine and my blog post earlier this month, I'm back with some more creative ideas again using the lovely Wild Flowers stamp set from Craftwork Cards. This time I have used the stamps with the fab Gelli® Plate! For this post I used a 3x5" Gelli® Plate. I love to use the Gelli® Plate with Distress Ink pads to create background. So please read on to see my three background techniques and now I have build on top of them to create a finish piece.

A close-up of my first piece...


To create this I started by stamping Salty Ocean, Stormy Sky, Peeled Paint and Forest Moss Distress Ink pads directly onto the Gelli® Plate. Then using three different brown Distress Ink I stamped the flowers and grasses also directly onto the Gelli® Plate.


A close-up of the flowers and grasses stamped onto the Gelli®.


I then took a print.


Once the print was dry, I stamped and heat embossed a selection of flowers and grasses. I stamped the flowers with a VersaMark ink pad and them used WOW! Embossing Powders. I used Earthstone Olive, Primary Evergreen, Metallic Copper and Primary Ebony.   


I them stamped and heat embossed, using Indigo, Sunny Yellow and Earthstone Pomegranate WOW! Embossing Powders, some little flowers to place into between the long stems of the flowers and grasses. Lastly I added dots of Imagination Crafts Starlights paint in White Gold, Topaz and Pearl to the flower and grass heads using an end of a paint brush.




My first finished piece. This would make a lovely gift for someone if mounted into a frame.



For my second piece I again stamped the same blue and green Distress Ink pads directly onto the Gelli® Plate. I them stamped the Wild Flower stamps onto the Gelli® Plate but with no ink on them. I made sure I cleaned the stamps after each stamp to make sure that any ink that the stamp removed was cleared away and not then put back onto the Gelli® Plate next time I stamped the same stamp.



I then took a print. Can you see the outlines of the flowers and grasses where the stamp has removed the ink from the Gelli Plate?



I then masked-off the border with Post-It notes. I stamped the flower and grasses with Jet Black Archival ink pad. I wanted to make sure some of the stamped images went over the edge.



Lastly I stamped a sentiment. These words stamps are also from the Craftwork Cards Wild Flower stamp set. This would make a lovely card topper or a page in the journal with either stamping or writing in your own words.



For my third and final project, I started again by stamping the blue and green Distress Ink pads onto the Gelli® Plate. But this time I spritzed the Plate with water before taking a print. I love the little coloured droplet of water that form...



I took a print and once dry I begun to stamp the flowers and grasses. I used a selection of Distress Ink pads as show below.



I stamped the tallest flower/grasses first. I wanted to stamp over the edge of the Gelli® Plate print onto the white border as I really like the effect of the stamped images bursting out of the background.



I then worked my way down to the shorter grasses and lastly the little flowers. I also used second-generation stamping to get a lighter colour so some grasses appeared to be further away.



I hope these three stamping and Gelli® Plate project have inspired you to create your own meadows.


Thanks so much Georgina!


There are various ways to get yourself a copy of the magazine, subscriptions are available from www.craftstamper.com, www.mags-uk.com for single print copies and digital copies from www.pocketmags.co.uk. Overseas subscriptions are also available.



Saturday 14 October 2017

Wild flower meadow ATC

Today we are welcoming the super talented Georgina Ford to the blog! We love the projects we'll be sharing over the weekend, we hope you do too! Over to Georgina.........

Hopefully you have already seen the November edition of Craft Stamper magazine. So many lovely and inspirational project in there, as usual! I have a project in there for the 3D Challenge. The stamp set I used was the pretty Wild Flowers from Craftwork Cards. I enjoyed using the stamp set so much I wanted to play more! So this month I have two blog posts to share with you with more ideas and inspiration for using the stamp set.

For my first project I have used the stamps with That's Crafty! Surfaces ATC Stack. This ATC is fun to make as the acrylic pieces create the layered effect and there lends itself to creating a meadow of flower. This is my finished piece, below. But how did I make it? Read on to find out!


To create the ATC I started by adding a layer of Bora Bora PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint to the mdf back piece with Cut'n'Dry foam. Around the edges I added Inky Pool PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint, as shown below. 


On the next two layers of acrylic I added Tinned Peas, Guacamole and Winter Green PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint to create a grass effect. I added paint to both the front and back of the acrylic.


Once these three layers were dry I started to use the lovely Wild Flowers stamp set to create my meadow. I stamped directly onto the layers with Jet Black, Potting Soil and Fern Green Archival ink pads. With such a variety of flower stamps and stems is fun and easy to create the meadow effect.


A close-up of the three stamped layer...



Next I moved onto creating more flower and grasses but this time I stamped onto heat proof acetate. I used the acetate so I could stamp a selections and then move them about to create the best display possible. I also used acetate for the 3D magazine Challenge and I wanted to take inspiration from this project. I stamped onto the acetate with a VersaMark ink pad and then heat embossed the images using WOW! Embossing powders in Earthstone Olive, Primary Evergreen, Primary Ebony and Metallic Copper.  


To the flowerheads I added dots of Imagination Crafts Starlights paint. I used Pearl, White Gold and Topaz paint. I used an end of a paint brush to add the paint.

A close-up of the layers...


To finish I stamped little flowers onto painted paper I had left over from my 3D Challenge piece. I cut out the flowers and added them to the top layer. I used an end of a paint brush again to add White Gold Starlights paint to the centres, as shown below.


Once the layers are dry I placed them on top of each other and attached the screws and nuts through the corner holes.

My finished piece... a pretty wild flower meadow, wouldn't you agree?



Thank you so much Georgina!
See you all tomorrow for some stunning cards!

There are various ways to get yourself a copy of the magazine, subscriptions are available from www.craftstamper.com, www.mags-uk.com for single print copies and digital copies from www.pocketmags.co.uk. Overseas subscriptions are also available.

Friday 13 October 2017

Take It Make It Challenge: October Inspiration

Hello!
Our current Take It Make It challenge is in full swing, with some amazing entries so far!
Just in case you need a little more inspiration, the DT have come up with some more amazing projects to share today :) First though, a bit of a reminder.....


This year, we are pleased to announce that ALL of our challenges will be 'Anything Goes' stamping challenges!
So....Show us how unique you can be, create anything your imagination cares to dream up! Share your cards, journal pages, layouts, 3D assemblage or whatever else takes your fancy. As long as you have stamped somewhere on your project, then you're good to go!

We have two prizes on offer, as always. The first is the Sponsor Prize, and the winner of this will be randomly chosen from all the eligible entries of the challenge. To make sure your project is eligible to win, make sure you have followed our challenge guidelines. These can be found on our sidebar over here ---------->
and also in a tab under the banner at the top.
PLEASE REMEMBER: We only want to see ONE project in each individual blog post entry!
A set counts as more than one :)
 
Our sponsor this month is....

IndigoBlu
 
www.indigoblu.com

IndigoBlu (as many of you will already know!) design and manufacture a huge range of crafting goodies, from the amazing red rubber stamp line through to paints, mediums, stencils and of course the famous Flitter glu and flakes! The shop is jam packed full of wonderful products, and futher inspiration can be found on their blog, Facebook page and on Hochanda TV :)
The fabulous prize on offer this month is these three gorgeous stamp sets:






 I hope the prize has given you all an incentive to win...... and how about some MORE amazing eye candy from the DT to give you some beautifully stamped inspiration! 




Wow!
Amazing inspiration from the DT!
The link up tool to enter the challenge can be found on last Fridays post HERE!